Commentary on Isaiah 3.1.30–3.2.7

This is why he says, “A curse shall devour this counsel.” For the design of the Jews became truly accursed, I mean the one against Jesus Christ, the Saviour of us all. For God the Father first sent the holy prophets, and they killed them. Then after them he sent the beloved one to receive the fruits of his vineyard, according to the parable in the Gospels. But those who were set over the vineyard, most unfeeling husbandmen, though they understood that he was the son and the master of the estate, said, he says, among themselves: “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and take his inheritance for ourselves.” Accursed, then, he says, is such a counsel. The blessed David also recalls it, saying at one time: “Why did the nations rage, and the peoples plan vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ”; and at another time again about those who committed such offences: “You will pull them down and not build them up, for they intended evils against you; they devised a counsel which they could not establish.” For as far as lay in the power of their undertakings, they killed the son, thinking that they would hold the master's inheritance themselves; but he came to life again as God, and destroyed miserably those wicked men, the accursed and unfeeling husbandmen, and gave out the estate to others, plainly to the holy apostles and evangelists and to the teachers of the holy churches. Accursed, then, is the counsel of the Jews; for it came about for the sake of greed. For it is truly greed for servants to wish to fasten on their master's property and make their own the inheritance of which they had been appointed husbandmen, though they had sufficient wage in the privileges of the priesthood and the honours of being set over the rest.

“To whom have we announced evils? And to whom have we announced a message?”

It is the custom of the holy prophets, and of all the inspired Scripture, to urge and drive man by two things to choose to live rightly. For either by the fears of punishment they break down, as it were, the hardened mind and drive it toward the better, or by promises of rewards they make people bolder in enduring suffering for the sake of the noble deeds of godliness; as in the saying through the voice of Isaiah to the Jews: “And if you are willing and [hear me] …; but if you are not willing and do not hear me, a sword shall devour you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things.” So he all but points out unruly Israel as having dishonoured the words of the holy prophets, saying: “To whom have we announced a message?” Behold, behold to whom, he says; as if to say, to a harsh and disobedient and senseless people we have ministered, and, ferrying across the words from God above, we announced to it evils, that is, the punishments and threats, which will certainly fall on the heads of those accustomed to disobey. We announced a message, that is, we proclaimed the good things [prepared for those who love God]; but intractable Israel … gained nothing at all, …. When, then, he says “to whom”, he indicates one in no way worthy; for even after so clear a foretelling by the holy prophets, they were no less implacable and wicked, having a heart full of every perversity. And they became swift servants of the devil's bitterness; for they handed over to the cross the Saviour and Redeemer of all, I mean Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, for ever. Amen.

“You who are weaned from milk, you who are drawn away from the breast, expect affliction upon affliction, hope upon hope, yet a little, yet a little, because of contempt of lips, through another tongue.”

Our first discourse ended at “To whom have we announced evils? And to whom have we announced a message?” Interpreting the force of what was said before, we say that the person of the holy prophets was brought in, rebuking in a way those of the blood of Israel, as having met their words in vain and gained nothing at all, though both evils and a message had been foretold to them. And we take the evils to be the [punishments laid up for those] accustomed [to sin], and the message the honours [promised] in good hopes. Since, then, those of the blood of Israel gained nothing at all, even though the prophets announced to them [the threats and] the promises of the good things to come, “To whom,” he says, “have we announced evils? And to whom have we announced a message?” And when the holy prophets had as it were fallen silent, and had stopped their own discourse at this point, the God of all himself calls out to the saints, saying: “You who are weaned from milk, you who are drawn away from the breast, expect affliction upon affliction, hope upon hope.” For those who would not be admonished, he says, and were very sick with unruliness, were fittingly thrust out, and having become without share in the salvation in Christ, they will go to destruction. But you at last, who have been called through faith to the knowledge of the truth, who have been drawn away, as from a breast and milk, from the tutelage in the law, who once received food fit for infants and had a rather untaught mind, but have now advanced to the perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, and have passed on to the food fitting for the perfect, and have not remained unskilled in the word of righteousness: direct your hearts to receive the new preaching of the gospel way of life, of the decrees through Christ. Be manly in endurance, and if the affliction of temptations and the cruelty of persecutors springs up against you, hold out a little, and for a little while expect afflictions, so that you may also be rich in hope, I mean the hope that is beyond human understanding. “For eye has not seen,” he says, “and ear has not heard, and it has not entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him.” Then he shows what the first affliction against them will be. For he says, “because of contempt of lips, and through another tongue.” The sense of the prophecy is this. In the Acts of the holy apostles it is written that “on the day of Pentecost they were all gathered together in one place, and behold, there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind rushing.” Then it says: “There appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed, and it sat on each one of them, and they began to speak in other tongues, as [the Spirit gave them utterance].” For Christ [had commanded] them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, until they were clothed with power from on high. Then, going down, they spoke to those of Israel, and to all those from other lands, in the tongues given them by God; and the hearers were amazed, and indeed said: “Behold, are not all these who are speaking Jews? And how do we all hear, each in his own language, as they speak?” “But others said,” it says, “They are filled with new wine,” that is, they are drunk. This, I think, is the “contempt of lips, through another tongue.” For they spoke in other tongues, God who can do all things having foretold this too: “For in other tongues,” he says, “and in the lips of others I will speak to this people, and not even so will they believe.” But when they ought to have received the sign for full assurance, bearing in mind the prediction made by God about it, they did not do this, but reproaching them with drunkenness they remained in

disobedience.

