Commentary on Isaiah 1 part 19/24

Sufficient is the remembrance of the creation to show the power of that working, of which he promised to impart to them.

For by "hand" he has called his working.

Awake, awake, arise, O Jerusalem, you who drank from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath;

for the cup of downfall, the goblet of my wrath, you drank and drained, and there was none to comfort you of all the children whom you bore, and there was none to take hold of your hand of all the sons whom you brought up.

By "cup" he means the punishment;

for it too is stupefying, just like drunkenness.

For there is a cup in the hand of the Lord of unmixed wine, full of mixture;

and he poured out from this to that—for at one time he chastises these, at another those—yet its dregs were not emptied out;

all the sinners of the earth shall drink. The divine Jeremiah also makes mention of these things;

For the Lord God, he says, said to me:

Take this cup of unmixed wine from my hand, and you shall give it to drink to all the nations to which I send you, and they shall drink and vomit and go mad. And teaching what he calls the "cup," he added:

Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kings and its princes, to make it a desolation and a waste and a hissing and a curse, as at this day, and what follows.

And here too, then, God through the prophet says:

The cup of downfall you drank and drained, that is:

You endured the greatest punishment, and nothing profited you—not kings, not generals, not the multitude of the army in which you continually put your trust.

For some advance nobly, but others flee like cowards.

Again he introduced two things: both the falling and the being crushed.

For there are times when one falls down, but is not struck.

For the enemy besieged them from without, but harsher than the enemy was the famine destroying them from within.

Who shall comfort you? Your sons who are helpless, who sleep at the head of every street like a half-cooked beet? Through the sleep he showed their sloth, and through the vegetable their unmanliness.

But the things that follow are harsher than those already mentioned:

Those who are full of the wrath of the Lord, enfeebled by the Lord your God.

For drunkenness is harsher than impiety.

Thus says the Lord your God who judges his people:

Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of downfall, the goblet of my wrath, and you shall not add to drink it again.

He foretells the overthrow of the Babylonians.

For since Nebuchadnezzar came upon them four times—first in the third year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, second in the eleventh year of the same king, third in the reign of Jechoniah the son of Jehoiakim, and the fourth in the reign of Zedekiah—he promises no longer to bring upon them the cup of punishment by means of the Babylonians.

For that they drank through these, and finally through the Romans, when they were also entirely stripped of the divine care, both the histories teach and the facts bear witness.

"You shall not add to drink it": he says this with reference to the Babylonians.

And I will put it into the hands of those who wronged you and those who humbled you.

"And he poured out from this to that." And here too:

No longer shall you drink, but they;

for you shall return, but their kingdom shall be dissolved.

Who said to your soul:

and you laid your back level with the ground, outside for those passing by.

And he showed both their arrogance and her wretchedness.

For if, he says, you had called upon my alliance, you would have become mightier than those who warred against you;

but since you were unwilling to do this, you were humbled down to the very ground.

Awake, awake, O Sion, put on your strength, O Sion, and you, put on your glory, O Jerusalem, the holy city; no longer shall there pass through you the uncircumcised and the unclean.

By "Jerusalem" he calls the lower city, and by "Sion" the upper;

but both together made up one city.

To both, therefore, he promises the renewal; and since, when the inhabitants had become captives, the foreign nations passed through it without fear, he pledges their removal.

Shake off the dust and arise; sit down, O Jerusalem.

Either he gives these instructions to her as one dissolved, or as one mourning and with her head covered with dust.

Loose the bond of your neck, O captive daughter of Sion.

Bonds are proper to those taken captive by the spear.

By the loosing of the bonds, therefore, he has foreshown their liberty.

For by their own sins they were sold, but by the loving-kindness of God they obtained their release.

And the Assyrians, having enslaved him by force, led him away.

And now what are you doing here? By the question he shapes the discourse, showing the paradox of what had happened:

Had you not, he says, gone away into Egypt? How then did you return? Thus says the Lord:

Because my people was taken for nothing, marvel and wail.

Be astonished, he says, lamenting the captivity, that though you were called my people, you endured these things.

But do not marvel; rather consider how because of you my name is continually blasphemed among the nations.

It is not so grievous that you should justly suffer these things as that I should be blasphemed on your account, and that the nations should suppose that you have endured these sufferings because of My weakness.

By 'day' he means the day of the recall.

You shall obtain this, he says, not because of your worthiness, but because of the blasphemy of the nations.

For desiring to display My power to them, I shall set you free from bondage.

