Commentary on Isaiah 5.5.6–5.5.13

So the inspired David sings, as in the person of the redeemed, and says: “I will confess to you, Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell all your wonders. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing to your name, Most High … because you have maintained my judgement and my cause; you sat on the throne, judging righteousness; you rebuked the nations, and the ungodly perished; you blotted out his name for ever, and for ever and ever.” And indeed elsewhere he says of him again: “His sin will be sought, and will not be found because of it.” And the Saviour himself said: “Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.” So the time of recompense is in this way too the time in which Christ shone on the world. And he says he has come to comfort all who mourn in Zion, to give them glory instead of ashes, and the oil of gladness, and a garment of glory instead of a spirit of weariness. For at various times there were among the Jews holy men, learned in the law, searchers and experts in the prophetic preachings. These, seeing that those of the blood of Israel cared little for the commandment given through Moses, and turned rather to what seemed good to themselves, and taught as doctrines [the commandments of men, and did not] live the life befitting saints, felt grief over them. And they awaited the redemption through Christ; for, being Spirit-bearers, they were not ignorant of him who cleanses the defiled. So the righteous Simeon, taking Christ as a baby in his arms, prayed, saying: “Now you let your servant depart, Master, according to your word, in peace; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light for revelation to the gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.” And we shall find the inspired Zechariah, the father of John, saying: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and wrought redemption for his people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us.” And Philip too brought the good news to Nathanael, saying thus: “We have found him of whom Moses wrote in the law, and the prophets: Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” And the all-wise Paul writes somewhere: “I have grief and unceasing pain in my heart for my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” So “comfort has been given to those who mourn in Zion”, the comfort through Christ, “and glory instead of ashes”. For they ceased to mourn and weep for her, and received the grace through Christ, preaching the gospel and proclaiming it. “And there was given to them the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and the garment of glory instead of a spirit of weariness.” And by “oil” he means here cheerfulness, or gaiety and gladness, instead of mourning and weeping; and by the “garment of glory”, a covering, that is, a robe and clothing, instead of the spirit of weariness, that is, instead of their former faintheartedness. For those who once lamented her and were weary on her account were glorified. And how were they glorified? They were appointed her leaders and teachers. And this, then, was what was said to her through the lyre of the Psalmist: “Instead of your fathers, sons have been born to you.” For the all-wise disciples, being children of the synagogue of the Jews, became fathers. So the all-wise Paul writes to some: “For in Christ Jesus through the gospel I begot you.” Those who became her sons, then, have been set in the rank of fathers; and that the inspired disciples had the clothing of glory from God would be clear when Christ says to them at one time: “Heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead”, and at another: “You are the light of the world.”

“And they shall be called generations of righteousness, the plant of the Lord for glory. And they shall build eternal desert cities; they shall raise up those desolated before, and renew desert cities …”

For those in Christ are named “a chosen race, a holy nation, a people for his possession”, because of the beauty of the righteousness in them; and I do not mean the righteousness according to the law, but rather that which through the … of Christ … the [righteousness] through Christ [surpasses] that in the law. So he said to the

holy apostles: “Truly I say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” “They shall be called, then”, he says, “generations of righteousness, and also the plant of the Lord.” For we are truly God's field, and the inspired David says of us: “Planted in the house of the Lord, they shall flourish in the courts of our God.” So the all-wise Paul calls God's field those called through faith in Christ. And he said again: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” For the Saviour cultivates us through the holy initiators into the mysteries; that is why they say, very fittingly, that they have become God's fellow-workers. And the all-wise David sings: “The righteous shall flourish like a palm; like the cedar in Lebanon he shall be multiplied.” We are, then, the plant of the Lord, and for his glory. “And they shall build”, he says, “eternal desert cities, and renew desert cities.” He seems to want to show by this either that the multitude of those who will be called will be so great as to seek other cities besides those that exist, and to renew those once laid waste; or perhaps this: “Being cramped”, he says, “in the churches by the multitude”, though once they were bare and deserted, “they will do something like what those usually do who wish to build desolated cities and are eager to raise them up as they lie on the ground.” So it is said to the church: “Enlarge the place of your tent, and of your curtains; fix them, do not spare; … to the right and to the …” … the very outcome of events would show the prediction very easily.

