Commentary on Isaiah 5.3.13–5.3.20

For it is the work of a soul with even moderate understanding not to wish to be caught in the charges that lead to sin; and if it should happen to suffer this, at least to choose to repent and, by returning to what is better, to cast off the charges. But if, besides this, it refuses the need to repent, it has added sin upon sin, and one may see it suffering sickness upon sickness. At any rate he accuses those in … “… falls, does he not rise? Or he who turns away, does he not return? Why has this people turned away with a shameless turning, and held fast to their choice, and would not return?” “But because you did these things,” he says, “therefore you did not entreat me.” And yet how was it not rather necessary, since such shameful things had been done, to use supplication and ask mercy from God? For he receives those who wish to repent, being good by nature and knowing our frame, as it is written. At any rate he said through one of the holy prophets: “Return, sons, returning, and I will heal your fractures.” So it is proof of the utmost folly and … to seek it with confession of one's stumbles. For it is written: “Declare your lawless deeds first, that you may be justified.” And someone sings and says: “I said, I will confess my lawlessness against myself to the Lord; and you forgave the impiety of my heart.”

The Jews had a certain argument, rotten and feeble and full of ignorance. For they insisted on departing from the living God and inclining to other gods, since the host of the Babylonians was about to … “Of whom were you wary, that you feared, and lied to me?” The Babylonian tyrant was a man, and his army was nothing at all compared with divine strength. For it is written of God: “He who holds the circle of the earth, and those who dwell in it are like grasshoppers.” And again the prophet Isaiah said: “If all the nations are counted as a drop from a bucket and as spittle, and were reckoned as the turn of a scale, to whom have you likened the Lord, and with what likeness have you likened him?” Most senseless, then, were those who thought a man from the earth stronger than God, and who lied in their piety toward him, thinking that they would be saved by gods that do not exist. For what benefit could come from stone and wood? At any rate it was said of them: “And in the time of their evils they will say: Arise and save us. And where are your gods, which you made for yourself? Will they arise and save you in the time …?” They lied to God, doing this not by word only but by their very deeds, as in what was said of them by way of example: “And I waited for it to make grapes, but it made thorns; and not righteousness, but judgment.” And the divine singer also said somewhere of them, as from the person of Christ: “Alien sons lied to me; alien sons

have grown old and limped away from their paths.”

“… your mind, nor into your heart. And I, seeing you, disregard you, and you did not fear me. And I will declare my righteousness and your evils, which will not profit you. When you cry out, let them deliver you in your affliction. For the wind will take all these, and a storm will carry them away.”

God said somewhere through the voice of Ezekiel to the mother of the Jews, I mean the synagogue: “As … you have done, so shall it be to you; your recompense will be repaid on your head.” Indeed the prophet Isaiah too says: “Woe to the lawless; evil things will befall him according to the works of his hands.” Something like this is signified now also by the passage before us. For since you have thrust away the knowledge of me, he says, you will be disregarded by me and will undergo a penalty equal to your offenses. One forgets the God who is God by nature and truly, who rules over all, not, surely, by coming to forget that he is God (for even the demons believe and shudder, according to the Apostle's word), but rather by failing to wish to be subject to him and thinking little of what he has commanded, so as to be seen unbridled and disobedient and wholly inclined to everything contrary to what one ought to fulfil. And God forgets, that is, disregards, those who do not remember him, all but drawing back his helping hand and stripping them of all his sparing; which is what Israel suffered. For they did not fear the Lord of heaven and earth, the Creator and craftsman of all; but, freeing their neck as it were from his sceptres, they served gods that do not exist. For this reason he says: “You did not fear me, and I will declare my righteousness and your evils,” meaning by evils, plainly, the apostasy from him and inclining to … gods whom he himself had made. And the God of all declares his righteousness over those accustomed to do such things, bringing a divine sentence upon them and imposing a punishment of equal weight. For the outrages are committed not against one like us, but against the very nature that is high and above and rules over all. And that their invention of falsely named gods accomplishes nothing for them, he shows by saying, “They will not profit you,” and that the thing is … “let them deliver you in your affliction.” So, as the prophet says, “What does a carved image profit, that they carved it? They fashioned it as a molten image, a false appearance; a craftsman made it, and it is not God.” Then how could an image made of wood and stone, a discovery of human skill, help those who went astray? … rather than God? Therefore he says: “For the wind will take all these, and a storm will carry them away.” These: whom? Either the gods devised by them, or perhaps those who worship them, who, like dust and earth, are tossed up by the blasts of the winds. And this, I think, is what is said in the book of Psalms: “Let them be like dust before the wind,” that is, they will come to nothing. It is the custom of the inspired Scripture to liken the attacks of temptations, or of punishments, to whirlwind and …

