Commentary on Isaiah 4.4.17–4.4.23

For they were scattered, since a shepherd no longer stood over them. For it was said somewhere through one of the holy prophets, as from the person of Christ: “And I said, I will not shepherd you; what is dying, let it die, and what is failing, let it fail, and let the rest eat each the flesh of his neighbour.” For what harm would that not suffer which has fallen altogether from God’s care and love? For they will be exposed to those who wish to tear them apart and carry them off wherever each of the wrongdoers sees fit. And it is the wicked and roaming demons that carry them away from God; for it is written: “They shall be portions for foxes.” And the manifold passions within us also do this; for the all-wise Paul says that some were given up to dishonourable passions and to a base mind. What then … the gathering in of the scattered, the spiritual return of those who had perished, the coming back of the runaways, their conversion and watchfulness, and the rewards of love for Christ. “Look around,” he says, “and see them all. Behold, they have gathered to you.” And to make the promise trustworthy, he confirms what was said with an oath, and says: “As I live, says the Lord, I will clothe them all as a bride’s ornament.” For the gathering of the churches is an ornament. For this reason [the psalm shows] the church in a robe of gold and [many colours] … For just as the many-hued and most costly stones, I mean the Indian ones, set in gold bands, make a wonderful ornament worth seeing, so too the souls of the saints, with the … beauty to the eyes of the Godhead, so that each, giving thanks to Christ, says: “Let my soul rejoice in the Lord; for he has clothed me with a garment of salvation and a tunic of gladness; as on a bridegroom he has put an ornament on me, and as a bride he has adorned me …”

“For your desert places, and those that were ruined and fallen, will now be too narrow because of the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far from you. For your sons, whom you lost, will say in your ears: The place is too narrow for me; make room for me, so that I may dwell. And you will say in your heart: Who has begotten these for me? I was childless and a widow. And who has brought these up for me? I was left alone. And where were these for me?”

Here too he weaves the form of the passage from things in view and more evident. When Israel disbelieved and laid hands on Christ himself, the whole country of the Jews was laid waste, and the temple itself was burned together with Jerusalem; and such a dearth of men took hold of Judaea that the blessed prophet Isaiah … For he said: “And seven women shall take hold of one man, saying: We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes; only let your name be called upon us; take away our reproach.” For it was said through the law: “There shall be no one barren or sterile among the sons of Israel”; and they counted the reproach of childlessness unbearable.

So, as if the war had consumed every male, he said that seven women would be received by one man so that he might take away their reproach, that is, their childlessness. But since it was burdensome for one man to please seven women, … [they promise] to eat their own bread and wear their own clothes, as needing nothing at all from him; for they declared that they feared only the reproach of childlessness, as I said. As though their country, then, had been brought into total desolation, he promises release from what had happened, and says that the desert and fallen places will be too narrow because of the inhabitants, those who swallowed her up having plainly been removed far off, that is, those who had obtained the leadership, who like wild beasts destroyed and swallowed her up. And he shows the multitude of those who will be called to be great and countless. “For your sons,” he says, “whom you lost, will say in your ears: Make room for me.” And it was said somewhere to the spiritual Zion too: “Enlarge the place of your tent, and fix the curtains of your courts; do not spare; spread out still further to the right and to the left.” And we have read in the books of Moses that around the tent in the desert, I mean through the … courts were … looking partly toward the dawn and the sunrise, partly toward the west behind the tent, and indeed toward the north and the south, the type suggesting the breadth and length that the sacred courts, that is, the churches, would have in their time. But since the grace that comes from Christ always abounds in this way, places everywhere are narrow for the believers, so that the church, which is the spiritual Zion, rejoicing, reckons it up and cries out to herself: “Who has begotten these for me?” And I would say: faith in Christ. For through it, though childless and a widow, you have become rich in children; it has brought up your peoples for you; and you who were formerly left alone have been enriched …, and have been seen to have many children, you who were formerly bare and alone.

“Thus says the Lord: Behold, I lift up my hand to the nations, and to the islands I will lift up my signal; and they will bring your sons in their bosom, and carry your daughters on their shoulders. And kings will be your foster fathers, and their princesses your nurses, on the face of the earth. And they will bow down to you and lick the dust of your feet. And you will know that I am the Lord, and you will not be put to shame.”

