Commentary on Isaiah 1 part 20/24

'for I have no need,' he says, 'of any instruments and fire and bellows, like the coppersmiths, but a word suffices me for the making.'

'But I created you, not to destroy you unto perdition.'

Since the first man was earthy, from the earth, and received also the sentence of death, the Creator of all things promises to make the nature of men new unto incorruption.

'Every corruptible vessel that is against you shall not prosper.'

But those who are unwilling to put on this incorruption, and remain in their former corruption, shall not prevail, though they attempt to make war on you.

And this he makes plainer through what follows:

'And every voice that shall rise up against you — them all you shall overcome in judgment.'

'And every tongue that stands with you in judgment you shall condemn.' For those from all the nations who set themselves against you you shall both condemn and overcome.

'But the guilty shall be in sorrow.'

For this is what the following words declare:

'There is an inheritance for those who serve the Lord, and you shall be to me righteous, says the Lord.'

This the Lord also taught in the sacred Gospels:

'For I was hungry,' he says, 'and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink,' and what follows.

Here too, having shown this, he points out the way of righteousness:

'You who thirst, go to the water.'

For this too the prophetic word intimated:

'And you who have no silver, go, buy and eat; and go, buy without silver and drink.'

And 'silver' the divine Scripture often uses to name righteousness:

'For the oracles of the Lord,' it says, 'are pure oracles, silver tried in the fire, proved for the earth.' And those who live in lawlessness it bids to be called 'rejected silver, because the Lord God has rejected them.'

The Master who loves mankind therefore promises to give even to those who do not possess what is called 'silver' — that is, righteousness — the thrice-longed-for water freely;

for from those who come to the all-holy baptism he does not exact a reckoning for their former sins, but promises the remission of them.

'Wherefore do you value at silver wine and fat in things that are not bread, and your labour for what does not satisfy?' Here he cast out the sacrifices of the Law.

For they were also accustomed to pour out wine as a libation.

'In things that are not bread, and your labour for what does not satisfy' — meaning profitless, unprofitable, having nothing spiritual.

Having thus set an end to the Old Covenant, he indicates the New:

'Hearken to me, and you shall eat good things, and your soul shall delight itself in good things.'

'Behold, I have given him for a testimony among the nations, a ruler and a commander to the nations.'

For him who was crucified by the Jews all land and sea worship, and embrace his laws.

He calls him — or, according to Aquila and Symmachus, a 'witness' — as one testifying concerning the coming judgment and threatening the flame of Gehenna.

'Behold, nations that do not know you shall call upon you, and peoples that do not understand you shall take refuge in you, for the sake of the Lord your God and the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you.'

To whom do the Jews apply these words? What nations did he call? To whom did the peoples flee for refuge? But they cannot show it, whereas we behold the facts, and see him who was unknown by the nations now gladly worshipped by them.

'For the sake of the Lord your God, because he has glorified you' — this is spoken in a human manner;

for the Lord himself too, praying in the sacred Gospels, said:

'Father, glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you.' Having foretold this concerning the nations and clearly shown their faith, he addresses his word also to the Jews:

'And in your finding him, call upon him.'

'Take knowledge; do not renounce salvation as those who have nailed him fast, but ask for pardon.'

'But when he draws near to you, let the ungodly forsake his ways, and the lawless man his counsels, and let him turn to the Lord, and he shall obtain mercy — even to our God, for he will abundantly forgive your sins.'

'When,' he says, 'having sought you find, and having called upon him you obtain pardon, flee the former way of ungodliness and lawlessness, and give to God your faces and not your backs.'

'For he will impart to you mercy, and will grant the remission of your sins.'

'For my counsels are not as your counsels, nor are my ways as your ways, says the Lord.'

'But as heaven is distant from the earth, so is my way distant from your ways, and your thoughts from my thinking.'

'We are far apart from one another,' he says, 'and by as much as heaven is from earth;

for you hate, but I love;

you make war, but I do good.'

'For as the rain or the snow comes down from heaven and does not return there until it has saturated the earth and made it bring forth and bud, and given seed to the sower and bread for food, so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void, until it has accomplished all things whatsoever I have spoken, and I will prosper my ways and my commandments.'

'Just as,' he says, 'rain and snow are supplied to the earth for the sake of watering, so that the husbandmen may reap the fruit of their toils, harvesting the sheaves and thence procuring nourishment, so my declaratory word is most effectual and most active, fulfilling all that I will.'

'For in gladness you shall go forth, and in joy you shall be taught;

for the mountains and the hills shall leap up to receive you in joy, and all the trees of the field shall clap their branches.'

