Commentary on Isaiah 1 part 6/23

As long as the word of the wisdom of the world was fervently at work, the nations rose up against one another, bringing against each other the sword of argument, vehemently sharpened by practice and gleaming with persuasiveness.

But when our peace came, and "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace" was proclaimed, all falsehood together fell silent before the truth.

Just as the many-voiced chatter of noisy birds is suddenly hushed when an eagle appears to them from somewhere above, and they no longer cast their cries against one another;

so one man saying there is no Providence at all, and another saying that it extends only as far as the moon.

one declaring it mortal, the other immortal.

Concerning fate: one holds that it governs all things, the other that it does not exist at all.

But since the folly of the preaching has come, and the Crucified One is glorified, and the resurrection is believed, and judgment is hoped for, the nations, having put an end to their war against one another, live in peace.

But I fear lest they now become mere spectators of our own warfare.

And since before this their whole life was consumed in the learning of vain words, dialectic being a warfare of dialogue, "They shall no longer learn to make war" (it says), meaning that they will no longer spend their time with teachers of verbal contention.

"And now, house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord."

For after ascending the mountain of the Lord and rising above earthly things, having partaken, as it were, of a purer radiance, one encounters divine light, which illumines the eyes of the soul unto the understanding of blessed and intelligible sights and divine contemplations.

Similar to this is also the saying in the Psalmist:

"Draw near to him, and be enlightened, and your faces shall in no way be ashamed."

For those upon whom the light of the Lord's countenance has been signed are not put to shame.

But he who practices base things hates the light.

But since the house of Jacob had mistakenly supposed the teaching from the law to be a sufficient light, and itself to be a guide of the blind, a light of those in darkness, the word, correcting their ignorance, says:

For lamps too are useful, but before the sun;

stars are delightful, but at night.

But if it is ridiculous for one to hold up a lamp beside himself while the sun is shining, far more ridiculous is he who, while the Gospel is being proclaimed, remains attached to the shadow of the law.

"For he has forsaken his people, the house of Israel."

The most grievous loss of all is abandonment by God.

As from a strong grip of the hands, when the fingers with which someone had until then grasped what was held relax, one lets it fall from its own preservation — so the word signifies that the people are no longer held fast by God.

"For their land was filled, as from the beginning, with divinations, as was the land of the foreigners."

Do you see how great an evil divination is?

It places the one who attends to it outside the care of God.

But to many Christians it seems a matter of indifference to eavesdrop, to hunt after rumors, and to attend to omens.

"Someone sneezed," they say, "at the word, and this signifies such-and-such."

"Someone called me back from behind;"

"My foot stumbled as I was going out;"

And even some of those who are quite well known, and who await the Judge from the heavens, fall carelessly into these harmful practices.

For long ago, even in the law of Moses, omens and divinations and auguries and bird-watching were condemned as inventions of demons.

"For you shall not practice augury (it says), nor shall you observe omens by birds."

"For the nations (it says) whom the Lord your God will utterly destroy before him — these give heed to omens and divinations;"

"but as for you, the Lord your God has not appointed you to do so."

For it is absurd that one who possesses counsel from the ordinances of God should, in deliberating about what is to be done, take irrational creatures as his counselors — or rather, not merely as counselors, but employ them as teachers and lawgivers.

And the bird did not see its own danger, though it lay right beside it and before its very eyes;

yet it foretells to you what is to come;

and having flown from its nest to procure food for its nestlings, it has often returned empty-handed;

yet for you the futile movement of the bird has become an infallible oracle and a revelation of things to come.

But if they fly about deceptively through the working of demons, do not, I beg you, sit gaping at the deceptions of demons, nor become given over to diabolical workings;

for he, once he has taken hold of a soul easily led to destruction, uses it in every way and does not let go.

Moreover, crows cawing and eagles wheeling about in distress for lack of prey make the superstitious heart cower.

And so great is the enemy's outrage against man, that when a weasel appears, or a dog peeps out, or a person shows up early in the morning — even one of the most well-disposed people, but who happens to be lame in the right eye or leg — the superstitious man has often leapt back, turned away, and covered his eyes.

What is more pitiable than such a life — to suspect everything, to be hindered by everything, when instead one ought to be leading one's soul back to God from every quarter? When you see birds flying through the air, do not curiously scrutinize the patterns of their flight — whether they trace circles above our heads, or fly facing us, or swoop from behind, or pass off to the sides.

Consider rather how so great a weight is borne through the air, how the delicate nature of the air becomes a vehicle for the wing, how by the spreading of their wings they swim, as it were, upon the air, and by the tail, as by a rudder, direct their own flight;

how those creatures ill-suited for walking fulfill the function of feet by means of the wing.

