Commentary on Isaiah 2

II. 'The word that came to Isaiah the son of Amos.'

From this it is clear that they did not utter all the prophecies at one time, but, being inspired at various seasons, they proclaimed certain sections, which, being afterward compiled together, made one complete book.

And this will be clear and plain to us not from this alone, but also from the fact that, as he goes on, he marks the seasons, now saying:

'In the year in which Nathan came into Azotus';

'And it came to pass in the year in which King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.'

For the prophecies were not compiled together at one time, as were the Epistles of Paul and the Gospels, but, as I said before, in various seasons.

Wherefore also he begins the discourse afresh from another point.

And not for this reason only, but also because the subject of which he is about to speak is far removed from what was said before, and is of a loftier kind.

For he discourses to us concerning the calling of the Gentiles, and the illustriousness of the preaching, and the knowledge that shall be spread throughout the whole inhabited world, and the peace that shall lay hold upon the earth.

And if, being about to touch upon such doctrines, he makes mention of Judea and Jerusalem, there is nothing strange in it.

For what was said was a prophecy, veiled for the time by the designation of those names.

When David was about to compose the seventy-first psalm, he inscribed it to Solomon, yet as he went on he sang of things far greater than the worth of Solomon—indeed, greater than the nature of all men.

For the words, 'His name endures before the sun,' and 'His throne before the moon,' and all such things, no one, not even of the exceedingly foolish, would say are spoken of human nature.

And Jacob too, when he foretold these very things which Isaiah is now about to say, and even more than these—

for together with the calling of the Gentiles he spoke also of the death and the resurrection and the time at which He was to be present—

he too did not set these things forth stripped bare, but, hiding beneath the mask of the appellation of Judah what he was about to say, he thus foretold them, seeming indeed to predict what should befall Judah;

but, as the outcome of events testifies, foretelling what Christ was about to accomplish.

For neither did Judah become the expectation of the Gentiles, nor did the tribe then shine forth when their commonwealth failed;

but all these things came to pass when Christ was present.

But if the Jews should shamelessly evade this rule of prophecy, they would most readily be refuted even from the very things spoken, if anyone, unfolding the prophecies with exactness and examining every saying with the fitting attention, should fit what is said to what has come to pass.

But so that I may shut their mouths even out of superabundance—not from the things spoken concerning Christ, but from the things prophesied concerning their own patriarchs—I will try to make this plain, showing that many of the prophecies were spoken indeed to the tribal heads, but had their fulfillment in those descended from them.

And having told, by way of example, one and a second history, I will lay hold of the matters before us.

For when Jacob, having called Simeon and Levi, foretold what should befall them, he spoke thus:

'Simeon and Levi are brethren'; and having accused them of the lawlessness and the unjust slaughter committed against the Shechemites, he goes on to say:

'I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.'

But no one could see this coming to pass in the case of Levi and Simeon themselves, but rather in the tribes descended from them.

For indeed the tribe of Levi was scattered, since each of the tribes held a tenth part of it;

and that of Simeon, which suffered almost this same thing, was stretched out among them all according to the allotment, and did not, like each of the others, receive its inheritance joined together and consolidated into itself.

And Jacob, having received blessings from his father, himself enjoyed none of them.

For his father foretold great prosperity and perpetual dominion over Esau;

yet this man both lacked the necessities and was fed while serving as a hireling, and was so far from prevailing over his brother that he was even in peril of the utmost extremities; and having once met him only with much fear, he was content to be able to escape him and be saved.

What then shall we say to these things? That the prophecy is false? God forbid!

but rather that such is its custom in many places, namely, to speak of things that shall come to pass concerning some, while other persons are set forth as the subject, and to use one set of names in place of another;

which also came to pass in the case of Canaan.

For neither do we see him serving his brothers, nor indeed the curse falling out upon him, but rather taking its fulfillment upon the Gibeonites, who were of those descended from Canaan.

