Commentary on Isaiah 1.6.18–2.1.4

the multitude of those from Israel be, and be compared to the sands lying on the shores, the remnant will be saved. This happened in the times of Hezekiah; for Samaria perished, as I said, and very many cities of Judea were destroyed with it. And it was done also in the last times of the age, when the Only-begotten shone on us with flesh. For then, then indeed, God made a word cut short in righteousness in the whole world. The law given through Moses goes by long circuits and makes its declaration of what is useful roundabout, hinting with difficulty, through riddle and shadow, at what leads to benefit. But the saving word of the gospel is short for us and, as it were, cut short, that is, concise: it has the truth bare and sets forth the way of life plainly, with no difficulty in it and no obscurity brought into its proclamations. For the matter of the truth, as I said, is simple. And then too the remnant of Israel was saved, that is, those who honoured his appearing by faith, while the rest of the multitude suffered rejection. For they behaved outrageously toward the Saviour and Lord of all, having earlier killed prophets and stoned those who were sent; and what outlandish thing did they not practise?

“Therefore thus says the Lord Sabaoth: Do not fear the Assyrians, my people who dwell in Zion, because he will strike you with a rod. For I am bringing a blow upon you, to see the way of Egypt. For yet a little while, and the anger will cease, but my wrath will be upon their counsel.”

Since the God of all, using a holy verdict and the gentleness that befits him, saves the genuine and hands over those who have grieved him, he says: “Do not fear the Assyrians, my people who dwell in Zion.” For Rabshakeh came to Jerusalem and besieged it, and threatened to burn it and destroy everyone; but he did no harm at all. He went off in flight, after his army had fallen beyond all expectation and perished in one night. So he did not destroy those in Zion with the sword. But since he had once terrified them with his assaults and made them fear what they might suffer, he is seen, one might almost say, raising only a rod against them. Do not be afraid of the Assyrians, then, he says: he will strike you with a rod and bring, as it were, a slight blow, the one that comes from fear, for I permit this too to be done against you, “to see the way of Egypt,” that is, so that you may learn how much you wronged yourself by going off to Egypt and seeking help from there, when God who saves you was overlooked. Hezekiah, in whose reign the Assyrian besieged Jerusalem, did not seek the help of the Egyptians; rather, Hoshea son of Elah, who reigned over Israel, is found to have done this. It is written thus in the fourth book of Kingdoms: “And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place. In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah reigned in Samaria over Israel nine years. And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, yet not like the kings of Israel who were before him. Against him came up Shalmaneser king of the Assyrians, and Hoshea became his servant and paid him tribute. And the king of the Assyrians found wrongdoing in Hoshea, because he sent messengers to Sego king of Egypt, and did not bring tribute to the king of the Assyrians in that year. And the king of the Assyrians besieged him and bound him in prison, and went up to Samaria and besieged it three years.” One should know that Ahaz too, the father of Hezekiah, bought help from the Assyrians when the king of the Damascenes made war on him, and God was greatly grieved at this. I bring upon you, then, he says, a blow, “to see the way of Egypt; for yet a little while, and the anger will cease, but my wrath will be upon their counsel.” For they perished, as I said, by the divine wrath. They had planned to subdue Jerusalem itself, but they missed their aim and their design came to nothing, for God turned the outcome to the very opposite of what they expected.

“And God will rouse up against them, according to

… the blow of Midian in the place of affliction, and his wrath by the way along the sea, into the way toward Egypt.”

They will fall, he says, when anger has been brought on them from above and from God, and those of Israel will need no toil at all. For they will prevail not by shots of bows, not by strength of hands, not by …, but by the hand of God, striking and consuming the boastful people, just as indeed happened to the Midianites. For they, gathered in a multitude and by clans, were plundering almost the whole land of the Jews and causing them unbearable fear, … from cities and villages … and barely, and in great fear, on the peaks of the mountains. But God helped then too, and saved those who were in danger by the hand of Gideon, who had very few fellow soldiers. They threw the ranks of the enemy into confusion, breaking their jars at night and in darkness, showing their torches, and blowing their horns, so that something of this kind happened to those of Midian: when their ranks were thrown into confusion, God terrifying them, they could not tell, as in darkness and at night, who was friend or kinsman and who was enemy; they grappled with one another, did the work of enemies, and … by one another's … So, he says, it will be “according to the blow of Midian in the place of affliction.” By the place of affliction he means the place, or rather the time, in which these things happened.