Having promised Zion that she will have many children and fine ones, and that her children will reach such a multitude that she will need wider places than before and be urged to enlarge her tent, he shows at once that the multitude of the children promised to her appears not so much from Israel as from the flock of the nations. The thing is true, and one can see it from the events themselves. For the remnant of those of Israel has been saved, but it is small and easily counted; whereas the whole earth under heaven has been caught in the net through faith in Christ, and the power of the apostolic and gospel preaching has brought to him those throughout the whole earth. That this will come about he shows by saying: “Behold, I lift up to … and I raise.” The hand would suggest strength or power. For when Christ was made known to the nations through the gospel preaching, he became exalted and renowned through the miracles he worked and through the resurrection from the dead; when the signal of the precious cross was displayed even among those who once did not know him who is God by nature and in truth, then Zion was enriched with many children, then … calling to one another and saying: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and they will declare to us his way, and we will walk in it.” And that for those going to the divine house nothing at all will be steep or rough, or a hindrance, he shows by saying: “They will bring your sons in their bosom, and carry your daughters on their shoulders.” For the blessed disciples have become like child-bearers for those from the nations, and those who after them still put forward the word of sacred initiation,

… and the leaders of churches. For they all but take those who come to the faith into their bosom and carry them lifted on their shoulders, laying no hardship on them, but nourishing them as with milk, as befits infants, and setting before them the simple and very easily grasped word of catechesis. This again the prophet Isaiah himself taught us when he said elsewhere: “The way of the godly has become straight, and the way of the godly is prepared; for the way of the Lord is judgment.” And he has brought in the divine Baptist too, crying out and saying: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God. Every ravine shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked things shall become straight, and the rough into smooth ways.” So the taking into the bosom and the lifting on the shoulders of her sons and daughters would suggest that, for those eager to go to Zion as to a mother, the arrival through faith will be without any sweat. And that they will be full of the highest honour, glory, and comfort he further shows by saying that “kings will be your foster fathers, and their princesses your nurses.” For one can, one can see those who have believed in Christ cared for with honour through the piety of the rulers and granted every consideration, so that the rulers seem to be their foster parents rather than anything else. And if they fall on their faces and bow down to Zion, that is, the church, and, flung to the ground as it were with hands outstretched, all but lick the dust of her feet, how could it be doubtful that they have made up their minds to this, and count it among their own duties to honour the elect, and will reckon in the rank of their children whoever believe in Christ? When this has come about, Zion, made childless as far as the Jews are concerned, will no longer be put to shame as childless and a widow, but will be crowned with glory.

“Will anyone take spoils from a giant? And if one takes captive unjustly, will he be saved?”

The form of the words is framed as a question, but it calls for understanding. The sense of the passage is something like this. The whole earth under heaven had been seized by the devil and the herd of demons; there was no one on the earth who escaped the tyranny of their malice. For there was none who did good, not even one; the net of sin had been spread over all, and darkness and mist, falling upon the hearts of all, carried them away from knowing him who is by nature and truly God, and assigned them to those who had seized power. At any rate some worshipped the creation rather than the Creator, and the elements of the world, while others served those very beings who imposed their unbearable greed. So they became like spear-won captives under a harsh tyrant, and … But there was no one at all able to defend the wronged … that “I will seize the whole world with my hand like a nest, and like abandoned eggs I will take it up, and there is none who will escape me or speak against me.” Since the devil had such haughtiness toward those on the earth, the Saviour inquires and says: “Will anyone take spoils from a giant?” He says that it is difficult and hard to accomplish to defeat the strong one (for here he calls the strong one a giant) and to take spoils from him. Then how is this doubtful? For such beings are very hard to face and not easily overcome by those who would, but can be caught only by those able to raise against them a hand that is overwhelming and invincible. “But I,” he says, “will take, and I will set free those who have been wronged, and, breaking off the yoke of their slavery, I will make them splendid with the grace of freedom.” But that God’s just verdict will despoil Satan and exact from the wicked one the penalty for the wrongs done against us he will confirm by adding: “And if one takes captive unjustly, will he be saved?” We will take this line too as a question, with a pause.

For he who unjustly leaps upon those who have done him no wrong, then takes them captive and [afflicts them] with miseries, [will pay] rather the penalty for what he dared. So he will let go those who had become, in the rank of spoils, his spear-won prizes, and besides will owe an account for those who came under him unjustly. Something of this kind he says elsewhere too: “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 will not remain for ever.” One may also remind the readers of this work that the Saviour himself is found saying something like this in the gospel oracles: “Or how can anyone enter the house of the strong man and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his goods.” He called the region of the earth the house of the strong man, that is, of Satan; and … it had been seized by him. But when the Word entered it, made flesh, binding the strong man with inexpressible power, he transferred his goods to himself, that is, those who once thought as he did … For just as we say the saints are vessels of election, so we say that those who have come under the devil and chosen, or rather been compelled, to think as he does are the devil’s vessels.

“Thus says the Lord: If anyone takes a giant captive, he will take spoils; and taking from one who is strong, he will be saved.”