For indeed what was said was, in the form of a curse, a prophecy.

Since, then, there are so many and such examples demonstrating to us that many of the things spoken are said indeed concerning some but come to pass concerning others, and that the prophets use one set of names for another, what wonder is it if now too the prophet, having set forth the name of Judea and Jerusalem, foretells concerning the Church? For indeed, since his discourse was addressed to ungrateful men who slew prophets, burned the books, and razed the altars, fittingly the veil lay upon the reading of the Old Testament, according to the blessed one.

For indeed they would even have made the books to vanish, had they understood the power of the prophecy concerning Christ.

For where they did not stand in awe of Him even when He was present and working wonders and furnishing full proof of His own power and of His concord and unanimity with the Father, nor did they desist until they crucified Him, hardly then would they have spared those who spoke concerning Him—men whom even apart from this they were continually stoning.

For this reason, cleaving to the names familiar and known to them, they overshadow the prophecies with this mask.

For that the discourse is not about Judaea and Jerusalem, we shall come to know accurately by bringing forward each word into the midst and examining what has been said.

For it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord shall be made manifest.

Observe the precision of the prophet, who does not merely tell the events, but also marks out the time.

But when the fullness of the times had come; and again elsewhere:

Unto a dispensation of the fullness of the times—this is what the prophet means.

By 'mountain' he calls the Church and the invincibility of her doctrines.

For just as against mountains, though countless armies assail them, stretching their bows and hurling their spears and bringing up siege-engines, they can do those mountains no harm at all, but will depart having exhausted their own strength;

so too all those who have made war upon the Church have not shaken her, but have been put to shame having lost their own power—undone in the very striking, and grown weak in the very casting, and in the very doing overcome by those who suffered.

This indeed is a paradoxical manner of victory, and one possible not to men, but to God alone.

For the marvel of the Church is not that she conquered, but that she conquered even in this way.

For being driven, persecuted, cut down in countless ways, she was not only not diminished, but even became greater, and by their very suffering alone brought to nought those who attempted to do these things.

This is what the diamond does to iron, by the mere being struck breaking down the strength of the one who strikes;

and like goads to those who kick against them, which themselves become nothing the blunter thereby, but make bloody the feet of those who kick.

For this reason, then, he called it a mountain.

But if the Jew will not accept the metaphor, let him receive the refutation again from his own household.

For this very same prophet said that wolves and lambs would share the same pasture, and that God would hiss for the flies and for the bees, and would bring up a rushing river upon the Jews, because they were unwilling to have the water of Siloam.

If anyone should take these things according to the letter, they contain much that is beyond comprehension;

but one must, receiving the things signified by them, so trace out the varied sequence of the thoughts.

What then are the things signified by these? By the wolves and the lambs, the dispositions of men, the beastlike and the gentle;

and by the flies, the shamelessness of the Egyptians;

and by the river, the violence of the barbarian's campaign;

and by Siloam, the mildness and forbearance of the one who then ruled over the nation of the Jews.

And no one, not even of the exceedingly foolish, will gainsay us in these things.

For just as those things were intimated under other names, so also the Church's firmness, immovability, loftiness, and invincibility he hinted at through the appellation of 'mountain.'

For another prophet also likens those who trust in God to a mountain, showing forth their invincibility.

This no longer needs any interpretation from discourse.

So does the very nature of the events send forth a voice brighter than a trumpet, displaying the conspicuousness of the Church.

For not so radiant is the sun, nor the light that comes from it, as are the affairs of the Church.

And the house of God shall be upon the tops of the mountains.

How could the Jew interpret this? For nowhere did the temple stand upon the tops of the mountains;

the power of the Church, however, touched the very heavens.

And just as a house situated above the summit of mountains is conspicuous to all, so much more has she become manifest to all men.

And it shall be exalted above the hills.

This very same thing he has interpreted again.

which never befell the temple, not even when it seemed to prosper best.

