Commentary on Isaiah 3.5.14–3.5.21

There was no one able to satisfy with the doctrines of truth those who loved it. So their tongue was dried up by thirst. But I will hear them, says the God of Israel, and I will not forsake them. For he took pity on the multitude of those astray, and did not leave it in want of the gifts from above, but rather filled it; and in what manner, he declares very well in what follows.

“But I will open rivers on the mountains, and springs in the midst of the plains; I will make the desert into marshes, and the thirsty land into watercourses. I will set in the waterless land cedar and box … that they may see and know and consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord has done all these things, and the Holy One of Israel has displayed it.”

He says that the land of the nations is desert and waterless: desert, because it was, in a way, laid bare and empty of the most flourishing plants, plainly spiritual ones, and was seen as a nurse of thorns only, mother of wild trees and of such things as are useful to be consumed by fire. These the nations once bore as fruit; but to those who thirsted of old he says: I will open rivers on the mountains — plainly holy men, enriched with the divine word from above, who pour it out like river streams for the thirsty and, as it were, gush it forth; so that even the desert, once changing its appearance, appears as marshes and thickets, and the thirsty land in watercourses. Watercourses again would be those who at various times, in each country and city, were initiators into the mysteries and teachers of the churches, who, having drawn the word into mind and heart as from springs and rivers of the inspired Scripture, also pass it on to others, as … And in what way the desert will be changed into marshes, and of what trees it will be the nurse, he teaches, saying: “I will set in the waterless land cedar and box and myrtle and cypress and poplar.” These are all fragrant and incorruptible woods. And to the saints belong fragrance, spiritually, through a holy way of life, and not being corrupted by being let loose into worldly desires, but standing by [God's] help. For the Lord upholds the righteous, as it is written. And there will be, he says, rivers and springs and watercourses, both on mountains and on plains, and, as it were, everywhere. And the desert will become marshes, so that those called through faith may see with their very eyes, recognize through good thoughts, and indeed … learn from the grandeur of what happened and from the unexpected change that such great and famous things are not wont to be accomplished simply or of themselves. For the hand of the Lord displayed them, that is, the power and authority befitting God, or the Son, through whom all things and in whom all things have come to be and have been wrought wonderfully by the Father. For not the falsely named gods, nor the worldly elements, nor even he who was thought to be the god of this age was the worker of this; but the Holy One of Israel displayed it.

“Your judgment draws near, says God; your counsels have drawn near, says the king …”

Having said very well how the calling of the nations will come about in due time, having promised to make the desert into marshes and the thirsty land into watercourses, and to show it covered with … and box and the other plants, and saying that his own hand will be marvelled at as the maker of such great things, he again addresses the makers of idols and the craftsmen of such things, and says that their judgment has come near. By judgment he means either the punishment due to them, or shame and disgrace. For by a holy sentence of God and a just judgment they would be punished, as having deceived all under heaven and brought in counsels that are not true. For they taught those on earth to say to the wood, “You are my father,” and to the stone, “You gave birth to me.” Therefore he says that their counsels have drawn near, that is, have come to their end, God shaking down the error and scattering the mist of ignorance — not, we say, one of those among them, plainly the falsely named, but the Lord, God in truth, and the King of Jacob, that is, of those of the blood of Israel. Through this he brings to remembrance the signs that occurred at the redemption of those from Israel, through which the power of the God-befitting authority within him, or of his incomparable pre-eminence, is very well known.

“… what will happen, or say what the former things were, and we will apply our mind and know what the last things are and the things to come. Tell us, declare to us the things coming at the last, and we will know that you are gods. Do good and do harm, and we will marvel and see together where you are from and where your work is from: from the earth they have chosen you, an abomination.”

It is proper and peculiar to the divine and ineffable glory to know all things and to be wholly ignorant of nothing, whether of what came before, or what is present, or what will be. Indeed, through the all-wise Moses he makes plain to those on earth what was before the framing of this world and what was in the beginning, saying: “In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. And the earth was invisible and unformed, and darkness was over the abyss”; and he goes through the making of the whole world most precisely. And our Lord Jesus Christ, who of old spoke those things through Moses, announced to us the last things; for, as his disciple says: “We look for new heavens and a new earth, and his promises.” And one can hear him saying plainly: “Will anything be hidden from me?” — “For the word of God is truly living and active, and sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow; and there is no creature hidden before him, but all are naked and laid bare to his eyes.” And since he is God, he saves and does good and fills with all delight, plainly spiritual, … with penalties those used to despising and refusing to do good. But none of these could one see in things made of stones. For what does lifeless matter know? Or how could they do good to anyone, or be able to harm, things unable to defend even themselves, which have received from others only to stand and to be seen? Let them come, then, he says, those thought among you to be gods; let them announce what will happen; let them say the former things, the last things, and the things to come. For then we shall know, he says, that you are gods. But you cannot announce them, he says.

