Commentary on Isaiah 1 part 29/65

'in Zion, from ungodly men to whom Thou didst deliver us.' Israel was called to the knowledge of God through the tutelage in the Law, and was enriched with the things that come from God.

For it was saved and inherited the land of the promise.

But the countless multitude of the other nations—of all those, I mean, that are beneath heaven—was utterly a stranger to spiritual and heavenly good things; they had stood without a taste of the graces that come from God, in a manner naked and unclothed, holding up neither the divine shelter nor the covering from on high, nor riches of the mind that come from virtue, nor anything else of all that is full of praise and deemed worthy of all wonder.

But when Christ Himself had appeared, and having plucked them from the covetousness of the devil had brought them to God the Father, and they were enriched with the light of truth, the partaking of the glory that comes from Him, the grandeur of the evangelical way of life—for the sake of these things they send up songs of thanksgiving to God the Father.

And indeed, like certain cities thus made strong, the poor people shall bless Thee, and whole cities shall glorify Thee.

For to all Thou hast become a helper and a shelter to those unbearably grieved through the poverty of their fatherly good things;

and Thou hast delivered them from evil men.

For thus there were also in Zion certain who had become faint-hearted, just like men who indeed thirst.

And perhaps by these words the prophet is signifying to us that very thing.

For there were, there truly were even in Israel those who thirsted for the coming of the Saviour, and who longed to see the Saviour and Redeemer of all;

such a one was Symeon the righteous, when, taking the newborn Jesus into his hands, he said:

'A light for the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.' And indeed the blessed Zacharias also, the father of John, being filled with the Holy Spirit, gave glory, crying aloud:

'to perform mercy with our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant;'

'the oath which He swore to Abraham our father,'

'to grant unto us that we, being delivered without fear out of the hand of our enemies, should serve Him in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.' You see how ancient and true a counsel of God the Father this was, and one promised to the holy fathers.

Emmanuel, who became a spirit of men that are wronged.

For they have taken breath again from their enemies, and have been delivered from ungodly men, to whom they had also been handed over.

And if one should take such utterances as spoken concerning the nations, we say that 'men' are the unholy demons who of old held sway over those upon the earth, whose weakness is very well signified by their being named even 'men.'

And it is likely too, no doubt, that the false teachers among them, and those called the hierophants, or even the poets and the choice orators, and the inventors of the eloquence honoured among the Greeks, were called evil men, as being those who, through the fine speech within them, thrust the deceived into the mires of perdition.

But if these things be said concerning those of Israel, we say that the evil men are those who obtained the office of leading—I mean the Scribes and the Pharisees—

who, having the glory of the priesthood, and being adorned with the renown and power that came therefrom, took the key of knowledge.

And neither did they themselves believe, nor indeed did they permit others to do this;

and the peoples under their hand were handed over to the teachers in the Law, while those astray were handed over to the unclean demons, God having permitted them to suffer this handing over—just as indeed some are handed over to a reprobate mind, having shown themselves unworthy of His sparing and succour.

'And the Lord of Hosts shall make for all the nations;'

'on this mountain they shall drink gladness, they shall drink wine;'

'they shall anoint themselves with myrrh on this mountain.'

Deliver all these things to the nations.

For this counsel concerns all the nations. Having said beforehand that the Lord shall reign in Zion and in Jerusalem, he weaves together a mystical meaning, as it were from the likeness of things that are perceptible and visible.

For Zion is a lofty place and a watchtower; and Jerusalem is interpreted as a vision of peace.

Both of these are in truth the Church of Christ.

For she is lofty and conspicuous, and as it were set upon a mountain.

And in yet another manner she is understood by us to be lofty; for there is nothing lowly in her, and she is far removed from earthly affairs.

For it is written that The mighty ones of the earth belong to God; they are greatly exalted. And likewise lofty are the divine and true doctrines that are in her.

For the discourse concerning God, that is, concerning the holy and consubstantial Trinity, is refined and polished and turned toward the truth alone.

And again, there is seen in her Christ, who is our peace.

Therefore, he says, the Lord of Sabaoth shall act, and by no means for those of Israel alone, as though they were beloved for the sake of the fathers and chosen, but rather for all the nations, that is, for those throughout all the world under heaven.

And what shall he do? They shall drink gladness, he says, they shall drink wine;

they shall be anointed with ointment on this mountain.

By 'gladness' he seems to hint at the cheerfulness that is in hope—clearly the hope that is in Christ;

for we reign together with him, and gaining as our profit the things that surpass mind and speech, we shall be within all delight.

