Commentary on Isaiah 3.1.22–3.1.29

“[The inhabited flock shall be let go] as a flock left behind, and it shall be for a long time for pasture, and there they shall rest. And after a time there shall be nothing green in it …”

He names Israel an inhabited flock because it had very many good shepherds, and all but had living with it those who knew how to guide it to everything praiseworthy. So it abounded in good shepherds; but it will be let go, he says. And what “let go” means he himself made clear at once, saying, “as a flock left behind,” that is, bereft of every overseer and guardian. When this has happened, it will lie open for long periods as pasture. For spiritual and most mighty beasts will feed on them, that is, Satan and the evil powers with him and under him. For when no one drives off the attacks of the evil demons from the heart of man, it will be easy to capture, and will readily come to dwell in everything they please. And if something must be said also in keeping with what happened historically, they became pasture after the Saviour's cross … and of the army of the Romans. For it lodged and rested among them …; [and when] the time [had passed], he says, there will be nothing green in it, because it has dried up; that is, they will graze the land so far as to make it appear dry and having no pasture any more. This is a clear proof that those who ravaged their land would not depart from it until they had made their own portion of everything useful in it, down all but to the very cheapest things, and had eaten it up. The same account would hold if one chose to say that the unclean demons grazed the hearts of the Jews like calves; for they devoured them so far that perhaps they were at a loss for pasture any longer, because nothing was left ….

“Women coming from the sight, come! For it is not a people that has understanding. Therefore he who made them will not pity them, nor will he who formed them have mercy.”

Having said that the inhabited flock will be let go, and will become pasture and lie open for grazing, according to the words already explained, as Israel had now come to be outside its kinship with God through its impiety toward Christ, and the first covenant and the customs of the law had ceased, he commanded the holy women to proclaim the good news of our Saviour's resurrection; Matthew too records them, speaking thus: “After the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake.” And since they became greatly afraid, the blessed angel said to them: “Do not be afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay, and go quickly and tell his disciples that he has been raised from the dead, and behold, he is going before you into Galilee; there you will see him.” And after the angel's words, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice.” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus says to them: “Do not be afraid; go, tell my brothers to go away into Galilee, and there they will see me.” So, Israel being let go, come, you wise women, he says, and very swiftly proclaim the good news of the resurrection of him who killed death and destroyed corruption, who justifies sinners by faith, who refashions into newness of life those who come to him, who showed those on earth the new

life, that is, the life of the gospel, who brought to an end the feebleness of the worship in the law, made the truth shine, and made plain the way of worship in spirit and truth to those who revere him. Come, then. For Israel has fallen from its hope. For it is not a people … like a strong calf; but … to be saved from the good things, … to be consumed … having understanding. For it has been hardened in heart, has remained in darkness, and is mastered by the mist of sin. For it would not heed Christ saying: “While you have the light, walk in the light, so that darkness may not overtake you.” And I say that we must admire the Saviour's dispensation regarding these most wise women too. For someone might say, I think: “Were there not holy disciples, for whom it would perhaps have been better, as ministers of the divine doctrines, to announce the resurrection before the others? Why did not they rather first see Jesus, who had undone the might of death? But he appeared to women, and, investing them with the dignity of apostleship, commands them to go and tell the disciples that Christ has been raised from the dead, and they were the first to see his glory.” To such things we say that the only-begotten Word of God became man to heal what was sick and to free man from the ancient charges. It was necessary, then, it was necessary, to grant women to be the first to announce the resurrection. For since the first and more ancient woman led Adam into transgression, serving the serpent's words, and she became the bringer of death, how was it not necessary to beat off the causes of such terrible charges through the apostleship? “For where sin abounded,” he says, “grace overflowed.” The gospel of salvation was given to the woman who had ministered death. For “Rejoice” was said to them, necessarily, by him who laid the curse in the beginning; for he said to her: “In pain you shall bear children.” So the first things have been undone by the second, and what was sick has been healed. To them, then, he gives the command to proclaim the good news, Christ having departed from his love for the Jews. For since they have remained without understanding and ignorant, he says, he who made them would not have mercy on them, nor would they be worthy to be pitied. …

“[And it shall be on that day that the Lord will fence in] from the channel of the river as far as Rhinocorura; but you, gather the sons [of Israel one by one].”

After Christ was raised and had commanded the holy apostles, “Go, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” and indeed had ascended into heaven itself, the effects of wrath, plainly the wrath from above, were brought on those who had behaved with unholy drunken insolence toward him. For they were consumed by iron and fire, when the hand of the Romans raised war against them and burned all their cities, Jerusalem itself, and pulled down that famous temple. The land of the Jews, then, is bounded by the streams of the Euphrates toward the east and south, and by the place called Rhinocorura, a city which marks the border between the land of the Egyptians and that of the Palestinians.

