以賽亞書註釋 第 1 章 第 21/65 段

But the Moabites, again smiling scornfully at those who had perished, mocked them in no measured way, and went on reviling the glory of God.

For this reason they too were given over to desolation, and utterly perished together with cities and people and every household, so that now somehow they seem not even to exist;

namely, from the wrath from above, and He says:

'By night shall the Moabite perish;'

'for by night shall the wall of the Moabite country perish.' Some who have carefully examined these matters have handed down that, when the Babylonians were about to make war upon them, an earthquake occurred and so shook the mother-city of the Moabites that its whole wall was of itself shaken down in the night and darkness;

and when this had happened, before the assault of the enemies, their hope of salvation all but perished.

For this reason He says that the Moabite country shall perish by night.

'But grieve for yourselves,' He says. It is as though He were saying: Very often, raising a lofty brow, you have reveled in the misfortunes of others;

but now the war rushes upon yourselves, and the harm arising therefrom hangs over your unholy heads.

Grieve therefore not for any others, but for yourselves.

'For Lebedon shall perish, where your altar is.' I have said that the Moabites had become terrible and haughty, having put their confidence in the deceits of the demons, and supposing that through the magic art they would prevail over the hand of all, and even over Israel itself, though God should defend them;

so then, in the place called Lebedon there was for them an altar and a sanctuary not without splendor, so far at least as concerned its construction.

There they used to perform their divinations, and thought highly of themselves, and reckoned that place as most sacred above all the others.

'But it shall perish,' He says, 'even the workshop of your divination.'

'There you shall go up to weep over Nebo of the Moabite country.' And this was a city of the most valiant men.

For upon every head there is baldness. That is to say, a single dishonor shall run down upon them all.

For baldness is a token of dishonor.

And all arms shall be gashed. This comes from beating oneself and mourning.

Or else, because it is the custom of idolaters to inflict upon their cheeks and their arms the incisions which are so called.

In vain, then, shall you do even this, He says, for the practice is utterly profitless.

Therefore in her broad streets gird yourselves with sackcloth, and beat your breasts upon her housetops; and in her broad streets and in her lanes let all lament with weeping, for Heshbon has cried out, and its voice was heard even so far as to be audible. Since cities are here beset by us with no small terrors, the power of the prophecy sketches the very form of the calamity.

For when war has hemmed them in, and the uttermost calamity has fallen upon cities and houses alike, some run about wailing through the broad streets and narrow lanes,

beholding the phalanxes of the enemy, and pondering the slaughter that is all but present.

For Heshbon has cried out, and its voice was heard even so far as to be audible.

And he says that these cities are the most warlike of Moab.

But even if they were so, He says, they shall raise so great a wailing that they will not weep secretly nor in a corner, but rather their voice shall become audible, and they shall lament openly, since those within them have neglected their wonted manliness and have been so shattered as to be utterly bereft of vigor and boldness, and of all thoughts and endeavors that lead to valor.

The loins of Moab cry out;

her soul shall know, and the heart of Moab cries out within her, as far as Zoar;

and at the ascent that leads to you, they shall go up weeping by the road of Horonaim;

there cries out ruin and earthquake. Ever do the sharp griefs of irremediable calamities assail, and most grievous despondencies, and the onset of terrors, not powerless to crush even the exceedingly bold heart.

From this, I think, the faces of some become downcast, and there leap up as it were from the depths their groans, interpreting the seething of the fire within.

The loins of Moab, therefore, cry out;

that is, she is in pangs of travail, and holds her sufferings hidden within, being of course dismayed beforehand by the reports, and pondering the war that is not yet present.

For her soul knew this.

And for this cause she laments and cries out within her as far as Zoar, that is, all the land of Moab, even to its very borders.

For they say that Zoar was set upon the very confines of the Moabites.

The third year suffices the unreasoning beasts for their prime, and for the vigorous power to be at work within them.

Therefore that is also the time when they must be broken to the yoke.