I said just now that our Lord Jesus Christ, using ineffable powers befitting God, entered the house of the strong man, that is, came into this world with the flesh; and the one who of old had been greedy and had done violence to those throughout the whole earth, holding them under [the bonds] of sin, he despoiled; and casting him, as it were, into unbreakable bonds and consigning him to Tartarus in chains of gloom, he handed him over to be kept for the judgment of the great day, to be punished. And after this he despoiled him, persuading those who had come under him to run back to the will to be subject to the true God, and to the things of his that lead them to the finding of salvation. And since Christ has prevailed, he has passed on victory to us too, yet not apart from himself; for he is the boast of the strength of the saints, as the psalmist’s words say. And indeed the all-wise Paul says: “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.” … to be able to despoil the strong one, that is, the giant, I mean Satan. “If anyone takes a giant captive,” he says, “he will take spoils.” For when we overcome the devil’s strength and escape the attacks of our enemies, having Christ himself as the weapon of good pleasure, then we despoil the evil one, carrying off the victorious verdict and shown to be superior to his malice and wickedness. But that the power to conquer would come to those who play the man from Christ, and that no one could otherwise attain to this glory, he shows very well by adding: “And taking from one who is strong, he will be saved.” For when he gives us the ability … and besides this he sends us on from victory into endless life, into glory, into boasting, and into the kingdom of heaven. And Christ himself, having despoiled Satan and shown the way to be easy and smooth for those who believe in him to prevail, said somewhere: “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you.” It is true, then, that taking from one who is strong, that is, from him, for he himself is the Lord of hosts, … One might despoil Satan in another way too, those …

… who had come under him and gone astray, skilfully carrying them over to the light of the true knowledge of God and transferring them from wickedness to a good life befitting saints.

“But I will judge your cause, and I will rescue your sons; and those who afflicted you will eat their own flesh, and drink their own blood like new wine, and be drunk; and all flesh will perceive that I am the Lord who rescued you and …”

He speaks these words as to Zion, I mean; and here he seems to name as her sons the holy apostles and evangelists, and those still called after them to the sacred ministry, who have become lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, proclaiming everywhere the glory of Christ and making the power of the salvation that comes from him evident to those throughout the whole earth. Against them the dragon, the author of evil, like some cruel and savage beast, was at work, heaping afflictions and persecutions on them and goading on unbearably the shield-bearers of his own wickedness. At any rate persecutions were very often set on foot against the holy churches, and … many into the contests of martyrdom. “But I,” he says, “O Zion” (and we say this is the church, which he also calls Zion), “will judge your cause, and I will rescue your sons.” For those devoted to God, having [done] nothing [wrong] and condemned for nothing at all out of place, then, having carried through the contests even to life and blood with splendid deeds of valour, run to the mansions above; yet as far as the aim of those who plotted against them was concerned, they died and perished. So the judgment on these matters, or rather the just judgment, will certainly come from God in every way. Those who for godliness swam through the most glorious contests and reached the prize of the upward call will wreathe themselves with the crown of incorruption. But those who brought persecution on them and unjustly killed those whom they would better have hastened to emulate will eat their own flesh, and will gulp down, as it were, not so much the blood of those who suffered as their own. For what they brought on others they will suffer, not unjustly, by the just verdict of God, who crowns those who suffered and subjects the wrongdoers to long and unending punishment. And such just judgment will be most clearly known to all flesh, that is, to man … that the help that comes from me will certainly in every way take hold, the help of him who also strengthens you, Jacob, that is, the one of the seed of Jacob. I said that the prophetic word here is written as it were to the person of the holy apostles and evangelists, who were of Jacob, I mean, according to the flesh. But it is not unlikely that everyone is called Jacob, that is, a supplanter, who trips up Satan by the heel and drives back the … of sin skilfully and vigorously at once. For Jacob is interpreted “supplanter.”

“Thus says the Lord: What is the certificate of divorce of your mother, by which … for your sins I sent away your mother.”

