Commentary on Isaiah 1.2.9–1.2.15

“And now go into the rocks and hide in the earth from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his might, when he rises to shatter the earth. For the eyes of the Lord are lofty, but man is lowly; and the height of men will be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.”

[When] all Judea had gone astray and turned without bridle to anything at all that the virtue-loving God hates, the Babylonian war poured as it were over all Judea; they [ravaged] all [the land, and men,] women and children they carried off to their own country; and in the rank of captives they spent long years. But when the attack had been announced beforehand and was about to come, such fear fell upon the Jews, and they fell into such anguish, that [they hid] in caves and in the clefts of the mountains, as all their hand grew too weak to resist those who were attacking. So, as though the terrible things were all but present, or rather already within the doors and in the country itself, [he says]: hide still from the fear of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he rises to shatter the earth, that is, to crush the earth. And that the divine counsels and considerations are lofty and above all men, and that no one on earth could fight against them, he makes clear by saying, “For the eyes of the Lord are lofty.” For by the eyes of the Lord he here means, as it were, his foresight and his counsels and his judgments on each matter. For men, being small both in nature and in mind, plan small things and reason in a lowly way. But the God of all, being lofty and understood to be in ineffable superiority over all, has a consideration that cannot be fought. For no one could set against it either a counsel or a help able to ward off [what he has decided]. He says this, though the Jews of old did not know it: when the terrible war falls upon them, and every helping hand grows weak, and consideration and the inventions of human counsel, by which they perhaps thought they could escape the calamities of war, are of no use. So experience will show, he says, that man is lowly, and the height of men will be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. As I said just now, when all their strength is shown to be powerless, the superiority of the divine power will become best known to those who trust in it. It is, then, most terrible to offend God, and the thing becomes for us the cause of every calamity. We must not take courage in our own powers, but rather ascribe to God the power to do all things, and be glad to make him our helper whenever something terrible [comes upon us].

“For the day of the Lord Sabaoth is upon everyone insolent and proud, and upon everyone lofty and high, and they will be humbled; and upon every cedar of Lebanon, of the lofty and high, and upon every oak tree of Bashan, and upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, and upon every high tower, and upon every high wall, and upon every ship of the sea, and upon every sight of the beauty of ships; and the height of men will be humbled and will fall, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.”

He calls the time of the war and the fulfilment of the wrath upon them the day of the Lord. This is the custom of the divinely inspired Scripture. And so David marked the very time of our Saviour’s coming by the name of day, saying thus: “This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice [and be glad in it].” [So here he means] the time of wrath against everyone insolent [and proud]. [Insolent he calls] those who dishonour the divine glory by not enduring to worship it, but rather devoting themselves to gods they themselves have fashioned; and proud, those who look down on the divine laws and make a practice of counting what has been decreed as nothing. And so the blessed David said, “The proud transgressed exceedingly.” Since there were very many in Judea and in Jerusalem who abounded in wealth, who clung not a little to an abundance of money, surpassed the others, were fortified by power, had leapt up to no small measure of renown among them, and were raised on high and as it were [lofty in mind], therefore he says that the effects of the divine wrath will run against them above all, hinting enigmatically at the rank, or measure, of each. For he likens them to the cedars of Lebanon: “For I saw the ungodly,” it says, “exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon”; and also to the oak trees of Bashan, that is, to the oaks in Batanea. This is a country by Judea, now called Batanea, an excellent nurse of trees, which has thick and very tall cedars. He likens them likewise to hills and mountains, and besides to towers and high walls. And that they will lose, together with their land, the sources of their wealth, he adds, saying: “And upon every ship of the sea, and upon every sight of the beauty of ships.” This is understood in two ways. When the war had already been announced and the Babylonians were expected to arrive, those of Israel, removing their mind from hope in God, called the Egyptians to their help and hired Tyre and the neighbouring nations … skilled in [seafaring] pursuits, and eagerly [brought their] ships … [the Babylonian, after] the land of the Jews, plundered that of the Tyrians. So either the prophetic word means this here, or perhaps the following. Very many of those who reigned over Israel had merchant ships which brought them [goods] from the country and land of the Indians, and great wealth was gathered; from this they became lofty, like cedars and oaks, mountains and towers. So the source of their wealth, that is, the gains from trade and exchange, will perish together with the proud. And that those of Israel [called] many to their help is not unclear, since God says of them through another prophet: “And Ephraim was like a senseless dove, having no heart; it called upon Egypt and went to the Assyrians. As they go, I will cast my net over them; I will bring them down like the birds of the sky; I will chastise them at the report of their affliction.” The judgment of God, then, is hard to escape for those against whom it comes; and it is ignorant and impious not rather to be glad to hang upon hope in him, thinking with empty and senseless reasonings that, even if he did not wish to save them, someone else would rescue them, and the gathering of human help would somehow prevail over his nod. For “if he shuts against a man,” it says, “who will open?” “It is good, then, to hope in the Lord rather than to hope in man,” according to the voice of the psalmist.

