Commentary on Isaiah 3.2.24–3.2.32

“Your strength has become vain, and you would not [hear; but you said: We will flee on horses]; therefore you shall flee; [and you said:] We will be on swift riders; therefore those who pursue you shall be swift. At the voice of one a thousand shall flee, and at the voice of many shall they flee, until you are left like a mast on a mountain, and like one carrying a standard on a hill.”

For though you found by experience that hope in those thought to be gods was profitless, and saw their strength to be vain, you nonetheless remained disobedient, he says. For hearing that you should not go down into Egypt, but honour by faith the one who promised to save you, you would not hear, but said, “We will flee on horses, and we will be on swift riders.” For you thought that this sufficed for [salvation; therefore] those who pursue you will be swift, he says, that is, winged and keen; and so terrible and fearful to you, and the mind of those who would not hear will go down to such cowardice, that when one only of the enemies shouts, a thousand will turn to flight. And if five should come upon the ranks of the Jews, many will flee. And they will endure a misery so notable as to be seen from all around, and unknown to no one at all, but seen just as if someone should set up a mast on a mountain, or a standard on a hill. By standard and mast he means the pole raised on hills or knolls bearing some signs, by which those allotted to command signal to the armies, either that they have won and the battle goes well for them, or that they must gather to them, so that they may hear something of the …

“And again God will wait to have pity on you; and therefore he will be exalted to have mercy on you, for the Lord your God is a judge. And where will you leave your glory?”

Again he has kept a hope for those of Israel; for the remnant has been saved. For the beloved, he says, will not go to destruction root and all, nor will God forget to have pity, as the blessed David says; but his name will be glorified and exalted when he has mercy on you. But you will say: “Yet how would it not have been the part of a good one not to bring the penalty at all?” But consider what follows, that besides being kind he is also a judge. And it is the work of one who judges rightly and impartially to measure out penalties in proportion to the faults of each; but again it is the part of a good one to refashion toward the better, by a gentle nod, those who have been punished. But you, he says, where will you leave your glory? Instead of “you will leave” he says “will be left”; for the inspired Scripture is sometimes indifferent about words. He reproaches them, then, because they counted their own glory, namely being and being called God's (for they were his portion), of no account. For they abandoned it, falling into what was more shameful, serving the works of their own hands, disobeying the holy prophets, disregarding the very salvation from God, and honouring a false and senseless hope in men. For they went down, as I said, into the land of the Egyptians.

“Blessed are all who abide in him. For a holy people shall dwell in Zion, and Jerusalem wept with weeping: Have mercy on me. He will have mercy on you; [at] the voice of your cry, when he saw, he [heard you]. And the Lord will give you bread of affliction and scant water, and those who lead you astray shall no longer come near you; for your eyes shall see those who lead you astray, and your ears shall hear the [words of those who led you astray behind you, who say:] This is the way, let us walk in it, whether to the right or to the left.”

Having named the God and Saviour of all the glory of Israel, he shows that not wishing to depart from him, but rather clinging to him through obedience and submission in everything, makes people in every way and altogether blessed. And that at the time of our Saviour's coming many of the blood of Abraham will repent, and, being justified through faith and [freed] from all sin, will [be enriched with] sanctification, he teaches, saying, “A holy people shall dwell in Zion.” For Jerusalem, he says, wept with weeping, “Have mercy on me.” And since [God, who is] eager for love of humankind, knowing …, “He will have mercy on you,” he says, and he will also hear your cry; for as soon as he saw her repenting, he readily granted the grace of forgiveness. So, as far as concerns the will of the Master of all, all would have been saved through faith in Christ. But since they did not accept the Redeemer, for this reason they were given over to destruction; for they themselves chose this rather.

Our Lord Jesus Christ became for us the power of the bread of life. For he said clearly: “I am the bread that came down from heaven and gives life to the world.” But let him be water too, not perceptible and material, but rather divine and spiritual. Indeed he has been called a river of peace and a torrent of delight; and we say this from the blessed David, who sings and says to God the Father about those justified in faith: “With you is the fountain of life, and you will give them to drink from the torrent of your delight.” Christ, then, is bread and life-giving water; but he is found with sweat and toil. For the great and exceptional good things are not to be caught by those who lie back and live in luxury, but by those accustomed to count as nothing the sweat and toils for this very thing; so the inspired David too sought to learn the mystery of Christ, singing and saying: “If I go up on the bed of my couch, if I give sleep to my eyes and slumber to my eyelids and rest to my temples, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the God of Jacob.”

“Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah, we found it in the fields of the forest.” For he was born in Bethle[hem]. … God, then, [promises] to give those of Israel who turn to him the bread of affliction and scant water, that is, to grant the life in Christ and the knowledge of him, which one may gather and shut up in the treasuries of his own mind, not lying back in luxuries, not having a dissolute conduct of life, nor walking the broad and spacious way, but rather entering through the narrow gate that leads to life. If, then, he says, you take this bread, then you will be secure, not easily carried astray, nor [easily led] by the [words of those who lead you astray; for you will see] them, and you will hear their words. For of old, from not being able to distinguish what comes from …, the one placed on a level with those who neither see at all nor hear the words of those accustomed to lead astray; but having taken the bread, you will certainly see them, and you will understand well what their habit is, … and saying: “This is the way, let us walk in it, whether to the right or to the left.” For there was no distinguishing between what by nature does wrong and what does not, but the words of all carried them off heedlessly to anything whatever.

“And you shall take away the silvered idols, [and the gilded ones; you shall make them fine and winnow them] like the water of a menstruous woman, and you shall thrust them out like dung.”

It would befit, I think, both those called from the nations through faith to the knowledge of the truth and those of the blood of Israel to choose to accomplish this too. And nothing prevents us from fitting the words to those coming from Greek error too: “The Lord will give you bread of affliction and scant water, and those who lead you astray shall no longer come near you.” For the wretched Jews had wicked teachers, I mean the scribes and Pharisees, who wished to carry them off to whatever they pleased, removing them from the commandment of Moses and persuading them to heed …; and besides this Israel, having come to such a degree of madness as even to choose to worship lifeless idols. And the children of the Greeks had unholy teachers, who, having a wisdom that was unspiritual and demonic, proclaimed to life a countless crowd of demons, and to worship the creation rather than the Creator. Having received, then, the bread of life and the life-giving water, both the one and the other were freed from their ancient teachers, or rather from those who led them astray, and, having condemned the deceit, they put away the idols. For they have been justified through faith, all but bidding farewell to Satan and the unclean spirits, and loathing and fleeing those once thought lofty among them, I mean the falsely named gods, as something most abhorred and ending in the utmost uncleanness. For what could be [more loathsome] than dung and the water of a menstruous woman?

“Then there shall be rain for the seed of your land, … and the bread of the produce of your land [shall be plenty and rich; and your] cattle [shall graze] on that day a fat and spacious place. Your bulls and your oxen that work the land shall eat chaff mixed with barley.”

The word is shaped from those who farm the land, who, when they … a bountiful supply of the waters poured down from above and from heaven, then certainly have great fruitfulness, enough for life in abundance, and for the cattle the grass of the field as well; but again the sense of the passage is refashioned from the perceptible to spiritual contemplation. [For when, he says, the bread of] affliction and the scant water is given to you by God, when you see those who lead you astray and turn your mind away from them, when you take away the idols and receive the enlightenment of the true knowledge of God, then you will also be in spiritual fruitfulness. For there will be rain for the seed of your land. By rain he means the spiritual comfort through the Spirit, which fattens the hearts of those who revere God and makes them fruitful. For David sings about those justified in faith in Christ: “A willing rain