And I shall do this at once, and set the final term upon the matter.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who proclaims a report of peace, who brings good tidings of good things.

This received a typical fulfilment when the release of the captives was announced to those dwelling in Jerusalem;

but truly and properly the prophecy fits the holy apostles;

for beautiful are the feet of those whom the Master's hands washed and strengthened, so that they might run through the whole inhabited world and carry across the good tidings of the divine peace and make known the enjoyment of the promised good things.

For I will make your salvation to be heard, saying to Zion:

And these words likewise fit rather the holy apostles;

for through them the kingdom of God our Saviour was proclaimed.

For before them, not even the perceptible Zion was willing to be ruled by God.

The voice of those who guard you is lifted up, and with that voice they shall rejoice together, for eye to eye they shall see, when the Lord shows mercy to Zion.

The very same men both proclaim, and keep watch, and procure the joy;

for they became eyewitnesses of the Saviour, when, having become man, He appeared to Zion.

'Out of Zion is the comeliness of His beauty', and again:

'The Lord shall send forth to you a rod of power out of Zion.' Let the desolate places of Jerusalem break forth together into joy, for the Lord has shown mercy to His people and has redeemed Jerusalem.

Again He promises joy to the desolate places of Jerusalem, which in the foregoing He said lay toward the west, and which He also said were to be compared to the paradise of God.

And how these things shall come to pass, He teaches:

The Lord shall reveal His holy arm before all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation that comes from our God.

Depart, depart, go out from there, and touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her.

The prophetic word commands those who have believed to separate themselves from the unbelievers.

Be set apart, you who bear the vessels of the Lord.

By 'vessels' he means those who have been deemed worthy of the election.

Thus also he named the blessed Paul:

'Go, for this man is to Me a chosen vessel, to bear My name before nations and kings and the sons of Israel.' And the divine apostle himself likewise says:

'If then anyone cleanses himself from these things, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified and useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.'

For you shall not go out in tumult, nor journey in flight;

for the Lord shall go before you, and the God of Israel who gathers you together.

When the Romans were about to make war upon Jerusalem, all who had received the preaching removed to other cities;

and the Lord Himself had commanded them to do this:

'For when', He says, 'you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that its desolation has drawn near'; and again:

'Then let those in Judea flee to the mountains; let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.'

Having therefore foreknown these things, they withdrew and were delivered from the calamities of the siege, the Saviour Himself leading them and guiding them toward the nations and gathering the Church from among the nations.

Having therefore learned these things ourselves also, let us flee unbelief and abide in the faith, and keep the divine commandments, and travel the unerring path, having the Lord Jesus as our guide upon the way; with whom to the Father be glory, together with the all-holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages.

VOLUME 17. Behold, My servant shall understand, and shall be exalted and glorified and lifted up exceedingly.

He now foretells the Master's passion more precisely.

And in due order he set forth all the human attributes:

the wisdom, the working of miracles, the reverence rendered by all.

'My servant shall understand' resembles that saying in the Gospel:

'And Jesus increased in stature and in wisdom'; and the words,

'He shall be exalted and glorified and lifted up exceedingly', signifies the astonishment of those who beheld the miracles;

for at one time, according to the Gospel history, they even wished to make Him a king, and at another they cried out:

As many shall be astonished at You, so shall Your form be inglorious among men, and Your glory among the sons of men.

He was nailed to a cross; they set thorns about His head; striking Him with a reed they said:

'Prophesy to us, O Christ, who is it that struck You?' Then after that dishonour he foretells the astonishment of the inhabited world:

So shall many nations marvel at Him.

For not all believed, but those who had believed were exceedingly amazed at the mystery of godliness.

And kings shall shut their mouth.

Those who of old persecuted and dared to blaspheme, beholding His power plainly, shall restrain their tongue from reviling.

For they to whom it was not announced concerning Him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand.

For those who did not receive the prophetic predictions but served idols shall, through the heralds of the truth, see the might of Him who is proclaimed, and shall come to know His power.

Having thus prophesied these things concerning the nations, he also foretells the unbelief of the Jews:

'Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?' The nations, he says, though they had heard nothing beforehand concerning Him from us the prophets, readily received the preaching; but these, though they had often heard from us and had experience of His power, persisted in unbelief and contradiction.

'We announced before Him', that is, before this people who now contradict.

And what did you announce? 'As a little child, as a root in a thirsty land.'

'As a root out of untrodden ground.' We foretold, he says, the birth from the Virgin;

for he called her 'untrodden' and 'thirsting' as one who in no way received the track of a man or the marital rain.

