Commentary on Isaiah 1 part 22/24

But one may find these things, as in a type, also in the Church of God;

for she has been delivered from the error of idols, and continually praises the God of all, and her leaders, so far as is possible, take forethought for those who suffer wrong.

'But your walls shall be called salvation, and your gates carvings.'

The word 'carving' Aquila rendered as 'hymning,' Theodotion as 'boasting,' and Symmachus as 'praise.'

For the spiritual enclosures of the Church furnish salvation to those who have believed, and her gates are filled with praise and hymns.

'And the sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor shall the rising of the moon give light to you by night;'

'for God shall be to you an everlasting light, and God your glory.'

'For your sun shall not set, and your moon shall not wane;'

'for the Lord shall be to you an everlasting light.'

And this the life to come possesses in exactness;

for that life needs neither moon nor sun;

for it has the very ineffable light of God.

And of this, as in a type, even now those who believe have enjoyment;

for being enlightened by it, they travel the unerring journey.

'And the days of your seed shall be fulfilled.'

'And all your people shall be righteous forever, and they shall inherit the land.'

And these things too he foretold concerning the life to come;

for that life has an unchangeable disposition, that life is adorned with eternal righteousness, that life is free from sin, that life has neither the untimely dead nor the aged, but life without end; in that life the worthy inherit the land of the living.

'For behold,' he says, 'the heaven shall be new and the earth new. Keeping the shoot of my planting, the work of my hands, unto glory.'

'The shoot of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified'; and Theodotion thus:

'The shoot of his planting—the works of his hands shall glorify.' And so through these versions, as also through the Seventy, we find the God of all to be the cause of what has been said and, as it were, the gardener;

for he himself planted his Church, he himself preserves it now that it has sprung up, and he receives the glory that arises therefrom.

'The least shall become thousands, and the smallest a great nation;'

'I the Lord will gather them in due season.'

These things he also said in the sacred Gospels;

'For he will send forth his angels, and they will gather his elect from the ends of the heavens to their ends.' Then he will also assign the mansions in the heavens to each according to his worth; then those who are foremost will lead those divided into companies and modes of life.

Having thus concluded these matters, he again transfers the prediction to the Master Christ, who in the present life has bestowed these things upon the Church and has promised the polity that is to come.

'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because of which the Lord has anointed me.'

We do not need many proofs in interpreting this prophecy;

for the Master himself has made it clear to us.

For entering into the synagogue and taking this book, then unrolling it and reading this prophecy, he said to those who heard:

'Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your ears,' and he plainly showed that it was concerning himself that these things had been uttered through the prophet.

But he was anointed with the all-holy Spirit not as God, but as man.

And this we have already shown many times in what has gone before.

And we have found written in this very book:

'Jacob my servant, I will take hold of him; Israel my chosen one, my soul has accepted him;'

'I will put my Spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the nations,' and again:

'A rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall come up from the root.'

'And the Spirit of God shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and godliness; the spirit of the fear of God shall fill him.' He therefore says here in his own person:

'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because of which the Lord has anointed me.'

And he states the reasons for the anointing;

'He has sent me to preach good news to the poor.'

For into the utmost poverty had human nature fallen, and especially the nations, which were in bondage to idols.

'To heal those who are broken in heart, to proclaim release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind.'

By all these names he calls men;

the poor, as having lost their heavenly wealth; broken in heart, as having corrupted their reason; blind, as having been ignorant of God and having served the creation; captives, as having deserted to the tyrant and having fallen from their former freedom.

'To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and a day of recompense for our God.'

For not only did he grant us the forgiveness of sins, and free us from the tyranny of the devil, and show us the divine light, but he also promised the life to come and threatened the just judgment.

For I think that by 'the acceptable year' his first coming is designated, and by 'the day of recompense' the day of judgment.

For by the hope of the resurrection he tempered the despondency of death.

'Oil of gladness'—Theodotion and Symmachus rendered it 'oil of exultation.'

He hints at the mystical anointing, being counted worthy of which we receive gladness and the mantle of glory; for the 'garment' must be understood as a robe.

For the 'lowering-garment' (katastole) must be understood as a robe (stole).

For thus also Theodotion:

In place of 'a spirit of despondency,' the Three have set 'in place of a spirit of gloom.'

For having driven away from us the dark and sullen spirit of despondency, He has placed upon us the wrapping of glory.

Now the saints who dwelt in Zion lamented exceedingly as they beheld the impiety of her inhabitants.

