Commentary on Isaiah 4.1.16–4.1.22

… and of the day too, as the most wise Paul puts it. That he brought out a blind people is unclear to no one. But as if someone rose up against such words and said, “Yet even to this day one could see their eyes likewise blind, and that they have deaf ears,” he makes a defence, saying: “All the nations were gathered together, and rulers will be gathered from among them.” “For you, sirs,” [he says,] “are only receiving the words of a prophecy; the time of the events has not yet come; but all the nations will by every means and certainly be gathered in due time.” For he says “were gathered” for “will be gathered,” this being the custom of the inspired Scripture. For things that will certainly happen it sometimes sets down as having already happened. At any rate it is said, as from the person of Christ, through the voice of Isaiah: “I have given my back to scourges,” for “I will give.” And through the Psalmist: “They divided my garments among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots,” which indeed happened at the time of his coming. “All the nations, then,” he says, “will be gathered together,” and not only this, but there will also be rulers from among them, that is, leaders of peoples and initiators into the mysteries; and those who once wandered and lay in deep darkness will become the bringers of the divine light to those they initiate. The Melodist said something of the kind about the church from the nations: “As its darkness, so also its light.” For as in the time of error it fell sick of a measureless and deep darkness, so again … For it is true, as the divine Paul says: “Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more.”

“Who will declare these things? Or who will declare to you the things from the beginning? Let them bring their witnesses and be justified, and let them speak truth, and let them hear.”

Having once made mention of the nations, or of those who through … some kind of initiation for them, he denounces in no small way the deceit of the demons and shows the making of idols to be good for nothing at all. For to know all things from beginning to end would befit only the one who is God by nature. For all understanding is from him, and he is the source of all knowledge, and in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, as it is written. And if anyone is found to have knowledge of things to come as well, he is seen to have received the gift by revelation from him. He addresses, then, as I said, those from the nations, and says: “All the things that will befall you, and that you will be called in due time to the knowledge of the truth, I have announced and told you. But who else [has told] you these things? [Let them bring] their witnesses and be justified, and speak truth, and hear. For I in due times [spoke] through holy men, and I have as witnesses of my foreknowledge of things to come those who ministered my words. But who could bear witness for the demons, or for the lifeless idols, that they said anything of the kind through them? For very many are the men of letters and poets among the Greeks, yet [none] of them said at all, as from their own gods, that these things would happen to them in due time; nor could one observe any of the wise among the Greeks foretelling that Satan would in due time be thrust out of the glory he had gained by greed, or that the [earth] under him would be made bright through faith in Christ, or that the darkness of idolatry would depart and the truth would prevail over the earth under heaven.”

“Let them bring their witnesses, then, and show that they spoke truth. And if this should happen, let them hear them,” that is, let them follow and agree that the herd of demons too is rich in the knowledge of things to come. But there is no one who has borne witness for them, nor anyone who announced things to come. Those, then, who thought them to be gods have admittedly gone astray; for they are profane and …

“Be my witnesses, and I am a witness, says the Lord God, and the servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe and understand that I am. Before me there was no other god, and after me there will be none.”

Having said that nothing would bear witness for the unclean demons, or for the works of human hands, that they know things to come, he addresses his own prophets and says: “Be my witnesses. For I have spoken through you, and my Spirit has made the knowledge of things to come flash upon you. I will therefore bring forward witnesses of my own glory and of my supremacy befitting God. And I will bear witness to myself, and so will the Servant whom I have chosen.” Like this is what was said by our Saviour's voice to the Jews: “Even if I bear witness about myself, my witness is true, for I know where I come from and where I am going.” And again: “I bear witness about [myself] …” For God's voice is worthy of belief in whatever he may wish to say about his own glory and supremacy. And, as is reasonable, there follows in the second place the verdict and understanding of the saints, which assigns to him all that befits the nature that is beyond all. Therefore, having taken the holy prophets as witnesses, he goes up to the greater witness, the one admittedly free of falsehood, himself, I mean, and his own Son. For, as I said, for those of sound mind God's voice suffices for all belief. “These things I have spoken to you,” he says, “not in vain, but that you may know and believe and understand that I am.” For faith comes through knowledge, and understanding through faith. For “If you do not believe,” it says, “neither will you understand.” “And believe that before me there was no [other god]”: … before him there was no other God, but he himself is the beginning of all and beyond every mind, and after him there will be none. For he remains the same, and has an unchangeable nature, an unshaken supremacy over all, and a perpetual kingdom. For he who has no beginning of being, toward what kind of end will he run?