For how could it, seeing that it was often dishonored even by the Jews themselves, and was destroyed by barbarian hands? But the strength of the Church was warred against more grievously and more severely than that;

yet it never yielded to the hands of those who warred against it, but became all the more lofty and conspicuous precisely because of its enemies.

Then indeed the multitudes of the martyrs, then the throngs of the confessors, then the souls firmer than iron were displayed, and they shone more brightly than the very stars, their bodies being cut to pieces, but their resolve not being conquered, but rather prevailing and being crowned.

Who has seen, who has heard of slaughter that brings a crown, and of a killing that works victory, and of an army that became more splendid at the very time when more of them appeared to be slain by the enemy? And all the nations shall come to it.

As he goes on, the prophet becomes clearer and more fully uncovers the discourse, and shows the prophecy more distinctly, and more precisely stitches shut the mouths of the Jews.

For this, even if they should be exceedingly shameless, they will not be able to make fit the temple of the Jews.

For indeed it was forbidden, and with the utmost strictness prevented, that the nations should enter into the temple.

And why do I speak of entering into the temple, when the Law with much threatening forbade even to them intermixings with the nations, and exacted the extreme penalty for these things? At any rate the prophet Malachi expended his whole prophecy upon this, accusing, threatening, demanding an account for the unbefitting marriage-alliance.

But our affairs are not such; rather, with all confidence the Church has thrown open her bosom, and with upturned hands each day receives all the nations of the inhabited world.

For this the first teachers of the doctrines were also commanded by the Only-Begotten, having straightway heard this voice:

Go and make disciples of all the nations.

But consider for me how the prophet hinted not only at the calling of the nations, but also at their obedience with eagerness.

which another prophet, showing forth more plainly, said:

And they shall not teach, each one his fellow-citizen, and each one his brother, saying:

Know the Lord; for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

For in the case of the Jews, the creation was made to change its elements, and there were continual threats and unceasing chastisements and miracles one after another and the running to and fro of prophets and the fear of the lawgiver and threats of wars and the onslaughts of barbarians and God-sent wraths and terrors dispatched from the heavens;

yet they remained stiff-necked and uncircumcised, as the Scripture says, unbending and hard to yield;

but in the case of the nations, a bare word sufficed and hearing alone, and all straightway ran forward.

This very thing David also, intimating it, said:

A people whom I knew not served me;

and, marveling at the manner of the obedience, he added:

At the hearing of the ear they obeyed me.

This very thing Jacob also, showing it forth more enigmatically, said:

Binding to the vine his foal, and to the tendril the foal of his ass.

And yet who has seen a foal bound to a tendril and standing beside a vine and not spoiling the fruit? Among irrational creatures, no one; but among men this has come to pass with great precision.

For the Jews, though bound with countless bonds, shattered the yoke, tore apart the bond, as the prophet says;

but the nations, though bound by no such necessity, readily obeyed, like a foal bound to a tendril, and did nothing to spoil the commandments, but stood by, displaying much obedience.

And many peoples shall go and shall say:

Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob.

Behold them dancing and keeping festival and urging one another on and all becoming teachers;

and not one and a second and a third, but many nations running together.

For many peoples shall come, he says, and from diverse regions—which never happened in the case of the Jews;

and some did come, a few proselytes at one time, and they too with much ado, and they were never called 'nations,' but 'proselytes.'

For proselytes shall come over to you and shall be servants to you, he says.

But if the prophet persists in the metaphor, calling it a 'mountain' and 'the house of the God of Jacob,' do not marvel.

For, as I said before, the prophecy now sets its meaning ajar, and now again casts it into shadow;

the one, that it may furnish the more discerning with occasions to perceive what is being said;

the other, that it may restrain the disorderly rush of the perverse;

and on every side he diversifies his discourse.

But if he spoke of the God of Jacob, be not troubled, beloved;

for indeed the Only-begotten Son of God was the God of Jacob.

