This part of the prophecy, then, reached its literal fulfilment when an angel of the Lord, appearing in a dream, said to Joseph: "Arise, take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and remain there until I tell you."
Then, indeed, the Lord God the Word himself, present alongside the age of the child, and in the flesh formed for him from the holy Virgin — flesh which was "heavy" by reason of its correspondence to bodily matter, yet again "light" because it was better than our own, and called a "light cloud" because it was constituted not from pleasure's corruption but from the Holy Spirit — sojourns in the land of the Egyptians.
The reason for his sojourn there has this explanation. Since it is recorded that it was in this land first that the error of idol-worship began, and since they were reckoned to be, of all men, the most given to superstition, and were enemies and foes of the people of God, standing at the greatest possible remove from the prophets, it was fitting that the power of God should first come upon them.
For this reason too the word of his evangelical teaching prevailed among the Egyptians more than among all other men. Hence the present prophecy foretells that the Lord will sojourn among them — not that the Egyptians would come into the land of the Jews, nor go to Jerusalem to worship him there, nor become proselytes to the Jews there according to the ordinances given through Moses, nor offer sacrifices at the altar near Jerusalem; but it says none of these things will happen. Rather, the Lord himself will sojourn among the Egyptians, and will count the men worthy of his presence, and will become for them the cause of great blessings.
His sojourn, then, would accomplish these things, which are also actually shown, by their very effects, to have been fulfilled after the manifestation of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Let us consider what these are. The base and wicked demons who formerly inhabited Egypt, lurking for a long age in the carved images, and enslaving the souls of the Egyptians in every deceit of superstition, on perceiving that some strange and divine power was coming upon them, were immediately thrown into confusion, suffering agitation and shaking within themselves; and their heart and their power of understanding were overcome within them, retreating and being conquered by the power that invisibly drove them together and, in the manner of fire, burned them with an ineffable word.
But at that time the demons suffered these things invisibly, at the enfleshed sojourn of our Saviour Jesus Christ into Egypt; but afterward, when the gospel concerning him was now openly proclaimed to the Egyptians, as also to the rest of the nations, his invisible power was present together with his apostles, working invisibly with them and cooperating, and proclaiming through them his pious teaching, urging that the one and only true God alone be worshipped, and drawing away those formerly deceived from the demons.
At this point, then, already among the Egyptians, as also among the rest of the nations, faction and civil war arose: some withdrawing from the error of polytheism and running to the word of Christ, others warring against these in the opposite camp and being goaded on by their own demons, so that brothers were divided from one another, and the dearest of friends went at each other with swords for the sake of Christ's teaching — as the oracle says, "And the Egyptians shall be roused up against the Egyptians, and a man shall fight against his brother, and a man against his neighbour."
And our Saviour himself also confirms this prophetic prediction, saying in the gospels: "Brother shall deliver up brother to death, and father his child, and children shall rise up against their parents and put them to death."
And again: "Do not think that I came to give peace on the earth; I tell you, no, but rather division. For from now on there will be five in one house divided, three against two and two against three; father shall be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
How, indeed, do these words differ from the prophetic utterance concerning the Lord's coming into Egypt, which says that Egyptians would be roused up against Egyptians, and that a man would fight against his brother? And the law of Christ's new covenant was raised up against the law of polytheistic superstition, when the law of the idolatrous nations warred against the teaching of Christ, and the city and commonwealth of the church in Christ rose up against the commonwealths of the unbelieving nations.
For this reason it is said, "city against city, and law against law." And in connection with these things it is possible to observe, even now, all the Egyptians, that is, the idolaters, together with the spirit of idolatry working within them, still being thrown into confusion, and taking much counsel against the teaching of Christ, as though they might extinguish it and blot it out from among men, yet being scattered by God, who said in the prophecy: "And the spirit of the Egyptians shall be troubled within them, and I will scatter their counsel."
And though they make countless inquiries and questionings against us through oracles and divinations, consulting their own gods, and the demons lurking in their images, and the ventriloquists who once had great power among them, they gain nothing more from them.
