Commentary on Isaiah 1 part 3/65

But since this is true, it is now vain and cold and mere idle chatter to contend and to say that evil is natural in man;

or that chance and fate and destiny steer human affairs, and, according to each one's own pleasure, binding fast whomever they choose, they render them workers of baseness and of virtue, going into this not by voluntary inclinations, but yoked as it were by inescapable nods, and bearing with difficulty the necessity imposed by the powers that rule them.

For if evil is by nature and has real substance, as indeed those men foolishly assert,

how is it that it is strengthened and weakened by each person's will? For if I choose to be good, nothing of the kind is seen to hinder it;

and if indeed I choose to be wicked, nothing would restrain me from slipping down into this also.

Where then is the power of chance and of fate? Or what sort of destiny brings upon anyone the yoke of necessity, if it follows each person's will—both to eat the good things of the land for those who choose obedience, and indeed to become the work of the sword, if they set their disobedience and unwillingness to hear against the divine laws? 'How is the faithful city Zion, that was full of judgment, become a harlot? righteousness once lodged in it, but now murderers.' He marvels, in a manner, at the so rotten and not easily corrected change of the synagogue of the Jews—I mean the change toward the worse, and the removal from the better things to the more shameful.

For by the Law given through Moses she was instructed in the knowledge of what is profitable, and having the Word of God as her conveyer into each thing that ought to be done, she was splendid, most highly esteemed, and worthy of admiration, distinguished among very many men in whom the fruit of righteousness flourished richly, and she was acceptable to God.

For there were in her both prophets and priests, and guardians of the works of righteousness, and leaders of the people keeping judgment, and having the Law upon their tongue, and adorned with every good and virtuous manner.

And like some woman common to many and utterly shameless, she acted impiously in many ways.

At different times attaching herself to different guides, who knew how to conduct her toward whatever things are hateful to God.

Accordingly the God of all things brings a charge against her through the voice of Jeremiah, saying:

'Behold what the dwelling of Israel hath done unto me: she went up upon every high mountain, and under every shady tree, and there committed fornication.' And again, as though addressing her:

'...his wife, and she departing from him become another man's, shall she return unto him again? shall not that woman be utterly polluted? and thou hast committed fornication with many shepherds, and didst return unto me, saith the Lord.'

'Lift up thine eyes unto the straight way, and see where thou hast not been defiled: thou didst sit for them by the ways, as a crow in a solitary wilderness.'

'And thou hast polluted the land with thy fornications and with thy wickednesses, and thou hast had many shepherds for a stumbling-block to thyself.'

'Thou hadst the countenance of a harlot; thou wast shameless toward all.' For despising, as I have said, the service under God, she turned to apostasy, and used the unclean spirits and the servants of idols as her shepherds and teachers.

And these, as I have said, were the accusations against the Synagogue of the Jews before the coming of our Saviour.

But when Christ shone upon those on the earth (for God the Lord appeared unto us, according to that which is written), she did not rather use Him as her instructor;

but she honoured as doctrines the commandments of men;

and forsaking the good Shepherd, who knew how to convey her to every one of the best things, she clung to the chief priests and scribes, and indeed also to the Pharisees.

And she played the harlot in this manner.

And this, even though both the Law and the prophets had proclaimed aloud to her beforehand the mystery of Christ, and had foretold that He would be present according to the appointed times.

'How then,' he says, 'is the faithful city Zion, that was full of judgment, become a harlot?' It is as though he were saying:

'What occasions for falling sick did she take—or rather, how, being full of spiritual aids, did she slip down into apostasy, she who was of old faithful and a worker of righteousness, in whom righteousness lodged, that is, the Law found its rest? For the multitude of those under tutelage had become as it were His house, but now murderers have destroyed it.'

Do you hear that, passing over all the other things, He charges them with murder? For they poured down upon their own head the precious blood of Christ, saying to Pilate:

'His blood be upon us and upon our children.' And they also slew the holy prophets;

and this the blessed Stephen reproached them with, saying:

'Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit.'

'Which of the prophets have not your fathers slain? As your fathers did, so do ye.' 'Thy silver is reprobate.'

'Thy tavern-keepers mix the wine with water; thy rulers are disobedient, companions of thieves, loving gifts, following after recompense, not judging for the fatherless, and not regarding the cause of the widow.' He plainly enumerates the causes of the change for the worse.

