Commentary on Isaiah 1 part 15/65

For he supposes that by his own forces no one will rise up against him, but that he will assuredly prevail without toil, and will be lord of every nation, none opposing him.

And to one who has a soul so insatiable, and who ever wishes to prevail over all things, even if someone should come saying:

'You alone are ruler,' that is, 'Will you then be able alone to rule over all that is under heaven?' — to this, he says, he will let loose an overweening utterance, saying this:

'In the manner that I took these, I will also take all the countries.'

Chalanne, where the tower was built by the ancients, lies in a sense in the farthest parts of the East, beyond the country and land of the Babylonians;

'thus I will take possession of the outer countries too.'

And it is necessary to recall that Rabshakeh too, when announcing the words from the king of the Assyrians, addressed those seated upon the wall:

'Thus says the king of the Assyrians:'

'Let not Hezekiah the king deceive you with words, which will not be able to deliver you;'

'and let not Hezekiah say to you, God will deliver us;'

'Did the gods of the nations, each of them, deliver his own country out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians? Where is the god of Hamath and Arphad? And where is the god of the city of Sepharvaim? Were they able to deliver Samaria out of my hand? Which of all the gods of these nations delivered his land out of my hand, that Israel should be delivered out of my hand?' Since the Assyrian therefore thought great things, and had chosen to smile scornfully at the divine wrath, he declares that he will subject him to punishments.

For the passion of boastfulness is detestable even among ourselves.

But when a man grows insolent even against the divine glory itself, then indeed, then, the 'woe' — and very justly — will be brought upon those who wish to do this.

Wail over the graven images in Jerusalem and in Samaria.

For in the manner that I dealt with Samaria and her handmade things, so will I deal also in Jerusalem and with her idols. He has just now brought in the Assyrian as having thought lofty and overweening things.

For when he had destroyed the cities of Samaria, since the falsely-named gods did not succour them, but were themselves burned down together with their sacred precincts and altars.

For this reason, therefore, and very fittingly, he carries them off into remembrance of their impious ways, and commands them to wail and to lament.

And all but astonished at the apostasy from an excessive love of God, he cries aloud:

Wail, O graven images, in Jerusalem and in Samaria.

For where the God of all ought to be honoured with fitting honours, there he is overlooked, and is deprived of the honour befitting and owed to him.

For the wretched ones, having ascribed reverence to graven images, have dared to say to the wood:

and to the stone, 'You begot me.' Therefore, as it were with astonishment, the utterance spoken came to the prophet:

that is, 'graven images in Jerusalem and in Samaria.'

Something of this sort he also says through the voice of Jeremiah concerning Jerusalem.

'Why has the beloved committed abomination in my house?' And he said somewhere also through one of the prophets:

'Ephraim is a watchman with God, the prophet is a crooked snare upon all his ways; they have set up madness in the house of the Lord.' For having established altars and handmade things in Jerusalem, they sacrificed to Baal and to the host of heaven.

'In the manner, therefore,' he says, 'that I dealt with Samaria and her handmade things, so will I deal also with Jerusalem and her idols.'

For to those whose deeds of daring are akin, an equally matched judgement would fittingly follow.

But the way for the matter, and the occasion of his prevailing, was the making of idols, that in Samaria and in Jerusalem.

For this reason, indeed, the most befitting punishments have been sought out for those accustomed to do such things.

The making of idols, then, is a grievous thing, and everywhere a procurer of the wrath from God for us, even if perchance someone should do this only in mind and heart.

For those things too draw one away from the love toward God, bewitching the heart, and dragging it toward what is not fitting.

And it shall be, when the Lord has finished doing all things in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will bring upon the great mind, the ruler of the Assyrians, and upon the loftiness of the glory of his eyes.

'I will act, and by the wisdom of understanding I will remove the boundaries of nations, and I will plunder their strength;'

'and I will shake inhabited cities, and I will seize the whole inhabited world with my hand as a nest, and as forsaken eggs I will take them up;'

'and there is none who will escape me or contradict me.' He says that the Assyrian, who thought such overweening things, will not fall outside the common lot.

For the Lord sets himself against the proud, according to what is written, and of the accusations of boastfulness he ever exacts an account from those who have grown sick with this, and he shows them to be pitiable and cast down, so that they may learn not to raise the horn on high, according to what is written;

but rather that they may become knowers of their own nature and weakness.

For when, he says, he has finished doing all things in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem — that is, when the matters of the wrath against them come to their end — then he will bring the hand, and the smiting rod, upon the great mind, the ruler of the Assyrians.