For it was he who both gave the Law and worked all the wonders that concerned them;

and this one may see most clearly from the Old Testament itself, since with the Jews there is no reckoning at all of the New.

'I will make with you a new covenant, not according to the covenant which I made with your fathers';

showing that of both laws he himself was the lawgiver.

And that he it was who delivered them from Egypt, he added:

'In the day when I took hold of their hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt.'

But if he himself brought them out, then all those wonders both in Egypt and in the wilderness he himself performed.

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

Do you see them seeking some other law? For Scripture is wont to call the commandments of God a 'way';

but if he were speaking of the former Covenant, he would not have said this;

for that was manifest and clear and familiar to all.

And that we do not say these things out of subtle contrivance, what has been said is enough to persuade even the utterly shameless.

For since he mentioned only a 'way', he says also what kind of way it is, and sets down many marks of it.

'For out of Zion shall go forth a law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem.'

Against these things even the utterly shameless sons of the Jews will not be able to open their mouth.

For that these things are said concerning the New Covenant, one may perceive from the place, from the time, from those who received the law, from the matter that came after the law, and simply from every side.

And first from the place, the mount of Zion.

For the law given through Moses was given to their forefathers on Mount Sinai.

How then does he here say 'Out of Zion'? And he was not content with this alone, but added also the time.

Not 'A law went forth', but 'A law shall go forth', which is of future time and of a matter not yet come to pass.

But when the prophet was saying these things, the law had been given many years before;

while the law of the New was to be given many years afterward.

Not 'It went forth', but 'It shall go forth', that is, after these things.

And again he takes refuge in the place itself, saying:

'And the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem.'

With precision he here sets down for us the distinguishing mark of the New Covenant.

For indeed at one time, seated on the mount, he was legislating the lofty commands worthy of the heavens, and at another time abiding in Jerusalem.

Having therefore named both the place and the time, he adds also those who were to receive him, on every side sewing up the mouths of the gainsayers.

Who then are those who were to receive him? Was it the people of the Hebrews and the sons of the Jews? By no means, but those from the nations.

'And he shall judge among the nations.'

For this is most especially of a law, to give judgment to those who contend.

But that the discourse is not concerning the Old, is clear from the very facts.

For we neither keep the Sabbath, nor have we received circumcision, nor their feasts, nor any other of the old things.

For we heard Paul saying that 'If you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing';

'You observe days, and months, and seasons, and years? I am afraid lest I have laboured over you in vain.'

Whence it is clear that the discourse is concerning the New, for that he judges among the nations, even as Paul also says:

'In the day when God shall judge the secret things of men.'

according to the Old Covenant? By no means, but:

You saw that the words are different,

but the meanings agree? Isaiah says:

'He shall judge according to my gospel',

those who contend and transgress.

And declaring this, Christ said:

'It is not I who will judge you, but the word which I have spoken, that shall judge you.'

'And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles.'

'And nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.'

The prophet was not content with the former signs.

For great is the abundance of the truth.

For this reason he sets down also another token of the New Covenant, shining throughout the whole inhabited world.

And what is this? Peace, and the abolishing of wars.

For when these things come to pass, he says, so great a good order shall seize the inhabited world, that even the weapons of war themselves shall be forged into implements of husbandry;

which in the times of the Jews no one could see to have come to pass, but rather the very opposite of all.

For throughout the whole time of their commonwealth they never ceased warring and being warred upon, the enemies coming against them both at long intervals and at short.

For indeed those dwelling in the neighbourhood, and still more those in Palestine itself, often brought grievous troubles upon them, and brought them to the very brink of the utmost peril.

And these things the history of the Kingdoms plainly declares, being woven throughout entirely out of wars;

and all the prophets declare them, both reporting these things that came to pass, and foretelling them before they came to pass;

and from the very day, so to speak, on which they were delivered from the tyranny of the Egyptians, they lived the whole time in wars.

But it is not so now; rather there is great peace throughout the inhabited world.

And if some wars do arise, yet not in like manner as before.