And just as one of the most skilful physicians tells the sick the occasions of their sickness, so also He who wills that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth makes clear to those who are sick from ignorance of what is fitting the causes of the passions and errors within them.

'For thy silver,' He says, 'is reprobate.'

And by 'reprobate silver' He names the word of their teachers, which was not sound—nay rather, was full of every abomination;

and which was able rather to injure than to profit those who listened.

Now the God-inspired Scripture is somehow accustomed to call 'silver' the words of catechesis which some might address to the peoples under their charge.

And indeed our Lord Jesus Christ says that the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man, a householder, who being about to travel abroad called his own servants;

and to one he gave five talents, and to another one, and went abroad;

rendering the praises, He says, 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant.'

'The oracles of the Lord are pure oracles, silver purified by fire, proved to the earth.'

That is, for the Jews the word from the scribes and Pharisees—inasmuch as they, resembling tavern-keepers, wished to mix the wine with water;

that is, they made the interpretation of the Law adulterated and not free of the tavern-keeper's fraud;

interweaving something of their own wishes as well, and smuggling in cold and more watery notions, they made the rendering of the Lawgiver's counsel not unmixed with the worse element, nor, as one might say, undiluted.

And indeed the scribes and Pharisees would approach the Saviour, saying at one time:

Pretending that they too interpreted, but bringing in stale and cold traditions.

And He brings a charge against the rulers, as being greatly sick with an ungovernable disposition, and as stretching out their neck haughtily as it were, and as having chosen to be disobedient.

For they were unwilling to receive the faith, namely that in Christ, even though the Law cried aloud to them up and down about the mystery concerning Him, and showed it in ten thousand ways.

And indeed our Lord Jesus Christ said to them:

'Or do ye think that I will accuse you to the Father? There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye have set your hope.'

'For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me, for he wrote of me.' They are therefore disobedient, neither wishing to interpret to others the counsel of the Law as unmixed and unadulterated, nor honouring the faith proclaimed beforehand through Moses and the prophets and the saints.

For they were unwilling to obey Christ when He said:

'Take my yoke upon you.' And in addition to being hard and disobedient, they became companions of thieves;

on the one hand banding together with those who took bribes (sic), and on the other hand running together in the unholy counsels of him who betrayed to them our Lord Jesus Christ—who was a wicked disciple and at the same time a most thievish one.

And the teachers of the Jews were also money-lovers in another way, tithing the cummin and the anise and every herb, and leaving the weightier matters of the Law—judgment, and mercy, and faith.

For they did not judge for the fatherless and the widows.

But seeking rather a recompense from those who brought suits to them, they at times unholily condemned those who were being wronged, issuing against them the most lawless verdict.

So from judging unjustly and being shamefully overcome by bribes, they even ran riot against Christ Himself.

For in order that they might have the gift-offerings from the peoples, they did not receive the master of the vineyard, making their own inheritance that which was fitting and owed to Him alone.

For they slew Him who was innocent and righteous, even though the Law says:

Woe to the mighty ones of Israel!

For my wrath shall not cease against my adversaries, and I will execute judgement upon my enemies. He assigns the causes of Jerusalem's ruin to those who have been allotted the role of leaders, and quite reasonably so.

For in everything the subject people follow their lead,

just as, without doubt, the flocks under their hand follow the shepherds.

For if the shepherds should lead them off to rich and abundant pasture, the flocks would be robust and exceedingly well-fed;

but if into salty ground that is a mother of thorns, they will utterly destroy them by ill-feeding.

For by counsels leading to uprightness and virtue and a blameless knowledge of God the mind of those being tutored is fattened;

but by counsels leading to impiety it slides most readily into a craving and eagerness for baser things.

Having suffered some such thing, the wretched ones of Israel utterly perished through the traditions and teachings of the Scribes and Pharisees.

For they did not permit them to walk the true and saving path—I mean the path through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

In this very way, having most senselessly preferred the esteem they had from one another above their own salvation, they remained wholly without part in the glory that comes from God.

And this the Saviour said to them:

How can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? And indeed elsewhere too:

Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven. They became therefore a stumbling-block to the peoples, and they do not cease to war against the glory of Christ.

