Commentary on Isaiah 1 part 37/65

For in Christ it has been justified, it washed away the defilements of its ancient offences through holy baptism, and mingled together, as I said, with those of Israel, it has been brought under the yoke of our Saviour.

Woe to those who bring you misery;

but no one makes you miserable, and he who rejects you does not reject you.

Those who reject shall be taken and delivered up, and as a moth upon a garment, so shall they be overcome. He calls blessed those who sow upon every water, where the ox and the ass tread.

And we said that by these are signified both those from among the Jews and indeed those from among the nations who have been called through faith unto the knowledge of Christ.

But it was likely that some would reason within themselves, and indeed even say aloud:

How then are such men blessed, when those who are minded toward the things of the world persecute them, ever encompassing them with unbearable circumstances, and often even bringing them down to death itself? The discourse therefore recovers itself unto the consolation of those who have believed, and says:

Woe to those who bring you misery, but no one makes you miserable.

For to suffer for Christ's sake is glorious for the saints, but for those who inflict the persecutions the thing is a procurer of destruction.

They therefore show themselves to be the miserable ones, and not rather those who have suffered, seeing that those who suffer together shall also reign together with Christ.

But even if anyone should reject you, He says, this man too rejects himself.

For those who are accustomed to do this shall be taken, that is, they shall not escape the things that proceed from the divine wrath;

and by the punishments that shall be brought upon them they shall be, as it were, given over to be devoured, just as, of course, a garment is by a moth.

The toil, therefore, is for the saints, as I said, a procurer of good things that endure unto the age.

But to choose to do harm to those who are consecrated to God is not without penalty for those who do this.

Rather, it shall be the occasion of the last of all judgements.

Lord, have mercy upon us, for on You have we set our trust.

The seed of the disobedient has become unto destruction.

But our salvation is in the time of affliction. When God had proclaimed to the saints:

Woe to those who bring you misery;

but no one makes you miserable;

out of exceeding great joy they themselves all but leap up and say:

that for those who have chosen to be disobedient every toil shall be profitless, and that being sick with much unfruitfulness they shall go on to destruction; but of the salvation that shall be given to them there shall assuredly be, at the appointed times, a manifestation.

For all their power is in Christ.

And even if they should seem at some time to be altogether weakened—I mean in respect of being persecuted by enemies—yet then most of all does He who knows how to save display the greatness of His gentleness toward them and of the help from above.

Therefore in the time of affliction is salvation for the saints, and most of all for those who initiate others into the mysteries.

And this the all-wise Paul will show, writing:

For when I am weak, then am I strong. And indeed the Saviour of all also says to Him:

From fear of You and from Your exaltation they were scattered among the nations;

But now shall your spoils be gathered together, of small and great.

As when one gathers locusts, so shall they mock you. For it shall come to pass that to those of Israel who have chosen in every way and altogether to be disobedient, and who do not receive faith in Christ, the most shameful of all things shall befall them to suffer;

and thus indeed did the law given through Moses cry aloud, and no less do the words spoken through the holy prophets make it manifest.

And indeed Christ Himself also said:

When you see Jerusalem encompassed by armies, then shall you say to the mountains:

Cover us; and to the hills:

The peoples were amazed; and the word 'were amazed' stands in place of 'were astounded,' he says.

And they suffered the astoundment.

In what manner? By reason, I think, of the very magnitude of the calamity.

For evils that are unbearable put a man beside himself, and render the sufferer, as it were, bereft of his senses.

But if one should choose to understand the phrase 'they were amazed' in another sense as well, the expression would signify, instead, that they had become removed from the land that bore them.

And thus they were scattered among all the nations.

And up to this point it is the voice of the holy prophets; but then the person of God is at once introduced, saying to them—that is, to those who were amazed and scattered—that 'Now shall your spoils be gathered, of both small and great.'

For not after a long while, He says, shall you be delivered up to your enemies, nor shall the threatened judgment proceed by way of delays.

But rather straightway shall you be plundered, both small and great.

And so those who lay you waste shall gather you up, as when one of those in the fields collects a swarm of locusts, accomplishing the task without toil, but rather effortlessly, and as though in play.

And one might say that Israel has suffered this very thing, having been delivered up spiritually to Satan and to the unclean spirits—as to certain enemies—for plunder, and to be mocked after the manner of locusts.

Holy is God who dwells on high.

Zion was filled with judgment and righteousness.

They shall be delivered up in the law; in treasures is our salvation; there is wisdom, and knowledge, and godliness toward the Lord.

