Commentary on Isaiah 4.5.15–4.5.21

… the nature, that is, the first man, before being caught in the nooses of the devil’s malice and making nothing of the commandment given. For Christ refashions us to that, and repaints in us the ancient beauty of our nature, putting in his own features; for we came to be in his image and likeness. At any rate the most excellent Paul writes to those who had been carried away … [from] the faith to the shadow of the law out of ignorance: “My little children, for whom I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you.”

“Are you not she who made the sea desolate, the water of the abyss, its multitude? who made the depths of the sea a way …”

He brings Israel back to the remembrance of what happened in Egypt … the middle of the sea. For the waters were fixed like a wall, and the surge became passable for the redeemed; they ran as on dry land. And these were not their works, but rather a display of wonder-working by the all-powerful right hand; for it was God, as I said, who made the water passable for them. But he speaks of what was done for her sake as Jerusalem’s own works, at the same time persuading her to take courage, because those who have believed in Christ will get the better of every temptation and prevail over all the strength of the enemy. For he who of old led them through the midst of the sea, and [made] a way of crossing … it, will again drive away with all his power the things that will at times come upon them from some who will persecute them. For it is written: “All who wish to live godly in Christ will be persecuted.” So it is God who says to Jerusalem: “Are you not she who made the sea desolate?” and the rest. Or you will understand the force of the words in another way too. Since she has been called to the knowledge of Christ, God the Father saying, “Awake, Jerusalem, and put on the strength of your arm,” and she has in a manner become watchful and been brought back to remembrance of her strength, he speaks to her and says: “Are you not she who made the sea desolate, and the multitude of the abyss? who made the depths of the sea a way of crossing for those [passing] through the waves?” And it is surely fitting that they should take the experience of what has already happened as unshaken faith in what will come after. For he who led them through the midst of the sea will certainly also abolish the surge of the present life, and will show the aimless and confused turmoil of the affairs of the world to be stale, so that the souls of those called are in no way drowned in worldly cares; rather he will drive them beyond every temptation, and, saved and redeemed, they will glorify him, saying: “Sing to the Lord a new song, for the Lord has done marvellous things; his right hand and his holy arm have saved him.” And the right hand and arm of God the Father would be none other than our Lord Jesus [Christ].

“For by the Lord they will be turned back, and they will come to Zion with gladness and … everlasting. For on their head will be rejoicing and praise, and gladness will overtake them; pain, grief, and groaning have fled away.”

He again shapes the form of the passage according to the sense of what had already happened to them. For, striking against God in many ways, they were defiled beyond measure by the [abominations] of idols; and, thrusting aside the commandment of the all-wise Moses, they turned to the teaching and commandments of men. For all these things they were handed over in time to the Babylonians, and were captives, living in the country of the Persians and Medes. But they received mercy again. For when Cyrus, by the will of God, released them and [allowed] them to run back, [they returned] shouting aloud, and having their hymns to God like a crown on their head. So, as from what happened historically, [he foretells] also the … “For they will be turned back by the Lord,” he says, “and will come to Zion,” plainly the spiritual one, that is, the church, rejoicing and glad. “For on their head will be praise and gladness, and rejoicing will overtake them.” For the Saviour of all crowns, as it were, the souls of believers and fills them with all joy, rejoicing, and gladness, being glorified by them and becoming to them a harp-string and lyre. Where there is a call at all, calling to repentance and conversion and to the washing away of sin, plainly through faith in Christ, where there is the supply and grace of the Holy Spirit, the honour of adoption, the enjoyment of unending good things, and the hope of the kingdom of heaven, there surely must be gladness; and pain, grief, and groaning have fled away. For what place will pain have, and over what would groaning arise, where there is no occasion at all to groan and be pained, but rather hope prevails, and rejoicing and gladness, delight that cannot be cast off, and joy?

“I am, I am he who comforts you. Know who you are, that you were afraid of a mortal man and of a son of man, who withered like grass; and you forgot God who made you, who made the heaven and founded the earth; and you were always afraid, all the days, of the face of him who afflicts you. For as he planned to take you away — and now where is the fury of him who afflicts you? For in your being saved he will not stand, nor delay.”

