Commentary on Isaiah 1 part 38/65

And what indeed this signifies, I shall attempt to make clear.

For before the sojourning of our Savior, Satan was plundering the inhabited world, with none to rebuke him.

But since we have been redeemed through Christ, and dwelling in the holy tent — I mean the Church — we luxuriate in the evangelical and apostolic words, we have taken courage against him who of old had power to overreach us, confident that Christ will guard our hearts, not permitting the inventor of lawlessness to trample upon them;

wherefore we who have believed say to him:

You shall not go this way, neither shall a ship with rowers pass through — that is, we shall no longer be traversable by your acts of greed;

but neither shall you be found in these rivers, like some ship with rowers.

From where have you taken courage to say this? Yes, he says, we have that which gives us courage.

For my God is great, and he shall not pass me by;

that is, he shall not pass through me, as formerly Satan did.

I shall not be subject to his feet;

for the Lord is our judge.

The Lord is our ruler, the Lord is our king, the Lord himself shall save us.

For of old he himself was that most perverse and harsh ruler of ours.

But since we have come under the evangelical and saving yoke, we have obtained as judge, ruler, king, and Lord the Son, and he himself shall save us.

And the prophet Isaiah himself teaches this in another way, saying, both concerning the Church of God and concerning those who have been justified in the faith that is in Christ:

There shall be a clean way there, and it shall be called a holy way, and there shall not be there an unclean way, neither shall there be there a lion, nor any of the evil beasts; it shall not go up there.

But the redeemed shall walk in it for the Lord's sake.

Your cords are broken, for they had no strength.

Your mast has bent, it shall not lower the sails, it shall not raise a signal, until it be delivered up for plunder. Having called to mind the ship, and having named a tent, he takes up again the discourse of God;

and he says, as it were with reference to the Synagogue of the Jews, that is, to the tent, that Your cords are broken, for they had no strength.

For concerning Zion the rich city, he says that its cords shall not be broken for ever.

For our Lord Jesus Christ has founded his own Church, as I have said, upon a rock;

but the cords of the tent of the Jews were broken, as it were, for they had no strength.

And just as, when a violent wind pours down upon a ship, the sails are strained taut, and are in no way slackened, since the wind does not permit it, but the ship endures shipwreck;

so, he says, your mast too has bent, and it shall not lower the sails.

Therefore, as it were by an image of those who sail, he makes plain what has befallen the Synagogue of the Jews.

But neither shall it raise a signal, he says.

And it shall remain so until it be delivered up for plunder.

Behold, he uses this example also, in manifold ways signifying to us the things that have befallen them.

For it is the custom for those who have conquered in war to raise a signal, that is, to lift up a trophy.

But those who are defeated do not raise a signal.

It shall not raise up a standard, he says—that is, it shall not prevail over its enemies, but shall rather grow weak, until it be handed over for plunder.

By all these things he signifies that it shall lie beneath the feet of Satan, and shall undergo shipwreck, and shall never overcome that one's wickedness—unlike, of course, those who dwell in the tabernacle that cannot be shaken—but shall rather become plunder for him.

'Therefore many lame ones shall take plunder, and it shall not be said:'

'I am weary, the people dwelling among them.'

For these, although they had received the ability to walk uprightly from the tutelage of the Law, have been given over as plunder to Satan.

But those of the Gentiles, although they had a mind that limped—for they had gone astray and did not know how to walk in straight paths—shall take plunder.

For they shall gain the things that are from God, overcoming Satan.

And that, having cast off the grievous burden of sin, they shall have spiritual rest, he makes plain, saying:

'It shall not be said, I am weary, the people dwelling among them;'

for their sin was forgiven them.

For those of the blood of Israel, inasmuch as their sin was still exalted over them—

for they in no way received the grace that justifies—are with reason given over as plunder, and as captives, as it were, to the inventor of sin.

But those who have become better than to be accused on account of sin—for it has been taken away by Christ who wipes it clean—shall come to be within all gladness of heart, and shall be freed from every toil, having cast off that which grieves them.

'Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.'

'Let the earth hear, and those in it;'

'the world, and the people that is in it.'

'And their slain shall be cast forth, and their dead; and their stench shall rise up, and the mountains shall be soaked from their blood.'

'And the heaven shall be rolled up as a scroll, and all the stars shall fall as leaves from a vine, and as figs fall from a fig-tree.'

'My sword is made drunk in the heaven.' Having very clearly declared that the Synagogue of the Jews would fall into shipwreck, and that it would be handed over to those who ravage it for plunder and for capture,

and having brought upon these things the calling of the Gentiles;

'For many lame ones,' he says, 'shall take plunder;'

he makes the instruction necessary for those who once had a mind that limped, but have learned to walk uprightly through faith in Christ.