Among these was that great Symeon, to whom it had been divinely revealed that he should not see death until he had seen the Christ of the Lord; among these were the prophetess Anna and many others besides, who mourned the lawlessness of the Jews and awaited the salvation of God.

For these He dissolved their mourning by His manifestation.

That is to say, these are they who are chosen out of Zion: the Twelve, the Seventy, the hundred and twenty, the five hundred, the three thousand, the many myriads.

'This is the generation of them that seek the Lord.' But the Three, in place of this, have put:

'generations of righteousness, mighty ones of righteousness, the planting of the Lord unto glory,' they have set down.

For like certain excellent generals of piety, having traversed the whole inhabited world, they overthrew impiety, and having become the first plantings of the Lord, they planted the desert.

'And they shall build up the ancient wastes; they shall raise up what was formerly made desolate, and shall renew the desolate cities, that had been made waste from generation to generation.'

And we point to the cities that were ruined by impiety, and were piously rebuilt and made new by the holy apostles and by those who received their preaching in succession.

'And strangers shall come shepherding your flocks, and foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers.'

For the teachers of the Church came from foreign nations, whom He named shepherds and plowmen and vinedressers.

'But you shall be called priests of the Lord; ministers of our God shall it be said of you.'

But the apostolic name those thrice-blessed men possessed as their peculiar distinction.

For even though these latter succeeded to their work, yet no one dares to seize their appellation.

'You shall eat the strength of nations, and in their wealth you shall be admired.'

For having overthrown the prevailing impiety, you supplied them with spiritual wealth, being marvelled at by all on account of the strange transformation.

'Instead of their double shame, and instead of their confusion, their portion shall rejoice.'

It is to the holy apostles that He says these things:

Be not distressed, though you are persecuted and racked and receive reproaches from all and endure ten thousand forms of death;

for through your sufferings the nations shall obtain salvation and shall become part of the portion of those who rejoice.

And showing the manner of the inheritance, He added:

'And everlasting gladness shall be over their head.'

For the earth shall be set free from its former curse and shall become new, being now stripped of the corruption that surrounds it.

For thus also the divine apostle said:

'For I am the Lord who loves righteousness and hates robberies of iniquity; and I will give their labor to the righteous, and I will make with them an everlasting covenant.'

'to the righteous'—thus the Three have interpreted it:

'and I will give their work in truth';

for I will render to them their reward, fulfilling my promise.

'And their seed shall be known among the nations, and their offspring in the midst of the peoples.'

He calls 'seed' and 'offspring' of the holy apostles those who received their preaching in succession.

'All that see them shall recognize them, that these are a seed blessed by God.'

'And with gladness they shall be glad in the Lord.'

For by its fruit the tree is known, according to the teaching of the Lord.

And how illustrious are the servants of our Savior, the very facts bear witness;

for we see those entrusted with the greatest offices of authority continually running to them, and with fervent eagerness carrying off the blessing from them.

Having thus foretold these things, he changes the form of his discourse, and in the person of the Church he cries out to the Benefactor:

'Let my soul exult in the Lord;'

'for he has clothed me with a garment of salvation and wrapped me in a tunic of gladness.'

By 'garment of salvation' and 'tunic of gladness' he calls the grace of the all-holy baptism;

'As on a bridegroom he has placed a mitre on me, and as a bride he has adorned me with ornament.'

She calls herself 'bride' as being joined to the Bridegroom, and 'bridegroom' as having put on the Bridegroom.

And the 'mitre' the Three Interpreters named a 'crown.'

'And as earth that makes its beauty and its flower to grow, and as a garden that makes its seeds to spring up, so shall the Lord make righteousness and exultation to spring up before all the nations.'

He showed the whole inhabited world become one paradise of righteousness.

These things thereafter the Bridegroom himself says:

'And the nations shall see your righteousness, and kings your glory.'

Your glory—yours, who exult in the vesture of salvation, my well-pleasing bride whom I have adorned with every kind of ornament.

'And they shall call you by your new name, which the Lord shall name it.'

Let the Jews say, what new name have they received?

For up to the present they are called Jews.

But those who have believed in the Lord received the new appellation, being named not from Abraham or Israel or Judah, but being called from the Master Christ himself;

for they are called Christians by all, inasmuch as through the all-holy baptism they have put on Christ.

'And you shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a diadem of the kingdom in the hand of the Lord your God; and you shall no more be called Forsaken, and your land shall no more be called Desolate.'

Often the prophetic word called the nations 'desert';

and for a very long time they were forsaken, receiving neither prophet nor divine lawgiver.