“For they shall speak to this people, saying to it: This is the rest for the one who drinks, and this is the ruin; and they would not hear.”

God said somewhere, indignant at the madness of the Jews: “Behold, I bring a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. And from the east to the west they will run to and fro seeking the word of the Lord, and they shall not find it.” So a spiritual famine was brought on those of Israel; and since they did not receive through faith the bread of life that came down from heaven, very reasonably they came into want of the food given by God. “For man shall not live by bread alone,” he says, “but by every word that proceeds through the mouth of God.” And they behaved with drunken insolence toward the Saviour and Redeemer of all; but since he is good, though they had acted with unbearable impiety, he called them to repentance through the holy apostles. The blessed Peter at any rate addressed them, saying that they had denied the Holy and Righteous One, had killed the author of life, and had asked that a murderer be granted to them. Yet he added this too: “And now, brothers, 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 the Lord Jesus, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promises are for you and for your children.” So those drawn away from breast and milk, he says, those called to apostleship, having become ministers of the new preaching, [will speak] to this people, showing it clearly what rest there will be for the one who drinks, and what the ruin is, that is, what is profitable and what is the opposite. And it would not hear. Hence, I think, one of the saints, moved, said to them: “Stiff-necked and disobedient in heart, you always resist the Holy Spirit” …. [For though] they had the holy apostles as teachers, leading them to repentance and instilling in them the knowledge of what is profitable, they were arrogant and very hardened, and had turned unrestrainedly to disobedience and an intractable manner.

“And the word of the Lord God shall be to them affliction upon affliction, hope upon hope.”

To whom will it be? Plainly to the holy apostles and evangelists, who, ministering the divine preaching, [enlightened those darkened in error], bringing through faith to Christ those who of old said to the wood, “You are my father,” and to the stone, “You gave me birth.” Yet they did not complete the course of their apostleship without sweat, but [being afflicted] and enduring plots. So the word of the Lord became to them affliction upon affliction, and not only this, but also hope upon hope. For having endured the struggles for godliness toward Christ, they will be in long hopes, or rather unending ones, and will put on the crown of incorruption, [reigning with him].

“Yet a little, yet a little, that they may go and fall backward, and be in danger, and [be broken and be taken].”

He whets the holy teachers of the mysteries to courage and anoints them for endurance. For they preached to those of Israel and proclaimed to them the word of salvation. But these leapt on them like untamed beasts, brought them into councils, and, charging them with the sincerity of their love for Christ as one of the most outrageous things, used bitter abuse against them, and, having maltreated them and torn them with blows of scourges, said: “Did we not strictly charge you to speak to no one in this name? And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching.” And in other ways too they brought about ruin and sweat for them.

The God of all, then, weaves for them a lasting encouragement, and foretells the destruction of the persecutors that is all but at hand, saying: “Yet a little, yet a little.” For the time will not be long, he says, until they fall backward, are broken and in danger, and indeed are taken and go to destruction. We say that these things befell the peoples of the Jews both spiritually and bodily, that is, perceptibly. For they were in danger and perished in two ways: on the one hand consumed by war and sieges, on the other becoming sweet prey to Satan himself, and [drawing down] on their own heads the [wrath] from ….

“Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you afflicted men and rulers of this people in Jerusalem. Because you said: We have made a covenant with Hades, and agreements with death; if a rushing storm passes, it shall not come upon us; we have made falsehood our hope, and by [falsehood we shall be sheltered].”

