Commentary on Isaiah 1 part 59/65

Loose the bond of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. He thereafter declares her to be knowledgeable in things worthy of boasting that befit the holy;

and in what manner she shall put on the strength of her arm, and in addition to this, her glory, He teaches clearly.

First, then, He commands her to shake off the dust, and thus to arise, and to sit, and to loose the bond of the neck;

and by 'dust' in these words, as I suppose, it is fitting to understand the earthly mind-set, and the uncleanness of the fleshly lusts.

Thoughts of fleshly uncleanness settle in.

It is therefore necessary that we, being called unto spiritual kinship, that which is unto our Lord Jesus Christ, and being about to put on Him as strength and glory, should first shake off the earthy and terrestrial mind-set, and cleanse the mind beforehand, and, as the all-wise Paul says, put off the old man which is being corrupted according to the lusts of deceit, and put on the new man which is being renewed according to the image of Him who created him.

Having done this, we arise, that is, we make use of an upright and firmly-standing mind, and of an established heart, according to what was somewhere else said by God through one of the prophets:

'God sits upon His holy throne,' that is, He has perpetually the fixed and established state of His own kingdom.

For nothing bodily is fitting to be conceived concerning God.

And there follows upon the 'sitting' — that is, upon having a firm and established mind-set — also the 'loosing of the bond of the neck.'

For each one is bound tight by the cords of his own sins, and we have been brought also under the yokes of sin, and of Satan himself.

But in Christ we are set free even from these.

And having burst their bonds, as it is written, and having cast off from ourselves their yoke, we accomplish the good with a free and unfettered mind.

In some such manner does the God of all things speak to us through one of the prophets:

And you shall go forth, and leap like calves loosed from their bonds, and you shall trample down the lawless;

for they shall be as ashes beneath your feet.' And adding to this, 'The captive daughter of Zion,' he first prompts us to consider that God has compassion on those who have fallen under diabolical yokes and have become slaves to sin.

Then, in addition to this, he shows clearly that we fall into this state, even though it lay within our power not to suffer it.

For having named Zion a captive, he also calls her a daughter.

Then how was it possible for the daughter of God, deemed worthy of so radiant a glory, to be caught in the snares of captivity? Who then brought her down to this? Not any weakness on the part of the One who saves, from any source, but the resolve and choice of her who suffered it, when she ran outside the tender mercy of the Father, by rather choosing what is evil and, by a verdict inclined toward the worse, dissolving the good.

For they are carried off into slavery, no one having paid a price on their behalf, but as spoils, the fruits of war and of a barbarian invasion;

for by force and necessity they are summoned to an unwilling servitude.

In this manner, says the God of all, shall her redemption also come to pass.

For Satan snatched away the race upon the earth, and, holding as it were a captive all that is under heaven, he oppressed it unbearably, having bound it fast in the yokes of his own malignity.

But the Only-begotten Word of God became man, who has conquered on our behalf;

and having entered into the house of the strong man, and having bound him, he plundered his goods, and transferred to himself all those upon the earth.

Therefore, just as we were snatched away, so also have we been redeemed.

For Christ did not deliver us from one who was willing to let us go, but rather he shattered his strength, and, as God, drove off the phalanx of the demons.

We were therefore neither sold for silver, nor redeemed in the same manner;

but rather by the might of Christ, the Saviour of us all.

For being the good Shepherd, he laid down his life for his own sheep, and saved us by his own blood;

for by his stripes we were healed;

and he indeed was afflicted for our sins;

but we were set free, having shaken off both the yoke of sin and the tyranny of the devil.

And they were led by force into Assyria.

'And now, why are you here? Thus says the Lord:'

'Because my people were taken away for nothing, you marvel and howl.'

For sometimes he restores to a better state those who have suffered something unexpected, namely, that they may not remain in ignorance of the things they have sinned.

For when famine lay heavy, Jacob went down in due season into Egypt, and the impossibility of obtaining necessities from any other quarter made his sojourn there against his will.

And Israel too was carried off into Assyria, when he who at that time reigned over the land of the Chaldeans laid Judaea waste.

And what sort of pretext was there for this? For having departed from being genuine, and from [ ]

the obligation of serving God alone, having most senselessly, according at least to what seemed lawful, laid waste [variant: cast away]

having cast it away, they inclined toward idols, and worshipped the works of their own hands;

this became for them the pretext of being caught by the hands of enemies, and of fleeing from the land that bore them, and of serving as bondsmen to foes, dwelling in the land of the Persians and Medes.