So long, then, as the heifer is unbroken to the yoke, vigorous and young, and putting forth a newly-grown horn, she frisks about the folds and often gambols over the steadings;

such indeed has the land of the Moabites become, leaping upon its neighbors and frisking over the weaker.

And they say that Horonaim, so named, is a lofty place and a certain highway, and that it brings up into itself those who come from other cities or regions.

Upon this ascent, then, of Horonaim, He says, they shall go up weeping.

And the cry of those who weep is ruin and violent shaking.

For they cry out beforehand the sufferings that shall come to pass from the war, as it all but shakes everything together, both cities and houses, and shatters those within them.

The water of Nimrim shall be desolate, and its grass shall fail;

for there shall be no green grass. Shall she even so be saved? They say that Nimrim is a city lying in the farthest parts of the region, bordering on the Red Sea, and so well-watered and rich in pasture that its inhabitants could even keep many horses;

for this very reason they were most warlike, and possessed cavalry well-experienced in war.

By the divine wrath, then, He says, through the onset of the enemy, she shall be desolate both of waters and of green grass.

And when this has come to pass, the skill of the tacticians shall be wholly enfeebled, since the horses have been destroyed beforehand and have perished by famine.

But if this should come to pass, He says, will she not then think highly of herself even so? When this has befallen her, is she to be saved and to escape the hands of the enemy? For when their strength has been destroyed beforehand, what hope of salvation shall then remain? For I will bring Arabs upon the ravine, and they shall take it.

The cry has reached the border of Moab, even Eglaim, and her wailing as far as the well of Elim.

And the water of Rimmon shall be filled with blood;

for I will bring Arabs upon Rimmon.

They themselves were arming together with the Babylonians, and were ravaging the land of the Moabites;

for these too followed after, being perhaps even of the same stock, and neighbors to the land of the Moabites.

For these too were called Arabs.

He says, then, that Nimrim shall be taken;

For I will bring upon the ravine

Arabs, and they shall take it.

And he calls Nimrim a ravine, as is likely, because it lies in a hollow place,

although the other cities are raised on high and lie among the mountains.

But since it was not merely a part of the land of the Moabites that was shattered by the war, but the whole of it throughout was shaken and tossed like a drunken man;

for this cause He says that the cry shall reach from end to end—the cry, that is, of those wailing and wont to rehearse the lament over those who are about to perish.

For the cry, He says, has reached the border of Moab, even Eglaim, and her wailing as far as the well of Elim.

And he names the outermost cities, those lying upon the very confines—I mean Eglaim and the well of Elim.

And affirming that the lament has been set throughout all their land, as I have said, He then says that the water of Rimmon shall be filled with blood.

And it is said that Rimmon is exceedingly well-watered.

But it shall be filled, He says, with blood, meaning something like this: that in the time of war the blood of the fallen shall vie with the abundance of the waters;

and the rivers shall be seen reddened, and the water shall be poured over the earth, no longer clean, nor even having the appearance of water, but of another color and blood-like.

And He says that it too shall be taken by the Arabs, so that all the seed of Moab and Ariel shall be taken away—that is, shall perish and be consumed.

Yet what is left over I will send forth, He says, as reptiles upon the earth.

For being ever fierce, they shall go their way into captivity, like certain serpents charmed by the incantations of others, and as it were lulled to sleep into an unaccustomed tameness.

For the saying I will send forth signifies to dispatch away.

For it is the custom of those who capture a region or a city not always to release all outright, but, when the most warlike multitude has been consumed, to place those who remain in the rank of spear-won captives.

But if it is needful to fit a necessary word also to the spiritual senses, one must know that a soul walled about by the fear of God is strong and hard to capture, and towers above the hand of those who war against it.

For it conquers principalities and powers and the world-rulers of this darkness, the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

But if it be turned aside to what is not fitting, and be borne outside the straight path, and, running past what seems good to God, be carried down to the passions in this world, and shake off the yoke of obedience, it strips itself of all succor, and renders itself as it were wall-less, and makes itself an easy prey to those who war against it, and smooths the ways of the passions' assaults upon it, so that in no way can it avail to escape.

