以賽亞書註釋 第 1 章 第 9/23 段

Such charges sometimes reach even to men—those who, with arrogant pride, look down upon their inferiors, who carry themselves haughtily in bearing, and display their arrogance by the raising of their eyebrows, who walk with a grave and lofty, measured gait, who let their garment down to their ankles, displaying arrogance, and who have given themselves over to immoderate amusements—these await the threatened fall through the humbling that comes from on high.

And the Lord will lay bare their outward form.

This proud outward form, contrived for dissoluteness and every licentious thought, working itself into the hearts of the unguarded, the Lord will lay bare, when, at the manifestation of hidden things, the veils of the flesh are removed, and the soul, naked and by itself, is made an example along with the works of its shamefulness.

And sometimes this revealing of the outward form is also effected here, for the good of those concerning whom the action takes place, so that, once what had until then escaped the notice of many is exposed, and the shamefulness attached to their sins has come to the knowledge of the multitude, those who had until then persisted in evil because it went unnoticed may turn back, ashamed.

It is, then, the work of the Lord to uncover the counterfeit and artificially fashioned outward form.

So that if any of us who are held in honor conceal an unseemly life under a pretense of respectability, let them fear him who is about to uncover our outward form and manifest the counsels of our hearts, so that the base thoughts arising in each one lie exposed before the eyes of all.

For each one's own counsels will surround him, and his deeds will stand arrayed with their own distinguishing marks, bringing upon us shame and everlasting reproach, when they are proved to be contrary to our word, so that the one who preaches not to steal is found to be a thief;

the one who says, Do not commit adultery, is caught out having his share among adulterers;

the one who abhors idols does not abstain from sacrilege.

For there is nothing hidden that will not be made manifest, nor anything covered that will not be uncovered.

In that day the Lord will take away the glory of their apparel and their adornment.

Since they used improperly what was given them for use, The Lord will take away the glory of their apparel, which they wore to their own harm and to that of those who met them.

So that every woman who has made bad use of the wearing of clothing is threatened with its removal.

Since, he says, they walked trailing their tunics, not using their clothing but misusing it, they were commanded to be stripped of the glory of their apparel.

The glory of our clothing, too, is taken away from us, if we are found to have used it unworthily, trampling it underfoot and filling it with the pollutions of the flesh.

But what is this clothing, other than the garment of the Saints, our Lord Jesus Christ? For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ—whom the Lord takes away from those who trample the body underfoot through sin and consider the blood of the covenant a common thing.

Since the sandals, too, were symbols of the preparation of the Gospel of peace.

For the new covenant that Christ Jesus gave remains new, never growing old.

For the more we use this covenant and these sandals, the newer they become, since the preparation of the Gospel comes upon us ever fresh and new in the progress of our faith in Christ.

The Lord, through the Prophet, threatens to take away also the tassels of the women who adorn themselves.

Now the word kosymbos is not at all in common use in Greek usage, hence its meaning is not obvious.

However, we, in the account of the construction of the high-priestly vestment, having found a fringed tunic bearing pomegranates and bells, understood the tassels to be certain bunches of fringes hung together with the golden bells and the pomegranates at the edges—these, in excessive luxury, the daughters of Zion also imitated in the wearing of their own clothing;

through which they insulted the priestly characteristics, wearing about themselves hyacinth-blue and scarlet borders of fringes hung from the hem.

And the crescents and the necklace and the ornament of their face.

He goes through the feminine adornment item by item, ridiculing the elaborate excess of their embellishment.

For the Lord will take away both the crescents and the necklace.

Another translator has rendered the crescents more clearly, saying, And the collars, and instead of the necklace has said, Pendants.

A crescent, then, is a golden ornament worn around the neck, made in a circular shape, which women, when putting it on, deliberately expose the neck to display, and shamelessly uncover what it would be more seemly to keep covered.

The necklace, too, is a certain ornament, itself let down and descending upon the breast, suspended from certain loose chains; and in order for it to be visible, it is altogether necessary that what pertains to the breast not be modestly veiled either.

And the ornament of their face.

There are also certain pigments devised for women's adornment of the face;

one white, another red, and yet another black.

The one falsely simulates the whiteness of the body, the red blooms upon the cheeks, and the black traces the eyebrows over the eyes in a crescent shape.

This too the Lord threatens to remove, so that, he says, the chastity of men may not be stolen away, nor the wretched eyes of the young be seized by these paintings.