“I am God, and besides me there is none who saves. … [and there was no] stranger among you. You are my witnesses, and I am a witness, says the Lord God, that I am still from the beginning, and there is none who rescues out of my hands. I will act, and who will turn it back?”

“Bear witness,” he says, “that I alone am the God of all, none having come into being before me, nor … after me. For I alone am the one who saves, and I announced this to you long ago and brought what was spoken to fulfilment. For I saved in Christ. I reproached you, and there was no stranger among you.” For those of Israel at times forgot the sacred oracles, those given through the all-wise Moses, I mean, and were lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Then, paying the price of their slackness, they were sometimes in danger when enemies were let loose upon them. But in the time of affliction they would try to call the one who always saves to their help.

“And I reproached them for this, saying through the voice of Jeremiah: ‘And in the time of their evils they will say: Arise and save us. And where are your gods that you made for yourself? Will they arise and save you in the time of your affliction?’ I reproached you, then, very often, you of Israel's blood, and you learned by experience that there was no god among you,” a strange one, clearly. “For none of them saved you. I alone, then, am the one who saves. Therefore bear witness, and I too will be a witness for myself, says the Lord God.” Or according to that saying: “Everyone, then, who confesses me before men, I too will confess him.” “Bear witness, then, that I am still from the beginning,” that is, the one who from the beginning until now foretells what will be, and is able to save without toil those who thirst for kinship with me; and who saves in such a way that no one at all can snatch out of my hands the one I have once taken. “For there is none,” he says, “who rescues out of my hands. I will act, and who will turn it back?” “For I have accomplished the calling of the nations,” he says, “that is, I have saved those who wandered. And who will change this, or alter it so that it is not so?” That no one will snatch out of God's hand those saved by him, the Saviour himself will confirm, saying: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.” This is plainly what is written: “There is none who rescues out of my hands.”

“Thus says the Lord God who redeems you, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I will send to Babylon, and I will rouse up all who flee,

Having woven through what was just said no mean exhortation for those of the nations called to the knowledge of him, and having shown that he alone has knowledge of things at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end, and that besides him there is no one at all who can save, and having by these words established a firm faith in them, he shifts his words to those of Israel's blood, and tries to assure them … that the natures of things yield to his nods; the very elements of the world serve him, and whatever he wills is certainly accomplished, with nothing lying in the way. For it was necessary, necessary indeed, for those of Israel to have very much enlightenment, and exhortations and reminders to establish them in steadfastness of mind, since they slipped into what is unlawful, and, inclining to other gods, sacrificed to idols and to the host of heaven, as it is written. He makes them, then, a prediction of things to come, and of the … of the …, showing beforehand that they themselves would be taken captive by those; but they will be persuaded that … Since the word to them concerned the greatest matters, he necessarily shows the incomparable glory of his power and the surpassing greatness of his strength, saying: “Thus says the Lord God who redeems you, the Holy One of Israel.” For in order to bring them to remember the events of old, those, I mean, of the redemption from Egypt, when a great multitude of wonders bore witness to his glory, he therefore named himself the Lord God and affirmed that he is the Redeemer. So much for this. But what is it that will happen? “For your sake,” he says, “I will send to Babylon.” For the Babylonian took Israel captive, and … the whole land of the Jews together with the famous temple, and removed them to the mountains of the Persians and Medes.

But since … those who had fallen into this misery, he roused up Cyrus son of Cambyses against the Chaldeans, with the Persians and Medes fighting alongside him; these took by force the land of the Chaldeans, that is, of the Babylonians, although of old they had feared them and shrunk from their overbearing hand. Tradition has it that Cyrus, having captured some of the great men in it, bound them with iron and sent them across the Caspian Sea into impassable and uninhabited lands. Cyrus was roused up against the Babylonians, with God whetting him and [giving] him the power to prevail … [as he says through] the voice of Isaiah: “Thus says the Lord to my anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, that nations should obey before him.” And again: “I will go before you and level mountains; I will break bronze doors and shatter iron bars; and I will give you dark treasures, hidden, unseen; I will open them to you.” For since the Babylonians used terrible and unmixed wrath against those of Israel and so offended God, they too were therefore given over to the Persians and Medes, who treated them with unbearable [harshness]. At any rate it was said to Babylon through one of the holy prophets: “As you have done, so it shall be done to you; your recompense will be returned on your head.” “For your sake, then,” he says, “O Israel, I will send to Babylon.” And send whom? Surely the celebrated Cyrus and the army under him. “I will send” means “I will dispatch against them.” “And I will rouse up against them all those who of old fled” and gave way to them; “and the Chaldeans will be bound in ships.” For, as I said before, … lands, the so-called Caspian Sea. It should be known that another reading too is found: for the Chaldeans, it says, will be bound not in ships but rather in collars. The Saviour and Lord of all has also saved all those on earth spiritually …, having abolished the bands of the demons and roused against them his own invincible and supernatural power, that is, Christ. For thus he redeemed us who were captives, showed us to be free who were as it were slaves to that one's will, and, removing us as from a barbarian land, led us back up to the spiritual Judea, which is the church that he acquired for himself, freeing it from every stain and defilement and showing it holy and blameless.