As many creatures as are swimmers, as many as are predators, have a bodily constitution suited to their manner of life.

For to some, the claws are instruments for seizing prey;

for others, the webs of their feet are, as it were, oars;

so that, by the breadth of the foot, they may more easily push the water aside as they move.

All things are full of the wisdom of God.

"For he made all things in wisdom."

But the small-souled man, thinking lowly things, attempting to fit the movements of irrational creatures to his own purpose, has abandoned God and given himself over to scheming demons, who, having control of the air and contriving to turn the birds this way and that, keep the deception of the foolish incurable.

These things, even though they have been said in a somewhat digressive manner —

yet the discourse has not made unprofitable use of the occasion afforded by the text for the healing of the foolish.

It should be noted that Scripture hands down divination as a practice peculiar to the Philistines, that is, of the Palestinians;

for it is Scripture's custom to call only these people "foreigners."

For just as the Chaldeans made astrology their own, and the Egyptians sorceries and incantations, and the Cretans augury, so also the foreigners made divination their own.

The land, then, has returned to its own former evils, becoming as it was from the beginning.

"And many foreign children were born in it."

Whenever a city, having accepted wicked customs, chooses to live according to them, then for those born afterward the sin of the fathers becomes, as it were, a law, and the children are foreign from their very birth, being alienated from the people of God by their evil upbringing.

...unsound words, and, having received them, renders its children foreign.

"For their land was filled with silver and gold, and there was no number to their treasures."

How great a sin is the love of wealth, seeing it has been placed in the catalogue of such grave sins.

For along with divinations and foreign children — begotten, perhaps, in Israel from the increase of fornication — the filling of the land with silver and gold is also numbered together.

For to a God-fearing soul, wealth becomes an occasion for well-doing, through the fellowship of sharing;

but to the pleasure-loving and body-loving soul, it becomes provision for luxury and licentiousness.

For poverty is a tutor unto piety, but wealth is an occasion for insolence.

But if an entire nation is accused on account of abundance of wealth, let the rich consider how they will make a defense concerning their own possessions.

But if anyone supposes that, being rich from some seemingly reasonable pretext, he does not sin, let him remember the command of the Gospel, which clearly forbids storing up treasures for oneself upon the earth.

"And the land was filled with horses, and there was no number to their chariots."

We have observed that the saints everywhere renounced the use of horses, both in battle formations and in the other needs of life.

For since God willed that they should depend on the help that comes from him, and not place their hope in wars upon their own preparations, and for this reason forbade, saying, "You shall not multiply horses for yourself," those who were then being accused surrounded themselves with such a multitude of horses that it even exceeded number.

Let us understand this either as hyperbole, or let us suppose it is said that "there was no number to the chariots" because base and otherwise dishonorable things are not numbered in Scripture.

For observe that in Numbers a woman is not numbered, as being weak;

nor a child, as being easily despised, except the firstborn and the Levites;

nor a slave, on account of his dishonor;

nor the mixed foreigner, because he is alien.

So, then, we also reckon that chariots wickedly acquired are outside the number.

"And the land was filled with the abominations of the works of their hands."

The pagan practices, having taken their beginning from divination by omens, and having advanced through love of money and horse-madness, ran aground into idolatry.

Every deed, then, that is done contrary to right reason, is an abomination to God.

As those with a queasy stomach and those easily upset turn away from foul sights — such as the discharge of excrement, and malodorous sores, and the like — so also deeds done in impurity are an abomination to the Holy One.

Since it is Scripture's custom, properly speaking, to call idols "abominations," all wicked imaginations imprinted upon the soul by way of representation are abominations, filling the place, that is, the whole expanse of the reasoning faculty of the soul.

"And they worshiped what their fingers had made."

O the excess of madness, to consider as God that which was made by oneself, and not to perceive the absurdity of what is happening!

For if it is the material you admire, why then do you not worship the unwrought bronze, or the stone? But if it is because of the craftsmanship, worship your own hands, which imposed the form upon it, or the tools by which you completed it.

And how great is the folly, that during so long a passage of time, in which the image was being carved, or the statue was being cast, he did not grasp the meaning of what was happening! For this is what is signified by: "And they worshiped what their fingers had made."

Then, indeed, he will be compelled to choose one of the two alternatives;

"Cursed is every man who makes a carved or a molten image, the work of a craftsman's hands."

"And man bowed down, and the man was humbled."

I consider that these words are spoken in the tone of lament, since he cannot bear men's fall from their proper dignity.