“I am” he says here instead of “I live and exist”; for he is He Who Is. It is a dignity beyond all others for a nature to be and to live, not having obtained these by participation from another, nor having the thing as a gift, but being itself life. “So I am,” he says, “he who comforts you,” that is, he who gives every spiritual comfort and upholds by his help so that one is well established for going with good courage straight toward every virtue. Or perhaps you will understand comfort here in another way too. For through the gospel preaching the Saviour called to the washing away of sin, that is, through faith in him, to participation in the Holy Spirit, and to the boast and glory of adoption. “But you, O Israel,” he says, “did not fear me who am, despising and looking down on him who calls you to life, but you were afraid of a corruptible man and of a son of man, who withered like grass. Then you forgot God who made you, who fashioned the heaven and established the earth, and you were afraid of the face of him who afflicts you.” Here God blames the leaders of the Jews, who to the end persisted in setting themselves against the Saviour’s glory and, as far as lay in them, showed it to be nothing at all. He worked wonders in many ways; but they poured bitter words of blasphemy on the miracles beyond wonder, for they said that he cast out the demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons. He often charmed his hearers by teachings beyond the law; but they slid into such impiety that they rebuked those who praised him and said: “He has a demon and is mad; why do you listen to him?” So [the people] feared the plots of the Pharisees; and the blessed evangelist will bear witness, saying: “The rulers knew, then, that he is the Christ, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess it.” For the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed him to be the Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. And the Saviour himself rebukes the teachers of the law,

saying: “Woe to you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” He blames, then, the Jewish people for despising, out of very great lack of understanding, the God who is and lives, who set up the heaven by a word, … and for receiving reverence toward men and the voice of corruptible men, who wither like grass. That those who imposed on them the outlandish doctrine [that they must not] honour him who calls them to salvation would undergo the worst punishment of all, he has assured by adding: “For as he planned to take you away — and now where is the fury of him who afflicts you? For in your being saved he will not stand, nor delay.” For the fury of the scribes and Pharisees against the peoples under their hand was for a season; but they went off to destruction and were given over to … land. And those who believed in Christ rejoiced, saved and placed outside the divine wrath; but the others did not delay, that is, not long after [they perished, when the temple had been burned and] Jerusalem destroyed together with those who lived in it.

“For I am your God, who troubles the sea and makes its waves roar; Lord Sabaoth is my name. I will put my words into your mouth, and under the shadow of my hand I will shelter you, by which I set up the heaven and founded the earth; and Zion will say: You are my God.”

Having blamed those of Israel for fearing men, that is, those who had obtained the leadership of the synagogue, and [being drawn] by reverence for them into … of disobedience, [and falling away] wholly from love for him, he shows here that he [quells] afflictions and persecutions without effort, and makes the perversities of those who abuse them ineffectual and powerless, changing distress into ease and turning the onset of troubles into good cheer. He takes as an example this broad sea that we see. “For I am,” he says, “he who troubles the sea and makes its waves roar; Lord Sabaoth is my name.” Just as the wave is sometimes arched and dashes violently on the land by the [blasts] of the winds, [but is changed at once into] calm and stillness when God wills, “so in the same way,” he says, “I change terrible things, hard to bear and carrying one off to the utmost of every evil, as if into fair weather, by a mere nod; for, lulling every tumult, I release into the breadth of good cheer those who choose to contend to the end for godliness.” And this, I think, is what is sung in a riddle through the psalmist’s lyre: “He commanded the storm, and it stood still into a breeze, and its waves were stilled.” And so that they may receive courage without any doubt, that what has been promised will certainly in every way run to fulfilment, and the promise of the help given by him could never prove false, he necessarily says: “Lord Sabaoth is my name.” For if he is the Lord of hosts, how will he lack strength to save anyone? Or what is so difficult or steep among things, or impossible, for the all-powerful right hand? And he adds something else sufficient for help, which at the same time shows that the wrath against them has been dissolved, that the harm of his turning away has ceased, and that from now on they are of account with him and have been granted care and love, as would befit those who have recognized his appearing. “For I will put my words into your mouth,” he says. And what is this? The divine David, singing somewhere, said: “But to the sinner God said: Why do you recount my ordinances and take up my covenant through your mouth?”