“But those who cling to me will possess the land and inherit my holy mountain; and they will say: Clear ways from before his face, and remove stumbling blocks from the way of my people.”

For it was necessary, necessary, that both the punishment of the sin-lovers and apostates and the works of those who love him should become evident. And the promise is true in general: for everyone who clings to God, thinks nothing better than wholehearted love for him, and is distinguished by every good work, will be heir of the land prepared for the saints, which the Savior himself also indicated to us, saying: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” By the holy mountain here I say he perhaps means the city above, the heavenly Jerusalem, the fair city of the saints. For the divine David sings somewhere and says of it: “Who shall go up to the mountain of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He who is innocent in hands and pure in heart.” So to all who cling to God the land of the saints will be an inheritance, and the august and celebrated mountain. And he seems now to be speaking of those from the Jewish ranks who believed in him, of whom the divine … became the firstfruits and the first, holding fast to love for Christ, having an unshaken faith in him, an unfeigned submission, and an inseparable love. At any rate they say: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Affliction, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” These have become heirs of the kingdom of heaven and have acquired the land above, promised to the meek. The name of meekness would befit those who live the evangelical life, whom Christ commanded not to be angry, nor to retaliate against any who grieve them, but rather to hasten to do good even to those who stand as enemies. “For do good,” he says, “to your enemies, and pray for those who mistreat you; and to him who strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.” To excel in these things would be proof of forbearance and meekness to the utmost. And to those who have acquired the land and the holy mountain, as in promise and in hope, it will be said, he says: “Clear ways from before his face”; this is plainly, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” And in what manner … “stumbling blocks from the way of my people,” that is, show to those throughout the earth that the way of salvation through faith is smooth and easy to travel; let nothing be rough or uphill. For the law through Moses did not know how to show mercy, and was hard to accomplish; for we all stumble in many things, and hard to find was one wholly free of fault and able to carry it out blamelessly. At any rate the divine disciples said to those who wished after believing to return to the shadows of the law: “Now therefore why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples, which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear?” He said

… was added for the sake of …; for the law is a reproof of sin, and those who stumbled against it were under blame and indictment. So the difficulty of accomplishing the life under the law was a hindrance. But let it be taken out of the way, he says, and let the well-trodden way, passable without sweat, be shown, that is, the power of the evangelical way of life, which brings in the true worship. God said something like this elsewhere too to the holy initiators: “Go through my gates, and scatter the stones from the way,” that is, free from every difficulty the way by which one might be carried to God through worship in spirit and truth and through the brightness of faith.

“Thus says the Lord, the Most High, who dwells in the heights forever, Holy among holy ones, resting, and giving patience to the faint-hearted and life to those broken in heart: I will not avenge myself on you forever, nor will I be angry with you continually. For a spirit will go forth from me, and I have made every breath.”