For then cities were dashed against cities, and lands against lands, and peoples were broken against peoples, and one nation was cut apart into many portions.

And whoever reads the book of Joshua and that of the Judges will know how many wars Palestine then received in a short time.

And this was not the only hardship, but that the law commanded all to take up arms, and no one was exempt from this service.

And not among the Jews only did this law prevail, but also everywhere in the inhabited world;

seeing that even orators and philosophers, possessing nothing more than a rough tunic, when war called, both handled the shield and stood in the line of battle.

Socrates the son of Sophroniscus, for instance, who shone most brightly among the Athenians for his freedom from public affairs and for his philosophy, nevertheless once and twice took his stand in the battle line.

And Demosthenes, the very chief of the orators among them, would often go forth from the speaker's platform to war.

But if no law exempted even orators and philosophers from making war, hardly would any other man of the people have enjoyed this immunity.

But now one would see none of these things happening.

For since the Sun of righteousness has shone forth, cities and peoples and all nations are so far from living amid such dangers that they do not even know how to handle any warlike matter; but sitting within cities and walls, they learn of the affairs of wars only from afar, and every people lives in freedom and exemption from this most bitter service.

And if even now wars do happen anywhere, they occur far off and toward the outermost bounds of the Roman empire, not city by city and region by region as before.

For at that time, as I said before, even within a single nation countless uprisings continually arose, and wars involving many parties;

but now all the land upon which the sun looks down, from the Tigris to the British Isles, this whole earth, and along with it Libya and Egypt and the nation of the Palestinians, or rather everything under Roman rule —

you know how these cities enjoy complete security, learning of wars only by hearsay.

For Christ could indeed have destroyed even the remnants of war, but He left the raids of the barbarians to be a means of chastening for those who are slothful and grow more careless because of peace.

And the prophet too, for those able to discern accurately, hinted at this very thing which I said before,

namely, that uprisings would no longer occur within a short span of time.

For he did not say, 'There shall be no war at all,' but what? 'Nation shall not lift up sword against nation';

and he added the freedom of the peoples, saying, 'Neither shall they learn war any more'; indeed we do not know how to make war, except for a few soldiers appointed for this purpose.

'And now you, O house of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.'

'For He gave up His people, the house of Jacob.'

Having completed the prophecy concerning the Church, he again passes over to the historical narrative, as though holding fast to the words that follow.

For this is the custom of the prophets: to veil the prophecy not only by the obscurity of what is said, but also by the manner of its sequence.

Therefore he does not even make his discourse complete, but as though drawing out one single chain, he passes over again to the admonition of the Jews, and says:

'And now you, O house of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord';

that is, in His commandments, in His law.

For the commandment of the law is a lamp and light and life and reproof and instruction:

'The commandment of the Lord is radiant, enlightening the eyes';

'Your law is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths.'

And everywhere one may see the law thus named.

'You are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light of those in darkness, an instructor of the foolish.'

For the rays of the sun do not so guide the eyes of our body as the commandments of the law illumine the eyes of the soul.

Therefore the prophet, showing that even before the recompense and before the reward, in the very fulfilling of them the commandments furnish us with their reward, called them light.

For just as the eye profits in the very act of being enlightened, so also the soul, in the very act of obeying the law, reaps the greatest fruits, being cleansed and delivered from vice and ascending to virtue itself;

just as, on the contrary, those who transgress, even before their punishment, in the very act of transgressing pay the penalty, being in a more wretched condition than those who sit in darkness, filled with fear and trembling and an evil conscience, dreading and trembling in the very midst of noonday before all men — before those who share their guilt, and before those who share in nothing.

'For He gave up His people, the house of Jacob';

that is, He let them alone, forsook them, overlooked them, stripped them of His providence.

Then, having stricken them with fear, he states also the cause, so that they might set right what had been done.

What then is the cause? 'Because their land was filled with divinations, like the land of the foreigners.'

