Commentary on Isaiah 3.4.21–3.5.5

“All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man is as the flower of grass. The grass has withered and the flower has fallen; but the word of God remains for ever.”

That those who truly love it and long to obtain it cannot see the salvation of God otherwise than by choosing to set their minds … is plain. For I think that those who wish to live as befits saints, to choose the holy and excellent life, and to bind on, like a crown, the boasts of the way of life in Christ, must make nothing of the distractions of this life, cast as far as possible from them the temporary glory among men, truly consider that human things are like grass and herbage, and have in mind and heart the word of God, that is, the Word from God the Father. For he dwells in our hearts through faith, and, having been enriched with his divine Spirit, we have him in ourselves. For the thing is worth acquiring and brings about eternal life. For the Word of God, remaining for ever and living, preserves and gives life. And if someone wishes to understand the word of God as his commandment, we say that this too is of no small benefit. For it too preserves those who keep it unto a life of long ages, according to what was said by the Saviour himself: “Amen, amen, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

“Go up on a high mountain, you who bring good news to Zion; lift up your voice with strength, you who bring good news …; say to the cities of Judah: Behold your God. Behold, the Lord comes with strength, and his arm with lordship. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. Like a shepherd he will tend his flock, and with his arm he will gather lambs, and comfort those that are with young.”

He shows here, to those who minister as priests the divine and saving preaching — I mean the holy apostles and evangelists, or simply those who in each age take up the practice of the word — in what way they may be lovers of God, far-famed, and full of the highest glory. For it is not fitting, he says, that one who brings good news to all everywhere … and to do this while eager to escape notice; but rather as having come to be on high, seen by all, and with much boldness, as on a mountain, leaping … free. This the divine disciples themselves, praying earnestly that it might be theirs, said to God who rules all: “And now, Lord, look upon their threats” — plainly those of the Jews — “and grant your servants to speak your word with boldness.” Lift up your voice, then, do not fear, he says. Announce to the cities of Judah: Your God; behold, the Lord comes with strength, and his arm with lordship. By adding “Behold,” he does not let the hope of his arrival be stretched out to length, but shows the Redeemer as about to be present all but now, after a short while, or rather as already at the doors. For as it were stretching out a hand … And that he will come not like one of the holy prophets, nor in the measures of suppliants, but in the Master's authority, and in power and in lordship most befitting God, he made clear by saying: “He comes with strength, and his arm with lordship.” For the divine prophets begged that certain things might come about from God and be granted to the peoples under their hand.

But the Saviour and Lord of all, not stretching out prayer, nor receiving anything by request and so giving it, but as truly Son, distributed the goods of the Father to those who believed in him with the dignity befitting one who is free, and worked all things using his own power and authority. And that the mystery of the dispensation will not be fruitless for him who became like us and endured the cross and the death on it, he shows by saying: “Behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him”; and he calls the fruit of his dying according to the flesh a reward. For he said: “Amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” And again: “If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to myself.” For as Paul says: “He endured the cross, despising the shame. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of things in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ … to the glory of God the Father.” … sings this and says to him: “All the nations whom you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord.” So the dispensation is not without reward or fruit. And it followed, and came about as before his eyes, as he tends his own flocks and gathers lambs with his arm, that is, with his strength. For those who believed in him as newborn … , having plainly received the rebirth from above and through the Spirit. Therefore they long for the rational milk, being nourished at first as befits infants, but going up to the measure of the stature of the fullness … lambs; and some who are pregnant, or with young, have been comforted. By lambs, as newly appeared and newly born, those from the nations would fittingly be understood; and one might say that those with young are those already in labour with the word about him, as from the teachings of the law and the proclamations of the prophets. For Christ saved not only those from the nations but also those of the blood of Israel, to whom indeed he says he was sent especially, who were also comforted, confirming by faith the precise knowledge of the mystery that had come to them beforehand.

“Who measured the water with his hand, and heaven with a span, and all the earth with a handful? Who set the mountains in a balance and the valleys in scales? Who has known the mind of the Lord, and who has been his counsellor, to instruct him? Or with whom did he take counsel, and who instructed him? Or who showed him judgment? Or who showed him the way of understanding?”

Through things unattainable and impossible for all men, or rather perhaps even for the powers above and in heaven, he tries to show the surpassing and incomprehensible character of the wisdom in God. For the mystery of Christ is marvelled at, and the rationale of the dispensation is seen to lie in ineffable reasons. And it seems to me that Paul used these words timely when he said: “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord?” Would one not say, and very fittingly, that these are akin to the present words? For deep is the depth, and incomprehensible, in the divine counsels. And just as it is wholly impracticable and impossible for a human hand to measure all the water, and heaven with a span, and all the earth with a handful, and for the weight of the mountains, however great it is, to be made plain by balance and scales, in the same way no one could comprehend the mind of the Lord.

