以賽亞書註釋 第 1 章 第 19/23 段

Praise accords with glory, so that he who rightly glorifies will also praise soundly.

And let no one among those who hold mistaken notions about God suppose that his praises offered in psalmody are acceptable to Him.

For it belongs to the same heart both to glorify rightly and to praise soundly.

Since, then, the remnant of the people left in Egypt used to say, 'I will bless you, O Lord, for you were angry with me and turned away your wrath and had mercy on me,' these, having crossed out of Egypt, will say, 'I will not be afraid, for the Lord is my glory and my praise, and he has become my salvation.'

Remember also the song which the people of Israel sang at the Exodus, with Miriam leading and saying:

'Let us sing to the Lord, for he has been gloriously glorified.'

So those who now say the following renew that ancient praise:

'The Lord is my glory and my praise, and he has become my salvation.'

Consequently, following the praise of the Lord, he who rightly worships him draws water with gladness from the springs of salvation.

being given drink, this one draws water with gladness from the springs of the Savior.

For the surpassing greatness of desire produces an ineffable gladness in those who attain the things they have eagerly sought.

And he who meditates on the law of the Lord day and night (concerning whom it is said, 'The mouth of the righteous will meditate on wisdom'), searching the Scriptures and, by rightly seeking, finding the Lord, and through the gladness at that finding coming to understand the spiritual intent of the Scriptures, will draw water with gladness.

When, therefore, we ourselves have been filled with the drink from the springs of salvation, then we also take hold of others, exhorting them and saying:

Hymn the Lord, cry aloud his name.

A cry is a voice possessing a magnitude able to reach even those far away.

That is: do not think small thoughts about God, but conceiving the things concerning him with a great mind, speak of God in such a way that your word may be heard even by those far from salvation, on account of the clarity of the teaching.

'Announce,' he says, 'his glorious deeds among the nations, tell of his wonders.'

'Hymn his name, for he has done exalted things.'

Either relate the wonders in the world, that they are lofty and unapproachable, or the powers in the heavens, that he himself made the lofty things there;

or concerning his goodness toward us, that he exalts those who have been humbled and are crushed in heart.

He therefore made exalted even the one who had been humbled by sin, and raised him high above measure with his own glory.

CHAPTER 13. The vision against Babylon, which Isaiah son of Amoz saw.

This vision is not something perceptible by the senses, nor beheld with bodily eyes, but is apprehended by the mind, God illuminating it and granting it the grace to see him.

For those possessed by evil spirits, being deranged in mind, do not truly see the fantasies produced in them by demons, but rather misperceive them.

Just as those who are demon-possessed see rivers and mountains and wild beasts that are not actually present;

and various colors seem to them to be present, and the faces of people, whether friends or strangers, seem to appear before them — none of which is true vision, but rather the derangement and ecstasy of a mind that has been clouded and has lost its own proper function.

In the case of the saints, however, it is not so.

For the Lord, in granting vision, does not blind the mind that he himself fashioned, but illumines it and makes it more translucent through the presence of the Spirit.

Who, then, made one man seeing and another blind? Seeing, clearly, is the Prophet, because he was able, by the keen sight of his mind, to gaze ahead upon what was to come;

and blind is the one who has been blinded on account of wickedness, so that profane eyes might not see the sights reserved for the blessed.

the place where the speech of those who said the following was confounded:

There, then, God came down and confused the tongues;

for this reason its name was called Confusion.

The region of Babylon, therefore, is a place of confusion — not of language only, but also of doctrines and thoughts, and of the mind that seems to perceive these things.

The vision against Babylon, then, brings, as it were, comfort to Israel, who had been ill-treated by the Babylonians.

For so that they might not lose heart, nor despair of the providence of God as though it had forsaken them, Isaiah, anticipating the future events by prophecy, narrates the grim things that were to befall Babylon, so that they might not be overwhelmed by the grief of their present circumstances, but might become more at ease through the expectation of what was to come.

For indeed, the vengeance expected within a short time brings no small relief to those who are afflicted.

The name of the father is added to the prophecy, not that we might merely know this — namely, who was the father who served in the begetting of the blessed one — but because he also became for him a teacher of prophecy, having taken care that he should attain to an upbringing and education holier, purer, and more distinguished than that of others.

'Upon a level mountain lift up a signal, raise your voice for yourselves, beckon with the hand;'

'I give the command, and I myself lead them.'