So having named for us the borders of Judaea, [he says that he will fence in] all that is contained within them, that is, the whole of Judaea. And “he will fence in” … will afflict, and bring it to the utmost distress; this would indicate ill-treatment or calamity. And you will understand “he will fence in” in another way too. For the mind of the Jews has been as it were shut in, so that it can in no way receive the light of the true vision of God, nor understand the mystery of Christ, as the blessed Paul writes: “A hardening has come upon Israel in part,” and “to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart.” And this, I think, is the fencing in. And that this did not happen throughout the whole earth under heaven, or against all the nations, but against Judaea alone and those in it, he showed clearly, not saying simply that the fencing in would happen, but “from the channel of the river as far as Rhinocorura.” And he says that these things will befall the peoples of the Jews, who killed those [sent] by God and added even the Son himself. Then he transfers the discourse to the person of Christ himself, the Saviour of us all, conversing and saying to the holy apostles, or rather to all who in their time [minister] his gospel and initiate into it: “But you, gather the sons of Israel one by one.” That is, let those entrusted with teaching not take much account of it even if Israel is not seen running in in a multitude; but if there is anyone of understanding among them, let him be called through faith, and let him come …, one by one, as one chosen out. For the remnant of Israel has been saved. Indeed the inspired disciples very often addressed them, as for example the inspired Peter: “And now, brothers,” he says, “I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. Repent, then, and let each of you be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promises are for you and for your children.” And no small multitude was netted; yet, as regards the whole nation of the Jews, those saved were very few indeed, and were received as it were one by one, plainly through faith in Christ.

“And it shall be on that day that they shall blow the great trumpet, and those lost in the land of the Assyrians shall come, and those lost in Egypt, and they shall worship the Lord on the holy mountain in [Jerusalem].”

It is the custom of the holy prophets to hide their meaning in a certain obscurity; and since those of Israel became unbridled in anger, … a middle … what is indicated. He says that at that time those who blow the trumpet are, I think again, no others than the holy teachers of the mysteries; and that they blow not simply, but with the great trumpet, that is, they cry aloud something great and extraordinary to those on the earth in the gospel preaching. “For in truth into all the earth …

… their words to the ends of the world.” For the great Moses too used a trumpet at times, but not the great one; for he was weak of voice and slow of tongue, and the power of the law's preaching was confined to the land of the Jews alone. But the divine and saving preaching goes through every city and land, and has as it were thundered over the whole earth under heaven. Something of this sort is written in the books of Moses too: “The God of all came down in the form of fire on Mount Sinai.” And there were smoke and hail, and the body of the air was blackened with deep darkness; and the sound of the trumpet, he says, was loud. Then he adds to these things, saying: “And the sounds of the trumpet [going on] …”; for the law of weak voice was proclaimed …, but as time went on the sounds of the trumpet became very, very strong. At that time, then, he says, they will proclaim with the great trumpet, that is, the gospel preaching, gathering those who had gone astray and had come into the rank of captives, and those [caught] in idolatry. For those lost in the land of the Assyrians will come, he says, and those lost in Egypt, and they will worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem. He has set down the two lands more given to superstition than the others, that of the Assyrians, I mean, and that of the Egyptians. But those who perished in them, he says, will come, called through faith to the knowledge of him who is Lord and God in truth, and they will worship him, no longer in the defiled precincts but on the holy mountain, that is, the church, which he also names Jerusalem: a mountain, because nothing at all in the churches is low or cast to the ground, but they are distinguished by lofty and exalted doctrines; and Jerusalem, because it is truly the vision of peace.

“Woe to the crown of insolence, the hirelings of Ephraim, the flower fallen from glory on the top of the fat mountain, those drunk …”

Having declared beforehand that all who had perished, held fast in the nooses of idolatry, will be called through faith to the knowledge of the truth and will worship the Lord, he transfers the discourse to the teachers of the Jews, who became for the peoples under their hand the beginning and pretext of impiety toward Christ. For they did not lead them to the knowledge of what had been foretold of old through the law and the [prophets], but … put out of the synagogue those who confessed that he is the Christ. For so the inspired John says somewhere. And shaking, as it were, faith in him, and turning the mind of the common people away from the straight way, they called Jesus a Samaritan and a drunkard and born of sexual immorality. And besides this they brought him to Pilate, and indeed urged that he be crucified, and they killed the author of life, as far as it lay with them; yet he came to life again, having trampled on death; for he was Life by nature, as God, even though he was in flesh. Woe, then, he says, to the crown of insolence.