And he himself will confirm it, saying through one of the holy prophets: “For my ways are not like your ways, but as heaven is distant from the earth, so my ways are distant from your ways, and your thoughts from my mind.” For of what counsellor, he says, or instructor have I ever had need, or of one showing him judgment, that is, righteousness or just judgment, or the way of understanding? For if he is wisdom itself, and himself makes every mind wise, and is the supplier to rational creation of the light that is in understanding, how could he need another, or in what way could anyone … what he would decide? And the prophet works great benefit from this for his hearers. For already some of the unbelievers still dare to say: Why was it necessary for the Word of God to become like us, and to endure flesh and the filth that comes from it, wishing to save those on earth, though, they say, it was not hard for him, as God, to nod and accomplish what he pleased? Then how did he not become man in vain? And, unholily surrounding the dispensation with improper notions as something unseemly, they fight against the glory of the mystery. So the prophet here checks their senseless and vain counsels; and he says that the wisdom in God, and the mind in him, are incomprehensible, since he is wisdom itself and the supreme and most pure mind; so that the word of the unbelievers is from now on unacceptable, or rather would justly be laughed at, since they dared, I know not how, to censure the dispensation of the Only-begotten in the flesh as not well done. And some think that “Who measured the water with his hand, and heaven with a span” … as of one able to measure water, heaven and earth, mountains and valleys, and who has knowledge, simply, of all things, even of the unattainable … of everything that has come to be, and holds as nothing things among creatures of such size and bulk and those understood to be countless in number. If someone chose to understand it so, he would perhaps do no wrong.

“If all the nations are reckoned as a drop from a bucket and as the turn of a scale, and they will be reckoned as spittle; and Lebanon is not enough for burning, and all the four-footed beasts are not enough for a whole burnt offering, and all the nations are as nothing and have been reckoned as nothing. To whom have you likened the Lord, and with what likeness have you likened him? Did a craftsman make an image, or did a goldsmith, melting gold, gild it over? For the craftsman chooses wood that does not rot, and wisely seeks how he will set up his image so that it may not be shaken. Will you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not known the foundations of the earth?”

The prophetic discourse has made mention of the dispensation of the Only-begotten with flesh, and has sufficiently marvelled at the ineffable wisdom through which we have been saved and, having recognized the one who is Master by nature and truly, have been counted worthy of the grace from him — lifted up like lambs by his arm and come under him as under a very good shepherd; for he laid down his life for his own sheep. And having shown his mind to be beyond the reach of being beheld, or perhaps measured, and having confessed him to be the highest wisdom, beyond all, it necessarily brought in the words addressed to those from the nations, that is, to those still worshipping the creation rather than the Creator, carrying them away from their ancient, ancestral error handed down from their fathers, and moving them to better things and to … He shows, then, the immeasurable pre-eminence of God who rules all, the surpassing dignity of the majesty within him, and that all things … to him, I mean compared with the surpassing greatness of the power and glory within him. Therefore he says: “If all the nations are reckoned as a drop from a bucket and as the turn of a scale” … these things, worth nothing at all. For what is one drop falling from a bucket? And what would the turn of a scale be, which brings to equality what seems to be outweighed? And what is spittle, that is, human spitting? But Lebanon would not suffice him for burning, he says, nor all the four-footed beasts for a whole burnt offering. Such things are wholly contemptible; even if all were brought to him for a whole burnt offering, let them be thrown behind the glory of God. And if all the nations, he says, are as nothing and have been reckoned as nothing, with what likeness have you likened him? For what will be like him and of equal weight, either in nature, or in weight, or in the measure of glory? Is it by the arts of a craftsman and the skills of a woodworker? Or of goldsmiths? Or has he been formed, as in an image, after any one of the creatures? Was a statue in the form of a man made, he says? By no means. For nothing could be equal to him. For being God by nature, there being no other like him, he will surely surpass all things. Having shown him, then, to be beyond everything that has been made and called into being, he afterwards laughs at the making of idols and says: “The craftsman chooses wood that does not rot, and wisely seeks how he will set up his image so that it may not be shaken.” So it would be the craftsman's skill, according to the measure of the understanding in him, to prepare for those astray a god as they please, supported with the greatest security so that it may not be shaken, fall, and be shattered. So the worshippers of idols would have been short of gods if there were no craftsmanship on earth; nor would the handmade things have survived if the craftsman had not wisely sought the means by which they could stand and have an unshaken seat. One might say, I think, and very fittingly, what was said through David's voice: “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of men's hands.” And he adds to these: “May all who make them become like them, and all who trust in them.” Having laughed at the making of idols, then, he turns the discourse to the shaming and correction of those astray, and shows their offence in this to be without excuse, saying: “Will you not know? Will you not hear?” in place of “Did you not know? Did you not hear? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not known the foundations of the earth?” By the foundations of the earth he means its last

