Commentary on Isaiah, Discourses 1–19
Commentary on Isaiah, Discourses 1–19
continued
Discourse 18
1 As one who has seen some of the things that will be at times in the land of the Jews. And now the prophet makes the narration to us. But I say that we must again call to mind the history, upon which his word came. For thus the meaning of the things set forth will be clear as in a mirror to those who read. Therefore, when Jechoniah the son of Eliakim was reigning over the land of the Jews; then Israel having much inclined toward apostasy from God, and being devoted to the worship of idols; and greatly provoking against itself the God of all; very many were the words to them through the voice of Jeremiah calling them to repentance, and advising them very prudently, to wipe away the blame from having gone astray, but rather to thrust off the charges of extreme impiety by turning to what is better, and returning to the truth. But they were hard and unadmonishable, and shaking off the words of the holy prophets, they prepared them to experience events. Therefore, God, who is all-powerful, being sharpened against them, raised up Nebuchadnezzar, who both took Judea, and having burned down the cities and villages in it, he also appointed Zedekiah. And when he too rebelled, the Assyrian, being grieved, campaigned again against Jerusalem; and indeed, having taken it, and having burned down the divine temple itself, he returned to his own land.
2 Then indeed, therefore, those who were left behind, and saved, and able to escape the sword of the Babylonians, went down with their whole households into Egypt; although God did not permit them to do this, but said most clearly through the voice of Jeremiah: Do not go down to Egypt. But since they remained no less disobedient, they perished in Egypt. For Nebuchadnezzar took it also, and along with those from Israel he destroyed the Egyptians. This, then, is the cause and occasion of the vision, and as it were, the whole circumstance. But it is necessary, I think, for us to go through each point, as far as possible. In affliction, and in distress a lion, and a lion's cub from there, and asps and the offspring of flying asps, who carried their wealth on donkeys and camels to a nation that will not profit them for help, but for shame, and reproach. Will the Egyptians help you with vain and empty things? Announce to them, that your comfort is in vain. this. The divine Jesus, that is, the son of Nave, bequeathed the land of the promise to those of the blood of Israel. They say that the tribe of Judah especially was allotted the parts of the land of the Jews toward the east and the south, with the desert lying beside them, which transports those who wish to the land of the Egyptians. Therefore, in a time of affliction and distress, that is, when Nebuchadnezzar was besieging, pressing upon, and oppressing the cities of Judea:
3 a lion and a lion's cub from there. And perhaps he calls lions those who were allotted to lead, and who were most powerful, and were in weaknesses against the others that were not small. And cubs, perhaps, those from them; and again, an asp and offspring of asps, others who were bitter and venomous, and reared in unmitigated evil. And if he should say, of flying ones, you will understand those who proceed easily and swiftly to anything whatsoever that is out of place. Confessedly all are wicked and exceedingly bitter who have departed from the love for God, and who say to the wood, 'You are my father,' and to the stone, 'You have begotten me;' and who attach reverence to the works of their own hands; these therefore, by donkeys and camels, were carrying away the wealth that remained to them to a nation that will not help them for assistance, but for shame and reproach. For the thing was completely unprofitable to them, and the exhortation became vain, that is, what they thought to be a comfort to them. For they perished along with, as I said, those of the Egyptians who inhabit the country, since Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed it by force. Therefore, it is a terrible thing to offend God, even if he brings wrath upon some. For every thought of theirs is rash. But He will save the whole; in no way those against whom it should happen. "For who will turn back the high hand? according to what is written.
4 Now therefore sit down and write these things on a tablet, and in a book, that these things shall be for days of times, and forever. That it is a disobedient people, false sons, who did not wish to hear the law of God; who say to the prophets, 'Do not report to us,' and to those who see visions, 'Do not speak to us, but speak to us and report to us another deceit, and turn us away from this way; take from us this path, and take from us the oracle of the Holy One of Israel.' Since the events were to happen at the proper times, he commanded them to be written, and he orders them to be noted down. For it will happen, he says, in days of times; and they will be deemed worthy of remembrance forever. And the word is true. For there will always be characteristics of prophets, even until the very consummation of the present age. 'Therefore, one must note it down,' he says, 'for they are a disobedient people.' Indeed, the matter will be for their benefit. For if they should disobey the holy prophets who would be at that time, it is very likely that they would be shamed by the fact that these things were foretold also through you.
