Commentary on Isaiah 2.4.6–2.4.13

as it is written. By the wise men of Tanis, then, he means the false prophets in it and the keepers of the [things in the] shrines, who, priding themselves greatly on the magic art, were shown by the facts themselves to be wholly nothing.

“How will you say to the king: We are sons of wise men, sons of kings from the beginning? Where now are your wise men? Let them announce to you and say what the Lord Sabaoth has planned against Egypt.”

On what achievements, he says, will you raise your eyebrows? What benefit have you given the country of the Egyptians, that you should be admired by them? Or what words did you use to beguile the one who reigns, saying, “We are sons of wise men,” that is, of prophets? Magi, and sons of magi; who … the glory of the whole country among the servants of the idols, always being and living with those in power, since [they offered] counsels on all that was to be done, [and] the hunt for advantage. When, then, he says, you are exposed as speaking falsely and knowing nothing true, how will you say to the king, “We are sons of wise men, sons of kings from the beginning?” So far the prophetic word has been addressed to those who seemed to be wise; then it turns to the person of the one allotted to lead, and says: “Where now are your wise men? Let them announce to you and say what the Lord Sabaoth has planned against Egypt.” For if they are not cheats, he says, or deceivers and buffoons, used to lying and speaking only what comes from their own heart and not from the mouth of the Lord, learn from them what hangs over the Egyptians and will very soon happen by the counsel of the Lord Sabaoth. The word, as it were, mocks those who do not know God but lie as in deep darkness, because they love to cling to the [idols] … it is wholly idle to put confidence in the deceits of false diviners. For knowing nothing at all, either of what will be or of what God might bring, they make false divination an occasion of collecting money, and, pretending to be inspired, belch out what comes from their own will alone, and bewitch the mind of those devoted to them. For they say whatever one might wish, and say only what they judge will please their hearers. But the divine [law] to us … thus: “When you enter the land that the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who purifies his son or his daughter in fire, who practises divination, who observes omens, … and prodigies, or who inquires of the dead. For everyone who does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.” And he adds to these: “You shall be perfect before the Lord your God. For these nations, whom you are dispossessing, will listen to omens and divinations; but the Lord your God has not so given to you. A prophet from among your brothers the Lord your God will raise up for you; him you shall hear … in all that he speaks to you.” For he who attends to divinations and omens, augury and the cheats of sorcerers, is wholly without love of God and will be bare of the glories of piety. But truly full of good hope is he who applies his mind to the Gospel ordinances and puts the vote of truth to whatever Christ says. For he is the Master of the prophets and the giver of all knowledge, even if he has been named a prophet because of the measure of his humanity.

“The rulers of Tanis have failed, and the rulers of Memphis have been lifted up, and they will lead Egypt astray tribe by tribe. For the Lord has mixed for them a spirit of error, and they led Egypt astray in all their works, as a drunkard and one who vomits at the same time goes astray. And there will be for the Egyptians no work that will make head and tail, beginning and end.”

The prophetic word here in a way smiles at the toys and empty talk of the liars. The leader of the Egyptians asked those who were always with him, sorcerers and false diviners, who were also called wise, to what end his expectations would come for him. But since they missed the right counsel and were shown to speak falsely, and none of them brought in a way of beneficial counsel and profitable plans, they were counted as nothing, and other wise men were then sought; and indeed some admired the rulers of Memphis, that is, the priests and magi, I mean those at Memphis. For they seemed to be, as it were, the chosen ones at that time, and having reached the height of magical skill they appeared to the idolaters worthy of every regard. They failed, then, he says, the rulers of Memphis, that is, they were counted as nothing, though those who presided over Memphis seemed to be lofty and admired by the king and all around him. But they too led Egypt astray tribe by tribe, that is, city by city and village by village, and not one by one only, but in multitudes. For they were confident, although they had nothing necessary to say; and in what way were they confident? “For the Lord,” he says, “has mixed for them a spirit of error” … of their tongue, so that they could neither understand nor say anything at all of the truth. For it was not fitting that the [prophets of] idolaters … They led Egypt astray, then, as a drunkard and one who vomits at the same time goes astray. For it is the way of drunkards to fall into the uncleanness of vomit. This is why, he says, there will be for the Egyptians no work that will make head and tail, beginning and end. For they will not lay hold of vigorous undertakings; for this is beginning and head. Nor will what they do come to a most desirable end; for this is the tail and the end. For every plan of men is useless, and every help rotten and in no way able to profit, when God, as I said, afflicts, brings his all-powerful hand upon those who rebel, and turns the nature of affairs to what seems good to him.

