Commentary on Isaiah 5.1.1–5.1.8

Tome 1.

“Awake, awake, Zion; put on your strength, Zion, and put on your glory, Jerusalem, the holy city: no longer shall the uncircumcised and unclean pass through you again.”

When you hear Zion and Jerusalem in these words, do not suppose that it means simply the cities raised up out of stones. Rather, the word of the prophecy signifies the assembly of those called through faith, that is, the church, from the Jewish ranks and from the nations. As for his saying “Awake,” … For just as, according to the all-wise Paul, “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,” so, where the bitterness of the penalty is great, there the consolation is equal to the misfortunes, or rather far more abundant than the gloom. He has commanded her to [put on] her strength, and besides this her glory. Strength may reasonably be understood as the practical power that works in action, by which each one's soul sets out with youthful spirit toward whatever is to be done. And what else could glory be but the Lord of glory, who is Christ? To him the divine psalmist says at one time, “Awake, my glory,” and at another time, concerning everyone who believes in him, “You are the boast of their power.” And in what manner we shall put on both the glory and the strength itself, the all-wise Paul has made clear to us. For he said again: “Put on our Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its desires.” And in addition to this: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Indeed the prophet Isaiah too, as in the role of a woman adorned in many ways, … “… my … in the Lord. For he has clothed me with a garment of salvation and a tunic of gladness.” Christ, then, is a garment most fitting for every holy one, and a tunic of spiritual gladness, the provider to us of strength and glory.

He calls the church a holy city. For it was sanctified not through the worship according to the law (for the law perfected no one), but by being conformed to Christ and becoming a partaker of his divine nature, that is, by participation in the Holy Spirit, in whom we have also washed off … and been freed from every stain. For we have been justified through faith in him, and have been enriched with the security he gives against anything whatever, and are as it were walled about by his grace, since he drives off every diabolical attack and the savage uprisings of the opposing powers. And this he teaches, saying to Zion, that is, Jerusalem, which is the church of the living God: “No longer shall [the uncircumcised and unclean] pass through you again.” … you will understand what is said. The nations around Jerusalem might be understood as uncircumcised and unclean, since they neither knew the God who is God by nature and truly, nor had received the tutelage of the law. And they fought very often against those of Israel's blood, so that in most places they were seen to be stronger than the force that was in Israel; indeed they all but passed through it, as though they had it thrown under their feet. But from the things that happened historically, come, let us at times shape the spiritual. The troops of demons, that is, the world rulers of this darkness, and with them the profane Satan, hold under their feet the souls not yet brought under God, and as it were pass through them, with no one hindering, that is, no one coming to their aid; but when, made God's own, they have him as their glory and strength, then indeed, then the greed of those powers will cease. For it is written: “The angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear him, and will deliver them.” The uncircumcised and unclean, then, may be understood as the abominable and profane powers, productive of every filth, wicked and hostile.

“Shake off the dust, and arise, and sit, Jerusalem; put off the bond of your neck, captive daughter Zion.”

… and in what manner she will put on the strength of her arm, and besides this the glory, he teaches clearly. First he commands her to shake off the dust, and so to arise and sit, and to put off the bond of the neck. By dust here, I think, we should understand the earthy mind and the uncleanness of fleshly desires. For just as those who lie on the ground must by all necessity be filled with dust and dirt, in the same way, I think, in those who have a mind thrown on the ground and an earthy disposition, the thoughts of fleshly uncleanness settle in. We, then, who have been called into spiritual kinship with our Lord Jesus Christ, and are about to put him on as strength and glory, must first shake off the dusty and earthy mind, and cleanse the mind beforehand, and, as the all-wise Paul says, put off the old man, which is corrupted according to the desires of deceit, and put on the new, which is renewed after the image of the one who created him. Having done this we arise, that is, we have an upright and steady mind, and … what was said by God through one of the prophets: “Set yourself up, Zion.” And the divine David sings somewhere: “He set my feet upon a rock and directed my steps.” It is written also in the book of Psalms: “God sits on his holy throne,” that is, he has the fixed and settled state of his kingdom perpetually; for nothing bodily should be understood of God. To sitting, that is, to having a firm and settled mind, follows putting off the bond of the neck. For each one is bound tight by the cords of his own sins, and we were brought under the yokes of sin and of Satan himself. But in Christ we are freed from these too; and, having thrown their yoke off ourselves, we accomplish the good with a free and unbound mind. So somewhere the God of all says to us through one of the prophets: “And you shall go out and leap like calves loosed from bonds, and you shall trample the lawless; for they shall be as ashes under your feet.”