Thus are they given over to a reprobate mind, and have become easy prey to inordinate lusts; and nothing saves them, but they are beneath the feet of their enemies, unmanfully cast down.

For if the God of the universe should shut against men, He says, who shall open, and shall prevail over the all-conquering right hand of Him who has given them over? Let us therefore abide in the fear of God.

For thus shall we gain the grace of the favor from above;

and we shall show ourselves youthfully valiant in the spirit, and, taking exceeding little thought of sin and of the passions and of the devil's grasping greed, we shall attain to the prize of the upward calling, achieving the glorious and most approved life.

Is the mount Zion a desolate rock? For you shall be as the fledgling of a bird that flies away, snatched from the nest, O daughter of Moab. Shalmaneser the Assyrian marched against Samaria in its season, and took the cities within it;

and moreover he wronged many of the cities of Judea, and carried off a spear-won multitude into his own land.

the wretched ones perhaps smiling scornfully at her, but rather at the God who is over all;

and indeed they even asserted that the hand which saved them had grown feeble, and that for this cause they had come beneath the feet of their enemies.

'O daughter of Moab,' he says — for the word was surely directed to her — 'is not Mount Zion a deserted rock?' Has Zion alone, he means, grown weary? Has she alone fallen beneath the feet of enemies and fallen sick with the desolation of those who dwelt in her? Or have you fallen into calamities still worse than hers? For you shall be taken by your enemies, and, like a nestling snatched from its nest, you shall depart into another land, and shall be enslaved to foes, and shall be among them a pitiable captive, cast down and beneath the yoke of servitude.

Useful, therefore, and necessary is the precept:

'If your enemy falls, do not rejoice over him, for the Lord will see it, and it will not please Him;'

'and He will turn His wrath away from him.' For it is not fitting to gloat over the misfortunes of others, nor to make what has befallen one's neighbour an occasion for glee — even if it should chance to be one of those accustomed to grieve us — but rather to be saddened over him, and, casting our eye upon our own failings, to be greatly afraid lest somehow the wrath of the smiter should come upon us as well.

Then he says: 'Arnon, take further counsel; make her a covering of mourning continually;'

'in the darkness of noonday they flee; they are beside themselves'

'Shall not the fugitives of Moab sojourn from the beginning?'

Nevertheless, so far as I am able, I will try to explain it fully.

When, therefore, the whole land of the Moabites had been sacked, their cities laid in ruins and their houses burned down, and the Babylonians raging with utter savagery, those who were able to escape migrated to Arnon.

This is a city among the most strongly fortified, lying, it seems, somewhere on the border of the land of the Moabites.

The word, then, is addressed to her:

'But you,' he says, 'after this, O Arnon, take further counsel.'

'Consider well,' he says, 'in what manner you may be able to save those who are left and who were able to escape the ferocity of the plunderers.'

'And make her a covering of mourning continually.'

'Yes,' he says, 'devise some deed of loving-kindness; become a shelter for those overtaken by unbearable grief.'

'For they flee in the darkness of noonday' — that is, though it is day, and the sun stands at its zenith over them, they have darkness in their minds.

For the fear of death is exceedingly able to trouble the soul and, as it were, to pour a kind of night over the mind by the onset of the utmost despondency.

For this reason he says, 'And they were beside themselves.'

For they had all but passed beyond even the capacity to feel fear, being utterly terrified by the alarms of war.

'But even if you should receive,' he says, 'those from among the Moabites, yet know full well and clearly that you have saved not all, but only a small and easily-numbered remnant of those who have perished.'

This, I think, he wishes to make clear when he says:

'Shall not the fugitives of Moab sojourn from the beginning?'

'Did you not,' he says, 'while the war was but in its beginnings, receive the fugitives?'

