以賽亞書註釋 第 1 章 第 18/24 段

Concerning the Master Christ, therefore, He foretells these things also;

for He it is who has filled the world, once bereft of piety, with divine plants; He it is who has restored the corrupted earth; He it is who has freed from their bonds those fettered by sins; He it is who has enlightened with the light of the knowledge of God those who sat in darkness.

To Him, therefore, according to the principle of the economy, the Father says:

'In an acceptable time I heard you, and in a day of salvation I helped you.'

And we find also in the divine Gospels the Master Christ praying in a human manner, and now saying:

'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?' and now:

'Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit'; and:

'Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me'; and elsewhere:

'For there came,' it says, 'a voice out of heaven, saying:

I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.' Then the Lord, teaching the Jews that He offered the prayer according to the economy, said:

'This voice came not because of Me, but because of you, that you might believe.' But if the voice came because of them, the prayer too came because of them.

And these things do not diminish the Godhead of the Only-begotten;

for the account of the economy is plain.

The prophetic word, however, having proclaimed release to those in fetters and the enjoyment of the light to those sitting in darkness, foretells also the grace of the Gospel:

'In all the ways they shall be fed, and in all the paths shall be their pasture.'

For neither, just as He circumscribed the old worship within the temple in Jerusalem, does He likewise confine the new liturgy to one place, but in cities and in fields and in mountains and in every place He offers the most nourishing pasture to the divine sheep.

'They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the burning heat nor the sun smite them, but He that has mercy on them shall comfort them and shall lead them through springs of waters.'

To Israel He threatened the famine of the word and the waterlessness of the clouds;

for 'I will bring,' He says, 'a famine of hearing the word of the Lord'; and again:

'upon it rain.' But here He promises to those who have believed in Him the abundance of divine food and of divine drink, and the ever-flowing supply of the springs of salvation.

'And I will make every mountain a way, and every path a pasture for them.'

By the same words He signified both the ease and the freedom of the pasture.

'Behold, these shall come from afar, and these from the north and from the sea, and others from the land of the Persians.'

For by the Persians He denoted the east, by the sea the west, then the north; and, plainly yet enigmatically, the south;

for this He has called 'from afar.'

For the more southerly regions are unknown to us, since we rather draw near to the more northerly ones.

'Rejoice, O heavens, and let the earth exult; let the mountains break forth into gladness and the hills into righteousness, because the Lord has had mercy on His people and has comforted the lowly of His people.'

It must be observed how here He mentioned neither Israel nor Jacob, but named as 'a people' those whom He gathered together from every quarter and deemed worthy of salvation.

And He called creation again into fellowship of the gladness, since the Lord also said that the hosts of the angels rejoice over one sinner that repents.

'The Lord has forsaken me, and my God has forgotten me.'

'These things, then,' He says, 'shall be after long times, and He who sprang from the Jews according to the flesh shall accomplish them.'

But those who still have this treasure hidden within themselves think they have been forsaken and deprived of My providence.

For by 'Zion' He calls those who dwell in Zion.

'Will a woman forget her child, so as not to have compassion on the offspring of her womb?' By this comparison He showed the tender affection which He bears.

'But even if these things a woman should forget, yet I will not forget you, says the Lord.'

For I do not merely imitate mothers, but I even surpass mothers in tenderheartedness.

'Behold, upon my hands I have portrayed your walls, and you are continually before me.'

He foretells the rebuilding of these, and, like some master-builder, He Himself sketches out the construction of the enclosing walls.

For in place of 'I have portrayed,' Symmachus has rendered 'I have engraved,' Theodotion 'I have delineated,' and Aquila 'I have made exact.'

'And you shall quickly be rebuilt by those by whom you were torn down.'

The king of the Babylonians demolished it, but the king of the Persians ordered it to be rebuilt.

Yet these very Persians, long before, being subject to the Assyrians, had together with them captured the city.

Hence He said that the same people both demolished it and rebuilt it.

'And those who made you desolate shall quickly go forth from you.'

But the causes of their sins were the demons, whom they served, calling them gods.

Therefore He foretells both the cessation of idol-worship and the deliverance from error.

'Lift up your eyes round about and see all your sons; behold, they are gathered together and have come to you.'

'As I live, says the Lord, you shall clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and put them about you as the adornment of a bride.'

The Master confirms the prophecy with an oath, persuading the disobedient that the deed will follow upon the word.

He foretold the return of the captives, addressing the desolation of the city and teaching that it would once more receive back its own adornment;

for those who dwell in a city are what adorn it.