Or rather, these things will be taken away then, when all things stand naked before the Judge, when the brow is fallen, the cheek downcast, and the color livid with fear.

The Lord, then, also takes away the adornment.

the composition of the glorious adornment—both, as it were, the material that adorns and the very artistic conception itself.

And since it is not possible to be so greatly exalted or puffed up over one single thing, but it is when all are combined together that a boastful disposition arises, the Lord threatens to take away also the composition of the adornment.

But whatever the adornment is, such, evidently, is also the glory attached to it;

and the adornment is bodily and vain;

corruptible, therefore, is also the glory attached to it, and without substance.

And the bracelets and the armlets and the hair-braids.

The entire adornment that has been enumerated is the pursuit of a luxurious woman, that is, one who lives in wanton delicacy and self-indulgence.

But especially the bracelets—being named after luxury itself—were perhaps worn around the arms.

Bracelets (ψέλλια) are the ornaments openly displayed at the extremities of the hands.

But bracelets are sometimes also taken in a good sense, as when the elder of the household adorned holy Rebecca.

For it was necessary that she who was about to dwell with the patriarch should first be instructed by the one betrothing her in the practical [virtue] of the soul.

because the whole observance of the law is completed in ten commandments.

And earrings, each weighing a drachm, because obedience ought to be adorned by faith in the one God.

Here, however, the bracelets are taken away, on account of those who are puffed up by the adornment of bracelets, the text showing us in general that whoever is exalted in mind on account of being able to do greater things is abandoned by the oversight that had been sustaining him.

The hair-band (ἐμπλόκιον) seems to be something woven together with the hair, so as by its own good colour to enhance the colour of the hair.

And let no one consider these things trivial.

For we are not more dignified than the Spirit, that we should disdain to examine the words in Scripture.

For we have learned in the Song [of Songs] that even the hair-band of the praised bride is extolled:

"Your head" (it says) "is like Carmel, and the hair-band of your head is like purple."

And the earrings, and the rings.

We were taught that the use of earrings in the betrothal of Rebecca was praiseworthy, a symbol that good teachings concerning the truth in the realm of the intelligible were about to be handed down to her when she came into the house of Abraham.

But we have found them censured in many places.

First, from the fact that when they were about to go up to Bethel, the women were commanded by Jacob to remove them together with the foreign gods, since idolatry and the use of earrings were an impediment to going up to the house of the Lord.

For Bethel is interpreted "house of God."

Then in Exodus, Aaron, being pressed by the people to make an idol, chose the earrings as suitable material for the fashioning of the forbidden thing.

"For all the people" (it says) "took off the golden earrings that were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron, and he fashioned them into a molten calf."

But also Gideon, having taken the earrings from the Ishmaelite spoil from the people, "made them into an ephod, and set it up in the city."

"And all Israel went whoring after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his house."

And these earrings are now censured for the very reason that they inflate the pride of the daughters of Zion.

And the purple-bordered garments, and the purple-centred garments.

He censures as excessive the adornment in clothing of women who beautify themselves, who weave purple sometimes along the edges, sometimes set it in the middle.

Which, whether it occupies the edges of life or its middle, is a thing to be shunned.

And the wraps used in the house, and the transparent Laconian [garments].

he indicates, saying that the wraps used in the house are transparent because of the excessive fineness [of their weave].

For extravagance aimed at display has as its object the pleasing of men;

but to array oneself in transparent garments even while passing one's time alone at home with no one watching, displays every excess of misuse of the things granted to us for [proper] use — so much so as to imitate the wraps of the Laconian women, who, refusing to be openly naked in the dance as unseemly, put on linen garments of excessive fineness, and through them display what ought to have been hidden from the sight of men.

And the fine-linen garments, and the hyacinth-coloured garments, and fine linen woven together with gold and hyacinth [purple-blue].

By now imitating even the priestly vestment, and in their unseemly life through excess of luxury insolently outraging the holy things, the daughters of Zion go about wearing fine linen and hyacinth garments — the very things which those [priests], wearing as symbols of the elements out of which all things consist, wore when they entered the sanctuary on their own behalf, propitiating God on behalf of the world.

For fine linen [stands] for earth, hyacinth for air, purple for water, and scarlet for fire.

But they, not content with the adornment derived from these, also wove gold together with them, for greater variety and extravagance.

The "summer wrap" (θέριστρον) seems to be a summer covering, such as both appears to clothe one and does not burden one in the heat;

as we have also learned in Genesis that Rebecca, at her meeting with Isaac, put on the summer wrap.