He called him a great mind, not setting the matter forth for him as praise, but rather censuring him, as being nothing else except only a God-hated arrogance.

For he has thought nothing human;

but such things as perhaps even overswim all created nature.

He will bring it, therefore, upon the loftiness of the glory of his eyes;

and by 'eyes' in this passage he means, instead, the notions, or rather the imaginings.

For these are lofty, as I said, and overweening.

But being God, and looking into the heart and the reins, and knowing the hidden things, he makes them plain to us also, and says:

By strength I will act, and by the wisdom of understanding I will remove the boundaries of nations, and I will plunder their strength, and I will shake inhabited cities.

Consider, then, how—as though he had no need of help from above—he ascribes to his own powers alone the ability to accomplish all things whatsoever he might wish.

And he supposes that he is so wise and so skilled a general that he can very easily shift to himself the boundaries of the nations, shatter their strength, make them his plunder, and cast down cities—not cities without men and left desolate, but cities that have inhabitants exceedingly many and beyond number.

And his arrogance did not stop even here.

For he wraps himself about with the boast that he will seize the whole world under heaven, and very easily, readily, and without a battle he is disposed and minded—so far at least as it entered his mind.

For I will take, he says, the whole inhabited world as a nest, and I will lift it up as eggs that have been abandoned; and there is none who shall escape me or gainsay me.

O dread disdain! O senseless reasonings!

As though it were the nest of a single sparrow he looks upon the whole world; to eggs left behind by the brooding bird he likens the dwellers over all the earth, that, coming upon them like a dragon, he may swallow them down.

He hates those who contradict him, and he does not expect that the besieged will come to any words with him whatsoever.

These things might fittingly be referred also to the very person of Satan.

For he himself is the father of pride.

He supposed that he would seize the inhabited world with none to oppose him.

But rather the outcome of affairs turned out for him wholly to the contrary.

For Christ has spoken in our defence;

and not only has He spoken for us, but He has also striven supremely on behalf of the life of all, has conquered the wicked one, and has laid him beneath the feet of the saints.

Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Shall an axe be glorified without the one who hews with it? Or shall a saw be exalted without the one who draws it? Likewise if anyone should lift up a rod or a staff.

For tell me, he says, O most foolish of all, shall an axe be glorified without the one who hews with it?

For an axe, excellently sharpened and keen, would be well suited to the task of cutting down the timber in the fields.

Would anyone, then, praise the axe as able to do this apart from the one who hews with it? And what would the saw accomplish of itself, unless someone were to draw it and thrust it back again? And if in any way one takes up a rod or a staff—

will it not likewise be so? For the rod lies upon the ground, and the staff too has been cast down; but if someone takes it up and brings it against certain persons, then indeed the works done through them will altogether come to pass.

Why then, he says, have you thought high things? Why do you raise your brow? Do you suppose that by your own power you yourself have accomplished the capture of the cities, when you were taken up in the rank of heaven by the hand that works those things—that is, plainly, by the divine hand?

Rather it is of God, who brings your cruelty, like some axe or rod or staff, against those who have offended Him.

You shall not then be, he says, as you yourself supposed.

Neither indeed shall you abide in the sameness of your glory, nor shall you luxuriate in honours so delicate.

You shall not by strength, nor by the wisdom of understanding, remove the boundaries of nations.

You shall not seize the inhabited world as abandoned eggs.

But the Lord of Sabaoth shall send dishonour upon your honour, and upon your glory a burning fire shall be kindled.

By his honour, he says, He means the army that serves under him and is subject to him.

A fire, therefore, shall come against it, he says, and shall consume your honour.

And in what manner this too came to pass, he makes clear again, and that ere long.

And the light for Israel shall be for fire, and He shall sanctify him with a burning fire, and it shall devour the wood like grass.

In that day the mountains and the hills and the thickets shall be quenched.

And it shall consume from soul to flesh.

And he that flees shall be as one fleeing from a burning flame.

But we will again make plain the meaning hidden in what lies before us, having first stated these things.

For Shalmaneser the king of the Assyrians took Samaria, and he sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem; and he, coming and besieging it, spoke to those on the wall the words of him who had sent him, and added to these his blasphemies against God, saying that God will by no means deliver Jerusalem out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians.

Being sorely distressed at such things, king Hezekiah made his supplications to God, saying:

Hearken, O Lord; look, O Lord, and behold the words of Rabshakeh, which the king of the Assyrians sent to reproach the living God.

And God promised them salvation.

And indeed an angel of the Lord went forth and slew in one night from the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand.

And when this had happened, the Assyrian was smitten with unbearable terror.