Whenever someone ascends a mountain that is not sheer or rugged, but level and open, so that it has height because of its rise and its lift from the earth into the air, yet affords safety to those who stand upon it because of its levelness—

for that which is broken away and cut off on every side makes the footing of those who tread upon it precarious.

In order, then, that you might both think lofty thoughts about God and relate them securely, on account of the height one must, as it were, be standing upon a mountain, while on account of security he remains unshaken.

'And upon the level mountain lift up a signal and raise your voice, beckon with the hand.'

He who proclaims with a loud voice the things concerning the cross is the very one who lifts up the signal upon the level mountain.

He who is able to magnify the word concerning the Passion fulfills the prophetic command, not lingering in valleys and ravines, but ascending to the height of the word, and delivering the proclamation upon Wisdom herself, with the plainness and clarity of what is announced.

But since, according to another edition, we read 'Upon a cloud-covered mountain,' clearly it presents the height by another expression.

For 'cloud-covered' describes that whose summit is always covered with clouds.

But such a thing is lofty and stands elevated above all.

'Lift up,' he says, 'your voice for yourselves' — that is, take the height of your voice from within yourselves;

the occasions inherent in you for the glorification of God, arising from common notions — these stir up.

Do not look downward, nor consider earthly things.

For thus the voice of those who speak from the earth becomes lowly — of those who utter empty words.

He who speaks out of the grief that debases, and he who speaks out of forbidden fear, does not lift up his own voice.

And he who, in proclaiming the word, is held fast by desires of the flesh, has a voice that is lowly and unable to peer upward.

How then is the voice lifted up? If you are magnanimous, rising up against the passions, and at those very times of temptation do not submit to the temptations, but preserve the exultant disposition of the soul, then you lift up your voice.

He comforts with the hand who offers comfort to the afflicted through good works, and fulfills almsgiving with cheerfulness.

If you see someone worn down by poverty, comfort the poor man with a hand that shares.

An exhortation to bear poverty nobly and without being brought low.

'And open up,' he says, 'you rulers.'

The opening of the hand follows upon comforting with the hand, which Scripture is accustomed to take for the activity of sharing, whenever it says:

'When you open your hand, all things will be filled with goodness.'

Open, therefore, your houses, and open the treasuries of your possessions to strangers and the poor;

do not withhold what belongs to you from the consolation of those who are worn down.

And do this first, you rulers, so that through your example you may also lead the people.

He is speaking, then, to the rulers, those who hold the keys of knowledge.

Having heeded this saying, Paul said:

'Our mouth is open to you, Corinthians.'

'I marshal them, and I lead them.'

We must do what is possible for us.

But it is the Lord who leads them, and who arranges each one within the body of the Church according to his own worth.

'Giants are coming to fulfill my wrath, rejoicing and insulting all at once.'

The word threatens the visitation of certain wicked and God-fighting beings, sent for vengeance against those who have sinned.

For giants, for the most part, are ranked on the side of the worse.

Perhaps the Psalm names the giants here more clearly as evil angels, saying:

'He sent forth upon them the anger of his wrath — wrath and anger and affliction, a mission through evil angels.'

'A voice of many nations upon the mountains, like that of many nations; a voice of kings and of nations gathered together.'

Perhaps the voice of the many nations upon the mountains is the voice of the Church.

He saw, then, on the level mountain, a great multitude gathered from many places, and sending forth one voice of the faith.

And the Holy Spirit says through the Prophet:

'A voice of many nations upon the mountains' (upon which the sign was raised), 'like that of many nations.'

And the voice is one, and yet resembles the many voices of the nations.

One, indeed, according to the harmony of the faith; but it resembles many voices because tongues of fire were distributed by the Holy Spirit upon each of the Apostles, who were about to sow the Gospel among the nations throughout the inhabited world.

'A voice of kings,' he says, 'and of nations gathered together.'

Perhaps we ought to understand the nations to be us, who have run together from every quarter to the calling;

and the kings to be the elect within the Church, whom the Lord also named sons of the kingdom.

Or perhaps it indicates the multitude of the giants, in that there is a voice of many nations and a voice of kings.

nor is it by the rank belonging to them that they bring these things upon those who are deserving.

'The Lord Sabaoth has commanded a warrior nation to come from a land far off;'

'from the utmost foundation of heaven, the Lord and his warriors, to destroy the whole inhabited world.'

'The Lord Sabaoth has commanded a warrior nation.'

Do not fear the one who strikes, but rather entreat the one who gives the command.

Whether you propitiate him or not, he will do what has been commanded;

it is not possible to overstep the boundaries that have been set.

