Commentary on Isaiah 1 part 57/65

Therefore, whenever you who have believed suppose yourselves to be but few—inasmuch as the divine and sacred proclamation is still in its beginnings—yet know, He says, that it has been firmly determined that your affairs shall also increase into a multitude beyond number.

For Abraham was but one, and I called him, and blessed him, and having blessed him I loved him, and having loved him I multiplied him—that is, I have appointed him father of the whole race, or nation, of the Jews, and besides these, of those who are of the promise.

For it was said to Abraham: I have appointed you a father of many nations. Therefore he who is called is blessed, and whoever is blessed shall in every way and altogether be loved, and he who obtains this shall become manifold—spiritually, of course.

For he shall have manifold fruits, those that come from virtues and from evangelical boasts.

Moreover, even according to the literal sense of the history, it is possible to see the promise as true in actual deeds.

For all that is under heaven worships Christ the Saviour of all, and all things have become full of Him, and the whole earth has been filled with His glory.

And now I will comfort you, O Zion, and I have comforted all her desolate places, and I will make her desolate places as the paradise of the Lord.

Gladness and exultation shall they find in her; they shall give thanksgiving [variant reading:

confession] and a voice of praise. The discourse of the holy prophets is always in some way fashioned with reference to things seen and to matters within sense-perception.

Yet it has its reference to the things beyond sense-perception and to the things intelligible.

Therefore, even though He names Zion, do not think of the earthly one, but rather receive it as the intelligible Zion, which is the Church of the living God;

for otherwise how could anyone see the words of the prophet coming true according to reality? For God promised to comfort her;

yet we shall nowhere find this having come to pass; but, on the contrary, one can see her laid desolate and ravaged.

The word, then, came to the prophet now with reference to the multitude of those who believed, which is the Church of the living God.

And what then does He say? For just as, He says, I called Abraham, and though he was but one I appointed him father of many nations;

so also I will comfort you, O Zion.

And the comfort in these words is a promise that brings gladness and implants firm hope in those who hear—namely, that since God is in every way and altogether gathering together those who are to be called in faith, she shall not be desolate and left barren, but shall be like some paradise flourishing and richly wooded, thick with good and noble plants, and possessing intelligible fruitfulness—that is, gladness and exultation, confession and a voice of praise.

filling a garden, which indeed He also names the paradise of God.

For of old the Law of Moses commanded to sacrifice oxen and to slay sheep, and to bring turtledoves to God, and fine flour mingled with oil.

But no longer is the God of all approachable through these things, but, as Christ Himself said:

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. And worship in spirit and in truth, and the power of intelligible service, possesses as its sweet fragrance spiritual gladness and exultation in the hope that is in Christ.

and we shall be together with Him and shall reign together with Him, being ranked among the sons of God, and being made rich in His divine and life-giving Spirit.

And we too bring to Him intelligible fruitfulness—both confession and songs of thanksgiving.

For with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Hear me, you kings also; give ear to me, for a law shall go forth from me, and my judgment for a light to the nations. Promising to bring to light a very great multitude, beyond number, of those who believe in Him, He thus addresses her as though she were already gathered together.

And He then initiates them into the mysteries as being His own worshippers, so that what is written concerning them may be seen to be true:

Blessed is the man whom You shall instruct, O Lord, and teach him out of Your Law. And He promised also the honour attendant upon this to those who had come to know His manifestation.

And indeed He says, through one of the holy prophets, concerning His own coming, which took place in this world in the flesh, that: In that time, says the Lord, I will give my laws into their understanding, and upon their hearts I will inscribe them. And rightly understanding this too, the all-wise Paul writes, and says to those who had obtained it:

You are our epistle, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. Therefore hear me, He says—that is, receive my words, and do not become unruly like Israel, clinging to the antiquity of the letter of the Law, and seeing nothing from the types.

The commandment given through Moses was appointed only until the time of amendment, he says.

But since the time of the Incarnation is no longer merely awaited but has already arrived, let the shadow give way to the truth.

'Hear me, therefore, O my people.'

By saying 'my people,' he sets before them the spiritual kinship that had for a time been granted to them, thereby—as I think—shaming them, and rendering them more ready for what is needful, namely, to receive the word that comes from him.

He calls not only those who are numbered among the peoples, but together with them kings also, that by 'rulers' you may understand the leaders of the peoples.