And hearing a report that Sarsatha king of the Ethiopians had come forth against his land with the very few who were left, he departed in flight.

This too the prophetic word now interprets for us enigmatically.

For the God of all became a light to Israel, in that He ordained a law with power to illuminate.

But this light, he says, that was given to Israel, shall not be light to the Assyrian armies, but shall be for a destroying fire.

And that the God of all reckons as His own and dedicated people those in Jerusalem, He will teach all men everywhere through the fire that was kindled among the Assyrians.

And this is the meaning of, He shall sanctify him with a burning fire. For what is called being sanctified will not here mean partaking of every kind of sanctification, but rather signifies that which is dedicated unto glory to God.

Sanctify to me every firstborn that opens the womb, the males to the Lord. And here the word sanctify is used in the sense of dedicate.

God, that is, will declare him dedicated to Himself and set apart, by a burning fire;

through the fire that was kindled against the Assyrians.

And by fire in these words he means the unexpected destruction.

For unless He reckoned them His own people, He would not have kindled the fire against the adversaries—the fire which also consumed the multitude of the Assyrians like grass or wood.

In that day, therefore, he says—that is, at that season—the mountains and the hills and the thickets shall be quenched, and it shall consume from soul to flesh.

To hills and thickets and mountains he well likens both the very multitude of the Assyrians and their leaders, and those who tower above the rest like hills or mountains.

But these shall be quenched;

that is, those who of old were fervent and formidable shall, even against their will, be cooled and made cold.

For this is what shall be quenched signifies.

For death shall devour them, well-nigh consuming both souls and bodies.

For that the souls are not destroyed together with the bodies is plain to everyone.

But he intimates through these words the mightiness of the wrath.

But he that flees, he says, shall be as one fleeing from a burning flame, and those left of them shall be a number, and a child shall write them down.

For very few in all, as I said, having leapt away as from a burning flame, barely fled together with the king.

And he says that they are so few in number that the ability to write them or count them off does not even exceed the mind of a child still an infant.

For the tradition of the Hebrews holds that only ten in number were left over, those who together with Rabshakeh reported what had happened to the king of the Assyrians.

Such are the wages of that man's disdain.

And the type is useful also for us.

For if anyone should wish to be outside the divine wrath, and not to be consumed by the divine evils, he must utterly refuse to be willing to be sick with what is akin to and equal with the perversity of those men.

And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel shall no more be added, and those saved of Jacob shall no longer trust in those who wronged them, but they shall trust in the God, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

And the remnant of Jacob shall be upon a God who is mighty. When the fire has been kindled against the army of the Assyrians, these two things, he says, shall be brought about and shall come to pass:

for the boaster and villain shall cease, even against his will, from so dread and hateful an arrogance;

for he shall depart in fear, and put to shame unexpectedly.

He will know from the very outcome — even should he perhaps be unwilling to admit it — that he had become an instrument of the divine wrath against those who had sinned, and that it was in no way by his own strength that he gained the upper hand over them.

And these things, then, shall befall the barbarian.

But for those of Israel the wonder shall be to their benefit; and the remnant of those in Samaria — that is, of Israel — and indeed of Jacob — that is, again, of the two tribes that are in Jerusalem — shall cease from their ancient error and from cold and profitless notions.

For they shall no longer be trusting in those who had wronged them.

For when the enemy had fallen, consumed by the hand of an angel, they came to know with precision the all-prevailing right hand of the One who saves; and they shall make Him their Saviour and Redeemer, and shall place all their hope in Him, turning their backs upon those who had wronged them.

But who these are, and in what manner they wronged them, it is necessary to state.

For the God of all things saved those of the blood of Israel, presiding over them and shielding them, and rendering them mightier than their adversaries.

But when they turned to resistance, and some fashioned golden heifers,

while others kindled worship to Chemosh and Baal-Peor,

and they even bowed down in worship to the host of heaven;

the God of all things at various times delivered up those who had risen against Him — now to the nations round about and dwelling near Judaea, I mean the Idumaeans and Moabites and those of Elam, and now to those far off, I mean the Assyrians and Egyptians.

That those of Israel should make their defence to the all-prevailing God whom they had grieved, and by returning to what is better should ward off His wrath? For it was needful to remove from their midst the profane multitude of idols, and to inscribe Him alone as Saviour and Redeemer.

But of these matters they made altogether little account.

And at one time they sent embassies to the Egyptians, at another to the Assyrians, and summoned the aid that came from them.

Hence, I think, God was still more greatly stirred to anger against them.