“I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One, who showed forth [Israel as your king].”

Great and extraordinary things are often disbelieved when they are announced as about to happen. Therefore, very fittingly, the God of all, when he promises something of the kind, makes his own glory evident for the hearer's belief, and names himself Lord of all and God. What could resist one of such a nature and glory? “When, then, I foretell to you,” he says, “I am not one of the falsely named gods, who, being nothing at all, could not do anything small or great; but I am rather the Lord God, the Holy One among you, that is, venerable and set apart from all others, and accomplishing what I will by irresistible nods. And I am the one who showed forth Israel as your king.” This must be understood in two ways. Either he says this: “As I am the one who showed myself to be your king through many signs, and through strength and authority beyond reason”; or one must suppose that he indicates something else by this. Our Lord Jesus Christ has been named Israel and also Jacob in the divine Scriptures, just as he has also been named David, because according to the flesh he is from the seed of those so named.

“I, then,” he says, “am the one who showed forth as your king the one of the blood of Jacob and Israel.” The passage has a very great arrangement. For since he had made mention of a partial redemption, for Israel was brought back, as I said, from Babylon to Judea, he necessarily raises the promise to what is incomparably greater, and recalls the redemption that will come through Christ: no longer partial, and as for one nation, as of old, but more general, extending over all the earth under heaven. That the mystery of Christ is not unworthy of wonder, because of the surpassing greatness of the dispensation and the magnitude of his gentleness toward us, no one who has once known it would doubt. For being God by nature, and having shone forth from God the Father, the Only-begotten came down to self-emptying and took the form of a servant, so that, freeing those under the devil's tyranny … The passage here, then, [speaks] of a redemption to come in due time: a partial one, given only to those of Israel's blood, and a universal and most general one, through Christ, clearly, through which the God and Father saved those throughout the whole world.

“Thus says the Lord, who gives a way in the sea, and a path in mighty water, who brought out chariots and horse and a mighty throng; but they lay down and will not rise; they were quenched like [quenched flax].”

Good and profitable things, even if they are said very often by God and by men, would in no way be tiresome to those of sound mind, but rather necessary for salvation. Therefore the all-wise Paul too writes to some: “To say the same things to you is not irksome to me, and for you it is safe.” For since the human mind, from very great negligence, is sometimes corrupted to forgetfulness of what has been given to each by God, the divine word very often brings us up to remembrance of them, not allowing us to [sink] entirely into negligence, but rather rekindling us to love of God and to the desire for every good. Since, then, Israel was redeemed, very many things being accomplished wondrously for him, and then, forgetting these, they turned to apostasy and inclined to the gods that are not, God necessarily brings them back to remember his power, saying that he gave a way in the sea and a path in mighty water. For they were led through the middle of the sea when departing from the land of the Egyptians, and they crossed the Jordan on foot. And this we say is the path in mighty water. At which the divine David marvelled and sings: “What ails you, O sea, that you fled? And you, Jordan, that you turned back?” And again, speaking of God: “Who turns the sea into dry land; they will pass through the river on foot.” He gave, then, a way in the sea and a path in mighty water. “And he brought out chariots and horse and a mighty throng.” For Pharaoh pursued those of Israel's blood with chariots and horses, using the formidable hand of his fellow fighters, yet in no way did he conquer or harm the redeemed. “For they lay down and will not rise,” he says, “but were quenched like quenched flax.” For they were drowned in the waters together with their horses and perished, and were consumed by the divine wrath like easily kindled flax, and were quenched without toil, that is, they went into nothing and were as it were reduced to ashes. For flax is ready to be destroyed by fire, and is quenched even by the touch of a hand, and gives birth only to a very feeble flame. But if anyone should say, “Since the ruler of the land of the Egyptians ran against Israel by his own will, how is the God of all himself said to have brought out the horses and chariots and the army under them?” we say that it was said to Pharaoh by God who rules all: “For this very purpose I raised you up, that I may show my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” Let this, again, be said historically. But we say that those who have chosen to live well and refuse slavery under the devil, departing from earthly pursuits and as it were

wishing to depart from all uncleanness, the wicked one pursues, but God saves them beyond expectation, making the surge of the present life walkable for them, leading them through it by unspeakable power, and … them, but preparing them to come to be beyond the waves of the flesh, and calming for them, as if it were a sea, the temptations that befall them in many ways; so that, having come into a desert land, that is, into a pure and quiet state of mind, they may be able to eat the bread from heaven and drink water from the rock, that is, come to share in Christ, and to cross the Jordan, and so to enter the land of [promise], I say.