Being delivered from the tyranny of the devil and set free from his dominion, you shall be filled with all gladness.

Then, to display the surpassing greatness of the gladness, he showed even the mountains and the hills and the trees rejoicing.

'The mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like the lambs of the flock.' Divine Scripture employs this figure, following the custom of human speech.

'The whole city rejoices, the whole city keeps festival'—by 'city' they mean not the walls but the inhabitants.

But if anyone should wish to understand it in a figurative sense—the mountains and hills as the heavenly powers, and the trees of the field as the saints displaying their delight by their branches, concerning whom it is said,

'But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of my God'—he will in this way also find the truth of the prophecy.

'And instead of the thorn-bush shall come up the cypress, and instead of the nettle shall come up the myrtle;'

'and it shall be to the Lord for a name and for an everlasting sign, and it shall not fail.'

By these words he indicated the transformation of the foreign nations.

After the recognition of the Saviour, they have imitated the height of the cypress and the fragrance of the myrtle, and by their deeds they proclaim the power of our God and Saviour, displaying their own transformation as a kind of sign and great and marvellous and abiding wonder.

And this sign shall be everlasting and shall not fail, just as the glory of the Jews has failed.

Let us therefore show ourselves to be a sign befitting God, of our God and Saviour, not only holding to sound doctrines but also embracing a corresponding manner of life, that men, seeing our good works, may glorify our Father who is in heaven, to whom belong all glory, honour, and majesty, together with his only-begotten Son and the all-holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages.

'Keep judgement and do righteousness, for my salvation is near to come and my mercy to be revealed.'

The inspired prophets were accustomed not only to foretell things to come but also to offer exhortations, both doctrinal and moral.

For indeed they proclaimed beforehand to the men of old both judgement and salvation, so that both by the promise of good things and by the threat of grievous ones they might turn them away from wickedness and urge them toward virtue.

This is easy to learn from these very sayings.

For having counselled men to hold fast to righteousness and to keep the judgement of the soul unswerving, the prophetic word joined to it the announcement of salvation and the revelation of mercy.

And both of these signify the Master's coming.

'Blessed is the man who does these things, and the son of man who lays hold of them, and who keeps the sabbaths so as not to profane them, and who guards his hands from doing wrong.'

To the working of good things he joined the reward, and the greatest reward is the blessedness.

He commanded them to take care for the keeping of the sabbaths, since the Law was still in force.

And he also taught how one must honour the sabbath;

for he says it is fitting to keep the hands innocent of injustice, for thus the sabbath is not profaned.

The 'profane' is that which is not holy, that is, the common.

Since, then, the sabbath was consecrated to the working of divine things, if—he says—you transgress the appointed law, you will render it a common day, that is, profane.

And this distinction divine Scripture teaches us also in other places;

for it says, 'You shall separate between the holy and the profane.' And it calls 'holy' that which pertains to God, and 'profane' the common.

'Let not the foreigner who attaches himself to the Lord say,'

'Surely the Lord will separate me by a separation from his people.'

By these words he checks the Jewish arrogance;

for since they made light of virtue but were greatly puffed up over their descent from Abraham, the God of all teaches that he seeks virtue and not lineage.

'And let not the eunuch say, I am a dry tree.'

In this too he likewise urges the eunuchs toward virtue and brings down the pride of those who boast in their multitude of children.

'For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths and choose the things that I will and hold fast to my covenant;'

for having been deprived by their enemies of becoming fathers, they became more renowned than the fathers of many children, and their fame remains unquenchable.

Thus God declared Abed-melech, who was both a foreigner and a eunuch—for he was an Ethiopian—renowned on account of his piety.

'...the name of the Lord, to serve him as menservants and maidservants; and all who keep my sabbaths so as not to profane them and hold fast to my covenant, I will bring them into my holy mountain and gladden them in the house of my prayer; their whole burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be acceptable upon my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations.'

He showed that the God of all is God not of the Jews only but also of the nations;

and having thus promised these things to the foreigners and the eunuchs, he foretells to the Jews the last siege, that which took place at the hands of the Romans.

'The Lord said, he who gathers the scattered of Israel, for I will gather against him a gathering, all the wild beasts.'

He clearly showed that he was foretelling the last siege;

for after the gathering of the scattered and their return, he threatened the army of the beasts;

and he calls them 'wild beasts' on account of their former impiety;

and he hints also at their savagery and untamed ferocity.

The Roman army was gathered from various nations;

for at that time, ruling over all Europe and having subjected most of Asia, they had picked men gathered from every quarter.