So at least do good and do harm. But if you can do none of these, we shall then see, that is, it is easy to see, where you are from and where your work is from; for you are an abomination made from the earth. For the idol would come, say, from wood, or from bright and choice stone, or from some other matter; and all these are from the earth. One must, I think, marvel at the worshippers of idols, if they did not even learn from them how their affairs would end. For they did not know, nor foretell, that they would be burned together with their very precincts, and would in time lie as a laughingstock even to those who once were deceived.

“But I have raised up the one from the north, and the one from …”

For the swarm of unclean idols, since they were nothing else but wood and stones, led astray those who were deceived. But they announced to them nothing at all, either of the first things or of the last, nor did good to any, or were able to harm. But I, he says, since I am a good God, have willed all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. I have saved all under heaven; I have raised many who lay like the dead. And who these would be he teaches, saying: “The one from the north and the one from the rising of the sun,” that is, the people from the nations. For compared with the land of the Jews, which is the most southern, that of the nations lies rather to the north, and has received the place toward the sun's ray. So the one from the north and from the rising of the sun would be the people from the nations, who have been called by the name of Christ. For we have been named Christians, and we are. For he acquired us with his own blood, and we were bought with a price, and are not our own. For one died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who died and rose for them. Therefore we say, as to our own Saviour and Redeemer: “Lord, besides you we know no other; we name your name.” So we have been called by his name, and this, then, was what was said through the prophet's voice: “But to those who serve me a new name will be called, which will be blessed on the earth.” And it seems, he says, that by “the one from the rising of the sun” he means Christ, because it is written of him: “Behold a man, Rising is his name.” And again, as God the Father says of him: “Who raised up righteousness from the east?” “For Christ became for us righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption besides.”

“… and like a potter treading clay, you will be trodden down. For who will declare the things from the beginning, that we may know, and the things before? And we will say that he is true. There is none who foretells, nor any who hears your words.”

For, God consenting, the multitude of idols was to be burned, and by the … of those who believed … like dust, or like potter's clay, being nothing other than this. For their origin was from the earth. And that all these things were to be brought to completion in due time, the saints leading the campaign and vigorously serving God's nods, he shows by saying “Let rulers come,” that is, let the leaders of the peoples be shown forth, who whet those who believe in me against error and arm them against the lifeless gods. For who among them, he says, will announce the things from the beginning, that we may know, and also the things before, so that, when what was said has come to pass, we may agree that they spoke true things? But there was not, he says, among the falsely named gods, or among the unclean spirits, anyone who foretells; nor among men anyone who hears your words. Of old, throughout countries and cities, in the precincts of the idols, … of those used to deceiving; and many went to receive oracles from them. But when the Word of God shone upon us, the idols in the shrines fell, and the deceiving demons fell silent; rather, they were sent down to Hades and cast into Tartarus. And those who of old honoured the words from them have been called to the knowledge of the truth; and this he teaches by saying, “Nor any who hears your words.”

“I will give rule to Zion, and I will comfort Jerusalem on the way. For from the nations, behold, there is none, and from their idols there was none who declared; and if I ask them, Where are you from? they will not answer me. For they are those who make you, and in vain those who lead you astray.”

He again promises the showing forth of the Saviour, through whom all under heaven has been saved and the multitude of those astray has been called to the knowledge of the truth. For, that we might have the guide who knows how and is able to bring us into the way of salvation, the only-begotten Word of God became man; and though he is King by nature, inasmuch as he is understood as God and from God the Father, who rules all and has creation lying under his feet, he is said to have been appointed king over us. For it is written of him: “Behold, a righteous king will reign, and rulers will rule with judgment.” For Christ has reigned over all under heaven, and he makes this plain to us, saying: “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.” For though he has authority over all as God, because of the dispensation with flesh he says that what he had as God was given to him. Having become king, then, he appointed the holy apostles rulers over us, who also ruled us with judgment, that is, with righteousness. I will give, then, he says, to Zion, that is, to the church, or to the multitude of believers, the saving rule, that is, Christ. And I will comfort Jerusalem, which again is … of the church. For we have been comforted, strengthened through Christ, and have been taught the ineffable path that leads to life. For from the nations, he says, behold, there is none, and from their idols there was none who declared. For very many were the wise and select among the Greeks; but there was none among them who could teach the way to godliness. Their temples were full of idols; but not even among the idols, or the falsely named gods, was there any who could announce the pursuit of what is profitable, or direct into the way of righteousness. Or rather I say this: not even if they were asked, he says, “Where are you from?”

could they answer. And those who do not know themselves — for they are deaf and senseless matter — how could they become guides to others? Or how could they show anyone at all what serves for benefit? For there are, there are those who make you, fashioning the falsely named gods, and again those who lead you astray, you who worship them.