They wronged, therefore, both Israel and Jacob: on the one hand the falsely-named gods, calling down the divine wrath upon them and inducing them to trust in themselves;

and on the other hand those who sold to them, for money and gifts, their unprofitable aid.

And the remnant of Jacob shall be upon a God who prevails.

For they shall no longer take courage in wood and stones, but shall rather make Him their strength, who has ever been to them a helper and a defender, a weapon and an unbreakable wall.

And though the people Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be saved.

For it is a word that accomplishes and cuts short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a shortened word in the whole inhabited earth. For of those who have chosen to disobey and are greatly diseased with harshness and intractability, none could stand as a word before God; yet He saves, and deems worthy of all sparing, the one who is obedient and easily led — through these things He makes it exceedingly clear to us.

For the Assyrian came against the whole nation of the Jews;

and his aim was to spare no one, but utterly to shear away the whole land, and to render it void of men and destitute of inhabitants.

And he destroyed Samaria, and together with it took no small number of the cities of Judaea;

but God marvellously saved those who were in Jerusalem.

What, then, is the meaning of this? Yea, He says; for since not all Israel had acted impiously, but there were perhaps some who were even greatly grieved at those acting impiously toward God, on this very account there came a holy and most righteous verdict, bringing judgement against those alone who had sinned.

That the saying is true we shall observe without difficulty, and as from the things written in the prophet Ezekiel.

For he said that he had beheld some of those of Israel worshipping the sun, and that he heard God speaking concerning them:

'Hast thou seen, son of man? Is it a small thing to the house of Israel to commit the lawless deeds which they have committed here? For they have filled the land with lawlessness.'

'And they have turned back to provoke me to anger.' Then he says that he beheld a man clothed with a long robe reaching to the feet and girded about;

and that the God of all things said to him,

'And to these He said, while I was listening:

"Go into the city after him, and smite, and let not your eyes spare."'

'"And have no pity: old man and young man, and virgin and infants,"'

'"and slay the women unto utter destruction;"'

'"but come not near any upon whom is the mark."' Observe, then, how God seals with the grace that is from Himself the one who is pious and genuine.

And in respect of those things at which others might presume to give offence to Him — being both wroth and lamenting —

though the multitude of those of Israel should be, and be likened to the sands lying on the sea-shores, the remnant shall be saved.

And this indeed came to pass in the times of Hezekiah.

But it has also been accomplished in the last times of the age, when the Only-begotten shone forth to us with flesh.

For then, yea then, God also made a word cutting short in righteousness in the whole inhabited earth.

he makes a disclosure of what is profitable, faintly intimating, through riddle and shadow, that which conduces to benefit.

But our saving and evangelical word is brief and, as it were, cut short — or rather concise — having the truth bare, and setting forth plainly the way of life, no difficulty being present in it, no obscurity being brought upon the preaching.

For the matter of the truth is simple, as I said.

And even then was saved the remnant of Israel — that is, those who honoured His appearing with faith — while the other multitude suffered rejection.

For they behaved outrageously toward the Saviour and Lord of all, having beforehand slain the prophets and stoned those who were sent;

'Fear not, my people who dwell in Zion, because of the Assyrians, for with a rod shall he smite thee.'

'For I bring a stroke upon thee, that thou mayest see the way of Egypt.'

'For yet a little while, and the wrath shall cease, but my fury shall be upon their counsel.' For since the God of all things, employing a holy verdict and the gentleness befitting Himself, saves the genuine but delivers up those who have grieved Him,

'Fear not,' He says, 'my people who dwell in Zion, because of the Assyrians.'

For Rabshakeh came to Jerusalem and besieged it, and threatened to burn it down and to destroy all its inhabitants.

But he wrought no harm at all.

For he went off in flight, his army having fallen contrary to his expectation and having perished in a single night.

So then, he did not destroy with the sword those in Zion.

But when once he had thrown them into consternation by his onsets, and had caused them to be in fear of suffering, he is seen merely raising a rod alone over them.

'Therefore,' He says, 'be not utterly afraid of the Assyrians, for with a rod shall he smite thee, and he shall inflict, as it were, a brief blow — such as comes from terror — since I permit even this to be done against thee, that thou mayest see the way of Egypt; that is, that thou mayest learn how greatly thou didst wrong thyself in going off to Egypt and seeking the aid from thence, when God who saves was disregarded.'

Now Hezekiah, in whose reign also the Assyrian besieged Jerusalem, did not seek the aid of the Egyptians.

Rather it is Hoshea, the son of Elah, reigning over Israel, who is found to have done this.