He neither diminishes the bitterness, nor adds anything of his own, but uses inexorably the measure that has been given him.

The Lord, then, has commanded a warrior nation.

The evil demons have weapons, arrayed in opposition to the fashioning of the weapons of the righteous man.

For the righteous man has the shield of faith, but the shield of the wicked man is the shield of unbelief;

this one has the sword of reason, that one the sword of unreason;

this one is fortified with the breastplate of righteousness, that one is clothed with the breastplate of unrighteousness;

the helmet of salvation binds tightly around this one's head, while the helmet of destruction is set upon that one;

this one has his feet ready for the Gospel of peace, while that one's feet run toward the proclamation of evils.

It is to a warrior nation, then, armed with these weapons, that the Lord has given command.

These, moreover, are from a land far off, so that you may know that they are strangers to this present life.

For those who labor together with us for salvation are fellow-dwellers and neighbors, providing help from nearby — peaceful Angels.

But those who are taken up for punishment are brought from afar, the loving God making use of their cruelty for our healing, just as the wise physician makes use of the venom of the viper for the cure of the sick.

To such as these it is not the spirit that is delivered up, but the flesh, unto destruction, that the spirit may be saved.

Indeed, Phygelus and Hermogenes too were delivered by Paul to Satan, not unto destruction, but that they might be taught not to blaspheme.

How then does this warrior nation come both from a land far off and from the utmost part of heaven? From the earth, because it has chosen the earthly place and is mingled together with earthly passions;

and from the utmost part of heaven, because it was from there that its fall took place in the beginning.

'For the day of the Lord is near, and destruction will come from the Lord;'

'therefore every hand will grow weak, and every soul of man will be dismayed.'

Since the threat is set forth that the Lord himself will come with his warriors to destroy the whole inhabited world, therefore wailing and lamentation are enjoined, so that through these the Lord may be moved to turn away the wrath being brought upon them.

For the loving Lord does both: he threatens terrible things, and yet to those who repent he does not bring upon them the things he has threatened.

Weep and lament, each one, over his own sins, lest you suffer the things that have been proclaimed.

If God did not desire the repentance of the sinner, why was destruction after three days proclaimed in Nineveh? But since the merciful One saw their contrition, he turned aside his wrath, and dispersed it like a cloud.

From the Lord himself, therefore, destruction will come, who beneficially crushes what is worthy of annihilation, just as he crushes Satan under the feet of the righteous man, and shatters wars.

'For the Lord shatters wars;'

And "the Lord shall break the cedars of Lebanon" — calling those who boast greatly, act arrogantly, and exalt themselves against the truth "cedars of Lebanon."

Since, then, a breaking comes from the Lord, we must anticipate it and break our own proud heart beforehand, so that its humility may become a sacrifice to God.

Every hand, therefore — even the most capable and the most vigorous — shall grow feeble in the face of God and his works.

"Be strong, you feeble hands and enfeebled knees."

Let no one place his hope in swiftness of foot, as if able to flee the day of destruction, on which they come to destroy the whole inhabited world.

For every soul of man shall be filled with cowardice.

The word "of man" is aptly added.

For neither is the soul of angels subject to cowardice — since it is above this passion — nor is that of irrational creatures.

For cowardice does not touch irrational creatures, since it is a passion of the rational faculty and a deficiency in the principles of courage.

For irrational creatures are indeed subject to fright.

But rational beings, whenever they are terrified by things not worthy of fear, are caught by the passion of cowardice, because reason — which produces in the soul the strength to face terrors — fails within them.

It is a long time now since the day of the Lord has been said to be drawing near, all the Prophets bearing witness to its nearness, so that no one, growing slack on the assumption that it is delayed, might be caught unprepared.

This too Zephaniah testifies, saying: "Take heed before the fear of the Lord, for the day of the Lord is near."

"Near is the day of the Lord, the great day."

"Near, and exceedingly swift."

"The voice of the day of the Lord is bitter and harsh."

"That day is a day of tribulation and distress, a day of calamity and destruction, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and mist, a day of trumpet and outcry."

Even if the common day of the consummation of the whole world be distant, yet each person's own departure — which is the consummation of each individual — is close at hand.

Keeping this before our eyes, we must observe what is said by Isaiah:

"For the day of the Lord is near."

"Blessed are they that mourn" and "Blessed are they that weep."

Many, vexed by the troubles of life, hasten their own departure and call upon death.

To such it is fitting to speak the word of Amos:

"Woe to those who desire the day of the Lord!"

"And this is darkness, and not light."

