Commentary on Isaiah 1 part 23/65

And Ares, grieved at this, being a rival lover of Aphrodite, likens himself to a boar, and leaps upon him as he was hunting, and forthwith destroys him;

and the matter became an occasion of lamentation to Aphrodite, he says.

And she came to such despondency and grief over this, that she even descended into Hades itself, wishing to bring back her beloved.

But since the wife of Pluto greatly laid claim to the young man, and would not let go of one possessing so admirable a bloom, they made an agreement with each other, so as to divide the circle of the year;

and each to have him for half of it.

And when Aphrodite had come up and announced this to her own household, whether friends or worshippers, the matter became a feast and a festal gathering.

The Greeks accordingly fashioned such a feast on this account.

For they pretended to join in mourning and lamentation with Aphrodite as she grieved because Adonis had died;

and when she had come up from Hades, and indeed said that the sought-for one had been found, to rejoice with her and leap for joy;

and down to our own times this mummery used to be performed in the temples at Alexandria.

Those of the blood of Israel also learned it, and indeed practised it, having forsaken the God who is such by nature and in truth, but having turned aside to what is not lawful, and having been senselessly swept away by the deceits of the demons to ruin and destruction.

And something of this sort was done by those in the land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, concerning which we have spoken briefly and clearly in the passages above.

and having placed it in an earthen jar and sealed it, they let it down into the sea, performing certain rites over it;

and as they used to say, of its own accord it would be conveyed to Byblos on the appointed days of the year.

And certain women, friends of Aphrodite, receiving it, then taking up the letter, would cease from mourning, as though Adonis had been found by Aphrodite.

who sends hostages upon the sea, and letters of papyrus upon the water.

And there follows upon this too, entirely, the 'Woe';

just as, of course, also upon the wings of the ships.

For Woe to the wings of the ships of the land, he says!

So then, from what is common, the 'Woe' is applied also to him who sends hostages upon the sea;

that is to say, the pledges of like-mindedness.

For as though performing a mystery of Aphrodite, they would send their letters to those who revered her in Byblos and were sick with the same madness as themselves, not placing the couriers in ships, but as it were upon the water, because, as I said, the letters were enclosed in an earthen vessel.

But we have been compelled to make mention of fables that reek and have grown old, and of Hellenic abomination, only for the sake of making clear the sense of what lies before us.

For swift messengers shall go to a nation lifted up on high, and to a strange and grievous people.

Who is beyond it? A nation hopeless and trodden down.

I said earlier that those who dwell in the land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia had given offence to the kings of the Assyrians;

for when the Israelites asked them for aid, they not only made promises, but actually sent it, even though it profited them nothing at all.

But these, being aggrieved at this, after they had, so to speak, entirely ravaged Judaea, advanced against the land of the Egyptians and captured the whole of it without toil, since God gave them the power to prevail over the hand of their opponents, precisely because they were aggrieved against the Egyptians.

So then, when the Babylonian was about to march against their land, certain runners came hastening from Judaea, announcing to them the invasion that would soon be upon them.

And concerning these the prophet says that 'swift messengers shall go' — that is, quick, and as it were winged and nimble — announcing that the calamity from the war was near, a neighbour, and already at the doors.

By 'a nation lifted up on high, and a strange and grievous people,' he names the Egyptians;

the word 'lifted up on high' stands for 'haughty,' or else for the frivolous and light-minded and utterly senseless;

and 'strange and grievous,' as being alien in its grievousness, and having none beyond it in this respect.

'For who is beyond it?' he says — meaning, Who is so frivolous, and unlearned, and unintelligent, and practising a baseness unfamiliar to others, as the people in Egypt? For they were exceedingly given to idolatry.

For this reason he also names them 'a nation hopeless and trodden down.'

'Hopeless,' because of their not knowing the God who is by nature and truly God;

and 'trodden down,' because, having laid their minds all too thoroughly beneath the deceits of the demons,

they were all but subject beneath their feet;

or else you may take what is said in another way as well.

For having fallen into the hands of the Assyrians, they had cast away every hope of good cheer, and were so trodden down that they could not, so much as one might say, ever recover, but had fallen and been laid low beneath the feet of the conquerors.

'Now all the rivers of the land shall be inhabited as an inhabited land: their land shall be inhabited.' He usefully foretells also the manner of the capture.

For those who held the land of the Egyptians supposed that they had become impregnable to the Babylonians, because their whole country was girdled by very many and indeed great rivers, and possessed broad and long lakes.