you will set apart, O God, for your inheritance,” plainly the gospel and saving preaching, and, as I said, the comfort through the Holy Spirit. And the prophet Isaiah too said somewhere, as from the person [of God]: “… I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it.” There will be rain, then, he says, for the seed of your land. And besides, the bread of the produce of your land will be plenty and rich; that is, the fruit of your works will be for your profit. For it will be brought to maturity, and will be rich and abundant. For the prophet Malachi addressed those of Israel who had turned away, saying: “For your calf, O Samaria, was leading astray; for they sowed what was blasted by the wind, and their overthrow will await them”; “a sheaf having no strength to make flour.” And another of the saints rebukes some and says: “And you did not remember the Lord your helper; therefore you shall plant a faithless planting.” For the fruit of the unholy is not brought to maturity; their labours are profitless, and the outcome of their undertakings has nothing profitable. But the God-loving are fruitful; for them the inspired Paul very rightly prays, saying: “And may the God of righteousness increase your seed and multiply the produce of your righteousness.” And to these the prophet adds that the cattle too will graze a fat and spacious place. By cattle I think he means perhaps those of small understanding and simpler, who are slow of mind, but, once called to the knowledge of God through faith, will find spiritual food and will graze a fat place, that is, the inspired Scripture, truly a spacious place; for it is broad and great and runs toward godliness. And he says that the bulls, or the oxen that work the land, will eat chaff mixed with winnowed barley, that is, they will be in spiritual good feeding; and filled with the solid teachings they will work the land. By bulls here, I think, he means those who minister the divine preaching and proclaim the gospel with great power. And the all-wise Paul will again confirm us in this, understanding the commandment of the law spiritually. For he said: “It is written, You shall not muzzle an ox while it is threshing.” And he adds: “Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Or does he say it entirely for our sake?” So from the best food of calves he shapes spiritual things, and permits us to understand that for the chosen, who make those who serve Christ like a fruitful land, all-beautiful and solid food will be set before them. For it was necessary, it was necessary, that the leaders of peoples should first be filled with the good things through the Spirit, so that they might be able to profit those under the yoke.

“[And there shall be on every high mountain and on every lofty hill water running] on that day, when many perish, and [when towers fall].”

And this too you will understand spiritually. For by hills and mountains he means the holy evangelists and apostles, and all the others too who after them have become overseers of the holy churches and ministers of the divine mysteries, who think nothing of earthly things, but are as it were raised on high. For it is written that “the mighty ones of the earth belong to God; they were greatly exalted.” And [they pour out] the divine and heavenly [word] from their own mind, [having received] the grace as from above. And this water is abundant; for many are the mountains, and as many the hills, and the stream from them is sweet and plentiful everywhere. … But on that day, he says, this too will be.

He again calls the time of our Saviour's coming a day, in which those of whom he spoke were revealed, and many perished, and towers were pulled down, that is, the teachers of the Jews, the scribes and Pharisees. For though they were raised above all others through the glory of the priesthood and the dignity of leadership, they acted impiously toward Christ and killed the one who had made them lofty, and besides this led astray the peoples under their hand. And other towers have fallen too, the haughty [designs] of the unholy spirits.

“And the light of the moon shall be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold on the day when the Lord heals the ruin of his people, and he will heal the pain of your wound.”

[Some think that] the sense of the passage must be referred to the time of the consummation of the age. For then, they say, even the elements whose nature is to give light will be given an increase of light. But we shall find the sacred writing saying that “the sun will be darkened at that time, and the moon will not give its light,” and the stars will fall as leaves fall from a fig tree. Leaving aside, then, the view that it should be understood so, we say rather this. He does not say that there will be an increase of light for the elements. Rather he calls “moon” those who live in the light of the moon, and are as it were lit spuriously and moderately. These would be those accustomed to live after the manner of men by the innate understanding in us alone, not yet enriched with the enlightenment from above; such as are those who have not yet known him who is God by nature and truly, but remain as in night, yet have a moderate brightness, which God laid down in human nature from its very constitution. These, receiving the light of the true knowledge of God, no longer remain as in night having a little moonlight, but as in daytime at last see the sun's ray. And those who are as in daytime and as it were lit by the sun, through knowing him who is God by nature, will receive a manifold enlightenment besides. Such were the experts in the law, having as it were in their mind a reflection of the sun's ray, as regards knowing the Creator and Lord of all: “The Lord your God, the Lord is one.” Yet they did not yet understand the law exactly. But when Christ shone forth, and their knowledge advanced toward the better, and the law was at last contemplated spiritually, the sun's light in them became all but sevenfold. For the God of all is the sun of righteousness, both being so and understood so …, [enlightening] greatly, for everything that pleases him, those justified also by faith in Christ, he through whom [he gave] the law to those of Israel. For he brought them out as from the ancient mist of the error in Egypt, and prepared them to understand and confess that he alone is the God and Lord of all. But these things will be, he says, when the Lord heals the ruin of his people, and he will heal the pain of your wound. For Christ will heal us who were crushed and in the pain of a wound, [and] the Jews …. For we were in a way slackened in mind, having a feeble and loosened understanding for the works of righteousness.