The blessed prophets, when the Lord of all promises some great and God-befitting thing to anyone, are filled with wonder at his glory and gentleness, and, as it were leaping up for joy, turn to praise. We shall find the prophet now affected in some such way. For he did not simply say, “Thus says the Lord,” but of necessity added, “the Most High,” that is, the one beyond all and by nature highest above everything brought into existence; and by saying … the divine and supreme nature is in … preeminences and ineffable heights. And this, I think, is its dwelling in the heights forever; for it holds unchangeably to what belongs to it, and could not in any way come to be in a better state than it is, but it belongs to it rather to be unalterably and perpetually in what it is. And he says that he, holy, rests and dwells among holy ones, hinting that he rejects as defiled through much sin those of Israel's blood, but lovingly makes his abode in those cleansed through faith and sanctified in the Spirit. And he gives also to the faint-hearted …; by faint-hearted he means those who are sometimes accustomed to weaken a little concerning the aim of life set before them. To these he gives patience, that is, endurance and steadfastness, all but crying out and saying: “Be courageous, and let your heart be strong, all who hope in the Lord.” And he gives life also to those broken in heart, … to the poor in spirit; and such are all who are in obedience to God and have a yielding mind. These would be those who have been called through faith to the knowledge of Christ; and they are named poor in spirit, as going the opposite path to those of Israel. For those were boasters, disobedient and unbroken; … broken in heart, assigning to the laws of God the right to rule, and putting the neck of the mind under the yoke of Christ. And these are the works of those in Christ. But what does the Most High say to those who have slipped from disobedience into the charges of impiety toward him? “I will not avenge myself on you forever, nor will I be angry with you continually.”

He does not cut off from those of Israel the hope of being saved. For the remnant has been saved; a very great part of their multitude has been called; and they will be called also in the last times, as God checks his wrath against them and reins in the penalty, so that it may not extend against them altogether. For being good, he has kept unfailing his promise to their fathers. And as a compassionate God he gives another reason too: “For a spirit,” he says, “will go forth from me.” And in what way it will go forth he made clear by saying: “I have made every breath.” For he is the Father of spirits. He is understood, however, not as having begotten them from his own nature, as he did his own Son; nor do we say that they have the coming forth, that is, the procession, from his essence in the same way as the Holy Spirit; rather, thinking rightly, we affirm that they came forth from God into being by way of creation; for he made every breath. And where making at all is named, there surely the “going forth,” that is, the coming out, would be meant not according to essence, but, by a loose use of the word, as signifying being brought into being.

“Because of sin I grieved him a little, and struck him, and turned my face away from him; and he was grieved, and went gloomy in his ways. I have seen his ways, and I healed him, and comforted him, and gave him true comfort, peace upon peace, to those far off and to those near. And the Lord said: I will heal them. But the unrighteous will thus be tossed like waves and will not be able to rest. There is no rejoicing for the ungodly, said the Lord God.”

The Jews paid the penalty for their outrage against Christ, a penalty unbearable to any man, yet measured, as regards its equality with their sins. For they acted impiously beyond all measure, killing righteous men and making themselves liable for the blood of holy prophets. And at last they laid hands on Christ himself, whom, being the Son, the Father sent after the servants. And even so they boasted against him, saying to one another: “This is the heir.” So for this sin, he says, I grieved him and struck him and turned my face away from him. For he said: “When you stretch out your hands to me, I will turn my eyes away from you; and if you multiply your prayer, I will not hear you; for your hands are full of blood.” But in later times, with a repentant mind, he will be freed from his ancient sins, as God has compassion on him, and he will receive true comfort. And what do we say this is, if not plainly the grace that comes through Christ, justifying in faith and … sin, … the sanctification of the Spirit, the glory of adoption, and the hope of the rewards prepared for the saints? True, then, is the comfort, which besides all the other goods brings to those deemed worthy of it peace upon peace, that is, the perpetual and unfailing calm of peace, which the Savior gave both to those far off and to those near, that is, both to those from the nations and to those of Israel's blood.

