以賽亞書註釋 第 1 章 第 7/23 段

The text, then, wants the high-minded and inflated mind — which despises everyone and calls itself blessed — to fear the day of the Lord.

"And upon every high wall."

Again, a wall is a fortification made for the guarding of cities, repelling the assaults of enemies.

So too there are certain arguments — some surrounding us out of truth itself, preserving the indestructibility of saving doctrines;

while others are devised out of external invention, for the fortification of falsehood and the guarding of vanity.

For the power of dialectic is a wall to doctrines, not allowing them to be easily plundered and easily captured by those who so wish.

But the walls of Jericho were thrown down by Joshua, dissolved by voice alone.

Above, then, only lofty things were denounced;

but here, things which possess some strength along with their height are also denounced — namely the persuasiveness found in demonstrative methods, greatly strengthened and exalted; this the Prophet figuratively calls a high wall, and affirms that it too shall be thrown down in the day of the Lord.

"And upon every ship of the sea."

let us not cast our mind down to the ground.

Having spoken about the mind — the mind that thinks lofty things and is not carried away with lowly things — the Prophet consequently speaks, in the same veiled manner, about bodies as well.

For the day of the Lord is not fearful to lifeless ships, but to those who, through their bodies, are tossed about in the salty billows of this life.

For just as ships, weighed down by cargo, are hard to steer and prone to shipwreck, so too bodies, which through much and lavish luxury have been overloaded into excessive corpulence, floating through love of pleasure toward the depth of destruction, are called ships of the sea.

There are, however, also praiseworthy ships — those which serve those who go down to the sea to conduct business in many waters, of which it is said in the psalm of doxology, "There the ships pass through."

For the ships that pass through the sea, but do not remain in it, nor are submerged by the waves, are praised;

and likewise those who, while living in the flesh, do not wage war according to the flesh, but trample down the billow of life and stand higher than it, do business in many waters.

As many as go down together with this life, in order to win some of those who are submerged in it.

"And upon every display of beautiful ships."

Let those who occupy themselves with the adornment of the body hear this, as well as those who curiously busy themselves with viewing such things.

For it is not the sight of ships that is harmful, but the contemplation of a body unto lust.

The day of the Lord, then, shall come upon every display of beautiful ships, because "whoever looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart";

and the woman who adorns herself in order to stir up the desires of the licentious toward herself has already committed adultery in her heart.

"And every man shall be humbled."

From these things the text has shown that all that went before was spoken enigmatically and in a veiled manner concerning human beings.

For after speaking of the insolent and the arrogant, and after the lofty and the elevated — after every cedar of Lebanon, after every acorn-bearing tree of Bashan, after every high tower, after every high wall, after every display of beautiful ships — then it says:

"Every man shall be humbled" — that is, every form of the evils that are in men shall be brought down.

We human beings have been brought into this world as into a common school, and we have been commanded, having received a mind and having eyes fit for understanding, as it were to read God from certain letters set out according to the economy and governance of the universe — so that those who wish to devote themselves to the search for truth might, on the basis of the starting-points they have received, be sufficiently prepared and deemed worthy of the face-to-face vision of the things rightly sought; or else, having strayed far from the truth, might be put to shame by the truth itself on account of their falsehood.

"because, knowing God, they did not glorify him as God, nor gave thanks."

For the mind of the saints not only sees, but also hears creation recounting the things concerning the glory of God;

"For the heavens (it says) declare the glory of God";

but those who understand nothing beyond what appears "became vain, and worshipped and served the creation rather than the Creator."

"And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day."

When light has appeared, darkness vanishes;

and when health is present, the troubles of disease cease;

and when truth has been demonstrated, the nature of falsehood is exposed.

And when that which is truly lofty has been made known — how far it is above every lofty and elevated mind — and when the whole of true contemplation has been apprehended, the things that were formerly lofty and elevated will seem contemptible.

To God alone, then, will that which is truly lofty and great be attested by every rational nature, once those who were formerly deceived have laid aside their false opinions concerning each particular thing.

"...of the earth, from before the fear of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he arises to shatter the earth."

Since Scripture often speaks in like manner both of the sojourn of Christ in the flesh and of his coming in judgment, and sometimes reports on the two comings in an intertwined way, we consider that these present words are spoken concerning the incarnation — even though the sense of what lies before us is by no means at odds with the things that are future and expected.