But we did not remain in these things. For the God of all granted the cure, and showed us freed from the ancient sickness and very strong …, and with whom be glory to God the Father, with the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.

“Behold, the name of the Lord comes after a long time, burning fury with glory; the oracle of his lips, an oracle full of wrath, and the wrath of his fury shall devour like fire. And his breath, like water sweeping in a ravine, shall come as far as the neck … in vain, and a vain deceit shall pursue them, and shall take them before their face.”

Having said very well that the light of the sun will be sevenfold for those who believe in Christ, at the time when he heals the ruin of his people, he usefully adds that the divine fury will also be against Satan, who caused the ruin, and the demons with him. For they were not going to keep their tyranny over us and their unshaken strength, especially when Christ the Saviour of all had shone forth on the human race. But the word of the prophecy is not as it were bare and …; for it is [shaped] as about the Assyrians, who sacked Jerusalem, took all Judaea, and, holding beloved Israel captive by the spear, returned to their own land, all but dancing in insult over the divine glory, and thinking that they had prevailed over his worshippers even against God's will. Indeed Rabshakeh called out to those on the wall, saying: “Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, saying, God will deliver Israel from my hand. [Have the gods of the nations each delivered their own land from my hand?]” … against the ineffable glory those of whom he speaks would be taken. And when Israel had spent seventy years in captivity and in slavery among them, the God of all again rescued and saved them. For he brought them back to Judaea, under the leadership at that time of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, who was of the tribe of Judah, and also of Jeshua the great priest. So the force of the prophecy seems somehow [to refer to these things], as regards what is evident in the events. … But the true meanings of what was said are about the spiritual Assyrian, that is, Satan, to whom it was said by God: “As a garment soaked in blood will not be clean, so neither will you be clean, because you destroyed my land and killed my people; you shall not remain for ever,

evil seed. Prepare your children to be slaughtered for the sins of your father, so that they may not rise and inherit the land and fill the land with war; and I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts, and I will destroy their name and remnant and seed.” The name of the Lord, then, he says, will come after a long time. And if one chooses to understand it historically, after seventy years God had mercy on Israel. But if one [seeks the] inward [sense], … according to the mind, that the inventor of sin continued a very long time laying the yoke of his perversity on all on the earth, so as to make them his own worshippers and bind them fast in the nooses of sin. But the only-begotten Word of God appeared to us after a long time, and became burning fury with glory, and the oracle of his lips an oracle full of wrath. Cyrus, [rising] for battle, marched against the land of the Chaldeans and took the land of the Babylonians by force; and he became to them like wrath and fire, for he devoured all of them as it were, and, having an unbearable onset, he appeared to those there like water sweeping in a ravine, and filled all the nations of the Chaldeans with tumult and confusion, justly condemned for vain deceit. For they thought, as I said, that they had prevailed over Judaea even against God's will. Vain deceit, then, overtook them. For the effects of unmixed fury were brought upon them by God, and they perished in their own impieties. One may see the dragon who began evil suffering this very thing. For it befell him … to depart into the abyss, himself and the evil powers with him. And they were consumed as by fire, and as by much water swept down, by the power of the Spirit, into the lowest recesses. For these too were thrown into confusion for vain deceit. For he said: “I will seize the whole world with my hand like a nest, and I will take it up like eggs that have been left, and there is none who will escape me or speak against me.” And he thought that he was God in truth, and, transferring continually to himself the glory fitting only to the Creator of all, he supposed that he could rule over those on the earth. [They were troubled,] then, condemned for vain deceit, and were overtaken by it. For penalty and fury and punishment were brought upon them, and for this cause.

“Must you always rejoice and enter into my holy places continually, as though keeping a feast, and enter as those who rejoice

with a flute into the mountain of the Lord, to the God of Israel?”