The Divine is incorporeal, immaterial, invisible, and simple; and no one acting fittingly would form any bodily image of it. But the sacred writing speaks to us about him in a human way. For those who are in simple and gross bodies could not understand otherwise, unless our own circumstances were brought forward as examples, so that from things perceptible and visible we might be able to understand, at least in part, what concerns the divine and supreme essence, which is beyond every bodily image. See, then, how here the prophet’s words are framed in a manner suited to men. For like a man living with a wife and joined to her, he speaks to the Jewish people and says about their mother, I mean the earthly and perceptible Jerusalem, so that again through her, and as in the person of one woman, their whole community may be understood. For just as when we say “church” we are not accustomed to apply the force of the word to the circuit of the walls, but rather we signify those in it, so if someone says “the mother of the Jews,” he none the less signifies them. “So it is not I,” he says, “who have cast off your mother, though I became to her as it were in the rank of bridegroom and sowed the seeds of goodness through the law and the prophets; rather she herself went away, neglecting what was due to me and counting being with God of very little account. For what certificate of divorce has been given to her by me?” For God sends no one out of close relation to himself, nor does he shake off any of those accustomed to walk uprightly; but those who are genuine in faith and skilled in every good work he allows always to enjoy close relation to him in abundance. He goes outside such glory who has a mind out of tune and at odds with his divine oracles, and is a lover of pleasure rather than a lover of God. So, as in the rank of a husband who had lived with the mother of the Jews, he says: “What is the certificate of divorce of your mother, by which I sent her away?” … [she will not be able to show me as one who] drove her out and hated her, but will rather condemn herself as having chosen the separation of her own accord.

“Or to which debtor have I sold you?” Here the form of the speech is different: he speaks as a master to household slaves. “Did I,” he says, “like a man who has fallen into debt, sell to other masters those who were my household slaves?” Yet how is this not utterly foolish either to think or to say? For the Divine is beyond necessity, and nothing at all is beyond it. “So I have not sold you,” he says, “nor would I have handed over to other masters those who love me and are [mindful] of my oracles. How then did you come to bear the yoke of slavery to others? Sin became the occasion of the evil for you … the father of sin and inventor of all wickedness [acquired] you,” seizing for himself those who fall away from close relation to God and … them in the … of evils. For it will certainly follow for those who have slipped from close relation to God that they are caught in inescapable nooses. For Satan is terrible in greed, and those on the earth whom he sees choosing to neglect being with God he [subjects] to his own … sin; for on its account he acquired all …

… subjects to yokes, and brings down into the worst evils, making them slaves instead of free, and dishonoured instead of glorious. For such always [are the wages of his malice].

“Why did I come, and there was no man? I called, and there was none who obeyed? Is my hand not strong to rescue? Behold, by my rebuke I will make the sea desolate and make rivers deserts, and their fish will be dried up for lack of water and die of thirst. And I will clothe the heaven with darkness, and as sackcloth …”

Having stated very well that the children of Zion, that is, those of the blood of Israel, and Zion herself, plainly the earthly Jerusalem, had been sold by their own sins and cast out of close relation to him, he brings them under blame and indicts them for folly and ignorance carried to the limit. For when the Only-begotten shone with the flesh on those on the earth and appeared in a form like ours, they, impiously [forgetting] both the law and the prophets, … unbridled. For they would not know the Redeemer, the master of salvation, who justifies the ungodly and is able to free from every charge those held by human weaknesses. “I came,” then, he says, that is, “I became man and appeared to those of Israel, and there was no man among them,” plainly no man of sense, able to know the time of redemption. “I called, and there was none who obeyed.” For, as the prophet Isaiah himself again says somewhere from the person of Christ, the Saviour of us all: “I was found by those who sought me; I became manifest to those who did not ask for me. I said, Here I am, to a nation that did not know me. All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contradicting people.” And in the gospel writings we shall find the Lord very often calling his own, the Jews, to faith: “Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you.” And again at another time: “He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” And indeed, [showing] that believing would be fruitful and profitable for them, he says: “Truly I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.” One could heap up very many other sayings of equal force, if one chose to speak at length. “So I called,” he says, “and there was none who obeyed.” But perhaps those who … will say this, having a stubborn and unbroken mind, that my hand would not be strong enough to rescue the world under heaven. Yet in this too they thought nothing true. For [he appeared], as I said, in a form like ours, though the Word was God; and he became man, undergoing birth according to the flesh from a woman. But those who knew this and were not ignorant of the depth of his divine mysteries knew that he can do all things, being God by nature, and that he was sufficient for the redemption of the world under heaven. But the unbelieving and ignorant approached him as a common man, so that they even leapt upon him and said: “We are not stoning you for a good work, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” To such it would be fitting also to think and say that his hand could not defend those on the earth and rescue those held fast by the devil and by sin. “But when you reason in this way,” he says, “consider something better as well. For I am not simply a man like you, but rather God who has come to be in a form like yours in the way of the economy, so as to rescue you from both death and sin. For I who speak am present, the one who of old worked wonders through Moses and with inexpressible power divided the sea,” plainly the Red Sea. For the waters were fixed like a wall, and the redeemed went across and [escaped] the … in [Egypt]. “I will make the sea desolate,” he says here, instead of “I made it dry.” “And I will make rivers deserts.” Here again “I will make” is to be understood instead of “I have made.” He stopped it [the Jordan] when Joshua was taking Israel across and bringing them into the land of promise. And if he says that the fish in the waters will be dried up, understand