Thus he says, as to those still standing far off—the Gentiles:

'Draw near, O nations, and hear, O rulers.'

And 'draw near' he has set down in the sense of 'come close.'

For so long as they are perhaps in a state of wandering, and serving the creation rather than the Creator, they stand somewhere far off from God.

But when the cause on account of which they are said to be far off has been removed, they are brought near to God, and are understood to have become close, having become partakers of Him through the participation in the Holy Spirit.

'Draw near therefore,' he says, 'both nations and rulers.'

'And let the earth also hear, and those in it, the world, and the people that is in it.'

And what indeed is signified? For wrath is impending, he says, upon all who are in it—yet not simply nor indiscriminately;

but it shall come rather upon those who have held their sin as something not to be laid aside, and who have the defilement from transgression fused into their own souls.

And that they shall also perish, and be handed over as it were to destruction and slaughter, and shall defile the whole region—as though concerning bodies utterly destroyed—he fashions the figure of his speech.

'For the mountains shall be soaked,' he says, 'from their blood.'

Then, making the time of this manifest, he brings the consummation of the world into the midst, and says: 'The heaven shall be rolled up as a scroll, and the stars shall fall as leaves.'

For as the disciple of the Saviour has said concerning the last day:

That in it the heavens shall pass away with a rushing noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with burning heat, and the earth and the works in it shall all be burned up.

we await him. Therefore the rolling up of the heaven, and the falling of the stars, would intimate the renewal of this whole universe.

And the inspired Paul also said that the creation shall be set free from the bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

And by adding that 'My sword is made drunk in the heaven,' he gives us to understand that the onset of the divine wrath shall come not only upon those on the earth, but shall also run against the unclean spirits themselves, whom the sacred Scriptures are wont to name the world-rulers of the darkness, and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

For they shall be punished and, as it were, sated to the full through the judgment they undergo—the sword of God—having tyrannized for long ages, and having destroyed, so far as it lay in them, the whole region under heaven;

and being required to pay the penalties for such dreadful impieties.

'Behold, it shall come down upon Idumaea, and upon the people of destruction with judgment.'

'The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made fat with the fat of lambs, and with the fat of bulls and of rams.' From the universal judgment he brings the discourse down to the punishment inflicted upon the Idumaeans, on account, indeed, of their impiety against Christ.

And indeed he calls Judaea 'Idumaea,'

altering it slightly, so that he might appear also to be mocking her.

For Esau, who was born of Isaac, having sold his birthright for a single meal, was justly called Edom—that is, 'earthy';

for such was the disposition in him;

and from him, thereafter, those descended from him were named—that is, Idumaeans.

For they too are earthy, and one might suppose them to have an earthy disposition, judging, I mean, from the interpretation of the name.

Therefore he calls Judaea 'Idumaea,' as one that did not know how to set its mind on the things above, but rather settled upon earthly matters, and had a carnal disposition.

'Behold, therefore,' he says, 'the sword made drunk in the heaven shall now come down upon Judaea, or rather Idumaea, and upon the people of destruction—yet with judgment.'

And what other people of destruction could there be besides Israel? For it was not willing to honour the Redeemer with faith.

But the sword comes with judgment, that is, with righteous judgment;

for Israel has not perished simply, nor indiscriminately, nor, as it were, utterly, but the remnant has been saved through faith—clearly, faith in Christ.

For not a few have been called even from Judaea, and have believed in Christ.

But upon those who disobeyed, the sword of the Lord was filled with blood—that is, the wrath all but slaughtering them, and laying them low like certain rams, and stout and fat bulls—to whom it might well be said by us:

'Come now, you rich, weep, howling over your miseries that are coming upon you.' And to these we shall add: 'You have lived in luxury, you have been wanton upon the earth, you have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.'

For such have the teachers of the Jews become, in a manner feeding upon a rich and spacious place—the fruits derived from the peoples;

and being fattened, as it were, by the honours from all.

But like rams and bulls they have fallen, those wretches, having encountered the sword of the Lord.

'For there is a sacrifice to the Lord in Bosor, and a great slaughter in Idumaea;'

'and the strong ones shall fall together with them, and the rams, and the bulls, and the land shall be made drunk from the blood, and shall be filled from their fat.' Bosor is interpreted as 'constriction,' and 'fortification,' and 'good tidings,' and moreover also 'flesh.'

He therefore names Idumaea also 'Bosor,' so that you might understand her as fleshly, or as beset—that is, besieged;

or else 'good tidings,' for Christ preached the good tidings in her.