Wherefore the text says: "They shall inquire of their gods and their images and the ventriloquists." But, it says, those who take refuge in what they mistakenly suppose to be their gods will obtain no help at all; God hands them over to harsh lords and kings above all at that very time when, obeying their own demons and being worked upon by them, they raise up persecutions against the church of God.
Here you will apply your mind and observe in what manner, up until the manifestation of our Saviour Jesus Christ, all Egypt made use of its own native kings and governed itself independently, and the Egyptians lived in self-rule and in freedom; and their power was renowned from a long and ancient age. But from the time when the first Roman Augustus, under whom our Lord was born, subdued Egypt, and Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemies, was captured, they came under the authority of the Romans, under their laws and ordinances, deprived of their former self-rule and freedom — so that in this too the prophetic oracle is verified true: concerning the procurators and governors sent out to the localities, and concerning the rest of the district-rulers, it says, "And I will hand over Egypt into the hands of harsh masters"; and concerning those who administered the government as a whole, what follows next.
In place of this Aquila says: "And a strengthened king shall have authority over them"; and Symmachus: "And a mighty king shall have authority over them." I take this to refer to the kingdom of the Romans, by which, as though bridled and bound in fetters, not only the Egyptians — the most superstitious of all men — but also all other men are able to venture nothing in speaking evil against the church of our Saviour.
After this, there follow, next in order, certain things prophesied that are more obscure and, through their riddling character, require a longer and deeper interpretation by way of figurative exposition — matters which, at leisure, at the appropriate time, will receive their proper exposition, when, God helping, we render our account concerning the promises. From the same.
"Be glad, you thirsty wilderness; let the wilderness rejoice, and blossom as the lily; and the desert places of the Jordan shall blossom and rejoice. And the glory of Lebanon was given to it, and the honour of Carmel; and my people shall see the glory of the Lord, and the majesty of God. Be strong, you slackened hands, and you feeble knees; comfort yourselves, you fainthearted in mind, be strong, fear not; behold, our God renders judgement, and he will render recompense; he himself will come and save us. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear. Then the lame man shall leap as a deer, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be clear; for water has broken forth in the wilderness, and a ravine in a thirsty land; and the waterless place shall become pools, and in the thirsty land there shall be a spring of water."
Here too, expressly, the coming of God is foretold as saving and as the cause of many blessings: healing for the deaf, and recovery of sight for the blind, and moreover the curing of the lame and of those bound in the tongue, is prophesied as coming to pass — things which came to their fulfilment in no other way than through the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ, by whom the eyes of the blind were opened and the deaf received their hearing.
What need is there to speak of how many, palsied, deaf, and lame, received their natural healings even through his disciples, and how countless others, worn down by various diseases and infirmities, were counted worthy of healing and salvation from him, according both to the divinely inspired prediction of the prophecy and to the most truthful testimony of the sacred gospels?
By "wilderness" in this passage, the text hints at the church gathered from the nations, which — being formerly bereft of God — it announces good news to, through the very words in hand; and it says that, among other things, the glory of Lebanon would be given to this wilderness.
Now it is customary to call Jerusalem allegorically "Lebanon," as we shall demonstrate in due course by proofs drawn from divine Scripture. So then, at the coming of God among men, the present prediction teaches that the glory of Lebanon will be given to the wilderness indicated — I mean, to the church gathered from the nations. In place of "and the honour of Carmel," Aquila has: "the pre-eminence of Carmel and of Sharon — they shall see the glory of the Lord."
Symmachus, however, has: "the beauty of Carmel and of the plain — they shall see the glory of the Lord"; and Theodotion: "the loveliness of Carmel and of Sharon — they shall see the glory of the Lord." By these renderings I take the prophecy to hint that it is not Jerusalem, nor Judaea, but the land of the nations that would be counted worthy to attain to the knowledge of God. For Carmel, and the place called Sharon, belonged to nations of other, foreign stock.