For they were not willingly in these circumstances.

But now, why are you here? By 'here' he means, instead of, scattered abroad in the lands of the nations, and dispersed to every wind, according to the prophet's word.

For the sword of the Romans drove out of all Judaea those who were at all able to flee.

That is to say, the word 'here' means: In such a state of affairs as that in which you now are.

And they came to be, as I said, in the utmost wretchedness, on the one hand because, according to the law of war, the Roman army overran their land, and on the other, because every city was sacked and the very temple itself was burned down.

Or clearly it is because they did not receive the faith that justifies, but insulted in manifold ways the One who called them to it, and impiously laid their hands upon him, after the just men and prophets who had been sent, of whom some they killed and others they stoned. And these things the prophetic word has here disclosed to us concerning the common multitude.

But since it was the custom especially of the Jewish teachers to lift up haughtily the eyebrow against every nation, and to hold that Israel remained at times untaken and unconquerable by his enemies, since indeed he was named the portion of God and a holy people;

then, when it came to pass that Judaea was brought low in the circumstances I have just mentioned, they were astounded and howled, as though the calamity had come upon them beyond all hope.

'Because my people were taken away for nothing,' he says, 'you marvel and howl.'

For you yourselves, he says, have become jointly responsible for the suffering of those under the yoke, by leaving them untaught, or rather by not permitting them at all to turn back to God, and to see with the eyes of the mind the God the Word who came down from heaven and appeared in human form, that he might proclaim release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and might heal also those who have a crushed [variant: shattered] heart, and might proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

'Therefore, because of you my name is blasphemed among the nations.'

For since Israel, he says, was scattered abroad throughout every land and city, no one among all those upon the whole earth was ignorant that the holy city had been sacked, and that the temple itself had become the work of fire;

then they revile my name, and tear apart my glory.

For perhaps they suppose that my hand, which was ever the helper of Israel, has grown feeble, while they are still ignorant of the true cause, and there is no one among them who understands that they have been called to give satisfaction for the penalties of the murder of the Lord and of many other transgressions.

'in that day, that I am he who speaks;'

'as beauty upon the mountains, as the feet of one bringing good tidings, a report of peace, as one bringing good tidings of good things.' For since, he says, on account of your slothfulness I was blasphemed among the nations, I will not endure the calumny, nor will I permit my own glory to be assailed by ill-speaking voices.

But in that time, when I shall shine forth upon those on the earth in the flesh, those very ones who become my peoples by receiving the faith, whether they be of the Jews or of the nations, these shall know my name.

And by 'name' he means 'glory.'

For it is the custom of the God-inspired Scripture to speak thus.

For it is written that 'A good name is more to be chosen than much wealth.' We have come to know his glory, we who have been called by him, and we do not approach Christ, the Saviour of all, as a human judge;

but even though the Word became flesh, we believe that, being God by nature, and begotten ineffably from God the Father, he is above all creation, and adorns the highest thrones, and rules over all things, and has a most all-powerful right hand, and easily saves whomsoever he chooses of those who have come to be under him, while nothing whatever wholly surpasses his power.

For they regarded him as one of those like us, and not as God who had become man.

'Who are you? and whom do you make yourself out to be?' and:

'It is not for a good work that we stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.' Nevertheless, those who are called to the knowledge of the truth, he says, shall know my glory.

For he himself is the one who spoke in the prophets;

for being God the Lord, he has appeared to us, according to what is written.

This the most wise Paul also teaches, saying:

'God, having spoken of old to the fathers in the prophets in many parts and in many ways, in these last days spoke to us in a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the ages.' We must therefore observe in these words that God the Father brought all things into being through the Son, and has spoken to us in these last times, not as through another son, that born according to the flesh of a woman, as it seemed good to some of the perverse to think, but as through one who is the one Son, together with the flesh, of the Word who became man for our sake, who is also the maker of the ages.

'I am therefore present, as beauty upon the mountains,' he says;

Come then, let us contemplate the spiritual realities as from a manifest matter.

What does spring, when it appears upon the mountains, accomplish? It crowns the plants with fresh blossom, and transfers them from barrenness to the bringing forth of whatever each might naturally possess.

We shall find something of this sort also written in the Song of Songs:

'Arise, come,' it says, 'my neighbour, my fair one, my dove;'

'for behold, the winter is past, the rain is gone by, the flowers have appeared upon the earth, the time of pruning has come.' For when winter has passed away, the radiant spring rises upon the earth, and shows her to be a nurse of flowers, and makes her the mother of ripe fruits.