“And foreigners shall come, feeding your sheep … vinedressers; but you shall be called priests of the Lord, … in their wealth you shall be admired. [Instead of your double shame, and instead of disgrace, their portion shall exult, and thus] they shall inherit the land a second time. And everlasting gladness shall be upon their head.”

Here he says clearly that there will be a change of the law and of the priesthood that goes with it. For it will no longer befit those of the blood of Levi to perform sacred service, nor will the name and office of the ministry; they were expelled, and the glory of it has been given to those called from the gentiles through faith. For they are crowned by God's vote, and they too have been appointed ministers and priests. “For foreigners shall come”, he says, “feeding your sheep.” The saying is addressed to the church, whose sheep would be understood as the holy multitude of those saved through faith; this is shepherded by foreigners. For the scribes and Pharisees of old, who obtained the leadership of those of the blood of Israel, became slothful, careless and most unskilful shepherds. So the multitude placed under them perished, since they [taught] … of men, and led those under their yoke away from knowing Christ, saying at one time: “We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he is from”, and at another: “He has a demon and is mad; why do you listen to him?” So the God of all testified through the voice of the prophets, saying thus: “The shepherds have acted foolishly and have not sought out the Lord; therefore the whole pasture did not understand, and they were scattered”; and indeed through the voice of Ezekiel: “O shepherds of Israel, do the shepherds feed themselves? Do not the shepherds feed the sheep? Behold, you devour the milk, and you do not feed my sheep”; and besides this: “… your good pasture, and you drank the settled water, and the rest you troubled with your feet, and my sheep fed on what your feet had trampled, and drank the water troubled by your feet.” For by “settled water” he names the instruction through the law, and the best pasture; but they, confusing everything and muddying it by not teaching the peoples under their hand rightly, provided as it were water

not pure to drink, nor a flowering pasture to feed on. So, very fittingly, they were expelled from shepherding the people of the Lord any longer; for foreigners have been called to this. For teachers of the churches are appointed by Christ, wise and sharp-witted, with minds full of doctrinal skill, men from the Greek herd and not of the blood of Israel; these have become ploughmen and vinedressers. For since believers are called in very many places of divinely inspired Scripture a chosen land, and a vineyard, and a garden, for this reason the saying says that those who will become in due time priests of the Lord and ministers of God will be as ploughmen and vinedressers, rightly dividing the word of truth and performing the sacred service of the gospel of Christ, as it is written. So they do not seize the honour for themselves, but are rather called by God, as the all-wise Paul too says. For though he was of the tribe of Benjamin, he everywhere calls himself a minister of sacred things and a called apostle of Jesus Christ. “You, then, all who have obtained the dignity of sacred ministry, shall eat the strength of nations, and in their wealth you shall be admired.” And by the strength of nations he means either the honours from the most powerful, who would be those called from the gentiles; or you will understand it another way. “For none of you”, he says, “will escape the mouth”, that is, the word; for the sacred writing everywhere puts “mouth” for “word”, as in “whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”. “So you shall eat up”, he says, “the strength of the nations.” And by the power of nations the saying seems here to name those among them who are illustrious, that is, most eloquent and having worldly wisdom. And we shall find the word of the holy initiators prevailing over them too; and having gained their calling, they were glorified. For the boast of teachers, their crown and glory, are those saved through their enlightenment. That is why he says: “In their wealth you shall be admired.” And that the inspired preaching will lay hold of the countries and of every nation, and that the leaders of the holy churches will in due time all but become heirs of the earth under heaven, ascribing the glory to Christ, he indicates by saying: “Thus they shall inherit the land a second time.” For long ago Joshua the son of Nun allotted to those of Israel the lands of the gentiles; for they took the land of the Amorites, Idumaeans, Hivites and … of whom the Joshua of old was a type, allotted to his own sacred ministers not only Judea but the whole earth. And this has been a second allotment after the first. For the initiators and teachers divided the countries and cities among them by his vote, and to this day they rejoice in Christ, having spiritual gladness like a crown on their head. And the gladness is everlasting; for we do not expect our reward to lie in temporary things, but in a long hope and endless