5 But he calls them false, as I think, again, because they did not keep for God what is genuine in regard to piety, but falsified the promise which they had made at the times when God, who rules over all of us, was defining laws for them through Moses on Mount Sinai. For we shall find that they clearly said, 'All that the Lord God has said, we will do, and we will hear.' Therefore, when the law enjoined and said, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. And you shall not make for yourself an idol," they made the commandment of no account; for they have worshipped idols. For this reason he very rightly calls them false sons. And somewhere David also sings and says, "The enemies of the Lord have lied to him; and indeed also as from the person of Christ, "Alien sons," he says, "have lied to me. But the cause of such a disease for them was that they neither deemed the law worthy of any respect, but also dishonored the very words of the holy prophets. And this he teaches, saying, 'Who did not wish to hear the law of God; who say to the prophets, "Do not report to us," and to those who see visions' they see: Do not speak to us, speak other things to us, and announce to us another delusion, and turn us away from this way, and take away from us the oracle of the Holy One of Israel.
6 For against many and very many holy prophets, bitter men rose up, shouting and saying these things, those from Israel. One could see it very clearly, when Jeremiah was exhorting them, "do not go down to Egypt," to this they themselves said falsely, "The Lord has not sent you, but the son of Neriah sets you against us," and so on. Because you have disobeyed these words, and hoped in falsehood, and because you murmured, and trusted in this word; therefore this sin will be to you like a wall falling immediately of a strong city that has been captured, whose fall has immediately come; and its fall will be like the shattering of an earthenware vessel, from pottery into fine pieces so that you cannot find among them a sherd in which you might carry fire, and in which you might draw a little water. That in every way and altogether it will result for them in a very difficult end to choose to disobey the admonitions of the holy prophets; and to place their hope in falsehood, and to attempt to thoughtlessly hold fast to what comes into their mind, he attempts to teach. For since you have rebuked the words of the prophets, calling them a delusion, and saying impiously: "Take away from us the oracle of the Lord," for this very reason this sin will fall upon us like the wall of a captured city, and this immediately, that is, not in the distant future;
7 and I speak of a city so shattered, as if even an earthenware vessel were to be broken into fine pieces, so that each of the fragments is completely useless, so that no one can carry fire anywhere in it, nor indeed gather a small collection of water. And through these things he intimates, that so great a punishment will come upon those who have disobeyed and disaster will leap upon them, as to bring them down to the utmost misery. And that there is found among them absolutely no one who has remained outside of reaching the very end of evils. Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel: When you turn and groan, then you will be saved, and you will know where you were, because you trusted in vain things. Having threatened them with the utmost punishment of all, and having usefully terrified them beforehand with the terrors of things to come, he immediately shows both the cause of His wrath itself, and the way of salvation. For the Creator is good and loves mankind, and as he himself somewhere says through the voice of Ezekiel, "He does not desire the death of him who dies, as much as that he should turn from his wicked way, and live. Therefore Israel is punished as having completely fled from the love of God, and having been added to the worship of idols, yet he allows one who chooses to repent, to be brought out of evil.
8 For when, he says, you turn away as from a corrupt and defiled way, I mean, from the necessity of worshipping creation, and of offering reverence to wood and stone, then you will be saved, and in addition to this you will learn then what state of mind you were in, or rather, of ignorance, trusting in vain things. For if they are not able to help themselves, how could they grant assistance to others? For what is more inert than an idol? For they are lifeless matter, and nothing else; the gods of those who are led astray. Your strength became vain, and you were not willing to hear. but you said: "We will flee on horses; for this reason you will flee, "and we will be on swift riders; for this reason those who pursue you will be swift. At the voice of one, a thousand will flee, and at the voice of many, many will flee, until you are left like a mast on a mountain, and as one bearing a standard on a hill. For although through experience you have found it unprofitable, the hope, I say, in those thought to be gods, and seeing their strength to be vain, you have remained no less disobedient, he says. For hearing not to go down into Egypt, but to honor with faith the one promising to save, you were not willing to hear, but you said, "We will flee on horses, and we will be on swift riders.