And I would add that it also means 'fortification';

for the Lord was round about her, and round about His people, as it is written.

'But in her,' he says, 'there is a sacrifice to the Lord.'

For they have been slain by the swords of those who besieged them, and not ascending to God as a fragrance of sweet savour, but unto the satiety of the sword that lays them low.

he intimates enigmatically, saying that not only the multitude, but indeed also the notable ones among them, shall suffer a very great and pitiable fall—that the stout ones, and the rams, and the bulls shall fall together with them, and that the land shall be made drunk from their blood, and shall be filled from their fat.

For as concerning bulls and rams cast to the ground, and pouring forth an abundant flow of blood as they melt away, all but drenching it—he speaks of such things.

For it is a day of the Lord's judgment, and a year of the recompense of the judgment of Sion.

And her ravines shall be turned into pitch, and her land into brimstone;

and her land shall be as pitch that burns night and day, and it shall never be quenched throughout the age, and her smoke shall go up on high.

For generations it shall be laid waste, and birds and hedgehogs, and ibises and ravens shall dwell in it.

And a measuring line of desolation shall be stretched upon it, and satyrs shall dwell in it. In these words he leaves us to understand more plainly the things he had spoken through enigmas.

For he names Sion, upon which he says has come both a day of judgment and a year of recompense, in which—when as it were pitch and brimstone have been rained down upon their whole land—they shall be consumed by savage fire and shall have flames that cannot be soothed;

and by the smoke that goes up we should perhaps fittingly understand the rumour, as it were, of the calamity, which even to those far off signifies the magnitude of the disaster brought upon them.

He says it shall be laid waste for generations, and speaks of the things that befall cities that are made desolate.

For he says that birds and hedgehogs, ibises and ravens shall lodge in it, and moreover that it shall be measured out into a desert, with satyrs dwelling in it.

By satyrs he means the wild asses, whose beloved habitation it is to make their dwelling in places utterly deserted.

By hedgehogs he means those mice that are clothed with spines.

But if anyone should choose to take also the deepest contemplation upon these things, we say that minds which are made desolate and as it were bereft of men—precisely because the God of all does not dwell in them through the Spirit—shall be pastured over by the wicked among beasts, and the unclean among spirits shall make their lodging in them, that is, under the form of what are called hedgehogs and ravens and wild asses.

Her rulers shall be no more, for her kings and her rulers and her nobles shall be brought to destruction. Speaking above of fatlings and rams and bulls, he means the teachers of the Jews, that is, those who obtained conspicuous glory either by way of the priesthood or by reason of having attained great wealth and eminence;

he names them rulers in these words, making his declaration concerning them clearer.

"Those, then, who once reigned over them," he says, "and the rulers and the nobles, shall be no more."

For no longer shall they revel in dominion over all, nor shall they lift up an unbending brow, luxuriating in honours so exalted;

but they shall be thrust out from the seats that are among the offices of rule;

and having as it were slipped from royalty and been cast out from ruling, they shall depart to destruction, together with the others who have perished at their hands.

For they became an occasion of ruin to those under their hand.

And this the God of all will teach, saying:

Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have defiled my portion. They have made my desirable portion into an untrodden wilderness.

It has become a ruin of destruction.

And thorny trees shall spring up in their cities, and in her strongholds;

and it shall be a habitation of sirens, and a court of ostriches.

And demons shall meet with satyrs, and they shall cry out one to another;

there shall satyrs rest.

For they found rest for themselves;

there the hedgehog made its nest. Again he tries, in another manner, to make clear to us the things that befall the wilderness.

For as long as cities abound in inhabitants, none of the wild trees springs up in them;

but whenever they become emptied of men and bereft of inhabitants, then, like some barren ground, the land shall be found full of thorns, a habitation of ostriches, and especially of sirens.

By sirens he means those among the birds that utter a mournful cry by night and all but wail aloud, which by day are quiet and lodge in the desert places;

but they rather take their flights in darkness, like the owl and such creatures.

For wicked spirits also are said to delight in dwelling in the places that are still.

And most gladly do those beasts also settle down which make much of the absence of men, and are trained by natural laws to savagery.

And the earth saved her children in safety;

there deer met together, and beheld one another's faces.

They passed by in number, and not one of them perished;

the one did not seek the other, because the Lord commanded them, and his Spirit gathered them together.

And he himself shall cast lots for them, and his hand has divided it out to them for pasture;

"Inherit it for the age of time; for generations of generations they shall rest upon it." Saying that the land of the Jews shall be given over to the uttermost desolation, and shall be wholly deprived of the sparing mercy that comes from above and from God;

yet again he makes mention of his love toward those who have been preserved in it.