But since God was wroth with them, he made this too ready for the Babylonians;

having dried up the mass of the waters, he rendered the wet land passable for horsemen.

This, I think, is what the prophet declares when he says in these words:

'Now all the rivers of the land shall be inhabited as an inhabited land: their land shall be inhabited.'

For the navigable regions, he says, and those places that are always in some way wet, shall be such, at the time of the war, that they seem already to be a land permanently inhabited, and simply dry ground bereft of waters.

For what could the divine, all-powerful, and supreme Nature not accomplish? 'As when a signal is raised from a mountain, it shall be heard like the sound of a trumpet.' The commanders of the ranks, in time of war, stationing certain men upon hillocks, very often have a signal raised;

and this becomes a signal to the army of some evident matter.

He makes use also of the voices of trumpets, either to rouse them to fight according to some customary rhythm, or to withdraw them from the battle, as seems good to them.

So then, the signal raised on high is most conspicuous.

For those accustomed to do this stand upon a mountain, and moreover the sound of the trumpets is clearly audible and distinct to all who are in the battle.

So then, he says, the suffering of the Egyptians shall be so well known to those everywhere, that it may be likened to a signal raised upon some one of the mountains;

and heard abroad, just as of course is the sound of the trumpets.

From such things we shall come to know this — and it will be of much profit to us — namely, in no way to whet the undefiled Nature to anger;

or else, if we in every way and by all means do what is not lawful, and refuse the worship due to him, or run together with apostates, and, fashioning our own ways after those who lie under the divine wrath, we shall share in their calamity, and suffer the like penalty from God.

One may see that the inhabitants of the Egyptians suffered this.

For since the Israelites had given offence, and then these promised to save them, even though God did not will it, they were given over to their enemies for ruin and destruction.

'For thus the Lord said to me:

There shall be security in my city, as the light of the noonday heat, and as a cloud of dew in the day of harvest shall it be, before the reaping.' The words of the narrative are clear;

nevertheless we shall speak of it cursorily.

For God saved Jerusalem when Rabshakeh was besieging it and had encircled it with the countless multitude of the Assyrians;

how did he save it? 'For the angel of the Lord went forth,' it says, 'and slew from the camp of the Assyrians in one night a hundred and eighty-five thousand.' So then, he says, there shall be security in my city.

And that I have become a helper to those in danger shall become so manifest to those everywhere, as the light at noonday is bright and most intense.

For when the sun is at its zenith and sends down from above upon those on the earth its most vigorous ray, all things are illumined with the richest light.

So then, he says, to those in danger the grace and security given by me at that time shall be as if it were even a cloud of dew in the days of harvest before the reaping.

And what indeed it means to signify, I will say again;

It is the custom of reapers not to set the iron to the ears of grain beforehand, unless perhaps some dew, falling first, has made the stalk easier for them to cut.

It is therefore a matter of prayer for them, I mean the sending down of the dew by God.

So the security from God became thrice-longed-for to those in Jerusalem, just as of course is the dew falling in the days of harvest before the reaping.

'When the ear of grain is completed, and the unripe grape blossoms, putting forth the flower of the unripe cluster.'

'And he shall take away the little clusters with pruning-hooks, and shall take away the twigs, and shall cut them off and leave them together with the birds of heaven and the beasts of the earth.'

And the very construction of the passage tends towards this.

Nevertheless I will try to explain it as best I can.

He therefore frames his discourse as if from the knowledge of the husbandmen.

For it is their practice, whenever they behold the clusters of the vine at last having blossomed, and already in some way having the appearance of unripe grapes, to shear off the superfluous twigs, and with the pruning-hooks to cut away the little clusters superfluously attached to the larger ones, so that the larger clusters, receiving the most nourishing sap, may be able to be brought to full ripeness.

Something of this sort the God of all things says that he did, either with regard to the Assyrians, or indeed also with regard to the Egyptians;

for the passage is not altogether clear as to whom it would most fittingly proceed and apply.

We say, then, that if one should choose to understand the multitude of the Assyrians, which besieged the holy city, as a single vine, we shall find that the great cluster conceived within it — that is, the one made illustrious by the thrones of the kingdom — did not perish together with the rest, but he himself was saved, while the other multitude was consumed as in the rank of the little clusters, and, as it were in the manner of the superfluous twigs, the sharpest sword of the Lord sheared them off as with some pruning-hook.

For they fell, as I said, consumed by the hand of an angel, and their corpses became a delicacy for the beasts of the field and the birds of heaven.