Some, however, have taken these words as referring to Gog and Magog, not having considered that those were consumed by God-sent plagues among the mountains of Judaea, whereas those now spoken of are raised up to devour others.

Then he sets forth the lawless life of the Jews;

'See that they are all blinded, they have not known understanding.'

So great was their blindness that in full midday they did not recognize the sun of righteousness.

'All are dumb dogs, unable to bark.'

For against the demons they did not bark, but fawning upon them, they received their enemies as benefactors, while against their nourisher and Saviour they barked.

He persisted in the metaphor, exposing the slothfulness of their disposition.

'And the dogs are shameless in soul, and know not satisfaction.'

It seems somehow to be contradictory;

for if they do not bark but sleep continually, how do they have shamelessness? But, as I said, against their enemies they did not bark, yet against their Creator they showed their shamelessness, not taking their fill of wickedness.

'And they are wicked and know not understanding; all have followed after their own ways, each according to his own gain, from his first beginning.'

The word 'gain' Aquila, Theodotion, and Symmachus rendered as 'covetousness'.

The word accuses them, that having forsaken the divine way they wandered into manifold byways;

for each one journeyed as he wished, choosing the covetous mind.

'These things they said to one another,' being slaves to drunkenness and gluttony and supposing that luxury would procure for them all good things.

'See how the righteous one has perished, and no man lays it to heart.'

Here he foreshadowed the Master's cross;

for he names as 'righteous' the Master Christ, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.

And at the same time he signifies also the hardening of the heart of those who crucified him;

for none of them, he says, was willing to perceive the crime.

'And righteous men are taken away, and no one considers it.'

Just as against Christ, so also against the holy apostles they raged in like manner: they stoned the inspired Stephen, they beheaded the most divine James, and the other James—the one distinguished by supreme righteousness, the much-renowned, the great James—they thrust down from the pinnacle of the temple, and when he had fallen they beat him with clubs and delivered him to death.

'For from before the face of injustice the righteous one is taken away;'

'his burial shall be in peace, he has been taken away from the midst.'

These things he says concerning the Master Christ, and at the same time he makes plain both the injustice of the slaying and the victory after death;

For His death granted us reconciliation with God, and He Himself, leaving the tomb behind, was taken up into the heavens.

'But draw near hither, ye lawless sons, seed of adulterers and of a harlot.'

He cast them out from kinship with Abraham.

This the Lord Himself did also in the sacred Gospels.

When they said, 'We have Abraham as our father,' the Lord took up the matter and said:

'If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham;

but now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I heard from my Father;

this Abraham did not do.' And again:

'Ye are of your father the devil.'

'He was a murderer from the beginning.' So here too He names them the seed of adulterers and of a harlot;

for indeed in the opening words of the prophecy He named the city a harlot:

'How is the faithful city Zion become a harlot?' And He accuses them not only of the adultery of marriages, but also of the corruption of doctrines;

for while seeming to be joined to God, they secretly served the demons, and what they did was outright adultery.

'In what did ye take your delight? And against whom did ye open your mouth? And against whom did ye let loose your tongue?' By these words He clearly convicts the blasphemies which they committed against the Master;

for they called Him a deceiver, and one possessed by a demon, and a Samaritan, and said that He cast out the demons by Beelzebub the prince of the demons.

'Are ye not children of perdition, a lawless seed, ye that call upon idols under leafy trees, slaying your children in the valleys, among the rocks and in the parts of the ravine?' For since they had nailed the Master to the wood as though He were an enemy of God, feigning a zeal, as they supposed, on behalf of Him who had given the Law, He seasonably reminds them of their superstition:

'Are ye not continually serving the idols, roaming about the sacred groves, and sacrificing your children to the demons in the ravines? Now ye have been inflamed with zeal for the Law, and against the Lawgiver ye have moved this zeal — ye who before the idols were dumb dogs, but toward the Saviour and Benefactor are dogs shameless in soul.'

'That is thy portion, this is thy lot; and to them thou didst pour out drink offerings, and to these thou didst offer up sacrifices;

for these things then shall I not be angry? saith the Lord.'

He plainly disclosed their polytheistic error;

for He says: not to two or three, but to a great multitude of demons ye were enslaved, and to some ye offered drink offerings and to others sacrifices, and forsaking the divine inheritance ye chose to have those as your inheritance.

'Upon a high and lofty mountain, there is thy bed.'

By 'bed' He named their persistent attendance and repose at those places.

'And thither thou didst bring up sacrifices, and behind the posts of thy door thou didst set thy memorial.'

He teaches their great impiety through these things as well;

for they went astray not only on the mountains, but even within their houses they served the idols.

And He calls 'memorial' the written record of the accusation.

