Commentary on Isaiah 1.5.1–1.5.8

“[But God] will bring on you, and on your people, and on your father's house days that have not yet come, from the day when Ephraim took away from Judah the king of the Assyrians.”

To Ahaz, who was greatly troubled at the agreement of the two kings, Rezin and Pekah, … God; and since he wished to establish him further in faith, he told him to ask for a sign “in the depth or in the height.” But when Ahaz declined and said perversely, “I will not ask, nor will I tempt the Lord” (for he sought rather the [oracles] of the false diviners …), he himself gave a sign to the house of David also. For he said: “Behold, the virgin will conceive and bear a son, and you will call his name Emmanuel.” And since the discourse on these things had been very well completed, he moves the prediction of what will be back again to the person of Ahaz himself. For it was necessary, it was necessary, that the foretelling of the salvation through Christ be made to those of the house of David, that is, to those of the tribe of Judah, from which Christ himself rose according to the flesh; but he makes the foretelling of the terrible and dreaded things that would befall in their times to those who had chosen to disobey, so that they might know that it is truly bitter, and not without penalty, for those who dishonour the divine glory to provide a contest for the Lord and to choose to worship, instead of him, others who are not gods. That in time both Jerusalem itself and the whole country of the Jews would fall into the utmost miseries and come under the hand of their enemies, he foretells subtly. The arrangement of the words is rather obscure, and I shall try, as far as I can, to make it plain before all else. “God will bring,” he says, “on you, and on your people, and on your father's house days that have not yet come, from the day when Ephraim took away from Judah.” The sense of the lines is as follows. In the times of the reign of Rehoboam son of Solomon, Ephraim, that is, again, the ten tribes, took away, that is, tore itself away, from the tribe of Judah. For they were separated: the ten tribes, apart from the tribe of Judah, settled in Samaria, while the tribe of Judah and the half-tribe of Manasseh remained in Jerusalem. But as time went on, many dreaded things befell them. For Samaria was sacked, and the surrounding nations overran Judea too. They [suffered], then, many terrible things and experienced days … The king, he says, of the Assyrians, that is, Nebuchadnezzar, who sacked Jerusalem, God will bring: days the like of which had not yet been, or had come upon you, from that time when Ephraim took away, that is, tore itself away, from Judah. And what is this time for us, or what are the days? … [He] took all Judea by force, and burned the divine temple too, and [omitted] nothing at all of cruelty …

“And it will be in that day that the Lord will whistle for the flies, which rule over a part of the river of Egypt, and for the bee, which is in the country of the Assyrians;

and they will all come and rest in the ravines of the country, and in the holes of the rocks, and into the caves, and into every cleft, and in every tree.”

… the onset of war, and that those who come against them in time will overrun all their land, villages and cities. I think it necessary to recount again what is written in the fourth book of the Kingdoms, for an exact explanation of what was to come. Ahaz, then, to whom the word now refers, had a son Hezekiah; Hezekiah had Manasseh; Manasseh Amon. His son was Josiah, a pious man, but he died in this way. Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt left his own land, marched out with his whole army and hastened against the land of the Assyrians. Josiah, fearing that he might come against Judea too and bring it secretly under his hand and rule it, wished to go out against him, although Pharaoh asked to be excused from fighting with him; and resisting, he died in the war. And the Egyptian gained control of the land of the Jews, and came to such strength that he removed from the kingdom Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, who had become king, brought him in bonds to his own country, appointed Eliakim king, laid tributes on the nation, and demanded a large collection of money. Then, after Eliakim had reigned over Judea for eleven whole years, Jeconiah his son succeeded to the throne; then after him Zedekiah, in whose reign Nebuchadnezzar campaigned against Judea, burned all [its cities], and besides the other cities Jerusalem itself, took Israel captive together with the sacred vessels, and did all the things that are recorded in the sacred Writings. The force of the passage before us gives us the narrative of these histories. “It will be, then,” he says, “in that day” (that is, at that time) “that the Lord will whistle for the flies, which rule over a part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee,” which is in the country of the Assyrians. The saying is made as a metaphor from the skill of beekeepers, who by whistling carry the bees from the hives to the fields and bring them back again. He likens the Egyptians to flies, as I think, because of their number and the unpleasant sound of their voice; and the nation of the Assyrians to a bee: a many-coloured bee. Such, somehow, as far as clothing and dress go, are the Assyrians and the Persians; for they love finery, always prize being dressed in many colours, and are sharp-stinging besides. These, he says, will all come and rest in the ravines of the country, and in the holes of the rocks, and in the caves, and on every cleft, and in every tree. For since he has spoken as of flies, he keeps to the figure. He shows, however, that they will search out their whole country, so that none of those in hiding can escape notice, whether they hide themselves in rocks or ravines, or in thickets and glens.