And these would be the remnant, that is, those who are saved through faith.

And concerning them he here says that "the earth saved her children in safety."

For those of Israel who believe became sons of the land of the Jews, having found, for their safety and as it were an unshakeable tower for their defence, our Lord Jesus Christ.

And from among the children who were saved, the divinely inspired disciples became, in a certain way, deer.

And they are likened to deer, and that most fittingly.

For the creature is a slayer of serpents, and is wont to delight in dwelling by springs of water.

And such are all those who are raised to the summit of piety toward God, being aptly disposed for the destruction of the spiritual serpent, in that, by overturning his glory, they show the Son of perdition to be feeble and ineffectual in the perversity that is in him.

But they also luxuriate in the spiritual springs of waters, that is, in the supplies of spiritual good things, which all but water the mind and render it fruitful unto God.

"There, then," he says, that is, among those who are saved, "the deer met one another."

For this, I think, is the meaning of "They beheld one another's faces."

And not one was endangered, for this again is the meaning of "They passed by in number, and not one of them perished, the one did not seek the other."

Who then was it that saved them? The Lord commanded them, and his Spirit gathered them together, and enjoined them to make disciples of all the nations;

and to baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

And he shall cast lots for them, and his hand divided it out for pasture unto the age of time.

For to the holy apostles were apportioned, as it were, certain lots, among which each was to make his proclamation.

And so the divinely inspired Peter was appointed to the circumcision.

And the Spirit gave oracle, saying:

"Separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."

For since he had made mention of deer, he necessarily added the word "to be pastured";

for they all but pastured over the countries, revelling in those who are called through faith unto the knowledge of the truth, and this was their lot.

And so the divinely inspired Paul addressed those who were saved through him, saying:

"My joy and my crown." And that the boast concerning these things shall be kept for them unending in the presence of God, he makes clear, saying, "They shall rest upon it."

"Upon it"—upon what? Clearly upon the inheritance apportioned to them by God.

Rejoice, thirsty wilderness;

let the wilderness exult, and blossom as a lily.

The desert places of the Jordan shall bud forth and exult;

and the glory of Lebanon was given to it, and the honour of Carmel; and my people shall see the glory of the Lord, and the height of our God. It is the custom of the divinely inspired Scripture to call the Church from among the nations a wilderness and barren, which once was in this state, having neither the spiritual Bridegroom from heaven—I mean Christ—but being also in want of every good thing, and being as it were a nurse of thorns, and thirsty and waterless.

But when Christ came to be in her—

(for he was received through faith, and she grew rich in the divine stream from him;

For He is a fountain of life, and a rushing torrent of delight;

and it was He who spoke through one of the holy prophets, saying:

'Behold, I turn toward them as a river of peace, and as a torrent overflowing with the glory of the nations' — no longer barren and desolate,

but rather rich in children and under a Bridegroom, and spiritually flourishing.

'Therefore let her who was of old athirst rejoice,' He says;

'and let her blossom as the lily,' having together both beauty of bloom and sweetness of fragrance.

For she has become the fragrance of Christ, and Paul confirms it in writing, that 'we are the sweet savour of Christ unto God.' But the desert places of the Jordan He calls the wilderness that lies about it.

For not to the disobedient of Israel, but to us who are of the nations, or even to those of them who have believed, is the stream of the Jordan given, and it is among us;

for we are baptized in it, and for us, as I have said, it has become the holy fountain.

Therefore in this wilderness, He says — which was once athirst, but has now obtained the far-famed Jordan — the glory of Lebanon is given, and the honour of Carmel.

By Lebanon and Carmel is very often meant Jerusalem, and the divine temple itself.

But the glory that of old befitted both the holy city and the divine temple has been given to the Church gathered from the nations, and in her we have beheld the glory of the Lord and the majesty of God.

The Jews indeed approached the Lord as though He were a mere man, having nothing more than others;

but we have beheld the height of His glory.

For we know Him to be God, who by dispensation for our sakes became man, and yet is thus God.

'Be strong, ye hands that hang down, and ye feeble knees.'

'Comfort ye the fainthearted in mind;'

'Behold, our God renders judgment, and will render it.'

'He Himself will come and save us.'

'Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear.'

'Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be clear.' A fitting mystagogy and spiritual exhortation to those called from among the nations to the knowledge of Christ is this: 'Be strong, ye hands that hang down, and ye feeble knees.'

For to those still wandering astray the hands are idle, and the knees also feeble.