For after the sojourn of Christ, the zeal for things made by hand has been cast aside;

no longer are makers of images held in esteem, nor do the things that were formerly worshipped of old obtain the same devotion, but they have been thrown away into caves and holes and the most obscure places.

For when the light shone forth, they saw the things that had until then lain hidden in the darkness of ignorance — wood as wood, and stone as stone;

no longer being deceived by the outward form that surrounded them, but recognizing them by their actual nature.

For the saving sojourn of Christ, given for the whole world, is fearful to demons;

and they have now abandoned the notorious places, the workshops of deceit;

and the prophetess is silent;

the water of Castalia is drunk, and those who drink it are of sound mind;

Amphilochus is nowhere to be found, and the cult images have vanished;

and the invisible powers have withdrawn from before the fear of the Lord and from the glory of his might.

From the time the cross was proclaimed, the idols were put to flight.

Idols, indeed, are also the imaginations imprinted upon each soul by those who suppose false things, whether concerning God or concerning any other matter under inquiry.

And as long as the operative power and the manifestation of truth is not perceived, each one cherishes his own fabrications;

but when the height and the surpassing excellence of that which truly is true is made manifest, then each one, having condemned his own opinions, since his soul had been forming false images, hastens to obliterate the notions of falsehood, hiding them away as it were in caves and holes, seeing thereafter from that very operative power the terrible things of God, and that it aims at obliterating all material things, and as it were shattering earthly things, so that spiritual things may be manifested.

And the image of the earthy must be obliterated, so that the image of the heavenly may appear.

So then, those who hold false suppositions about God, forming within themselves a certain intelligible idolatry, hold things that do not exist as though they existed, and these become liable to the curse which says:

Cursed is every man who makes a graven or a molten thing (an abomination to the Lord, the work of a craftsman's hands) and sets it up in a hidden place.

For in that day a man shall cast away his abominations of silver and of gold, which they made to worship, unto the vain things and unto the bats, to go into the holes of the solid rock and into the clefts of the rocks, from before the fear of the Lord and from the glory of his strength, when he arises to shatter the earth.

In the preceding words it was said that the idols were being hidden away, but now that they are being cast out;

because one must first be ashamed of the falsehood, and then cast it out of the heart.

He, then, casts out the silver idols who banishes from his secret places the arguments that construct falsehood with every plausibility;

and the golden ones, he who obliterates the impressions of falsehood that arise in his understanding.

And he worships the bats who deifies the power of the demons, which is akin to darkness.

For the bat is a creature that loves the night and dwells in darkness, unable to bear the light of the sun, delighting to inhabit desolate places.

And what of the demons? Are they not of the same sort? Makers of desolation, fleeing the true light, the light of the whole world? The bat is also a winged creature, yet it is not feathered, but flies through the air by means of a fleshy membrane.

Such also are the demons;

for they are indeed bodiless, yet they are not winged by divine longing, but have as it were become fleshly, clinging fast to material desires.

It is neither firmly set upon its feet, nor does it have a steady flight.

Such also are the demons;

they are neither angels nor men;

having lost the dignity of the one, while not possessing the nature of the other.

And they have teeth, which birds do not have;

and the demons too are given to attack, which the angels do not do.

But neither do they lay eggs, as birds do;

Such also are the demons;

immediately and with great speed accomplishing their wickedness.

So then, those who worship demons are said, figuratively, to worship bats.

But when someone puts away the vanity of idols and ceases worshiping bats, then he will seek to enter into the holes of the solid rock and into the clefts of the rocks.

I think that the 'holes' are the many mansions, which are apportioned to each according to the measure of his faith in Christ;

and the clefts of the rocks are the suffering of his body, to which those who are being saved pray to flee for refuge and to be hidden away under his shelter.

Cease from man, in whose nostrils is breath;

for wherein is he to be accounted of? This does not appear in the copies of the common edition, but being found in the Hebrew, it has been brought over from the other versions.

Spare man, from wrestling against him and waging war upon him;

who is of such a weak constitution that he has his vital breath in his nostril, and if this is checked but a little, he exists no longer.

He seems, then, to be commanding those powers, which he figuratively named bats, to henceforth refrain from plotting against men;

who are indeed weak according to the flesh, yet are accounted among the precious in God's sight, and nothing concerning them goes uninvestigated.

After the Jewish people had taken evil counsel against the Lord, he who was crucified by them out of fleshly weakness, but lived by the power of God the Father, left that weakness behind for them.

