以賽亞書註釋 第 1 章 第 12/23 段

and those who are not nourished beside the water of rest, nor seek to drink of that water concerning which the Lord said to the Samaritan woman, "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst forever" — these become dead.

For hear that a multitude of dead arose, not through famine alone, but also through thirst for water;

since they were drinking from that same water from which the Samaritan woman also drank;

for, it says, whoever drinks of that water will thirst again;

but they did not drink of the water that springs up into eternal life.

And this serves as an exhortation toward knowledge.

For if it is through not knowing the Lord that they become captives, we must be zealous for the gift of knowledge.

And perhaps the true death that comes upon the souls of the disobedient arises not through famine of material bread, nor through thirst for this sensible water, but through famine of hearing the word of the Lord.

"For man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds through the mouth of God."

And, "I was young, and now am old — for indeed I have grown old — yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread."

And, "The sons of the bridechamber cannot fast so long as the bridegroom is with them."

But where there is famine and thirst, there also is deadness.

That we may not, then, be killed by famine, let us seek the heavenly bread;

and that we may not be scorched by thirst, let us seek the water concerning which the Lord said, "If anyone drinks of the water that I shall give him, he will never thirst forever."

"And Hades has enlarged its soul and opened wide its mouth, so as not to cease;

and the glorious and the great and the rich and its pestilent ones, and he who exults in it, will go down.

And man will be humbled, and the man will be dishonored, and the haughty eyes will be brought low."

That the text might set before us the great multitude of those who perish, it said that Hades widens its mouth.

Just as, among animals, those which, out of great want, greedily seize their food and stretch their mouths wide around it, so too, it says, Hades is said to make its own mouth wider.

And perhaps the text indicates to us that the region of Hades is a certain common place in the innermost part of the earth, overshadowed on every side and without light;

the worse place, for souls already condemned;

which, on account of the multitude of those perishing, it says has become more spacious, so as to receive them all.

For Hades is surely not some living creature, nor some power set in charge over the dying, according to the myth-making of those outside the Church.

Those, then, who, through not knowing the Lord, have become captives, and have wasted away through famine and thirst for spiritual food, go down into Hades together with the glorious and the great and the rich and the pestilent.

There are three things threatened against those who sin:

captivity, and death, and descent into Hades.

For captivity is the falling away from our former life, through the deceit of the enemy, who leads us out from the blessedness that was in paradise;

and death is estrangement from the life-giving commandment;

and descent into Hades is the separation from God that comes about through the great outpouring of sin and the disposition contrary to the good.

For just as the righteous man has already been raised together with Christ and seated together with him in the heavenly places, so the unrighteous man is said to be already a captive, and dead, and to have gone down into Hades through the sins that lead to death.

These would be those held in some favorable estimation, who do not altogether have a testimony arising from their actual life that corresponds to their outward appearance;

then the great, those who surpass the many by some power and authority;

and the rich, those who have wrapped themselves in a great, unjustly acquired abundance of wealth, or who have an insatiable desire for more.

And her plagues — as many as, like a destructive disease spreading by contagion, corrupt those who come near them, whether through wicked teaching or through the incitement to sin — are rightly called plagues.

Who go down into Hades.

And he who exults, he says, in her.

This would be the Jew according to the flesh, who exults in the earthly Jerusalem but does not look toward the blessedness laid up for the saints of God.

Note that the phrase "in her" is spoken according to common usage;

just as, in the case of private houses too, it is customary for the notable ones often to be addressed by the name of those who dwell in them.

Such also is the saying, "His foundations are on the holy mountains."

So then, he who exults in her shall go down to Hades.

"And man shall be humbled," he says, "and man shall be dishonored."

It is not by place that one suffers humiliation, so much as by choice.

For the righteous is exalted by his heavenly mind, while the impious is humbled through his affinity for the things below.

For the common man, who is elated only by the common advantages of nature, and does not live according to the power inherent in him from his original constitution, is humbled;

but he who has already made some progress and is already worthy to be called "man," when, having grown soft, he yields to the passions, shall be dishonored;

because the one did not keep even what is common to all, while the other, through his turning to the worse, forfeited the good that had accrued to him from ascetic discipline.

For "man" is humbled;

for the eyes of the Lord are exalted, but man is lowly.

But "man" is dishonored, as one who despises God through the transgression of the commandments.