For since, he says, what will come upon you is unbearable, and a bitter and hard-to-escape penalty awaits those who are said to be impious to the end, therefore hear the word of the Lord. For it was possible to turn away from evil, by [giving] the mind to the apostolic preaching and readily assenting to whatever Christ says. Hear, then, the word of the Lord, you afflicted men and rulers of this people in Jerusalem. He calls those of Israel afflicted, as burdened by the condemning law. For the law brings about wrath, and anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Accordingly the most wise Paul too, to those who after faith, plainly faith in Christ, wish to return to the shadows of the law, writes and says: “Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians, our heart is opened wide; you are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections; in return, I speak as to children, open wide yourselves also.” [The afflicted], then, would be those still lying under the commandment of Moses, and pressed in a way, having the heaviness of the law in mind and heart. He addressed, then, rulers and peoples. Then in between he inserts a saying of the Jews, unholily invented by them out of madness and as it were out of despair. And what this is I must necessarily say. The God of all, being long-suffering and forbearing, did not at once let loose punishment on those who stumbled, … and by the foretelling of the evils to come he sometimes drove them toward repentance. This is why we shall find him very often saying through the holy prophets, “Behold, it comes,” and “yet a little, yet a little,” and “a very little while.” But the bold and arrogant, when they ought to have corrected their faults by their later conduct, made the Master's gentleness an occasion for laughter.

For as soon as they heard the prophet saying, “Yet a little, yet a little, a very little while,” they at once said to one another: “Long times will lie between the prophet's words and the showing of what was foretold. We shall die, and the divine fury will leap upon those after us.” Indeed God said to the prophet Ezekiel: “Son of man, the sons of [the house of Israel say: The vision that he sees is for] many days, and he prophesies for distant times. Therefore I said: As I live, says Adonai the Lord, none of my words that I speak shall be prolonged any more; for I will speak a word and do it, says Adonai the Lord.” He reproaches those of Israel, then, as accustomed to despise him, and all but saying, “We have made a covenant with Hades, and agreements with death.” And what are these? “If a rushing storm passes, it shall not come upon us.” For all but, he says, even if they do not say it with the voice, they have cried out by their very deeds: “We have made agreements with Hades, for it will take us; even if the storm should come, that is, the danger threatened against us, it shall not come upon us.” For we have made falsehood [our hope]. For those who imagined for themselves what they pleased, and said, “We shall die before the storm,” that is, before the calamities, how did they not make falsehood their hope? For it was not in their power to be able to escape and to forestall by death the onset of what was threatened; rather it lay in the authority of the divine and ineffable power and pre-eminence.

“Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I lay in the foundations of Zion a costly stone, chosen, a cornerstone, precious, in its foundations; and he who believes in him shall not be put to shame. And I will make judgment a hope, and my mercy a balance.”

This must be joined to the words above those in between: “[Hear the] word of the Lord, you afflicted men and rulers of this people in Jerusalem.” And what has he commanded them to hear? “Behold, I lay in the foundations of Zion a costly stone, chosen, a cornerstone, precious, in its foundations; and he who believes in him shall not be put to shame.” He calls our Lord Jesus Christ a chosen stone, costly and precious, distinguished by the glory and pre-eminence of the Godhead. And that he has become the base and support and unshaken foundation of the spiritual Zion, that is, the church, he makes clear by saying that he was laid in the foundations by the Father. And he says that he is a cornerstone, as [reconciling] through one faith [the two] peoples, that from Israel, I mean, and that from the nations; for in the corners of buildings two walls always come together and are [fitted] to one another. “He who believes in him,” he says, “shall not be put to shame.”

See how he in a way relieves those who are pressed, and widens for the afflicted the freedom of the gospel way of life. For, O afflicted ones, he says, behold, I set the chosen stone in the foundations of Zion. And what is the benefit from this? He who believes in him shall not be put to shame. By this he persuades them to free their neck from the heaviness of the law, and to depart from the senseless and feeble shadow, and rather to choose instead the grace through faith, and to seize the justification in Christ, which involves no toil. “And I will make judgment a hope,” he says, “and my mercy a balance.” For as the Saviour himself says: “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father.” Understanding this the blessed Paul writes and says: “We must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive what was done through the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” We hope, then, that the judgment will come, and that mercy will be shown as befits each, plainly in proportion to what he has accomplished. For this, I think, is what is meant by mercy from him who judges us being “for a balance”, that is, according to the measure of what is just, as it were weighed equally against good deeds.

“And those who trust in vain, false, that the storm shall not pass you; [lest] it take away from you the covenant of death, and your hope toward Hades shall not remain. If a rushing storm comes, you shall be trampled by it. When it passes, it shall take you. Morning by morning it shall pass by day, and in the night there shall be an evil hope.”

I said that, when the holy prophets foretold to those of the blood of Israel what would come and all but showed them the divine wrath already present, they, swollen with pride to outrageous madness, reasoned and said: “Even if these things should perhaps happen, they will be put off to later times, and the end of what was foretold will not be present at once; the time of our life will be spent, and the terrible things will come after us.” And saying and thinking these things, they seemed all but to make agreements with death, and as it were a hope toward Hades. This is why he says to them: “Those who trust in vain, false, that the storm shall not pass you. [Fear] lest it take away from you the covenant of death, and the hope toward Hades shall not remain.” For the Creator of all knows, he knows hearts and reins, and the force of the movements of the mind. When, then, … [having] such a hope, he says: “Lest perhaps, knowing what is in you, he remove from you this agreement with death.” And in what way will he remove it? For if the effects of wrath come, that is, the storm, not some others after you, but you yourselves will be trampled. And it will take you “morning by morning,” that is, not after long, but as it were at dawn and tomorrow. There will be no rest at all from evils; but by day and by night there will be an evil hope; that is, at every time you will be consumed by the expectation of terrible things. For when God wishes to afflict, who will turn aside the onset of the calamity?