For you shall die (he says) in your sins;

but to us he granted the power of resurrection;

For he who believes in me, even though he die, shall live.

For the unbelievers grow weak through their unbelief concerning the cross;

but the righteous say with confidence:

I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.

He, then, who does not have Christ, the power of God, does not have strength.

In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her.

Such was Rebecca, drawing water out of hospitality and made strong through virtue;

and Elizabeth prophesying.

No longer strong men, nor strong women

And the cause of the weakness has been added;

because there is not among them the strength of bread and the strength of water.

For just as our bodies are strengthened by suitable foods, so too there is something that nourishes the soul and provides it with vigor for good things.

What, then, is this? That which the Lord said, that My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.

But for those to whom these things do not belong, there is no strength of bread nor strength of water.

And where the foods are weak, there of necessity those who are nourished by them must also be such.

But may it never happen that the Church suffers the sins of Jerusalem, so that the strong man is taken away from her in every good work and word, the word on behalf of the truth;

strong in fastings, strong in prayers;

in endurance, in humility;

in the sum of the commandments, in love.

and likewise also the strong woman, in incorruption, in dignity, in almsgiving, in the constancy of supplications, in the labors of watchfulness.

Nor may the occasion of the strength of bread and water, which is the most nourishing power of the word, be taken away;

as the strength of the prophetic spirit failed the Jews, and they came to be utterly thirsting for the word, desiring the word of God, and not having it.

For the Lord took away the strength of bread and the strength of water.

There is, then, also among us a certain food, which does not impart strength, yet does not allow one to die, such as Paul provided for the Corinthians who were still infants in Christ.

And there are also vegetables, the food of the weak;

and there is also solid food, suitable for the perfect, for those who, by reason of habit, have their senses trained to discern both good and evil.

And if ever the Church should lack those who hand down firm and vigorous doctrines, filled with the divine mind, this is a sign that the strength of bread is being taken away from her.

And there is also strength and weakness in water, according to what the Lord says:

Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again;

but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst forever.

And just as we take solid food as the primary consideration, but the liquid so that it may become a vehicle for the dry food and guide it toward digestion, so it would also be in the case of the soul's nourishment;

the mind is the primary and most proper food of the soul;

But the Word, by its own energy making a way for the doctrines, effects their reception.

We must open our eyes, so that we may be filled with this bread and this water.

"Hagar's eyes were opened, and she saw the water."

"Giant and mighty man, and man of war and judge."

Here we find the title "giant" set in a good sense, and wherever it occurs elsewhere, it is likewise so, though rarely.

As in, "He shall exult as a giant to run his course."

Those who possess certain natural advantages, and who, in comparison of the flesh, excel many others, in the acquisition of knowledge or in the practice of virtue — these we consider to be called "giants."

And "mighty men" are those who, through their own diligence and practice, have brought to perfection the good that came to them by nature.

No longer are there warriors among the Jews, for they are not even numbered in the military rolls.

For they have been handed over to the judges of those who took them captive, because the ruler has failed from Judah.

Yet each of the things threatened against them on account of their unbelief toward the Lord can also come to pass upon us, if we are disobedient.

For warriors fail us too — those who take up the full armor of the Lord and stand nobly against the wiles of the devil — whenever unbelief prevails over us, and we are handed over to our adversaries.

But let us beseech the Lord that the warrior not be taken away from us — the man fortified with the breastplate of faith and wearing about his vital parts the helmet of salvation that shields him, his feet secured with the readiness of the Gospel, and holding his sword drawn, ready to avenge every disobedience;

and, in short, as a good soldier of Christ, suffering hardship together with the Gospel, not entangling himself in the affairs of this life, that he may please the one who enlisted him.

The Church also has judges — those able to reconcile brother with brother — by whom the world is judged, and who will also judge angels.

If, then, at any time vain talkers and deceivers should multiply, teaching what they ought not, overturning whole households for the sake of shameful gain, and there is no one in the Church to silence such men, nor to pull down their proud strongholds raised up against the knowledge of God, one must know that, because her disobedience has multiplied, she has been abandoned.

That they are judged for lack of Saints — this too is a sign of abandonment.

"For the Lord has taken away the judge also."

"And the prophet, and the conjecturer."

All prophecy among the Jews [lasted] until John;

but from that time it has failed them.

And there is no one among them who spiritually discerns the intent of the Law, on account of the hardening that has come upon Israel.

But in the Church too there is a prophetic gift, on account of him who set in the Church first apostles, second prophets.