But nevertheless He gave them a new name also, and calls them a diadem of the kingdom and a bridal crown;

for indeed He named them a bride and promised them the kingdom of heaven.

'For you shall be called My Delight, and your land Inhabited, because the Lord will take pleasure in you, and your land shall be inhabited.'

'Delight' he also calls her in the Song of Songs.

And by 'delight' he means the good will (the good pleasure).

So also the divine apostle:

'according to the good pleasure of his will.'

'And as a young man dwelling with a virgin, so shall your sons dwell in you;'

'as a bridegroom over a bride, so shall the Lord rejoice over you.'

Since he had made mention of the bride, he necessarily set down also the image of the virgin, in order to show the distinctiveness of the marriage.

And upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen all the day and all the night, who to the end shall not be silent, making mention of the Lord.

Once again he names the bride herself Jerusalem, and by 'watchmen' he calls the leaders of the devout peoples throughout every city and village, who by night and by day praise God in song and guard the divine city.

But if one should suppose these to be angels also, he would not stray from the truth.

For it says, The angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear him, and shall deliver them. For there is none like unto you.

For, it says, you shall find no other one so righteous, so holy, truly God, so carefully providing for you.

So too the blessed Moses said:

There is none like unto you among the gods, O Lord, and there is none according to your works. So too the divine Jeremiah said:

Whence should there be any like unto you, O Lord? Whence any like unto you, O King of the nations? If you set right and make Jerusalem, she shall be an exultation upon the earth, a boast in the land.

This you shall learn, once you have been freed from your former ignorance and have manfully vanquished the demons that led you captive.

The Lord has sworn by his glory and by the strength of his arm: I will no longer give your grain and your foods to your enemies, and the sons of strangers shall no longer drink your wine for which you toiled; but those who gathered it shall eat it and shall praise the Lord, and those who gathered it shall drink it in my holy courts.

For while you contend nobly, I will be your general; and since I have no other greater by whom I ought to swear, I swear by my own glory and by my own power, that I will guard your fruits for you and will not permit them to be plundered as before, but you yourself shall enjoy the reward of your labors.

By 'grain' and 'wine' and 'foods' one must understand figuratively the fruits of righteousness.

Go, pass through my gates, prepare the way and make a road for my people, and cast the stones out of the way.

And the Jews suppose that these words foretell their own return; but what follows does not permit them to understand it so.

Lift up a signal to the nations:

For behold, the Lord has made it to be heard unto the end of the earth.

Now God has made to be heard unto the end of the earth, not the building of Jerusalem, but the Cross and the Passion and the Resurrection and the Master's ascension into the heavens, and the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the hope of the good things to come.

He commands the heralds to prepare the way with these things, and to make it level and smooth, with all difficulty removed.

For by 'stones' he calls the obstacles.

So too in the preceding passages the prophetic word said:

All the crooked things shall become straight, and the rough ground shall become plains. Then, the way having been prepared, he commands the heralds to say to the daughter of Sion, that is, to the Church throughout the whole inhabited world:

Behold, your Savior has come, having his reward with him, and his work before his face; and he shall call it a holy people, redeemed by the Lord.

Behold, the Lord comes with strength — here, however, from the person of the apostles:

Behold, your Savior has come, having his own reward.

This reward he mentioned also above, and the work likewise; and one ought not to charge him with tautology.

But you shall be called a city sought after, and not forsaken.

For of old she had been forsaken;

for she received neither Moses the great, nor any other of the prophets, as her founder.

From this point the prophecy teaches us the manner of the war which the Master undertook on our behalf, and both conquered and dissolved the enemy, and shattered the yoke of bondage.

The prophet puts the words in the form of a question;

and he indicates, as I think, the ascent of the Master into the heavens.

And he has imitated the manner of the psalm;

for there too, in like manner, certain ones ask:

Who is this King of glory? — not because the heavenly powers were ignorant of him who was ascending, but that through the question and answer they might more precisely instruct us concerning the nature of him who was taken up.

So too here certain ones inquire:

Who is this that comes from Edom? Now Edom they name the red land, and Bosor the flesh;

and they marvel that, in an earthly and fleshly robe, the beauty of him who is clothed is ineffable, and so great as to constrain those who behold him unto love.

For it says, You are fair in beauty beyond the sons of men. And that Edom is interpreted 'ruddy,' the bride openly proclaims in the Song of Songs, crying out:

My beloved is ruddy and white;

wherefore by 'white' she calls the unapproachable light of the Godhead, and by 'ruddy' the human form.