and farthest parts. You have known, then, he says, you who are from the ends to the ends. You have heard, and it has been declared to you from the beginning. And what was declared? That God, by nature and truly, is one and alone; but that what … through men are wood and stones, and nothing else. … Scripture; rather the knowledge of the truth was proclaimed from above, through patriarchs, through the law and the prophets. For it was not when the only-begotten Word of God, having become man like us, shone upon those on earth, that the error first came under accusation, in the last times; but, as I said, the charge against idolatry was ancient. For the choir of the saints never ceased reviling it, showing it to be loathsome, and making plain the Creator and Lord of all.

“He who holds the circle of the earth, and those who dwell in it are as locusts; he who set up heaven as a vault and stretched it out like a tent to dwell in.”

From the beauty of created things their Creator is seen by analogy, at least by those who are in their right mind. For the wise can see, and very easily, who and how great is the maker and artificer of this universe, from the pre-eminence and the ineffable and God-befitting ordering by which creation came to be when it was not, and, having come to be, is preserved, held together by the strength of its maker for well-being and coherence. For to whom would he be likened? says the Lord. And how is he not beyond all understanding, who alone grasps the whole earth in his hand, holds it together so that it is firmly fixed, set up heaven over it like a vault, and stretched it out in the manner of a tent, so that those for whose sake, plainly, it came to be might dwell in it? For, as the prophet himself says somewhere: “He did not make it in vain, but to be inhabited.” Is it then much in God's sight, he says, the multitude of those dwelling on earth, countless though it is? Not at all. For compared with God's majesty and pre-eminence they would be as locusts. Or in another way: he holds the circle of the earth, that is, its whole round, and those who dwell in it are nothing to him, though they graze on it in herds like locusts and go beyond all number. And this too is marvellous, and a great thing for the praise of the all-powerful God.

“He who appoints rulers to rule as nothing, and made the earth as nothing. For they will not sow, nor will they plant, nor will their root take root in the earth. A wind blew upon them, and they withered, and a whirlwind [will carry them off] like chaff.”

It is the custom of those astray, and of those who do not know God who is God by nature and truly, not only to worship the herds of demons and to say to the wood, “You are my God,” and to the stone, “You gave birth to me,” but also most foolishly to make gods of men who had become notable on earth. Indeed Sennacherib, when he returned from Judea to his own land, was said to worship his patriarch. For they brought sacrifices to the dead too, and, calling them heroes, enrolled them as gods. So, since the multitude of idols had been plainly exposed, the discourse had to go on to this point as well, and to persuade those astray to consider human things nothing at all; but that, even if some on earth have at times been brilliant and admirable, either adorning the highest and royal thrones or counted worthy of some other eminence, they should in no way suppose them to be gods, but rather consider that both power and rule over others come from nowhere else than as a gift from God. And that the thing is free of all difficulty for the all-powerful God he shows plainly, saying that rulers are given by him to rule as nothing. And he rises to something still greater and says: “He made the earth as nothing.” And that it lies in the authority of God whether any memory of those who were brilliant and notable on earth is preserved or not, he shows by saying: “For they will not sow, nor will they plant.” For unless God wills, he says, they will have no fruit on earth, nor root or memory, but, as when a wind comes down upon them, they will go off to nothing, like chaff. For all human things are small, easily scattered, and wholly easily overturned, and they wither like grass. So God alone, who is God by nature and truly, is to be worshipped, and let no account be taken of the things devised by the skill of craftsmen, nor of men to whom some have given the name of gods. For this is worship of the dead, and nothing else.

“Now, then, to whom have you likened me? And the Holy One said: I will be exalted. Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has displayed all these things; he who brings out his array by number will call them all by name; from glory and in the might of strength nothing has escaped you.”

The all-wise Paul rightly cried out against the ignorance of those astray, and makes a most just charge against the multitude of idolaters. For it was possible for them to know, even from creation itself, the Creator and artificer of all, … to those that are not gods. And he said thus about God who rules all: “For his invisible things, from the creation of the world, being understood by the things that are made, are clearly seen, his eternal power and divinity, so that they are without excuse. For, knowing God, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks, but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened; and, claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of creeping things.” So since, he says, I hold the circle of the earth, and have stretched out heaven like a tent, and appoint rulers to rule as nothing, and liken those on earth as it were to locusts, to whom have you likened me? — in place of: By likening me to what would you not go beyond what is fitting, nor miss the truth? Do you think you exalt me by calling me heaven, or by wishing to liken me to one of the elements?