And in another way, among those who provoke the God of all and do not refuse to offend him … the wicked and hostile powers [settle], and the strange passions within us, with no one driving them away, or helping and able to save. For when God wishes to afflict, who is able to help us?

“In that day the Lord will shave with the great and drunken razor, which is beyond the river, of the king of the Assyrians, the head and the hair of the feet, and he will remove the beard.”

Here too we must first put the wording together, and then go on to state what is indicated by the thoughts. In that day, then, he says, that is, at that time, with the great and drunken razor, which is the king of the Assyrians’, who is beyond the river, it is clear that … the hair of the feet, and he will remove the beard. He calls the great and drunken razor of the king of the Assyrians [his sword] … which cuts as it were unsparingly and rejoices in being drunk with the blood of the fallen. This is the sense of the words. We say that it was a mark of the utmost dishonour for people to be seen at one time with head and beard shaven. Indeed, the God of all once threatened the daughters of Zion, who were haughty and walked with outstretched necks and winking eyes, with the removal of their prosperity. For he said: “And it will be that instead of a sweet smell there will be dust, and instead of a belt you will gird yourself with a rope, and instead of the golden ornament of the head, baldness.” … who is beyond the river, he calls the sword … dishonouring themselves for the dead. Hence also the law given through Moses charges those who have received the divine priesthood not to be shaved for the dead like the others, nor to mar the appearance of the beard. For it is written thus … And when Jerusalem had been sacked in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, men from Shechem and from Salem and Samaria, as Jeremiah says, “eighty men with shaven beards and cut, with manna and frankincense in their hands, to bring into the house of the Lord.” Cutting off head and beard with a razor was, then, a mark both of mourning and of dishonour. The prophetic word said that the country of the Jews would suffer this in time. For it will remain, he says, its children lost, mourning and most dishonoured. And if anyone should wish to approach the meaning in another way also, he will think something of this kind. Perhaps by the hairs of the head he means those most honoured, raised above the rest by wealth and rank; for nothing is higher than the head; and by the beard those of intelligence and good sense, for so the beard is always taken in the God-breathed Scripture. And when he also names the hairs of the feet, he probably means those in the last and lowest rank. The drunken razor spared no one at all, but cut off from the country of the Jews, together with those above, the middle and the last, and the intelligent, so as to leave it bare and stripped. For Nebuchadnezzar carried almost all Israel away to the mountains of the Persians and Medes.

“And it will be in that day that a man will rear a heifer of the cattle and two sheep; and it will be that, from their making a great deal of milk, butter and honey will be eaten by everyone who is left on the land.”

His aim is to make plain the working of the razor, drunken and great, that is, of the sword of the Babylonians. For he says that the whole country of the Jews will be stripped bare, and will come to such poverty and dearth of men that the one who is left and saved from the hand of the enemy and remains in the land will be master of one heifer and two sheep, although of old those throughout all Judea used to own and pasture very many flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. This, then, is a clear proof of the utmost poverty. And that they will be very few in number from place to place he shows further, saying: “And it will be that, from their making a great deal of milk, butter and honey will be eaten by everyone who is left on the land.” He says that from two sheep and one heifer there will be so much milk as to suffice to satisfy all who are left, if they wish to take their food from milk. Is it not plain, then, that those who escaped the razor and remained in each place of Judea were utterly few to count? For how many could there be for whom the milk of two sheep and one heifer will suffice for food and satisfaction? What benefit, then, will come from this for us who are spiritual, can be seen from the facts themselves. All who practise hardness of hearing and raise a proud neck against God will waste away in want of spiritual goods, will become utterly few, and will be found destitute of everything that knows how to nourish to spiritual health and can bring them, and very quickly, to the mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Such people will hear God saying through the voice of a saint: “Behold, those who serve me will eat, but you will be hungry. Behold, those who serve me …” [Abundant] indeed is the sharing in every good from God for those who have resolved to think his thoughts, to whom he himself has said: “Eat, and drink, and be drunk, my neighbours.”

“And it will be in that day that every place where there are a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels will be for barren land and for thorns; with arrow and bow they will come there, because all the land will be barren land and thorns.”

This would be the work of the great and drunken razor, and a plain proof of the nation's dearth of men. For the war so consumed those who lived in Judea that scarcely a few in number were left in it. This is why he says it will be neglected and become barren land and thorns …, since there are, of course, none who know how to till the soil. For even if there were in one place, he says, a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels, so that each vine is worth one shekel (this is a measure of value), they will become barren land and thorns, so that even if someone should wish to [enter] the place, [he could not] do it without arrow and bow. For the thorns, in no way less than arrows and darts, would at once wound the feet of anyone who wished to walk there. To wish to do what is not lawful will therefore bring us every evil. For we are in a way turned into barren land when we do not refuse to offend God.