For from the multitude of those who believed, many were brought forward to this office, of whom the divinely inspired disciples became the firstfruits;

then, following in their footsteps, those who came after them were invested with the name of kingship;

inasmuch as they were enriched with the name of kingship, and were appointed also to lead the peoples.

And so, as if out of exceedingly great joy, they lift up songs of thanksgiving to God, saying:

'He has subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet.' And the divinely inspired Psalmist also sings concerning them:

'The princes of the peoples are gathered together with the God of Abraham.' 'O peoples, then, and kings,' he says, 'hear me, and give ear, and learn what is promised for the future.'

'A law shall go forth from me, and my judgment for a light of the nations.'

By 'law' in this place he names the divine and evangelical proclamation.

For the new and saving decree is indeed of a different kind, as it were;

yet it is, as it were, the changing of the ancient law for the better, and the passing over of the types, now run out, into the truth.

'Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets;'

'I came not to abolish, but to fulfil.'

'For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one iota or one stroke shall pass from the law, until all is accomplished.' Now the law in letters was given through Moses;

but the saving proclamation, that is, the evangelical one, went forth through Christ.

For it was fitting that Moses should become a minister of the shadow and the type, as it were, while Christ should become the illuminator of true knowledge and of the true worship which is in spirit.

For he himself is the true light.

And he adds to these words that 'my judgment shall be for a light of the nations.'

By 'judgment' here he means either his holy and benevolent verdict, which brought forth into the light of the nations the grace that comes from him; or else 'judgment,' that is, uprightness and righteous judgment—that is, righteousness—the evangelical righteousness, clearly.

'You have established uprightness; you have wrought judgment and righteousness in Jacob.' But if he says that the divine and saving proclamation was wrought in Jacob by these things, and not rather also among the rest of the nations—

yet one must remember God saying plainly:

'But I was established king by him' (and it is clear that this means by God the Father) 'upon Zion, his holy mountain, proclaiming the ordinance of the Lord.' For of Israel were the fathers and the promise, the giving of the law and the covenant.

But since they became apostates hard to guide, and slayers of the Lord, therefore the grace has for this reason since passed over, and has become a light to all the nations.

'My righteousness draws near swiftly, and my salvation shall go forth, and in my arm shall the nations hope.'

'The islands shall wait for me, and in my arm shall they hope.' He does not allow the eagerness of those who are called to be withered away by their wrongdoings, nor that the recalling of their hope should be for long ages, he says; but he declares the promise to be, as it were, running hard upon the heels of the words.

Such is that which was spoken through the voice of Habakkuk, or rather spoken by God to him:

'Yet a little while, yet a little while, and the coming one shall come, and shall not tarry.' For the hopes of good things, being thirsted after by those who await them, are consumed away by delay.

For this reason, he says, his righteousness draws near.

And if we should wish to ascribe these words to the person of God the Father, we say that he calls his Son his 'righteousness.'

For he came into this world, not that he might rather judge it, but that it might be saved through him.

And it was saved in no other way than through great gentleness.

For he said, 'I am he who blots out your iniquities, and I will not remember them.' And again:

'And you, O Israel, do not forget me.'

'You have shown favour, O Lord, to your land; you have turned back the captivity of Jacob; you have forgiven the iniquities of your people; you have covered all their sins.' Therefore in the righteousness of God the Father—that is, in Christ—we have been both saved and sanctified, having washed away the defilements of our vileness.

But if it should be Christ himself who says, 'My righteousness draws near swiftly,' you will understand no less in these words a 'righteousness,' namely the grace that justifies which comes from him—that is, the evangelical and heavenly proclamation—through which we have come to know the way of the righteousness that pleases him, and have been guided into every kind of the noblest deeds of valour, according to what is said in the Psalms:

'Your law is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths.' And he names this righteousness also 'salvation,' and very fittingly.

For it draws us out of every evil, and, delivering us from the bonds of death, bears us up to the life that has no end.

And he promises yet something else also.

'For the nations,' he says, 'shall hope in my arm.'

And indeed he affirms also that the islands shall wait for him.

The multitude, being wrapped in unbreakable bonds—those of sin, I mean—and having been brought under the covetous graspings of that utterly wicked dragon, the author of evil, was in captivity, and, being in the uttermost miseries, was altogether without help.

For there was no one able to deliver them from so bitter and inescapable a calamity;

there was no one to shatter the yoke of covetousness, but they were, as I said, in the lot of spoils taken by the spear, stripped of every hope that leads up to life, and destitute of every good thing.