Man, he says, has bowed down to the idol in worship — man, the most honored of the living creatures upon earth, who is ranked among rational beings next after the Angels, who has been honored with the image of God, who by the power of reason has invented the arts;

who came to know the things upon the earth — the powers of plants and roots and fruits; who ventured boldly upon the sea; who studied the nature of the air, the origin of the winds, the position of the stars, their movements, their distances, their conjunctions;

the ordering of things upon the earth, cities, laws, the arts of generalship, the arts both necessary for life and those for adornment and display — this same man fell down before an idol, as though needing salvation from it: the living before the lifeless, the rational before the insensate.

He who has taken wild beasts under his hand, to whom all the irrational creatures have been subjected in servitude (because of the God who subjected them to us, who in this gave us the "according to the image," in ruling over both the creatures of the water and those of the land) — this man does not even dare to stand on equal terms, not before one of the irrational creatures distinguished for strength, but before the mere likeness of one irrational animal — perhaps even the likeness of some shameless woman, or a most disgraceful man — but stands in fear, bowed down to the ground, unworthy even to lift his face toward heaven,

because of his sin against the Heavenly One.

"And man bowed down, and the man was humbled."

This is an intensification of the evil: that man — the more governing one, the more perfect in understanding, the more capable in deeds — this one, forgetting his own dignity, was humbled beneath the idol.

He who is the image and glory of God, who has Christ as his own head, was humbled beneath the idol;

This is the most grievous part of the calamity.

For if it were a child, if it were a woman, there would be some pardon — for the one on account of age, for the other on account of natural weakness.

But as it is, a man has been humbled, which surpasses every extreme of shame.

Is it, then, on account of eternal punishment that these things happen?

"I will surely not let them go"? For as long as they practiced divination by omens, as long as they multiplied foreign children among themselves, as long as they were fluttering after silver, as long as they were equipping cavalry, there was still hope and expectation of relief;

but since they have fallen into idolatry, the last of evils, and, not perceiving their own dignity, render to the idol honors equal to God's, therefore "I will surely not let them go."

And this the Good One does for their benefit.

For since relief is an occasion for licentiousness, "I will surely not let them go," so that affliction, at least, may compel them to remember God.

So then, not to be let go is not a harmful threat, but a saving discipline.

"For I will never let you go," he says, "nor will I ever forsake you."

"And now, enter into the rocks, and hide yourselves in the earth, from before the fear of the Lord and from the glory of his strength, when he arises to shatter the earth."

This is another exhortation addressed to the house of Jacob, urging what is beneficial.

Is there, then, anyone so slanderous a distorter of Scripture as to suppose that it counsels certain persons to flee from before the fear of the Lord, hiding themselves in the hollows of the rocks? But rather —

"Where shall I go," he says, "from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, you are there;"

"If they hide themselves in Carmel, from there I will take them;"

"and if they flee into the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them."

Where also Moses was placed, when he was about to see God.

"There," he says, "enter, and hide yourselves in the earth," that is, bury yourselves.

To what end? So that, having been buried together with Him through baptism and having died together with Him, you may walk in newness of life, having died to sin.

Gather together, then, the passages concerning the rock in Scripture, so that the passage may become clear to you.

"And the people drank from the rock" — but also had honey from the rock. And the Psalmist says:

"The rock is a refuge for the hares."

and even the oil with which they were anointed, the solid rock provided, according to the Song of Moses.

If, therefore, you enter into the rock, you will be able to turn aside from the fear of the Lord, when he arises to shatter the earth, when he is about to make the earthly things vanish, and to make the man of dust vanish, so as to grant unhindered life to the spiritual man.

One must, then, arrive in advance at his resurrection in glory and power, by taking such care of oneself in this manner.

"For the eyes of the Lord are lofty, but man is lowly."

Lest you suppose that he is counseling some bodily withdrawal from God, he added: "The eyes of the Lord are lofty, but man is lowly."

From him who looks down from on high, nothing of the things below is hidden, since all things are within view, and nothing casts a shadow before his eyes.

Now a lowly man is either one who, in comparison with the majesty of God, reckons himself as nothing, or one who, through moderation of passion, has laid aside a boastful disposition, or one who, through sin, has cast himself down from his former height.

"And the loftiness of men shall be humbled."

In what precedes, the loftiness was being humbled and man was worthy of accusation;

"For man bowed down, and the man was humbled."

But here, the humbling is beneficial.

For the laying aside of vain thinking, and the return to one's proper worth from the elevation and boastful height and empty conceit, is a praiseworthy humility.

For as to those who have taken refuge in the rock and have laid their body in the earth in hope of the resurrection with Christ, the elevations arising from irrationality fall away, and their vain estimation of themselves falls away;

but the true testimony of loftiness is sent up by them to God alone.