'Thou didst suppose that, if thou depart from me, thou wouldst gain something more.'

This the blessed Jeremiah teaches us plainly;

for he introduces their wives and them saying that, from the time we departed from the service of the idols, evils have overtaken us.

'Thou didst enlarge thy bed, and thou didst make for thyself a covenant from them.'

This Symmachus rendered more clearly:

'Thou didst enlarge thy bed, and didst make them partners in covenant with thee.' That is to say:

thou wast joined to many demons, and didst follow their laws, and didst agree to serve each one.

Interpreting a marriage, He says through the prophet Ezekiel:

'And I entered into covenant with thee,' that is to say:

'I drew up a marriage-contract between us.'

And He calls the Law a covenant.

'Thou didst love those that lay with thee, and didst multiply thy harlotry with them.'

As of a wanton woman He has said these things also, teaching her great impiety.

'And thou didst make many those that were far from thee.'

But Symmachus and Theodotion render it thus:

'And thou didst multiply thy perfume-jars.' In this way he designated the fashioning of the idols;

for just as compounded perfume is gathered from many kinds of ingredients, receiving its fair arrangement through the perfumer's craft, so too the idols receive their fashioning from many materials and crafts.

And the Seventy fittingly named them 'far off';

for what fellowship hath light with darkness? And the Law also set them far apart.

'And thou didst send ambassadors beyond thy borders.'

For at one time they fled for refuge to the Egyptians, at another to the Assyrians.

'And thou wast brought low even unto Hades.'

This is the fruit thou didst gain from the worship of the idols.

'By thy many journeyings thou wast wearied, and thou didst not say:'

He says: thou wast led astray to a great degree, and thou wast unwilling to receive any cessation from thy wandering.

'Thou didst these things; therefore thou didst not entreat me.'

Thou didst forsake me, thou didst worship the demons, thou didst put thy confidence in human aids, and thou didst take no surfeit of evils.

'Whom, standing in awe, didst thou fear, that thou hast lied against me and hast not remembered me, nor taken me into thy mind nor into thy heart? When thou wast serving the idols, thou didst not dread the Lawgiver;

but when I came, thou wast seized with a fear where there was no fear, and thou wast unwilling to take to heart the predictions concerning me.

'And I am he that is from everlasting.'

For I am no other than He who freed thee from the bondage of the Egyptians, who made thee to pass on foot through the sea, who wrought countless wonders.

'And I will declare my righteousness and thy evils, which shall not profit thee.'

I both display my benefactions and convict thy ingratitude.

'When thou criest out, let them deliver thee in thy affliction;

for a wind shall take them all, and a tempest shall carry them away.'

For not only will they impart no help to thee, but they themselves — that is, the idols — shall be brought to naught.

'But they that cleave to me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain.'

And the facts bear witness to these words;

for they that have believed in Him both possess the city of Jerusalem and are deemed worthy of honour in all cities.

'Clear the ways before his face, and remove the stumbling-blocks from the way of my people.'

For the heralds of the truth will make the straight way smooth for them that believe, both pointing out the things that please God and turning them away from the contrary things.

For these things He called 'stumbling-blocks,' and Symmachus called them 'offences.'

'For thus saith the Most High, who dwelleth on high, the eternal, whose name is Holy among the holy ones, the Lord Most High who resteth among the holy ones, and giveth longsuffering to the faint-hearted, and giveth life to them that are broken in heart, and to make alive the hearts of them that are crushed.'

He displayed His manifold providential care.

For dwelling on high, He looks upon lowly things, and being holy He rests indeed among the holy, yet to the fainthearted He brings solace, and those who are contrite in heart He restores to life.

For He cares not only for the righteous, but also recalls those who have been carried down into the pit of wickedness, and to those whose souls are in a wretched state He brings healing of every kind.

'I will not take vengeance on you for ever, nor will I be angry with you continually.'

Very many of those who had crucified the Lord came to believe through the preaching of the apostles and enjoyed the benefit of salvation.

For this reason the Lord, even while being crucified, said:

'for they know not what they do.' From among these came the blessed Paul, from among these the three thousand and the many myriads.

He made mention of the inbreathing, by which He fashioned the soul of Adam.

'For He breathed,' it says, 'into his face the breath of life, and the man became a living soul.' Since, He says, I am the Creator of all things, I with loving-kindness administer the affairs of those made by Me.

'I have seen his ways, and I have healed him, and I have comforted him, and I have given him true consolation, and to his mourners I create the fruit of the lips.'

But Symmachus and Aquila, instead of

'his sufferers,' rendered it 'those who mourn for him.'