9 For you thought, that it is sufficient for your salvation to flee from Judaea. But Light, he says, will be those who pursue you, that is, winged and swift, and so terrible and fearful in your eyes, and to this point of cowardice will the mind of the disobedient go, that when only one of the enemy shouts, a thousand will be turned to flight. And if indeed even five should overtake the phalanx of the Jews, many will flee; and they will endure their suffering so conspicuously, as to become a spectacle, and by no one at all unknown, but seen just as if one were to raise a mast upon a mountain, or even a banner on a hill. He says a banner and a mast are a piece of wood raised on the hills or mounds bearing certain signs, by which those chosen to lead signify to the armies either that they have conquered, and that the affairs of battle are going well for them perhaps, or that they should gather to them, in order that they might hear some of the holy things. And again God will wait to have compassion on you; and for this reason he will be exalted to have mercy on you, because the Lord your God is a judge. And where will you leave your glory? Again he has kept hope for those of Israel. For the remnant has been saved.
10 For not root and branch, he says, will the beloved go to destruction, nor will God forget to have compassion, as the blessed David says, but his name will be glorified and exalted, when he has mercy on you. But you will say, that ‘And yet how was it not the part of a good person to not inflict punishment at all? But it is consequent to understand that, in addition to being good, he is also a judge. And it is the work of one who judges rightly and impartially to measure out punishments in proportion to the faults of each. And it is again the part of a good person to also refashion with a gentle nod for the better those who have been punished. But you, he says, where will you leave your glory? But instead of, you will leave, it says, it will be left. For at times the divinely-inspired Scripture is indifferent about the words. Therefore it reproaches them because they have made of no account their own glory, which is to be and to be called of God, for they were his inheritance. For they have abandoned it, falling into what is more shameful, and worshiping the works of their own hands, and disobeying the holy prophets, and despising even salvation from God itself, and having honored a false and senseless hope placed in men. For they have gone down, as I said, into that of the Egyptians.
11 Blessed are all they that abide in him, because a holy people will dwell in Zion, and Jerusalem wept with weeping: Have mercy on me. He will have mercy on you; when he saw the voice of your cry, he heard you. Having named the Savior God of all the glory of Israel, he shows that not willing to depart from him, but rather to be attached to him through obedience and submission in everything whatsoever, renders them in every way and altogether blessed. And that at the time of the coming of our Savior, many of the blood of Abraham will repent, and being justified by faith, and freed from all sin , they will be enriched with sanctification through the Spirit, he teaches by saying, that a holy people will dwell in Zion. For with weeping, he says, Jerusalem wept, Have mercy on me. And since the God of all knows to be eager for philanthropy and most ready to pity, He will have mercy on you, he says, and he will be an observer of your cry; for at the same time he is seen repenting, and he has without delay granted the grace of forgetting injuries. Therefore, as far as it depended on the will of the Master of all, all would have been saved through faith in Christ. But since they did not accept the Redeemer, for this reason they have been given over to destruction. For they themselves chose this rather.
12 And the Lord will give you the bread of affliction and scant water, and those who lead you astray will no longer approach you; for your eyes will see those who lead you astray, and your ears will hear the words of those who led you astray from behind, who say: This is the way, let us walk in it, whether to the right, or to the left. Our Lord Jesus Christ has become for us the power of the bread of life. For he said clearly: "I am the bread that came down from heaven, and gives life to the world. But let it be and water, not sensible and material, but rather divine and spiritual. For it is called a river of peace, and a torrent of delight, and we say this as the blessed David sings and says to God the Father concerning those justified in faith: that "With you is the fountain of life, and you will give them to drink of the torrent of your delight. Christ, therefore, is the life-giving bread and water; but he is found with sweat, and with labor. For indeed, the great and excellent good things would not become attainable to those who recline and live in luxury, but if to those who are accustomed to regard as nothing the sweats and labors for this very thing he so sought to learn the mystery of Christ. And the divine David singing and saying:
13 "If I go up on the couch of my bed, if I give sleep to my eyes, and slumber to my eyelids, and rest to my temples, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the God of Jacob. Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah, we found it in the fields of the wood. For Emmanuel was born in Bethlehem, which is Ephrathah. The God of all therefore promises to those from Israel returning to him to give bread of affliction, and scant water, that is, he will grant the life in Christ and the knowledge concerning him, which anyone might gather and lock away in the treasuries of his own mind, not reclining into luxuries, not having a dissolute conduct of life, nor indeed walking the wide and spacious road, but rather entering through the narrow gate that leads to life. Therefore, he says, if you should take this bread, then you will also be secure, not easily led into error, nor readily carried away by the words of those who deceive. For you will see them, and you will hear their words. For formerly, being unable to discern the things from them, he was placed on a level with those who do not see at all, nor indeed hear the words of those accustomed to deceive; but having taken the bread you will surely see them, and you will understand very well what sort of character they have; how they simply differ, and say:
14 This is the way, let us walk in it, whether to the right, or to the left; for there was no distinction of the one who is naturally unjust and of the one who is not so, but, as it were, the words of all carried one away unreflectingly to anything whatsoever. And you will remove the idols covered with silver, and covered with gold; you will make them fine, and winnow them as the water of a menstruous woman, and you will cast them out as dung. It would be fitting, I think, for this also to be accomplished, for both those called from the nations through faith to the knowledge of truth, and also for those of the blood of Israel. It does no harm to apply the saying also to those who come from Hellenic error, "The Lord will give you bread of affliction and scant water; and those who lead you astray will no longer come near you. The wretched Jews had wicked teachers, I mean the Scribes and Pharisees, who wished to carry them off to anything whatsoever that seemed good to them, leading them away from the commandment of Moses, and persuading them to heed the teachings and commandments of men. And besides these things, Israel was condemned as having gone into such madness as to choose to worship lifeless idols.
15 But the children of the Hellenes had unholy teachers, who, having a sensual and demonic wisdom, proclaimed to the world a countless crowd of demons, and to worship the creation, rather than the creator. So then, having received the bread of life and the life-giving water, both these and those were freed from their ancient teachers, or rather from those who led them astray, and having condemned the deceit they took away the idols. For they have been justified through faith, having all but said farewell to Satan and the unclean spirits, and loathing and fleeing those formerly considered high among them, I mean the falsely-named gods, as something utterly hated and ending in extreme impurity. For what could be more abominable than dung and the water of a menstruous woman? Then there will be rain for the to the seed of your land, and the bread of the produce of your land will be abundance and rich. And your cattle will be fed on that day in a fat and spacious place. Your bulls and your oxen and those who work the land will eat mixed chaff with winnowed barley. The saying is fashioned as from those who are accustomed to farm, who whenever they are enriched by the abundant supply of waters poured down from above and from heaven, then they certainly have much fruitfulness, and for a life-giving breadth, and they cut the grass itself from the field for the cattle;
16 but the meaning of the things set forth is again transformed from sensible things into a spiritual contemplation. For when, he says, the bread of affliction and the scant water should be given to you by God, when you see those who deceive you, and turn your mind away from them, when you take away the idols, and receive the illumination of the true knowledge of God, then you will also be in spiritual fruitfulness. For there will be rain for the seed of your land. And by rain he means the spiritual comfort through the Spirit, which enriches the hearts of those who worship God, and indeed makes them fruitful. For David sings concerning those justified in the faith in Christ: "You will set apart, O God, a willing rain for your inheritance," that is, the evangelical and saving proclamation, and the comfort through the Holy Spirit, as I said. And somewhere the prophet Isaiah also said, as from the person of God, concerning those of Israel, which was a vineyard: And I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it. Therefore there will be rain, he says, for the seed of your land. But also the bread of the produce of your land will be abundance and rich, that is, the fruit of your works will be for a benefit. For it will be brought to fruition, and will be fat and much. For Malachi the prophet addressed those of Israel who had apostatized, saying:
17 "Because your calf, Samaria, was a deceiver, because they sowed what is wind-blasted, and their ruin shall receive them. A handful having no strength to make flour. But again another of the saints rebukes some and says: And you did not remember the Lord your helper; for this reason you will plant an unfaithful plant. For the fruit of the unholy is fruitless, and their labors are useless, and the outcome of their undertakings has nothing beneficial. Yet indeed the fruits are dear to God, for which the divine Paul very rightly prays, saying: "May the God of righteousness increase your seed and multiply the produce of your righteousness. And to these things the prophet adds, that the cattle also will be allotted a fat and spacious place; and by cattle I think he perhaps means those of little understanding, and the more simple, who are slow in mind, but having been once called to the knowledge of God through faith will find spiritual food, and will be allotted to a fat place, that is, the divinely inspired Scripture, which is truly spaciousness. For it is broad and great and running toward piety. But the bulls, or the oxen that work the land, he says will eat mixed chaff with winnowed barley, that is, they will be in spiritual abundance. And being filled with solid teachings they will work the land. And by bulls, as I think, he means in these things those who minister the divine proclamation and preach the gospel with much power.