"As when a man flees from before a lion, and a bear meets him;"

"and leaps into the house and leans his hands upon the wall, and a serpent bites him."

"Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light — gloom with no brightness at all?" If, then, anyone has not built upon the edifice of his own life with wood, or hay, or stubble, let him desire the day of the Lord, in which the fire will test what kind of work each one's is.

But if no one is clean of forbidden works, let him fear that day.

"For if anyone's work which he has built abides," (he says), "he shall receive a reward;"

"if anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss;"

"but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire."

"The envoys shall be troubled, and pangs shall seize them, as a woman in travail."

"And they shall be perplexed, one toward another, and shall be amazed;"

"and their countenance shall change like a flame."

Who are the envoys who are troubled when the day of the Lord shall come upon them? Clearly those whom the Lord hints at in the parable he spoke as he drew near to Jerusalem, addressing those who supposed that the kingdom of the Lord was about to appear.

"A certain nobleman," (he says), "went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return."

Then, having spoken of the ten pounds which he gave to his ten servants to trade with, he went on to say:

"But his citizens hated him, and sent an embassy after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us."

A nobleman, then, is one who possesses kinship of origin with no other but God who is over all.

For just as we call those of royal blood noble, so truly noble is he who has his existence from the very substance of the Father.

And the man conformed to the Savior might rightly be called noble.

For the Lord is noble not only when considered according to his divinity, possessing in himself by nature what is pure, sincere, and unmixed —

He goes, then, into a far country — not so distant in place as in the state of affairs.

God is near to each of us, when good deeds procure for us intimacy with him;

and he becomes distant, when we, by drawing near to perdition, remove ourselves far from him.

This Nobleman, having seen the world ruled by sin and subjected to the bitter tyranny of the enemy, took pity on its lawless state and undertook to reign over it.

Since, then, he came into this earthly place — the country that is far from God — in order to receive the kingdom over the nations, according to what is said in the psalm:

"Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance" — yet those arrayed under the ruler of this age (not only men, but also the powers marshaled under him) did not accept his kingdom;

but — though he had given them commandments and their appointed work, commanding that these not lie idle in their hands but requiring their labor — they sent envoys after him, refusing his kingdom.

Who, then, are the envoys, but those who brought about the Savior's death — those who supposed that by the cross they would sever his kingdom over the world, those who said to Pilate:

"Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews."

Yet, nonetheless, the wickedness of those who opposed him condemned them, but did not hinder the divine dispensation.

For having obtained the kingdom and apportioned to his servants according to the merit of each one's labor, he commanded that they be called before him, that he might know what they had gained.

"And to the first, who had gained ten pounds more, he gave authority over ten cities;"

"and to the second, who had gained five pounds, he says" [authority over five cities].

But the one who had kept his unused, bound up in a napkin, he commanded to be deprived of it.

And when he had ordered the affairs concerning the Jews (for, he says, it is time for judgment to begin at the house of God), then he also commanded the enemies, who had refused his kingdom, to be brought into the midst and slain.

Many indeed are there who, in this present life, do not wish Christ to reign over them.

For those subjected to fornication, those overpowered by anger, and those enslaved to covetousness do not wish the Lord to reign over them, and, so far as depends on their own choice, they refuse his kingdom.

Concerning these Isaiah says, "They shall be troubled."

For when those who have lived in sins and have despised the evangelical manner of the kingdom see the Lord at his second coming, they will clearly be troubled, and pangs will seize them as those of a woman in travail.

By the image of travail he represented the sharpness of the pain that pierces their heart and wounds them through the consciousness of their sins.

For indeed travail is a certain sharp pain occurring in the most vital parts, which arises in women in labor at the time of delivery.

"And their countenance shall change like a flame."

It is characteristic of those who are confounded and have fallen into an unexpected calamity to change the color of their face — becoming flushed in outward appearance, and signaling the soul's passion through this outward change.

"For behold, the day of the Lord is coming, cureless, full of wrath and anger, to make the world desolate and to destroy the sinners out of it."

"The day of the Lord comes, to make the world desolate."

He who carefully attends to what has been said will find that the two passages of the prophecy do not speak of the same day;

for the former speaks of each individual's own consummation, which is close at hand;

But the passage now before us concerns the universal [day of judgment].

For this day will make the inhabited world desolate, because it is added: "And the stars of heaven and Orion will not give light."

Perhaps that day is properly called "day" because of the unity of its condition;

it is not interrupted by night, nor does evening set a limit to it,

and because in it the hidden things of darkness are made manifest, that day is properly called "day."