"And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day."

The text refers us to a day that is recognized and acknowledged by all.

In that day — the last of all days — which no night interrupts, which no time limits, to which no bodily light gives beginning and end, but which is one, ever like unto itself, unmoving, without evening, without succession —

So, then, in that day the Lord alone shall be exalted, when every proud disposition shall fall, and all the brightness of the blessed powers shall be swallowed up in obscurity by the surpassing radiance of that glory.

When the true Height has been manifested, all things shall be reckoned as lowly.

Understand what is being said by means of some example drawn from ordinary life.

Suppose there is a city of craftsmen, who from their day-to-day labor scarcely provide for themselves the necessities of life;

and suppose that there are among them some who are better-off than those in extreme poverty, who are for the time being deemed fortunate by the destitute, and looked up to.

Then suppose that some king should come to visit the city, the richest of all kings, possessing much gold, much silver, and many precious stones, some set upon his royal regalia, others put forward for display;

a certain beauty of garments and an inconceivable abundance, a multitude of servants and bodyguards exceeding all number;

an untold quantity of camels and mules carrying his wealth as baggage;

horses adorned with gold and purple coverings, some serving him, others leading the procession—

would he not despise the wealth of others by comparison with the one who surpasses them? And would he not testify that glory and wealth belong to the truly rich man alone? So then, to the degree that the height and greatness of the wisdom and power of God is hidden, so many things will seem lofty and great to those established in the utmost poverty;

but when that which is truly wise and truly powerful is revealed, no one will any longer be reckoned either wise or powerful.

Thus once Moses too confessed himself to be feeble of voice and slow of tongue, since he heard God speaking to him.

And Abraham, when he saw God, confessed himself to be earth and ashes.

Therefore no one who is deemed worthy to gaze upon the goodness and wisdom of God will be able to attest wisdom or power either to himself or to another.

For all the saints are like the light of a lamp at steady noonday, outshone by the sun.

"For the day of the Lord is upon every insolent and proud one."

Perhaps insolence and pride are the first sin;

if indeed the devil, growing insolent through the surfeit of the good things around him, revolted from God and drew away with himself the opposing powers, saying:

"Above the stars I will set my throne;"

"and I will sit on a lofty mountain, upon the lofty mountains toward the north;"

"I will ascend above the clouds, I will be like the Most High."

And indeed, if anyone, having become puffed up, has fallen into the condemnation of the devil, he will be condemned together with the author and, as it were, the fashioner of pride;

"For the Lord resists the proud."

It seems, in a way, that insolence is the beginning of pride.

For the one who spits upon others and holds them of no account—supposing some to be poor, others of low birth, others ignorant—is carried by this insolence toward thinking that he alone is wise, prudent, noble, rich, and powerful, taking his disdain of others as the starting point for becoming proud.

For this is what it means to be proud: to attempt to appear above the many.

And in doing this, he counts his neighbor as nothing, but exalts himself with a false dignity.

And so insolence is the beginning of pride, and pride is the evil offspring of insolence.

For sins that are akin to one another are punished in a similar manner.

Therefore the notorious day of the Lord will bring vengeance upon every insolent and proud one.

But we wretched ones, being occupied every day in these evils, do not even understand what manner of evils we are committing.

"Revilers will not inherit the kingdom of God."

And we too revile, not understanding, even in the very act of reviling, that these words which I now let loose will stand against me on the day of the Lord, and will cut off my path, and will become like a little wall that cannot be surmounted.

Who among us does not exalt himself? Who does not spit upon his neighbor? But insolence is something more than reviling.

For the one is a dishonor of the tongue alone;

but insolence also carries the intent, carried out through deeds, to bring shame upon those who are insulted.

and indeed there is danger even for the one who is now humble to be transformed into the loftiness of the proud;

for the very supposition about oneself that one has come to the utmost point of humility is itself an occasion for exaltation, and for the one who seems very much to be in sins to become puffed up is a terrible pride—the very thing the Pharisee suffered against the Publican.

"And upon everyone lofty and lifted up."

The lofty one and the lifted-up one belong to the same wickedness, differing from the insolent and the proud only in their relation to others.

For the one employs insolence and pride against others;

but the other, even while alone, exalts himself, and lifts himself up in the vanity of his mind, and raises himself on high.

And so that you may understand precisely what I mean by "lifted up," recall to yourself, in the vanity of your youth, whether you ever, being alone by yourself, formed a notion of your life and pursuits;

You clothed yourself with wealth, you built houses, you laid up gold and silver;

you gathered estates, bringing you so many and so many talents each year;

you had countless household servants, crafts of every kind, and the revenues arising from these;

herds of horses, flocks and droves of cattle, and the wealth arising from these;

a wife and children, and their offspring;

you did good to your friends, you warded off your enemies;

you ruled cities, then nations, and at last you even became king.