And this too we announced, that 'He has no form nor glory', that is, at the time of the passion;

for great was the dishonour and the insolent abuse.

And we saw Him, and He had no form nor beauty; but His form was without honour, failing beyond the sons of men.

Very great is the working of the all-holy Spirit;

for the things that came to pass after many generations He so plainly showed beforehand to the holy prophets, that they spoke as though they had already occurred.

Then he teaches the forms of the dishonour and the ignominy:

He showed the nature that received the passion;

for the body was nailed to the cross, while the Godhead made the passion its own.

And knowing how to bear infirmity.

This too is said according to the human nature:

'Because His face is turned away, He was dishonoured and was of no account.'

This the Three interpreted thus:

'And as one whose face is hidden from him, he was despised and was of no account.' That is to say:

he concealed the divine energy, having accepted the passion by his own will and not warding off those who crucified him;

for indeed while being crucified he said:

'This one bears our infirmities and suffers pain for us.'

'Truly he himself took up our sicknesses and endured our sufferings.' For whereas we, for the sins we had committed, were owing death and had for this reason received that sentence, he himself accepted death on our behalf;

and whereas we were subject to the curses on account of transgression of the Law, he himself became a curse on our behalf.

'Cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree.' 'And we accounted him to be in suffering and under a stroke from God and in affliction.'

The prophet has taken upon himself the ignorance of the people and says that they supposed him to suffer these things on account of his own sins.

'But he was wounded for our iniquities and was bruised for our sins.'

We, having sinned, were subject to punishments, but he, being pure of sins, endured the punishments on our behalf.

'The chastisement of our peace was upon him.'

Having sinned, we were made enemies with God, and it was necessary for us, being thus chastised, to obtain peace; but he, taking the chastisement upon himself, counted us worthy of peace.

'By his stripe we were healed.'

A new and paradoxical manner of healing:

the physician received the incision, and the sick one obtained the cure.

'All we like sheep have gone astray; man has wandered in his own way.'

For neither are the transgressions of all equal, nor is there one manner of impiety;

for the idols of the Egyptians are one thing, and those of the Phoenicians another, and those of the Greeks different, and those of the Scythians yet others.

But nevertheless, even though the modes of error are diverse, all alike, having forsaken the God who truly is, resembled straying sheep exposed to wolves.

'And the Lord delivered him up for our sins.'

He says he was offered up on behalf of the whole race of mankind.

'And he, because he was ill-treated, opens not his mouth.'

This the narrative of the holy Gospels also teaches;

for before the passion, discoursing night and day and offering his profitable teaching, he kept silence at the time of the passion.

'He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;

and as a lamb is dumb before the one who shears it, so he opens not his mouth in his humiliation.'

He plainly showed that he kept silence at the time of the passion;

for in his humiliation he resembled a sheep being shorn and slaughtered in silence.

and [he showed] both the passibility of the humanity and the impassibility of the divinity;

for he called the passion not only a slaughter but also a shearing;

for the humanity was being slaughtered, while the divinity seemed in some way to be shorn of the fleece of the humanity, not being separated from it even at the time of the passion, nor indeed itself receiving the passion.

'And he was taken from judgment' — and so also the Others [render it].

For the lawless tribunal of the Jews pronounced this sentence against him.

'His generation who shall declare?' For the divine nature is incomprehensible.

For since he had said many things concerning [his] human nature, he necessarily also intimated the divine majesty.

'Because his life is taken away from the earth.'

For he did not remain in the tomb, but both rose again and was taken up into the heavens.

'From the iniquities of my people he came to death.'

'The people that is called mine dared these things against him, transgressing according to their custom.'

Then he foretells the things that will in turn befall these people:

'And I will give the wicked in return for his burial and the rich in return for his death.'

For 'I will give' the Three said 'he will give';

for he himself who suffered these things will deliver them over to the Roman war.

And he called the Pharisees and scribes and chief priests 'the rich,' and likewise also 'the wicked';

for these appropriated to themselves the goods of all.

And teaching this, the Lord said:

'Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, because you devour the houses of widows.' 'Because he committed no iniquity, nor was any deceit in his mouth.'

For neither by deeds nor by words did he sin, but he preserved his human nature unstained and free from sins; yet they nailed him to the tree as a transgressor.

'And the Lord wills to cleanse him from the stroke,' that is, to show him guiltless and not liable to death.