These are the treasures of righteousness. The saints cry aloud again, and hasten to honor with fitting doxologies the Savior God of all things, who dwells on high—that is, either in the heavens, or even among the rational creatures whose exaltation He is, as in the intelligible greatness of His manifold virtue.

For the earthly Jerusalem falls short of such splendid glory.

For she in no way received the righteousness which is from God the Father—that is to say, Christ.

But the Church gathered from the nations, the spiritual and truer Zion, has become full of judgment and righteousness.

And the judgment here signifies the just discernment exercised in each matter.

For it is the custom of the saints to live rationally and lawfully, and to be gladdened by the evangelical ordinances.

Then they marvel at those of Israel, in that though they possessed the law—given indeed by God for their help—they yet perished through it.

For as the blessed Paul writes, 'Being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God.'

'For Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to everyone that believes.' For the law was set in shadows until the time of correction.

But when the new proclamation had shone forth, and the truth had been brought in, it was surely altogether necessary that the types should cease and the shadow become inactive; yet contentious Israel—though wishing to plead on behalf of the law, and setting himself against it by clinging to the commandments of Moses, and supposing that by this he was practicing godliness—has been delivered up to his enemies.

For it was not right to dishonor the truth by disobedience so long-continued.

Therefore they shall be delivered up in the law.

But to us who have believed from among the nations, even the law spoken of old through angels, with Moses as mediator, has been found a treasure of salvation.

For 'there'—that is, in it—is wisdom, and knowledge, and godliness toward the Lord.

And indeed the Savior said to the multitudes of the Jews: 'If you had believed Moses, you would have believed me; for he wrote of me.' Therefore the law is a treasure of righteousness to those who do not attend merely to the shadow, but rather peer into it, and are eager to search out the beauty of the truth.

Behold now, in your fear they themselves shall be afraid.

Those whom you feared shall be afraid of you.

Messengers shall be sent begging for peace, weeping bitterly, entreating for peace.

For their ways shall be made desolate; the fear of the nations has ceased, and the covenant with them is taken away, and you shall no more reckon them as men. Again in these words the Lord of hosts is seen encouraging the holy initiators into the mysteries;

and freeing them from all fear, and showing beforehand the breadth of the good things that shall be theirs.

For the wretched Jews were persecuting the holy apostles;

on the one hand summoning them before the council, and on the other beating them with rods, and reckoning their godliness toward Christ, and their zeal and eagerness in the divine proclamation, as a written charge and matter of accusation against them.

For they said: 'We strictly commanded you not to speak to anyone in this name.'

'And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching.' And we shall find that the holy apostles themselves, though fearing the assault of the Jews, yet fell down before the all-holy God, and said:

'And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings, and grant unto your servants that with all boldness they may speak your word.' Behold then, He says, they rather shall fear you, and not you them;

those whom you feared shall be afraid of you.

And in due time they shall even send messengers begging for peace, and weeping bitterly.

For their ways shall be made desolate—that is, they shall not prosper, having chosen to fight against God and to set themselves against the Master's decrees.

For of old Israel—I mean when the divine proclamation was in its beginnings—was intolerable to the holy initiators into the mysteries.

But when the multitude of those who believed had grown greater in number, in every city and country their madness was thereafter overcome, and they are under the feet of the believers, vanquished and weeping, and reckoning it sufficient for their contentment even merely to be deemed worthy of peace with them.

This, I think, is the meaning of the prophecy.

For the fear of the nations has ceased, He says—that is, of the Jewish nations—and the covenant with them is taken away.

For they have become strangers to intimacy with God, and aliens to the promises;

seeing that 'not all who are of Israel, nor because they are the seed of Abraham, are all children;'

'but the children of the promise are reckoned for the seed'—that is, those who are of the faith which is in Christ.

Therefore, He says, the covenant with them having been taken away, you shall not reckon them as men—that is, you shall deem them worthy of no account.

The land mourned, Lebanon was ashamed, Sharon became a marsh.

Galilee shall be manifest, and Carmel. Lebanon is a mountain in Phoenicia, most conspicuous of all, thickly wooded with cedars and the other kinds of trees.

To this mountain the God-inspired Scripture is wont to liken the synagogue of the Jews, inasmuch as it too had a multitude of inhabitants greater than number, just as indeed through the voice of another prophet He says to her:

The land therefore mourned—and not simply the whole land, but only that which suffered the devastation by the Romans, the land of the Jews.

Perhaps also having been forsaken by God, and banished from the gladness that comes from Him.

And Lebanon too was ashamed—that is, Jerusalem.