By adding “captive daughter Zion,” he first lets us understand that God pities those who have fallen under the devil's yokes and have served sin. Then, besides this, he shows that we fall into this although it was possible not to suffer it. For having called Zion captive, he also calls her daughter. How, then, was it possible for the daughter of God, who had been deemed worthy of such brilliant glory, to be caught in the nooses of captivity? Who, then, brought her down to this? Not some weakness of the one who saves, but the will and choice of her who suffered it, who ran outside the Father's compassion by choosing evil instead, and by a vote for the worse undid the good.

“For thus says the Lord: You were sold for nothing, and you will be redeemed not with silver.”

Having called her captive, he necessarily adds what always befalls those who fall into this misery. For they are carried off into slavery with no one paying a price for them, but as prizes, the fruits of war and barbarian attack: they are led by force and compulsion into unwilling servitude. So, says the God of all, her redemption also will be. For Satan seized the race on earth, and holding captive, as it were, the world under heaven, he oppressed it unbearably, binding it fast in the yokes of his own perversity. But the only-begotten Word of God became man, and he conquered on our behalf; and entering the house of the strong man and binding him, … those on earth. As we were seized, then, so also have we been redeemed. For Christ did not take us from a willing seller, but rather crushed his strength and, as God, drove off the phalanx of demons. So we were neither sold for silver, nor have we been redeemed in that way, but rather by the strength of Christ, the Savior of us all. For being the good shepherd, he has saved us by his own blood: for by his stripe we were healed; and he was made weak because of our sins, and we were freed, having shaken off the yoke of sin and the greed of the devil.

“Thus says the Lord: My people went down into Egypt formerly to sojourn there, and they were led to the Assyrians by force. And now why are you here? Thus says the Lord: Because my people were taken for nothing, marvel and wail. Thus says the Lord: Because of you my name is continually blasphemed among the nations.”

Having called Zion captive, he wants her to know the cause on account of which it befell her to fall into such disgrace and wretchedness. For sometimes those who have suffered something unexpected are brought back to better things by not remaining in ignorance of their sins. Therefore he usefully brings them to remember what happened at various times to those before them. Famine made the journey to Egypt unwilling for Israel, since he could get the necessities from nowhere. Israel was also carried off to the Assyrians, when the man who reigned at that time over the land of the Chaldeans laid Judea waste. And what was the occasion of this? Having fallen away from being genuine, and from the duty to worship God alone, … they inclined to idols and worshipped the works of their own hands. This became for them the occasion of being caught in the hands of enemies, of fleeing the land that bore them, and of serving enemies, living in the land of the Persians and Medes. By force, then, they were led; for they were not in these circumstances willingly. “But now why are you here?” He says “here” instead of “scattered in the lands of the nations and dispersed to every wind,” according to the prophet's word. For the sword of the Romans drove out of all Judea those who were able to flee at all.

Or “here” means “in such a state of affairs as you are now in.” And they came, as I said, into extreme misery: on the one hand their land was overrun by the army of the Romans by the law of war, on the other the whole city was sacked, and the temple itself was burned. Why then have you come into these things? he says. Is it not plainly because … the one who called them to this in many ways, and laid unholy hands on him, after those who were sent, righteous men and prophets, some of whom they killed and others they stoned?