Do you see how, through frivolity, such a mind becomes lofty and lifted up? It is fixed nowhere, but is borne beyond what is possible, beyond nature.

Therefore the terrors of that day are threatened also against those who are lifted up.

"For (he says) elation of mind is a sin."

For hear the Lord saying:

"O Lord (he says), my heart was not exalted, nor were my eyes lifted up."

There is, however, also a praiseworthy way of being exalted, when you are not petty, nor concerned with lowly things, but with your mind roused and adorned, by the stature of virtue, with magnanimity and greatness of thought.

Such a loftiness of mind is acceptable—that which is not brought low in afflictions, that which looks down upon the things of earth.

Such is the one whose citizenship is in the heavens, whose heart is set aflutter toward the treasures that are there.

And this loftiness of mind seems to bear the same difference toward the elation that arises from conceit, as true good health bears toward the swelling of the flesh that arises from dropsy;

for the body is indeed swollen, but it is festering beneath and diseased.

But why cedars? And why cedars "of Lebanon"? Cedars are a plant that bears useless fruit, growing to the greatest height and always increasing further with the passage of time, neither aging easily nor readily rotting away.

And Lebanon was of old a mountain of idolatry.

Therefore, in order to show us the destructive powers lurking there, he called the heights of wickedness "cedars of Lebanon"—those which raise themselves up against the knowledge of God, concerning which the Psalm also says: "The Lord shall break the cedars of Lebanon."

For even in cases of being puffed up, there is either some plausible cause producing the elation, or one that is altogether unreasonable.

For instance, one is proud of himself on account of self-control, is proud on account of chastity, is proud on account of perseverance in prayers.

He does wrong in being proud beyond what he ought, yet his elation has a certain consistency to it.

Such a one is indeed a lofty plant, but a fruitful one.

But the one who, without any good work, is lifted up on account of wealth, or noble birth, or bodily strength, is a cedar, exulting in a fruitless and useless life.

There are, however, also cedars that are praised.

"The trees of the Lord shall be satisfied, the cedars of Lebanon which he planted."

And into the doxology are taken up both fruit-bearing trees and all cedars alike, so that it may be shown that nothing is evil by nature, nor estranged from God, but each thing, on account of its own cause, either departs from God or is made akin to him.

but at another time, when, having abandoned its former ways, it becomes worthy of being sanctified.

In general, however, both the characters of animals and the kinds of plants are taken up to represent the variety of human moral choice.

"And upon every oak of Bashan."

The mention of another plant, to indicate human life that is threatened with falling under judgment.

For common usage also likens hard and unyielding characters, disposed in opposition and contentiousness toward everything, to an oak.

This tree bears fruit, but it is food for pigs.

For they interpret "Bashan" as meaning "shame."

Those, then, whose glory of fruitfulness is shame — upon these too shall the day of the Lord come.

And indeed we find idolatry too called "shame," as in the Third Book of Kingdoms Elijah says to Ahab:

"And now send and gather to me all Israel at Mount Carmel, and the prophets of shame and the prophets of the groves, four hundred men, who eat at the table of Jezebel."

Since, then, "every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire," the day of the Lord threatens the trees of shame too, as a fearful thing.

"Og" is interpreted as "a barrier," since the works of shame block off from us the way of salvation.

For fornicators and adulterers and the effeminate and those who lie with men, and all workers of shame, are ruled by Og, who works separation from God;

whom the Lord crushes, for the freedom of those held captive.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, to him who struck great kings and slew mighty kings, Sihon and Og."

"And upon every mountain, and upon every hill, and upon every high tower."

Just as mountains differ from hills in magnitude, but in every other respect are the same as one another, so too the opposing powers resemble one another in intention, but differ in the magnitude of their wrongdoings.

Reasonably, then, the day of the Lord Sabaoth shall stand against these also.

What does "And upon every tower" mean? A tower is a high watchtower, suited for the guarding of a city and for the discerning of hostile attacks.

Such is also the mind given to us — one that guards good things, and foresees those who lie in wait against us.

This mind ought not, by itself nor through earthly things, contrive an ascent to heaven;

for the Lord comes down to it as it lies fallen below because of its arrogance, and scatters its agreement with evil, for its benefit and salvation.

Concerning the building of this tower, the Lord commands us to sit down and calculate whether we have what is needed for its completion, as the very context of the Gospel makes clear.