For if we do and are willing to think what pleases him and is dear to him, we shall bear virtue as fruit, being counted worthy of his care. For we shall hear Christ saying: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away; and every branch that bears fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” But if we have turned without restraint toward unholy ways, we are filled with the spiritual thorn, every kind of wickedness springing up in us. And the end of the thorn is fire, and useless material is food for fire. The blessed Paul will make this plain to us, saying: “For the land that drinks the rain that often comes upon it, and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to a curse, and its end is to be burned.”

“And every mountain will be ploughed, and no fear will come there. For from the barren land and the thorns it will be for the pasture of sheep and for the trampling of cattle.”

He says that those left in Judea will be few, and will come to such fear and indeed cowardice that, as though under some terrible … they will leave the cities and their old dwellings, and hasten to hide in woods and thickets. For this is the custom of those throughout every country and city, if an incursion of enemies happens. For they run up onto high places … and a remedy for fear is to be in the clefts of the rocks. This the Saviour himself also said to the people of the Jews: “Then,” he says, “let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” So the finest of the lands, he says, will be barren land and thorns …, [their owners] not being allowed even to drive into them because of the thorn; but having fled rather to the mountains, they will there, groaning, take up the labours of farming. For every mountain and every hill will be ploughed, since those who fled to them desire to gather, not what serves wealth and luxury, but whatever meets the necessary need of the body, and it provides a meagre and hard-won food. What reason, then, is there for living in mountains and wishing to till them, though the choice lands are neglected? “No fear,” he says, “will come there.” They will reckon this among themselves, that no fear would come upon them if they chose to live there. Then he shows the greatness of the utmost desolation. For he says that the whole country, from the barren land and the thorn, will be for the pasture of sheep and for the trampling of cattle, that is, for the grazing of flocks: the rich land, rich in vines, bearing olives, most full of trees, always teeming with fruits, flowing with milk and honey, as it is written.

So if we gladden God by obedience in everything, we shall dwell securely in virtue as in a country or city, and shall be greater than our enemies. Nothing at all will terrify us. Rather we shall be careful of all goodness and good works [before] God, freed from the spiritual thorn, “a land of delight,” in the prophet's words, and truly God's field.

“And the Lord said to me: Take for yourself a volume of a new, large book, and write in it with a man's pen, to make spoil of the spoils swiftly; for it is at hand. And make for me witnesses, faithful men, Uriah, and Zechariah son of Barachiah.”

Having made a very sufficient prediction of the things that would befall the country of the Jews in their times, and having shown the greatness of the calamity, God usefully adds what concerns Emmanuel, and, having pointed out the mystery concerning him, shows it more plainly to the prophet. For he had said: “Behold, the virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call his name Emmanuel.” That he will be the mediator of a new covenant, the first being of course abolished, since it has much weakness, has grown old, and perfects no one as to the conscience, he indicates by saying: “Take for yourself a volume of a new, large book.” And what would “for yourself” indicate but surely that … For he says that the things in the new volume will be given not to those who have chosen to disobey, but to those who have honoured in faith the word about him; that is, the mystery of Christ will be revealed. The volume, then, is new and large. For the new and fresh covenant, which speaks the mystery of Christ, is not composed like the first, nor will it be seen to have the lowliness of the history of the law, but [will be] as in pre-eminence and height of knowledge and doctrines. Hence the divine Paul too says that he most gladly counted all things in the law as loss because of the surpassing worth of the knowledge of Christ. It is evident, then, that, the first having grown old, as I said, the new and large volume is taken … as the most holy Paul says. The volume is written with a man's pen. For what reason? When with the eyes of the mind we search into the mystery of the holy and consubstantial Trinity, and then try to tell others, or sometimes the ineffable begetting of the only-begotten Son of God, then indeed we need a pen that is not human and of our kind. For what word will suffice to make plain what is beyond mind and word? For such mighty narratives, beyond all mind, only that pen suffices of which God the Father says through the voice of David: “My tongue is the pen of a swift-writing scribe.” For no one knows the Son except the Father, [nor the Father] except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him. But when we speak of his becoming man, then indeed we need a human pen; which is what the wise John did, saying: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” And it is not at all hard [to tell] his death according to the flesh and his resurrection from the dead with [words] such as ours.