For those who despise him shall be dishonored, as we have heard the Lord say in the First Book of Kingdoms:

"Those who glorify me I will glorify, and those who despise me shall be dishonored."

"Man," then, shall be dishonored by his own sin;

"for these," he says, "shall rise to eternal life, and these to reproach and eternal shame."

For since honor is the rendering of a reward, and a reward is the prize of virtue, both honor and reward are apportioned to the saints, but the opposite to the impious.

For God honors those who are worthy;

for he himself is that which is truly precious and the source that bestows honor;

because one who has been dishonored cannot procure honor for himself.

each person's passions of shame being laid bare before all creation.

"And the haughty eyes," he says, "shall be humbled."

As many as, having raised their mind on high, beheld him who has demonstrated all these things — these have haughty eyes, by leading their mind above all bodies;

then, through false opinion and excessive attachment to material things, they no longer endured to contemplate any of the great things, but, becoming wholly given over to bodily enjoyment, are rightly said to be humbled.

"And the Lord Sabaoth shall be exalted in judgment."

That is, by the just recompense upon what has already been said, the Lord God is exalted in judgment, since the judgment rendered by the Judge upon the impious, according to the worth of their deeds, is itself one of the things that contribute to the glory of God;

so that even in the judgment the loftiness of the Lord's understanding and power is contemplated.

For just as those who contemplate the wisdom of the arrangement of the heavens (according to the position, motion, and relation of the stars to one another) perceive the greatness of his understanding — so that one could say, "Of his understanding there is no number" — so too those who behold the principles of judgment will no less admire that which is wise and understanding in the judgment, rendering to each, even down to the smallest particulars, according to his due.

Perhaps, then, by each right action we exalt God, so that he is exalted in our self-control, and he is exalted in our righteousness.

And since these things are accomplished through the cooperation of God, whenever, having taken us up, he sets us upright, supporting us with his own cooperation and establishing us, then we say:

"I will exalt you, O Lord, for you have taken me up."

Now the exaltations of God are many:

both that according to knowledge and understanding;

and that according to the unfolding of his great works, and according to the contemplation of his judgments.

Then, since vigor in practice is joined to rectitude in contemplation, "and two-edged swords," he says, "are in their hands" — that is, words that cut away from the soul and uproot the passions.

And since "the Lord Sabaoth" means "the Lord of hosts," then the hosts that minister to him at the time of judgment will exalt and glorify him for his just and unerring judgment.

And we suspect something of this kind: that when the Lord enters into judgment with mankind (for the Lord himself will come to judgment with his people), the Lord alone will be exalted, no one being justified before him.

Following upon his being exalted in judgment is that the Holy One is glorified in righteousness.

Those who have beheld him being exalted in his judgments — these grasp the glory of his righteousness.

"And those who have been plundered shall be pastured like bulls, and lambs shall graze the deserts of those who have been carried off."

The people who become captive because they did not know the Lord and sinned in regard to drunkenness will be pastured in the manner of a herd of cattle.

And these are the same as those who were plundered, at the time when they were taken captive.

Scattered from one another, they graze.

And since it is likely that, after the captivity, many places would be laid waste (because the inhabitants had been carried off by the enemy), for this reason he says:

"And lambs shall graze the deserts of those who were carried off."

For, so to speak, according to the historical sense, those who had been uprooted from Judea were cut off and detained in Babylonia, this having come about through the campaign of Nebuchadnezzar.

The land, then, belonging to those who were carried off and held fast by the necessity of war, having become — through great desolation — pasture-land for sheep, shall, he says, be grazed over by lambs, because it bears no remnant of its former habitation, but, owing to the absence of human inhabitants, nourishes deep and tender grass.

But perhaps the text also hints prophetically that, since those who transgressed the divine commands were cast out from their former way of life among the saints, we — who through their transgression were providentially ordained toward salvation — being called, as it were, lambs newly born to the faith, graze in the places of those who were carried off, enjoying the spiritual and rational food of the oracles of God as a kind of tender grass.

And the Lord himself also called those newly born in faith "lambs," when he said to Peter:

"Simon, Bar-Jona, do you love me? Feed my lambs."

"Woe to those who draw their sins to themselves as with a long rope, and their iniquities as with the strap of a heifer's yoke, who say, 'Let what he will do come quickly, that we may see it;

and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know it.'"

Those who sin fashion for themselves bonds and ropes — with which we are bound — weaving for our souls, according to the proportion of the multitude or magnitude of our sins, either greater or lesser bonds, by which, according to Jeremiah, we have become prisoners.