For she who was of old renowned and celebrated, fortified by the favors from above, and possessing invincible strength against all, has fallen under the feet of enemies, has been set on fire, and made desolate, and deprived of the sparing mercy from God: Sharon became a marsh.

Now there is a region in Judea whose name is Saronas, having very fertile plains, and being exceedingly well suited for tillage.

But this land, so fruitful and productive, He says, became a marsh—that is, overgrown, since a great abundance of thorns had sprung up in it.

For it was made a barren waste, just as was Israel;

the synagogue of the Jews has become a bearer of thorns.

For 'I waited,' He says, 'that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth thorns.' But these things shall befall the Jews, for they have acted impiously against Christ.

But Galilee and Carmel shall be manifest—that is, made evident and conspicuous to all men everywhere.

And by Galilee He means the region of the nations, or rather the nations themselves.

And perhaps also the Church gathered from the nations, which He deems fit also to liken to Carmel.

Now Carmel is a mountain both thickly wooded and lofty.

And such in some manner is the Church of Christ.

For very many are those who flourish in her, having a mind that loves God, and full of every good thing, lifted up on high, and removed far from earthly affairs.

For it is written that 'the mighty ones of the earth belong to God; they are greatly exalted.'

And it is the custom of the God-inspired Scripture to liken the Church to mountains.

'Now will I arise,' says the Lord, 'now will I be glorified, now will I be exalted.'

'Now shall you see, now shall you perceive.'

Vain shall be the strength of your spirit; fire shall devour you.

And the nations shall be as those burned up, like a thorn cast out in a field and consumed by fire. The Only-begotten Word of God, who subsists in the form and equality of God the Father, as being from Him according to nature and ineffably begotten, emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant; and being found in the fashion of men, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death.

But when, having endured the cross for the life of all, He rose again as God, then indeed—then—upon those who had been driven to such impiety that they not only disobeyed Him, though He called them to life, but even dared to surround Him with revilings and torments and with death itself, He brought down the punishment fitting for them.

For there too they perished miserably, their cities being set ablaze.

And when the land had been utterly laid waste, then indeed—then—they came to learn the glory of Him who had suffered; and having slipped into calamities so terrible and inescapable, they scarcely came to know that it was not against one of the prophets that they had impiously and unholily wrought their wickedness, but against the very Saviour and Redeemer of all.

As though the divine wrath were about, and that very soon indeed, to fall upon them.

'Now will I arise,' He says, 'saith the Lord.'

For having borne with them long-sufferingly as God before the precious cross, now that He has already suffered what was inflicted upon Him, He all but rises up against His enemies.

And He was glorified and exalted, delivering over to destruction those who fought against Him to the uttermost, but calling the nations through faith, and making resplendent with the spiritual and divine light those who of old were in darkness.

And those who had in mind and heart the mist that comes from ignorance.

Now therefore shall I be glorified, now shall you see, now shall you perceive; for vain shall be the strength of your spirit—that is, it shall come to nothing.

For I shall prevail, even against your will, and you shall be fuel for the fire, just like a thorn in a field burned up and cast away.

For as the blessed Moses says:

'Our God is a consuming fire.' 'They that are far off shall hear the things that I have done, and they that draw near shall know my strength.'

'The lawless in Zion have departed, for trembling shall seize the ungodly.' Our Lord Jesus Christ was indeed sent by God the Father to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

For theirs were the promises, the giving of the law, and the covenant, and the fathers; and He continually made Himself manifest to those throughout all Judaea.

And this He did partly by employing teachings that surpassed the law, and partly by astounding them with divine signs beyond all reason.

But the matter proved wholly unprofitable to the Jews, on account of the great perversity of their mind.

For the Lord would teach:

but the scribes and Pharisees, rebuking those who listened, would say:

and those who slandered a power so exceedingly great and ineffably true, dared to say:

'He does not cast out demons except by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.'

Therefore they became cast away, and, very reasonably, had no share in the hope that is in Him.

But the nations were initiated into the mysteries, and received the saving and evangelical proclamation.

This, I think, is what He teaches when He says:

'They that are far off shall hear the things that I have done.'

For inasmuch as concerned being instructed by the law, Israel had drawn near;

but the nations had stood far off from intimacy with God—clearly, spiritual intimacy—having served the creature rather than the Creator.

'But these,' He says, 'shall hear the things that I have done,' when Israel was unwilling to hear.

'They that draw near shall know my strength.'

For Israel has not perished utterly;

for very many even of them have believed, and are, as it were, near to God.