Something of this kind has been wrought also concerning us, in a spiritual sense.

For the apostate dragon brought winter upon all that is under heaven, and rendered it dry and barren.

For there was altogether none that did goodness, there was not so much as one; 'But all together turned aside, they became worthless.' But since the Only-begotten appeared in the flesh, he became for us as beauty upon the mountains.

For we, who had faded away and had cast off the comeliness of every virtue from our own souls, blossomed anew in him and were filled with spiritual fruitfulness, so that we are able also to say that which is in the Song of Songs:

'Let my beloved come down into his garden, and eat the fruit of his choice trees.' He has therefore become as beauty upon the mountains, and as the feet of one bringing good tidings, a report of peace, and bringing good tidings also of good things;

He is our peace, who took away the sin that lay between us, and prepared us to be reconciled unto friendship with the Father, and joined us together through Himself;

for through Him we have obtained access.

Just as, then, he says, if one should come running and swift, declaring that the enemies have been taken captive, and proclaiming peace, and announcing the good tidings;

so also the Saviour of all visited the world in the flesh, and became for us the arbiter of peace with God the Father, when Satan had been abolished and his whole phalanx had been put out of the way, and when the season had come in which those who are willing may become partakers of every good;

for it will altogether follow for those who have believed in Him, and who have chosen both to think and to do the things that are His, that they possess a most abundant participation in the heavenly goods, and are filled with every good hope.

'For I will make thy salvation to be heard,' saying:

'O Zion, thy God shall reign, for the voice of those who keep thee has been lifted up, and together with the voice they shall rejoice;'

'for eyes shall look upon eyes, when the Lord shall have mercy upon Zion.' Now by Zion in these words He again names, not any earthly city, but rather His holy Church, which He constituted out of the two peoples.

For it is written: 'Rejoice, ye nations, with His people.' And Christ is said to have made both one, and to have broken down the middle wall of the partition, and to have abolished the law of the commandments contained in ordinances.

But when the evangelical proclamation had been made manifest, which is also full of true doctrines, the power of the shadow that was in the law ceased—that is, the worship and approach through blood.

By Zion, then, we must understand the Church, as I have said, which Christ Himself presented to Himself, not having spot or wrinkle, but rather holy and without blemish.

Of this Church He made salvation to be heard—that is, widely heard abroad.

For the power of the evangelical proclamations escaped absolutely none of those upon the earth;

nay, neither did anyone remain unhearing of the salvation that is through Christ.

For He said also through the lyre of the Psalmist:

'Hear these things, all ye nations; give ear, all ye that inhabit the world.' And just as the memorial of the demons perished with a crash—that is, conspicuously and notoriously, and no one was ignorant of the destruction of the tyranny of the demons;

so also the divine and heavenly proclamation became audible to men everywhere, bringing salvation to those who have recognized the manifestation of Christ.

And what is the power of the proclamation? 'O Zion, thy God shall reign.'

For of old—that is, before the sojourn of our Saviour—Satan reigned over us through sin, and a yoke of tyrannical wickedness was cast upon those throughout all the earth.

But when the King and Lord of all shone upon us, we, having burst their bonds and cast off the yoke of him who of old had gotten the advantage, brought our neck under the sceptre of God, and God and the Father reigned over us through the Son, and the matter became for us an occasion of festival.

'The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice.' And again:

'Sing ye then with understanding: God reigned over all the nations.' And He has called us to this, as I have said, even the Saviour Himself, saying:

'Take My yoke upon you.' Therefore we fared wretchedly, and were in the uttermost of evils, yoked to a savage tyrant, and having slipped under the yoke of sin.

But the power of the sacred proclamations announced the good tidings of the kingdom of Christ, and we are all under Him,

having been called to this: that we may be able to accomplish the good exceedingly well, and to cleave to love toward Christ, and to make an upright and blameless confession of faith in Him.

These are the good shepherds who keep the rational flocks for the Chief Shepherd of all, and who drive away the assaults of the untamed beasts.

Of these He says that their voice is lifted up—that is, is heard by those everywhere.

For it has been said unto them through the voice of Isaiah:

'Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Zion; lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem. Lift it up, fear not.'

And that all things shall run prosperously for them, and those to whom the word from them may come shall be readily called, and they themselves shall rejoice greatly, seeing the fruits of their own instruction in the mysteries, He makes plain by saying: 'Together with the voice they shall rejoice.'