… to announce in [human] words, and that, as a first-fruit and beginning of human nature renewed to incorruption, he went up to the Father and has sat down in the heavens; and that he will come in due time and sit as judge. So the writers inspired by the Spirit write with a man’s pen the things concerning the becoming-man of the Only-begotten. And he adds the command: “Make for me witnesses, faithful men, Uriah, and Zechariah son of Barachiah.” It should be known that at the time when the word about these things came from God to the blessed Isaiah, Uriah was a prophet and Zechariah a priest … the testimony to Christ, that is, the initiation into the mystery and the understanding, or prediction, through the law and the holy prophets. For Christ is the end of the law and the prophets. We say that something of this kind was shown to the holy apostles at the time of Christ’s transfiguration on the mountain. For it is written: “After six days Jesus took Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up [and was transfigured] before them. And his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him.” Consider, then, how Moses and Elijah, that is, priesthood and law (for Moses is both), and Elijah taken to represent the holy prophets, spoke with one another about his departure, it says, which he was about to fulfil in Jerusalem. And what departure? Plainly the end of the dispensation: the cross, the death, the return to life from the dead, the taking up into heaven. For the law prefigured all these things through shadow, and the bright and great choir of the holy prophets foretold them.

“And I went in to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a male child.”

That the birth of Christ according to the flesh was not from blood and flesh, nor from the will of a man, but was something new and unaccustomed and beyond the laws of human nature, God revealed to the prophet. For he who says, “Take for yourself a volume of a new, large book,” himself says: “He went in to the prophetess.” Consider, then, how the mystery of Christ is written with a man’s pen and in words such as ours. For “went in” is the divine Scripture’s customary way of saying “came together,” that is, had marital union. The prophet sees, then, the form of a union taking place with the holy Virgin, whom he says is also a prophetess, teaching a true thing; then he says that a conception took place and a son was born. The rendering of the vision is very swift, setting everything before the prophet for knowledge. For that that all-holy body which was united to the Word was formed from the Holy Spirit, how could anyone doubt? So the working of the Spirit, by which the body in the holy Virgin was fashioned, was indicated obliquely by the form of a union.

For in this respect too Christ became the beginning of those sanctified in the Spirit, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God. He himself, then, was born of the Spirit according to the flesh before the rest, so that we too, through him, [might be] in these things. It must be noted that he commanded Uriah and Zechariah to become witnesses for him to make spoil of the spoils swiftly; and he added: “For it is at hand.” For the law has testified, and also the foretelling of the holy prophets, that Christ, when born, would despoil Satan and plunder his goods, as he himself says, that is, would make his own those who were once that one's worshippers. Christ himself also said this, speaking by way of example: “Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his goods.” And by saying, “For it is at hand,” he announced that the showing forth of Emmanuel would not be long. He is found saying this also to the blessed Habakkuk: “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay.”

“And the Lord said to me: Call his name, Quickly despoil, Swiftly plunder. For before the child knows how to call father or mother, he will take the power of Damascus and the spoils [of Samaria, before the king of the Assy]rians.”

Having said above, “Behold, a virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call his name [Emmanuel], [he now says: Call his name] … Quickly despoil, Swiftly plunder.” Was the first name for him, then, that is, Emmanuel, idle, and would “Quickly despoil, Swiftly plunder” be the most fitting? We do not say this, but rather the following. It is the custom of the God-breathed Scripture to call the God of all things by different names, and sometimes to devise the names from what is done at particular times. This has been kept in the case of Christ himself too. For he is true God; and that the Word, being God by nature, came to be with us when he appeared as we are, “Emmanuel” would indicate very clearly. But since, having become man, he despoiled Satan and rescued from his perversity those who had long been plundered … “Quickly despoil, Swiftly plunder” would show it. And that as God he was to accomplish the redemption of those on earth by unspeakable power he shows beforehand by saying: “For before the child knows how to call father or mother, he will take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria, before the king of the Assyrians.” The sense of the passage is very deep, and the narrative spiritual. For the divine word is always somehow hidden in obscurities: we shall not find, as in history and in things of sense, that Christ as soon as he was born either despoiled Damascus or the country of the king of the Assyrians, redeeming those carried off from Samaria into his country. But when we take it spiritually, then indeed we shall see the truth. Damascus, then, that is, all Syria, and the country of the Assyrians, that is, of the Persians and Medes, were filled with idols; and for this reason it is called a land of carved images. For there were altars and shrines everywhere, and those who used to frequent the shrines, I mean the tribes of false diviners and those whose art is sorcery. And the whole power of these was the demons worshipped among each people, and Satan their leader. When, then, Christ was about to [take] the power of Damascus, and that of the king of the Assyrians, that is, Satan and the wicked … and to free from slavery under him those who had been deceived, even before he came to the bodily age at which it would be fitting to be able to call father or mother, he made it clear by saying: “For before the child knows how to call father or mother, he will take the power of Damascus.” “He will take” means “he will subdue.” And he will likewise take the spoils of Samaria, that is, he will free the captives, having fought for them, before the king of the Assyrians, plainly the spiritual one, I mean Satan. For he was both the Damascus and the