These things the prophetic word has disclosed to us here about the common multitude. But since it was the custom especially of the teachers of the Jews to raise their brows high against every nation, and to hold that Israel would always remain unassailable and unconquered by enemies, since it was called God's portion and a holy people; and since it then happened that Judea was brought down in the ways I have just described, they were astounded … among the nations. For since Israel was scattered in every land and city, he says, no one anywhere on earth was unaware that the holy city had been sacked and the temple itself had become the work of fire; and then they slander my name and disparage my glory. For they perhaps think that my hand, which was always Israel's helper, has grown weak; but they still do not know the true cause, and no one among them understands that they have been made to pay the penalty for the Lord-slaying and for many other offenses.

“Therefore my people shall know my name in that day, that I am he who speaks: I am here, like springtime upon the mountains, like the feet of one bringing good news, a report of peace, like one bringing good news of good things.”

For since, he says, I was ill spoken of among the nations because of your negligence, I will not tolerate the slander, nor will I let my glory be pelted with words of ill omen. But at that time, when I shall shine upon those on earth with flesh, those who become my people by receiving the faith, whether they are from the Jews or from the nations, these will know my name. By “name” he means glory; for this is the custom of the inspired Scripture. For it is written: “A good name is more to be chosen than great wealth.” We who have been called by him have known his glory, and we do not come to Christ, the Savior of all, as to a man; but even though the Word became flesh, we believe that, being God by nature and begotten ineffably of God the Father, he is above all creation

and befits the highest thrones, and rules over all things, and has a right hand mighty above all, and easily saves whomever he chooses of those who have come to be under him, and nothing at all exceeds his power. Israel, however, was not so disposed. For they gave heed to him as to one of us, and not as to God made man. Therefore at one time they said, “Who are you? And whom do you make yourself?” and, “We are not stoning you for a good work, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” But those who are called to the knowledge of the truth, he says, will know my glory. For I myself who speak in the prophets: I am here. For “God is the Lord, and he has appeared to us,” as it is written. This the all-wise Paul also teaches, saying: “In many parts and in many ways God spoke of old to the fathers in the prophets; in these last days he has spoken to us in a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the ages.” Observe, then, in these words, that God the Father brought all things into being through the Son, and has spoken to us in the last times, not as through another son, the one according to the flesh, from a woman, as some of the perverse have seen fit to think, but as through one Son, the Word who became man for us, with the flesh, who is also the maker of the ages.

“I am here, then, like springtime upon the mountains,” he says; by ὥρα he means spring. Come, then, let us look at spiritual things as from a visible fact. What does spring do when it appears upon the mountains? It crowns the plants with new blossom, and moves them from barrenness to bearing what each has by nature. Something like this we shall find written in the Song of Songs also: “Arise, come,” he says, “my neighbor, my fair one, my dove; for behold, the winter is past, the rain is past and gone, the flowers have appeared on the earth, the time of pruning has come.” For when the winter has gone by, the bright spring rises on the earth, makes it a nurse of flowers, and makes it a mother of ripe fruits. Something like this has been done in us spiritually. For the apostate dragon brought winter upon the world under heaven, and rendered it dry and barren. For there was no one at all who did good, not even one, “but all turned aside together, they became worthless.” But when the Only-begotten appeared with flesh, he became for us like springtime upon the mountains. For although we had, as it were, lost our bloom and cast off from our own souls the beauty of every virtue, we blossomed again in him and were filled with spiritual fruitfulness, so that we can say what is in the Song of Songs: “Let my beloved come down into his garden, and eat the fruit of his fruit trees.” He has become, then, like springtime upon the mountains, and like the feet of one bringing good news, a report of peace, and bringing good news of good things. For since sin lay between us and God, we had stood apart from him and been estranged from the Master, rising up against his divine laws, acting against the Master's will, and standing in the ranks of enemies. But Christ appeared, our peace, who took away the sin that lay between, brought us to be reconciled in friendship with the Father, and joined us to him through himself; for through him we have had access. As, then, someone might come running swiftly, saying that the enemies are taken, announcing peace and bringing good news of good things, so too the Savior of all visited the world with flesh and became for us the arbiter of peace with God the Father, since Satan has been brought to nothing and his whole phalanx removed out of the way; and [he announced] that a time is at hand in which those who wish may come to share in every good. For it will follow for those who choose to think and do … to have a most abundant share in the heavenly goods and to be filled with every good hope; for the Savior is rich in gifts.