“And they will hide all the things made by hands, bringing them into the caves and into the clefts of the rocks and into the holes of the earth, from the face of the fear of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he rises to shatter the earth.”

He shows the reasoning of the Jews to be worthy of laughter, if they hide their gods and hasten to save the ones they worship. And yet how should they not have expected them to be their saviours, if they really knew them to be gods? But condemning their own counsels and testifying to the gods’ utter powerlessness, they come to the gods’ help. For they hide them in caves and in the clefts of rocks and in the holes of the earth, so that the enemy may not find them and carry them off, gods taken captive along with the conquered. How, then, are they still gods, when they need help from their worshippers? Rather, they are lifeless matter. And, as the blessed David says, “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of men’s hands.” And those who serve them will suffer the same insensibility as they. For having become their craftsmen and makers, they lift it on their shoulders and go, and they bow down to it and pray, saying, “Deliver me, for you are my god.” Their heart, then, is ashes, and they go astray. It would befit those accustomed to piety to bid farewell to the follies of those who are deceived, and indeed to cry out this: “Gods that did not make heaven and earth, let them perish from the earth and from under this heaven.” “For to us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him.”

“[For in that day a man will cast away his abominations], his silver and gold ones, which he made to bow down to the vain things and the bats, so as to go into the holes of the solid rock and into the clefts of the rocks, from the face of the fear of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he rises to shatter the earth.”

That they were going to hide the falsely named gods made by them, no longer overcome by reverence for them but rather having condemned them as useless and powerless matter, he makes plain by adding beforehand what he said: “In that day a man will cast away his abominations, which he made to bow down to.” … For in their shrines they impiously worshipped the things made by hands, for they thought they were gods. But when they saw the time of war present, and there was no way of help for them at all, and those they had thought would be their saviours and redeemers were detected to be stones and wood, gilded and silvered matter, they cast them out of the temples and hid them in caves, sparing the material rather than still honouring them as gods. And that their labour over the making of idols was vain and useless, he showed when he said: “A man will cast away his abominations, which he made to bow down to the vain things and the bats.” For they became the makers of their own gods and the craftsmen of the things they worshipped, but they had no benefit from them. And perhaps they built the temples for the bats alone. For such winged things, or creatures, somehow always love dark places, and [make their dwelling] in them. So a man will cast away the abominations he made; and where will he cast them? “So as to go,” he says, “into the holes of the solid rock and into the clefts of the rocks, from the face of the fear of the Lord.” See, then, how the wretches hastened to bury themselves together with their own gods. But they did not see the God of all acting so. For he did not hide himself at all when they ran out of the land of the Egyptians and Pharaoh followed in pursuit. For he split the [sea, and they crossed, walking] as on dry land, while the stricken Pharaoh was drowned with his whole army. And when Rabshakeh, the general of the Babylonians, surrounding Jerusalem, babbled against God and said [he would take the] whole [city] easily, he did not seek the clefts of the rocks nor look for ravines; but Hezekiah prayed, saying, “Hear, O Lord; look, O Lord, and see the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of the Assyrians sent to reproach the living God.” And at once he heard God saying: “I will shield this city

for my own sake and for the sake of David my servant.” And what was the manner of help for those then in danger? Paradoxical and worthy of God: “For the angel of the Lord went out and killed from the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand.” Let them be ashamed, then, who bow down to carved images, who have abandoned the almighty God and serve gods that they hide in front of themselves, lest those gods perish before them, falling into the greed of the warriors. Let us say, then, in the words of the prophet Jeremiah: “An exalted throne of glory is our sanctuary, the hope of Israel, O Lord; let all who forsake you be ashamed. Let those who have turned away be written on the earth, for they have forsaken the fountain of life, the Lord.” And if one must say something spiritual to the spiritual: let those who tolerate idols in the mind and receive thoughts that come from outlandish fantasies know that they will be the lairs of bats, that is, of the unclean spirits. “For each one is tempted,” it says, “when he is drawn away and enticed by his own desires. Then desire, having conceived, gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.” We must therefore refuse the beginnings of the passions, and reject the idols in the mind that run in through thoughts alone, knowing what is written: “If the spirit of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for healing will put an end to great sins.”

“Behold, the Master, the Lord Sabaoth, [will take away] from Judea and from Jerusalem the strong man and the strong woman, the strength of bread and the strength of water, the giant and the strong man, and the ruler, the warrior and the judge.”