'But those,' he says, 'who of old were weak, and as it were cast down to the ground, having taken hold of my arm, shall gain unto salvation the hope they did not expect.'

And everywhere the sacred Scripture names the Son the 'arm' of the Father.

But if anyone should wish to understand also the arm of the Son himself, upon which the hope of the nations shall be, who are called unto salvation, you will understand his own power, godlike and extraordinary, through which he will crush Satan and the world-rulers of this world, and has saved those of the nations.

'You have humbled the proud one as one wounded, and by the strength of your arm you have scattered your enemies.' Christ, then, has become a hope and a way of salvation not for those of Israel alone, but indeed for all the nations also;

for him indeed the islands shall wait.

And by 'islands,' as I think, he means the churches gathered from among the nations, which, lying as it were in the midst of the sea, being struck by the assaults of troubles as by waves, carry off the crown of good repute through their endurance.

For endurance works proof, and proof hope, and hope does not put to shame.

Therefore to 'wait for God' would be understood as nothing else than, through steadfastness and endurance, to be well-pleasing to him, and for this reason to be counted worthy of his sparing care and his watchful oversight.

For it is written, 'Waiting I waited for the Lord, and he gave heed to me.' 'Lift up your eyes to heaven, and look upon the earth beneath, for the heaven was made firm as smoke, and the earth shall wax old as a garment, and those who dwell upon the earth shall die like these things.'

'But my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not fail.' Saying that he himself will be a hope to the nations, he weaves for them the mystagogy as something necessary.

For there was no other way for those who did not know him to be joined to God in spiritual kinship, except that they should be delivered from the ancient error, and come outside the snares and the diabolical crookedness, and be enriched with the true and blameless knowledge concerning God.

For the entrance, as it were, into kinship with God is to know clearly and to confess that there is no other God besides him.

Therefore, since they supposed heaven to be God, and were persuaded to worship the more conspicuous of the stars, and reverenced even that very earth which lies beneath the feet of all, having wholly departed from the doctrines of true religion, and from who is by nature the God of all, and who brought into being the things that once were not—

for this reason, he says, declaring the creation to be of another nature in relation to himself;

and showing very clearly that the difference between the Maker and the thing made is incomparable, he commands them to lift up their eyes to heaven—that is, to contemplate the firmament itself and the things in it—and again to bring the mind down also to the earth, that is, to the contemplation of the things in it, of the living creatures, I mean, and simply of all the things in it; and even if they should choose to marvel at it, not to halt the mind so far, but from the greatness of the works to measure out the power of the Craftsman, and the surpassing and ineffable glory of the Author of all things that come to be.

to gather knowledge from the divinely inspired Scripture, and from the magnificence together with the order of created things.

Paul, therefore, laughs at the wise men among the Greeks, that though they wrap around themselves a semblance of wisdom, they have their heart full of all folly.

'For they worshipped and served the creation,' he says, 'rather than the Creator.' And so he rebukes others also, as turning back again to the weak and beggarly elements of the world, and wishing, beyond what is reasonable, to be in bondage to them.

For that to those of sounder mind the beauty of the creation would engender no pretext for going astray, but rather occasions for true knowledge concerning God, he made plain by saying:

'For his invisible things, from the creation of the world, being understood by the things that are made, are clearly seen, both his eternal power and divinity.' Therefore whenever you marvel, he says, at the heaven made firm, and seen as it were in the form of smoke—yet know, he says, that the things which have been brought over into being shall be dissolved again.

For the things that have beginnings of coming into being shall again come to an end into not being at some time.

'The earth, then, shall wax old,' he says, that is, it shall be brought to nothing, 'and those who dwell in it shall die,' just like these things.

And he aptly names the change of the elements into what is better a 'death.'

For as Paul says, that 'the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.' But in what manner shall it be delivered? The disciple of Christ will make it plain when he says:

'For the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with a rushing noise, and the elements being burned with heat shall be dissolved, and the earth and the works that are therein shall all be burned up.'

'But according to his promises we look for new heavens and a new earth.' Therefore he declares that the renewal of the creation shall come to pass as a kind of resurrection from the dead, just as it does in the case of human bodies.

'And when the elements are being dissolved, my salvation shall be for ever,' he says, 'and my righteousness shall not fail.'

Now, as we have said many times, by 'salvation' and 'righteousness' he designates the Son;

and by calling him 'his own,' he shows the special relation which the Son has toward him, being of him and in him by nature.