… or who fights against the divine fury?

“Learn to hear, you who are hard pressed: We cannot fight, and we ourselves are too weak to be gathered. Like a mountain of the ungodly it shall rise up, and it shall be in the valley of Gibeon. With fury he shall do his works, a work of bitterness; and his fury shall act strangely, and his bitterness …”

The God of all, being very good, wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. This is why, admonishing those who are weak and bringing back to the straight and unerring path those who have neglected their own soul, he goes by every way and word. For at one time he frightens them beforehand toward the better by threats of punishments and the fears of wrath, at another he nets them toward what is profitable by promises of good things. Having threatened, then, and foretold that they would certainly be caught by the storm, that is, by the calamity that was all but upon them, and that at every time they would be in evil hopes, he grants the word of encouragement and does not let them despair; like one of the wisest and most skilful physicians, who treat the sick members of the body at one time with a sharp medicine and the strongest aids against the advance of the passions toward the worse, and at another, as it were charming them with …, soften them well. Having threatened, then, he admonishes, and bids them submit the mind to the gospel preaching, saying: “Learn to hear, you who are hard pressed.” Then he says: “We cannot fight.” And he recalls what happened once in the valley of Gibeon. The rendering of the words, and the very texture of the composition, is very unclear. I think it necessary to tell what comes from the history; for so what is indicated will become plain, though with difficulty, to those who love learning. When Joshua the son of Nun was general and leader of those of Israel, and was falling unbearably on the lands of the nations, and very many had perished, the people of Gibeon, a city of the foreigners, fearing to suffer the same, ran to him, and by lying escaped notice at first, and indeed were received. But when after this it was learned who they were and where they came from, they became water-carriers and wood-cutters for the congregation. Learning this, the kings of the nations, five in number, marched against Gibeon, charging them with having fled for refuge to those of Israel. And since the people of Gibeon were in extremity and reckoned resistance impossible for themselves, they begged to be saved by the hand of Joshua. And he, helping those who had once come under him, set himself against the generals of the foreigners. Then what happened at that time by the hand of God the sacred writing will teach. For it reads thus: “And Joshua came upon them suddenly, having gone the whole night from Gilgal, and the Lord confounded them before the sons of Israel, and they crushed them with a great crushing at Gibeon, and pursued them by the way of the ascent of Horonim, and cut them down as far as Azekah and as far as Makkedah.

And as they fled before the sons of Israel at the descent of Horonim, the Lord also hurled on them hailstones from heaven as far as Azekah; and those who died because of the hailstones were more than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword in the battle.” He takes, then, from what befell the ancients an image and type of the help that would come to those of Israel from God, who knows how to save, if they should choose to be persuaded by the words of our Saviour. For you who are hard pressed, he says, that is, who have gone through very great pain, who are as it were crushed by destructions and the fears of what is coming, learn to hear; call on Jesus too for help, and say, as the people of Gibeon did: “We cannot fight, and we are too weak to be gathered,” plainly to resist the enemies who come against us. And what, they say, will come of this? You will know, he says, that even if an attack of ungodly men is carried against you like a mountain, what happened in the valley of Gibeon will happen against them. For against those who make war on you he will do his works with fury, works of bitterness, that is, of wrath. And who is this, but plainly God who helps? “And his fury shall act strangely, and his bitterness is strange.” For a wrath, he says, strange and unaccustomed, will march against those who persecute you; and heaven will make war on them from on high and from above, pouring down the effects of unmixed fury like hail. He says something of this sort through the voice of the Psalmist too: “If my people had heard me, Israel, if it had walked in my ways, I would soon have humbled their enemies, and laid my hand on those who afflict them.”

“And as for you, may you not rejoice, and let not your bonds be strong; for I have heard from the Lord of hosts of things completed and cut short, which he will do upon all the earth.”

The person of the blessed prophet is brought in again, charging the teachers of the Jews and saying that it will in every way be necessary for them not to rejoice, that is, not [to exult in their daring acts] against Christ, [but rather] to shed tears over their own impieties, nor to tighten the bonds of the law upon the peoples under their hand, but rather to allow those who believe in Christ to be outside the old commandment, and, leaving the things in shadows and types, to receive the worship in spirit and truth. For God is spirit, and he must be worshipped in spirit and truth. And that the law was as it were a bond, justifying no one (for it made nothing perfect) …