And it is written thus in the fourth book of Kingdoms:

'And Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.'

'In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.'

'And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. Against him Shalmaneser king of the Assyrians came up, and Hoshea became his servant;'

'and he rendered him tribute.'

'And the king of the Assyrians found treachery in Hoshea, in that he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt;'

'and he brought no tribute to the king of the Assyrians in that year.'

'And the king of the Assyrians besieged him, and bound him in the prison-house, and went up into Samaria, and besieged it three years.'

'I bring, therefore,' He says, 'a stroke upon thee, that thou mayest see the way of Egypt;'

'yet a little while, and the wrath shall cease, but my fury shall be upon their counsel.'

But having taken counsel to subdue Jerusalem itself as well, they failed of their aim, and their scheme became fruitless for them, since God turned the outcome into the very opposite of what had been expected. 'And God shall stir up against them according to the stroke of Midian in a place of affliction, and his fury shall be on the way toward the sea, unto the way toward Egypt.' They shall fall, He says, when the wrath from above and from God is brought upon them;

and there shall be need of no toil at all for those of Israel.

Not by the shooting of bows, nor by strength of hands, nor by any experience in warfare shall they prevail; rather they shall overcome by the hand of God, which strikes down and consumes that arrogant people.

even as it likewise befell the Midianites to suffer.

For they, gathered together in multitude and by tribe, plundered wellnigh the whole land of the Jews, and inflicting upon them unbearable terror, they compelled the people, even against their will, to abandon cities and villages, and scarcely to encamp, and that in great fear, upon the summits of the mountains.

But even then God came to their defense, and saved those who were in peril through the hand of Gideon, who had but very few comrades in arms; yet these threw into confusion the ranks of their foes, having in the night and darkness shattered the pitchers, and displayed the torches, and blown the horn-trumpets, so that something of this same kind befell those of Midian to suffer.

For when the ranks were thrown into confusion, God striking them with panic, being unable to distinguish—as in darkness and night—who was friend or kinsman, or who was foe, they grappled with one another, yet were doing the work of enemies, and pitiably perished by one another's hands.

"It shall therefore be brought upon them," he says, "according to the stroke of Midian, in a place of affliction."

By "a place of affliction" he names either the very place, or the time in which these things came to pass.

And that God will all but lead astray the fury of the barbarian, and turn it aside upon others, he makes clear, saying:

"And his fury shall be upon the way toward the sea, into the road that leads to Egypt."

For Tiglath-pileser, king of the Assyrians, was the one who took Samaria by force, and laid tribute upon its inhabitants, and demanded taxes and levies from those who reigned from time to time over Israel.

But when it came to this, that Hoshea son of Elah had gained control of Samaria, he did not send tribute to the king of the Assyrians, as it is written.

And since he knew that that one would in every way and altogether be indignant, he hired the hand of the Egyptians for assistance, in case the one who had imposed the tribute and taxes should wish to arm himself according to the law of war against them.

And those who at that time ruled over the Egyptians very readily promised this.

Grieved at this, the Assyrian marched down against the land of the Egyptians with his whole army, laying that charge against its rulers—namely, that Hoshea had rebelled and had shaken off his yoke, having taken as a pretext for his madness the promise of assistance from them.

That God, then, will transfer the fury of the barbarian upon others, as I said just now, he has made plain, saying:

"And his fury shall be upon the way toward the sea, into the road that leads to Egypt."

For Jerusalem is settled inland, away from the sea; and men say that the road leading to the land of the Egyptians—and that very easily—is the one neighboring the sea, and so it is even to this day.

"And it shall come to pass in that day, that his fear shall be taken away from you, and his yoke from off your shoulder, and the yoke shall be destroyed from off your shoulders." I said that the Assyrian, having gained the mastery, laid tribute upon those of Israel, and wished to keep the people—who had been apportioned to the all-holy God—subject under his own scepters.

And for this cause he armed himself against the Egyptians.

What then does he say? Having conquered the Egyptians, will he again lay his own yoke upon those who have ever held their neck free, and who have known only the kingship that is under God? By no means, he says.

"For at that time his fear shall be taken away from you, and his yoke from off your shoulder."

For since that host, mightier than number, has fallen and perished in a single night, an angel consuming them, how is not all fear removed? Or how has the yoke that lay upon every shoulder all but been shaken off, and moreover been destroyed—that is, gone utterly away? For they sought only this, to be saved and to run home, and no longer raising against Judah their former haughty brow.

For he was planning, as I said, to place her under Jewish yokes.

But the things of his hope were rendered vain, and everything turned out contrary to what had been expected.