'Nevertheless, it shall be for ever,' he says, 'and shall not fail.'

And how great is the difference between Creator and creation, between Maker and thing made, he reveals through these words:

For the creation shall grow old, and having been brought over from non-being into being, it shall not be free from corruption either;

but he who is the author and craftsman of all things, God the Word, through whom are all things and in whom are all things, shall be for ever and shall not fail.

This the inspired Psalmist also teaches when he says, 'In the beginning, O Lord, thou hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thy hands.'

'They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; and they all shall grow old as a garment, and as a mantle thou shalt roll them up, and they shall be changed;'

'but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. Hearken unto me, ye that know judgement, my people, in whose heart is my law;'

'ye shall not fear the reproach of men, and be not overcome by their reviling.'

'For as a garment shall grow old with time, and shall be eaten as wool by the moth;'

'but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation unto generations of generations.' Having initiated into the mysteries those from among the nations, and having woven for them a simpler discourse suited to their understanding (for milk is more fitting for those who are still babes in their habit), he now converses again with those who are already mature, and who have a stronger heart and a mind that stands firm.

and he counts it as nothing where godliness is concerned.

And who these might be, he tells plainly, saying:

'Those who know judgement,' that is, those who like certain approved money-changers test each of the things to be done, and discern them accurately, holding fast to what is good, but abstaining from every evil deed.

And these are they who have the law of God in mind and heart, and who have made it their practice to receive it as a kind of tutor and wise guide.

concerning every righteous and wise man, that 'The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not slip.' It is therefore a saving thing to make the divine law, as it were, a treasure laid up in our mind and heart.

For just as a vessel fashioned out of bronze, or some other such material, if it has fire heaped within it, remains warm, so too the soul of a man that has the divine law in mind is altogether fervent in spirit.

And one of the holy disciples says that because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall grow cold.

'Hearken therefore,' he says, 'ye that know judgement, and ye that carry my law in your heart.'

'Fear not the reproach of men, and be not overcome by their reviling.' For all who wish to live godly in Christ shall be persecuted;

and suffering for the sake of piety, they endure the mockeries that come from those who do not know it.

But one ought to count such things as nothing, and rather to consider that even the Saviour and Lord of all himself endured the cross, despising the shame.

'A disciple is not above his master.'

'If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you;'

'if they called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household;' and in addition to these things:

'Blessed are ye when they persecute you, and reproach you, and speak every evil word against you falsely, for my sake.'

'Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for your reward is great in the heavens.'

'For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.' You must therefore keep an unbroken mind concerning these things, and spurn as stale the laughter of your persecutors, and hold in contempt all reviling, but rather count it an occasion of all glory to be persecuted for godliness' sake, and to be reviled for Christ.

For what harm will an insult do, or a word spewed forth from an unintelligent heart, to him who is approved through endurance? For that the glory of those who have suffered shall in due season shine forth, while those who reviled and reproached shall pass away into nothingness, he has given full assurance by saying, 'Like a garment they shall grow old with time, and as wool they shall be eaten by the moth.'

And most readily do wool and a garment suffer growing old and rotting.

'But my righteousness,' that is, the justification that comes from me, and the salvation that shall be given, shall be long and unwaning, and shall run on unto many generations, that is, shall stand perpetually.

Therefore, having suffered a few things for godliness' sake, we shall find the recompense to be far more abundant.

And the all-wise Paul will bear witness, saying that 'the momentary lightness of our affliction worketh for us a weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.'

'For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.' Awake, awake, O Jerusalem, and put on the strength of thine arm.

'Awake as in the beginning of the day, as a generation of old.' In these words he seems to make mention of the calling and conversion of Israel.

For it too shall be called into the knowledge of the glory of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of us all, after the incoming of the nations.

It is written, at any rate, in the prophets:

And the all-wise Paul also knows that the calling through faith of those of the blood of Israel shall come to pass in due seasons.

For he himself said at one time that, 'When the fulness of the nations shall have come in, then all Israel shall be saved;' and at another time he also addresses those from among the nations who have believed, and speaks as concerning a plant and an olive tree:

'they were broken off, that thou mightest be grafted in; boast not against the branches. For thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.'

'For as thou wast cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wast grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, so also they, being the natural branches, shall be grafted into their own olive tree.'

'O Jerusalem, therefore,' he says, 'awake.'