For before, he charged them with hucksterism and love of money and contempt for widows;

but here he charges them also with wicked doctrines and remnants of impiety, which little by little dragged them down toward the delusion of the demons.

Then, in reaching them, he did not say simply that they practice divination, but that 'their land was filled.'

'Their wickedness once again increased to great excess,' he says.

'A people,' not simply sinful, but —

'Full of sins'; so also here.

Then again, intensifying the reproach, he added:

'From the beginning' — when? When they had not known God, when they had not received the law, when they had had no experience of His beneficence, when they lived among the nations — which was a matter of the utmost condemnation: that they should be in no better condition now, after so great a providence and care, than those who had enjoyed none of these things.

And he did not even stop here, but, to strike them with dismay, he added again,

making the accusation more grievous by the comparison of persons.

This is what Paul too is accustomed continually to do:

'But concerning those who have fallen asleep, I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, so that you may not grieve, as also the rest who have no hope';

'that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the passion of lust.'

And he was not content with this, but added, saying:

'even as also the rest of the nations that do not know God.'

For this kind of word is especially wont to sting even those who have utterly collapsed.

those who have utterly given themselves up.

But if the Jews are charged with these things, what pardon should we obtain, what defense could we make — we who, after so great a grace and unspeakable honor and immortal hopes, fall into the same delusion as they? For even now there are many afflicted with this disease and destroying their own life, who, giving themselves over to the irrationality of divinations, together with offending God, both reap superfluous griefs and grow slack toward the labors that are for virtue's sake.

For the devil has been eager to persuade the more foolish, through all these means, that matters of virtue and of vice do not rest with themselves, nor are they honored with any freedom of choice; and wishing to accomplish these two most shameful things — both to slacken their labors on behalf of virtue and to take away from them the greatest gift, that of freedom —

he introduced this grievous disease into human life through divinations, through omens, through the observance of days, through the wicked doctrine of fate, and through many other means, turning everything upside down.

For this reason the prophet also stood vehemently accusing, so as to tear up the affliction by the very roots.

'And many alien children were born to them.'

Alien children? There was a law laid down for them from of old, because of the slipperiness of their disposition and the ease with which their mind was deceived, that they should not mingle with any of the rest of mankind, lest such kinships should become an occasion of impiety.

For since they were not only unable to set others right, but were not even able to ward off the harm coming from others, He walled them in with the law and separated them from mingling with the rest, and shaped and disciplined them apart by themselves;

for it was to be desired that, being thus led, they might be able to preserve the polity given to them by God.

But just as they transgressed the other commandments, so too, disregarding this one, they went over to alliances with their neighbors and took brides from there — from the Moabites, from the Ammonites, from other impious nations — and, embracing other kinships, they received teachers of wickedness and corrupted the purity of their noble descent.

This, then, the prophet charges them with, along with the rest.

'For their land was filled,' he says, 'with silver and gold, and there was no number of their treasures.'

'And their land was filled with horses, and there was no number of their chariots.'

And what sort of accusation is this — someone might perhaps say — to have money and to possess horses, especially in that generation, when there was not much exactness of philosophy? What then shall we say? That he was not disparaging the use of them, but the disposition which employed them not as it ought.

'Woe to the mighty' — he does not blame their power, but those who use their power wickedly;

so indeed also here: not that they possessed money, but that with much abundance and beyond need they were amassing it.

'There was,' he says, 'no number of their treasures.'

And not this only, but that, puffed up with wealth and with the power of their horses, they were little by little dragged away from their hope in God — which the prophet also said to them elsewhere:

'Woe to those who trust in their power and boast in the multitude of their wealth.'

'A king is not saved by great power, and a giant shall not be saved by the multitude of his strength.'

And again in another psalm he says:

He shall not delight in the strength of the horse, neither shall He take pleasure in the legs of a man.

The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him.

And the land was filled with the abominations of the works of their hands, and they worshipped the things which their own fingers had made.

