Commentary on Isaiah 0

PROLOGUE. The surpassing excellence of this prophet may for the most part be seen even of itself; yet Paul, who knew his virtues more precisely than all, sets it forth more completely, speaking as he does by so mighty a Spirit.

For, pointing to his freedom of speech, his unenslaved spirit, his lofty mind, and the great clarity of his prophecy concerning Christ, he presented all these things in a single utterance, saying:

But Isaiah is very bold, and says:

I was found by those who did not seek me;

I became manifest to those who did not ask after me.

Great too was his fellow-feeling.

For he did not merely rise up against the madness of the people, nor with free tongue and loftier mind announce with much boldness the sorrows about to overtake them; but even amid the very calamities that befell them he grieved and was stung no less than those caught up in them, and lamented more bitterly than the captives themselves.

And such, one might say, was the character of all the prophets and the saints:

they concealed a father's tender love in their disposition toward those under their charge, and by far surpassed even the tyranny of nature.

For no one, no one who ever loved his children was so consumed with love for his offspring as these men were ready to die for those they ruled—mourning, wailing, calling upon God when their people suffered ill, being led away together with them, sharing in their terrors, doing and enduring all things, that they might rescue them both from the wrath from above and from the onrush of events.

For nothing is so fitting for the exercise of rule as a soul that is philosophic and knows how to suffer along with others.

For this reason God also raised the great Moses to the throne of leadership over the people, since he had first shown by his deeds his tender love for the people; and afterward he said:

If you will forgive them their sin, forgive it;

but if not, blot me also out of the book which you have written.

And this same man, seeing them perishing, said:

Let me alone; I will weep bitterly.

Do not prevail upon me to comfort myself over the ruin of the daughter of my people.

And Jeremiah composed long laments as well, when the city was cast down.

And Ezekiel went into exile together with them, and reckoned the foreign land lighter to bear than his own, having as the greatest solace of his misfortune the fact that he was present with the afflicted and set right the affairs of others.

And Daniel too, for the sake of their return, remained without food for twenty days and more, and displayed all earnestness, entreating God that they might be released from their bitter servitude.

And each one of the saints is seen shining forth from this very quality.

So too David, seeing that God-sent wrath being borne against the people, called down the stroke upon himself, saying:

I the shepherd have sinned, and I the shepherd have done wickedly; but these, the flock, what have they done? Let your hand be against me, and against my father's house.

And the patriarch Abraham too, though he stood far off from the evils and had nothing in common with the calamities that were to overtake those in Sodom, entreated and besought God as though he himself were set in the very midst of the terrors; nor would he have desisted from doing and saying all things to break that grievous conflagration, had not God left him and departed.

But those under the New Covenant displayed a virtue even greater than this, inasmuch as they had enjoyed a greater grace and had been called to longer contests.

For this reason Peter also, hearing Christ say that entrance into heaven is most difficult for the rich, was in anguish and trembled, and put forward a question, saying:

Who then can be saved?—and this though he was confident concerning his own affairs.

For they were not looking to their own concerns, but were anxious for those of the whole world.

And Paul shows us this throughout, in all his epistles;

he who could not endure even to see Christ before the salvation of men, speaking thus:

To depart and be with Christ is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.

Such is the character which this prophet too preserves for us, both when he utters God's decrees with much boldness, and when he rebukes those who sin, and when he continually and through lengthy discourse entreats God, who is provoked against them;

and this is especially to be seen toward the end of the prophecy; but for now it is necessary to begin with the very opening words.