“In that day the Egyptians will be like women, in fear and in trembling before the hand of the Lord Sabaoth, which he will lay upon them. And the land of the Jews will be [a terror] to the Egyptians; [whoever names] it to them, they will be afraid, because of the counsel that the Lord has planned against it.”

For those who were once bold and savage, despisers of every danger, will be very fearful, he says, and will find their heart broken within them, so as to fall short in nothing of the weakest women … The occasion of their fear and of the terror at it will be the hand of the Lord Sabaoth, which he will lay upon them. By the hand of the Lord Sabaoth here the all-powerful will of God is meant, which subjected the nation of the Egyptians to the kingdom of the Romans. The divine counsel is wholly invincible, and what seems good to the plans of the highest nature must in every way be carried through. Besides this, the land of the Jews will be a terror to the Egyptians; and what he means by this let us see exactly, for the sense is very obscure. Of old, then, the land of the Jews was preserved, God shielding it, against, so to speak, the kingdoms of the nations round about.

But though it had so great a helper, it was taken and came under the Romans, and every city was burned, and houses and villages remained empty of men. And what was the occasion of their being taken? Plainly the counsel of the Lord, which he planned against it. For it too, together with the others, was handed over to the all-powerful hand of the Romans. The land of the Jews, then, will be a terror to the Egyptians. For the words of the false diviners wished to embolden them, saying that they would be stronger than the hand of the invaders and would prevail when they went out against them. But the fact that the land of the Jews itself was handed over to them, though it once had God as its champion, [showed that they too would] wholly and entirely be subject to those wishing to ravage them, since the land of the Jews had suffered this, [God] subjecting it too to his nods and bringing it under the sceptres of the Romans. Some, however, think the passage should be understood in another way. For since the God of all visited the Egyptians and brought them over from darkness to light, removed them from the customs of idolatry, and granted them at last to know who is God by nature and truly, the Creator of all (for they believed in Christ, and came to know the Father through him and in him), for this reason, he says, out of very great goodness and reverence, the land of the Jews will be for them an object of awe. When he says “for a terror,” you will understand the fear that comes from reverence. For all honour Jerusalem, because Christ was there, endured the cross for the salvation of the world, was laid in a tomb, returned to life, and went up to the Father. Of old the land of the Jews was hated by the Egyptians, for their manner of worship was opposed to theirs. For the one worshipped the creation and the works of their own hands; the others served the all-holy God and, governed by his laws, were careful of a holy way of life. The land once hated, then, will be for them an object of awe and an occasion of reverence, because [they honour] Christ, as I said, who called them out of darkness into his marvellous light, because … came to be in it …

“In that day there will be five cities in Egypt speaking the Canaanite tongue and swearing by the name of the Lord; one city will be called Asedek.”

One might very reasonably admire the blessed prophet for the precision of his words here, being ignorant of nothing at all of what would be in the country of the Egyptians at the times of the Lord's coming, but foretelling each point and declaring clearly in what way the Gospel preaching was shown forth. There will be, then, he says, five cities in Egypt speaking the Canaanite tongue, that is, the Syrian, or that of Palestine. For Phoenicians and Palestinians speak one tongue. And again Palestinians and Egyptians border on one another, with nothing between, but at the borders of Egypt toward … the cities near the borders of Egypt first receive the saving preaching. And these are five, of which we say the first is the present city of the Rhinocorurans. They speak the Canaanite tongue; for those in these cities have been eager to adopt not so much the speech of the Egyptians as that of the Syrians. Some say that Josephus clearly records in his own writings that a man named Onias, being of the choice ones of Levi and honoured with the priesthood according to the law, left the land of the Jews and occupied these five cities as bordering on the Canaanites, having quarrelled with some of his own people, or perhaps having suffered persecution.