But what the text now censures are called "summer wraps" — the coverings laid upon couches, on account of excess of luxury, when reclining [at table].

And yet the [word] "reclining-cloths" the other [translators] have not even rendered;

wherefore it has also been marked with an obelus, as exhibiting no [discernible] sense.

"And instead of sweet fragrance there shall be dust;"

"and instead of a girdle, you shall gird yourself with a rope;"

"and instead of the golden ornament of the head, you shall have baldness because of your deeds."

Part of luxury is also that pleasantness in fragrances, when women drug the air with certain fumigated substances, and contrive for themselves a sweet breath [to inhale].

To those, then, who are dissolved by pleasure and contrive a sweet fragrance for their sense of smell, dust will be given in return by him who utters this threat.

Dust is fine earth, worked up into the air, producing a certain difficulty in breathing and much discomfort on account of the obstruction [it causes].

For the soul delights in perfumes and incense, but in spiritual perfumes, such as [those of] him who said:

"and thanks be to God, who makes manifest the fragrance of the knowledge of himself in every place."

Of such a fragrance breathing forth from Jacob did his father Isaac partake;

"Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a full field, which the Lord has blessed."

And the maidens in the Song [of Songs] too, perceiving the heavenly fragrance of the Word, said:

"We will run after the fragrance of your perfumes."

And the high-priestly anointing too was a perfume good and delightful, worthy to be likened to the fellowship of brothers.

Such a perfume requires a craftsman — one who has received from God the art of perfumery — to make the holy anointing oil, which shall not be poured upon the flesh of a common man.

When, however, the sweetness of fragrance is pursued for the sake of licentiousness, the passage of the sense [of smell] is stopped up by dust, the Lord who ordains these things for them thereby doing them good.

Perhaps, since in the temple there were the sweet spices of fragrance — both the anointing perfume and the incense of the compound (but the temple has been thrown down, and now lies in dust, overturned and cast to the ground) — instead of the once sweet fragrance (according to the worship of the Law), there is now dust, on account of the souls who walked with a haughty and unsubmissive neck, to whom also it has been said:

"Behold, your house is left to you desolate."

It is possible, however, for them (if they are willing, having shaken off the dust) to be filled with the fragrance of Christ, according to the exhortation of him who says:

"Shake off your dust and arise, O Jerusalem, and put on the glory of your arm."

"And instead of a girdle, you shall gird yourself with a rope" —

in truth [this is] he who girds himself according to God.

Such was Peter, stretching out his hands and girding himself for the warfare on behalf of Christ, by those who summoned him to martyrdom unto death on behalf of the truth.

The holy one, then, girds himself with power:

"For it is God" (he says) "who girds me with power;"

but he who has lost this girdle is girded instead with the bond of his own sins, since "each one is bound fast with the cords of his own sins."

A symbol of these was the scourge of cords, driving out of the temple those who profaned the holy things — the Lord thereby showing that for each person his own entanglements of sin become scourges, and he is scourged by the cords of the sins that entwine him.

"And instead of the golden ornament of the head, you shall have baldness because of your deeds."

Just as, in their excessive fastidiousness concerning fragrances, in seeking what is contrary to nature, they also fell away from what is according to nature (for not enduring to breathe plain air, but tinging it with perfumes and incenses, they afterwards breathed not even clean air, but air mingled with dust) — so likewise, since they did not abide in the natural adornment of the hair (which has been given to women in place of a covering), but by plaiting their hair together with certain hair-bands adorned themselves in a burdensome manner, they were deprived of the natural adornment, and in the loss of their hair became a most unseemly sight — hair which, as a proper and kindred adornment, has been bestowed upon women by nature herself.

For if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, how much more shameful indeed is it to have baldness? — [God] bringing on this disfigurement for the benefit of those who had wrongly disposed of their beauty.

"And instead of the tunic with purple in the middle, you shall gird on sackcloth."

And this change too the Lord, ordaining it for the benefit of those who beautify themselves, commands to take place.

and sackcloth is a provision for contrition and humility.

And he who is clothed in a robe of purple hesitates to fall to the ground and worship God, sparing his adornment, lest the bloom of his garment be spoiled;

But he who wears sackcloth makes every place fitting for himself for worship.

And your most beautiful son, whom you loved, shall fall by the sword.

For those who are about to be raised up amid corrupt customs, it is far more profitable to depart before their prime than to be filled up still further with the wicked upbringing of their parents.

You had a son, then—either most beautiful in body, or appearing so to a mother's eyes.