Those, then, who are held fast by the mind of the flesh are gripped by earthly bonds, by which, after the just sentence of the Judge, those condemned, bound hand and foot, are cast out into the outer darkness;

bound as to the hands, on account of what is done in action, and as to the feet, on account of what pertains to walking.

For indeed, each is bound tight by the cords of his own sins, so that each of the members that worked the sin is constrained, being punished by its own particular bond.

"Woe, then," he says, "to those who draw their sins to themselves as with a long rope" — that is, those who link to their former offense a second, a third, and successive impieties, wrongdoings, and acts of intemperance.

For those who have been overtaken in sins ought, instead of heaping up and adding further evils to evils, to put an end to their sins immediately, from the very first weaving together of evil.

For it is impossible for human nature not to sin, since there is no righteous man on earth who will do good and not sin;

but it is possible, after sinning through rashness or being carried away by the one who plots against us, immediately to turn and repent, and not to heap evils upon evils.

For just as those who weave ropes, when the material being twisted together is about to run out, insert another strand, lengthening and increasing it — so also those who sink deeper into evils:

before the former sin is completed, they begin a second, and to that again they join yet another.

And thus their whole life, proceeding through sins, resembles a long rope being woven, holding what has gone before bound together, and always joining what is present to the likeness of what precedes it.

Let us also understand what is being said by means of an example.

Suppose someone is fired up with passion for the sin of licentiousness;

Consider through how many intermediate means a man draws upon himself the sin of licentiousness:

first, by fashioning his own body in such-and-such a way, cutting his hair in such-and-such a manner, and clothing himself with such-and-such a garment — and this not just any garment, but one contrived for adornment — displaying, down to the belt, down to the sandals, the elaborate care of his own fondness for embellishment,

in order to purchase the favor of the woman he loves;

then, devising for himself matchmakers and procurers, contriving corrupting words, preparing for himself occasions of encounter, carousals and banquets, and lengthy conversations;

and, to speak simply, every wickedness committed against one's neighbor (not accomplished by chance encounter, but through counsel and ambush, brought to completion through lengthy preparations) is a long rope, by which men drag upon themselves sins that lie far off.

Being thus long, these ropes are hard to untie, because of the tenacity of sinners in their wickedness, and because they intertwine their sins with themselves violently and repeatedly.

"And as with a yoke-strap of a heifer."

For yoke-bonds are not easily broken even by the strongest yoked pairs violently dragging their loads.

The text intensified the force of the image by saying that the strap of the yoke is from a heifer, that is, from the strongest of animals, one weakened neither by toil nor by time.

Woe, then, to those who devise certain lengthy preparations for sinning, and pursue these vigorously and forcefully.

"Come forth, and to those who are in darkness..."

The prisoners, having come forth from prison and, from the darkness, having looked toward the true light through repentance, follow Christ, confessing, though still bound in shackles, until through the change to better things they become worthy to be loosed by him from the bonds hitherto thought inescapable.

But these people — who drag sins upon themselves and despise the divine judgment — often hasten, in word, the things threatened, as though they will suffer nothing from them, and they say:

"Let what he will do draw near quickly, that we may see;"

"and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know."

But this too is a long rope, dragging along the sin that lies far off.

For the one who fears the tribunal of Christ, and calls to mind the sins committed from youth, will not dare contemptuously to hasten the judgment.

On the contrary, he seeks for himself a longer respite, in order that, over a greater span of time, he may be able to wipe his own soul clean from the filth of sins.

Of hastening irrationally toward the things to come, Ahithophel and Judas are the proof: because they judged the present things weightier than what would come after, and reproach among men weightier than punishment in Gehenna, they preferred death by hanging to a natural death.

For if they had truly believed concerning the age to come, they would not have hanged themselves; rather, even if they were displeased with life, they would have added to their days here, judging the things to come more fearful than the things present.

"Would that I were able to lay hands on myself; or else, should I entreat another, he too will do this for me."

By such words he both showed how unbearable the blow was, and preserved his caution regarding his own undoing.

For upon those who violently remove themselves from life lies the condemnation of murder.

Since we also find it recorded in Paul that some say, "Let us do evil, that good may come" [Rom 3:8], we consider that practice too to be a rope that draws on great sin.

