Commentary on Isaiah 5.3.5–5.3.12

Israel was the divine temple, that is, the house of prayer of the God over all, assigned, but rather that it is praised by those throughout the earth who are called through conversion and faith to the knowledge of him, he makes plain by saying: “My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.” Who, then, is it who says these things? Is it as of his own opinion? Not at all. “For the Lord said,” he says, “who gathers the dispersed of Israel.” These, then, are the words and voices of the one who has compassion; for being good by nature he wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. But that the greatness of his gentleness was seen, when Christ shone upon the world, not only toward those from the nations but also toward those of Israel's blood, becomes clear from his saying: “Said the Lord who gathers the dispersed of Israel.” So they too had been scattered, and not so much bodily, carried off somewhere outside Judea and living in other cities or lands, as having departed from the lawful way of life and from obedience to the commandment given them. And we shall find in very many places that they inclined to the worship of idols, honored God with their lips while having their mind separated far away, and worshipped him in vain, teaching as teachings the commandments of men. So let not obstinate Israel boast over the foreigners; for they too have been shown mercy by God in the same way. For they were found not holding their genuineness unshaken, nor their obedience wholly blameless, but rather scattered and dispersed, as I said just now.

“For I will gather a gathering to him. All you wild beasts, come, eat, all you beasts of the forest. See that all have been blinded and have not known how to understand. All … dogs … bed, loving slumber; and they are dogs shameless in soul, not knowing satisfaction; and they are wicked, not knowing understanding; all have followed in their own ways, each in the same way.”

You may apply yourself to what is written in two ways. For either he means by beasts, untamed and savage, those from the nations, since they had been reared under such a tyrant, I mean the devil, and had become as it were wild and lived not as humans; or he seems to call beasts those who laid Israel waste and devoured him with all their mouth because of his impiety toward Christ. If he refers to the nations as beasts, we say that the words “Come, eat” were addressed to them by God. This signifies that every abundance of the sacred gifts has been given to them by him, and the life-giving table set before them. For they too have eaten the bread of life, since they have become partakers of Christ and fellow members of the body with the saints, so that they say rejoicing: “The Lord shepherds me, and I shall lack nothing; in a place of green grass, there he made me dwell; by the water of rest he nourished me; he restored my soul. You prepared a table before me.” And he said also through one of the holy prophets: “Eat, drink, and be drunk, you neighbors.” For being far from God, those who once went astray have become near through faith, and … the sacred … the heart of man.” But if the beasts are understood as … he is all but throwing to them those who have acted lawlessly, to whom it is fitting to suffer, and very reasonably. For they killed the author of life, not receiving the faith; and those who were near became far, and no longer God's people, but rather hated as Lord-slayers. And lest God should seem to punish without cause and to demand penalties for nothing, he at once sets out the causes, liable to which they have been given to destruction by their enemies, that is, to the beasts as food. “For see,” he says, “that all have been blinded; they have not known how to understand.” For those of Israel are truly blind, and most of all the scribes and the Pharisees and those who were allotted the leadership of the synagogue. For they did not receive the true light, nor did they wish to know Christ, although he cried out clearly at one time, “I am the light of the world,”

and at another again, “I have come as light into this world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Though it was possible for them, then, to be enriched with the light by receiving the faith, this they did not do; but, as the prophet says, “When they waited for light, darkness came to them; waiting for brightness, they walked in untimely darkness.” And the Savior himself said of them and of the peoples under their hand: “They are blind, and guides of the blind.” All, then, have been blinded, he says, and have not known how to understand. For it truly belonged to sensible and understanding men to seize quickly the present time of salvation. The divine David at any rate urged them to this, saying: “Seize instruction, lest the Lord be angry and you perish from the righteous way, when his wrath is quickly kindled against you.” But since they did not seize the instruction given through Christ, the wrath was kindled against them, and they perished from the righteous way, that is, they came to be outside the evangelical way of life, through which alone those of …

Besides being blind, he says, they were also dumb dogs, not able to bark, dreaming of a bed, loving slumber. He speaks of them as from a clear example. For the dogs that follow the flocks, always going round about, are stronger than sleep and slumber. For if any of the untamed beasts is seen anywhere, they bark at it vigorously, and using all their strength hasten to drive it away from the flocks; and this is their work. The teachers of rational flocks must be like these, so as to care for those yoked under them and drive away those who in any way whatever wish to do them wrong, who carry them away from the love of God, persuade them to neglect reverence for him, and snatch them away to whatever seems good to themselves. But those who presided over the synagogue of the Jews did not wish to be such; rather they were dumb dogs, loving slumber and dreaming of a bed. For though they ought to have introduced useful things to the peoples under their hand and to have driven off the attacks of those accustomed to teach otherwise, this they did not do; rather they themselves sent them into the … of destruction. And this the God of all will teach, saying: “Your priests did not say, Where is the Lord? And those who hold the law did not know me; and the shepherds acted impiously toward me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal.” So, like dogs, they did not wish to bark at those who harm the flocks, but they imitated the dogs' shamelessness and their not knowing satisfaction. For being lovers of wealth and overcome by shameful gains, they transgressed the law by taking bribes, being not even ashamed at times to bring an unjust sentence against those who did no wrong, while justifying the ungodly. For they did not know satisfaction, that is, satiety of shameful gains, plainly. And for these things the Savior himself also accused them, saying: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, judgment and mercy and faith.” And the divine prophet Isaiah also said of them: “How has the faithful city Zion become a harlot, she that was full of judgment, in whom righteousness lodged, but now murderers?