For this reason he says concerning them:

For my wrath shall not cease against my adversaries, and I will execute judgement upon my enemies. Do you see how he names them both adversaries and indeed enemies? And he says that the effects of the divine anger will run upon them above all.

For it was necessary—indeed necessary—that they be punished the more severely, and that those responsible for the destruction of others render account to the Judge.

These men might well have been able even to save them, if only they themselves had been willing to think rightly and to point out to all the rest the path that leads to this.

The all-inspired John also cried out to them as they came to the baptism of repentance:

Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? There came therefore vengeance from God against the mighty;

that is, especially against those who were powerful among them, or rather their leaders, when their land was ravaged and handed over to the most valiant armies of the Romans.

And this the Saviour foretold to them:

When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will say to the mountains, Cover us;

and to the hills, Fall upon us. It is therefore a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God;

not because he is harsh and implacable—

for rather he is kind and good—

but because he is grieved when despised, when we above all deprive ourselves of the gifts that come from him, though it is possible to receive them richly,

and to delight in them when we choose to yield to his laws.

And it is a fearful thing when we shake off the wicked and unholy teachers in this life,

who hasten to undo the rightness of the faith by their own words, and, pouring out the venom of their own perversity into the souls of the more guileless, turn them aside so that they choose what is wicked.

And I will bring my hand upon you, and I will purge you into purity, but the disobedient I will destroy, and I will humble all the proud;

and I will set up your judges as at the first, and your counsellors as at the beginning.

And after these things you shall be called a city of righteousness, faithful mother-city Zion.

For with judgement shall her captivity be saved, and with mercy.

And the lawless and the sinners shall be broken together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed. God brings his hand as one that strikes;

for such, in a manner, is always the posture of those who strike.

The effects of wrath shall come to pass, but he will deem those who have believed worthy of his care and forbearance, and he plainly teaches that he will apportion to the genuine ones the grace that leads to their being preserved.

For of old the God-fighting Jerusalem committed fornication in many ways by serving other gods, and God brought his hand upon her, and as with a kind of fire handed her over to the calamities of war.

But when the Father sent from heaven his Son as Saviour and Redeemer, then she raged drunkenly against him and did the deeds of unmixed madness.

Nor did she cease savagely to outrage him by her disobedience, though he justifies the ungodly and delivers them from their ancient transgressions through faith.

But he brought his hand upon her again, and like some craftsman he assayed her in the fire, and all that was in her most tried and choice—the race of those who had believed—this he kept for himself, but the counterfeit and worthless he handed over to ruin and destruction.

Just as, then, those who melt down in the fire either copper or silver refine the materials,

so also I, he says, will purge into purity.

And it is written: The Lord will wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Zion, and will purge out the blood from their midst, by the spirit of judgement and the spirit of burning. And it has been said also through the voice of one of the holy prophets: Suddenly the Lord whom you seek shall come to his temple, even the angel of the covenant whom you desire.

Behold he comes, says the Lord; and who shall endure the day of his coming? Or who shall stand at his appearing? For he enters like the fire of a furnace, and like the herb of the fullers, and he shall sit refining, as with silver and gold. And in a different manner the wise Matthew also makes this plain to us, saying concerning Christ:

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance;

but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

His winnowing-fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing-floor, and will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire. Therefore the wheat is gathered into the barn, but all that is useless—that is, the chaff—he has said shall be food for the fire.

And how, if anyone should wish to learn, the force of the passages before us will make plain.

And there have been taken away all the proud and those living lawlessly—that is, those who were allotted to rule over the Synagogue of the Jews, the chief priests and Pharisees.

For how were they not lawless and boastful, who had not the least regard even for the law, but lifted up their horn on high, and spoke unrighteousness against God? For they said, Away, away, crucify him. And they were taken away from leading the peoples, the holy apostles having been appointed, concerning whom he says, I will set up your judges as at the first, and your counsellors as at the beginning. And the all-inspired disciples became in no way inferior to the more ancient saints, whom he both names judges and calls counsellors.

And so the most wise Paul handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh the man in Corinth who had committed fornication, that the Spirit might be saved;

and he gives good counsels, and says:

and sons of the Synagogue that then existed were the all-inspired disciples.