… he says, gathered a not easily counted multitude of Jews … of the cities, which has also been named the city of Asedek, that is, of righteousness. Hence, they say, those near the Egyptian [borders] speak the tongue of the Canaanites. And they will learn, he says, to swear by the name of the Lord. This too is beyond expectation. For it is the custom of the worshippers of vain things to make an oath of whichever of the elements of the world seems good to each. Some name the heaven, others the sun, others the handmade things in the shrines; but in no way do they mention the true God, for they have not known him. But it belongs to those who have already come to know him and have believed also to swear by his name. So too the all-wise Moses brought Israel, which had left the worship in Egypt, to the knowledge of the true God, saying: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.” And he added to these: “And you shall swear by his name.” A plain proof, then, that these five cities received the faith is their swearing by none of the vain things, but rather taking the name of the Lord for the use of an oath.

“In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border; and it will be for a sign for ever to the Lord in the land of Egypt.”

The whole land of the Egyptians [was full of] shrines and sacrifices everywhere, offered by them now to the elements of the world, now, as I said, to the images set up in temples, and plainly also to the pillars of demons. And why do I say this, when they even set up the shapes of irrational animals and bestowed on them the glory fitting for God? See, then, from what to what the affairs of the Egyptians have changed. Those who of old were more superstitious than all others and had turned without restraint to unruliness, in that day, he says, that is, at that time when the saving preaching shines among them, will accept the worship of the one who is God by nature and truly. For there will be an altar to the Lord in the land of the Egyptians. The saying has great emphasis; for it is spoken with wonder. For how is it not beyond expectation that an altar of the Lord should be seen in the very land of the Egyptians? And besides this, a pillar to the Lord at its border. By a pillar here, as it seems to me, he means either a holy temple of God, that is, the Church, which perhaps was raised first of all at its border, or else the sign of the holy cross, with which believers are accustomed to fortify themselves. For we always use it, overturning every assault of the devil and beating back the attacks of the demons. For the cross is an unbreakable wall for us, and boasting in it is truly saving: “But may it never be that I should boast except in the cross of Christ.” Beyond expectation, then, are the things foretold by the prophecy … For there are very many altars to the Lord, beyond number, throughout the [land] of the Egyptians, and the sign of the cross is venerated by those who live there. For they have believed in our Lord Jesus Christ. Some of the interpreters thought fit to name a title instead of the pillar, and say that this is the holy Gospel. Let the sensible reader in turn approve what seems best and right.

“For they will cry to the Lord because of those who afflict them, and the Lord will send them a man who will save them. And the Lord will be known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day; and they will make sacrifices, and will vow vows to the Lord, and will pay them.”