The Lord God has shown the power of repentance.

'For when I beheld,' He says, 'their change of mind and the transformation of their thoughts and the downcast look of the countenance, I deemed them worthy of consolation—even those who mourn for them';

and those who mourned for them were the heralds of the truth; indeed the blessed Paul even prayed to become anathema on their behalf.

These things He has done who creates the fruit of the lips—that is, He who requires the sacrifice of praise in place of the legal worship.

'Peace upon peace to those who are far off and to those who are near, and the Lord has said:'

To these, then, He promises peace with themselves and pledges to make it lasting and enduring, and to grant them the gift of healing; but to those who have persisted in their former iniquity He threatens grievous things:

'But the unrighteous shall be tossed like a surging sea, and they shall not be able to find rest.'

This tumult of theirs Josephus records with great exactness.

'For its water casts up mire and clay.'

By 'water' He means the teaching.

Since, then, they were teaching things contrary to the prophets and were muddying the clearness of the spiritual streams, He threatens that it will become like mire.

'There is no rejoicing for the ungodly,' said God.

'And these things I do,' He says, 'inasmuch as it is not just that the Lawgiver of righteousness should deem worthy of an equal lot both the nurslings of piety and those who cling fast to impiety.'

From here the prophetic discourse passes to another subject and exhorts the men of that time in what would benefit them:

'Cry aloud with strength and spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet, and declare to My people their sins, and to the house of Israel their transgressions.'

The Lord of all charges the prophet to rebuke the people's lawlessness, and enjoins him to do this not covertly and in secret, but to act openly, using a loud voice.

'They seek Me day by day, and desire to know My ways, as a people that had done righteousness and had not forsaken the judgment of their God.'

Living in wickedness, they claim to obtain My providential care, and do not reckon that, having made themselves unworthy of My guardianship, they shall not enjoy it.

'They now ask of Me righteous judgment, and desire to draw near to God, saying:'

'Why is it that we have fasted and You have not seen, we have humbled our souls and You have not known?' They regard abstinence from foods as the highest virtue, and blame Me for not immediately deeming them worthy of every providential care.

'They desire to draw near to God'—Symmachus put it thus:

'They wish for nearness to God'; and Aquila:

Then He plainly convicts them of their transgressions:

'For on the days of your fasts you find your own pleasures, and you goad all who are under your hand.'

'For the leisure of the fast you do not make an occasion for repentance, but you spend it on the exaction from your debtors.'

For thus both Symmachus and Theodotion interpreted it:

'that your voice should today be heard in a cry?' It seems that at the very time of the prophecy something of this sort was taking place.

For this is what the text also hints at:

'so that your voice should today be heard in a cry.'

'It is not this fast that I have chosen, nor a day for a man to humble his soul.'

'It is not this that I recognize as the limit of fasting;'

'for I have ordained fasting in another manner.'

'Call to mind the things spoken through My servant Moses:'

'For I said, Afflict your souls.' Now he who is humbled does not exalt himself over the lowly, nor tyrannize over the powerless.

'Even if you bow down your neck like a collar, and imitate the bending of the yoke, and spread sackcloth and ashes beneath you—not even so will you call it a fast and a day acceptable to the Lord.'

'Is not such the fast that I have chosen? says the Lord.'

'It is not the outward, visible form that I seek,' He says.

'For a sacrifice to God is a broken spirit.' Having thus convicted the things done contrary to the law, He lays down what ought to be done:

'Whatever of your contracts lacks what is just, dissolve as harmful.'

'Send away the crushed in release, and tear up every unjust bond.'

Free those who live in poverty from anxiety; grant release and loose their care.

'If you see one naked, clothe him, and do not overlook those of your own flesh.'

Having forbidden the means of unjust gain, He teaches the right management of what has been justly gathered, and says: to some give nourishment, to others impart shelter, others clothe, and remember our common nature, and take kinship to mind.

'Then shall your light break forth as the dawn.'

Light is a thing to be longed for, but more longed for is the daybreak that appears after the night.

For thus both Theodotion and Symmachus said:

'Then shall your light break forth as the morning'; and Aquila:

'Then shall light be cleft as the dawn.' For just as the dawn rends asunder the gloomy mantle of the night, so, He says, this lawful manner of life of yours shall dissolve the night of your calamities and furnish you the light of My providence.

'And your healing shall speedily spring up.'

'For I will furnish you swift healing.'

'And your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of God shall enfold you.'

He has shown how divine things follow upon our works.

For when our righteousness leads the way, the glory of the God of all follows after, rendering us conspicuous.

'Then you shall cry out, and God will hear you.'

for He grants us boldness before God.