And that God will, one might almost say, lead the barbarian's wrath astray and turn it aside onto others, he shows by saying: “And his wrath by the way along the sea, into the way toward Egypt.” The king of the Assyrians, Tiglath-pileser (it was he who took Samaria by force), imposed tribute on its inhabitants and demanded taxes and payments from those who reigned over Israel from time to time. When it came to this, and Hoshea son of Elah ruled Samaria, he did not send tribute to the king of the Assyrians, as it is written. And since he knew that the king would be angry in every way, he sought the help of the Egyptians, … in case the one who had imposed the tribute and taxes should wish to arm himself against them by the law of war. And those who then ruled the Egyptians promised this very readily. Grieved at this, the Assyrian overran the land of the Egyptians with his whole army, charging its rulers with this: that Hoshea had rebelled and in his madness shaken off his yoke, taking the promise of their help as his pretext. That God, as I just said, will transfer the barbarian's wrath onto others he has shown by saying, “And his wrath by the way along the sea, into the way toward Egypt.” For Jerusalem lies inland from the sea, and they say that the road leading to the land of the Egyptians, which is very easy to travel, is the one near the sea, even to this day.

“And it will be in that day, his fear will be taken away from you, and his yoke from your shoulder, and the yoke will be destroyed from your shoulders.”

I said that the Assyrian, having conquered, imposed tribute on those of Israel and wished to bring under his own sceptre the people allotted to the all-holy God; and for this reason he armed himself against the Egyptians. What, then, does he say? Having conquered the Egyptians, will he again put his yoke on those who always kept their neck free and knew only the kingship under God? By no means, he says. For at that time “his fear will be taken away from you, and his yoke from your shoulder.” For when that people beyond number fell and perished, what fear remained? Or how was the yoke on every shoulder not, so to speak, shaken off, and destroyed besides, that is, gone completely, when they were seeking only this: to be saved and to run home, no longer raising their former haughty brow against Judea? For he was planning, as I said, to bring it under his yoke. But his hopes were frustrated, and what he expected turned out entirely the opposite. He was glad to escape with his life, conquered not by arms but rather by the divine nod and the hand of an angel; and here is the marvel. So that he may be seen to know all things and, as God, to have the end of events before his eyes even if it has not yet happened, he announces most clearly and vividly the manner of that man's flight, the places and the lodgings, and that he will terrify very many cities of Judea, although the wretch was running away in flight. “For he will come,” he says, “to the city of Aiath, and will pass into Migron.” These are names of cities and villages or places. “And at Michmash he will deposit his baggage.” For the Hebrews say that the Assyrian, having come to Michmash, left all his baggage there, fearing an attack from those of Israel; for he thought they would run in pursuit. Then he says: “And he will pass through the ravine and come to Aiath. Fear will seize Ramah, the city of Saul. The daughter of Gallim will flee; it will be heard in Anathoth. Madmenah was beside itself, and the inhabitants of Gebim.” The tradition of the Hebrews has something of this kind. For they say that [ten] alone were saved and returned to him from Jerusalem and reported what had happened. Then with very few he went through the villages and cities, and made even his passing, in flight and cowardice, unbearable to them. But where God helps and wishes to save, there nothing grieves; rather, the whole hand of those who make war will be weak, and strength, experience of war, and the art of tactics will achieve nothing.

“Exhort today on the way to remain; with the hand exhort the mountain, the daughter of Zion, and you hills that are in …”

By putting the wording together we shall necessarily give the explanation of its sense. “O hills,” then, he says, that is, you who are prominent and placed above, and who rise above the others in Jerusalem. By these he means either the holy prophets or the very choir of the priests. “Exhort the mountain,” that is, my daughter Zion. And exhort it firmly, so that it remains on this way. And what way is this? Plainly, trust in God. For he has promised that he will rescue them and save them easily, cast down the Assyrian, remove his fear, destroy the yoke, and free them from all greed. But these things will be, he says, when they remain on this way, plainly the trust in God. Therefore exhort “today,” that is, at the time fitting the matter … For it is not possible to falsify the truth; God will not speak falsely. If he nods assent to something, it will surely come to its end, when we honour him by faith and gladden with a genuine mind the one who has promised to save. In the same way the saints exhort us too, saying, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you,” and that “The angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear him, and will deliver them.” And he himself said through the voice of David about every man who trusts in him and has placed his hope in him: “Because he hoped in me, I will also deliver him. He will cry to me, and I will hear him; I am with him in affliction, and I will rescue him and glorify him.” For the Saviour and Lord of us all, Jesus Christ, will glorify those who glorify him; through whom and with whom be glory to the Father together with the Holy Spirit for ever. Amen.

“Behold, the Master, the Lord Sabaoth, will throw the glorious into confusion with strength, and the lofty … and the lofty will fall by the sword, and Lebanon will fall with the lofty.”

In the book now completed, the discourse was about the … of the Assyrians and the one who … the powers of the Persians, who marched against Judea and Jerusalem but unexpectedly suffered what comes from the divine wrath. For Israel was marvellously saved, not by stretching a bow, nor by snatching up a shield, nor by horsemen, nor by overcoming the enemy's hand with skill, but by the power and grace of God. “For an angel of the Lord went out,” it says, “and slew in one night from the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand.” When this had plainly happened, those who had thought they would perish … to God songs of thanksgiving, saying: “In the evening weeping will lodge, and in the morning exultation.” And besides: “You turned my mourning into joy for me; you tore off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness.” But the bold and arrogant one, who shouted that great and empty boast, “I will seize the whole world in my hand like a nest, and like abandoned eggs I will take it up, and there is no one who will escape me or speak against me,” was shown to have thought great things of himself in vain. For he barely escaped, and went home in flight, leaving Judea. Therefore the God of all said: “Do not fear the Assyrians, my people who dwell in Zion.” And the manner of his flight was described, as he all but shook cities and villages by his passing; and again: “Fear will seize Ramah, the city of Saul.” In interpreting such things we made the account rather plain, but not outside the truth. For it is altogether necessary to fit the explanation to the character and force of the passage in hand.

But since it is the custom of the divinely inspired Scripture sometimes to reveal mysteries through things done … and historically, and to form images of hidden ideas, we say that the inventor of sin tyrannized over us. He leapt terribly and bitterly on the Saviour's peoples, sanctified, plainly, through the Spirit and cleansed through faith; he marched against the Church of God, shaking at it the most unholy phalanx of the spirits under his hand, and perhaps he thought that he could overturn it very easily, the truly venerable and holy city of God, the spiritual Jerusalem. But he was caught out, having planned nothing that could be done. For he could not besiege the holy city and overpower so mighty a right hand. For who will stand against the all-powerful God? He perished, then, together with … he has been driven off, leaping like a savage beast, and he has been cast out of his tyranny over us. And the Saviour taught us this when he said: “Now is the judgment of this age; now the ruler of this age will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all to myself.” For the passion of Christ was the overthrow of death, the destruction of the devil, and the removal of sin, as he was lifted up on the cross and brought down and cast to the ground the devil's boast. In due time, then, after … he introduces the account of the birth of the Only-begotten according to the flesh, and announces the mystery beforehand through the voice of prophets, so that when the events came to their end, faith in it might be received from all as reasonable. What, then, does he say? “Behold, the Master, the Lord Sabaoth, will throw the glorious into confusion with strength.” The mystery of Christ reshapes those on earth into the newness of the gospel life; the older customs, plainly, are overturned, and what was in shadows and types no longer has the power to prevail. This was the aim of his coming into this world: he came to proclaim, to those of Israel before the others, that what was laid upon them until the time of reformation, that is, the law in letters, now comes to its end, as the mind of believers is reshaped, as I said, to better things and to a spiritual way of life. For all things in Christ are new. But although they ought to be persuaded

by him, the leaders of the synagogue of the Jews above all, who boasted not a little of the honours of the priesthood, set themselves in opposition, and, always talking of the law given through the all-wise Moses, wished to make the mystery of the Only-begotten's economy in the flesh ineffective, as far as it lay with them. But it was impossible for them to do this; and setting their own will against the Saviour and God of all, the wicked perished wickedly, partly by attacking one another and plotting according to the law of war, partly by falling into the hands of the Romans, who burned the very temple. “Behold, then, the Master, the Lord Sabaoth, will throw the glorious into confusion with strength.” He calls the one who throws them into confusion Lord Sabaoth, terrifying the hearers with fear, so that no one might think that perhaps he will be weak, or that he uses threats that come to nothing and will by no means reach their end. For what that the Lord Sabaoth undertakes will come to nothing? He says that the lofty will be broken by insolence. For they truly became lofty in insolence: not only did they kill holy prophets and say openly to those who gave them the best counsel, “Speak other things to us, and announce to us another deception,” but they also lifted their horn on high and spoke injustice against God, as it is written. But these will be humbled, he says, and will fall by the sword. For they perished, as I said: on the one hand God brought the sharpest anger on them and consumed them as with a sharp sword, cutting them off from the boasts of righteousness and dismissing them from leading the peoples; or, in another sense, he says they will fall by the sword, plainly that of the enemy, as I said just now. “But Lebanon too,” he says, “will fall with the lofty.” By Lebanon here he probably means the temple, which falls with those of lofty brow. For the swarm of priests was truly arrogant, and Israel itself with them, having dishonoured the Saviour and redeemer of all. And we shall find that Jerusalem itself is called Lebanon. So the prophet Zechariah said somewhere to it: “Open your doors, O Lebanon, and let fire devour your cedars. Let the pine howl, for the cedar has fallen; howl, oaks of Bashan, for your dense forest has been torn down.” For since he likened Jerusalem to Mount Lebanon and so named it, he necessarily kept to the figure, plausibly and usefully calling the peoples in it and their leaders cedars and dense forest, and he bids them howl because those who destroyed them leap upon them as fire upon forests.

But if anyone chooses to touch a hidden contemplation and to apply the force of the passage to Satan himself and to the accursed powers under him, he too will not go outside a fitting aim. For the evil-loving band of demons was crushed and perished, and with them the apostate dragon himself, the lofty, the haughty, likened as it were to Mount Lebanon. For before the coming of our Saviour he was conspicuous to all and worshipped everywhere, wrongly, having seized for himself the glory of the Godhead.

“And a rod will come out from the root of Jesse, and a flower will come up from the root, and the Spirit of God will rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge and godliness; … will fill him.”

… he makes his prediction of what is to come plain. For it was said, concerning later times, to the blessed David by the God who rules all: “Of the fruit of your loins I will set upon your throne.” But since the one who knows all things put the foreknowledge of what was to come into the holy prophets, this too was announced beforehand by them, so that the mystery might be attested from every side and believed when it had happened. He says, then, that a rod will come out from the root of Jesse and that a flower too will come up; and not before, but after the glorious have been thrown into confusion with strength and the lofty humbled, and Lebanon has fallen with them, then he says that the rod will spring up from the root of Jesse. In the first verses the force of the whole matter was shown in summary; for what was going to happen to those of Israel who had acted outrageously and impiously toward our Lord Jesus Christ we have learned in brief. But now the account goes back, as it were, to the very highest beginning of the matter, I mean the incarnation of the Only-begotten and his birth from a woman according to the flesh, which was to take place by the economy.