For they have believed that He has wrought wonders as God.

'But these,' He says, 'shall know.'

But the lawless in Zion have departed and become in every way outside the hope of the saints.

And trembling shall also seize them, exceedingly ungodly as they are.

For the experience of the calamities brought upon them will suffice to make them at last fear and dread the insolence that came from them.

'Who will declare to you that fire is kindled? Who will declare to you the eternal place?' That those who act impiously against Christ shall fall into a harsh and inescapable punishment, becoming fuel for fire at the time of judgment, He shows in these words.

'Amen I say to you, he that believes in the Son has eternal life;'

'but he that disobeys the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him.' To those, then, who are hard-hearted and have chosen to disobey, He says He will declare the eternal place, and that fire has been prepared and is kindled, and this perpetually.

For as the prophet himself again says somewhere concerning those who have died in their own transgressions:

'Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be a spectacle to all flesh.' 'He that walks in righteousness, speaking an upright way, hating lawlessness and injustice, and shaking his hands free from bribes, stopping his ears that he may not hear the judgment of blood, closing his eyes that he may not see injustice—'

'this one shall dwell in a high cave of a strong rock;'

'bread shall be given to him, and his water shall be sure.'

'You shall see a King with glory, and your eyes shall behold a land from afar; your soul shall meditate on fear.' That certain persons, then, entangled in impieties against Christ, shall depart to Hades to be punished, and shall fall into the unquenchable flame—He has most clearly indicated.

And He usefully adds that by which He makes plain who they may be that are destined to partake of the life unto the age, and to delight in due season in His gifts—divine, that is, and spiritual.

'For he,' He says, 'that walks in righteousness'—that is, he who has honoured the works of righteousness and practised a distinguished life; and 'he that speaks an upright way'—that is, he who has upon his tongue all that tends toward uprightness; and 'he that hates injustice,' and everyone who is superior to love of money, and an enemy of bribe-taking, and who wards off from his own hearing the judgment based on blood, and turns away his eyes too, so as not to behold anything unjust—'this one shall dwell in a high cave of a strong rock.'

'For he shall be in safety,' He says, 'and having his dwelling as it were immovable on a rock, he shall find a lasting abode amid all things prayed for.'

And it is quite likely that by these words our Lord Jesus Christ is named for us the rock, in whom, as a kind of cave or fold of sheep, the Church is understood, having its safe and unshaken abode unto well-being;

'For you are Peter,' says the Saviour, 'and upon this rock I will found my Church;'

'and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.' To him, therefore, He says, who dwells in such a rock, bread shall be given, and faithful water shall likewise be supplied.

Christ is given by God the Father; and indeed the faithful water, that is, of holy baptism, which renders faithful and steadfast those who are counted worthy of it.

But those who have received a King with glory—'You shall see,' He says—that is, Christ.

'And you shall see a land from afar' too, for they had not yet beheld the land concerning which the Saviour says:

'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.' With the eyes of the understanding we behold it as being still, as it were, far off.

In this way, too, we have become accustomed to meditate upon the fear of God, that we may come to be in it, and together with the other saints, being filled with the gifts that come through Christ, we glorify Him.

'Where are the scholars? Where are the counsellors? Where is he that numbers the people, small and great, as they gather together? To whom they gave no counsel, nor did he know a deep-voiced people, so that a despised people should not hear;'

'and there is no understanding in him that hears.' Having set forth clearly the rewards of those who have chosen to live piously, He passes again to what must cause grief, fittingly reproaching the teachers of the Jews as having sinned through ill counsel, in that, while it was possible for them to prosper through the grace from above and, by embracing the faith, to have a pursuit toward virtue pleasing to God—

this the wretches did not do, but rather, slipping down into what is more shameful, were taken captive in many ways.

For indeed, those accustomed to expound the law and to busy themselves scrupulously with the utterances of the holy prophets, and thus to know the God the Word who had appeared to them in human form and shone forth upon those on the earth—these were ignorant of Him, or perhaps, even having in some measure understood the mystery, they bitterly raged against Him.

For, recognizing the Son sent by God the Father after the servants, they said:

'This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize his inheritance for ourselves.' And indeed they did kill Him, so far as concerned the force of their attempt, even though He was not held fast by the gates of Hades.

Inciting against Him the peoples under their hand, who cried out to Pilate himself, saying:

'Away with him, away with him, crucify him.' And for this cause, as being guilty of the uttermost impieties and burdened with the charge of slaying the Lord, they became strangers to the hope that is in Christ, and lost their intimacy with God, and slipped down into irremediable calamities.