But nothing among the creatures is like me, nor in any respect at all without difference. For none could be of equal weight, in the account of being, with him who calls into existence what once was not. That I am not like the gods among you, who received their origin from human art, behold from the creatures themselves. Lift up your eyes on high, see the firmament, the choir of the stars; consider who displayed all these things, who brings out by number his array, plainly that of heaven. He calls the stars the array of heaven, which he says he knows … not only all together but one by one and, as it were, by name. This is befitting God and extraordinary; and indeed the prophet makes the thing a great marvel, and says to him: “From much glory and in the might of strength nothing has escaped you.” For as the sacred Writing says: “The drops of rain are numbered by him.” For nothing at all would escape the ineffable wisdom, the Mind that knows all things.

“For do not say, Jacob, and why have you spoken …: My way has been hidden from God, and my God has taken away my judgment and has departed.”

Having said very well that in due time those astray would be called and, enriched in mind and heart with the light of the truth, would recognize the Creator and artificer of all, … that they [will be] wise and sharp, and from the beauty of created things will behold by analogy him who by ineffable power brought this universe into existence, and having woven for them sufficient initiation through what has already been said, he turns the discourse to those of the blood of Jacob, that is, Israel. For since they stumbled on the stone of stumbling, and, not accepting the supplier of salvation, became somehow far from close relation with him — the shadow according to the law being no longer accepted, but rather the worship and service in spirit and truth, that is, the evangelical, having been brought in — they murmured, saying: “My way has been hidden from God,” that is, he does not regard the way of life under the law. For those who live so, as the commandment through the all-wise Moses ordered, he no longer counts worthy of his oversight. “And he has taken away my judgment and departed,” that is, he has abolished the law. They call the law “judgment”; and blessed David will teach this, saying to the God of all: “You have made judgment and righteousness in Jacob,” that is, You laid down the law through angels, or through the mediation of Moses. And Moses too said of Israel: “There he gave him ordinances and judgments.” So he has taken away my judgment, that is, having all but cast out the worship according to the law, he has taken it away from us and departed.

For he no longer cares for the chosen, and Israel the firstborn goes off to nothing.

“And now, did you not know, if you did not hear? God is eternal, God who prepared the ends of the earth; he will not hunger nor grow weary, nor is there finding out …”

For of old, O Israel, you were instructed through the law; you knew through the prophets the manner of the dispensation that would come after the law. For the law gave oracles, having shadows and types of the good things to come, and holding in its letter the power of the mystery of Christ, as in birth-pangs; for in many ways Christ was prefigured through the commandment of the law, and the mystery concerning him was written in riddles … to those of Israel who chose …: “If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me.” But since, he says, he complains, saying, He does not regard my ways according to the law — for this is “My way has been hidden from God,” and that he took away our judgment, that is, the law, and departed — as though wholly ignorant of the one who shelters in God, he says such things: Let it be, he says; even if now you did not know, if you did not hear — that is, if you would not hear; as if he said: I accept the pretence, by way of dispensation; you did not know, unless you learned, that is, without hearing. Hear, then: God is eternal, God who prepared the ends of the earth; he will not hunger nor grow weary. You brought, he says, the … through blood … doves; but know, and do not be ignorant, that the eternal God prepared the ends. By the ends of the earth he means its limits, so that by this the whole may be understood. He will not hunger nor grow weary. This, I say, is like what was said to them through the psalmist's voice: “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?” For how, he says, do you bring me sacrifices? As to one who is hungry and used to growing weary from hunger? Away with such ill counsel! For the eternal God, who knows no corruption, will neither hunger nor grow weary; for nothing human will touch him. Nor is there finding out of his understanding. For there is a charge, he says, when you say: If now you have made the commandment through Moses, that is, the shadow in the law, unacceptable, why did you legislate at all in the beginning? If the new things, that is, the evangelical oracles, are better than the old, why were they not laid down before the law itself? But do not say this, he says; for you cannot find out the incomprehensible understanding, or wisdom, of God. The commandment through Moses was given; and for what end and for what reason Paul will teach, saying: “The law came in, that the trespass might abound.” And again: “For Scripture shut up all things under disobedience, that he might have mercy on all.” So it was appointed as the indicator of sin and, as it were, the proof of the weakness of all, so that, since it does not know how to justify those who have sinned but rather condemns them, the grace of Christ's generosity is thereafter necessarily brought in … finding out of the understanding of God who orders all things wisely, who first showed the law to convict of sin, and sent … from heaven, that he might justify by faith those who are in sins.