He called Christ, then, who is from the root of Jesse according to the flesh, a rod, and besides this a flower. By the rod he probably hints obliquely that he has the royal dignity; for the rod is a token of kingship. Indeed the divine David says somewhere to the Son himself: “Your throne, O God, is for ever; a rod of uprightness is the rod of your kingdom.” And he is a rod in another way too, since he holds all things and holds them together in well-being, and makes stand what has grown weak, that is, human nature, which was all but tottering and drunk with passions. Blessed David at least sings, taking on himself the common person of all: “Your rod and your staff, these have comforted me.” For the Lord upholds the righteous, as it is written; and he has been called through the voice of the prophets “a glorious staff, a rod of majesty.” And he is a rod in another way too, since he is the good shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep. It was said to him through one of the holy prophets: “Shepherd your people with a rod, the tribe, the sheep of your inheritance.” And if anyone thinks that, since he is judge and renders to each according to his works, he is for this reason very fittingly called a rod, he will understand rightly. For it was said to him, when Israel had acted outrageously toward him and turned without restraint to disobedience: “You will shepherd them with a rod of iron, and like a potter's vessels you will shatter them.” So too the law of the all-wise Moses signifies him to us; for the rod of Aaron that budded is taken as a type of Christ, and in the Holy of … what the meaning of the ideas in the shadows is, must be said. Some touch on natural lore and say that the almond rod, if placed at the head … So, since Christ was, by the grace of God, as blessed Paul says, to taste death for everyone, and as it were to doze for a short time, he is likened to an almond rod. And through this divine and spiritual rod Moses worked wonders, freeing Israel from slavery in Egypt.

He called it, at any rate, the rod of God; for it became for him a rod of power, as it is written. When, then, the prophet, hinting at the mystery of Christ in riddles, says that the rod has appeared to us from the root of Jesse, then indeed, then, beholding with the eyes of the mind the only-begotten Word of God himself, through whom are all things and in whom are all things, made flesh and become man, and submitting to a voluntary birth (I mean the birth according to the flesh and from a woman), he says with the prophet: “Lord, I have heard your report and was afraid; I considered your works and was amazed.” He is called a rod, then, for the reasons we have just given. And again a flower: for human nature blossomed again in him to incorruption, to life, and to the newness of the gospel way of life. And a flower in another sense too, because of his spiritual fragrance. “For I,” he says, “am a flower of the plain, a lily of the valleys.” And he became for us a kind of fragrance of the knowledge of God the Father. Indeed the divine Paul writes and says: “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ and through us manifests the fragrance of the knowledge of him in every place; for we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing: to the one a fragrance of death to death, to the other a fragrance of life to life.”

On this rod, he says, that is, on the flower to be born from the root of Jesse, the Spirit of God, which has many operations, will rest in due time. For he calls it a spirit of counsel and understanding, of knowledge and wisdom, of godliness and of the fear of God. We say that the proclamation of the prophetic art does not introduce Jesus to us as a mere man who then became a bearer of the Spirit and, in our own rank, a partaker of the gifts from God; rather, it shows the Word of God become man, who is full of every good as far as his own nature is concerned, but who made his own, together with the humanity, also what belongs to it. For it is proper to humanity to have of itself, as from its own nature, none of the gifts from above (“What do you have that you did not receive?” was said to it), but rather to be enriched from outside and as something added, from God plainly, with what is beyond its own nature. It was fitting, then, that the only-begotten Word of God, having lowered himself to the emptying, should not refuse the lowliness that comes with the emptying, and that, though full by nature, he should receive because of the humanity, not for himself but rather for us, who are in want of every good. So even if he is said at some time to receive the Spirit, although he is himself the giver of the Holy Spirit and gives not by measure but distributes it as from his own fullness to those who are worthy, let the receiving be understood within the measures of the emptying; for in this way we shall come straight to the truth.

But observe this: “The Spirit of God will rest upon him,” he says. For it was given at the beginning to the first-fruits of our race, that is, to Adam; but he grew careless about keeping … given to him, … to sin, and the Spirit found no rest among men. “For all turned aside, together they became worthless; there was none who did good, not even one.” Then the only-begotten Word of God became man, without letting go of being God. And since, though he became as we are, he could not be taken by sins, the Holy Spirit rested again on human nature, as in him first and as in the second first-fruits of the race, so that it might rest on us too and remain from then on, delighting to dwell in the minds of believers.