life, and in good things beyond mind and word.

“For I am the Lord who loves righteousness and hates robberies from injustice; and I will give their labour to the righteous, and will make an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed shall be known among the nations, and their offspring in the midst of the peoples. Everyone who sees them will recognize them, that they are a seed blessed by God; with gladness they shall rejoice in the Lord.”

Having said, “Foreigners shall come feeding [your sheep, and … ploughmen and vinedressers]”, implying plainly that the first had been expelled and driven out of the leadership of the peoples, he shows the causes for which they suffered this by the holy sentence of him who judges justly. For since I love righteousness, he says, and hate robberies from injustice, and the presidents of the synagogue of the Jews became such, I set them aside, he says, and expelled them. For I give to others the labour of those who seize robberies from injustice. For those who grow rich unjustly, and, as the prophet says, treasure up for themselves, hand it on [to others]. So Solomon said: “Wealth gathered unjustly will be vomited up; an angel will drag him out of his house.” And again: “He who gathers his wealth with interest and increase will leave it to him who pities the poor”, and surely not to good and compassionate men, but rather to the profligate; for he spoke of such people euphemistically as those who “pity the poor”. For very many cling to those who live in profligacy, and spend with them what was heaped up unjustly with much sweat. And the inspired David sings of such people and says: “Surely in vain he is troubled; he treasures up, and does not know for whom he will gather it.” And in another way the labour, that is, the care of the scribes and Pharisees, was given to others, as is plain: “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation producing its fruits.” So those were expelled, he says, but for us who have been called from the gentiles to sacred ministry I will make an everlasting covenant; signifying by this either the preaching of the gospel or the endless hope. “And among the nations”, he says, “their seed will be known, and their offspring; everyone who sees them will recognize them, that they are a seed blessed by God.” For the sons by discipleship of the holy initiators are most well known to all, … that they have become offspring of saints by discipleship, as I said, “and that they are a seed blessed by God”; such as the communities of holy monks, of whom Paul says: “And those who are Christ Jesus' have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires”; the companies of those in virginity, who live the gentle and laborious life, and choirs full of God's blessing. These are a seed blessed by God; these rejoice and are glad in the Lord. For they take no pleasure in worldly things, but rather fill their hearts with love for Christ; and this is a saving thing, and produces every delight.

“Let my soul exult in the Lord; for he has clothed me with a garment of salvation and a tunic of gladness; he has put a turban on me as on a bridegroom, and adorned me with ornament as a bride; and as the earth that makes its flower grow, and as a garden its seeds, so the Lord will make righteousness and exultation spring up before all the nations.”