And by no means does He say such things about the members of the body altogether, but we shall find that those in deceptions and errors are spiritually infirm.

For neither is there any work of piety to be found among them, nor strength of knees — that is, of the mind — as they journey along the pure road of righteousness.

'But be strong,' He says, that they may also be able to run toward God.

'And you, as being appointed to the sacred ministry of the divine proclamation, comfort those who have grown weak, speak plainly to the fainthearted:'

For the mind is not robust in those who do not know God;

for they dread, as it were, the assaults of the passions, and Satan who of old tyrannized over them, and beyond this, death itself.

'But behold,' He says, 'God' — that is, the Saviour is not far off — 'who will render judgment.'

For He will condemn the ruler of this age, and will deliver from the bondage under him those who have been held by force.

'For He will come, He will come and save us.'

'The eyes of the blind shall be opened.'

For from the beauty of created things their Maker is proportionately contemplated;

and as Paul says, 'The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead.' Therefore the eyes of those who were of old blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear.

For those who of old shook off the words concerning God, and were eager to render unacceptable the mystagogy of the saints, shall gladly receive it.

'And the lame man shall leap as a hart, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be clear.'

For those, He says, who of old knew not how to walk upright, but had, as it were, a paralyzed mind, shall leap up after the manner of harts — that is, they shall be swift of foot and renowned;

spiritually, of course, and beyond this also slayers of the serpent, and knowing how to speak well.

For they shall rather speak the things of God, no longer saying to the piece of wood:

'Thou didst beget me.' But we must know that Christ also fulfilled these things bodily, astounding Judaea with His ineffable divine signs.

'For water has burst forth in the wilderness, and a ravine in a thirsty land.'

'And the waterless place shall become marshes, and in the thirsty land there shall be a spring of water;'

'there shall be the gladness of birds, a habitation of reeds and marshes.' He has commanded the thirsty wilderness to rejoice;

then He immediately adds the cause of the gladness.

'For water has burst forth in her,' He says.

And the word 'burst forth' is well chosen, so that by it the abundance of the supply may be signified.

And He says 'ravine' in place of 'river';

and when this has come to pass, the once waterless land shall thenceforth be turned into marshes.

And it shall have also a spring of water — either the holy Jordan, or indeed Christ Himself, the Saviour of all;

for He is a fountain of life, and a well of living water.

Upon them has come the gathering together of the birds and their gladness.

And by 'birds' in these words He means those who have soared up from earthly affairs, and have come to be on high through virtue, having chosen to set their minds on the things above;

these rejoice as at a fountain in Christ, who has made the wilderness a habitation of reeds and marshes.

For places well-wooded are always somehow wont to be crowned with marshes.

But the Church gathered from the nations, enriched with the stream from heaven, watered by the divine graces, and luxuriating in the teachings of the saints, is a nurse of marshes and reeds — that is, of those who in Christ have flourished unto imperishable life through sanctification.

'There shall be a clean way there, and it shall be called a holy way, and no unclean person shall pass through there, nor shall there be an unclean way there;'

'but the scattered ones shall journey upon it, and shall in no wise go astray.'

'And no lion shall be there, nor shall any of the evil beasts go up upon it, nor shall any be found there, but the ransomed shall walk in it; delivered for the Lord's sake and gathered together they shall return, and shall come from Zion with gladness, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head.'

'For upon their head shall be praise and exultation, and gladness shall lay hold of them; sorrow and sighing and grief shall flee away.' He calls the power of the evangelical way of life a clean way, or in another sense also the purification that comes through the Spirit.

For it wipes away the stain fixed deep in the souls of men, and frees them from transgressions, and shows them to be superior to all defilement.

A holy and clean way, then, and yet more rightly so named, but impassable to those not yet purified.

For no one lives in the evangelical manner who has not first been enriched with the purification that comes through holy baptism;

no one, therefore, of the unbelievers.

'For these unclean ones,' He says, 'shall not walk in it.'

'But rather the scattered ones shall journey' — that is, those whom Satan dispersed, and this signifies the nations — 'and shall in no wise go astray.'

For of old they were led astray, having worshipped wood and stones, and walking in crooked ways;

the straight and clean path that leads to holy life.

And that, having become free also from the devil's rapacity, they shall live out so glorious a life, He makes clear, saying that 'Neither lion nor indeed any other of the evil beasts shall be there' — that is, in the clean way.

For of old, like some wild beast, together with the unholy spirits, the inventor of sin leapt upon those on earth;

but he has grown weak in Christ, and has been driven out from the flock of those who have believed, and has been chased away by Christ from his rapacity against them.