'Because your desolate places, and your ruined places, and your fallen places shall now be too narrow for those who dwell in them, and those who swallowed you up shall be removed far from you.'

'For you shall be far from your enemies, and shall receive the multitude of your inhabitants, so that the place now appearing desolate shall seem too small for those who dwell in it.'

'For your sons, whom you had lost, shall say in your ears:'

'Who has begotten these for me? I was childless and a widow, a stranger, and cast out;'

'where were they?' The word 'cast out' Symmachus interpreted as 'captive';

for it is customary to confine and guard captives.

By 'widowhood' He means the loss of the kingdom, and by 'childlessness' the desolation of the rest of the multitude.

'Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and to the islands I will raise my signal, and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and shall carry your daughters upon their shoulders;'

'and kings shall be your foster-fathers, and their princesses your nurses.'

These things by no means fit those who returned from Babylon;

for neither did their kings nor their princes become foster-fathers and nurses.

Therefore the prophetic word has added, to the things already foretold, those which came to pass after the incarnation of our Saviour.

By His 'signal' He means the sign of the saving Cross;

for having proclaimed this everywhere, the divine apostles brought to the Master not only those who believed from among the nations, but also those from among the Jews.

And all, even to this very day, hasten together to Jerusalem, longing to behold the thrice-desired places of the Cross, the Resurrection, and the Ascension.

Of this Church, then, gathered together out of all land and sea, kings became foster-fathers and princes nurses, the ones offering firstfruits and the others tithes.

And these same kings even allotted provision to those who were consecrated to the God of all.

And what follows teaches these things yet more clearly:

'They shall bow down to you upon the face of the earth, and shall lick the dust of your feet, and you shall know that I am the Lord, and those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.'

These things we see coming to pass every single day;

for in all the churches, pressing their foreheads to the ground and bringing their lips to the thresholds, they make manifest what honour they hold toward God.

Then He teaches how He imparted salvation to those who believed, and how, having freed them from the slavery of the devil, He deemed them worthy of freedom:

'Shall anyone take spoils from a giant? And if one takes captives unjustly, shall he be saved?' By 'giant' He means the devil, as a tyrant.

This one, having enslaved us, fashioned for himself a suit of armour of his own;

for through our own members he wars against us.

But he took us captive unjustly, laying no charge of injustice against us.

'If anyone takes the giant captive, he shall receive the spoils;'

'but taking from the strong one, shall he be saved? Yet I will judge your cause, and I will deliver your sons.'

He who has overcome the giant, He says, is able to despoil him and strip him of his armour.

But this is not easy for everyone to accomplish;

'yet I alone will easily overthrow him and save those who are unjustly held by him.'

These things the Lord also said in the divine Gospels:

'Unless one enters the house of the strong man and binds the strong man, how shall he plunder the vessels of the strong man? And those who afflict you shall eat their own flesh, and shall drink their own blood as new wine, and shall be made drunk.'

For having fallen from their former dominion, the demons, no longer able to harm men as before, devour themselves, as having fallen from tyranny through their own folly.

For having nailed the Saviour to the cross, they were destroyed by the very weapons which they themselves had prepared.

'And all flesh shall know that I am the Lord who has delivered you and taken hold of your strength, O Jacob.'

'And when this has come to pass, my providence shall be manifest to all men, and all shall learn my lordship.'

'Taking hold of your strength, O Jacob'—thus Symmachus interpreted it:

'And all flesh shall know that I am the Lord who saves you, and He who redeems you, the mighty one of Jacob;'

and likewise also Theodotion and Aquila.

Those who had become the spoils of the devil He snatched away and deemed worthy of salvation.

'Therefore all shall know,' He says, 'that I have wrought these things, the mighty one of Jacob, who led forth the descendants of Jacob out of Egypt, who divided the Red Sea, who wrought the ten thousand wonders.'

'For I am,' He says, 'God the first, and unto the things that come I am the same. Him let us praise;'

for He it is who deemed us worthy of salvation, He who freed us from our former error, He who promised us also the kingdom of the heavens, which may it be ours to enjoy by the grace of Him who has saved us, to whom belongs glory unto the ages of ages.

VOLUME XVIII. Thus says the Lord:

'What is the bill of divorcement of your mother, by which I sent her away?' He foretells the final siege and the last desolation of the temple, which they endured when the Romans marched against them.

And they were utterly stripped of the divine care, having crucified the Master.