But this present life is night, in which the deeds of shame lie concealed together, whence also it is said, "The night is far spent, but the day is at hand."

That day is also called incurable, being a day of fury and wrath, in which there is no propitiation, nor any means of healing the pains brought upon those in it.

Let us not, then, store up our confessions for that day, but let us understand the design of Scripture, which desires to beget the fear of God and to instruct those who read it to work while it is day;

"Night comes, when no one can work any longer."

He who walks in the light of the commandments of Christ is in the day;

he who has been handed over to the eternal darkness will find himself in night.

In that night there is no longer work, no longer confession;

but the hands are bound, and the feet likewise, with the fetters of one's own sins;

and the tongue will no longer speak confession, nor the praise of God, being occupied instead with the groaning that arises in it from its pains.

"For the stars of heaven and Orion and all the ornament of heaven will not give light, and it will grow dark when the sun rises, and the moon will not give its light."

"And I will command evils to come upon the whole world, and upon the ungodly, their sins."

The Prophet clearly depicts the consummation and the transformation of the universe.

For then the light of the sun will fail, and the moon will become a lightless body, and Orion, the brightest of the stars, will not give its light;

"The stars of heaven and Orion will not give their light" — not because they are darkened through being outshone by the risings of the sun,

for this also happens in our present day, and it is acknowledged by all who have studied the phenomena of the heavens that the stars situated in the hemisphere above the earth are not extinguished, but are dimmed through being overpowered by the sun's rays.

This also happens on nights of the full moon, when the brightness of the moon shines all around the stars and does not allow their rays to appear.

So the text sets forth none of these things that happen according to nature, but rather the complete darkening of the stars and the transformation of the universe.

which those skilled in these matters divide up, saying that four of them are of the third magnitude, nine of them of the fourth, and the other nine of the fifth.

This cluster of stars lies in the northern region, which Scripture also, as a single body, has named "Orion."

They call these "constellations" (astra), and not "stars" (asteres), since "constellations" indicate a composite gathering of a multitude, while "star" is said of each one individually.

Scripture also mentions Arcturus, which we see as a star lying among the parts of Orion, somewhat ruddy in color.

Likewise the Pleiades is also named by Scripture, as it is also by those outside [Scripture], who clearly learned these hidden matters through diligent inquiry from the Hebrews.

In the Pleiades there appear seven stars, close together and densely clustered with one another (not six, as some suppose);

and they are arranged in a triangular shape.

As, then, we found here the name of Orion, so also we find the name of Arcturus, of Hesperus, and of the Pleiades in Job, who says:

"He who makes the Pleiades, and Hesperus, and Arcturus, and the chambers of the south."

He, then, who numbers the multitude of the stars and calls them all by name has both the number of them all and their designations.

Few are the names that have been uttered in Scripture; the Greeks, borrowing and making use of these, wove in the rest from themselves, and they call by countless names both the fixed stars and the wandering ones.

...along which the sun makes its course, while those fixed in the northern and southern regions they named as they pleased.

"And I will destroy" (he says) "the insolence of the lawless, and I will humble the insolence of the arrogant."

It is the work of a good God to obliterate evil things, so that He may restore His own creation pure from all wickedness and, being freed from every infirmity, bring it back to its natural state.

"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set at naught the understanding of the prudent," because the wisdom of the world, deceiving those who accept it and being reckoned to be true, produces ignorance of the doctrines that pertain to salvation.

Wisdom, then, is obliterated, being overturned by the truth, its sophistries and plausible arguments being dissolved, so that the one previously ensnared by it may be delivered from deceit and false opinion.

As, then, disease is destroyed by the physician, and darkness is destroyed by the sun, so also the insolence of the lawless is destroyed by the good God, and the insolence of the arrogant is humbled.

"Cursed" (he says) "is their anger, for it is self-willed, and their wrath, for it was hardened."

He consumes away the evil disposition by the curse, so that what remains in them may become worthy of the patriarch's blessing.

Thus also Noah, having learned what his younger son had done to him, said:

And yet it was Ham who had caused the grief;

but nevertheless he does not curse him, but rather his offspring and his deed, which is symbolically named "Canaan," because "Canaan" is interpreted as "tossing" [agitation].

For the lawless commit outrage against the temple, they commit outrage against the neighbor, and they commit outrage against that which is according to the image of the Creator, and through the image the outrage ascends to the Creator Himself.

For just as he who outrages a royal image is judged as having sinned against the king himself, so evidently he who outrages the one made according to the image is liable for that sin.