“Do not remember the first things, and do not consider the ancient things. Behold, I do new things, which will now spring up, and you will know them. And I will make a way in the desert, and rivers in the waterless land. The beasts of the field will bless me, sirens and daughters of ostriches, because I have given water in the desert and rivers in the waterless land, to give drink to my chosen race, my [people] whom I acquired to recount my virtues.”

Just as a little above, having set before them for their knowledge the redemption that was to come to those of Israel, which was partial, and then raising the account of events to what is better, he made mention of the incomparably [greater] salvation through Christ, saying that he showed forth Israel as our king; so here too, having usefully recalled the Red Sea, the streams of the Jordan, and the crossing of those of Israel, he goes back again to the mystery of Christ. Therefore he says: “Do not remember the first things, and do not consider the ancient things.” For the bringing in of incomparably superior things sometimes consigns the lesser to forgetfulness, and the splendid among things somehow dim those that are not so by nature, even if these come first in time. Something of this kind the all-wise Paul too [says]: “Now we know in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.” For great and beyond all speech were the things accomplished by God through the all-wise Moses, but surpassing and lofty are those done through our Saviour's strength and supremacy. For through him and by him the multitude of the nations throughout the world has been saved. Therefore he all but commands them even to forget the first things. … rather to fix the mind on the things that are incomparably superior and have a splendid glory.

“I will make, then,” he says, “a way in the desert.” Here the desert is understood as the multitude of the nations, of old dry and fruitless and as it were bearing thorns, because there was no one at all in it who was godly and approved and wise in knowing how to do good. For as the Psalmist says: “All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is no one who does kindness, not even one.” In this desert, then, a way appeared that carries those who go by it to the true knowledge of God, to a holy and unprofaned life, and to all knowledge of every good thing. We say that this way is either the divine, gospel, saving proclamation, or perhaps Christ himself. For we have heard him say plainly: “I am the way.” But not only a way came to be in the desert; rivers too were shown in it, spiritual ones. We say that these are [the holy] evangelists …: “The rivers lifted up their voices.” For as he himself says again somewhere: “Their sound went out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” Besides the rivers named, those too might be understood who lead peoples and know how to initiate them rightly and blamelessly into the mysteries, and are able to water with words of godliness those who come to Christ through faith. He calls the multitude of the nations waterless. For there was among them no teacher of truth possessing a saving stream. “For claiming to be wise they became fools,” as the blessed and divine Paul says, “and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things.” “When a way has been shown in the desert,” he says, “and the waterless land has received rivers, the beasts of the field will bless me, sirens and daughters of ostriches, because I have given water in the desert and rivers in a waterless land, to give drink to my chosen race, a people whom I have acquired to recount my virtues.” By “beasts of the field” he seems to signify those who from very great ignorance had in a way become savage and lived wildly. The nations lived so. By “sirens and daughters of ostriches” he means those among them who knew how to speak well and were trained in fine style. It is the custom of the inspired Scripture to call “sirens” the most talkative of birds, those accustomed to sing something melodious and rhythmic. Such in a way were the teachers of the Greeks' superstition, poets and prose writers. For they have sweetness and grandiloquence, as far as words go; yet they teach nothing necessary. “But all these will glorify me,” he says, “as the one who gave spiritual water and showed rivers in the waterless land, so that they may give drink to my chosen race.” And what is this, if not surely those to whom it is said: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the virtues of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; who once were not a people, but now are a people in the Lord”?

“Not now have I called you, Jacob, nor have I made you weary, Israel. You have not brought me the sheep of your whole burnt offering, nor have you glorified me with your sacrifices, nor have you served in your sacrifices; nor have I made you weary with frankincense, nor have you bought me incense with silver, nor have I desired the fat of your sacrifices. But in your sins, and in your offences and iniquities …”

Through what has already been examined, or rather read, he gave a prediction of the covenant in Christ and of the gifts that come from him. For he said he would make a way in the desert and rivers in the waterless land, and for this reason would be blessed by all the beasts of the field; and glorification might be understood as a kind of spiritual sacrifice, and the fruit of the new covenant in Christ. In the words before us he tries to assure Israel that he was redeemed from … and freed from such grievous toils, not so that he might bring him calves and make his approach through blood and smoke. For such things are rejected by God, and are a shadow rather than the truth.