He again employs personification, and calls Himself a husband, the city a wife, and them sons no longer of Himself but of her;

and He names it 'a bill of divorcement,' which most people are accustomed to call a 'repudium' (writ of repudiation).

'Search,' He says, 'and learn the cause of the separation.'

'Or to whom, being in debt, have I sold you? Was it that, owing a debt, I gave you away—which some are accustomed to do, being unable to pay it off from elsewhere?' Having said these things by way of question, He Himself teaches the causes:

'Behold, for your sins you were sold, and for your iniquities I sent your mother away.'

But what you have now dared to do admits of no pardon; it is beyond remedy and incurable.

For I no longer wrought through the prophets only, but even taking upon Myself the form of a servant I lived My life among you as a man, and though I often called and exhorted you, I did not persuade you.

The narrative of the divine Gospels also bears witness to these things.

For it says: Jesus cried out and said,

If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink; and again,

Thus, then, the prophetic word has taught us that their madness against the Master brought upon them the utmost and total destruction.

Then again, in the form of a question:

Is My hand not strong enough to deliver? or have I not power to rescue? You suppose, He says, that I was defeated by the enemy through weakness? It is impossible for anyone to fail to see how easy and effortless it was for Me to render you stronger than them all. Then He reminds them of the things done by Him:

Behold, at My rebuke I will make the sea a desert, and I will make the rivers a wilderness; and their fish shall be dried up because there is no water, and they shall perish in thirst.

But Symmachus has rendered these things as already having taken place:

Behold, at My reproof I dried up the sea, I made the rivers a wilderness, and their fish rotted because there was no water. Now the God of all did these things when He delivered them from the bondage of the Egyptians;

for at that time He divided the Red Sea and cut through the river Jordan, and He displayed dead the fish found in the passage, since they had been stripped of the waters that nourished them.

And if these things be understood, according to the Seventy, as of a future time also, it does no harm to the sense;

for He teaches from the greater things that He will be able to do the lesser also;

It is easy for Me, He says, both to dry up the sea and to make the streams of the rivers vanish; but far easier than these was it to destroy the army that came against you.

I will clothe the heaven with darkness, and I will make its covering as sackcloth.

This He has both done and will do.

He did it when He was crucified;

for at the ninth hour darkness came over the whole world; and He will do this again at the time of the consummation:

For it says: The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give its light. Thus, having shown His power through these things, He teaches the reason for which He Himself did not defend Himself:

The Lord, the Lord, gives Me the tongue of instruction, that I may know when it is fitting to speak a word; He appointed Me to understand betimes, betimes He set for Me an ear to hear; and the instruction of the Lord opens My ears.

These things the Master Christ speaks after the manner of men.

And we find many such things in the divine Gospels also;

for it says: Jesus advanced in stature and in wisdom and in grace with God and men. By 'betimes' [in the morning] He means the youthfulness of His age;

and this the prophet had taught earlier as well, for having foretold the birth from the virgin he added:

Before the child knows good or evil, he refuses evil to choose the good; and the evangelist likewise:

The child, it says, grew and waxed strong in spirit, and the grace of God was upon Him. But as for the words,

The instruction of the Lord opens My ears — I think this was said not concerning Himself but concerning the disciples who had believed on Him;

for He calls His hearers His ears, those to whom He brought the divine words, to whom He said, as we learn from the sacred Gospels:

He who has ears to hear, let him hear. But I do not disobey, neither do I contradict.

For He gave Himself up to those who came against Him, saying:

I am He whom you seek. I gave My back to scourges, and My cheeks to blows, and I did not turn away My face from the shame of spittings.

All these things the narrative of the divine Gospels teaches.

For the high priest's servant struck Him on the cheek, and others buffeted Him, saying:

Prophesy to us, O Christ, who is it that struck You? And others spat in His face; and Pilate, having scourged Him, delivered Him to be crucified.

All these things He foretells through the prophecy, teaching His own longsuffering.

And the Lord became My helper.

These things also He said after the manner of men;

for it belongs to human virtue to have philosophy and endurance, and indeed hope set upon the righteous Judge.

Who shall harm Me? This too the Lord said in the sacred Gospels:

I honour My Father, and you dishonour Me.

I do not seek My own glory;

there is One who seeks and judges; and in another place He said to them:

I have shown you many good works from My Father;

for which of them do you stone Me? Thus the prophetic oracles resemble the Gospel sayings.

Behold, all you shall grow old as a garment, and the moth shall devour you.