So also the blessed Peter said:

'This Jesus God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held fast by it.' Thus, having foretold the lawlessness of the people, he offers them the exhortation concerning repentance — for he foresaw those of them who would afterward believe;

for of these was also the most divine Paul, of these the three thousand and the many myriads — and he says:

'If you give an offering for sin, your soul shall see a long-lived seed.'

'If you confess your impiety and ask for salvation, you shall obtain eternal life.'

'And the Lord wills by his hand to take away from the travail of his soul, to show him light and to form him with understanding, to justify the righteous one who serves many well.'

He showed the dissolution of death to have come about through the Lord himself;

for 'by his hand,' that is, of the one who suffered, he both loosed the travail of death and revealed the light of the resurrection, and as it were formed [him] anew, incorruptible and immortal, and justified [him] who was not a sinner but righteous, that is, guiltless and free of sins.

'who serves many well' agrees with the evangelical saying:

'And he himself shall bear up their sins.'

Aquila put 'he shall carry' in place of 'he shall bear up,' and Theodotion 'he underwent.'

For he himself was, according to the divine John, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

'Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. And he shall divide the spoils of the strong.'

He calls the demons 'the strong,' and 'the spoils' human beings.

And 'spoils' is the name given to the weapons of those who have been slain.

And human beings were of old the weapons of the demons;

for it was through our own members that they made war upon us.

But having dissolved these, the Master Christ distributed their spoils to the apostles, ordaining some as teachers of the Romans, some of the Egyptians, some of the Indians.

'Because his soul was delivered up to death.'

For this reputed dishonor of the passion is that which will bring him the reverence of them all.

And he was numbered among the transgressors.

For he not only endured the punishment allotted to lawbreakers, but was even crucified together with robbers.

This too the Evangelist has recorded;

for having said that they crucified two robbers together with him, he declared that the Scripture was fulfilled which says:

And he was numbered among the transgressors. And he bore the sins of many, and was delivered up because of their iniquities.

But he himself took up the sins of many and withstood those who rejected him; and so likewise the other translators render it.

Those men, he says, yoked him together with lawless robbers; but he, taking upon himself the sins of all, endured the Passion, withstanding the demons who had rejected him.

Having thus foretold the Passion, he predicts the abundant offspring of the Church that of old was barren:

Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear.

For of old she did not bring forth godliness, but sat attending upon the slavery of idols.

Then, as of a woman in hard labour:

Break forth and cry aloud, and rejoice, you who do not travail.

He has set the phrase 'break forth' with reference to a violent bringing-forth, and likewise also 'cry aloud';

for it is customary to urge women in hard labour both to bear down forcefully and to cry out.

But 'rejoice' refers to the abundance of children granted beyond all hope.

The phrase 'break forth' seems somehow contrary to 'rejoice'; yet both came to pass together;

for indeed she has given birth beyond all expectation;

for such are the birth-pangs of the all-holy Spirit.

For many are the children of the desolate one, more than of her who has a husband.

Desolate of old was the Church from among the nations;

wherefore also in what went before it was said to her:

Rejoice, O thirsty desert; and again:

The desert shall become as Carmel; and once more:

For water has burst forth in the desert, and a torrent in a thirsty land. But the multitude of the Jews had the husband.

The prophet Ezekiel teaches more clearly the things concerning this marriage;

for through him the God of all, speaking to the former people as to a wife, said:

And I saw you defiled in your blood, and I said to you:

In your blood is life; be multiplied.

And you were naked and unseemly, and I spread my wings over you and covered your unseemliness; and I saw you, and behold, it was your time, the time of those about to be married; and I entered into a covenant with you, and you became mine, and you bore me sons and daughters.

And through all the prophets the God of all teaches us this, that out of surpassing love for mankind he calls himself not only Master and Father,

but even names himself husband and bridegroom.

This prophecy, then, teaches that the children of the desolate one are many times more than those of her who has the husband.

Enlarge the place of your tent, and fix firm the curtains of your coverings; do not spare; lengthen your cords and make strong your stakes;

spread out yet further to the right and to the left, and your seed shall inherit the nations, and you shall inhabit desolate cities.

Now at the present he has made mention of these names, showing that it is he who has made both those former things and these present ones.

He exhorts the barren one to fill the whole world with houses of prayer, and to do this both to the left and to the right, that is, both to the south and to the north.

As for the stakes, one would not err in naming the holy prophets and apostles and martyrs;

for these, hidden in the earth like stakes, hold fast the tent of the Church, fastened to it by this teaching as by certain cords.

For thus the blessed Paul said:

Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. And the seed of the Church has inherited the nations;

for those nurtured by her have received the spiritual leadership of the nations, and have rebuilt with the doctrines of godliness the cities corrupted by impiety.