Having stretched out a bountiful hand over them and said that he will crown them with very many gifts worth gaining (“for everyone who sees them”, he says, “will recognize that they are a seed blessed by God”), and then having added, “and they shall rejoice in the Lord”, he gives them gladness at once. For this reason, very fittingly, [he brings in] the person of the church [saying]: “Let my soul exult in the Lord; for he has clothed me with a garment of salvation and a tunic of gladness.” By the tunic of gladness he means our Lord Jesus Christ. So the all-wise Paul writes to those who believed in him: “Put on our Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” And those who have him as a robe gain, besides salvation, prosperity and a long life of gladness. So the Saviour himself said: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” For he does not only save, as I said, but also gladdens with endless joy; and this is the abundance that will be added, the life for the saints. Christ, then, is the robe from heaven and from above, the tunic of incorruption; whoever receives it will be crowned with every adornment, plainly spiritual adornment, and with the boasts that come from doing good. For he will be like a bridegroom who has bound on a turban, and like a bride excelling in every adornment. For there are, there are those in Christ who are formidable and most valiant in spiritual manliness, and very rich besides in comeliness of every form of virtue. And they are like brides too, because they are fruitful and have a varied beauty, as in the brightness of the virtues. So one of the holy prophets said, showing those who lead the pure life to be fruitful: “Because of your fear, Lord, we conceived in the womb and were in labour and brought forth a spirit of salvation, which we wrought upon the earth.” So the saints are to be likened to bridegroom and bride because of their strength and, besides that, their fruitfulness; but see this: in every way it belongs to them to excel as in beauty. And this is kept in them both in bearing the choice fruits of noble deeds and in manfully mastering the passions. And that when Christ shone on the nations righteousness and exultation crowned the earth under heaven like some flowering grass, he showed by saying: “As the earth that makes its flower grow, and as a garden its seeds, so the Lord will make righteousness and exultation spring up before all the nations.” By this he seems to name our Lord Jesus Christ himself as what has sprung up or risen, the seed and the flower before the nations; for he said in the Song of Songs: “I am the flower of the plain, the lily of the valleys”; or [he means] the gospel and saving preaching, and its justification, which surpasses that according to the law, and which rejoicing, that is, exultation, follows wholly and surely. For those who have wholly accomplished it will be allotted by God a long life of delights.

For they will hear Christ, the Saviour of us all, saying: “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will set you over many. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” And the exultation could also be understood in another way, as the saving proclamation. [For the law …] having …: for anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses; but the gospel brings us life and the promise of rewards, and a true hope of the good things that are beyond the mind.

“For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until my righteousness goes forth as light, and my salvation burns like a torch. And the nations shall see your righteousness, and kings your glory; and he shall call you by your new name, which the Lord will name. And you shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a diadem of kingship in the hand of your God.”

In these words he calls the church Zion; … the divine disciples, and those who were called through them to the knowledge of Christ, and before the others those of the blood of Israel. For the remnant has been saved, and very many of them have believed. So “I will not rest”, he says, that is, I will not cease from the duty of bringing to completion what I have promised to Zion. And the God and Father promised salvation through Christ to Jews and Greeks, since “God is one”, as the all-wise Paul says, “who will justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith. For he is not the God of the Jews only, but of the gentiles too.” So “I will not rest”, he says, “until my righteousness goes forth as light, and my salvation burns like a torch.” Christ appeared to those on earth and became righteousness and salvation; for he justifies and saves, being himself the true light, and like a torch in darkness. So he himself said: “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” For all things had been seized by mist and darkness, since the devil blackened the hearts of all; and there was no one who did good and knew righteousness, that is, the road that leads to being saved. Nor was there anyone who had the divine light in his mind and could behold with the eyes of the understanding who is God by nature and in truth, the maker and Lord of all. But when the Saviour rose like light and shone out like a torch, the world under heaven was at last enlightened; and he says to the church, the one from the flock of the Jews, while the multitude of the nations had not yet been gathered in the net: “The nations shall see your righteousness, and kings your glory.” Here again he says that the righteousness, and the glory too, are nothing other than our Lord Jesus Christ.