I said that, having overpowered the land of the Jews and … the divine temple, they continued most unholily. But they too were taken, and in what way is not unclear. O Assyrian, then, he says, must you at every time rejoice over my worshippers, and make an occasion of festival, no one preventing you from entering my holy places, and that with flute and lyre? And these things historically. But if it is said to Satan and those who think his thoughts, you will understand something like this: for long times he exalted himself against the ineffable glory, crushing saints, and … to the workers of righteousness … the holy things of God, making the thing a feast and delight, and [trampling on] those he overreached. But the wretch has fallen from such things, Christ having thrust him down beyond his expectation and driven off his tyranny over us. All his delight and gladness, then, has ceased; he has stopped his dance over us, and the nature of things has passed over to the very opposite. For we have made the salvation through Christ, the justification in faith and the sanctification through the Spirit our joy and delight; but he who has failed to rule is in unceasing dejection, and laments the overthrow of his own dominion.

“… by the blow with which he strikes them. And it shall be for him all around, whence was their hope of help, on which he himself trusted; they with flutes and lyre shall war against him by a change.”

“By the voice of the Lord,” he says, instead of “at the Lord's command.” For the Assyrians were defeated and came under the blow brought upon them, when Cyrus and the Persians and Medes ravaged them, as I said, and took them by force and by the will of God. But before this they had [placed] in themselves the hope of being able easily to master whatever lands and peoples they chose. Those very ones, then, he says, in whom … the things turning out wholly the opposite for them, with lyre and flutes, that is, rejoicing and keeping festival, will war against him. This may be seen to have happened in the case of Satan and the herd of unclean spirits. For they had in this world countless, or rather innumerable, worshippers; but by the voice of the Lord, that is, by the preaching of Christ, they came under the blow and were defeated; and those whom they expected to have as helpers for themselves, these, undergoing unexpectedly a change to the very opposite, were called through faith and made war on them. For sacred precincts were pulled down, hill-shrines were shaken, a multitude of unclean demons was consumed by fire; and, having condemned the one who once ruled, they enrolled God, who is by nature and truly King and Lord. And they set great store on practising the truly approved and exceptional life through every virtue, throwing as far away as possible the life of wickedness.

“Will you not be required before your days? Was it prepared for you too to reign? A deep ravine, like a ravine burning with brimstone.”

Having said that the Assyrian will be warred upon by those from whom he might rather have expected help, and that he will suffer what is beyond every evil, he necessarily adds these things too. For since God is seen to have borne with them for long times, and scarcely to have brought the penalties on those who had offended unbearably, he in a way defends himself and says, “Will you not be required before your days?” For the God of all is forbearing, and lavishes his kindness on those who stumble, in case perhaps their minds may be changed to the better, and, choosing to repent, they may escape the punishment owed them. But when none of this happens, he at last brings the effects of wrath, not doing this before the days, but as in due season at last, and as when [the sin] has come to its measure, as is most fitting to the calm and love for humankind of God who rules all. So, O Assyrian, he says, I have been kind and long-suffering toward you; for you will not be required before your days, plainly the penalties for your drunken insolence against my people. Such is what was said to the blessed [Abraham]: “… [for the sins of the Amorites are not yet] complete until now.” And the blessed prophet Zechariah too [saw] women carrying the measure, and sin sitting in the midst in the form of a woman. For the lawgiver measures out the penalties in proportion to the offences of each. But did you suppose, O Assyrian, he says, that it was prepared for you too to reign continually, that is, to be able to rule and to hold unshaken your overreaching against all? But you have missed the truth; for you will rather inherit a deep ravine, and wood laid, and fire. For so it will be upon you and upon …. And these things would be most fitting to be said to Satan himself. For he overreached the whole earth [before] Christ shone forth. But when God and Lord appeared to us, he was driven off, like some most cruel beast, from the flock of those who believed, and went down to Hades to inherit fire and flames there. For the wrath of the Lord will be to him like a ravine burning with brimstone. So he was not required before his days, but when the time at last called him to it; for it was not prepared for him too to reign continually, as it was for Christ the Saviour of all, to whom rather would be fitting what is said through the voice of David: “Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of your kingdom.”