“For I will make your salvation heard, saying: Zion, your God shall reign; for the voice of those who guard you has been lifted up, and with the voice together they shall … see, when the Lord has mercy on Zion.”

By Zion, then, he again means here not some earthly city but rather his holy church, which he formed out of the two peoples. For it is written: “Rejoice, you nations, with the people.” And Christ is said to have made both one, to have broken down the dividing wall of the partition, and to have abolished the law of commandments in ordinances. When the gospel preaching, which is full of true doctrines, was displayed, the power of the shadow in the law ceased, that is, the worship and approach by means of blood. Zion, then, is to be understood, as I said, as the church, which Christ presented to himself having no spot or wrinkle, but holy and blameless. He made her salvation heard, that is, heard far and wide. For the power of the gospel preaching escaped no one at all on earth, nor has anyone remained without hearing of the salvation through Christ. For he said through the psalmist's lyre also: “Hear this, all you nations; give ear, all who inhabit the world.” And just as the memory of the demons … and no one was unaware of the destruction of the demons' tyranny, so too the divine and heavenly preaching has been made heard by people everywhere, bringing salvation to those who have recognized the appearing of Christ.

And what is the power of the preaching? “Zion, your God shall reign.” For of old, that is, before the coming of our Savior, Satan reigned over us through sin, and the yoke of tyrannical perversity was thrown on those throughout the earth. But when the King and Lord of all shone upon us, we burst their bonds and threw off the yoke of the one who had long held the upper hand, … the God and Father of our God through the Son, and the matter has become for us an occasion of festival. David at any rate sings and says: “The Lord has become king; let the earth rejoice.” And again: “Sing praises, then, with understanding; God has become king over all the nations.” And the Savior himself, as I said, called us to this, saying: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavily laden, and I will give you rest; take my yoke upon you.” Things went wretchedly with us, then, and we were in the worst of evils, yoked to a savage tyrant and come under the [yoke] of sin. But the power of the sacred preaching proclaimed the good news of Christ's kingdom, and we are all under him. For he has promised, saying: “Zion, your God shall reign.” How he will reign, or in what manner, he himself made clear at once, saying: “The voice of those who guard you has been lifted up.” Those who guard would be the divine disciples, or, simply, all who know how and are able to initiate into the mysteries, and who persuade those who are called to walk uprightly, so as to be able to accomplish the good very well, to hold fast to love for Christ, and to make a right and blameless confession of faith in him. These are good shepherds, who guard the rational flock for the chief shepherd of all and drive off the attacks of untamed beasts. Their voice, he says, is lifted up, that is, heard by all people, … everywhere. For it was said to them through the voice of Isaiah: “Go up on a high mountain, you who bring good news to Zion; lift up your voice with strength, you who bring good news to Jerusalem.” Lift it up, do not fear.

for the apostolic preaching is unknown to no one at all. And that everything will go prosperously for them, that those to whom their word comes will readily be called, and that they themselves will greatly rejoice when they see the fruits of their initiating, he makes plain by saying: “With the voice together they shall rejoice.” For as soon as they speak, he says, the multitude of those initiated will follow, and those under instruction will run to faith without delay. And this is a joy to those charged with teaching. Paul at any rate writes to those who believed through him: “My joy and crown.” And that, when the saints initiated people into the mysteries, the ready obedience of the initiated followed in very many cases, one may see from many instances by going through the holy and inspired Scripture. For the divine disciples spoke to the ranks of the Jews …; but, as it is written in the Acts of the Apostles: “There were added in one day three thousand men.” Indeed the divine Paul too, together with the blessed Silas, while they were prisoners, sang hymns to God at midnight. And when a holy angel stood over the prison and loosed everyone's bonds, the jailer, terrified, wanted to kill himself; but when Paul called out, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here,” he marveled at the wonder and was baptized with all his household. How can anyone doubt that this event became an occasion of delight to Paul? So, he says, the ready obedience of those who are called will run right on the heels of the initiation.