For the moth, born of the garments, consumes them; and sin, born of us, destroys those who begot it.

Who among you is he that fears the Lord? Let him hearken to the voice of His Servant.

Again He names Himself a Servant, as a man;

for being in the form of God He took the form of a servant.

So also in the divine Gospels He says that He received a commandment what He should say and what He should speak.

Those who walk in darkness, and there is no light for them.

For indeed, though the light had risen, they themselves loved the darkness.

Trust in the name of the Lord, and stay yourselves upon your God.

If in truth, He says, you have a sincere and genuine hope toward God, let Him support and establish you.

Behold, all you kindle a fire and feed a flame.

You draw upon yourselves the Roman fire as well, and you prepare the flame of Gehenna to prevail over you.

Walk in the light of your fire and in the flame which you have kindled.

Since you did not receive My light, receive the fire of the enemy, to which you yourselves have supplied the fuel.

And He showed the cause of these evils and their perpetual continuance:

you who pursue righteousness and seek the Lord.

Having here left the unbelievers behind, He addresses His words to those who have believed;

for these He calls lovers of both God and righteousness.

And He consoles them, since they are few, and bids them look to their forefathers, and reminds them of Abraham and Sarah and of the many myriads that sprang from them.

This too He did in the divine Gospels:

For it says: Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So also here.

Look to the solid rock from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.

By 'solid rock' he names the old age of Abraham, and Sarah he calls not a pit but a hole of a pit because of her barrenness [dryness];

for it says: It had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So also the divine Apostle said:

Who against hope believed in hope, that he should become the father of many nations — against hope because of his old age and the nature of Sarah (for she was barren), yet in hope because of the divine promise.

He considered not his own body now dead, being about a hundred years old, nor yet the deadness of Sarah's womb;

but concerning the promise of God he wavered not in unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what He had promised He was able also to perform. So here too, when the prophetic word has said:

Look unto the solid rock from which ye were hewn, and unto the hole of the pit from which ye were digged, it has made the meaning clearer by what follows:

Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bore you in travail; for he was but one, and I called him, and blessed him, and loved him, and multiplied him.

Nothing proved a hindrance to My power:

neither that the one called was but a single man, nor the old age that lay upon him, nor the natural weakness of Sarah;

but the race was increased as I willed.

Neither, therefore, do you disbelieve;

for though you are but few in number, I will make you more than any number can reckon.

And now I will comfort thee, O Zion, and I will comfort all her desert places, and I will make all her desert places like a garden of delight, and the parts toward the west like the garden of the Lord.

Not the inhabited places but the desolate, nor the parts toward the east but those lying toward the west.

And they who have seen the city with their own eyes know that the temple of the Jews lay toward the east of the city, but the cross and the resurrection toward the west.

And these very places also happened of old to be outside the walls;

and the divine Apostle is witness, saying:

Let us therefore go forth unto Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. He foretells, then:

As many as were the desolate places of the city, and those situated toward the west, these shall become like unto the garden of God;

for these in truth possess the tree of life.

Joy and gladness shall they find therein, thanksgiving and the voice of praise.

And these things we see fulfilled on this very day;

for instead of the smoke and the savour of burnt offerings and the worship according to the law—which the Lord of all took no pleasure in even of old—night and day Zion sends up hymns to the God of all;

for it is filled with those who sing His praise.

Hear me, hear me, O my people; and ye kings, give ear unto me: for a law shall go forth from me, and my judgment for a light of the nations.

And these things He prophesies to the new people, and He makes plain the multitude of kings;

for He speaks to many, and not to one.

My righteousness draws near speedily, and my salvation shall go forth as a light, and in my arm shall the nations hope;

the isles shall wait for me, and on my arm shall they hope.

By 'arm' He means His power;

and that leather-workers should be set as teachers over philosophers and orators—that through twelve men the whole inhabited world should be tilled, and that through men so few in number the whole earth and sea should be filled with the divine proclamation.

Lift up your eyes to heaven, and look upon the earth beneath, for the heaven was made firm as smoke, and the earth shall grow old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall perish in like manner as these.

Both from heaven and from earth, both from the things above and from the things below, learn thoroughly My power.

For with great ease I both brought these things into being, and again I shall make them vanish.

But my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not fail.

This too the Lord said in the holy Gospels:

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Hear me, ye that know judgment, my people, in whose heart is my law.

He still discourses with those who have believed on Him, exhorting them to keep the law which they received.