See, I pray, again the sobriety of the prophetic [word]. As if someone were asking and saying, “What is the matter? What was the occasion of the Lord's coming to Egypt on a light cloud and granting them this and that?”, the prophet takes it up, answers and says: “For they will cry to the Lord because of those who afflict them, and the Lord will send them a man who will save them.” For the father of sin, that is, Satan, leapt upon those throughout the whole earth, and, laying the yoke of his own perversity on all, lured them away from love toward God. Having them all but bound under himself, he oppressed them bitterly and unholily; but the very nature of the thing, having a terrible and unbearable greed, cried out against his tyranny. So you will understand the Egyptians as crying out. Yet how is it not true to say that, not knowing the Master of all by nature, they would not have cried to him at all? But as the blood of Abel is said to have cried out to God, not itself having a voice of its own, but God, as it were, abhorring the very outrage of the deed, in the same way, I think, one may understand it also of those who used to worship the unclean demons. For even if they did not know the God of all, yet because they had been taken advantage of by Satan, they cried out in a way through the deed itself, surely asking for help for themselves. So we say the Egyptians too cried out … [because of those who afflict them], that is, those who had brought them under their own hand and oppressed them as with a most bitter slavery, plainly the unclean demons. But the Lord will send them a man who will save them. And who is the man, but plainly Christ, that is, the only-begotten Word of God, who appeared in human form? He saved not the Egyptians only, but the whole earth. And he saved by judging; and what is “judging”? It is instead of “pronouncing a just judgement on them.” For Satan, who had taken advantage, and with him the unclean demons, he put under holy verdicts and, consigning them to Tartarus in chains of gloom, handed them over to be kept for the judgement of the great day, to be punished. But those who had endured such unbearable greed he saved and rescued, and showed them to be his own worshippers, flashing the light of truth upon them and [adorning them] with the glories of freedom. So the Saviour himself also says somewhere: “Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up, will draw all to myself.” You see that he gave judgement for the world, cast out Satan who of old had tyrannized over it, and drew all to himself. For the Egyptians too came to know him. And indeed, having come to know him, they make sacrifices, and vow vows, and bring what they have promised to fulfilment. This is what is sung through the voice of David: “Vow, and pay to the Lord our God.” See, then, the newness of things. Those who of old were accustomed to sacrifice to the demons, who brought their worship to Satan, dedicated thank-offerings and also eagerly fulfilled vows or promises, now enlightened in mind through Christ and made bright with the doctrines of truth, will run away from the ancient error, and, having once come to know the Creator and Lord of all, will bring him worship in spirit, … fulfilling vows and offering sacrifices, no longer those through blood and the slaughter of irrational animals, but rather spiritual ones, as I said, acceptable because blameless.

“And the Lord will strike the Egyptians with a great blow, and heal them with healing; and they will return to the Lord, and he will hear them and heal them.”

… those who have acted unholily, and he exacts the penalty for the outrages they have committed against him, but he benefits them greatly in this way. For he does not bring the whip as one overcome [by anger], but rather to change them for the better. For either he moves them from error to truth, or [compels] those who turn without restraint to offending to hasten to what pleases him. Accordingly, knowing that being disciplined is a beneficial thing, the blessed prophets cried to him: “Discipline us, Lord, but with judgement and not in wrath.” And again: “Lord, in affliction we remembered you; in small affliction was your discipline to us.” And he said somewhere to the synagogue of the Jews: “With toil and the whip you will be disciplined, Jerusalem.” He disciplines, then, those whom he chooses and loves. The prophet says he will grant this to the Egyptians too. For the Lord will strike them with a great blow and heal them with healing. For even if they were perhaps given over to the Roman generals and to the guards under them, armed with the law of war, yet, having given room among them to the divine preaching, they unloaded the penalty of their error, [turned] to the divine and heavenly light, and, having beaten off that ancient opinion, have had a healthy heart thereafter. For they will return to the Lord, and he will hear them, that is, … God [will be] gracious and kind. To know the one who is God by nature and truly, then, brings … Those who through great impiety had come to be turned away from God will learn at last no longer to bring their supplications to the abominations, for whatever they may perhaps choose to ask, but will rather cry to him who heals the broken in heart. And he will not be slow to them, but rather ready to [grant] … from which every good would come to every man: [to know] the Creator and Lord of all.

“In that day there will be a road for the Egyptians to the Assyrians, and Assyrians will enter Egypt, and Egyptians will go to the Assyrians, and the Egyptians will serve the Assyrians.”

The blessed Paul writes about Christ, the Saviour of all, that he is our peace. For not only did he join those on earth to the ministering and holy spirits above, but he also prepared nations to agree with nations. For before his coming, country and city were cut off from mixing with one another; risings were frequent and attacks of war everywhere, the goods of the defeated were the prizes of the strong, greed was unchecked, and to wrong whomever one could was thought a thing of renown and among the most admirable. But Christ became our peace in this respect too.