But if indeed someone should wish to say that these things were spoken also concerning the Egyptians, you will understand that the Assyrians, in ravaging that land, did not destroy the whole of it root and branch, nor indeed utterly.

But as it were setting the sword against the villages or hamlets scattered here and there like little clusters, they measured out the wrath of the merciful God, who chastens those who give offence, but very often cuts short the penalties, and does not allow those who are being chastened to perish entirely.

'In that time gifts shall be brought to the Lord of Sabaoth from a people plucked and afflicted, and from a great people, from now and to the everlasting age.'

'A nation hoping and trodden down, which is in a portion of the river of its land, to the place where the name of the Lord of Sabaoth is called upon, Mount Zion.' Having very well set forth the things that shall befall the peoples of the Egyptians in war at the appointed times, he also makes mention of their conversion to God thereafter, and how, having put away from the eyes of their understanding the ancient gloom of deceit, and having bidden farewell to the worship of idols, they shall proceed to the better things;

And he names them an 'afflicted' people, because of their having endured very great misery, having suffered the things that came from the divine wrath.

And in addition to this, also 'plucked';

perhaps signifying by this their transplanting to the better things.

For the plant is transplanted, and, having been plucked out from the hollow in which it stood, it removes to another;

and this is the manner of the best husbandry, for those accustomed to till the ground.

So also the mind of those in error is, as it were, transplanted from one hollow to another, being as it were plucked out from the ancient deceit, and implanted into other conceptions, and in addition to this into pursuits and knowledge that surpass, or rather incomparably surpass, the ancient ones, in better things.

And that they shall bear fruit unto the everlasting age — that is, perpetually, with no interruption intervening in between, but ever the more and unto the utmost.

Therefore he also names them a great people;

either signifying by this their great abundance, or that they became renowned, being called through faith in Christ.

For those who once surpassed all others in the charges of idolatry are now better and wiser than many, possessing a most vigorous love toward Christ and a boldness for every good thing whatsoever.

For where sin abounded, he says, grace did much more abound.

wherever the name of the Lord of Sabaoth may be invoked.

And by this he signifies the Church, the great and spiritual mountain;

for there is nothing lowly in her, nor anything of trodden-down doctrines, but whatever is great and lofty—namely, the knowledge of God according to truth, and the very clear declaration of the mysteries of our Saviour.

For very often the God-inspired Scripture names the Church of Christ by the mountain of Zion, thus from the outset spiritually naming the truer Zion, which is lofty and a watchtower.

And it is thrown in by way of parenthesis:

The nation that hopes and has been trodden down, which is in a part of the river of its own land.

For the turning of the Egyptians toward God began from a certain part of the land lying beyond the river;

that you may understand one of the cities of the Rhinocorurites, that is, of the cities in that region.

For he says in what follows, in the vision of Egypt:

In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the land of the Egyptians, and a pillar at its border to the Lord.

And it shall be for a sign to the Lord;

and unto the age in the land of Egypt.

And 'trodden down' indeed as crushed by the calamities that come from war;

but 'hoping' because it too has henceforth placed its hope upon Christ, and has submitted its neck to the yoke beneath Him, and has become His servant, and has borne the fruits of godliness.

For they were as it were in deep darkness, being wholly ignorant of Him who is by nature and in truth God, the Creator and Lord of all things, but kindling worship toward the creation;

and—what is even more absurd than this—showing themselves to be craftsmen of their own gods, and having in their shrines a multiform swarm of idols, so as even to fashion the forms of irrational animals, and setting up altars to sacrifice to them.

It was necessary, therefore, that when sin abounded in them, grace should super-abound, and that the Physician should shine upon those who were so grievously diseased, and that upon those whose heart was darkened He should flash forth the divine and heavenly light.

Behold, therefore, he says, the Lord sits upon a light cloud, and shall come into Egypt.

But what might the Lord's being seen upon a light cloud intend to intimate? Come, let us speak as we are able:

Some of the interpreters have said that the light cloud is the holy flesh of the Lord, that is, the temple taken from the Virgin;

and they liken it to a cloud, because perhaps it is set free from the movements and desires of things more earthly, and is on high and as it were aloft.

For truly all-pure and set free from every earthly uncleanness is the holy body of Christ the Saviour of us all.

But others again have supposed that the holy Virgin was called a light cloud.

Yet I for my part think that perhaps his saying that He sits upon a light cloud may hint at us a breadth of other meanings as well.

For in manifold ways the blessed prophets, contemplating the glory of God, have written down their visions.