To those who marvel at his beauty he gave this answer:

I, it says, will teach you the manner of the salvation that has been righteously wrought.

Why are your garments red, and your raiment as one that treads the winepress full of what has been trodden down?

By his robe and garment he designates the manhood;

and from his side there came forth blood and water, according to the testimony of the evangelist.

By 'winepress' he names the destruction of the enemies;

for just as in the winepresses all the clusters are pressed out, so too the Master utterly destroyed the devil and all his phalanx.

I have trodden the winepress all alone, and of the nations there is not a man with me;

and I trampled them down in my wrath and crushed them in my anger, and I brought their blood down to the earth.

And he says that his garments were bespattered by the vanquishing of the enemies.

For a day of recompense has come upon them, and a year of redemption is at hand.

For it is the time both for these to pay the penalty for what they dared, and for those who unjustly served them as slaves to obtain freedom.

And I looked, and there was none to help;

and I gave heed, and there was none to uphold;

and my own arm delivered me.

This the divine Apostle also said:

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So too here the Lord said that there was none to help and none to uphold — for he had not the righteousness of men as a fellow-worker — but my arm sufficed to destroy the enemies.

By 'arm' he calls the power of righteousness;

for even the nature which he assumed he kept unstained and free from sin.

And my wrath itself came upon them, and I trampled them down in my anger, and I made them drunk in my wrath, and I brought their blood down to the earth.

In place of 'blood' the Three Interpreters have put 'strife.'

and, as if held fast by the calamity as by a stupor, they lie motionless, trodden underfoot by their captives.

Having therefore enjoyed this benefaction and been freed from that bitter bondage, let us praise in song the Author of these things.

For he himself, having undertaken the war on our behalf, gave us the gift of victory and of peace; may we enjoy these unto the end, by the grace of him who conquered, with whom to the Father be glory, together with the all-holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages.

VOLUME 20. I made mention of the mercy of the Lord; I will call to remembrance his virtues, the praise of the Lord for all that he has rendered to us.

Having foretold the unspeakable loving-kindness of the Master and proclaimed beforehand the salvation wrought through the Incarnation, very fittingly he added:

I made mention of the mercy of the Lord.

For the grace of the Incarnation is of mercy and of loving-kindness.

As for 'the virtues,' Aquila rendered it 'you shall hymn,' while Theodotion and Symmachus rendered it 'you shall praise.'

The Seventy, however, have more accurately put 'he renders.'

For since we owed punishment, yet received salvation in place of punishment, they have fittingly set down the word 'he recompenses' in the sense of:

he requites us with the opposite, giving good things in exchange for evils.

For Aquila too has rendered this same sense.

The Lord is a righteous judge to the house of Israel; he brings upon us according to his mercy and according to the abundance of his righteousness.

He does not give judgment employing righteousness alone, but tempers what is just with mercy; or rather:

his loving-kindness prevails over what is just.

Are they not my people, my children, and they will not deal treacherously? And it came to them for salvation out of every affliction.

He exercised his loving-kindness by looking upon the new people, whom he also deemed worthy of adoption as sons;

to whom the steadfastness of their faith also bears witness;

It was neither an elder nor an angel, but the Lord himself who saved them, because he loved them and spared them; he himself redeemed them, and took them up, and exalted them all the days of the age.

'Neither an elder nor an angel': Theodotion said, 'Neither a besieger nor an angel.'

For he committed the war on our behalf to no other, but he himself waged it, he himself fought valiantly, he himself broke the might of the tyrant.

But they were disobedient and provoked his Holy Spirit, and it was turned to enmity against them; the Lord himself made war upon them.

He indeed, employing his unutterable goodness, did all things for their salvation;

but they, living in wickedness—that is, the Jews—and ever resisting the Holy Spirit, as the divinely inspired Stephen says (and from this he too wove his accusation), did not receive salvation, but made the occasion of peace a pretext for war;

for which reason he exacted from them the penalties of their ingratitude.

And he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people.

He also called to mind the things that had been done long ago in the time of Moses the lawgiver;

for indeed those who in his time acted impiously and lawlessly were consumed in the wilderness.

Where is he who brought up out of the land the shepherd of his sheep? Where is he who put among them the Holy Spirit, who led Moses up by his right hand? But Aquila renders it thus:

Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? And both Symmachus and Theodotion have put 'out of the sea' instead of 'out of the land';

and thus too I found it set down among the Seventy in the Hexapla.