And the ointment would signify to us most fittingly the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

For the wise John writes:

You also have an anointing from the Holy One;

and you have no need that anyone should teach you, but as his anointing teaches you concerning all things. For we are anointed with ointment especially at the time of holy baptism, making the anointing a symbol of partaking of the Holy Spirit.

But all these things, he says, deliver to the nations;

for this counsel concerns all the nations.

For the ancient Law, and the worship according to it that was administered through angels, was not simply given to all the nations;

but to one alone, the one descended from the blood of Israel. But the grace that is in Christ, and the calling through faith, and moreover the sanctification through the Spirit, and the mystery itself, by the counsel of God the Father came upon all the nations.

For Christ is the expectation of the nations, according to the utterance of the holy one.

a tear from every face.

The reproach of the people he has taken away from all the earth.

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things. Very opportunely and of necessity, together with the handing down of the mystery, there has also been introduced the discourse concerning the resurrection of the dead.

Accordingly, at the time of holy baptism, making our confession of faith, we also expect the resurrection of the flesh to come to pass, and so we believe.

Death, then, prevailed over our forefather Adam because of the transgression, and like some savage and merciless beast, leaping upon him, it seized him.

And thenceforth lamentations, and wailings, and tears, and mourning over the dead prevailed over those upon the earth.

Yet it has been brought to an end in Christ.

For on the third day he rose again, having trodden down death, and became a way for human nature to thrust away the necessity of corruption.

For he became the firstborn of the dead, and the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

And there shall by all means follow upon the firstfruits, and upon the first, that which comes after it, that is to say, ourselves.

The suffering, then, was turned into joy, and the sackcloth was torn asunder;

and we have been girded with the God-given gladness, so as to say with rejoicing:

Where is your victory, O death? Where is your sting, O Hades? And the sting of death, he says, is sin. Therefore every tear has been taken away;

for believing that Christ altogether and in every way raises the dead, we do not shed tears over them, nor do we descend into unmixed sorrows, like the rest who have no hope.

And he seems to call death itself the reproach of the people, since it has its origin in the transgression, which was its assault against us.

Or perhaps he means sin, through which corruption entered in, and the dominion of death gained mastery over those upon the earth.

But since the mystery of the resurrection is not easily accepted by the many, and it was likely to be disbelieved on account of the greatness of its working, the blessed prophet added that the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Then who is he that would dare to say that God will speak falsely, and will not altogether and in every way bring to pass in truth what has been promised? For heaven and earth, he says, shall pass away, but my words shall by no means pass away. And they shall say in that day:

Behold our God, in whom we have hoped, and we rejoiced, and he will save us.

This is the Lord, we have waited for him, and we will rejoice;

and we shall be glad in our salvation, because God will give rest upon this mountain. You shall know, he says, the one who gives to drink gladness, and moreover wine also, and who anoints with ointment those in the spiritual Zion;

and you shall know that he is God according to truth, and Son from God who is by nature God, and even if he should appear in the form of the servant, he became man for the salvation and life of all, made like in all things to those upon the earth, apart from sin alone.

For all but stretching out the hand, he says, they shall say:

Behold our God, in whom we hoped and rejoiced in our salvation.

And I for my part think that this saying was most fittingly taken up as befitting those of Israel, who, nourished on the utterances of Moses and not ignorant of the foretellings of the holy prophets, expected that in due time there would come a Saviour and Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ.

And indeed, as I have already said before, Zacharias the father of John, prophesying in the Spirit, spoke concerning Christ, that A horn of salvation has been raised up for the people. And Symeon likewise, taking the holy Infant into his hands:

My eyes, he says, have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all the peoples. Having therefore recognized the one foretold of old, they shall call him the hope of all, the Saviour and Redeemer, he says;

and they shall confess also that God will give rest upon this mountain.

And take the mountain to mean once more the Church, for rest has been given in her.

For we have heard Christ saying:

the grievous and unbearable sin of faithlessness.

And we have found rest in yet another manner, being freed from the terrors of those things—I mean the necessity of being punished, and of paying the penalties for our transgressions.

And the grace of Christ, the Saviour of us all, toward us did not extend only thus far;

but there have been added also the good things that are in hope, and the possession of the kingdom of the heavens, a long and undefiled life, and the removal of everything that is wont to grieve us.

For it is written concerning the saints that Everlasting gladness shall be upon their head. And the land of Moab shall be trodden down, as they tread a threshing-floor with wagons, and in the harvest.

And he shall raise up his hands, even as he himself brought low, so as to destroy.