Having given us a sufficient account of their older charges, [he now passes to] the calamities they justly endured, [having] impiously [raged] against our Lord Jesus Christ. For the wrath of the Lord came upon them, and very rightly. For having killed the prophets and stoned those sent to them, they did not [spare] even the Author of life himself, but, as far as it lay with them, surrounded him with death, saying, “Let us bind the righteous one, for he is troublesome to us.” Most terrible, then, were the things of war that befell them … sieges, fire and sword, and the enslavement of women and children. And that they also suffered the loss of the gifts from above and from God, and were deprived of the goods of mind and soul, he teaches by saying: “Behold, the Master Sabaoth will take away from Judea and Jerusalem the strong man and the strong woman.” And the prophet’s word here is not about bodily strength (for it is simple-minded to understand it so), but rather about spiritual strength, that of mind and heart, by which we are accustomed to accomplish virtue. For the flesh wages war against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other; and very many worldly and unclean pleasures stir up the human mind and carry it down to sins. There is need, then, of strength from above and from God. For so one will prevail, though barely, and is crowned as the victor. And that this has been taken away from the Jews the facts themselves will cry out. For what account is there still among them of accomplishing virtue? Or who is approved and [able] to stand against the passions of the flesh, that is, the attacks of outlandish pleasures? For the mind of all of them lies before them like a half-boiled beet, as the prophet says. For it cannot say, “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.” And the strength of bread and the strength of water have been taken from them: again, not of bread perceived by the senses, nor of waters in [cisterns, but of the bread of which] David [says], “He gave them the bread of heaven; man ate the bread of angels.” And of waters the prophet Isaiah [speaks]: “And you will draw water with joy from the springs of the Saviour.” And so does the Saviour himself: “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him, it will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Understand the prophet’s words precisely. For he did not simply say that bread and water would be taken from the Jews, but “the strength of bread and the strength of water.” And we must [understand] something of this kind

For when we come upon the holy words and read the divine Scriptures, and then understand them, we receive the strength of spiritual bread. “For man shall not live by bread alone,” it says, “but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.” You will understand the spiritual waters in the same way. The Jews, indeed, still have the bread and the water. For they busy themselves with the writings of Moses and read the law. But since they understand nothing, they do not have the strength of the bread, nor the strength of the water. For only the bare letter has been given them, which has the appearance of bread and water, but in no way nourishes them to spiritual health. And Paul will testify to this, writing: “For to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart, not being lifted, because it is abolished in Christ.” In another way too we say that the strength of bread and the strength of water have been taken from the synagogue of the Jews; and the saying is a mystical one. For we who have been called through faith to sanctification have the bread from heaven, that is, Christ, or rather his body. And if anyone should ask what its strength is, we say: it gives life. For it gives life to the world. Likewise we approach the grace given through holy baptism, the grace of the water that sanctifies us, saying that the strength of the water is the putting off of sins and the spiritual new birth into conformity with Christ himself, and besides these, entrance with boldness into the kingdom of heaven. “For unless one,” he says, “is born of water and Spirit, [he cannot enter the kingdom of God].” The Jews, then, are deprived of such goods. For the strength of bread is not among them, that is, the giving of life in Christ. They do not have the strength of the water, for their sin has remained unwashed among them. They will not enter the kingdom of heaven, having dishonoured Christ, who brings us in; for they did not believe him when he said, “I am the way,” and “I am the door.” He will likewise take away “the giant and the strong man.” Who, then, is the giant? And who is the other? I think he calls “giant” the one who has come to the height of spiritual strength, and “strong” the one who has fallen a little short and is surpassed by the excellence seen in the first. For to each of us a measure of grace is given by God. The most wise Paul makes this plain to us, saying: “I wish that all people were as I myself am; but each of us has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.” It is also the custom of the divinely inspired Scripture in another way to call the very strong giants. And so God said somewhere of those from Babylon who invaded the land of the Jews: “Giants are coming to fulfil my wrath, rejoicing and insolent together.” And the psalmist too: “He will rejoice like a giant to run his course.” And there will be among the Jews neither warrior nor judge. For we who have honoured the Lord of powers by faith are strengthened by him and made able to resist the wicked and unclean powers. “For our wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” These we resist spiritually, fitted with the weapons of righteousness and having the spiritual full armour, which the divine Paul also mentions when he says, “Stand, therefore, having girded your loins with truth,” and what follows; and, “For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly but mighty before God; and though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh.” But among the Jews there is no such person anywhere; rather, without a fight, they always yield the victory to every attacker and to their own untamed pleasures.