Like a wise physician, the prophet declares the cause of the disease and the fountain of the malady before the disease itself.

For being about to denounce their impiety, he first set forth the origins of their sickness—covetousness, arrogance, and unlawful mixings—showing that from these they were little by little tripped up into the pit of destruction and came to worship idols.

Of the works of their hands.

For what could be more ridiculous than when a man becomes the maker of a god? And Scripture is accustomed to call idols an abomination;

hence also the statue that stood upon the temple is called 'the abomination of desolation.'

'For when you see,' He says, 'the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place'—

For since He had led them away from being stirred up toward things perceived by the senses, He forbade them to make any graven image;

and He called this an abomination, restraining them from afar from impiety;

for to abominate is to hate exceedingly, as something unclean, as something accursed.

Therefore that which is hateful and worthy of aversion is in Scripture called an abomination.

And they worshipped the things which their own fingers had made.

And the man bowed down, and the man of rank was humbled.

For just as the worship of God lifts one up to a height, so the worship of those idols debases and casts down.

For what is more lowly than a man who has fallen from salvation, and has the God of all things as his enemy, and stoops beneath lifeless objects and pays service to stones? For God has raised us to such great honour as to make us higher even than the heavens;

but the devil strove to drag down to such worthlessness those who obeyed him, as to make them more senseless than senseless things.

And the man bowed down, and the man of rank was humbled.

This accusation alone would have sufficed to lead the man of sense away from the malady.

But since many of mankind dread not sins so much as punishments, he added also the chastisement, saying:

'I will not condone it,' He says, 'I will not let it go, I will not overlook it, but I will demand penalties and a reckoning for the offences committed.'

And now enter into the rocks and hide yourselves in the earth from before the face of the fear of the Lord.

Having sufficiently ridiculed the folly of those who worship idols, and having shown from the manner of their fabrication both the madness of those men and the weakness of the idols, he strives again in his discourse, committing the examination of what has been said to the actual experience of events, and he says:

This very fact alone—that they came into being at the hands of men—would have sufficed to show the folly of those who are deceived;

but since, as though stupefied by some drunkenness of impiety, they are blinded to things manifest and plain, such evils shall overtake the city as to teach even the exceedingly senseless how great is the weakness of those idols and how great the power of God.

For this very reason, before speaking of the war, he tells of the things that will result from it, bidding them enter into the rocks and sink down beneath the earth itself—not that they should do this, but that from these words they might learn how unbearable is the wrath then borne down from God.

'For hide yourselves,' He says, 'in the earth from before the face of the fear of the Lord and from the glory of His might, when He rises up to shatter the earth.'

He did not say simply 'from His might,' but:

From the glory of His might.

For such are His achievements, such His trophies, possessing great splendour and brilliance.

Here it seems to me that he signifies the victory in the time of Hezekiah, calling the multitude of men 'earth,' and their downfall 'a shattering,' and God's 'rising up' His going forth to their aid.

Since David also speaks thus:

Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered;

Arise, O God, judge the earth;

characterizing the workings of God from human figures of speech.

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

Then, so that none of those who heard at that time might disbelieve what was said (for what was about to happen was far beyond hope and higher than any expectation), he took refuge in the power of the One who acts and the worthlessness of those who suffer.

'For there is nothing,' he says, 'higher than God, nor anything more worthless than men.'

Do not therefore be perplexed if this great and mighty One shall be able thus suddenly to humble the worthless.

The eyes of the Lord are lofty.

'The eyes of the Lord'—as though His mere glance suffices to bring down all that opposes Him;

which David also said in another place:

He who looks upon the earth and makes it tremble;

and again another prophet:

I will look toward Him, and I shall prevail over him.

And the loftiness of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

For when that marvellous victory had come to pass, and those splendid and wondrous trophies, the demons were refuted, and the idols were dishonoured, and the false prophets were silenced, and the tyranny of the barbarians was broken up, and every mouth that opposed God was stopped.