For we have been justified in him, and have been enriched with the glory that comes from him. For we have become his, and are called his lot. We have been placed under his yokes and sceptres, having washed off the greed of the one who tyrannized over us. And that, departing from the worship according to the law and, as it were, changing to the newness of the gospel life, she will put off her old name too, and will thenceforth be renamed with a new name, as seems good to the God who is over all, he shows by saying: “He shall call you by your new name, which the Lord will name.” For she is no longer called synagogue, but rather the church of the living God, his city and house. The divine David too remembers her, speaking thus: “Glorious things have been spoken of you, city of God.” That she will be very comely and crowned with incomparable beauty he teaches by saying: “You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a diadem of kingship in the hand of your God.” For each holy soul, and all together the church, that is, the assemblies of the saints, must be likened to a crown woven of many flowers, or to a royal diadem [set with] Indian stones …; for very many are the noble deeds of the saints, and the kind of their boasts is not one but many and various. And so the divine David presents the church of Christ clothed in raiment of gold and adorned with many colours. And “in the hand of the Lord”, he says, that is: I will cover you under the shelter of my hand. And Christ himself somewhere says of his own nurslings, that is, of the flock of those who have believed in him: “No one will snatch them out of my Father's hand.”

“And you shall no longer be called forsaken, and your land shall not be called desolate; for you shall be called My Will, and your land Inhabited.”

… [the wrath] which he has often shown against the synagogue of the Jews will at last cease and come to an end; he will make her desired, and besides this fruitful too, and will show her crowned with the multitude of believers. For Zion, having rejected our Lord Jesus Christ, was given over to desolation, and the multitude of those who disbelieved perished. But since the remnant accepted the faith, and then the multitude of the nations was called to it, and the two were created into one people, and one church was thenceforth formed from both, God grants her never in any way to be caught by the old evils: she will not be called forsaken or desolate, but rather will become desired by him, and will be called no longer desolate but rather inhabited. And we see this brought to fulfilment in the events themselves. For we see the churches that lie everywhere in fair weather and calm, the believers always spreading into a multitude beyond measure, and God well pleased with them. Persecutions have indeed been stirred up from time to time, but not for long; they were cut short, and trained the saints rather than wronged them; for these became approved through endurance and patience, having won the crown of true loyalty to Christ and been enriched with the glory of martyrdom.

“And as a young man lives with a virgin, so your sons shall dwell with you; and as a bridegroom will rejoice over a bride, so the Lord will rejoice over you.”

Then he addresses the church as having been formed in the beginning from the Jewish ranks. Its sons according to the flesh were the divine disciples; they were in it as excelling the others and leading them, holding apostolic dignity, yet keeping toward it the utmost love and affection, so that the tender love they showed it seemed such as is shown to one joined to a man from her virginity; and they say that those who are all but bound fast by such a bond come to the height of all tender love. So the all-wise Paul says: “I have sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart for my brothers …” And he prayed even to become accursed for them. But a great renewal of things is signified by the prophecy before us, and a change worth wondering at; for the old synagogue is likened, in its age too, to a young woman: “For your sons”, he says, “shall dwell as with a virgin.” And this, I think, is what is sung in the Psalms: “Your youth will be renewed like the eagle's.” They have dwelt in her, leading her by the hand as a nurse, exhorting her as a mother, [drawing her away from] the shadows and types …, that she must choose the truth instead of the useless shadow. The divine David too said something like this to her: “In place of your fathers sons have been born to you.” For those who were her sons according to the flesh became her fathers, being the first of her new children, plainly of those called through faith to the knowledge of Christ, the Saviour of us all. This being so, he says: “So the Lord will rejoice over you, just as a bridegroom over a bride.” For the only-begotten Word of God came down from heaven to make fruitful the church, which he presented to himself as a pure virgin, having no spot or wrinkle, but rather holy and blameless. So, having received from him the seeds of the gospel way of life, she has conceived and given birth, no longer to the worship through blood and smoke, but rather to that in which above all the beauty of the truth is carved. For this reason, very fittingly, he rejoices, seeing the types of the law transferred into the truth of the gospel, and the bride shining with spiritual sacrifices and with good deeds truly worthy of saints.

“And upon your walls, Jerusalem, I have set watchmen all day and all night, who will never keep silent, remembering the Lord. For there is none like you.”