The prophetic word makes mention of the journey that took place through the sea;

for foreseeing that they would become bereft of the divine care, and, in accordance with the prediction we made, that the hedge of the vineyard would be torn away, the wall broken down, and the vineyard itself trodden underfoot by all, he calls to mind those ancient things—when the sea was divided, the bottom of the sea became for them a plain fit for horsemen, they saw all their enemies plunged beneath the waves, and they enjoyed also prophetic grace, the all-holy Spirit foreshowing through them the things to come.

The divine Apostle, however, took this not as referring literally to the Master Christ, but transferred it typologically to the truth;

for just as, when Pharaoh and the Egyptians were pursuing, the people crossed the sea under the leadership of Moses, so, when the devil and the demons were waging war, the Master Christ shattered the gates of death and was the first to pass through them, and he leads out also the whole nature of mankind.

For this reason the divine Apostle applies these sayings to the Master Christ and says:

He who brought up from the earth the great shepherd of the sheep. Of this one Moses is both minister and type;

for he is the true shepherd, who laid down his life for the sheep.

He calls to mind the things that took place at the Red Sea;

The arm of his glory prevailed to make water from before his face, to make in it an everlasting name.

For by the working of the divine command the sea was divided, and the water became for them a wall on the right and a wall on the left.

The fluid element stood still and imitated the building of walls.

He led them through the abyss like a horse through the wilderness, and like cattle through a plain, and they did not grow weary.

In the wildernesses a horse is able to run with ease;

for there are no obstacles of stone fences and trees.

And cattle likewise cross the mountains with much difficulty, but pass over the plains very easily.

By these words, then, he has shown the great ease of the crossing, and he indicates also the cause of what took place:

A spirit came down from the Lord and guided them;

thus you led your people to make for yourself a name of glory.

For the divine grace guided them, and the God of Israel became manifest to all.

From here the prophet turns his discourse to God himself, offering supplication on behalf of the people:

Look down from heaven, O Lord, and behold from your holy house and your glory.

Seeing the people deprived of their former care and the temple become desolate of the divine grace, he says, imploring him to be merciful:

Turn back from heaven, O Lord, for from on high you are able to watch over our affairs;

fill again the temple with your grace.

Where is your zeal and your strength? Where is the abundance of your mercy and your compassions, when you bore with us?

You continued ever to be long-suffering toward us, O Master; you bore with our lawlessness, you employed zeal against our enemies, and you made manifest your invincible power.

For you are our Father, for Abraham did not know us and Israel did not acknowledge us, but you, O Lord, are our Father; deliver us; from the beginning your name is upon us.

None of those ancient forefathers knows us;

therefore we call you alone both Master and Father;

for from of old we were named your people.

Why, O Lord, have you led us astray from your way, hardened our hearts so that we do not fear you? Your great long-suffering has wrought in us this shamelessness;

for since you did not deign to punish us as we transgressed, we persisted in transgressing and in despising your laws.

Such also is that which was said to the blessed Moses:

But I will harden the heart of Pharaoh. For employing much forbearance and long-suffering, he scourged him at the first with frogs and gnats and flies, but Pharaoh supposed that God was not able to subject him to greater punishments.

But when the destroyer smote the firstborn of the Egyptians and the perception of pain reached his hard and obstinate heart, then, yielding, he released the people.

But since, employing his customary long-suffering and loving-kindness, he brought upon him only small chastisements, Pharaoh resisted and reviled.

For which reason the God of all said:

But I will harden the heart of Pharaoh—that is, by being forbearing and long-suffering.

For indeed we too are accustomed to say to servants who sin continually:

If you had been disciplined from the beginning, you would not have been such as this.

So too the prophet, in the person of the people, entreating the Master, said:

Why, O Lord, have you led us astray from your way, hardened our hearts so that we do not fear you? You were long-suffering to the utmost, he says; seeing us transgress fearlessly, you did not discipline us;

hence we came to have an obstinate heart, and for this reason we forsook the straight way.

Turn back for the sake of your servants, for the sake of the tribes of your inheritance, that we may inherit a little of your holy mountain.

Remember our forefathers, who were called your servants; remember our tribes, which you set apart in the wilderness, which you named your inheritance, and do not utterly drive us out from your holy precincts.

Our adversaries have trodden down your sanctuary.

the holy places became passable to the priests as wilderness and were trodden down by the impious enemies.

We have become as we were at the beginning, when you did not rule over us, nor was your name called upon us.