For Isaiah says that he beheld the Lord of Sabaoth upon a high and lofty throne, with the highest rational powers standing round about in a circle, singing hymns to Him and declaring heaven and earth to be full of His glory;

and he affirms that thousands of thousands minister to Him, and says that myriads of myriads stand round about;

coming upon the clouds, and he set down the things that follow these in order.

And Ezekiel likewise says that he saw a firmament, with the Seraphim placed beneath it;

and that upon a throne he beheld a man, or rather the appearance of a man, whose upper parts he says resembled electrum, but from the loins to the feet were as the appearance of fire.

And in each of such visions he elegantly hints to us at a certain manifestation of the glory befitting God, and of the mystery according to Christ.

There is therefore nothing to hinder us from understanding in this case too, most usefully and necessarily, that the Lord was beheld upon a light cloud.

For the cloud fulfils for us a type of rain and of spiritual dew, and of the saving baptism itself.

And indeed the blessed Paul says that those who were of the blood of Israel were baptized in the cloud and in the sea;

the cloud was suspended over them by day as they crossed that deep wilderness;

and by night a pillar of fire went before them.

And through both Christ was inscribed, that is, the mystery concerning Him, or rather, as in faith and in holy baptism, justification and sanctification.

It was necessary, then, that the Lord, coming for the cleansing and transformation of the Egyptians—and this manifestly in a manner befitting God and in a spiritual sense—should be seen upon a light cloud.

For there was no other way for the ingrained stain to be wiped away from the soul of those who had gone astray, except through the holy baptism.

Of which we also determine the cloud to be a type.

And the cloud is very fittingly named light.

For we are baptized unto the putting away of sin, and as it were turning from impiety as from a truly hard-to-carry burden, we become in a manner winged through this, and we learn to set our minds on things above and to have our hearts on high.

But that the Lord sits upon the cloud, this, I think, signifies the following:

The sitting hints to us either rest, or authority.

Therefore Christ rests, not somehow in the worship according to the Law, but rather in the perfection that comes through the holy baptism.

And thus He has reigned over those upon the earth.

And he says that the handmade things of Egypt shall be shaken from before His face.

For now that the holy baptism has been manifested, and Christ has henceforth shone forth, there is every kind of necessity that the playthings of the ancient deceit should be done away with, and the snares of the devil should be seen shattered.

And He has swept, as with a net, unto destruction and ruin every nation and race, so to speak, but especially, above the others, the Egyptians;

and indeed the God-inspired Scripture says concerning their land that it is a land of graven images.

And he says that the heart of the Egyptians shall be overcome, having yielded, as I think, that victory must belong to the evangelical proclamations, though it was of old a fighter against God and set itself in opposition to the words of truth.

We shall therefore find that Pharaoh was clearly such a one.

For the hierophant Moses said plainly:

The God of the Hebrews has sent us to you, saying:

Send forth my people, that they may serve me in the wilderness. But he replied to them:

Who is he, whose voice I should heed? I do not know the Lord, and I will not send Israel away. For their heart shall be overcome within them—that is, it will not remain unbroken, nor hard, nor beyond admonition;

but rather it shall receive the saving proclamation.

And the Egyptians shall be stirred up against the Egyptians, and a man shall war against his brother, and a man against his neighbour.

And city shall rise up against city, and district against district.

And the spirit of the Egyptians shall be troubled within them, and I will scatter their counsel. This, I think, is clearly nothing else than that very thing which Christ said somewhere:

Do not think that I came to bring peace upon the earth;

I came not to bring peace, but a sword.

For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a bride against her mother-in-law;

and men who had neglected the divine and evangelical proclamation, and reverence toward their parents, have devised things hostile and hateful to them, and, all but equipped with the law of war, have risen up in revolt against their brethren.

For some, pleading the cause of the ancient error and unbridledly bending toward the deceptions of the idols, make the word of faith unacceptable.

But others, deeming it a ridiculous and altogether unholy thing to choose to worship the gods fashioned by their own hands, have run to the words of truth, and though once being far off, have become near, and have been shown to be members of Christ's household through faith, and have come within the hope of the saints, and have been established as heirs of the life unto the age.

Now that the handiwork of Egypt has been shaken, he says, because the Lord has come into her upon a light cloud, there will be a great uprising both of household members and of kinsmen; and there will be wars, both man against man and multitude against multitude, so that the assaults are made city against city and district against district.

Among those who dwell in the land of the Egyptians, a 'district' (nomos) is the term for each city together with its surrounding settlements and the villages under it;

and this manner of speech is in common use among them.

Then he says: The spirit of the Egyptians shall be troubled within them, and I will scatter their counsel.