This, I think, is manifestly that which the most holy Paul wrote to certain people:

'put on the strength of thine arm,' and not a perceptible arm, but rather a spiritual one, that of the soul, according to which one is manifestly directed toward the achievement of virtue.

For Israel confessedly grew weak when it behaved outrageously toward Christ; but having turned back and become sober again, it shall once more put on the power that comes from Christ.

And this then was what was spoken to him through one of the holy prophets: 'Return, O Israel, unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast grown weak in thine iniquities.'

And it was said concerning them also through the voice of Jeremiah by Christ, the Saviour of us all:

'Behold, I bring upon this people weakness, and fathers shall grow weak in it, and sons together; neighbour and his fellow shall perish.' For Israel has fallen away utterly, because of its impiety toward Christ, from being able at all to fulfil any of the things that are wont to accomplish an excellent life.

'But awake,' he says, 'as in the beginning of the day, as in a generation of old,' so that you may run toward this and ascend again unto that which you once were: even at the beginnings, when the nature of man—that is, the first man—was brought forth into existence, before it was caught in the snares of diabolical wickedness and set at nought the commandment that had been given.

For Christ re-forms us into that man, and depicts anew in us the ancient beauty of our nature, imprinting his own characters upon us;

for we were made according to his image and likeness.

Accordingly, the most excellent Paul writes to those who, after the faith, had through ignorance been carried over into the shadow of the law:

'Little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you.' Art thou not it that dried up the sea, the water of the great deep? that made the depths of the sea a way of passage for those being rescued and redeemed? He brings Israel to remembrance of the mighty works in Egypt.

For he freed them from a hard and inescapable bondage, and delivered them out of the hand that oppressed them beyond endurance, and led them across through the midst of the sea.

For the waters stood congealed as a wall, and the surge became passable for those who were redeemed;

and these were not their own works, but rather a display of the miracle-working of the all-powerful right hand.

For it was God, as I said, who made the watery element passable for them.

Nevertheless, he speaks of the things that came to pass for her sake as though they were the works of Jerusalem herself, at the same time persuading them to take courage, that having believed in Christ they shall prevail over every temptation, and shall gain the victory over all the strength of the enemy.

For he who of old led them through the midst of the sea, and made it a way of passage for those being rescued and redeemed, shall again drive off the foe with all his might, and shall in due time chase away the things that at any time come from certain quarters.

For it is written that 'All who wish to live godly in Christ shall be persecuted.' It is therefore God who says to Jerusalem:

'Art thou not it that dried up the sea?' and what follows.

Or rather, you will understand the force of what lies before us in yet another way.

For since she has been called to the knowledge of Christ, God the Father saying:

'Awake, O Jerusalem, and put on the strength of thine arm;' having in a manner become fully awake, and having been brought to remembrance of her strength, she converses and says to herself:

'Art thou not it that dried up the sea, and the multitude of the deep? that made the depths of the sea a way of passage for us who were being rescued and redeemed, making the way through the waves?' And it is surely likely that from the experience of the things already accomplished they received an unshakable faith concerning the things that were to follow after.

having led them through, he will altogether abolish even the surging tumult of the present life, and will render stale and dead the vain and turbid confusion of worldly affairs, so that in no way whatever should the souls of the called be choked by worldly cares;

but he will bring them safely beyond every temptation, and, being saved and redeemed, they will glorify him, saying:

「Sing to the Lord a new song, for the Lord has done marvellous things.」

「For by the Lord they shall be brought back, and they shall come to Zion with gladness and everlasting joy.」

「For upon their head shall be exultation and praise, and joy shall take hold of them.」

For in manifold ways offending God, and slipping into the worship of idols as into so many pits, they were defiled beyond measure;

and having thrust aside the commandment of the all-wise Moses, they turned to the teaching and precepts of men.

On account of all these things they were at various times given over to the Babylonians, and were captives, dwelling in the land of the Persians and the Medes.

For when Cyrus, according to the will of God, released them and allowed them to depart, they were brought back into Judaea, rejoicing and shouting for joy, and holding the hymns of praise to God upon their head as a kind of crown.

Therefore, as from the things that happened historically, he vividly portrays also the gladness attending the final callings.

For 「they shall be turned back by the Lord,」 he says, 「and shall come to Zion」—clearly the spiritual Zion, that is, the Church—「rejoicing and glad.」

「For upon their head shall be praise and gladness, and exultation shall take hold of them.」