For it is said that, out of much perversity, such an opinion also arose among the Jews: since destruction was expected to come by reason of the abundance of sin, "come, let us do evil deeds and fill up the last measure of iniquity, so that the change of present things may come upon us, and all things may pass into a better state."

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;"

"who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;"

"who put sweet for bitter, and bitter for sweet."

It belongs to the mature man, whose faculties are trained by practice, to be able to discern the nature of the good from the evil.

And it belongs to a tested money-changer to hold fast the good, and to abstain from every form of evil;

but it belongs to one whose faculty of judgment in the soul is corrupted, to render distorted testimony concerning the worth of each thing.

And it seems that there is a great facility in human nature toward holding opinions contrary to the truth about each thing.

Would that this disagreement extended only to those outside the faith according to the Scriptures — who, saying that the arguments concerning every matter are equally balanced, bring, as far as lies in them, all self-evident things into doubt, saying that silver is black, on account of the tarnish it gives off;

and saying that the sun is black, because it blackens the bodies with which it has prolonged contact.

And from such examples they construct the doctrine of suspension of judgment, on the ground that perception involves false reasonings and does not apprehend things as they truly are by nature, but that the eyes are deceived by paintings;

and that on the neck of a dove, the eyes take on now one color, now another, according to the creature's turnings and its relation to the ray of light, the appearance changing along with it.

And, as a consequence, they fall away even into atheism, agreeing neither that the universe is governed by the providence of God, nor that it moves by chance.

You would see also many even of those who have believed the legal and prophetic writings contending, with a certain plausibility of objection on every point, against what is self-evident, so that the truth in matters of doctrine is undermined and shaken.

Some indeed confess that they believe in Christ Jesus, yet are found not to be joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment [cf. 1 Cor 1:10], but split off into the most contrary disagreements —

some out of simple ignorance, but not a few also out of love of rule and vainglory, wishing to display to the many that they are indeed wise, and possess knowledge beyond others.

Would that those who boast of having kept the apostolic teaching, and of having received the preaching of the Gospel by succession from the apostles, showed, through unanimity in doctrine, that they are parts of the one Church of Christ.

Nor does this confusion reach only to knowledge, but to deeds as well;

since indeed, "there are ways of a man that seem to be right, but their end looks down into the depths of Hades."

And, "There is a righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and an ungodly man remaining in his wickedness."

For if there is anything hard to discern, true righteousness too would belong to this class.

"To understand a parable and a dark saying, the words of the wise and their riddles;"

"to understand true righteousness and to direct judgment aright."

Many, therefore, bring forth distorted judgments through hasty seizure, before the apprehension that comes from sufficient reasoning and more thorough investigation, casting out, untested and through rashness, their assents concerning each doctrine.

But the nature of dialectic is especially believed to be able to provide the following:

to divide clearly the natures of things, to recognize things of the same kind, and to distinguish things that are opposite.

For the dialectic of those who are contentious and who approach matters in a quarrelsome spirit is not pleasant, but is a kind that embitters.

More simply put, it is clear that "evil" is applied to depravity of morals;

and they define "good" as that which is praiseworthy and beneficial;

again, darkness is air deprived of light;

and light is a substance that dissolves darkness.

Again, sweet is a smoothness of juice or sap that delights the sense of taste;

and bitter is that which, when tasted, roughens the taste.

According to the simpler understanding, then, these things are so far distant from one another.

Who, then, is so out of his mind that, standing in the depth of night, he would call the darkness light, and, his eyes confused in the darkness, would suppose himself illumined as by light? And who, pained in taste by bitter things, supposes himself in the pleasure of sweetness? And to whom, of those who have eyes, is sensible beauty not readily known? For, in the mutual symmetry of its parts, together with its manifest good coloring, it endears to itself, by a certain spontaneous and natural attraction, those who encounter it;

and indeed the ugly, likewise of itself, produces aversion in those who see it.

But it seems that the passage is not speaking of things known by sense-perception; rather, if indeed "the commandment of the Lord is far-shining, enlightening the eyes" and is "a lamp to the feet" of the righteous man, then the word of God is spoken of the one who does not live according to virtue but wallows in material passions — this would be the man who embraces the life lived in vice as though it were some light, and turns away from the commandment of the Lord as though from some darkness.

And the one who, because of the toilsomeness of the commandments, turns away from the oracles of God — which are sweet to the throat of the righteous man, being above honey to his spiritual taste — and who instead assents to the smoothness of pleasure, this man would be calling the bitter sweet, and the sweet bitter.