“Jacob my servant, I will help him; Israel my chosen one, my soul has accepted him. I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth judgment to the nations. He will not cry out, nor let up, nor will his voice be heard outside. … smouldering he will not quench, but he will bring forth judgment unto truth. He will shine forth and will not be broken until he has set judgment on the earth; and in his name …”

He promised beforehand, saying, “I will give rule to Zion,” and now he shows clearly what this rule is. For a ruler and guide has been appointed over the spiritual Zion, that is, the church — not then rising to the beginning of the thing when he is said to have been brought into it. For the Word who is from the Virgin was and is always King and Lord of all. But since he became man, he makes the measure of humanity his own. For so it was to be truly and undoubtingly believed by us that he became like us. So even if he is said to have received power over all, the receiving will belong to the dispensation with flesh, not to his pre-eminence, according to which he is understood as Master of all. And he calls him Jacob and Israel, as having come, according to the flesh, of the blood of Jacob, who was renamed Israel. And he says that … for the Father … with the Son, and as through his own power accomplished the mighty works. And he is truly chosen, because he is beautiful in comeliness beyond the sons of men, and accepted as beloved; for God the Father was well pleased in him. Indeed he said: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And that he was anointed as man, and is said to have shared in the Holy Spirit, though he himself gives the Spirit and sanctifies creation, he makes clear by saying: “I have put my Spirit upon him.” For when he was baptized, the Spirit, it says, came upon him from heaven in the form of a dove, and … And his receiving the Spirit in the measure of humanity would be, with the other things, this too. For it was not as God that he was sanctified by receiving the Spirit — for he himself, as I said, is the one who sanctifies — but inasmuch as he appeared as man by the dispensation. He was anointed, then, so as to bring forth judgment to the nations. By judgment here he means just judgment. For he justified them, having condemned Satan, who had overreached. And he himself taught us this, saying: “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.” For he decreed the destruction of the one who, as I said, had overreached all under heaven, and by a holy judgment saved those deceived. But he will not cry out, he says, nor let up, nor will his voice be heard outside. For the Saviour and Lord of all came to dwell among us in great lowliness and without ostentation, as it were without noise, and wronging no one; but in silence and quiet, so as not to crush a bruised reed nor quench a smouldering flax, that is, … not to bring harm on the very lowliest and on those used to enduring … What, then, will he work, and what will he accomplish for the nations? He will bring forth judgment unto truth. Here he seems to call the law “judgment.” For it is written of Israel and of God who rules all that “there he gave him ordinances and judgment”; and again: “You have made judgment and righteousness in Jacob.” So the judgment, that is, the law that was in shadows and types, he will bring forth into the truth of the evangelical oracles, through which he showed the way of life pleasing to him, and changed the worship in the letter according to the law into truth. And the wretched Jews acted insolently against him, daring to grieve him with the death of the flesh. Yet he shone forth as light and was not broken, that is, he was not overcome by corruption; the madness of the plotters did not prevail. For death has been undone; he came to life again, trampled his enemies, and his suffering has become the occasion of salvation for those throughout all under heaven. So he will not be broken until he sets judgment on the earth. And do not suppose that he fixes a time at which he will be broken, that is, after setting … He will prevail over those who resisted, and will be so strong as to set judgment in all the earth. For the gospel has been preached in all the earth, and its oracles are, as it were, firmly fixed. For it is written: “Your righteousness is for ever, and your law is truth.” And the nations hoped, he says, in his name. For, having recognized that he is God in truth, even if he appeared in flesh, they will make him their hope; and, as the psalmist says: “In his name they will exult all the day.” For we have been called Christians, and in him we have all our hope.

“Thus says the Lord, who made heaven and fixed it, who made firm the earth and what is in it, and gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it: I, the Lord God, have called you in righteousness, and I will hold your hand and strengthen you; and I have given you for a covenant of a race, for a light of nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out … those sitting in deep darkness.”