For together they shall speak, he says, and the multitude of those instructed in the mysteries shall follow, and without delay those under tutelage shall run to faith.

And this is a joy to those who have been appointed to teach.

Paul, at any rate, writes to those who had believed through him: 'my joy and crown.' And that in very many cases the docility of those instructed in the mysteries followed upon the mystagogies of the saints, one may see through many instances, having gone round about the holy and God-inspired Scripture.

For the divinely-inspired disciples spoke in Jerusalem to the assemblies of the Jews;

but as it is written in the Acts of the Apostles:

'There were added in one day three thousand men.' Yea moreover, the divinely-inspired Paul together with the blessed Silas, being prisoners, sang hymns to God in the middle of the night.

And when a holy angel, standing by the prison, loosed the bonds of all, the keeper of the prison, having become greatly afraid, wished indeed to kill himself;

but when Paul cried out:

'Do thyself no harm;

for we are all here';

having marvelled at the wonder, he was baptized together with his whole household. And that the matter became for him an occasion of gladness of heart, how is it possible to doubt? Therefore, he says, the docility of the called shall run hard upon the mystagogy.

'And thine eyes shall look upon eyes, when the Lord shall have mercy upon Zion.'

And whom shall they behold, but the president of salvation—that is, Christ? For the Word was made flesh, and the Psalmist is witness of this, saying:

'God shall come manifestly, our God, and shall not keep silence.' Or rather, as I said, that 'Together with the voice they shall rejoice,' and this thou shalt behold with thine own eyes, he says, at that season in which the Lord shall have mercy upon Zion, adding to all the grace that is through faith, and the abundant enjoyment of the heavenly goods.

'Let the waste places of Jerusalem break forth together into gladness, for the Lord hath had mercy upon her, and hath delivered Jerusalem.'

'And the Lord shall reveal His holy arm before all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation that is from God.' Now to break forth into gladness would signify the making use of the voice, offering up thanksgiving-songs, and being eager to make a practice of doxologies, by which God may be gladdened.

It is written, at any rate, in the book of Psalms:

'And my tongue shall meditate on Thy righteousness, all the day long Thy praise'; and to those very ones who are willing to do this, the matter shall be for gladness.

But since he says that the waste places of Jerusalem must do this, we say that necessarily, wishing to make clear the meaning of what lies before us:

Those who inhabit a broad and extensive city, if indeed they are so many in number as to be able to fill it, leave no place of it deserted;

but when they are easily numbered because many have died, whether when war has fallen upon them, or when some other occasion has brought them down to this, the most of the districts, or rather dwellings, in it remain bare.

Some such thing did those of Israel suffer;

they were laid hands upon, they were consumed by the war with the Romans, so that exceedingly few of the saved were left, and the holy city was empty of men.

But its waste places shall rejoice, he says.

For gloomy indeed are the houses, and as it were full of dejection, when they have no inhabitants;

but cheerful somehow and as it were laughing, if indeed they should have very many dwelling in them.

From the history, then, come, let us say somewhat of the spiritual things:

The Church from among the nations—that is, those from among the nations who have believed, who are also named Zion, and indeed also Jerusalem—were few in the beginnings, and as it were deserted was the truly holy city and city of God, that is, the Church.

But nothing has remained idle in her;

for she has been filled through Christ.

And indeed it has been said unto her:

'Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold thy children gathered together. Behold, these come from afar, these from the north and the sea, and others from the land of the Persians.'

'And thou shalt say,' he says, 'in thine heart:

Who hath begotten me these?

But I am childless and a widow; whence, then, were these for me?' And again:

'Enlarge the place of thy tent, and of thy curtains;

yet further to the right hand and to the left spread out.' For from every nation, city, and country there has come a concourse unto Christ, the nations having been called through faith, so that from the dawn and the south, from the west and the north, those who turn back are called, being far more numerous than those from the blood of Israel.

And this very thing the prophet Isaiah has also declared, speaking concerning the Church and the Synagogue of the Jews:

'Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not;

break forth and cry, thou that travailest not, for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath the husband.' For He calls barren the Church from among the nations, which bears not, and besides desolate.

For she was childless and desolate — that is, a widow — not possessing the Word who is the sower of every good thing.

But the Synagogue of the Jews, he says, was as one having a husband, because it was yoked beneath the Law given through Moses, and had become pregnant with the sacred oracles, through which it was possible to bear fruit unto God with that worship which was still as in shadows and types.