Therefore He says to them:

'Where are the scholars?'—instead of, 'In what evils have they come to be?' And by 'scholars' He means the scribes.

'Where are the counsellors?' And who might these be? Again, those appointed to the sacred ministry, concerning whom the law of Moses says: 'The lips of the priest shall keep judgment, and they shall seek the law out of his mouth.' For by the admonitions of the priests the people under their charge are trained. Where, then, are the counsellors? Where is he that numbers the people, small and great, as they gather together? Here again behold for me the scribes and priests, or rather the Pharisees, who heaped up against Christ the peoples under their hand, and made a gathering of crowds small and great;

who also, surrounding the dwelling of Pilate, demanded, he says, that the murderer Barabbas should be released to them, but that He who was in no wise condemned for anything absurd—I mean Christ—should be crucified.

Of this both Matthew and Mark, the blessed evangelists, make mention.

For when Pilate said that Jesus, who had done nothing amiss, ought rather to be released to them for the feast, Matthew says that the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas, but to destroy Jesus.

And this very thing Mark too, as I have said, states most plainly.

Where then is he who numbers those gathered together, both small and great people, whom they did not counsel, neither did he know the deep-voiced one, so that a despised people should not hear, and there is no understanding in the one who hears?

And the mind within them is hard to discern.

For where, he says, is he who numbers those gathered together, both small and great people, whom people they did not counsel? For the great multitude, as it seems, was ignorant that the one being cried down was Christ, the Son of God; and they did this because those who had come to knowledge — that is, the leaders — did not rather counsel them to receive faith in him.

For the people, he says, did not know the deep-voiced one — that is, Christ.

He calls him deep-voiced because the words that came from him were hidden, and set forth as it were in riddles and parables.

And indeed he is brought in, through the lyre of the psalmist, speaking thus:

I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world. And he spoke also to the Jews in parables.

Therefore they did not counsel the people, he says; nor did it know the deep-voiced one.

And they did not counsel, so that a despised people should not hear.

For if they had given counsel, a despised people would not have heard.

But rather blessed are they, as having come to know the Redeemer.

But there was not, he says, understanding in the one who heard.

For the Jews, being without understanding, did not approve the voices of their leaders, nor did they discern whether they were counseling good things or doing the opposite.

Behold Zion the city, our Salvation; your eyes shall see Jerusalem, a rich city, tents which shall not be shaken, the pegs of whose tent shall stand for ever, neither shall its cords be broken, because the name of the Lord is great among you.

Either the Church upon earth, or that beautiful city on high in the heavens, the nurse of the saints.

So that whether one should name the Church upon earth, or should receive that heavenly one into his mind, the thing signified by both will be one.

For those who have come to be in the lower Church shall in due seasons be also in that one above and in the heavens.

Therefore, since out of great gladness they all but leap for joy, having come to know Zion, in which is our Salvation — that is, Christ — and point her out to one another, straightway the divine word takes up their voices and says:

Your eyes shall see Jerusalem, a rich city;

and he discourses as it were by likeness to the ancient tent that was in the wilderness.

And he names Zion rich, and says that the tent shall be unshakable.

For the Church has been made firm, and holds unshaken its continuance in well-being;

for the gates of Hades, he says, shall not prevail against it. And he renders the cause for which it shall be such, and says to those who have believed in Christ, that the name of the Lord is great among you.

For to those who have not received the faith, the name of Christ is not great and glorified.

But among us who have believed, it is great and exalted.

For we worship him as God, as truly Son of the Father, as the Word who became man for the salvation of all.

This tent, therefore, he says, which ever abides, shall be a place for you.

For we have made the Church of Christ as it were a city, the type of the city above.

And there shall be in her rivers and broad and spacious canals.

And by these he signifies the holy evangelists, the apostles, the leaders of the Churches in their various seasons, who, after the manner of a river's stream, water the minds of those who have believed, flooding them with the words that come from God, and infusing into them abundant consolation — plainly that which comes through the Holy Spirit.

But all these rivers and canals receive one of the highest — plainly Christ, concerning whom it is written;

he himself, through the voice of the prophet, concerning his own worshipers:

Behold, I turn toward them like a river of peace, and like a torrent flooding over the glory of the nations. You shall not go this way, neither shall a ship with rowers pass through.

For my God is great.

The Lord shall not pass me by.

The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our ruler;

he himself shall save us. Again the word has passed over to the person of those who have believed.

For since he made mention of rivers and canals, on this account, and very fittingly, he speaks as concerning a ship.