False prophets and false diviners arose in great numbers at various times in Israel. And for this reason it came about that even those truly sent by God, prophets in truth and used to speaking in the Holy Spirit, were disbelieved. And what is surprising, Christ himself too was reviled as neither sent by God nor truly holy and accomplishing wonders in the pre-eminence of the Godhead. Indeed, the … of the Jews at one time said that he cast out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons; at another they said to one another: If this man were from God, he would not break the Sabbath. And to these things Christ very often tried to answer and to assure them that he was not like those who existed in a mere and bare appearance of having been sent by God. He said, for instance: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life.” And again: “I have come in the name of my Father.” So, that he might have the Father in heaven himself bearing witness, he said usefully and necessarily through holy prophets too: I am the Lord God, who fixed heaven, who made the earth most firm and unshaken, the living and life-giving one, who gives breath to all; I, the God and Lord of all, have called you in righteousness. For he did not come of his own accord, he says, like those false prophets who speak from their own heart and not from the mouth of the Lord; but I have called you, that is, by my good pleasure I brought you forth in righteousness. “I will hold your hand and strengthen you,” in place of: I will work with you and show you all-powerful. And we do not at all say that the Father knows the Son as weak and feeble, or in need of help. For he himself is the Lord of hosts and the invincible right hand of the Father, through which all things were brought into existence. But again he speaks the words as to one of us, inasmuch as he appeared as man and seems in a way, because of his humanity, to be strengthened by the Father. For so he is said both to raise him and to give him glory and to show him stronger than the plot of his murderers. For if he humbled himself and willingly came down into self-emptying, the measure of the self-emptying must surely be seen, and his lowliness understood through the deeds themselves. And see how, after speaking as of a man — “I will hold your hand and strengthen you” — he at once shows him to be God by nature and truly Son, and light from light. For I have given you, he says, for a covenant of a race, for a light of nations, to open the eyes of the blind. For the only-begotten … came …

… of both penalty and punishment, he showed beforehand, saying, … to those of the race, that is, of the blood of Israel — for he appeared from them according to the flesh, born of a woman — he gave the new covenant, foretold of old through the voice of the prophets. And he became a light to the nations too. And this too befits God. For to be a lawgiver, to render idle the shadow of the all-wise Moses, and to add the new to the old belongs to an authority most befitting God; and to be able to enlighten those in darkness and to open the eyes of the blind — for the divine and heavenly light flashed upon the nations — how would this not hold a clear proof that he is God, and from God by nature? And that Christ went and preached to the spirits in Hades, and appeared to those shut up in the prison house, and released all from bonds and constraint, … “to bring out from bonds those who are bound, and from the prison house those sitting …”

“I am the Lord God; this is my name. My glory I will not give to another, nor my excellences to carved images. The things from the beginning, behold, have come; and new things which I will declare, and before I declare them they were made known to you.”

For the Creator of all would properly, truly, and alone be God and be called God by us. And, as the all-wise Paul says: “Even if there are many so-called gods and lords, in heaven and on earth, yet for us there is one God and Father, from whom are all things, and we from him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him.” And since he has presented himself to us as the accomplisher of great and marvellous deeds, he says that he will grant his own glory, or his God-befitting excellences, not to lifeless idols nor to any other of the creatures, but will keep them for himself alone. For it was fitting that the glory of the Godhead should befit no one else, nor one essentially other than himself, but only the ineffable nature that is above all. And though saying that he will grant his own glory to no one, he has given it to the Son; for he has been glorified just as the Father too, being worshipped in heaven and on earth. How, then, has he given it? As to one who is not other than himself according to the principle of consubstantiality, even if each is distinguished into his own hypostasis. For the nature of the supreme Godhead is one, in three distinct hypostases, so understood and worshipped by those used to thinking rightly. By saying, “The things from the beginning, behold, have come; and new things which I will declare, and before I declare them they were made known to us,” he does not allow the Saviour's word to be disbelieved by us in any respect at all. For just as, he says, the things said from the beginning about his coming were brought to fulfilment, so will the new things come out true; and whatever new things he says are made known before they become manifest. And what are these? Our Lord Jesus Christ promised us life in the age to come, plainly the life in incorruption and sanctification, and the glorious participation in the good things of the righteous, the fruits of gentleness, the prizes of godliness, the crown of love for him. May we too obtain these by his grace and love for humankind; through whom and with whom be glory to God the Father, with the Holy Spirit, for ever. Amen.