For since, flashing with the Gospel ordinances over the world under heaven, he taught all the way of piety and to hold fast to love toward God and one another, those things of old have ceased, as it is written. For peace has prevailed everywhere. And this, I think, is what the prophet Isaiah says elsewhere about all the nations: “And they will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into sickles, and nation will not lift up sword against nation, and they will no longer learn to make war.” For having all come under one yoke, spiritually the one under God, bodily the one under the Romans, they live a quiet, untroubled life without war, so that every fear has been removed and those who were once most hostile to one another agree in unity of soul. For the Egyptians, he says, will have a road to the Assyrians, and the Assyrians to the Egyptians. And the Egyptians will go to the Assyrians, and the Egyptians will serve the Assyrians, not as though those cast a yoke of slavery on them, but holding them bound in the bonds of love and making their mingling most pleasant. By Assyrians he means those who inhabit the eastern country.

“In that day Israel will be third among the Assyrians and among the Egyptians, [blessed] in the land which the Lord Sabaoth has blessed, saying: Blessed be my people that is in Egypt and among the Assyrians, and my inheritance Israel.”

Israel was named firstborn …; but since it raged against Christ, it has been placed behind the nations and has as it were received the second time as its lot. Indeed it is written: “When the fullness of the nations has come in, then all Israel will be saved.” See, then, see that it is named third here, after the Assyrians and Egyptians. By Assyrians here, as I said, he means those throughout the whole eastern land, but above all Mesopotamia, in which, they say, there are genuine worshippers, practising an asceticism sister and neighbour to that of the Egyptians, so as to have an equal eagerness and zeal for every good thing, and also virtue. Therefore the God of all says: “Blessed be my people that is in Egypt and among the Assyrians”; and Israel is counted third. For he adds: “And my inheritance Israel.” The word has shown us beforehand the reason for this too: for it has slain the Lord and has been turned to flight, as David says, and the firstborn has come to be among those left over.

“[In the year when Tanathan came to Azotus,] when he was sent by Arna king of the Assyrians, and fought against Azotus and took it, then the Lord spoke to Isaiah: Go and take off the sackcloth from your loins, and loose your sandals from your feet; and he did so, going naked and barefoot. And the Lord said: As my servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot, three years there will be signs and wonders for the Egyptians and the Ethiopians; for so the king of the Assyrians will lead the captivity of Egypt and of the Ethiopians,

the shame of Egypt.”

Having very well completed his discourse about the Egyptians, and foretold in what way they will be called through faith to the knowledge of the truth, he again arranges something of what was useful and necessary for the benefit of those of Israel; and what these things are I will say briefly. For having cast off even reverence for the law given through Moses, and also [fear] of … they were [carried away] to falling into the error of many gods and worshipping the works of their own hands. And for those who had once slipped into this state of mind, no wickedness was left untried. For this reason the God of all very often let wars and battles loose on them, sometimes from the neighbouring nations, sometimes from the Persians and Medes; and those who rose up against Judea, sometimes first ravaging the other nations, [inflicted] terrible [things on those] of Israel. But they, although they ought to have appeased the God of all, left their unholy pursuits, gone over rather to what pleases him, and pleaded their cause before him whom they had grieved by running from more shameful things to the better, and so sought salvation from him alone, … the wretches did not do this; but, begging for help from men, they called on some of their neighbours for this, sometimes on their neighbours the Egyptians, adding lawlessness to their lawlessness, as it is written, and in this very thing provoking the all-powerful God to anger, as it were. Indeed he said through one of the holy prophets: “And Ephraim was like a senseless dove, without a heart; they called on Egypt, and they went to the Assyrians.” And also through the prophet Isaiah himself: “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who trust in horses and chariots; for there are many, and the multitude on horses very great; and they did not trust in the Holy One of Israel, and did not seek God; and he in his wisdom brought evils upon them, and his word will not be set aside.” When, then, Tanathan, who was the general of the king of the Assyrians, fought against Azotus and took it by force (and it is a neighbour of the country of the Jews), those of Israel expected very soon, and with very little trouble, to suffer the same themselves. For this reason … hiring the hand of the Egyptians, they wished it to defend them against the phalanxes of the Assyrians. God, then, shows their hope to be vain, and foretells clearly that they too will become the prey of the Assyrian power, will be taken in time, and will be in the rank of captives of the spear. For they say that [Egypt] came under the hand of the king of the Assyrians in time … [he] fell upon it, took it all by force, and, having a very great body of captives, returned to his own land.