He calls them a crown. For they were as it were the crown and glory of all Israel, distinguished by the glories of the priesthood and having been allotted the dignity of leadership. But they did not remain in …. For they were clothed with dishonour and blame, and having become liable to the charges of impiety they withered like a flower. For they too became hirelings of Ephraim. And by Ephraim he means Judas, because he was of the tribe of Ephraim. Him, then, the leaders of the synagogue of the Jews hired, to serve their bloodthirsty designs and to hand over the Teacher; which indeed was done. Woe, then, to the crown of insolence, he says, that is, to the leaders, who also hired Ephraim, that is, the man of the tribe of Ephraim. And for this cause they became like a flower fallen from glory. For just as it is the glory of flowers to be seen free of withering and in the beauty of their own nature, in the same way, I think, it may be understood of ourselves too. For so long as we are in the state in which we ought to be, we keep the beauty of our own soul quite unspoiled; but when the mind within us is turned aside to what is not fitting, we shall be a flower fallen from the glory that befits it. This the scribes and Pharisees suffered, whetting their purpose and words and undertakings and every outrage against Christ. And where was the flower that fell from glory, and in what way did it lose its portion? “On the top of the fat mountain.” He names Israel a fat mountain: fat, because it was fattened with prosperity; a mountain, because it was set on high by God, in glory, I mean. For he says somewhere himself about those of Israel: “I begot sons and exalted them.” And it is the custom of the divine Scripture sometimes to liken the mother of the Jews, I mean Jerusalem, to a mountain. They lay, then, as a flower on the top of the mountain, that is, above all and over all as leaders, having been allotted by the votes of the law to rule the others. And these were the ones drunk without wine. For “their vine was of the vine of Sodom, and their tendril of Gomorrah; their grape is a grape of gall, a cluster of bitterness for them, and the incurable fury of dragons.” For they got drunk not by drinking this perceptible wine, but by bringing into their minds that of unmixed fury and madness.

“Behold, the wrath of the Lord is strong and harsh, like hail coming down, having no shelter, coming down with violence; like a great quantity of water sweeping a land, it shall make rest for the land, for the hands and for the feet; and the crown of [insolence] shall be trampled …”

In what way the terrible things will befall them, and that they will pay the penalty for their impiety toward Christ, having fallen into the harsh and untamed wrath of him who judges justly, the prophetic word indicates to us by these words. For there will come, there will come, he says, against you the harsh and dreadful wrath of the Lord; and it will come as if hail were falling on some who have no shelter, falling with violence, that is, unbearably, or rather vehemently, all but as if someone were slinging it and hurling it savagely upon some.

It will come, then, like hail, he says, or like a great quantity of water sweeping a land. And this too is irresistible. For when a river, let us say, or a torrent comes down most violently, what will there be to oppose it and to be able to withstand it as it floods the land with the rush of its waters, plainly the land of the Jews? And the onset will be so harsh as even to make rest for the land. And what kind of rest, and for what? For the hands and for the feet. And it will be such …: [those who swim], if the standing of the waters is perhaps quiet and, as it were, gentle to the touch, drawing in and stretching out their feet and hands, and labouring in measure, escape the danger of being drowned; but when the rush of the waters has an attack altogether impossible to approach, the one caught in it ceases swimming in every way and altogether, and seems to be released from toil, but is then drowned, as of necessity and by force, having gone wholly under the water. So the word in a way laughs and speaks ironically, saying that the water makes rest for the land, and rest for the hands and for the feet. For it is as if he were perhaps saying: let no one toil in vain at resisting the calamity about to come upon all. For it will come so violently as to be altogether unapproachable, and the thing will be utterly useless to those who wish to toil. For no one will swim through; but he will be carried off, even against his will, wherever the water that drags him down bears him, that is, the most violent and unbreakable hand of the army of the Romans. Then at last the crown of insolence, the hirelings of Ephraim, will be trampled, that is, will lie under the feet of those who spoke. And who these are we have learned from what was said before.

“[And the flower that fell from the hope] of glory on the top of the high mountain shall be like an early fig; he who sees it, before he takes it into his hand, will want to swallow it.”

What the flower is that fell from the hope of glory, and what its lying and being seen on the top of the high mountain would signify, has been made known from what was said just now. For by the flower, conspicuous as on a mountain, you will well understand Israel, or rather those allotted to lead it. But it will be, he says, like an early fig. For when the fruits on a fig tree are about to ripen, if one perhaps gets ahead of the others and becomes edible somehow, the one who sees it leaps at it eagerly and longs to swallow it, and perhaps, with ardent impulses for it, blames his hand as slow to stretch out, as far as his desire goes, and opening wide his mouth springs at the branches. So, he says, will Israel be to those who seize it. For it was swallowed up, as I said, by the Romans, and became sweet food to those who took it.