These things, then, according to the literal sense. But in a deeper sense also, even to this day, those who were formerly maimed in soul — worshipping wood and stones and the rest of lifeless matter, and earthbound demons and evil spirits, instead of the God of all — and those who are deaf in the ears of their understanding, and lame, and palsied throughout the whole of their life, are, even now, being delivered from all these things and from their other passions and infirmities through the teaching of our Saviour Jesus Christ, being counted worthy of a healing and benefit far greater than any bodily one, and thereby displaying the manifest, divine, and more-than-human power of the coming of the Word of God among men. From the same.
Hear me, Jacob and Israel, whom I call: I am first, and I am for ever, and my hand founded the earth, my right hand established the heaven. And he goes on to say, And now the Lord, the Lord, has sent me, and his Spirit. Here again you have the Lord who is sent and the Lord who sends -- that is, the Father and God of all -- the Lord being, as is usual, named twice. From the same.
Thus says the Lord: What is this bill of divorce of your mother, with which I sent her away? Or to what creditor have I sold you? Behold, you were sold for your sins, and for your iniquities I sent away your mother; because I came, and there was no man, I called, and there was none to obey. Is my hand not strong enough to deliver? Or have I no strength to rescue?
Then, further on in the same prophecy, he says: But I was not disobedient, nor do I contradict. I gave my back to the scourges, and my cheeks to blows; and I did not turn my face away from the shame of spittings.
The Lord himself, by these words clearly confessing his coming to men, convicts the Jewish people, because they will not receive him when he comes, nor obey him when he calls. And, as if defending himself, he teaches that this was the cause of their rejection: for since I came, he says, and there was no man among you, and I called and there was none to obey, therefore, he says, you were sold for your sins -- inasmuch as they of themselves became apostates from my calling, and it was not I who gave you a bill of divorce.
These words are clearly directed to the people of the circumcision, and at the same time they reveal what was dared against him at his passion, where he says: I gave my back to the scourges, and my cheeks to blows, and what follows. This shall receive its fitting interpretation at leisure. From the same.
Thus says the Lord: Because of you my name is blasphemed among the nations; therefore my people shall know in that day that I am he who speaks; I am present as an hour upon the mountains, as the feet of one bringing good tidings of a report of peace, as one bringing good tidings of good things, because I will make your salvation heard, saying, O Zion, your God shall reign. The voice of those who guard you has been lifted up, and together with the voice they shall rejoice, because eye to eye they shall see, when the Lord shall have mercy on Zion. Let the desolate places of Jerusalem break forth together into joy, because the Lord has had mercy on her, and has redeemed Jerusalem, and the Lord shall reveal his holy arm before all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation that comes from our God.
Following these words, joined in one and the same sequence, is the prophecy concerning the passion of Christ, which I shall set forth at leisure. And it is one and the same Lord who, in the passage before this one, said to the Jewish people, you were sold for your sins, and for your iniquities I sent away your mother; because I came, and there was no man; I called, and there was none to obey, who in the words now in hand says to the same people, because of you my name is blasphemed among the nations.
Then, as though he had another people besides them, he adds, therefore my people shall know my name, and he teaches that it is not another, but the very same Lord who spoke through the prophets, who will one day dwell among mankind, saying, I am he, it is I myself who speak, I am present. As for I am present as an hour upon the mountains, as the feet of one bringing good tidings of a report of peace, as one bringing good tidings of good things, I will make your salvation heard, saying, O Zion, your God shall reign, the other translators have rendered this more clearly.
Aquila, on the one hand, says, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of one bringing good tidings, making peace heard, bringing good tidings of good, making salvation heard, saying to Zion, Your God has become king; and Symmachus, saying, How comely upon the mountains are the feet of one bringing good tidings, making peace heard, bringing good tidings of good things, making salvation heard, saying to Zion, Your God has become king. And instead of the voice of those who guard you has been lifted up, and together with the voice they shall rejoice, because eye to eye they shall see, Symmachus has thus translated: the voice of your watchmen -- they have raised their voice, together they shall praise; for they shall see face to face.