And that they became fathers of those who had believed, hear Paul saying: For in Christ Jesus through the gospel I begat you. And again:

Behold, a righteous king shall reign, and rulers shall rule with judgement. For the leaders of the Synagogue of the Jews both clung to a most lawless life, and knew not to rule with judgement—that is, with righteousness.

But when Christ became king of all that is under heaven, the all-inspired disciples became righteous and good and rulers with judgement;

and these having been appointed, it was again called a city of righteousness, and faithful mother-city Zion—that is, the Church.

And that not indiscriminately, as I said, but in care and with a reasoning that accords with righteousness the purging, or rather the testing, from God took place, the race that won approval through faith makes evident;

For they shall be as a terebinth that has cast off its leaves, and as a garden that has no water. I said that in these words the prophet's discourse makes a twofold occasion for the casting away of the Jews.

For of old, having forsaken God, the one who is God by nature and Redeemer, they served idols, and offered sacrifices to the host of heaven, and attaching their reverence to the works of their own hands, they behaved impiously beyond measure.

But when the Lord God appeared to us, according to the Scriptures, they denied even him, and raged beyond measure against the Author of life.

Therefore their charges are kindred, and the manner of their madness is not unlike the first, but rather is in a cause of even greater madness.

And they were punished, in the times before the incarnation, by the incursions of enemies, the burning of cities, the overthrow of houses.

For these things did the Persians and Medes, the Moabites, and the Edomites, and the surrounding nations, at God's allowance.

But since, as I said, they acted impiously even against Christ himself, they came to be in evils no less than the more ancient.

For they fell in with the armies of the Romans, who utterly destroyed all Judaea root and branch, with none to defend, or rather able to deliver them, and to rescue them from so bitter a calamity.

For this reason he says that They shall be ashamed of their idols, which they themselves desired, and they were put to shame at their gardens, which they craved. For seizing upon groves and thickets, then setting up idols round about the taller of the trees, and raising altars, they called upon the falsely-named gods as saviours, and upon these very works of their own hands they set all their hope—of being able to prevail over enemies and easily to overcome those who stood against them.

But when the enemies were present and did the deeds of foes, while Israel remained unaided by his own gods, they were put to shame at their idols.

For they beheld them, even before all else, being burned up together with the gardens, or rather the groves, and with the very sanctuaries and altars.

their own gods; and then, scarcely at last, they understood what had been spoken by God through the voice of the prophet:

'And where are your gods, which you made for yourself? Let them arise and save you in the time of your affliction.' Having therefore suffered shame on account of their own gods, whom they themselves desired, and indeed on account of the gardens, they shall be as a terebinth that has cast off its leaves, and as a garden that has no water;

that is to say, naked and utterly dishonoured, and grievously sick with barrenness—plainly the spiritual barrenness that consists in the lack of good works.

For the terebinth, or indeed any other of the plants, so long as it is seen luxuriant with its own blossoms, preserves the glory that befits it;

but having cast off its leaves, it will be dry and unlovely, and as it were held in dishonour.

A garden again, if it should have springs, will be most rich in trees, and luxuriates in manifold ways in the abundance of its fruits.

But being dry and waterless, it will assuredly be in barrenness—nay, will even sicken with very desolation.

Dishonoured, therefore, and fruitless has Israel remained.

For what fruit of virtue is there among those who serve idols? Or how is he not filled with all dishonour, who forsakes the one God who is God by nature, and says to the wood, 'You are my father,'

and to the stone, 'You have begotten me'? And in another way too shall Israel be as a terebinth that has cast off its leaves.

For before the coming of our Saviour, while they kept the shadow of the law, they resembled plants that indeed have no fruit, yet are very finely adorned with the sprouting of leaves.

But when they had given offence to Christ, they cast off even that very keeping of the shadow.

For they no longer keep the sacrifices according to the law, nor indeed do they in any way take pride in the boasts of the law;

but keeping very few of the ancient rites throughout their cities, they are fruitless and dishonoured;

for they slew the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead, having loosed the pangs of death, inasmuch as it was not possible for Him to be held fast by it.

'And their strength shall be as the stubble of tow, and their labour as sparks of fire, and the lawless and the sinners shall be burned up together, and there shall be none to quench them.' The wise Solomon has said that 'Each one is bound fast by the cords of his own sins';

for to each of us his own transgressions bring about destruction, and draw down upon him the penalties that come from the divine wrath.