In accordance with these things, one must also think concerning the good, that the truly good is that which is proportionate in a soul disposed according to virtue;

for virtue is a mean and a certain proportion;

while the excesses and deficiencies that depart from virtue on either side are disproportion and disgrace.

For example, courage is a mean;

the excess concerning it is rashness, and its deficiency is cowardice.

Therefore the beauty of the soul is that which is proportionate according to virtue;

and its ugliness is the disproportions that arise from vice.

These, then, the text pronounces wretched: those who choose vice as though it were good, and flee from virtue as though it were wickedness.

We must also examine the reason why, in the case of "the good," the word "saying" is used, but in the case of "light" and "sweet," it is no longer "saying," but "putting."

For "Woe to those who call evil good," and "woe to those who put darkness as light";

and "Woe to those who put the sweet as bitter."

Is it not perhaps that the text indicates this: that in the first choices of life we go astray by word alone, but once we have come to be engaged in actions, and even after experience do not depart from evil, we set for ourselves, as it were, boundaries of our deeds, making the works of wickedness immovable? For he who does not turn from licentiousness and love of pleasure to self-control makes the bitter sweet for himself.

And he who flees the life according to the Gospel, but chooses the brutish and irrational life, makes the light darkness for himself.

He, however, who pleads on behalf of these things and boldly defends absurd actions—this is the one who calls the good evil, according to the Apostle, who censures not only those who do such things, but also those who approve of those who do them.

He puts light as darkness who places the lamp under the bushel, or covers it with a vessel and does not put it upon the lampstand.

Now, "to call the good evil" is taken with reference to the holding of false doctrine;

but "to put light as darkness" is with reference to the habit formed through actions.

"Woe therefore to those who are wise in their own estimation, and understanding in their own sight."

These words touch not only those who go astray in their actions, but also those who are held fast in unbelief and ignorance concerning our Lord Jesus Christ.

For he who does not believe in the true light, but makes himself a son of the devil, this one calls the light darkness, and the darkness light.

"Taste and see that the Lord is good."

He, then, who does not believe in the Lord Jesus, calls the sweet bitter.

And he who does not believe in the Lord neither assents to the nature of true beauty, nor admits its contemplation.

For it is not in the harmonious proportion of members, nor in some bloom of good color flourishing upon the body, that the delightful consists;

but true beauty properly so called in the divine nature is known only by the mind that has been purified beyond measure, according to the Psalm which says:

"In your comeliness and your beauty."

He, then, who does not admit the flashes of divine beauty with his own eye, this one calls the good evil;

and in denying this, he clearly assents to its opposite.

For if the Lord is light, then clearly the adversary is darkness;

if the nature of truth is sweet, then falsehood is clearly bitter;

therefore in the denial of God, an assent to the opposite takes place.

Since, then, there is no partnership between righteousness and unrighteousness, nor communion of light with darkness, nor concord of Christ with Belial;

great and exact attention is therefore needed, lest we be deceived and reckon as light him who transforms himself into an angel of light, and lest, taking delight in the bitterness of wickedness, we attribute the reputation of sweetness to the pleasure-loving life;

nor, having enslaved the soul to the beauty of bodies, reckon that the nature of true beauty consists in this.

"Woe, then, to those who are wise in their own estimation, and understanding in their own sight."

It can also be understood concerning those who truly possess the gift of understanding and knowledge, yet do not share it also with others,

for "wisdom that is hidden and treasure that is unseen—what profit is there in either?" Such people, then, are understanding in their own sight;

but not also in the sight of others, like the one who hid his talent within himself.

But neither is he understanding in the sight of God, who has not used his knowledge for the glory of God.

And there might also seem to be a third such interpretation of those who are "wise" and "understanding":

some are such by God's gift, perceiving the gift that comes from him;

but others, who do not refer the cause of their understanding to God, but ascribe their achievements to themselves, are "wise in their own estimation" and "understanding in their own sight."

To such it is fitting to say:

"What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you had not received it?" And: "Unless the Lord build the house, those who build labor in vain."

"Understanding," then, is called a kind of quick apprehension of the soul, which swiftly gathers the concepts of things into one, and which naturally comes to be constituted according to the perfecting of the rational seeds within us.

Or, understanding is a readiness of mind that, with swift apprehension, discovers what is proper and fitting to each thing.

"Knowledge," on the other hand, is a habit possessing firmness in itself, unshaken by argument.