… as it is written. The [law] of God, then, drives the profane and wicked away from so much as mentioning his words at all. For it is said: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” How is it not plain to all that those who have an evil heart would not belch forth good words? It is most fitting for saints, then, to have the law of God in their mind and to take hold of it, as it were, through tongue and word. So the God of all promises them, as those already righteous, sanctified in faith, and having received the boast of being genuine, to put his own words into their mouths, so that, recalling the divine law often, they may know the path of what is useful for their salvation. For it is written of every righteous man: “The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps will not be tripped up.” And again: “In my heart I have hidden your sayings, so that I might not sin against you.” For the law of God upholds us so that we are well established and have a mind firmly set toward every kind of the best pursuits; it does not let us fall into worse things, and vigorously carries us away from what is inclined to do wrong. And since, as I said, he speaks to them as already genuine, he promises something else too: “I will shelter you,” he says, “under the shelter of my hand.” This too is a good worth gaining and exceptional, and sufficient for salvation to those who have once been found worthy to obtain it. For we understand the hand of God the Father to be none other than the [Son who is] from him, Christ. And nothing of all that is inclined to do harm could harm those who have come under him. For they will be superior to temptations, not to be caught by Satan, beyond all fleshly loathsomeness, and above passions both of soul and of body. That the right hand of the Father is all-powerful he brings us to be persuaded by adding: “by which I set up the heaven and founded the earth.” For if by the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, as it is written, and the earth too has been established so as to be unshaken, how would it not suffice to save those who choose to set great store by his shelter? “Then, then,” he says, “Zion will say: You are my God.” Here, please, see the confession of faith in Christ clearly and plainly brought in. For of old, though Christ worked wonders in many ways and had a glory beyond reason and wonder in the splendour of his divine signs, they said out of very great unholiness that they did not know him, not truly ignorant of him, but insulting him. For out of very great folly, or madness, and a mind without love for God, they dared to say: “We know that God has spoken to Moses; but as for this man, we do not know where he is from.” “But those who of old denied,” he says, “and slid into impiety to this degree, having received my words on their tongue and come under the shelter of my hand or right hand, will recognize the Redeemer and will confess, saying to him: You are my God.” A saving thing, then, is faith, and a way that leads to endless life, … of faith in … power.

“Awake, awake, arise, Jerusalem, you who drank the cup of wrath from the hand of the Lord; for the cup of falling, the bowl of wrath, you drank out and emptied; and there was none to comfort you of all your children whom you bore, and none to take your hand, not even of all your sons whom you raised up.”

He speaks to the synagogue of the Jews as to one fallen and still lying down, and bids it rise … [the] confession [of] Christ. We do not, of course, say that the rising is bodily, since the fall too should not be understood as such, but rather as spiritual, as having come about in unbelief. So the good of rising here lies in faith. For admittedly they fell into ruin, not accepting the saving preaching of the gospel, [but following the teachings and command]ments of men, although God said plainly through the voice of Isaiah: “My people, those who call you blessed lead you astray and confuse the path of your feet.” For those who had obtained the leadership, always talking among them about the law given through Moses and often crying out, “We are blessed, Israel, for what is pleasing to the Lord is known to us,” carried the minds of those under their hand away from love for Christ, and persuading them to make no account of his grace, they led them astray and confused the path of their feet, not letting them walk straight, or come by a straight path to justification in faith, though the law perfected nothing. So he says: “Awake.” This is clearly what was said through the voice of Paul: “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” And besides this, that other saying: “Therefore lift up the drooping hands and the paralysed knees, and make straight paths for your feet.” That they paid a penalty fitting and equal to their impieties for their outrages against Christ, having [delivered] the author of life, as far as lay in them, to death, [he shows by saying: “you who] drank the cup of wrath from the hand of the Lord; for the cup of falling, the bowl of wrath, you poured out and emptied.” By “bowl” he means the judgment; and “you emptied” here would signify not “you poured out” but rather “you have drunk it all,” that is, you received the full wrath from the Lord and have undergone anger equal in weight to your transgressions. For the wicked wretches perished wretchedly: their whole country was laid waste, the famous temple itself was burned together with Jerusalem, and besides they slipped away from hope in God and were thrust out of the flock of the saints. When all these things had befallen you, he says, and you were as it were drunk with the [utmost] wrath, none of your children stood by you; there was none to take your hand, none to comfort you. For there were very many among them, Levites and priests, scribes and Pharisees, revelling in the honours paid by all and raised on high because they were pre-eminent and stood over the others; but none of them all drove off from Judaea the calamity brought on it by the divine wrath. There was no one able to bring even moderate comfort.

So they did wrong in leading them away from love for God and persuading them to treat faith in him as unacceptable; but they profited nothing at all, [falling into] the pits of destruction …

“These two things are set against you — and who will [grieve with] you? — … famine and sword; who will comfort you? Your sons, the perplexed, who sleep at the head of every way out like a half-boiled beet, who are full of the wrath of the Lord, weakened by the Lord God.”