Are not those who were able to escape utterly few and easily numbered? Then the things spoken by God against the Moabites have been brought to their fulfilment.

For she has perished, and only a small remnant has, with difficulty, been preserved.

'But, O Arnon,' he says, 'you received those from among the Moabites, expecting perhaps that they too would in due season be a shelter to you from before the face of the pursuer.'

From where? For your alliance has been taken away;

'and the ruler has perished, he who trampled upon the earth.'

'For he who ever bore his shield beside you,' he says, 'the ruler of the Moabites, that terrible and haughty one, accustomed to trample down those who withstood him as though they were mere dust, is gone and has perished.'

'For he has been taken away, and has been removed from the midst.'

'For the ungodly,' he says, 'shall perish root and branch from the earth.'

'The throne, therefore,' he says — that is, the kingdom among the Jews — 'shall be restored with mercy;' that is, it shall return to its proper order, as God has compassion.

And he names the royal palaces a 'tabernacle,' as it were, in which they spent their time and gave judgement, occupying lawfully the very seats of those who administered the kingdom.

And, so far as concerned what seemed good to God, they became guardians of righteousness, even if some erred from virtue, turning aside to what was worse.

It should be known that after the return from Babylon, the people of Israel no longer dwelt divided — so that the ten tribes and the half-tribe of Ephraim were in Samaria, with someone reigning over them, while the tribe of Judah and the half-tribe of Manasseh were in Jerusalem, with yet another reigning separately over them — but, brought together into one mind, they dwelt together in Jerusalem, henceforth anointing a single king.

And this indeed was what had been spoken concerning them by the voice of the prophet:

'And they shall come up out of the land, and shall cease for a little from anointing a king and a ruler.'

Nevertheless God promises the restoration of the throne among the Jews, all but reproaching Moab.

For she had prated, saying, 'Mount Zion is a deserted rock.'

'But to you,' he says, 'this and that shall befall, as you laugh broadly against those of Israel.'

But them God will in every way and altogether pity, and will grant them respite from what has befallen them;

and He will restore them, so as to re-establish the kingdom among them to what it was in the beginning.

'We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is exceedingly proud.' Having very well proclaimed beforehand the return of those of Israel from captivity, and that there would again be a going-up to the ancient form of their rule — that is, of their kingdom — he turns back again to Moab and directs his word against them.

The words, 'We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is exceedingly proud,' are spoken as it were in the person of the holy prophets.

For by these words they concur that God punishes justly, having brought upon them the penalty that was owed and fitting to them.

And they say that they have heard of the pride of Moab, first of all not being ignorant of that most ancient history which the inspired Moses recounts.

For as we said earlier, Balak hired Balaam;

and very many were the things that at various times were done by the arrogance of the Moabites in defiance of the glory of God.

'I have removed her pride.' Since the holy prophets had most clearly confessed both that they had heard of the pride of Moab and that they knew he was exceedingly proud, God answers and says:

that is, I have brought it to pass that Moab, being not merely haughty but having become, as it were, the very thing itself — arrogance incarnate — should be removed from the midst.

For I make war upon the proud, and contend against those who have chosen to think no modest thoughts, but rather are vainly puffed up, and lift their brow on high, and are ignorant of the weakness of their own nature.

And it is written that 'the Lord sets Himself against the proud.'

'Not so is your divination, not so.' 'It was not I who removed your pride,' he says — that is, 'It was I who cut off Moab, yet it was not these things that your own sins foretold to you.'

For the diviners, speaking falsely, kept promising that you would prove superior to the assault of war, and would easily conquer those who withstood you, and would be impregnable to your enemies, and would mock them in their defeat.

But it is not so; far from it indeed.

For the outcome of affairs turned out rather to the contrary, and not according to your hope.

It is therefore altogether grievous and truly harmful to give heed to the words of those who deceive, and to be carried away by the utterances of sorcerers into hopes that will never come to pass.