Henceforth there will be no one to contradict, nor anyone in doubt concerning the power of God, since the demonstration afforded by the events has become so utterly plain.

For the height of His nature is perpetual, never having had a beginning, but ever existing;

but He is said to be exalted in the understanding of men, when those who contradict and oppose, being persuaded by the very demonstration of events, bow down and offer the fitting praise.

For the day of the Lord of Hosts comes upon every insolent and proud one, and upon everyone that is lofty and lifted up, and they shall be brought low.

And upon every cedar of Lebanon of the lofty and lifted up, and upon every oak of Bashan.

And upon every high mountain, and upon every high wall.

And upon every lofty tower.

And upon every ship of the sea, and upon every fair sight of ships.

And the loftiness of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

By 'wall' here, and 'cedar,' and 'hill,' and 'oak,' he means the men of power, indicating their dominion metaphorically by the height of these trees;

and by saying 'ship' and 'fair sight of ships,' he hints at the wealthier among them.

And what he means to say is this:

that every strong man, every man of power, every general, everyone clothed with wealth, indeed, so to speak, all the comeliness and strength of men shall then depart and be dissolved;

and nothing at all shall thus avail to escape the wrath of God—not strength of body, not experience in war, not abundance of riches, not the trappings of power, not a multitude of an army, nor anything else of the kind.

He speaks of 'cedars of Lebanon' for this reason, either because this tree grows there most abundantly, or because the events took place nearby;

and by 'fair sight of ships,' the comeliness of the generals adorned with wealth and weapons and bodyguards.

And it seems to me that he also hints at the long-distance expedition of the barbarians.

And all the handmade things they shall hide away, carrying them into the caves and into the clefts of the rocks and into the holes of the earth, from before the face of the fear of the Lord and from the glory of His might, when He rises up to shatter the earth.

For so far, he says, will their gods be from affording them any alliance, that they will even need help from men and the safety of places, so as not to be captured;

From before the face of the fear of the Lord and from the glory of His might, when He rises up to shatter the earth.

For lest anyone should reckon these things to the incursion of the barbarians, or suppose the fear to belong to the strength of those men, he raises the discourse up to the God of all, saying that He Himself is the commander of this war, and that from Him comes the power, in the midst of so great a peril arising from the offences already committed.

For in that day a man shall cast forth his abominations, the silver and the golden ones which they made for themselves that they might worship their vanities and the bats, so as to enter into the solid rocks and into the clefts of the rocks, from before the face of the fear of the Lord and from the glory of his strength, when he shall arise to shatter the earth.

He held them up to ridicule effectively, showing them hiding themselves together with their gods and burrowing into the earth, and showing that the costliness of the material could avail nothing against the calamity that pressed upon them.

He called the idols bats, either on account of their weakness, or because of the darkened nature of the error,

and because everything is done in secret by the demons.

For just as to bats the sun and the light are hostile, while the night and the darkness are dear,

so also to the demons and to those who are deceived by them, wickedness and all lawless deeds are familiar and dear, while virtue and the works of the light are hateful; and when these shine forth, they are straightway darkened, since he who lives in virtue has need of no labor or toil.

For it is enough merely to appear, and it destroys all those things.

Cease from the man in whose nostrils is breath; for wherein is he to be accounted of?

Here he seems to me to be hinting at Hezekiah, who from dread and much anguish was at his last gasp.

Since then the barbarians, having taken him as it were in their nets, thought they held their prey ready to hand and would not even need any toil for the capture of the city and the leading of him into captivity, the very opposite befell the barbarians.

Cease from the man in whose nostrils is breath;

for wherein is he to be accounted of? That is to say, he was accounted as nothing.

For indeed they hoped, as though in a swift raid, to destroy everything;

but the whole result turned out to be the opposite;

and he who was reckoned by you to be nothing, but contemptible and easy to overcome, this man shall appear more illustrious than all, enjoying the inclining favor from God.