But many rather are the children of the desolate one — that is, of the widow — than of her who has the husband.

And in what manner this too shall be, he made clear by adding that: 'The Lord shall reveal his holy arm before all the nations;'

'and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation that is from God.'

For when the arm of God the Father — that is, the Son — became manifest among all men throughout the whole earth, when he was made known to all the nations, and the ends of the earth beheld the salvation that is from him — the salvation, that is, which comes through faith — then were the desolate places of Jerusalem fulfilled (I mean the spiritual Jerusalem), and beyond all number was the multitude of the called.

It is the custom of the God-inspired Scripture to name the Son the arm of God the Father.

'Let your hand be strengthened, let your right hand be exalted.' And again, concerning God the Father:

'Sing to the Lord a new song, for the Lord has done marvelous things;'

'his right hand has saved him, and his holy arm. Depart, depart, go out from there, and touch not the unclean thing.'

'Go out from her midst, be separated, you who bear the vessels of the Lord, for you shall not go out with tumult, nor in flight.'

'For the Lord shall go before you, and he who gathers you is the Lord, the God of Israel.' This word seems to be spoken by God either to those who through faith have been gathered together and have been named children of the Church, or perhaps to the holy mystagogues — that is, the apostles and evangelists — who became the light of the world under heaven, ferrying the word of the evangelical proclamations across to men throughout the whole earth.

Go out therefore, and touch not the unclean thing — that is, cut yourselves off from fellowship with them, so as not to wish even in the least to rub against anything that is theirs.

For, he says, He who touches pitch shall be defiled;

and indeed it is necessary that those who have believed in Christ, and have through him been called to the cleansing of sin and to the partaking of sanctification, should love to be carried outside the Jewish ignorance, and to be wholly of another mind than they, and to be entirely set apart;

for there is no communion of light with darkness, nor any portion of a believer with an unbeliever.

And so the all-wise Paul writes to those of Galatia who, after their justification in Christ, dared to run back to the worship under the Law:

O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you into not obeying the truth — you before whose very eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed as crucified? This only I wish to learn from you: did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect in the flesh? For they were being circumcised without understanding, though they had already received the circumcision that is in the Spirit, namely through Christ.

Necessarily, therefore, the God of all things says among these words 'Depart,' and 'Go out from there,' and 'Be separated, you who bear the vessels of the Lord.'

For those who have wholly honored Emmanuel with faith, and have become partakers of his divine nature by the partaking of the Holy Spirit and by being filled with his sacred gifts, do bear vessels for God.

And in what manner they do so, the all-wise Paul will teach, saying:

Put on the whole armor of God;

and this is the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. For having this spiritual panoply, they march out against Satan, and stand against the powers arrayed with him, springing forward in a manner and shielding their own souls and the peoples under their hand;

for this is the rank proper to leaders.

Yet, having commanded them to go out from her midst, he says: You shall not go out with tumult, nor shall you journey in flight.

For he does not command them to withdraw from the Jewish orders as men fleeing — that is, in fear — but rather at ease and as if with authority, as men who decline to wish to dwell together with those so defiled, and to be numbered with the profane and the wicked.

Therefore, he says, You shall not journey in flight;

and that matters will come to them with ease, and nothing at all hard, or steep, or rough will befall them, he has assured them, saying that: The Lord shall go before you, and God, who gathers you.

And with God present and going before them, what could there be to harm the bearers of the sacred proclamations? Rather, how shall not all things fall out for them according to their prayer, and how shall they not run as along a smooth road, preaching? Behold, my servant shall understand, and shall be exalted, and shall be glorified exceedingly.

As many shall be astonished at you, so shall your form be dishonored, without glory from men, and your glory from men.

And thus shall many nations marvel at him, and kings shall shut their mouths;

for those to whom nothing was announced concerning him shall see, and those who have not heard shall understand. Openly in these words does God the Father make his discourse concerning Christ, the Savior of us all.

For behold, he says, my servant shall understand;

and by 'servant' you will understand the Son — that is, the bondservant.

For being God the Word, and Lord of all, he took the form of a bondservant, and stepped down into the measures of humanity.

For he did not count it a thing to be grasped to be equal with God, but emptied himself, becoming in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself. Therefore, when he became man, lowering himself into humiliation, then also was he blamelessly named a bondservant, having taken the form of servitude.

But 'He shall understand,' he says, is used in the sense of: He shall accomplish and speak all things with the understanding and wisdom that befit God.