One could count up very many evils that befell the Jews at the time of the capture, I mean that under Vespasian and Titus, when the whole country of the Jews was set on fire and no kind of calamity was lacking to them, but they went to the extreme of every evil; and Christ, the Saviour of all, had foretold this too to them. For he was being led away by Pilate’s soldiers to the place of the cross; and since women followed him weeping, he turned to them and said: “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.” And again: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will say to the mountains, Cover us, and to the hills, Fall on us.” And through very many sayings the weight of the incurable calamity was foretold through holy prophets. This is what the force of the lines before us is now in labour with. “O wretched Jerusalem,” he says, “these two things are set against you,” instead of “fight and make war against you.” And what are these? Fall and ruin, famine and sword. In these words, briefly and concisely, the calamity of war is signified. But this must be observed attentively: having counted four, he calls them two. For he said fall and ruin, famine and sword. What, then, do we say? Or how would the things named be two? Even if they seem more, the prophetic word here joins what follows to what comes first. For example: ruin certainly follows falling, and the sword, that is, death, follows famine. So the first two are fall and famine; and following on them, ruin and sword. “When these things have happened, then,” he says, “who is able to defend you and drive off the onset of the calamity?” For this is what “comfort” means here. “Will your sons,” he says, “suffice for this? Yet one can see them too at a loss,” that is, having nothing they can plan and do for their own consolation, for the benefit of their own souls. “For they sleep at the head of every way out.” For when the war broke out, the powerful ran out of the country of the Jews and occupied the outer edges of the land, so as to be ready for flight: some toward the Egyptians, as neighbours, others toward the Moabites as near by, or other countries. And they were “at the head of every way out,” that is, at the outer edges of the land, not awake, as I said, or able to do anything of what might be of some benefit to those who suffered, but as it were drunk

… and heavy-headed and lying down, so slack in their wits and loosened in mind as … a half-boiled beet. And what was the cause of this? “They are full of the wrath of the Lord,” and this became the cause of their weakness. For somehow we always, when [we fall into] extreme and comfortless calamities, all but have our mind beside itself and find no way that could save us, especially when the evil against us is sent by God.

“… not from wine. Thus says the Lord God who judges his people: Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of falling, the bowl of wrath, and you shall no longer drink it again; and I will give it into the hands of those who wronged you and humbled you, who said to your soul: Bow down, that we may pass over; and you made your middle equal to the ground, outside for those …”

The words are those of one who pities, who reins in his wrath and rather releases them into good cheer. For he calls her humbled and drunk. For, as I said, calamities beyond measure are enough to bring those who are caught to the extreme of evil and to make the sufferers drunk, yet “not from wine,” as he says. For the cup of the Lord is not understood as a perceptible one, nor is the mixture in it such as to be understood as common. Rather it is the custom of the divinely inspired Scripture to call “cup” the portion allotted to each, whether perhaps to the unjust or to the good. For example, the divine David sings and says about the wicked: “Fire and brimstone and a stormy wind are the portion of their cup.” This lot is prepared by God for those who do not know him, and the most grievous verdict will overtake them. For drinking, as it were, fire and brimstone, they endure a punishment that is unceasing and cannot be overcome. But it would befit every righteous man to say: “I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.” For to know at all and to call upon the Lord of all would be a saving mixture for those accustomed to do this. So God, who judges justly, says that Jerusalem is drunk not from wine but from incurable calamity and unbearable misfortune. … [he judges] justly, rebuking those who are not such, so that they may depart from … ways, and change their mind to wish to think and do what seems good to his divine laws. “But behold,” he says, “I have taken the cup of falling as from your hand, and you shall no longer drink it again.” For she will be called, as I said, to the knowledge of Christ, and will delight with us in the good things from above. She too will share in sacred gifts and will have spiritual wealth. And the prophet is witness of this, saying: “For the sons of Israel shall sit many days without king, without ruler, without sacrifice, without altar, without priesthood, without manifestations; and after this the sons of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king, and they shall be amazed at the Lord and at his good things in the last of the days.” For here the prophetic word names as David the Christ who is of the seed of David according to the flesh. And a clear proof of this is that the prophecy came very many generations after the divine David was already dead. So while she has not yet been called to the grace that comes through faith, she has not yet put down the cup of wrath. But when she honours Christ by faith, then the cup will certainly be taken from her, and she too will delight together with the others in the good things of which it is written: “They will forget their former affliction, and it will not come up into their heart”; but rather there will be rejoicing and everlasting gladness over their head; for pain, grief, and groaning have fled away.