This one will die in the very prime and flower of his age.

And the intensification of the evil is this: it is not a spontaneous death, nor one that comes by nature, but a violent one, wounded by the sword at an enemy's hand.

And your mighty men shall fall by the sword.

And having suffered these things, she will not even have the power to take vengeance;

for a comfort amid troubles is to avenge those who have been slain, and to repay in equal measure those who caused the grief.

But even this will not be available to you;

for all who are of age will perish in the war, so that only the useless age of life is left behind, which, being helpless, easily suffers whatever the enemies see fit to do.

And the coffers of your finery shall be humbled and shall mourn.

Chests of gold and silver, and of costly apparel, and of precious stones—so long as they hold their treasures, they are deemed worthy of much diligence and care, stored away in fortified houses, in lofty places, with bars and locks and seals and guards, and everything devised for security and safekeeping;

but once they are shown to be empty of their treasures, they are neglected, cast aside, and overlooked.

Let this profit us as well: that souls which have received the gift of the divine word have become storehouses of precious things, worthy to be laid up among the divine treasures;

but once they are shown to be empty of the divine adornments, they will be humbled, cast away, condemned as useless.

Let us remain in the royal storehouses; let us not betray to thieves the most precious pearl that was entrusted to us.

CHAPTER 4. And seven women shall take hold of one man, saying:

We will eat our own bread, and wear our own garments;

only let your name be called upon us;

take away our reproach.

As to the literal sense, the passage seems to signify a scarcity of men befalling the people through wars, or through diseases arising from the wrath of God;

so that, in order not to be childless nor barren (which the ancients reckoned a curse), the women would not blush to lay hold of one husband, several of them together;

and comforting him in his struggle of caring for many women, they say:

"We will eat our own bread and wear our own garments,

so, setting aside the necessary anxiety of providing for ourselves, only lend us your name, that we may escape the reproach of desolation."

But the underlying sense summons our mind to inquiry into greater matters.

As in a place hard to survey and having much overshadowed by obscurity, such is the notion that occurs to us concerning the seven women: that in many places both this present life and Israel according to the flesh are represented by the number seven.

The time concerned with the affairs of creation is completed by the cycling round of seven days;

whence also the age that follows this present state is called "the eighth" in Scripture;

and the psalms "for the eighth" stand in place of "for the age after this present time."

And in many places the Jews who are openly manifest, and their commonwealth as such, are represented by the number seven.

"They shall take hold of one man" (the Lord, who is not one among many, but is [truly] one);

saying, "We will eat our own bread," that is, "we will remain within our own measure of substance."

For we shall be a shadow of the things to come, and images of the heavenly things.

Only let the name of Christ be called upon the Old [Covenant], that the reproach of its uselessness may be taken away.

"Let your name be called upon us."

It has been said by some that the seven women are the seven spirits which this same Prophet is shortly to enumerate, as resting upon him who is about to blossom forth from the root of Jesse:

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;

which spirits, because all had turned aside and together became worthless, having no one on whom to rest lovingly, took hold of the man who is according to the Lord, and so bring about what is written.

For the spirit of knowledge and of godliness lies idle in times when there is none who understands, none who seeks after God;

and it is, as it were, a reproach to the virtues that no one holds fast to them, but that they are, so to speak, widowed for want of a soul to receive them.

For that no one could be captivated by their own inherent beauty, but that they remained in desolation, seems to be a kind of affront to the virtues as well.

But he who is about to display in himself every kind of virtue in its utmost perfection takes the reproach away from them.

And since even among those who do not know God, knowledge and understanding and counsel and might and wisdom and godliness seem to be practiced, they claim it fitting that the name of Christ be called upon them,

to exalt and glorify the remnant of Israel.

This accords with what has already been given above.

For he whom the seven women took hold of as a man, this one shall shine forth as Lord.

For since they contended earnestly that his name be called upon them, God, accepting their eagerness, "will shine upon them in counsel with glory upon the earth," that is, granting the good that comes from judgment with discernment and deliberation, and not without counsel nor indiscriminately.

And this is the day in which God will shine forth in counsel with glory;

this is the day which the Sun of Righteousness himself makes—our Lord, who teaches concerning himself that as long as he is in the world, he is the light of the world.

It should be noted that, according to one sense and another, the present life is also called "day," and the day of judgment "night."

And again, the present condition is "night," while the age that is awaited is "day."