Of this He made mention a little before also;

For a law, He said, shall go forth from me, and my judgment for a light of the nations. So too in the holy Gospels the Lord said:

Lay ye up these words in your mind. Fear not the reproach of men, and be not overcome by their reviling.

For as a garment they shall be consumed by time, and as wool they shall be devoured by the moth; but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

These things too the Lord said in the divine Gospels:

Fear not them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; and again:

Therefore fear them not; and in another place:

Blessed are ye, when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and speak all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake;

rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in the heavens. So here too the prophetic word has shown those who reproach and revile the heralds of the truth to be like garments and wool consumed by the moth, but the salvation and righteousness of those who are reproached to be boundless and imperishable.

Here, having concluded the prophecy concerning the new people, he transfers his discourse to another subject, and foretells to Jerusalem the return from Babylon.

One must, however, understand that these and those things were not proclaimed at one and the same time, but sometimes the one and sometimes the other, and afterwards, being compiled together, they became one book.

Awake, awake, O Jerusalem, and put on the strength of thine arm.

As to one fallen and prostrate He addresses these words, and He exhorts her to take up again her former power.

Awake as in the beginning of days, as a generation of old.

Be renewed, He says, and become again such as thou wast, splendid and admired of all.

Art thou not she that crushed the arrogance, that laid low the dragon? Some of the copies, instead of 'she that crushed the arrogance,'

have 'she that hewed out a breadth'; and thus also Theodotion rendered it; but Aquila:

Art thou not the very one that hewed out the onrush? For he transferred the discourse from the city to the people.

And by 'arrogance' and 'onrush' and 'dragon' he means Pharaoh.

And if anyone should understand it of Sennacherib also, he would not miss the truth;

'I know not the Lord, and Israel I will not send away'; and this one too again cried out in his frenzy:

Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee concerning Him, that He shall deliver Israel out of my hand.

Yet nevertheless both that one and this one He delivered up to punishment.

And 'the breadth' likewise signifies the arrogance;

for the same prophet also said, in the person of God, concerning the Assyrian:

I will visit upon the great mind, the king of the Assyrians. Art thou not she that laid waste the sea, the multitude of the water of the deep? By 'sea' he means the multitude of the Egyptians.

But if anyone should wish that the Assyrians also were so named, the interpretation is not far from the truth.

She that made the depths of the sea a way of passage for the ransomed and the redeemed? He said these things concerning the Red Sea, which being divided in two, Israel enjoyed salvation.

For by the Lord shall they be brought back, and shall come to Zion with joy and everlasting gladness;

for upon their head shall be praise, and gladness shall take hold of them; pain and sorrow and sighing are fled away.

And he has foreshown both the return and the exultation and gladness that shall take hold of those who believe, after the incarnation of our Saviour.

For from those who have genuinely believed on Him pain and sorrow and sighing have fled away.

Then, from the character of the Person, He instils courage.

I am, I am He that comforts thee, He who wrought those former wonders, who delivered Pharaoh with his host to the sea, who with a single angel struck down the many myriads of the Assyrians.

Then He reminds her of her noble lineage, and exhorts her to take to mind the divine care, and to cast away fear;

Know who you were, that you feared a mortal man and the son of man, who were withered like grass, and forgot the God who made you, who made the heaven and laid the foundations of the earth; and you feared continually all the days the face of the wrath of him who afflicted you, in the manner that he purposed to take you away.

You, he says, made yourself an ally to your enemies and fulfilled their aim, dreading them but forgetting me, who am the Maker of all things, from whom you have received countless pledges of my power.

And you feared a mortal and corruptible man, but did not look to your own worth, nor did you seek my aid.

And now, where is the wrath of him who afflicted you? For when you are being saved, it shall not stand nor tarry.

For to you I will hold out salvation, but him I will deliver over to utter destruction.

And he shall not put to death unto corruption.

For I will not allow you to be handed over to complete punishment, but I will strike and I will heal.

And his bread shall not fail.

For I am the Lord your God who stirs up the sea and makes its waves to roar; the Lord of Sabaoth is my name.

"His bread shall not fail": in the version of the Seventy it is set down with an asterisk.

And the word signifies that even in the very captivity they enjoyed the divine care, God abundantly supplying their needs.

For I, he says, both stir up the sea and rouse the waves.

And he who does these things says: I will also churn up the sea of the Babylonians and raise against them the waves of the enemy.

I will put my words in your mouth.

By deeds I will teach you the truth of the words.

And under the shadow of my hand I will shelter you, with which I established the heaven and laid the foundations of the earth, and I will say to Sion: