Commentary on Isaiah 2.3.13–2.3.21

“… the eclipse of the glory of Jacob, and the fat things of his glory will be shaken.”

Here he calls Jacob those born of Jacob, that is, the ten tribes in Samaria and the half-tribe of Ephraim, who leapt so far away from the love of God, and from placing their hope of being saved rather in him, that they trusted in themselves and raised their brow high on account of their numbers alone and their glory. This was their way. And the prophet tells us this again most clearly. For he said about them: “Their glories [come] from births and pangs and conceptions.” Then he adds to these: “Give them, Lord — what will you give them? Give them a childless womb and dry breasts.” There will be, then, he says, at that time an eclipse of the glory of Jacob; that is, the great and countless multitude of those of Jacob, in which he gloried and on account of which he set about thinking highly of himself, will be consumed by the swords of the enemy. But the fat things of his glory too will be shaken; that is, the kingdom among them will also be brought down. For it is written in the fourth book of Kingdoms that, while Hoshea son of Elah reigned in Samaria, Salmanasar came and besieged Samaria for three whole years, and took it, and moved Hoshea to Babylon. The fat things of the glory of Jacob, then, would be understood as the one who reigned in Samaria at that time, or perhaps those throughout the whole country who were brilliant and more notable than the others, exceeding the measure of the rest in wealth and power, and fattened by luxuries and by the honours paid them by all.

“And it will be as when someone gathers the standing harvest and reaps the seed of the ears; and it will be as when someone gathers an ear in a solid ravine, and stubble is left in it, or like two or three olive berries at the top of the highest bough, or four or five on its branches.”

That the Assyrians who war against those in Samaria will prevail readily and without sweat, and besides this, that [the people] will not go wholly and altogether to destruction, but there will be some small remnant, the prophetic word clearly makes known to us in these words. For those who have experience of reaping the ears cut skilfully and collect the grain, but always leave the stalk behind them as useless, and run over the whole breadth of the crops. And those who are accustomed to gather the fruit of the olives partly beat them with a rod and partly touch them with their hands and [strip] the shoots; …three or four or five perhaps at the tips of the branches, and they escape the eyes of the harvesters. Something like this, he says, will happen to those in Samaria. For he affirms that they will suffer as the ear does when it falls into the hands of the reapers, and that as it were stubble will be left in it, that is, a few of the more obscure, or like two or three olive berries that escaped the eye of the harvesters because they were hidden at the very top.

“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: In that day man will trust in his Maker, and his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel; and they will not trust in the altars, nor in the works of their hands, which their … made, but they will trust in the Holy One of … their abominations.”

The most wise Paul, knowing that being disciplined by those through whom [God disciplines] is neither a useless nor a vain thing, … Israel. And they will not see their trees, nor … says: “If you endure discipline, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not discipline?” And he cites also what comes from the divinely inspired Scripture; for he adds at once: “My son, do not make light of the discipline of the Lord, nor lose heart when you are reproved by him. For whom the Lord loves he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives.” For since the Creator of all is good, “he wishes all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” For this reason he admonished very often through holy prophets those of the blood of Israel, and especially those who had moved away from Jerusalem to Samaria. But they had turned without restraint to what seemed good to them, and, having left the God who is God by nature and in truth, they became servants … worship. And since, being very ignorant, they would not even consider that they ought to repent, God at last punished them. For those whom word does not help, toil changes, turning them as by necessity and force to what pleases God. The blessed David too is found saying something like this: “With bit and bridle you will constrain their jaws, of those who do not draw near to you.” For just as those who are accustomed to break colts, and are skilled at it, turn the wilder horses with bridles into a trained gait, so too the God of all very often brings the disobedient and unbridled man round, by the constraints of toil, to choose to live rightly. Having suffered something of this kind, those who dwelt in Samaria, after suffering the calamities of the war, barely recognized … the worship of idols, and turned the eye of their mind to the Holy One of Israel, expecting from him plainly help and release from the evils brought on them. “For they will not trust,” he says, “in the altars, nor in the works of their hands, which their fingers made; and they will not see their trees, nor their abominations.” For it was their custom to occupy the tops of the mountains and, under oak and poplar, as is written, to worship the works of their own hands. But they will no longer look to these, he says, having learned by experience that the thing is vain and wholly useless for them, or rather the cause of every calamity. For it was for this reason that they perished and were given over to their enemies. It is best, then, to be on our guard and with all our strength to avert the divine wrath, and not to wait to learn evils by experience, but rather to strip off beforehand, and very promptly, the causes for which God might be angry, and, before the blow and the scourge, to make our defence to him when he is grieved, by refusing what is shameful, honouring what is best, and practising virtue in every way.

“In that day your cities will be forsaken, as the Amorites and the Hivites forsook them before the face of … God your Saviour, and you did not remember the Lord your helper.”

From the events themselves he persuades them to consider that matters had turned the other way round for them. For formerly they conquered with God's help, and were something fearful to the cities and lands of the nations, … God for them everything that was steep and hard to accomplish. But since they became imitators of the unholiness of those nations, they became cowardly and easy to capture like them. For their cities were laid waste and abandoned by their inhabitants, in the same way as the Hivites and Amorites once fell, consumed by their swords. And he at once set forth clearly the cause of their slipping into such weakness and enduring so harsh and unbearable a calamity: “For you have forsaken God your Saviour,” he says, “and did not remember the Lord your God.” For they ought to have given thanks for the benefits they had received: for being redeemed from slavery in Egypt, for prevailing over their enemies and laying waste the cities of their opponents, and for being brought into the land of promise itself; … fearlessly, and grieving him in more ways than one, caring very little for the law laid down through the all-wise Moses, kicking away entirely their piety toward God, giving their reverence to soulless materials, and saying to the golden heifers: “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” When, then, we are with God, plainly striving to think his thoughts and having chosen to accomplish what is dear to him, then indeed we will surely be stronger than our enemies, and we will trample on rulers and authorities and the world-rulers of this darkness, the spiritual forces of wickedness; then … the movements of the flesh; then we will conquer evil thoughts, and the spirits of the one who holds power will find no place in us. But if we neglect to cleave to God, we will be weak and unmanly and under the feet of our enemies, and … prevailing …

“Therefore you will plant an unfaithful planting and an unfaithful seed. But on the day you plant, you will be deceived. But if you sow in the morning, it will flower into harvest, on whatever day you take your inheritance, and as the father of a man you will give your sons their inheritance.”

I will try as far as possible to make clear the sense of what lies before us, which is wrapped in much obscurity. What he says is something like this. I said before that those of Israel, deceiving and being deceived and thinking what is not lawful (that is, Ephraim, so that you understand the ten tribes that had been moved to Samaria), carried their brow high, and thought that none at all of their enemies could prevail over their hand, because they were countless and very many.

… some were consumed by the war, and others were carried off into the lands of the conquerors, captives and terrified and in every evil. But when time had passed, they were brought back from the land of the Persians to the holy city, and then they ceased having kings in separate parts, and all dwelt in Jerusalem and honoured the law of God; then their children too were in safety, and the generations ran on to children's children. Something of this kind the word teaches now too, setting a riddle about grain and ears. For since, he says, you did not remember the Lord your God, for this reason … your seed and race will be unfaithful and not secure … out of the way. And when you plant … and see it become much, then you will be deceived. For … he says, trusting in your numbers, but you do not reason truly. For they will fall like ears, and you will find the hope set on these wholly useless. “But if you sow in the morning”: that is, when you have come into the light and have at last recognized the Master who is so by nature and in truth, who saves easily and is able to help, then what has been planted, that is, sown, will flower into harvest, that is, it will come to maturity. For the ear's being consumed early brings loss of labour and of hope to those who till the soil; but its coming to harvest gives the fullest hope of good things. It will flower into harvest, then, that is, your planting will come to maturity, when it becomes morning for you, that is, when you are found as in light and day and come into the knowledge of God. Then too as the father of a man you will give your sons their inheritance. For you will pass on to your sons, as a kind of inheritance, good cheer and a share in the help from above.

“Woe, the multitude of many nations! Like a surging sea, like water it will sound; many nations like much water, like much water rushing down by force. And he will drive him away, and pursue him far off, like the dust of chaff of winnowers before the wind, and like the dust of a wheel that a whirlwind carries.”

The God of all, being the lover of humankind, does not leave those of Israel without comfort, but very often makes the hope of good things break in together with fear, and this by way of dispensation, so that he may benefit the hearers by both. That their cities will be laid waste has been said clearly; and what the reason for their suffering was he taught by saying: “You have forsaken the Lord your God, and you did not remember the Lord your helper.” But he who struck at once promises also to heal. And he relates something that happened, which it is necessary to tell in words as far as possible because of its usefulness. When Hezekiah at one time held the thrones of the kingdom in Jerusalem, the king of the Assyrians went up against the fortified cities of Judaea and took them. For it is written thus. Then he sends Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to besiege it; and he, having arrived, [spoke against] the glory of God, the Saviour of us all, [saying] that he was not able to save them, even if he wished, using his tongue and mind [without restraint]; [but] he learned by experience that it is a hard thing for any man to rise up against the supreme glory. For an angel of the Lord went out and killed in one night from the camp of the foreigners a hundred and eighty-five thousand; and rising in the morning they found all the bodies dead. And since he who had sent him, I mean Sennacherib, [failed] of what he had expected, he returned a fugitive, and barely saved himself by reaching home, though he too perished not long after at the hands of his own sons. For it came to pass, it says, while he was worshipping in the house … and Sarasar, his sons, struck him with swords. The prophetic word recalls this history to us in these words, and relates beforehand the attack of the Assyrians, and says: “Woe, the multitude of many nations!” and what follows. For he calls them wretched as about to die very soon at Jerusalem, an angel destroying them. That it was not one nation but rather very many he shows clearly by calling them a multitude of nations. And they came upon the districts, that is, the cities of Judaea, like much water rushing down by force and causing uproar, all but flooding over their opponents like a sea. He here calls them the back of many nations, because many nations were put to flight by them; and the pursuers always run at the backs of those who flee. Then what after this? “He will drive him away,” he says, that is, he will send him back, “and pursue him far off, like the dust of chaff of winnowers before the wind, and like the dust of a wheel that a whirlwind carries.” For what is so easily scattered as dust from a wheel and a threshing floor, when a violent wind is squalling? That Sennacherib went off a fugitive the God of all will confirm, saying to him: “… your …, and a bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back.”

“Toward evening there will be mourning; before morning, and it will be no more. This is the portion of those who plundered you, and the inheritance of those who inherited you.”

I said before that Rabshakeh, having set his fighting force round Jerusalem and threatened to take it before long, perished with his whole army before dawn and day. There will be mourning, then, he says, toward evening, since in Jerusalem they surely expected that the attack of the war would come in the morning; but it ceased before dawn. For this reason he says: There will be mourning toward evening; but it will be no more before morning, that is, the tears will cease and come to an end, and will be gone together with the terrors of suffering, God helping and destroying, beyond all expectation, the phalanxes of the enemy, and besides that their leader … through the voice of Isaiah: “And I will put a muzzle in your nose, [and turn you back] by the way by which you came.” … the land of the Jews. The blessed David too explains this, saying: “In the evening weeping will lodge, and in the morning exultation.” But this, he says, is the lot; and this the portion of those who plundered you and seized you as their own lot. By this he reproaches those of Israel, that they themselves did things for which it was likely the nation would perish root and all; yet he himself again has pity, and punishes with death those who plunder the people allotted to him. “For when the Most High divided the nations,” it says, “when he scattered the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God; and his people Jacob became the Lord's portion, Israel the measured lot of his inheritance.” But besides this, look closely with me at this too, and from the things that happened historically come to the inmost thoughts. When the wicked and opposing powers, pouring down on the soul like violent water, or assailing us with temptations from outside or with the innate movements of the flesh, press hard to besiege the pious mind, let none of those who know how to excel with God fall into feeble cowardice; but rather, having set his hope on him, let him be stronger than every terror. For how can one doubt that he will obtain help from him? For the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation; and the blessed Paul writes: “God is able, who will not let you be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way out, so that you may be able to bear it.” And as the Psalmist says: “The angel of the Lord will encamp round those who fear him, and will deliver them.” And when the heretics, [hostile to] those skilled in the sacred doctrines, … the worshippers of the truth, and come on terrible and bold, either stirring up wars and persecutions, or heaping afflictions on them and the fear of death, these too will grow weak no less. For with a hidden hand the Lord wars against Amalek from generation to …

“Woe, wings of ships of the land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia! who sends hostages by sea, and paper letters upon the water. For swift messengers will go to a lofty nation, and a strange and harsh people. Who is beyond it? … trodden down.”

One might wonder, and perhaps reason with himself and say: Why does the prophetic word here, which was spoken against Damascus, also bring in mention of the land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia? We say, then, that at various times those of Israel, having carelessly made a practice of forsaking God, the Saviour of all, went off into the error of many gods, and, having entirely neglected the commandment given through Moses, were disciplined by God, who raised up wars against them at various times and wore them down with the calamities that came of them. But they, … and departing from their own wickedness, and being brought back to what seemed good to the Lawgiver, and seeking the help that comes from him, hired alliances with the neighbouring nations; and sometimes they went over to the kings of Damascus, sometimes to those of the Egyptians; and not only so, but, learning the worship of the nations that helped them, they hastened to emulate it too. Indeed Ahaz son of Jotham, king of Judah, having been in Damascus, … made one like it and set it up in the house of God. So the vision was against Damascus. “For behold,” he says, “Damascus will be taken away from among cities, and will no longer be a stronghold for Ephraim to flee to.” Do you see the cause brought in at once, why he says that Damascus will be taken away from among cities? For it will no longer be, he says, so strong that Ephraim, who reigned in Samaria, could flee to it for refuge. He therefore moves the word on to the land of the Egyptians. For those of Israel went over to them too, especially those who dwelt in Jerusalem, and eagerly sought their support and help, especially when the Babylonians were attacking. Indeed he says through the voice of the prophet: “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who trust in horses and chariots!” And something of this kind happened. Nebuchadnezzar at one time made an expedition against the land of the Jews. And as he passed through, he plundered practically all the cities of the east. And when he wished to take the city of the Tyrians, which was then an island, then, … of ships to carry them across, … by the multitude of his army, he ordered the sea to be made passable, a mound being raised that made a broad highway from the mainland to the very city of the Tyrians. The Tyrians, then, fearing that the city might somehow be taken, gathered ships from every side and … from the island, leaving the city deserted for him. When Nebuchadnezzar learned this, he moved his army to take the land of the Egyptians by surprise, and took it without a struggle, God raising him up against the Egyptians, because they too, always raising their brow high, boasted over those of Israel as having no God able to save them. For when they were called on for help and to defend them, they said that their own gods were more valiant than the God of Judaea.

That the Babylonian took the land of the Egyptians after his toil at Tyre would be clear from God's saying to the prophet Ezekiel: “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon made his army serve a great service against Tyre; every head was bald and every shoulder peeled; and there was no wage for him and his army for the hard service which they served against Tyre. For this I have given him the land of Egypt.” The prophet, then, brings the “Woe” on it too, and says: “Woe, wings of ships of the land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia!” By the rivers of Ethiopia he means the seven mouths through which the broad and great river of Egypt mingles with the sea. And the land beyond the rivers he calls what is now Alexandria, which was then called On. It was very populous and had most valiant inhabitants, and stood a little away from the rivers of Egypt. For from the last mouth (its name is the Heracleotic) it lies off to the west some eighty stades. And since … to sail up and down the river, which is always navigable, and to carry their own goods to others and others' goods to themselves, and … gain, the prophetic word in these words … the ships, and it brings the “Woe” not on the ships but rather on those who always used them, rejoicing and luxuriating, as I said, in the gains of trade that came from them. For when the whole … had been seized, all … and the broad freedom of it was cut off, those who owned them perhaps having perished. Woe, then, he says, wings of the ships of that land which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia! By the wings of ships he means the sails, on which the gusts of the winds fall and carry them like a bird through the midst of the waves.

“Who sends hostages by sea, and paper letters upon the water.”

The sense of what has been said is very hard to reach; yet it is in labour with the narrative of a Greek story, which we will tell of necessity, not going beyond what is fitting, that is, what befits Christian discourse, but in order to make the meaning of the thoughts clear to the hearers. The story goes thus. Some of the poets among the Greeks tell the myth that Myrrha was the daughter of a certain Cinyras, who, overcome by unbridled impulses toward pleasure, lay licentiously with his own daughter and made her the mother of a child, whom he named Adonis.

… at what had happened and at the laws of nature, because he was being shown to have acted impiously, he exposed the child, as they say, on a mountain. Some of the nymphs there, whom they also call mountain demons, took it, reared it and kept it alive; and he, having grown up and being now among the young men, appeared in most comely beauty; and he took up hunting, and set great store by his pursuit of it through the woods. Then, it says, their Aphrodite (she was a harlot of a woman) saw him, fell in love with him, lay with him, and continued to cherish him. And besides … the thing became [a cause of grief] to Aphrodite, it says; and she came to such despondency and grief that she went down to Hades itself, wishing to bring her lover back. But since the wife of Pluto laid great claim to the youth and would not let him go, since he had wonderful beauty, they agreed with each other to divide the circle of the year and to have him half each. And when Aphrodite came up and announced this to her intimates, that is, her friends or worshippers, the thing became a feast and a festival. So the Greeks invented such a feast on this account. For they pretended to lament and mourn with Aphrodite in her grief because Adonis had died; and when she came up from Hades and said that the one sought had been found, to rejoice with her and leap for joy. And down to our own times this play was performed in the temples at Alexandria. Those of the blood of Israel learned it too, and indeed performed it, having left the God who is God by nature and in truth, turning aside to what is unlawful, and senselessly carried away by the deceits of demons to ruin and destruction. The blessed prophet Ezekiel also records this; for he said thus: “And I looked, and behold, women sitting there, lamenting …” And something of this kind was done by those who were in the land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, about which … then, writing a letter to the women in Byblos, as though Adonis had been found, and putting it in an earthen vessel and sealing it, they let it down into the sea, having performed certain rites over it; and, as they said, it [was carried] of itself to Byblos on fixed days of the year. Certain women, friends of Aphrodite, received it, and then, having read the letter, ceased their lamenting, as though Adonis had been found by Aphrodite. The prophetic word, then, laughs at those who dwell in the land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, as being once idolaters, unholy, deceivers and hateful to God, and says: “Who sends hostages by sea, and paper letters upon the water.” And to this too the “Woe” surely applies, just as to the wings of the ships. For “Woe, wings of ships of the land,” he says. So the woe applies to both in common. “Hostages”, that is, pledges of like-mindedness. For, as performing a mystery of Aphrodite for those who worship her in Byblos and are sick with the same madness, they sent off the letters, not putting couriers in ships, but as it were upon the water, because these had been placed, as I said, in an earthen vessel. We have been compelled [to tell] stinking and aged myths … only to make clear the sense of what lies before us.

“For swift messengers will go to a lofty nation, and a strange and harsh people. Who is beyond it? A nation without hope and trodden down.”

I said before that those who dwell in the land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia offended the kings of the Assyrians, since, when those of Israel asked for help, they not only promised it but even sent it, though they helped them not at all.