And he shall bring low the pride, on which he laid his hands.

And the height of the refuge of your wall he shall bring low, and it shall be brought down even to the ground. The word of the holy prophets is always somehow deep, and it creeps along the inner and hidden path.

One must therefore by no means suppose that the outward appearance of the letter is altogether and in every way true, but rather examine the meaning that is, as it were, buried within the letter.

The Moabites, then, were neighbours to the Jews, but were most absurdly disposed toward deception, and toward the necessity of clinging to the worship of idols.

Since therefore it was destined, when Christ had shone forth and the nations had been called to his revered and divine mystery and sanctified through faith, that the abominable and unclean idolatry should altogether and in every way be removed from the midst, Satan being cast down beneath the feet of those who believe;

for he has given us to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy;

he teaches, saying, that the land of Moab shall be trodden down, as they tread a threshing-floor with wagons.

And we say that in these words he signifies either the worship of Moab, or rather that from a single idolatrous land he takes the whole as an example, the word being extended, as I said, against the whole of idolatry.

Therefore it shall be trodden down, he says, as though laid beneath the feet of those who thresh.

And he shall raise up his hands, even as he himself brought low, so as to destroy.

Who is it that shall raise up his hands? The inventor of idolatry, who holds fast the deception, and who lured man away from God, that is to say, Satan.

'For he shall let down his hands,' that is, all his power and every active working shall be enfeebled;

for the hands are taken as a figure of one's activities.

For just as he himself humbled those upon the earth, so as even to destroy them all together, in this very same manner shall Christ humble his insolence—that is, the unbearable greed which he practised against all men—all but laying his hands upon him and, out of that greed, bringing under his own sceptres those who had been created by God unto good works.

Then the discourse passes over once more to the prophet.

As addressed to Moab herself, that is, to profane idolatry, and it says:

For we say that 'the height of the wall of refuge' which is being brought low is he who presides over idolatry and deceit, and who, as it were, builds a wall about it and holds it together so that it may stand firm.

For Christ shall cast it down and bring it low even to the ground—that is, utterly and completely—and we see through actual events that what was foretold has come to its fulfilment.

And all the things that were in the shrines have been done away with.

Altars are no more, nor sacrifices, nor sorceries, nor those who practise the sports of deceit.

But all these have ceased because of Christ, and there has dawned upon those on earth the light of truth, and the Sun of righteousness, rising up, brightens the hearts of those who believe in him.

'In that day they shall sing this song in the land of Judaea, saying:'

'They shall sing,' it says, of the Maker and Lord of all, the Saviour and Redeemer, him through whom are all things and in whom are all things, him who for our sake has come down to dwell among us in our own estate.

And striking up this ode and melody as though from a lyre, they shall say in glorification:

'Behold a strong city, and our salvation.'

For truly he is, as it were, a most well-towered and utterly impregnable city—our Lord Jesus Christ, or rather the hope which is in him.

For this very reason too he said: 'My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me;'

'and I give unto them eternal life, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.' A city, therefore, strong and bringing salvation is the Saviour of all—a city having a wall and encompassing a wall about her, that is, every security.

For those cities that are exceedingly well fortified do not have a simple enclosure, but are strengthened, besides the great wall, with yet another outer rampart.

It is likely, too, that those who take up the song say it again concerning the Church of our Saviour: 'Behold a strong city and our salvation.'

For 'the gates of Hades shall not prevail against her,' according to the word of the Saviour;

for she is girded round, as with a certain double wall, both by the succours that come from the holy angels;

and indeed by that which is from above and from God, who is her surrounding wall.

For the strength of the holy spirits is his own, since he himself, and he alone, is the Lord of all powers.

It should be known that in the sacred Scriptures Christ is sometimes named 'Judah,' as having come from the tribe of Judah, according to the word of Jacob, who says:

'Judah, your brethren shall praise you.' Therefore that which is sung is in the land of Judah.

For the Church is the city of Christ.

'Open the gates; let a people enter that keeps righteousness and keeps truth, laying hold of truth and keeping peace;'

'for on you have we hoped, O Lord, unto everlasting.' Inasmuch as those throughout all the earth have now come to know our Lord Jesus Christ and have confessed that he shall be a strong city bringing salvation, having a wall and an outer wall, it remains that the Holy Spirit necessarily gives command to the holy mystagogues—I mean the apostles and evangelists—speaking through the voice of the prophet:

that is, 'Widen for those who are willing the entrance that is through faith, the course that is through the blameless initiation, and let a people enter that keeps righteousness and keeps truth.'