For in the land of Moab all shall wail aloud;

Moab shall wail aloud — although the divination, that is, the art of the magicians which they had studiously practised, had foretold that she would not wail aloud, but rather would raise a triumphant shout over her perished enemies and dance over those laid low.

'Therefore all,' he says, 'who are in the land of Moab shall wail aloud;'

This too is a city of Moab; and they are signified by this — those who, it seems, had rehearsed for themselves a dirge and a well-measured, tuneful lament over themselves.

'And they shall not be ashamed before the plains of Heshbon;'

'Swallowing up the nations, trample down her vines as far as Jazer.' The word is addressed, it seems, to those very ones who had captured Moab — I mean the Assyrians and the Babylonians — whom He commanded no longer to spare the plains of Heshbon and to burn down Heshbon itself;

and so to deal with Sibmah as well, that even the vines that were in her should mourn.

And to them indeed He says:

'For to you I give command,' He says, 'O destroyers of the nations, and insatiable and most savage beasts to Me, who swallow up nations — trample down her vines as far as Jazer.'

This too is a city of the Moabites.

And again in these words, by 'vines' He names the inhabitants of the Moabites.

For it is customary for the God-inspired Scripture to liken the inhabitants of each city and country to thickets and trees, and indeed to vines.

And indeed concerning Israel it says:

For the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth is the man of Judah, a beloved new plant.

And when He says, 'Trample down her vines,' He shows once more that it was not the work of the hand of the Assyrians to conquer Moab, but that it was God, who is mighty in all things, who brought her adversaries beneath His own feet, granting that His people might prevail over their hand.

You shall by no means join together; wander in the wilderness, you who have been sent forth.

They were forsaken; they crossed over the wilderness. They say that when the Assyrians had invaded, very many of the Moabites fled into the neighbouring and bordering wilderness and were eager to escape notice; yet only with difficulty did they manage it, being altogether few in number.

And it would perhaps have been no hard matter for the Babylonians to hunt even those out, since God let them loose and extended His wrath as far as those men.

But since He chastises with measure, being loving toward mankind, He all but gives command to those who had ravaged Moab not to join the fugitives to the perished, but as it were to let the wilderness wander—that is, to consign to oblivion and to forgo the search for those who had fled together into it.

For this reason, then, He says that the wilderness was made to wander.

You who have been sent forth, He says—you who through My wrath have been sent to seize Moab by force—wander in the wilderness, consign it to oblivion, and forgo the wilderness, for they have crossed over it.

Then in between there is thrown in the phrase, 'They were forsaken,' teaching once again that Moab's people would never have come into these straits, had she not offended in no small measure the God who is mighty in all things.

Heshbon has cast down your trees, and one spoke: In your harvest and in your vintage I will trample down, and all things shall fall, and joy and gladness shall be taken away from your vineyards;

and in your vineyards they shall by no means rejoice;

The prophetic word fashions for us a person weeping over the calamities of the Moabites, and perhaps of Jazer, which had been ravaged above the others.

So He says that the other cities too lament, just as would be fitting for Jazer as well.

By 'vines' and 'trees' He names those who dwell in the cities.

He also enumerates the ravaged cities, Sibmah and Heshbon.

But the throng of the enemy spoke.

'In your harvest and in your vintage,' He says;

and what did it speak? Plainly the words, 'I will trample down, and all things shall fall.'

Joy and gladness shall be taken away from your vineyards;

for the festival-loving Moabite, who dedicated a great many rites to the demons, who spent whole nights at the altars, and who always had sacrificing as his pretext for merriment—

shall wail and weep, and shall be far removed from every delight.

For they shall by no means rejoice;

neither shall they tread out wine in the vats, for it has ceased.

There shall be no fruit in the vines, He says;

for what is born of them shall perish together with them.

And with regard to the vines, if they should be cut down entirely, this saying is true.

But if it should come to pass for us that, as by the force of examples, the word again instructs concerning human affairs, that the offspring shall perish together with their parents, so that not even to the very women with child was any mercy granted by the enemy—

we say that this very thing was suffered in the case of Jerusalem in the war against the Romans.