“On that day the Lord of hosts shall be the crown of hope, woven of glory, [for my people that is left. They shall be left] by a spirit of judgment for judgment, and strength, preventing to slay.”

The word has made clear to us in these verses what will befall the Lord-slayers and how; and from here on it adds the explanation concerning those who have believed. For Israel did not perish utterly; but the remnant has been saved, according to the prophet's voice. For no small multitude believed in Christ, of which the choir of the holy apostles was a sort of beginning and first-fruits. At that time, then, he says, the Lord of hosts will be the crown of hope, woven of glory, for my people that is left. For the Lord of hosts himself will crown those who have believed with hope and glory: with hope, plainly, of the good things to come, and with glory, because they will reign with him, and, having come within the highest privileges, will be envied and looked up to. For what will be equal, in point of renown, for those who hope to receive the crown of the kingdom in Christ? To these the prophet Isaiah himself says elsewhere: “And you shall be a crown of beauty and a diadem of kingship in the hand of your God.” For Christ will crown those who believe in him with unending glory, and fatten them with a most rich hope. And my people that is left, he says, will share in such things, that is, the remnant from the Jews, the other people too, plainly, being received with them, that is, those of the nations, who, taking great pride in Christ, pray and cry out to the Father and God in heaven: “O Lord, as with a shield of good pleasure you have crowned us.” For by the good pleasure of God the Father, Christ was shown to be and became for us an unbreakable shield, setting himself against the arrows of the evil one on our behalf, and he kept his own people unwounded and unconquered by his wiles. Something of this sort, I think, he indicates when he says of the people that is left, that is, of those … by a spirit of judgment for judgment, and strength, preventing to slay. For of old Satan, so to speak, slew the whole human race at once, letting it down into the pits of sin. “For there was none who did good, not even one; but all turned aside together, they became useless,” according to the Psalmist's word. But when the only-begotten Word of God became man, he judged our cause, he gave judgment as it were between us and Satan who had overreached us, and he decreed his destruction, and removed him from those on the earth as a destroyer and murderer, and saved …, teaching, he says: “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all to myself.” And yet he says plainly: “God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” How then does he say, “Now is the judgment of this world”?

For we are those who of old cried out through the voice of the prophets: “Awake, O Lord, and attend to my judgment, my God and my Lord, to my cause.” And because a just judgment has been made for us, we say in thanksgiving: “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell all your wonders; I will sing to your name, O Most High.” And …: “[you have maintained my judgment] and my cause; you sat on the throne, judging righteousness; you rebuked the nations, and the ungodly perished.” For the troops of demons were rebuked, and with them perished the ungodly one, that is, Satan. They will be left, then, that is, will be saved, by a spirit of judgment; for he judged and justified, as I said, for judgment and strength, that is, by right judgment and power, plainly that befitting God, preventing the slaying of those who believe in him.

“For these have gone astray through wine; they went astray through strong drink; priest and prophet were beside themselves through wine; they were shaken from the drunkenness of strong drink; they went astray. This is a vision.”

He points out in a way those who have slipped and, through so long a disobedience, have offended God. For such people have gone astray, he says, having taken into their minds wine, or rather darkness, which the most cruel dragon instils into those accustomed to be slack. For the inspired Paul writes that the god of this age has darkened the minds of the unbelievers, so that the light of the gospel of the glory of God should not dawn on them. He very rightly calls wine and strong drink, then, the darkness instilled into the souls of men by the devil's wiles. And he is as it were astounded, not because the most ignorant multitude of the common people is seen to have suffered this alone, but because besides them, priest and prophet were beside themselves through wine. And again he calls “wine” the drunkenness that comes from ignorance; and it is astonishing that one may see priest and prophet suffering this together with the others. For those who were expected to be able to direct all the others to the pursuit of what is profitable and to show the path of salvation, these perhaps received the darkness even before the others, so as to be shaken and carried about by every wind, and this from spiritual drunkenness. One might say that the thing became a sort of vision, that is, amazement or astonishment. By prophet here he does not mean at all the true one, from God, but rather the one who as it were invents prophetic repute for himself, about whom he says through the voice of Ezekiel: “Woe to those who prophesy from their own heart and not from the mouth of the Lord.” And they were rebuked through the voice of Isaiah too; for he says somewhere about Jerusalem: “Her leaders judged for gifts; her prophets [divined] for silver.”

“… A curse shall devour this counsel; for this [counsel is for the sake of greed].”

Having said that priest and prophet alike went astray, and indeed were beside themselves, out of their right mind, through the wine of the vine of Sodom and the spiritual drunkenness, and having added that this is a vision, that is, astonishment and as it were amazement, he at once points out the reason for the astonishment and the charges of the priests' frenzy and drunkenness.