If, then, at any time unbelievers or untrained persons should come in, and are not convicted, nor examined, this too is a mark of abandonment.

"For if," it says, "you all prophesy, and some unbeliever or untrained person comes in, he is convicted by all, he is examined by all, and the secrets of his heart become manifest."

A prophet, then, is one who foretells the future according to the revelation of the Spirit;

and a conjecturer is one who, by understanding, from the comparison of what is similar, through experience of things that have gone before, surmises the future together —

as, "If we do the deeds of Sodom, we shall suffer things like theirs"; or, "If we repent as the Ninevites did, we shall likewise obtain mercy as they did."

Among the things threatened is also the removal of the elder, who confers no small benefit by his presence.

Is it, then, whoever has somehow been deemed worthy of the presidency and enrolled among the presbytery, who is this "elder"? Or is it rather he who bears the character of an elder blamelessly, above all one untried by a woman; or else, according to the law of the Lord, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not under accusation of debauchery or insubordination —

not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not greedy for shameful gain;

but hospitable, a lover of good, sober-minded;

holy, just, self-controlled;

holding fast the faithful word as it has been taught, so as to be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to convict those who contradict — this is the elder whom the Lord takes away from a sinning people.

As the mighty man and the mighty woman, as the strength of bread and the strength of water, as the warrior, as the judge, so also the elder.

So whenever you see that there are some worthy to be enrolled among the elders, yet they remain unnoticed or neglected, while in their place the unworthy have been put forward, know that from such a people the Lord has taken away the elder.

How great a need there is of a "money-changer," so that the man approved in these matters may not go unnoticed, God showed to His great servant Moses, entrusting to him the selection of such men.

"For," He says, "gather to me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you yourself know to be elders of the people;"

"and you shall bring them to the tabernacle of witness, and they shall stand there with you."

"And I will take of the Spirit that is upon you, and put it upon them, and they shall help you bear the burden of this people, and you shall not bear it alone."

These must be suitable in age — having, through length of time, experienced much, and displaying the steadfastness of their character in the gray hair that blossoms upon them.

But if somewhere an elder's disposition should be found even in a young age, the gift is not to be dishonored; rather, one must trust him who says:

"For understanding is gray hair among men."

For indeed, more conducive to establishing one as an elder than whiteness in the hair is elder-like maturity in understanding.

For perhaps this too is what the saying means:

"Before a gray head you shall rise up, and you shall honor the face of an elder."

For they were not lying when they said:

"God has given the eldership."

Thus it is possible at times, when elders live carelessly and negligently, that the young are found to be more worthy of honor.

False in name, then, are the elders among the Jews;

for God has taken away the elder from their people, just as He took away the warrior and the prophet.

But let the Church pray that the elder — one worthy of this title — not be taken away from her.

How great a thing this is, we have learned from the case of Abraham;

for many who lived longer than he are numbered among the earlier generations.

For Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years; and Methuselah lived nine hundred and seventy years, and died;

and Noah lived nine hundred years;

and yet none of them is called an elder.

But Abraham is an elder, according to the testimony of Sarah, who said:

"This has not yet happened to me until now, and my lord is old."

And he was an elder because of the virtue that had turned his soul gray.

The Lord Sabaoth threatens, along with the rest, to take away also the captain of fifty from the Jews.

What does He mean by this? That He permits the whole orderly economy and administration concerning them to be thrown into confusion, speaking of the whole by naming a part.

For since commanders of thousands, and of hundreds, and of fifties, and of tens had been appointed by Moses according to the counsel of Jethro (so that they might help bear the burden of the people, and take upon themselves the lesser cases of those needing judgment), the threat to them is that this arrangement will be taken away.

Great is the necessity and usefulness of counsel for the life of men, because no single person is sufficient in himself for all things, but has need of associates — more so in the choice of what is beneficial than in bodily labors.

So that a man without counsel is like a ship without a helmsman, given over at random to the drivings of the winds.

If, then, we take counselors even in deliberations about ordinary matters, how much more, when we deliberate on behalf of the soul and the things that concern it, ought we to seek out wonderful counselors for ourselves? The Jews, then, from the time they formed the wicked plan of how they would hand over the Lord, the Lord took away from them the Wonderful Counselor, whose counsels indeed they admired —

for they were astonished at His teaching,

but they did not heed His exhortations.

And how is He not a Wonderful Counselor, who, instead of "eye for eye," counsels that to the one who strikes the right cheek one should turn the other also; not to be angry, not to go to law, not to desire shameful things;

not to regard anyone as an enemy, but to love those who hate you; not to be anxious about perishable things, not to let the mind be tossed about —

Not to seek small things from God, to have one's heart in heaven, transferring one's treasures there? To be with God, to be a lover of the brethren? To be compassionate, sharing what one has with others? Not to place defilement in foods, but in the heart and in moral choice? This one who counseled such things, so divine and marvelous, because they were not received by them, the Lord took away.

Therefore the Wonderful Counselor is no longer among them.

Let us pray that this Church may not be deprived of the Wonderful Counselor, so that, whenever a time of need for counsel concerning necessary things overtakes someone, he, coming to this house (the common council-chamber of souls), may find a word of exhortation, producing, as it were, a kind of light for the finding of what is necessary for souls.

But he who, though good counsel is present, walks according to the vain desire of his own heart, is like Rehoboam, who, dishonoring the saving counsel of the elders, followed the younger men who had been brought up with him, on account of whom he also fell from the kingdom of the ten tribes.

...our Jesus Christ) was taken away from them — the wise master-builder as well — and he became the Apostle of the Gentiles, the Hebrew of Hebrews, the Pharisee according to the law, Paul, having become a servant of Jesus Christ, whom he had once persecuted.

What is the proof of his skill in building? For he himself says:

As a wise master-builder I have laid a foundation.

I think, moreover, that the Holy Spirit also builds up the Church of God as a master-builder, according to Paul himself, who says:

You are built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit; and through the supply of the Spirit you are built together and grow into a holy temple in the Lord.

Those, therefore, who cast away the Wonderful Counselor, God the Word, he made bereft of the wise Master-Builder, the Holy Spirit.

But let us pray that the Church may have the supply of the Spirit, so that spiritual master-builders may be shown forth among us, such as Bezalel was, whom God filled with a divine Spirit, a Spirit of understanding and knowledge, to build according to all the works of construction.

If, according to Solomon, a word is precious to an ear that hears well, then where there is no word, there is no need of hearing either.

Since, therefore, the Wonderful Counselor was taken away, consequently the intelligent hearer was taken away along with him as well.

For where there is no silver, the money-changer is idle.

It is also grievous when a word is full of thoughts and directed toward realities, yet the one who would perceive them intelligently is not present, because he does not have the ears of the soul, which the Lord requires for the hearing of his own words, saying:

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

And I will set youths as their rulers, and mockers shall have dominion over them.

Thus he knows this to be the harshest punishment, for a city to be ruled and governed by youths.

For youth is light and easily moved toward base things;

uncontrollable desires, savage rages, rashness, insolence, arrogance and pride are passions bred together with youth;

envies toward what is superior, suspicions toward what is one's own;

A swarm of countless evils is yoked together with youth;

and those who are ruled must necessarily partake of all these things, because the evils of the rulers become calamities for those who are ruled.

I will set youths as their rulers.

The good things were proclaimed in the singular (the mighty man and the mighty woman, the warrior, the judge, the prophet, the diviner, the captain of fifty, the Wonderful Counselor, the wise Master-Builder, the intelligent hearer), but the threat of evils grew into a multitude:

'Youths as rulers,' and 'mockers shall have dominion over you.'

It is not the one who is young in age that is accused, but the one who is youthful in character;

for the one who is lacking in years is not altogether blameworthy, but the one who lives according to passion.

Such as Rehoboam was, concerning whom it is written: 'And Rehoboam was young and fainthearted.'

'Woe to you, O city,' he says, 'whose king is young, and whose princes eat in the morning.'

For it is not the one who is young in age, but the one who is immature in soul, who is here also called 'young.'

Since indeed age is no hindrance to the one who wishes to live according to virtue, the Lord showed this in his words to Jeremiah, saying:

'Do not say, "I am too young."'

For he did not deny that he was young;

but he said that his youth was no hindrance to him, because of the perfection of his soul;

'For to all to whom I shall send you, you shall go.'

But mockers shall have dominion over those who have presented themselves as slaves to sin.

For if the common enemy becomes their master, he does not treat them as his own, but abuses them as though they belonged to another.

For our common enemy makes a spectacle of the one who has been ensnared by sin, trampling upon us and exalting himself against us — and not only against us, but also against our Lord, from whom he made us apostatize — and publicizing our shame, he does not cease triumphing over the captives and mocking those under his hand.