Your silver is spurious; your tavern-keepers mix the wine with water; your rulers are disobedient, companions of thieves, loving gifts, pursuing reward, not judging for orphans, and not attending to the widow's cause.” Indeed the divine Habakkuk too, over this very thing, all but in tears, called out to God: “How long, O Lord, Lord, shall I cry out, and you will not hear? Shall I shout to you when I am wronged, and you will not save? Why did you show me toils and labors, to look upon misery and impiety? Against me has judgment come, and the judge takes. Therefore the law is scattered, and judgment does not go forth to the end, because the ungodly oppresses the righteous. Because of this judgment will go forth perverted.” So they did not wish to emulate the watchfulness of the dogs that guard the flocks, but imitated them only in being despisers of all reverence and insatiably bent on collecting gains. And besides this he says that they are wicked and do not know understanding. So the wicked man is without understanding; for understanding would befit most those accustomed to … and let wickedness be far from a good mind. For itch and ulcer in a body are like wickedness in a mind; for it renders the mind without understanding … And since they have become wicked and without understanding, for this reason, he says, all have followed in their own ways, each in the same way. For, as it were abandoning going straight toward every good and the duty to follow what has been decreed, and letting go, as it were, all the reins to their own wills, they did what was pleasant, and not each one singly, but also “in the same way,” that is, together and in a crowd. We shall find the leaders of the Jews … both deliberating and doing things discordant with the divine laws in their assemblies and councils. For so they fell also into the charges of the Lord-slaying; and in another way too each turned to his own way. For they were lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, and delighted rather in the distractions of the present life, … altogether the lawful and best life.

“See how the righteous one has perished, and no one takes it to heart; and righteous men are taken away, and no one considers. For the righteous one has been taken away from the face of unrighteousness; his burial will be in peace; he has been taken from the midst.”

Having shown that they had become dumb dogs, being negligent and contemptuous, so as to be unmoved even at the worst of offenses and to have no eagerness even to put into their mind the need to repent, he says: “For the righteous one has perished, and no one takes it to heart; and righteous men are taken away, and no one considers.” He seems through these words to hint at the outrages of the Jewish herd against Christ, and all that they did against the holy apostles. For they killed Jesus, all but crying out that prophetic word and saying: “Let us bind the righteous one, for he is troublesome to us”; and as far as their intent went, he perished though righteous, that is, not knowing sin; for they did not kill him for any reasonable cause. And righteous men, who were ambassadors to them of the divine and evangelical word and who called them to repentance from the cruelty that was in them, they caused to come to the trial pitilessly. At any rate the divine Stephen was killed by them after addressing a long speech to them, and the very things by which they might have been netted for repentance whetted them to hostility. “Righteous men,” then, he says, “are taken away, and …, no one takes it to heart,” that is, deigns to put into his mind the greatness of the impiety. The wicked contended against the righteous and prevailed over the one who did not know how to offend. “His burial, then, will be in peace; he has been taken from the midst.” See again, I pray, the form of the word: it shows the intent of those who killed, and not at all the outcome of the matter as being as stated. For Christ has not been taken away from the midst, nor those who were ambassadors of his message, who are righteous themselves as justified by him; yet they became as it were out of the midst, according, I mean, to the intent of those who killed them. And that the accusation runs against all the killers, and there was no one among the Jews who will lie outside the charge, he hinted by saying: “His burial will be in …” … death, and by adding “in peace” he hinted that there was no one at all in the ranks of the Jews who had stood against their unholy counsels, or resisted them, or rebuked those who wished to do unholy deeds; for all dared against Christ from one counsel and mind, being at peace with one another.

“… seed of adulterers and of a harlot. In what have you delighted? And against whom have you opened your mouth? And against whom have you let loose your tongue? Are you not children of destruction, a lawless seed?”