These might well be called, in this passage, the watchmen who are the holy apostles of our Savior, who, seeing face to face the one who had been prophesied, raised their voice and proclaimed him to the whole inhabited world. And the apostle knows that the Zion and Jerusalem which brings good tidings in these places are heavenly, as he says: But the Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother.
And you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels in festal assembly. Zion might also be called the Church which has been constituted through Christ in every place upon the earth, and likewise Jerusalem might be called the whole godly commonwealth, which formerly subsisted among the Jews alone, but was turned into desolation because of their impiety, and then again attained renewal for the better through the manifestation of our Savior.
Wherefore he says, Let the desolate places of Jerusalem break forth together into joy, because the Lord has had mercy on her, and has redeemed Jerusalem. And you would not err in calling Zion the soul of every holy and God-loving person, insofar as its manner of life is lifted up on high, having its commonwealth in the heavens and contemplating the things above the world (for the word is interpreted watchtower); and in calling it Jerusalem insofar as it stands firm in stability and calm of the passions -- for the name, when translated, signifies vision of peace.
In accordance with these words, the calling of the nations to the piety of God is most clearly shown through the words, and the Lord God shall reveal his holy arm before all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation that comes from our God. Consider that the arm of God is none other than the Word and Wisdom, and the Lord himself, who is the Christ of God.
This, at any rate, is easy to establish from many passages. You have also, in Exodus, Israel being delivered from bondage under the Egyptians by the arm of God. That very same arm of God, who was manifested as the savior of the ancient people, was to be revealed to all the nations, as a thing formerly hidden -- this the present prophecy signifies. And as for the salvation which it says all the ends of the earth shall see, and which it indicated above, saying, I will make your salvation heard, know that in the Hebrew tongue it is addressed by the name of Jesus. From the same.
Behold, the Lord shall come as fire, and his chariots as a storm. And further on the Lord said: And I know their works and their reasoning; I come to gather all the nations and tongues, and they shall come, and they shall see my glory, and I will leave a sign upon them, and I will send forth from them those who are saved to the nations, to Tarshish, and Put, and Lud, and Meshech, and Tubal, and to Greece, and to the islands afar off, who have not heard my name, nor seen my glory, and they shall declare my works among the nations.
In these words too the coming of the Lord to men is directly shown. And since it is said that he will come as fire, fittingly does our Savior say, I came to cast fire upon the earth, and what will I, if it is already kindled? As for his chariots, you might say they are the holy angels who form his bodyguard and who minister to him, concerning whom it is said, and angels came and ministered to him; and also his holy apostles and disciples, borne upon whom, by divine and invisible power, the Word of God ran through the whole inhabited world.
It might also be said, taken more literally, that fire and chariots are proclaimed together with his coming because of the siege that overtook Jerusalem after the arrival of our Savior -- after which, not long afterward, the temple itself was set on fire and suffered the utmost desolation, while the city was encircled by chariots and armies of war; after which also the things foretold concerning all the nations, in accordance with the prophecy, reached their fulfillment.
Who would not marvel, hearing the Lord say through the prophet, I come to gather all the nations and tongues, when he sees, throughout the whole earth of mankind, through the coming and calling of our Savior Jesus Christ, assemblies of the nations being gathered together in the name of Christ, and the tongues of all nations, in every manner of human speech, calling upon the one God and Lord? And in addition to all this, who, beholding all who have believed in Christ making use of the saving sign as a seal, would not reasonably be astonished, hearing the Lord say long ago, and they shall come, and they shall see my glory, and I will leave a sign upon them?
In part, then, we already now behold with our own eyes the fulfillment of these divine oracles, according to the first coming of our Savior to men; but these things may be perfected also at his second and glorious coming, when all the nations shall see his glory, as he comes from the heavens with power and much glory. And to that time might also be referred the rest of the things indicated in the prophecy, as we shall establish according to the proper argument. Having now gathered together so many testimonies concerning the coming of God to men which was foretold, it would next be fitting to append what manner his prior passage into human life was proclaimed beforehand as being.