We say that, having conceived opposing sentiments against one another, they were thrown into no small confusion;

and while these deceived ones plot uprisings and battles against those who have believed, they will find the God of all things warring against them and standing in their way.

And they shall inquire of their gods and of their images, and of those who speak out of the earth, and of the ventriloquists, and of the diviners.

And I will deliver Egypt into the hands of harsh human masters;

and harsh kings shall rule over them. In just what manner, or at what time exactly, the Egyptians grew rich in the saving proclamation, it is the prophet's earnest concern to make clear.

Nor is the account of the history without profit for those who have once chosen to learn what is good.

So then, having ravaged the land of the Jews and burned Jerusalem to the ground, Vespasian marched down with his whole army into the land of the Egyptians, to subdue it also.

And this he did according to the will of God, who was bringing all lands and cities alike under the sceptres of the Romans.

But the Egyptians supposed they could easily escape the yoke of slavery, and that they were altogether impregnable, because their country was girded about by very many waters.

But they were disappointed of their hope.

For when God wills to accomplish something, all things yield easily, even the impossible; and things hard to achieve are, contrary to all expectation, brought to easy completion.

For who shall turn back the exalted hand? according to what is written.

It came to pass, then, that all their waters, both those in the lakes and indeed also in the rivers, utterly vanished, so that they could be crossed on foot.

And thus, finding the land of the Egyptians henceforth stripped of every difficulty, Vespasian prevailed over it.

It was, then, at that very time that it happened that those who ministered the divine and saving proclamation entered into the land of the Egyptians, drawing the nations as with a net through faith in Christ, unto the knowledge of the truth.

The Egyptians, therefore, he says, having learned of the all-powerful and hard-to-withstand onslaught of the Roman army, and being thrown into great turmoil, and wishing to learn whither the outcome of the matter would finally lead them, shall inquire of their gods and of their images, and of those who speak out of the earth, and of the ventriloquists, and indeed also of the diviners.

Some of them pretend to question the dead;

while others utter words out of their own heart.

But there will be for them, he says, no benefit from divination;

nor indeed will they find those reputed to be gods able to defend them.

For I will deliver Egypt into the hands of harsh human masters, and harsh kings shall rule over them.

But when you hear 'harsh,' do not understand them as most brutal, but rather as unbreakable, and as men who know how to yield the victory to no one.

For such were the most illustrious kings of the Romans, since the divine and ineffable counsel, as I said, subjected all things to them.

And so they prevailed over all that is under heaven.

Thus says the Lord of Sabaoth:

And the Egyptians shall drink the water that is by the sea;

but the river shall fail and be dried up.

The rivers shall fail, and the canals of the river; and every gathering of water shall be dried up, in every marsh of reed and papyrus; and the green rush, everything round about the river, everything sown along the river shall be dried up by the blasting wind.

And the fishermen shall groan; all who cast a hook into the river shall groan, and those who cast dragnets, and those who cast throw-nets shall mourn.

And shame shall seize those who work combed flax and those who work fine linen;

and those who work at them shall be in anguish, and all who make beer shall grieve and be sick at heart. You shall fit these words too together with what we have just been saying.

For the God who is mighty in all things rendered the land of the Egyptians, so abundantly watered, so dry that those wishing to pass through the lakes and rivers could walk across without even breaking a sweat.

And some of them possess the arable and most fruitful land, and are above all tenders of vineyards.

But others dwell right beside the lakes, gathering their livelihood from them.

For they are fishers, and cutters of papyrus, and makers of paper, and workers of combed flax.

And men of the marshes, that is, herdsmen, are so named;

for among them the herds of cattle are beyond number;

and there is great scarcity of bread and wine and the rest.

Therefore, the waters having failed, he says, they shall drink water.

For sometimes some, by digging along the shores, draw up a drinkable stream.

And the rivers shall fail and be dried up, and all the canals.

And there shall be scarcity of waters in every marsh of reed and papyrus.

And everything that grows in the waters shall be dried up, he says, so that the hunters of fish groan, and those who work combed flax, and those who work at them fall into great anguish;

and in addition to these, also those who brew their beer.

For the waters having failed, they shall be in want of everything that knows how to gladden, and that richly provides them with what is needful for life.

And these things, as far as concerns what is disclosed by the history, have been said plainly.

But if anyone should choose to take the scarcity of waters otherwise as well, and to descend into the depth of subtler notions, he will not walk off the mark, likening to waters the doting and senseless discourse found among the sages of the Greeks;