Nor would one find among them anyone who knows how to judge rightly, either in matters that lie in the mind or in outward matters of daily life. For outlandish and wicked reasonings run into the human mind, and a terrible tumult of unclean desires stirs it up; but the mind of the wise and reasonable person stands like a judge, testing each thing, refusing what is bad and crowning what is useful with an unspoken vote. This too is wholly unpractised among the Jewish peoples. For God, who directs us to this, is not with them; and even if they are somehow exercised in some outward matter, they do not know how to test what is blameless and pleasing to God. For how could they know the exact aim of the law, who have offended against the Lawgiver and for this reason have justly been deprived of all understanding, I mean of the holy Writings?

“[… and the prophet], and the conjecturer and the elder, [and the captain of fifty and the admirable counsellor], and the wise master builder and the intelligent hearer; and I will set young men as their rulers, and mockers [will rule over them].”

That prophecy has been taken away from the synagogue of the Jews no one would doubt, since the fact itself has prevailed. For the blessed prophets, arising in their times, proclaimed Christ beforehand; and the end of the law and the prophets came …; then they behaved outrageously toward him, and the grace of prophecy ceased among them. For it was not fitting that those who fought against God and were insolent, who had become slayers of the Lord and had hands full of blood, should be honoured with the spirit of prophecy. And the blessed Daniel will testify to this, saying that vision and prophet are sealed. So Israel has become without share in so splendid and glorious a grace; and it is so ignorant and so devoid of good sense that there is no conjecturer among them. We say that a conjecturer is one who, as it were, puts things together and rightly infers each matter, and discerns very well where it will come and to what end it will arrive. For those who rush into action thoughtlessly and from light notions miss what is useful, and, as though walking in darkness, they run upon rocks. But those who are exact in understanding see with a sharp eye the outcomes of affairs, and are not without admiration, since for this reason they do all things with good management. This is the fruit of good sense and truly the achievement of the best counsel. And by “elder” we mean not one who is so in years (for there are very many among the Jews even now who have reached the extreme of old age), but one who is so in understanding and has, as it were, come to maturity of mind. To such the blessed John too writes, saying: “I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.” Let us understand as elders, then, those who already have a quiet mind, who are settled and grey-haired in mind, and practised in keeping to what is firm. He says “captain of fifty,” not necessarily of one set over fifty men, but taking from this one office the name for any leader at all.

and to live and conduct itself as in order and rank: this too the synagogue of the Jews [has lost] along with the rest. For while Christ, the Saviour of us all, was still with them and was calling them through faith to eternal life, to the kingdom of heaven, to close relation with God, there were still among them chief priests and leaders, scribes and Pharisees. But since the wretches killed him, they were scattered to every wind, became sojourners and wanderers and strangers everywhere, no longer having leaders and presidents as of old, but like a flock bereft of shepherds, without anyone set over it; and, what is still more grievous, without admirable counsellors such as the prophets of old were, who proposed to them what led to salvation, counselled them when they rebelled, and skilfully led them by the hand to everything necessary for their benefit. And he threatens to remove from them the wise master builder and the intelligent hearer too; these also are spiritual and God-given gifts, worthy of all esteem. For [he calls] wise [master builder the one able to] build the [Church] with right and blameless [teachings], pulling down the deceptions of knowledge falsely so called and walling up the mind of believers with the doctrines of truth. Such was the divine Paul, who writes and says: “According to the grace given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But let each one take care how he builds. For no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is laid, which is Christ.” So there is no wise master builder among the Jews, nor an intelligent hearer. We reckon this to be the one who has the discernment of spirits and can understand who speaks in the Spirit of God, and who, on the other hand, in Beelzebul. For many discourses have come from many people, containing exposition of doctrine and bringing to mind gentleness of character. But the unintelligent and ignorant snatch them up without discrimination and accept the words untested, though they bring no benefit and are rather accustomed to do great harm. The intelligent hearer, however, like an approved money-changer, accepts what is of a nature to benefit, and rejects as counterfeit, like a false coin, what is not so. The blessed Paul too says something of this kind: “Become shrewd money-changers; test everything, hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil.” And another of the holy disciples commands in agreement with this, saying: “Brothers, test the spirits, whether they are from God.” When all these have been taken away, “I will set,” he says, “young men as their rulers, and mockers will rule over them.” By young men, again, he does not mean here those young in years, but those who have not yet attained maturity in understanding. Youth is always foolish, is easily shaken toward impulse, and is worsted [in] the best counsel. And the Jews truly continue even to this day to have such leaders, younger in [understanding]. And they are mockers in another way too, buying with money the right to be called Rabbi, and having obtained leadership for love of gain and for the collecting of profits. But those who belong to Christ, the Saviour of us all, thrusting away the sickness of hypocrisy, are true worshippers, and [have] the appearance of virtue not in outward things but within, in mind and heart; they walk on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven, and they have as their teacher our Lord Jesus Christ himself.