For the blessed Paul addressed the nations: “But now you who once were far off have become near by the blood of Christ.” For in so far as Israel was yoked to the law and worshipped the living and true God, according to what seemed good in the sacred proclamations (for it was said to them, “The Lord your God is one Lord”), they seemed in some way to be near; but the nations were far off, because they were wholly estranged from holy teachings and from knowing the Creator and Lord of all. But peace has been given to both these and those by God the Father, the peace, plainly, that comes through Christ, who made both one, created the two peoples into one new man, broke down the dividing wall of the partition, and abolished the law of commandments in ordinances. So through him we have had reconciliation and undivided peace, with God and with one another. For Christ said somewhere to the Father and God in heaven: “I will that, as I and you are one, so they too may be one in us.” And the prophet adds to these: “And the Lord said: I will heal them,” making through this as it were a summary of the whole discourse, and making evident the unfailing promise of the God who rules over all; for he promised, he says, saying that he will heal them. “But the unrighteous will thus be tossed like waves and will not be able to rest.” For since … fittingly, he also usefully announces the punishments of the disobedient, the surge among them, and their endless torments … “For there is no rejoicing for them,” he says, “said the Lord God.” And when the Lord and God of all has taken away their rejoicing, what way of gladness will there be for them? And that even at the time of the calling of those from Israel some will remain in disobedience, adhering to the son of lawlessness, the all-wise Paul shows, saying: “Because they did not receive the knowledge of the truth, therefore God will send them a working of error.” And the Savior himself said: “I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name” (that is, the son of lawlessness, as I said), “him you will receive.” So Israel will be called in due time to the knowledge of Christ and will be enriched with the grace that comes through faith in him; but some ungodly and unrighteous will remain, and then, as having fallen into an unstable surge, …

“Cry out with strength, and do not spare; lift up your voice like a trumpet, and declare to my people their sins, and to the house of Jacob their lawless deeds.”

Having finished the discourse about the calling of those of Israel, he comes to another kind of admonition, fine and beneficial, productive of all good order and of brilliant crowns. And I say it is necessary to lay bare beforehand for readers the aim of the prophecy, so that they may know to what end the sense of what is said henceforth tends. In the words above, then, which God spoke about those of Israel, there were evident … of war, and of one that was about to come at any moment: “… you did not remember me, nor take me into your mind, nor into your heart; and I, seeing you, disregard you, and you did not fear me; and I will declare my righteousness and your evils, which will not profit you. When you cry out, let them deliver you in your affliction.” And we said that by the evils of those of Israel he means here their inventions concerning idols. Therefore he also said: “When you cry out, let them deliver you in your affliction.” There was, then, to some a forewarning of war, and it was noised abroad among the peoples of the Jews; but there were some among them wrapped in a show of piety, who did without restraint things not lawful even to mention, yet beautified themselves with outward adornments and snatched, as I said, a reputation for decency. These also feigned fasts, and … from which they ought to have abstained, if they wished to be acceptable to

him, thinking through this to escape the effects of the divine wrath. Since, then, having come into forgetfulness of their own offenses, they thought that for those accustomed to do the most shameful things, abstaining from food and prayer alone suffice for justification and sanctification, God commands the prophet, saying: “Cry out with strength, and do not spare; lift up your voice like a trumpet, and declare to my people their sins.” Do not speak to some secretly, he says, nor in a corner, but use rather a high and lifted voice, and convict the offenders with all boldness, and let them learn their own offenses, … precious to God and worthy of sparing …

“They seek me day by day and desire to know my ways, as a people that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the judgment of its God.”

They join day to days, he says, seeking help from me and wanting to know my ways, that is, my dispensations in each matter. For when war had been announced and fear had thrown everything into confusion, they fasted, and thought that they would learn where at last the matter would end. This, I think, is “They desire to know my ways.” And they desire it as a people that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the judgment of its God, that is, as if they had lived according to the law, had been the best guardians of the oracles given them, had a blameless life, and were clothed with the glory of a pure way of life. For to such it would be fitting both to seek God, that is, to wish to be near him, to enjoy the sparing that comes from above, and besides this to know his ways. At any rate it was said through one of the holy prophets: “Seek the Lord, and when you find him, call upon him. When he draws near to you, let the ungodly forsake his way, and the lawless man his counsel, and let him turn to the Lord, and he will be shown mercy; for he will abundantly forgive their sins.”