Do not fear because you were put to shame, nor be abashed because you were reproached.

The Jews of old reproached the nations with their impiety, as Peninnah reproached Hannah with her childlessness.

The prophetic word therefore promises her deliverance from the reproach.

For you shall forget your everlasting shame, and shall no more remember the reproach of your widowhood.

And he teaches the cause of these things more plainly:

For the Lord who made you, the Lord of Sabaoth is his name; and he who redeemed you, he is the God of Israel, and shall be called the God of all the earth.

For it is he whom we, who have hoped and believed in him, name both the God of Israel and the God of Abraham, and we earnestly pray to become of their portion.

This God of Israel, he says, shall be your bridegroom, and shall put an end to the reproaches of your widowhood and childlessness:

The Lord has not called you as a woman forsaken and faint-hearted, as a wife hated from her youth. This is to be read as a question.

You did not resemble, he says, a woman cast out for certain transgressions, and grieving perpetually, and hated from above and from the beginning? And according to this same sense the other translators too have rendered it;

for Aquila and Theodotion spoke thus:

In spirit the Lord has called you; but Symmachus thus:

For as a woman forsaken and deeply grieved in spirit the Lord has called you, and as a wife of youth when she is put away. From above and from the beginning the nature of men departed from God, yet nevertheless he called it back again;

for this too the prophetic word declared:

For a little while I forsook you, but with great mercy will I have mercy on you; in a little wrath I turned my face away from you, but with everlasting mercy will I have mercy on you.

He called the time of the forsaking 'little,' measuring it against the boundless ages.

The Lord who redeemed you has said:

This is to me as the water at the time of Noah;

for as I swore to her at that time, to the earth, that I would no more be wroth with her, nor by my threat remove her borders, nor shall her hills be moved, so neither shall the mercy that comes from me toward you fail, nor shall my covenant in any way be removed.

Remember, he says, the covenants that were made by me with Noah, and behold their truth;

for having promised no longer to deliver the earth over to such utter destruction, I have fulfilled what I promised.

Having therefore as a pledge the former covenant, believe that you too shall perpetually enjoy my love for mankind, and I will keep peace secure for you, and will no longer dissolve this wedded union.

For the Lord has said, being gracious to you:

You who were lowly and unsettled, and were not comforted.

The Lord who has compassion on you has said:

for I saw you wandering here and there, as though beset by certain tempests of the spirits of deceit, and having your mind unsettled.

Behold, I am preparing carbuncle for your stone, and sapphire for your foundations, and I will make your battlements of jasper, and your gates of crystal stones, and your enclosure of choice stones.

He calls the godly commonwealth a city;

and for this reason he names all the stones precious, even though they differ in appearance.

By the carbuncle we must understand the fiery love directed toward God;

by the sapphire, that which keeps virtue hidden, for the hue of the sapphire is deep;

and the jasper — or, according to Symmachus, the carbuncle — I take to signify the splendour of the working of wonders; for those being instructed need clear teaching.

For clear teaching is needed for those who are being introduced to the faith.

These things, then, he said concerning the rulers of the Church, whom he also named foundations and battlements and gates;

and the remaining company of the faithful was called chosen, for he says, 'I will build your whole enclosure of precious and choice stones.'

Then, leaving aside the figurative form, he transferred his discourse to a plainer meaning;

'and all your sons shall be taught of God, and your children shall be in great peace, and you shall be built up in righteousness.'

'You have shown...' — he figuratively called the forms of virtue 'stones.'

And here by 'peace' he promises the peace that is toward God.

Of this building the blessed Paul too makes mention, and he speaks thus:

'I, as a wise master builder, have laid a foundation, and another builds upon it; but let each one take heed how he builds upon it.'

'For no one can lay another foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.'

'And if anyone builds upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work shall be made manifest. Keep far from unrighteousness, and you shall not be afraid, and trembling shall not come near you.'

Having enjoyed this beneficence, do not become ungrateful toward your Benefactor;

for in this way you shall be stronger than those who wage war against you.

'Behold, proselytes shall come to you through me, and shall sojourn with you, and shall take refuge in you.'

He calls 'proselytes' those who, one might say, are daily caught from among the nations and come to the divine baptism.

And so we behold the fulfilment of this prophecy also.

'Behold, I create you, not as a coppersmith blowing coals in the fire and bringing forth a vessel for a work.'

He has shown the effortlessness and exceeding ease of the creating;