Out of very great love for God the divine prophet leaps upon the unbridled mouths of the Jews, and is greatly distressed at the unholy words they spoke against Christ. For they continued to the end, as it were, letting loose their tongue against him, and running down with full sails, as it were, upon the forbearance that was in him. For of what monstrous things would they not be convicted of having said against him? They called him a Samaritan, a wine-drinker, and born of sexual immorality; they said that he who rebuked demons had a demon, and that he worked the divine signs by Beelzebul, he who crushes Beelzebul. Then at last they brought him to Pilate and accused him, saying nothing true, but using rather lies and slanders. For they said, “This man stirs up the crowds and forbids giving tribute to Caesar,” and other things besides, which will pour the unquenchable flame on their head.

For these things the Savior himself also accused them, saying through the voice of Hosea: “Woe to them, for they have sprung away from me; wretched are they, for they have acted impiously toward me. I redeemed them, but they spoke lies against me.” And through the voice of Jeremiah: “I have forsaken my house, I have left my inheritance, I have given my beloved soul into the hands of her enemies. My inheritance became to me like a lion in the forest; she gave her voice against me; therefore I have hated her.” For besides the other slanders which they made against him, … crying, “Away, away, crucify him.” This the leaders of the synagogue of the Jews did most of all. For although they knew that he is the heir, they said among themselves: “Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance for ourselves.” But they missed their hope. For they killed him, yet he did not remain held fast by death; for he came back to life and gave the vineyard to other farmers, having miserably destroyed the wicked ones, the ungrateful and Lord-slaying. “O you lawless sons,” then, he says, “O seed of adulterers and of a harlot.” By adulterers he means here the scribes and lawyers who were allotted the leadership …, and speaking to her the things of the divine law; but they turned aside rather to what is unlawful, also teaching as teachings the commandments of men. And the harlot is fittingly the synagogue of the Jews, which received the seeds of the adulterers and … of the all-wise … calls them lawless sons. “Tell, then,” he says, “in what you delighted, and against whom you opened your mouth, and against whom you let loose your tongue.” … against the holy prophets; but they were genuine servants of the God over all, yet servants, under the yoke, having the human measure, and your offenses were against fellow servants. But now against whom did you let loose your tongue? For you did not wish to receive the one who saves; “and a lawless seed.”

“You who call upon idols under leafy trees, slaughtering their children in the ravines between the rocks. That is your portion, this your lot; and to them you poured out drink offerings, and to them you brought up sacrifices. Shall I not then be angry at these things? On a high and lofty mountain, there is your bed, and there you brought up sacrifices; and behind the posts of your door you set your memorial.”

Having shown them to be Lord-slayers, he shows that their God-hating sickness and readiness for bloodshed was not new in them, but had been present in them from long ago and from the beginning. “For you are,” he says, “the ones who in former times called upon

idols under leafy trees.” For although the law given through Moses held out to them what is useful, saying expressly, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve,” they slipped into such … of mind, or rather into an unrestrained impiety beyond all measure, as to become makers of idols, to perform sacred rites for them, and to call upon them, that is, to teach others to worship under leafy trees and to crown the idols with honors befitting God. This the God of all makes plain through the voice of Jeremiah, saying: “Have you seen what the house of Israel did to me? They went up on every high mountain and under every leafy tree, and played the harlot there.” For seizing the tops of mountains and the … of groves, they built altars and precincts and brought sacrifices and libations there to the unclean demons; and there are some who did not even spare their own children. Jechoniah at any rate slaughtered his own son to gods that do not exist. This God himself also said somewhere through one of the holy prophets, showing the cruelty of those who … have forsaken.” “You, then, are,” he says, “those who call upon idols under leafy trees, slaughtering their children in the ravines between the rocks.” What, then, follows on these things? “That is your portion, this your lot.” For you have worshipped vain things, he says, and you will have such a portion, and your lot will be vain. Or perhaps he wishes to show this: You slaughtered their children in the ravines, he says; so “that is your portion, this your lot,” that is, you will be caught in the same evils, and slaughter will become your portion and lot. For what reason? First, because you became a child-slayer; then because to unclean demons and soulless idols you poured out … “Shall I not, then, be angry at these things?” he says. Is not the wrath against you well founded, and does not the penalty have a reasonable occasion? “On a high and lofty mountain, there is your bed; there you brought up sacrifices, and behind the posts of your door you set your memorial.” That they slept on the mountains for the sake of dreams the prophetic word has disclosed to us in very many places. And they say that Israel slipped so far into error as to carve the forms of idols on the doors and on the doorposts, so that both when entering their houses and when walking out they might see them and keep them in unceasing memory. The thing would reasonably be reckoned to them as a clear proof of their utter lack of love for God; and they called the idols carved there saviors and house-guardians.

“… you will have. You loved those who lay with you, and you made many those who are far from you, and you sent envoys beyond your borders.”