“They ask me now for righteous judgment and desire to draw near to God, saying: Why have we fasted, and you did not see? We humbled our souls, and you did not know? For in the days of your fasts you find your own wills, and you goad all those under your hand. For judgments and …”

They accuse me, he says, of not dealing justly, because I do not wish to have mercy on those humbled through fasting and prayer. Then they wish also to be near God, boasting of none of the brave deeds that lead to piety, and not clothed with the brightness that comes from virtues, but on account of bare and mere abstinence from food; and they say: “We fasted, and you did not see; we humbled our souls, and you did not know.” And they say such things not as though God were ignorant of their humbling through fasting; but since they had not come to perceive their own charges, they say, “You did not see,” and “You did not know.” For we say that the God of all knows the labors of people, those, I mean, through prayer and discipline, when he nods assent to their requests. How, then, does he not accept those who fast and have humbled themselves? He defends himself, saying: “For in the days of your fasts you find your own wills.” For fasting is an exceptional thing, and prayer is profitable, and to humble oneself in the eyes of God brings very great benefit. For it is written: “I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer will return to my bosom.” And the divine David said: “My knees grew weak from fasting, and my flesh was changed for lack of oil.” Indeed the God of all himself says: “Return to me with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.” For he readily has mercy on those who humble themselves of their own accord through toil. But it is most absurd for those who wish to receive mercy to provoke the lawgiver in other ways and to call him to anger by loving to do nothing … “know,” that is, I did not deem your humbling worthy of any reward, since in the days of your fasts you find your own wills. Those, then, who wish to fast purely and holily must depart from their own wills, choose instead what seems good to God, and submit a docile

neck to his wills. But those of Israel did not do this at all; they followed rather their own wills, dishonoring what seemed good to the lawgiver, … quarrels; although they ought to have gathered into unanimity those who had been carried into disputes. But they turned their zeal to the complete opposite. … and the lowly too, and not with hands at all, but with insults and greed, or in some other kind of injustice. Then how was it possible to praise them when they fasted, when such uncleanness was in them? Or how would the prayers of people so wicked have been received?

“Why do you fast to me, so that your voice is heard today in a cry? Not this fast have I chosen, and a day for a man to humble his soul. Not even if you bend your neck like a ring and spread under you sackcloth and ashes, not even so will you call it an acceptable fast.”

The force of true fasting has an extraordinary cry before the God who rules over all. For he gladly receives, I think, the supplications of those who worship him; and if he sees them humbled through toils and disciplines, he grants their requests without any delay. But the fast that is kept carelessly and negligently, he rejects in its manner. And we say that the fast befitting saints is the one carried out from a pure conscience, which a person keeps having first departed vigorously from the ways of wickedness, sent away every stain of his own mind, wiped off the filth of love of the flesh, and washed his hands in innocence, as it is written; and, in short, … every good work … but a fast that has gone astray, as it were, having the form of a fast but nothing at all that befits it, is laughable and unseemly. For those who have wholly neglected to be kind and good, and have achieved beforehand none of the best noble deeds, and then practise their profitless and useless abstinence from food as a great thing and precious to God, box in vain and beat the air; for their toil is unrewarded, because it is also unacceptable to God. “Why, then, do you fast to me,” he says, “so that the cry of your voice is heard in one day?” By cry he means either the prayer that accompanies, I mean, the useless fast, or the cry that comes from the deed itself. For the things done by us are said to have a voice toward God, according to what was said … to Cain by him: “The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the earth.” “But not this fast have I chosen,” he says; and what this fast is he showed beforehand by saying: “In the days of your fasts you find your own wills, and you goad all those under your hand into judgments and quarrels.”