Commentary on Isaiah 2.1.13–2.2.2

king, that is, Christ, of whom Zerubbabel too was a type, when he brought Israel back from captivity, with Jeshua the great priest also with him, so that in him Christ may be understood as king and high priest, “holy, innocent, undefiled, separated,” as the divine Paul says. That the sign of Christ, that is, the precious cross, brought it about that those throughout the earth were gathered together into one faith and so brought near through him to the all-holy Father, will be clear from what the divine John the evangelist wrote. For he brings in the accursed Caiaphas saying to those in the council: “You know nothing, nor do you reckon that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.” And he added to these very words: “He did not say this of himself, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered.” For Christ became our peace, according to the Scriptures: he broke down the dividing wall of the fence, abolished the law of commandments in ordinances, and created the two peoples into one new man, reconciling both through himself to God the Father and putting an end to the enmity between them, so that all of us, in one Spirit and in one body, having become of one soul and one body with one another, in Christ himself plainly, may bear for him the fruit of a righteousness beyond the law and the purity of the gospel way of life. So, passing from what was done historically to the spiritual contemplation, you will understand the mystery of Christ very well.

“And they will fly in ships of foreigners; they will plunder the sea together, and those from the rising of the sun, and Idumea; and on Moab they will first lay their hands; and the sons of Ammon will be the first to obey.”

He makes plain again here how those from the four wings of the earth, that is, all the nations, will be brought together into the unity that is in Christ through faith, and into a bond of love such as befits saints. Before the precious cross Christ said to the holy apostles: “Do not go off on the way of the nations, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” For as he himself said again: “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But when they had reached the height of every impiety, acted outrageously toward Christ, killed the author of life, and denied the holy and righteous one, then indeed, having trampled on death and risen from the dead, he commanded the holy disciples: “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you.” And when he had ascended into heaven and the power from on high had come down upon them, they no longer remained in Judea alone proclaiming Jesus: some went off to the East and preached in the cities there, others reached the West, and others gave the words of instruction to the neighbouring nations. And those who wished to travel around all that is under the sun had, in some way, to use sea voyages too. Indeed the divine Paul declares that he spent a night and a day in the deep. And the writer of the Acts of the holy apostles says that he and those with him boarded … For it was a custom, especially on the ships of the Alexandrians, to have such images painted on the prow to right and left. And since it was likely, as idolatry prevailed at that time, that the ship had painted on it …

the Dioscuri, it follows that the master of the ship was a foreigner, that is, an idolater. So “they will fly in ships of foreigners,” he says; that is, running, eager, and as it were winged … It is the custom of divine Scripture to call the western parts “sea,” because the sea there is very great and broad. So blessed David, showing that the God of all is the creator of the whole world, says: “The north and the sea you created.” And that the divine Peter, and indeed the all-wise Paul himself, reached the western parts and proclaimed Jesus, no one would doubt. “They will plunder,” he says, “also those from the rising of the sun, and Idumea, … Ammon will be the first to obey.” For after the land of the Jews, all the bordering and neighbouring lands, and even those further off, were from then on full of those who knew the one God, who is God by nature and in truth. The Idumeans and the Moabites, and indeed the sons of Ammon, bordered on those of Israel and occupied neighbouring land, but were fiercely at odds with them and among the most hostile of all. They worshipped the stars, and held the Morning Star in all reverence, calling it a god as pre-eminent over the others. But on them too, and first, the true Morning Star shone into mind and heart and made the light of the spiritual day dawn. Casting off that ancient mist and … to Christ, they made their former bitterest enemies, I mean those of Israel, their initiators and guides on the way that leads to salvation.

“And the Lord will make desolate the sea of Egypt, and will lay his hand on the river with a violent wind, and will strike seven ravines, so that one may go through in sandals. And there will be a passage for my people that is left in Egypt; and it will be for Israel as the day when he came out of the land of Egypt.”

The inventor and father of sin, out of greed, ruled over those throughout all that is under heaven. Leading man away from the truth, he made him a worshipper of the herd of demons; and … beyond the others they became terrible at this. For there were precincts everywhere and altars in swarms, and the objects in their shrines were of many forms; for birds and fish, goat and sheep and calf received their reverence. But even when they were in this state God visited them and called them, with the others, to the light and to the knowledge of the truth. For Mark, the blessed evangelist, preached the Gospel of Christ there, and others after him in their times, some setting out from the land of the Hebrews, others appointed in their times as initiators and teachers from among those who had believed.

How this was accomplished must be told, widening the account of history. Before the power of the Romans prevailed over all, when each land had its own leader or king, there was great division among the nations, partly because difference of religion kindled enmity between them, partly because anyone who wished was allowed to plunder a man from another land, with no one to rebuke him. So the nations had very little intercourse with one another, and to be caught inside another people's land was not without penalty. But when the rule of the Romans prevailed over all and they came under one leader, they were taught to live by the Romans' laws; intercourse among the nations became free from fear, and great gentleness prevailed. Then indeed, then, a passage, that is, a way, was made for those who proclaimed Jesus, so that they could go into Egypt too. In what way Augustus Caesar took the land of the Egyptians, the prophetic word interprets for us. The river of Egypt is broad and great, and floods at its seasons; it comes through seven mouths, giving its stream to the neighbouring sea; and when it reaches the lower parts it floods all their land, so that the wheat-bearing land becomes navigable. When, then, Augustus

Caesar, having conquered Judea, came to the land of the Egyptians, its inhabitants thought that, even without arms, its being surrounded by lakes and rivers would make the land impregnable to him. But since God, who rules over all, had decided to bring the land of the Egyptians too, with the others, under the sceptre of the Romans, he drove the water of the river out to the sea with a most violent south wind and made the whole land passable, so that those who wished to cross the lakes, and even the ravines themselves, that is, the seven mouths of the river, did not, so to speak, have to loose the sandal from their feet. With God smoothing the way for the Roman army, the Egyptians were conquered. The prophet teaches us this again when he says: “Thus says the Lord Sabaoth: And the Egyptians will drink the water by the sea, but the river will fail and be dried up; and the rivers and the canals of the river will fail; and every gathering of water will be dried up, and in every marsh of reed and papyrus, and all the green sedge round the river, and all that is sown by the river …” The Lord, then, he says, will make desolate the sea of Egypt; and it is the custom of divine Scripture to call even lakes seas. “And he will lay his hand on the river with a violent wind.” For we say that the driving of the most violent wind against the waters was the work of the hand, that is, of the divine power. For he struck the seven ravines, that is, the mouths, and … in sandals. Then indeed, then, he says, there will be a passage in Egypt for my people that is left. And what people was this? Those of Israel who believed, about whom the prophet Isaiah says: “If the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved.” The first-fruits, as it were, of the remnant were the blessed disciples and those with them, one of whom was the divine Mark. “And it will be,” he says, “as the day when they came out of the land of Egypt”; that is, those of the blood of Israel who proclaimed the divine and heavenly word to those in Egypt will rejoice greatly, just as they rejoiced on that day when they came out of the land of Egypt. For formerly they themselves were carried out of the slavery in Egypt; but having become ministers of the divine … and genuine stewards of the gospel oracles, they freed the Egyptians not from fleshly slavery but from that of the … Then, through the mediation of the all-wise Moses, the river was changed into blood; but now the water has become saving for them in Christ, for we have been saved through holy baptism. Then those pursuing Israel were drowned when they plunged into the Red Sea; but they were taught through the holy apostles to swim through the surge of the present life and to be seen above the waves of the world. Then a terrible and most violent hail fell on them; but when they were initiated into the word of the economy in the flesh, a rain … A deep, three-day darkness was brought on them; but they came to be in the light. They mourned their firstborn; but the Firstborn from the dead, that is, Christ, saved them from death and corruption. At all these things, then, it was fitting that those of Israel should rejoice, as when they came out of the land of Egypt.

“And you will say in that day: I will bless you, Lord, because you were angry with me, and you turned away your wrath from me and had mercy on me. Behold my God, my Saviour the Lord; I will trust in him and be saved in him, and I will not be afraid; because the Lord is my glory and my praise, and he has become my salvation.”

Having said that those from the nations were saved through faith in Christ, and that those who were most superstitious of all came to the knowledge of the truth, he fittingly brings them in giving glory. For the proof that they have been wholly freed from the ignorance that was in them from the first, and have passed over to choosing to think what pleases the God who alone saved them, would be their eagerness to give glory and to offer him their thanksgivings like a spiritual sacrifice. At that time, then, he says, when there is a passage in Egypt, that is, for those who carry as ambassadors the saving word of the gospel, you who were long in deep darkness, a bitter idolater buried under the deceits of demons, when you see the glory of the one who called you and come to perceive from what sort of things to what sort you have passed, and that, having been yoked to a bitter tyrant, you have come out from under his greed and run to the help of the all-powerful God who saves the lost, then indeed, then, you will say to yourself, and very gladly: “I will bless you, Lord, because you were angry with me, and turned away your wrath from me, and had mercy on me.” They bring their thank-offerings and kindle their doxologies not when they came under the divine wrath, but when, having come under it, they received mercy. We say that the God of all was angry with those who say such things, plainly the idolaters. For what reason? The divine Paul tells us: “… and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man and of birds and reptiles and four-footed beasts. Therefore,” he says, “God gave them over to an unapproved mind and to passions of dishonour, to do what is not fitting.” For those who counterfeited the divine glory and ascribed the exceptional beauty of the highest nature to such pitiable creatures, how would they not very fittingly come under the effects of the divine wrath? “But since,” he says, “you turned away your wrath, you had mercy on me” (for I have been called to knowledge through faith, “not according to the works which we did,” as it is written, “but according to his great mercy”); “therefore,” he says, “I will offer you a doxology in gratitude and say: Behold my God, my Saviour the Lord; I will trust in him and be saved in him.” For formerly, falling down before wood and stones and bringing sacrifices to senseless images, they begged to be saved through them. But since they have known the true God, having thrust aside the falsely named ones, they point to him alone, saying: “Behold my God, my Saviour the Lord.” I will no longer trust in wood and stones, he says, but in him alone, and through him I shall be saved. And even if the one who formerly got the better of me and carried me off into error comes again, tempting and fighting, I will conquer, he says, “because the Lord is my glory and my praise.” Do you see how they knew that giving glory is a saving thing? “Offer to God a sacrifice of praise,” it says, “and pay your vows to the Most High.” And: “Call on me in the day of your affliction, and I will rescue you, and you will glorify me.”

“And draw water with gladness from the springs …”

The one who called is generous; God who saved is ready to repay; he does good to those who have come to know him, and richly gladdens with divine and spiritual gifts those who glorify him. See how they confessed, saying, “Behold my God, my Saviour the Lord, I will trust in him”; and at once he promises them springs and saving water. It was necessary …

… that those called from Greek ignorance to the knowledge of the God who truly is should not lack instruction and a word that gladdens them and has power to hold them together in piety. “For man shall not live by bread alone,” it says, “but by every word that proceeds through the mouth of God.” He calls water the life-giving word of God; springs, the holy apostles and evangelists (and I would add the prophets themselves too); and salvation, Christ. You, then, he says, who gladden me, God by nature and God of all, with your confessions of faith, will receive in return a divine and spiritual gladness, drawing the word that has power to hold you together for this from the springs, that is, the holy apostles. Of them blessed David sings: “The springs of the waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were uncovered.” For the springs of waters are the divine disciples, who gush forth to all who are under heaven the words that come from above and through the Spirit. And likewise they are the foundations of the world. For Christ is the chosen stone, who is also said to have been laid by God the Father in the foundations of Zion, that is, of the Church. For we are founded on him, and through faith we are built up as a spiritual house into a holy temple, into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. And the stones after him, that is, the foundations of the world, would be (and would very fittingly be called) those who proclaim him to all throughout the earth. For their writings hold us up for steadfastness and firmness in faith and truth.

“And you will say in that day: Sing hymns to the Lord, cry out his name, announce among the nations his glorious deeds; remember that his name has been exalted. Sing hymns to the name of the Lord, for he has done lofty things; announce these things in all the earth. Exult and be glad, you who dwell in Zion, because the Holy One of Israel has been exalted in your midst.”

What a marvellous thing! The one who was only just being initiated, and then came upon the springs of salvation and drew the life-giving stream, is seen to have made such progress (in being faithful and genuine, I mean) that he at once shows an apostolic ministry. And not only does he hasten to give glory himself, but he also now commands all the others to do this, saying: “Sing hymns to the Lord, cry out his name.” And to whom he commands that it be cried out he makes plain by adding at once: “Announce among the nations his glorious deeds.” Do not let the Saviour's glory be hidden, he says; let his God-befitting power and authority be plain to all. He saved without remembering wrongs; he destroyed the irresistible tyranny of the devil and the demons; he redeemed those who had been deceived; he freed those in captivity; he proclaimed recovery of sight to the blind. He justified through faith, sanctified through the Spirit, … made sons of God those who were formerly runaways, and showed by deeds that he is God by nature and in truth. He raised the dead, made clean those with leprosy, healed by his nod those in sicknesses … that was wild. So “announce among the nations his glorious deeds,” and keep in constant memory “that his name has been exalted.” “For he has done lofty things”; truly what he accomplished is beyond human hand, or rather beyond every marvel. “Exult, then, and be glad, you who dwell in Zion,” that is, you who have firm faith in the churches, “because the Holy One of Israel has been exalted in your midst.” For even if the Holy One of Israel became man and came down in the form of a slave for us by the economy, yet from the effects and the brilliance of his works he was exalted in a manner befitting God; and who he is by nature we have known,

“The vision which Isaiah son of Amoz saw against …”

The vision against Babylon, and indeed those that follow it in order (against the Idumaeans and Moabites, and also against the Egyptians, and against the others besides), were made for the comfort of Israel, and they give the meaning of what they signify in a rather historical way; yet the more intelligent are permitted to carry what happened to the ancients over into a very clear spiritual contemplation. This the discourse will explain to its readers as it goes on, interpreting each of the things written as far as it can. But I think it necessary now, too, to go back to the beginning of the matter and to set out first the causes of the vision. For Israel, called through the all-wise Moses to the knowledge and worship of the God who truly is, and having the law that directed him toward everything worthy of admiration, neglected the commandment given to him and turned to “teachings, commandments of men”, or rather gave himself up to things still worse … The God of all, then, accused those who chose to do such things through every prophet, and raised a great outcry at his impiety. He said, for example: “This people draws near to me, with their lips they honour me, but their heart is far from me. In vain they worship me, teaching as teachings the commandments of men.” And again: “Why has the beloved done an abomination in my house?” He calls the idol an abomination. Since, then, they had turned terribly aside to outlandish degeneracy, and were drawing their neck away from service under God, and were raising up their own proud mind as it were against him, he handed them over at various times: sometimes to those who held the neighbouring land, I mean the Idumaeans and also the Moab… but to those harsher and wilder than the others, the Egyptians and those from Philistia; and sometimes, bringing a heavier blow on them, he sent against them the cruellest of all on earth, I mean the Babylonians, who laid waste the whole land of the Jews without effort and carried off into captivity, to their own land, a multitude beyond number. That these things would happen to them, the God of all admonishing them …, the blessed prophets foretold at various times. Yet even though what had been foretold had already come to fulfilment for them, they were no less hard and disobedient, … abominable … So the God of all, after the blow and the scourges and what befell them from their enemies at various times, makes a prophecy of the sweetest things, things that know how to gladden: he promises that he will see to it that those who had already become captives return home, that he will release them from the bonds of their misery, and that he will hand over to their enemies those very people who had once conquered them. For it was surely very likely that, even if they had remained uncorrected by the former things, they would at least choose to take delight in the second, and, lifted on wings to the hope of what they longed for, to honour the worship dearest to God and to keep their mind unshaken toward him.

Since, then, although there were many who at various times ravaged the land of the Jews (the Chaldeans most of all, and those of Babylon …) at various times, against them, as it were first of all, the word of prophecy leaps and says: … “On a mountain of the plain raise a sign.” I think it necessary, before the interpretation of what lies before us, to relate first something most necessary. Cyrus, then, whose father was Cambyses and whose mother was Mandane, and who reigned over the Persians and the Medes, made an expedition against Babylon and against the whole land of the Chaldeans, which was broad and very great; and indeed he conquered it. He took it not by his own forces, nor because he was able to use a stronger hand (for the Chaldean nation was unconquerable and without rival, because of its numbers and because it was thoroughly trained in tactics), but rather because God subjected his opponents to him, and the impieties of the Babylo… how great the sorcery among them was, and the swarm of idols beyond number. Indeed it has been named “land of carved images”, either because of the multitude of idols, or because each of those who lived there was found in no way different from an idol, I mean in turning to error without check or restraint. Then, besides this, because, having laid waste the holy land that had been allotted to God, that is, Judaea, and having burned Jerusalem and the divine temple itself, they carried off the sacred vessels to their own land, and, giving rein to unmixed wrath, they killed Israel, which was named a holy people and the portion and lot of God. For that God handed Israel over into the hands of enemies when it worshipped idols is not unclear to those who know the sacred writings; but those who were called to this punished them beyond measure. Indeed the God of all is found saying somewhere through the voice of Zechariah: “I have been jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with great jealousy, and with great anger I am angry with the nations that join in the attack; because I was angry a little, but they joined in the attack for evil.” And to Babylon he says: “I gave them into your hands, but you gave them no mercy.” So God handed over to Cyrus the boastful and insolent city, the mother and nurse of all wickedness, I mean Babylon. This too may become clear when he says through Isaiah: “Thus says the Lord to my anointed, Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, that nations may obey before him, and cities … and I will level mountains; I will shatter doors of bronze and break bars of iron.” Having conquered, Cyrus released Israel from captivity and ordered them to go home rejoicing, and moreover to rebuild the divine temple. Indeed the prophet Jeremiah says: “The word which the Lord spoke against Babylon: Announce among the nations, and make it heard, and do not hide it. Say: Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, the fearless one, the luxurious one.”