For the divine and evangelical and saving proclamation teaches believers the righteousness that is above the Law, and that they should be steadfast unto the keeping of truth.

For it no longer introduces the worship that is in types and shadows, as of course the old Law did also, but that which is in spirit and in truth; and this is the truth.

And 'he lays hold of truth.'

For, as I said, it is permitted to lay hold not of the things in the shadows, but of the things that come through Christ, who is the truth.

And they keep peace also.

How, or in what manner? For being wholly received by Christ, and having dissolved that ancient enmity;

for while he was in error he stood apart from him;

he shall be an unshaken worshipper.

And that we fulfil this the blessed Paul persuades us, writing:

And we are reckoned friends and men of peace to him, and to him alone, saying:

'O Lord, apart from you we know no other.'

'Your name we name'—and besides this, having wreathed about ourselves, as it were a crown, the choice life and the evangelical citizenship, the boastings concerning such things might fittingly be uttered through the voice of the saints unto God: 'On you have we hoped, O Lord, unto everlasting.'

For they shall not cease from their hope in God, but rather shall boast in him continually.

'O God, the great, the eternal, who having humbled them didst bring down those that dwell on high;'

'strong cities you shall cast down, and shall bring them down even to the ground.'

'The feet of the meek and the steps of the lowly shall trample them.' Over deeds exceedingly marvelled at it is the custom of the holy prophets to offer up thanksgivings to God who rules over all, and, as it were, to leap for joy out of exceeding gladness.

And a clear demonstration of their genuineness carried to the utmost would this thing be for them.

For they rejoice exceedingly when they see the glory of God being widened, and those who envy it removed from their midst;

I mean the unclean demons, and besides these, Satan;

whom he also likens to strong cities, and affirmed that they dwell on high.

For their mind is somehow ever lofty and overweening, so that they even lift themselves up against the very hand of God, and, having clashed against it savagely, they suppose that they shall in no way be brought to harm, but shall reign perpetually over those upon the earth.

'But you,' it says, 'are also the one and only God, the great, the eternal;'

'and from the very deeds you have shown this;'

'for having humbled them you brought down those that dwell on high.'

That is, you shook down the strength of the proud, and those that were lofty and arrogant you brought down to the earth, and, as though they were strong cities, you overthrew them from their foundations.

'Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls.' And again we call to mind that he said:

'Behold, I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.' For the apostate dragon has been trampled underfoot;

'and we have trodden upon the asp and the basilisk,' we who desire to dwell in the help of the Most High, and who have come to be under the shelter of the God of heaven—that is, clearly, of Christ, for he is worshipped in heaven;

for 'when,' it says, 'he brings the firstborn into the world, he says:'

'And let all the angels of God worship him.' 'The way of the godly has become straight, and the way of the godly has been made ready.'

'We have hoped in your name, and in the remembrance which our soul desired.' The blessed prophet Jeremiah makes mention of the evangelical citizenship and of the righteousness in Christ, saying to the lovers of truth:

'Stand upon the ways, and ask for the eternal paths of the Lord, and see which is the good way, and walk in it, and you shall find purification for your souls.' For the paths and ways of the Lord are the words of the holy prophets, and the foretelling of the mystery concerning Christ—as in shadow and types—given through the commandment of Moses.

Searching out these paths, therefore, we learn the good way, that is, the citizenship that is in Christ;

and having walked in it with our own souls, we shall find the true purification that comes through the Spirit.

He says, then, that the way of the godly has become straight; for how could it not be straight and smooth, having in it nothing at all uphill, when by speaking the word of faith we are justified, and grow rich in the cleansing that comes through holy baptism? And the way of the godly is straight in another sense too.

For when the enemies have been destroyed, and the greed of the devil cast down, and every difficulty stripped away, what is there any longer that stands in opposition and is able to paralyse the lovers of godliness? See, too, how, when the way of the godly has been made smooth, he says there shall be a certain overthrow of the things in types and shadows.

For he adds, not simply, 'The way of the Lord is judgement;'

that is to say, not the offering of calves, not the slaughter of sheep, not cakes and frankincense;

but rather judgement, that is, righteousness.

For it is the custom of the God-inspired Scripture to signify righteousness by the name of judgement.

'The honour of a king,' it says, 'loves judgement,' that is, righteousness;

and to men every kingdom that loves righteousness belongs.

Therefore the way of the Lord is judgment.

And once more he brings in, rejoicing exceedingly, those who will tread this straight way;

for they say, 'We have hoped in Your name, and in the remembrance which our soul desired.'