Such a thing have those of Israel suffered.

For they wrought for themselves the falsely-named gods, and set their hope upon them, that they might be able to prevail over their enemies.

But this very thing became to them all but fire and firewood.

And this he makes plain to us, saying:

'And their strength shall be as the stubble of tow, and their labour as sparks of fire.'

The power, he says, that was expected to be theirs, shall be as the stubble of tow—that is, food for fire and kindling—and the works of their hands as sparks of fire hurled against them.

The lawless, therefore, and the sinners shall be burned up together.

One must therefore beware of giving offence to God, and of doing those things;

for our very works will be both fire to us and food for fire—just as, without doubt, the boasts arising from good deeds are found to be productive of life and glory to those who do rightly.

{Discourse 2.} 'The word which came from the Lord to Isaiah, son of Amos, concerning Judaea and concerning Jerusalem.' One would perceive that what lies before us is akin to what has gone before, and comes through the same conceptions, if he applies the mind's keen attention to the contemplations.

'of Judaea and concerning Jerusalem.'

Nevertheless, so far as we can, we shall make clear the very force of the vision, gathering it, as it were, briefly into a single thought.

For since he attempts to speak both of the devastation of the sensible Judaea and Jerusalem, and of the manifestation of that which is in Christ and spiritual, and its revealing in this present world;

for this reason, it is not on behalf of Judaea, nor indeed against Jerusalem, but concerning Judaea and concerning Jerusalem that he says he beheld the vision.

By the sensible Judaea, and indeed Jerusalem, we mean the very land in which Israel dwelt, and the very constitution of the assembly of the Jews.

But the spiritual Jerusalem, or Judaea, we shall reckon to be the Church—that is, the circumcision in spirit, that is, those who have in mind and heart the circumcision made without hands in Christ.

And so one of the holy prophets cried out to the Jews:

'Circumcise yourselves to God, and circumcise the hardness of your heart, O men of Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem.'

But the inspired Paul knows another Jew, not so much the one according to the flesh, but the one in spirit.

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God. One must therefore soberly observe when the prophet is making his words against Jerusalem, or Judaea, and when concerning that which is in Christ and spiritual, which is also truly perfect and blameless.

What then does he say? That 'it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, and the house of God upon the tops of the mountains.'

'And it shall be exalted above the hills, and all the nations shall come to it.'

'And many nations shall go and shall say:'

'For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem.' For the vision came to an end for him.

And this was the end of the prophecy that had already gone before.

And in what manner those of Israel were put to shame over their idols, we have sufficiently declared.

But since there has been mention of the prophecy concerning them, the prophet, beginning next a neighbouring and second vision, indicates the time in which the dominion of the devil shall fall, not upon some part of the earth, nor in one region and city, with the worship of idols and its profane apparatus utterly cast down, but this disease and the tyranny of the unclean demons shall be taken away from all that is under heaven.

And this too has been accomplished for those upon the earth in the last days—that is, in the final times of the present age, in which shone forth the only-begotten Word of God, having come to be of a woman.

When He also presented to Himself the spiritual Judaea, or Jerusalem—that is, the Church—as a pure virgin, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, according to what is written;

but rather holy and without blemish.

And concerning her he says that 'it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, and the house of the God of Jacob upon the tops of the mountains.'

And to us Zion, the one in Judaea, is said to lie and to be built upon a mountain.

But in these words the Church would be understood not so much sensibly as spiritually, which is also likened to a mountain.

For she is truly lofty and conspicuous, and most well-known to those in every place.

For she minds nothing of earthly things, but is high above earthly things, and surveys, so far as may be, the glory of God with the eyes of the understanding, and glories in doctrines concerning Him that are exceedingly lofty.

raising the brow in wisdom, they deify the creation, and attach reverence to the elements of the world.

For they have a grovelling mind, and contemplations cast down to the ground, and a heart darkened;

professing to be wise, they became fools, according to what is written.

But the spiritual Zion—that is, the Church—flies over all creation, both visible and invisible, and reaches up to that very nature which is beyond all things.

For she is filled full of the divine light, and recognizing that nature as both Creator and Fashioner of all things, she assigns to it, and to it alone, the dominion over all.