And indeed the Saviour foretold what was to befall her, saying that she would be encompassed by armies;

and that the woe would fall most of all upon those who were giving birth and those with child in those days.

For I proclaim your sufferings, and I make renowned the calamity that has been brought upon you.

And like some well-tuned lyre I will cry aloud, and I will resound thus, and I will make the song heard afar, like the wall which you dedicated.

For the blessed prophet said at the beginning of the vision:

By night shall the land of Moab perish;

for by night shall the wall of the land of Moab perish.

For the Assyrians and Babylonians seized the whole land without toil.

Therefore, He says, my inward parts shall resound over your calamities like a cithara, and thus I will make your suffering renowned;

just as, in truth, your wall was cast down, which you had dedicated, but for no useful purpose.

For when the wall had fallen of its own accord, what had happened escaped the notice of none of those throughout all the land of the Moabites, or even of those in other cities and regions.

And it shall come to pass, when you are put to shame, that Moab has grown weary at the altars, and she shall go in unto her handmade idols to pray, and she shall by no means be able to deliver herself. And what besides this, He says, shall again come to pass, which shall turn to your shame and disgrace?

For you shall endure vain toils, filling the altars among you with blood, and making the sacrifices unceasing, and offering supplications to the handmade idols.

And you shall obtain nothing that pertains to benefit and salvation.

For they shall not be able to deliver you from the evils that hang over you.

Let those who make them become like unto them, and all who put their trust in them.

False prophets, and tellers of prodigies, and those who put exceedingly great confidence in the evils that come from sorcery.

For they supposed, perhaps, that they would be able to prevail over the hand of the enemy—not so much, as I think, by their skill in tactics, as by the aid of the gods among them.

But they failed of their hope, having summoned lifeless matter to their aid through sacrifices and supplication.

This is the word which the Lord spoke against Moab, when indeed He spoke it. This, He says, is the vision spoken by God against the Moabites;

when indeed He spoke—that is, even before the words that came through me were uttered, He had spoken very many things concerning her, and had held her guilty of countless evils.

For as I said before, the divinely-inspired Moses also makes mention of this nation's perversity, and commanded that they be reckoned among the most abominable.

An Ammonite and a Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord, even to the tenth generation.

She once turned Israel away from love toward God, and persuaded him to worship Beelphegor, being goaded to shamefulness by pleasures, and ensnared unto destruction by the beauty of women.

Therefore the God of all indeed spoke concerning her.

And now too, through me, this word has come to pass concerning her, He says.

And now I say, In three years, as the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be dishonoured, together with all its great wealth, and she shall be left few in number and not honoured. Even now the prophetic word carries us off to the recollection of history.

For the ten tribes of Israel, having departed from Jerusalem, together with the half tribe of Ephraim, dwelt in Samaria;

and they worshipped the golden calves;

Jeroboam the son of Nebat urging them to this, and impiously thrusting them down into it.

Then there too they devised other false forms of worship, each dedicating as God whatever seemed good to him.

Being angered therefore at these things, the Lord of all, inasmuch as His glory had been insulted and the ancestral ordinances trampled underfoot, all but hired the Assyrian Shalmaneser and let him loose upon them; and he subdued the whole land of the Samaritans, settling upon it for three whole years;

and at this same time the land of the Moabites was taken by force.

Therefore even if God spoke long ago, He says, yet even now I say that within the three years of the years of the hireling—that is, of the king of the Assyrians—the glory of Moab shall be dishonoured.

And by these things He means either the kingdom among them, or the greatness of their cities and the multitude of their inhabitants, or perhaps the men of an age fit for war.

And she shall be left, He says, few in number and not honoured—that is, all that is precious among them shall be consumed by the war;

and those who are left over shall be altogether few, and most dishonoured and unmanly, and worthy of no account at all.

It is a fearful thing, therefore, to fall into the hands of the living God;