18 And the all-wise Paul will again confirm this for us, having understood the legal command spiritually. For he said, that "It is written, You shall not muzzle an ox while it is threshing. And he adds, "Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Or does he say it entirely for our sake? Therefore as from the best food of calves he shapes spiritual things, and allows us to understand, that for the chosen, and those who render the worshipers of Christ as a kind of fruitful earth, the all-good and solid food will be set before them. For it was necessary, it was necessary for the leaders of the peoples to have first enjoyed the good things through the spirit, so that they might be able to benefit the ones yoked under - And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every lofty hill, flowing water in that day, when many shall perish, and when towers shall fall. And you will understand this spiritually. For he calls the holy evangelists and apostles hills and mountains, and all the others who after them have become caretakers of the holy Churches, and celebrants of the divine mysteries, who think of nothing earthly, but are as if lifted up on high. For it is written that the mighty ones of God of the earth have been greatly exalted, and they pour forth the divine and heavenly word from their own mind as from a spring, having themselves been first enriched from above with grace.
19 And this water is abundant, for the mountains are many, and the hills just as many, and the stream from them is sweet and plentiful everywhere. But in that day, he says, this also shall be. And he again calls the time of the coming of our Savior "a day"; in which those of whom the account speaks were revealed, but many have perished and towers have been cast down, that is, the leaders of the Jews, both Scribes and Pharisees. For though they were exalted above all others through the glory of the priesthood, and the dignity of leadership, they have acted impiously toward Christ, and have killed the one who made them high, and in addition to this have led astray the peoples under their hand. And other towers have also fallen, the arrogant hordes of unholy spirits. And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, in the day when the Lord shall heal the affliction of his people, and he shall heal the pain of your wound. Some of the exegetes wish that the meaning of the preceding words should be applied to the time of the consummation of the age. For then, they say, with an increase of light, the elements themselves, which are by nature luminous, will be so. But we will find the holy Scripture saying, that "Then the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.
20 And the stars also will fall as leaves fall from a fig tree. Therefore, setting aside the need to understand it thus, we rather say this. For he does not say that there will be an addition of light to the elements. But rather he calls "moon" those who live in the light of the moon, and are, as it were, spuriously and moderately illuminated. These would be those who are accustomed to live according to human nature, by innate and our own unaided reason, not yet having been enriched with illumination from above, such as those who have not yet known the God who exists by nature and in truth, but who remain as in night, yet having a moderate ray of light, which God implanted in human nature from its very constitution. These, having received the light of the true knowledge of God, no longer remain as in night, having a small and lunar light, but from then on see the sun's ray as in the day. But those who are as in the day and as if illumined by the sun, because they know the God who is by nature, will receive a manifold illumination upon this. Such were the experts in the law, having as it were in their mind the reflection of a solar ray, I mean, in respect to knowing the Creator and Lord of all. The Lord your God, the Lord is one. Yet they did not accurately understand the law.
21 But when Christ shone upon them, their knowledge progressing for the better, and the law henceforth being contemplated spiritually, the light of the sun that was in them will be almost sevenfold. For the sun of righteousness, being the God of all and understood as such, is also all wisdom itself. And he shone through the law upon those of Israel. For he brought them out as from an ancient mist of the error in Egypt. And he prepared them to understand and confess that he alone is the God and Lord of all. But these things will be, he says, when the Lord heals the affliction of his people, and will heal the pain of your error. For we were afflicted, and in the pain of a wound; for the fear of being punished hung over both Greeks and Jews; Christ will heal. And we were in a way some with our minds paralyzed, and our intellect inactive and weakened for the works of righteousness. But we have not remained in these things. For the God of all granted the cure, and He has shown us to be freed from the ancient disease and exceedingly strong for every one of His pleasing works, and justified by faith in Christ; through whom and with whom to God the Father be glory with the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.