For "work while it is day" clearly refers to this present life, which is illumined by the knowledge of Christ; while "night comes" is said concerning the age to come, since it is those found in sins who, on account of its gloom and toil, are deemed worthy of this appellation.

In accordance with this, the Prophet also speaks to those engaged in wicked works yet impatient for the day of retribution:

"Why do you want the day of the Lord?" he says. "And this is darkness, and not light."

Conversely, the Apostle also calls this present life "night," both because of the confusion in it and because of the darkening of the mind that, for the most part, arises from the flesh and from worldly cares;

and he calls the time of the resurrection "day," in saying:

"The night is far spent, and the day is at hand."

According to whichever interpretation, then, you wish to take, "God will shine forth in counsel with glory upon the earth."

Since, then, he shines forth with counsel, let us make ourselves worthy to receive his illumination, so that he who grants enlightenment in proportion to the fitness of each person may, in accordance with the greater eagerness of our soul, also grant greater and more perfect things from himself.

"And he will exalt the remnant of Israel," that is, he will set the remnant of Israel according to the election of grace above material things, and will bring it near to the contemplation of the incorporeal.

And if you also desire to learn, according to what is fitting to Scripture, the glory with which the Saints will be glorified, consider for me the sacred, awesome condition that comes upon the governing faculty of those who contemplate great and divine things, such as it was with Moses, when he was deemed worthy to come into the contemplation of God.

Since, then, God will shine forth in counsel with glory, he added two further things corresponding to these two:

so that exaltation is understood to be the work of counsel, and glorification the work of glory.

"And it shall be that what is left in Zion, and what remains in Jerusalem, shall be called Holy—all who are recorded for life in Jerusalem."

The remnant of Israel according to the election of grace—those who have been illumined by the manifestation of God and exalted by his glory—shall be called Holy and shall be inscribed for life in Jerusalem.

These shall be called Holy—those whom God has kept for himself, after the pattern of those who did not bend the knee to Baal.

And since those who are saved are few, the text has expressed it not in the plural, but in the singular.

For it did not say "those who were left," but "that which was left."

It seems that the remnant left behind in Zion is the inferior order, as it were left behind by those who hastened forward;

while the more perfect order, on account of the worth of their works, has been deemed worthy of being established in Jerusalem itself.

The history of the two orders also suggests to us their difference, from the fact that Zion is the ancient and inferior city;

whereas Jerusalem is the royal city, in which is the sanctuary.

All these, indeed, shall be written for life in Jerusalem;

and blessed is he who is deemed worthy of enrollment in Jerusalem.

The disciples of Christ are the ones written there;

for he says, "Rejoice, because your names are written in the heavens."

But since to "those written in Jerusalem" is added "unto life," it is necessary to observe that perhaps there are some who are indeed written, but not unto life, according to Jeremiah, who says:

"Let those who have departed be written on the earth"—so that according to this, two kinds of registers are to be understood:

the one unto life, the other unto destruction;

and there is often also a change in the writing, whenever we ourselves fall from virtue into wickedness.

For "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and let them not be written with the righteous," and "Blot me also out of your book," are said as of those already deemed worthy of enrollment in the book of God.

"For the Lord shall wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Zion, and shall cleanse out the blood of Jerusalem from their midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning."

The passage plainly foretells the same things that John proclaimed concerning the Lord, that "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire";

and concerning himself, that "I baptize you with water, unto repentance."

Since, then, the Lord joined both together—the baptism from water unto repentance, and that from the Spirit unto regeneration—the text likewise hints at both baptisms.

Perhaps there are three conceptions of baptism: the cleansing of filth, the regeneration through the Spirit, and the trial by the fire of judgment;

so that "washing away" is to be understood as referring to the putting away of sin here in this present life, while "by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning" refers to the testing by fire in the age to come.

But the sins unto death, of those who sin willfully after having received full knowledge, are called "blood," requiring the judgment by burning.

Since, then, the one who confesses asks both to be washed and to be cleansed, and says that iniquity requires washing, while sin requires cleansing, saying:

"Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin."

Those who are altogether unacquainted with the divine teachings, having sinned before learning the word, being as it were defiled, need the cleansing that comes from water;

while those who, after receiving life, plot against themselves, being guilty of blood, need the cleansing that comes from fire.

It is also possible to understand this more simply:

that the superficial sins resemble a kind of filth;

while the sins committed in depth, arising from the disposition toward evil in those who transgress, are compared to blood;

wherefore that blood is said to be cleansed away from the midst of those who have sinned, through the burning of the Spirit.