Every monstrous pleasure and every vice, bewitching the human mind, all but promises some experience of a good thing, as though one will share in things not known before and will be in a better state than one was previously. For having thus taken captive whomever it seizes, it then carries them away. The foolish, learning by experience what kind of evil it is, return with difficulty to their first state; but those who look well around with the eyes of the mind at the end of each thing do not let themselves be carried away; rather they keep their mind unharmed, seeing before experience what comes after it. But the synagogue of the Jews was not like this. For it was under the hand of the God who can do all things, and, clothed with the glory that comes from him, it was terrible and unbearable to its neighbors, having a hope much longed for and full of all prosperity. For following the law given through Moses, it worshipped the God who is God by nature and truly, and continued for long times without bearing to call any other god besides him, or to know how to worship one. But when it was enticed by certain teachers and unholy shepherds, it fell into apostasy from God and worshipped the works of its own hands, thinking perhaps, and … For these things he accuses her, saying: “You thought that if you depart from me, you will have something more.” But the expectations of so cold and vain a hope did not come to fulfilment for her; rather they came into every evil. They gained nothing further toward prosperity, having cast away their genuineness and thinking the steadfastness in these things worth very little account.

And what is still more irrational than this: “You loved,” he says, “those who lay with you, and multiplied your harlotry with them.” And he speaks as to a harlot woman. And who were those who lay with her, if not perhaps “lying shepherds,” men … full of diabolical mist? These became to her both the way and the occasion of destruction, carrying her away from genuineness toward God, implanting as it were the seeds of impiety, and persuading her to bear for Satan the fruit of the charges of outrage against God. And we say that someone's harlotry, that is, apostasy from God, is multiplied when the force of the charges is seen to be not of one kind and one form, but carried out with very great perversity, and bringing forth against them many things for which one would very justly blame those who do them. Such as, I mean: there surely follows on choosing to serve Satan the refusal to do nothing …, and being tossed about as it were in every direction; among such charges would be the other evils of this kind too: sorceries and necromancies, the useless tales of portent-watchers, divinations and incantations, the slanders of astrologers, and the observance of days and hours, and besides

this, of seasons and years. So, he says, multiplying your own harlotry, you made many those who are far from you. And who these would be, we must see again. For either he means the holy prophets, who, seeing her going beyond every bound and … from her as one defiled, all but cried out and said: “… his own land; for her judgment has drawn near to heaven and has lifted itself up to the stars” (for since … the divine prophets call her Babylon); or perhaps she made many those far from herself. For meddling with the objects of worship of the neighboring nations and with the falsely named gods of each, … some to these, others to those. At any rate God said somewhere through the voice of Jeremiah: “According to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah, and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you set up altars to burn incense to Baal.” And I think this indicates … for, not content with the gods they had among them, they sent for many others too, as I said, each according to what they supposed was good for them. Or perhaps “You sent envoys beyond your borders” would signify that their harlotry was practised beyond measure, so that what is said is a kind of proverb, a common exclamation said of those who in each matter go beyond what is reasonable.

“And you turned away and were humbled to Hades. You wearied yourself with your many ways, and did not say: I will cease strengthening myself. Because you did these things, therefore … did you fear, and lie to me?”

What is the end of the apostasy from God, of the measureless harlotry and the unholy undertakings, that is, of the turning away from what is better to what is worse? The utmost humiliation, and coming down, he says, to the lowest pit of destruction. For since you did not wish to remain high and to keep your prosperity unshaken, for that reason you became low. For that those of Israel were high, as regards the glory from God, becomes clear from what he says of them through the voice of Isaiah: “I begot and exalted sons.” So her humiliation was self-invited; for she acted impiously against the God who exalts her. And in what way she has been humbled he shows at once; for he said: “You wearied yourself with your many ways.” For going as it were on every road of destruction, they spent the vigor of the soul, the spiritual vigor, plainly, on nothing useful, and toiled not a little, setting their zeal on ruinous things. Or perhaps by “many ways” here he means always changing to other gods, neglecting those already acquired and seeking those belonging to others, being as it were drunk, tossed about everywhere, and having no support or stability for the mind within them. This happens to us too in monstrous pleasures. For the mind is at times carried away to every kind of uncleanness: at one time it praises being rich, at another it lusts after the flesh and is overcome by empty glory, and as it were … is carried about by every wind, according to what was said, I think, through the voice of Jeremiah about someone: “In the desires of her soul she was carried about by the wind; she was handed over; who will turn her back?” For a soul that suffers this will surely be handed over to the assaults of the passions; and this the writer of Proverbs teaches, saying: “For crooked reasonings separate from God, and the wandering of desire undermines an innocent mind.” We must therefore rein in the mind, if it should wish to rush unrestrainedly down the cliffs and to delight and consort with monstrous pleasures, lest, wearied from many … O Jerusalem, he says, you did not say: I will cease … your progress toward more shameful things; you did not measure your zeal, but press on rather more intensely in wishing to do things that ought surely never to have happened at all.