“And your eyes shall see to eyes, when the Lord has mercy on Zion.” And whom will they see, if not the prince of salvation, that is, Christ? For the Word had become flesh, and the psalmist is witness to this, saying: “God will come visibly, our God, and he will not keep silence.” That is, what I said, that “with the voice together they shall rejoice,” this too, he says, you shall behold with your own eyes at that time when the Lord has mercy on Zion, granting to all the grace that comes through faith and an abundant enjoyment of the heavenly goods.

“… because the Lord has had mercy on her and has delivered Jerusalem. And the Lord will reveal his holy arm before all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation from God.”

To break forth into joy would signify using the voice, offering songs of thanksgiving, and being eager to practise the doxologies by which God would be gladdened. It is written at any rate in the book of Psalms: “And my tongue shall meditate on your righteousness, on your praise all the day long”; and to those who are willing to do this the thing will be a joy. But since he says that the waste places of Jerusalem must do this, we must necessarily say the following, in order to make clear the sense of the passage before us. Those who live in a broad and long city, if they are so many in number as to be able to fill it, leave no part of it deserted; but when they are few, because many have died, whether war has fallen upon them or some other cause has brought this about, most of the districts in it, that is, the dwellings, remain bare. Something like this happened to those of Israel. For since they became Lord-slayers and had their hands full of blood, they were consumed in the war with the Romans, so that very few were left who were saved, and the holy city was empty of men. But, he says, her waste places shall rejoice. For houses are gloomy and as it were full of dejection when they have no inhabitants, but cheerful and as it were laughing if they have very many dwelling in them. From the history, come, let us say something of the spiritual sense. The church from the nations, that is, those from the nations who believed, who are also named Zion and indeed Jerusalem, were few at the beginning, and the truly holy city of God, that is, the church, was as it were deserted. But nothing has remained

idle in it, for it has been filled through Christ. And at any rate it was said to her: “Lift up your eyes round about and see your children gathered.” “Behold, these come from afar, these from the north and the sea, and others from the land of the Persians. And you will say,” he says, “in your heart: Who has begotten these for me?” And again: “Enlarge the place of your tent and of your curtains; fix them, do not spare; spread out still further to the right and to the left.” For from every nation, city, and land there has been a gathering to Christ of the nations called through faith, so that those who turn are called from east and south, from west and north, being far more than those of Israel's blood. And this very thing the prophet Isaiah has disclosed, speaking of the church and of the synagogue of the Jews: “Rejoice, barren one who does not bear; break forth and shout, you who are not in labor, for more are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband.” He calls the church from the nations barren, the one who does not bear, and besides this desolate. For she was childless and desolate, that is, a widow, since she did not have the Word, the sower of every good. But the synagogue of the Jews he says has a husband, because she was yoked to the law given through Moses and became pregnant with the sacred oracles, through which she could bear to God the fruit of a worship still in shadows and types. But more are the children of the desolate, that is, of the widow, than of her who has a husband.

And in what way this too will come about, he made clear by adding: “The Lord will reveal his holy arm before all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation from God.” For when the arm of God the Father, that is, the Son, became manifest among those in all the earth, when he was known to all the nations, and the ends of the earth, that is, people from end to end of it, beheld the salvation from him, which is, of course, through faith, then the waste places of Jerusalem, the spiritual one, of course, were filled, and the multitude of those called is beyond number. It is the custom of the inspired Scripture to call the Son the arm of God the Father. For he is his power and all-mighty right hand, through which he works all things; and of it the divine David says: “Let your hand be strengthened, let your right hand be exalted.” And again, concerning God the Father: “Sing to the Lord a new song, for the Lord has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have saved for him.”

“Depart, depart, go out from there, and touch nothing unclean; go out from the midst of her, be separated, you who carry the vessels of the Lord; for you shall not go out with tumult, nor in flight.”