For all our hope is in Christ, whom also we ever remember, holding fast this desire—that through it we have been saved.

'From the night my spirit rises early toward You, O God, because Your ordinances are a light upon the earth.' By 'night' he calls the time before the Lord's incarnation;

and by 'dawn,' the prophetic foreknowledge;

and by 'true light,' the Gospel of Christ the Sun of righteousness, which He also commands the whole earth to learn.

For He says that learning does not come from nature, as does seeing or walking, but from zeal and diligence.

But he who does not learn shall be taken away from the living, and shall not see the glory of Christ.

'We have hoped in Your name, and in the remembrance which our soul desired'—and to this they of necessity add the following as well.

For having settled the divine illumination in their mind, and having sent away the darkness of the ancient deception, and beholding the gloom of sin brought to nought, they offer up songs of thanksgiving, saying that they rise early as it were out of night and darkness, since the spiritual day shines forth in them, and the morning star at last rises in their hearts, as it is written.

To such as these the inspired Paul also writes, and says:

'You who were once darkness, but now are light in the Lord.' And indeed, in another place also:

'For we are not of the night, nor of darkness, but sons of light and sons of day.' For the mind of those who believe is made radiant by the evangelical oracles.

'Your law is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my paths.' For with a kind of mist, as it were, and with shadows—those, I mean, that come from the letter—the law given through the all-wise Moses was thickly overlaid.

But in the evangelical proclamations the beauty of truth is displayed naked and transparent, and it brightens the mind, pouring into the understanding of the godly like light.

'Everyone who does not learn righteousness upon the earth shall not do the truth.'

'Let the ungodly be taken away, that he may not see the glory of the Lord.' God said somewhere through the voice of the prophet:

'And they shall all be taught of God.' See, then, how in these words the passage brings in for us Christ, who has become a kind of guide into the mysteries for those of the Gentiles who have believed in Him.

For it was necessary, truly necessary, that to those who had once come to know that His ordinances are a light upon the earth, the knowledge of what is profitable should be imparted from Him.

'Hear these things, all you nations;

give ear, all you who inhabit the world.' For the law in written form instructed only Israel according to the flesh, but our Lord Jesus Christ, spreading out the net of His gentleness, has drawn in as with a seine the whole world under heaven.

Fittingly, therefore, He also counsels those throughout all the earth, saying that they must learn the righteousness spoken by Him, that is, the evangelical righteousness.

And that to disobey His words is not without penalty, He adds and says:

'Everyone who does not learn righteousness upon the earth shall not do the truth'—for he shall depart, he says, into ruin and destruction, and shall be, as it were, extinguished.

For this, I think, is what 'He has ceased' makes plain.

Everyone, if anyone does not receive the knowledge of the evangelical righteousness, and whoever does not do the truth—

and by 'truth' again in these words He designates the power of the polity that is in Christ, and the worship and service in spirit and in truth.

For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things themselves, was not the truth.

And I think it is necessary to say this also: Christ has become for us righteousness from the Father, and besides this He is also truth.

'Learn, therefore, righteousness,' He says, 'and truth';

that is, come to know the One who is truly the Son, and the Creator and Lord of all things.

'For every ungodly one shall be taken away and shall be removed from the midst, that he may not see the glory of the Lord.'

Such is what was proclaimed by Christ Himself to the peoples of the Jews:

'Verily, verily I say unto you, that unless you believe that I am, you shall die in your sins.' And again:

'He who believes in the Son is not judged, but he who does not believe has already been judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.' But he who has once been condemned, and has died in his own sins, how could he see the glory of the Lord?

For he shall not be with Christ, and having in no way partaken of the glory that is from Him, he shall not see the inheritance of the saints.

'Lord, Your arm is exalted, and they knew it not;

but when they know it, they shall be ashamed.'

'Zeal shall seize an untaught people, and now fire shall devour the adversaries.' God threatening those who do not learn righteousness, and those who do not do the truth,

according to the words we have just now set forth, the prophet proceeds to a remembrance of Israel's ignorance and at the same time of their disobedience.

For the Creator of all things, God the Word, the all-powerful arm of the Father, through whom all things were brought forth into being, though existing in the form and equality of the Father, lowered Himself into a voluntary self-emptying, and humbled Himself, as it is written, becoming man, that He might justify those on the earth—through faith, that is, faith in Himself;

and He wrought deeds beyond reason, and through the magnificence of what He did, He deemed it right to be recognized as being both God and from God according to nature, saying: