Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He continues the birth from the virgin prophetess and the origin of Emmanuel. Hence he is commanded to write in a book his name: Swiftly strip the spoils, Hasten to plunder. Secondly, in verse 6, he threatens the unbelieving with the Assyrians, whom nevertheless he announces will soon perish. Thirdly, in verse 11, he warns them not to fear the conspiracy of Rezin and Pekah, but the Lord of hosts. Fourthly, in verse 19, he threatens destruction to those who trust not God but soothsayers, and consult them.
Vulgate Text: Isaiah 8:1-22
1. And the Lord said to me: Take for yourself a large tablet, and write on it with the pen of a man: Swiftly strip the spoils, hasten to plunder. 2. And I took for myself faithful witnesses, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Barachiah: 3. and I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. And the Lord said to me: Call his name, Hasten to strip the spoils: Make haste to plunder. 4. For before the child knows how to call his father and his mother, the strength of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of the Assyrians. 5. And the Lord spoke further to me, saying: 6. Because this people has rejected the waters of Shiloah, which flow in silence, and has taken up rather with Rezin and the son of Remaliah: 7. therefore behold, the Lord will bring upon them the strong and abundant waters of the river, the king of the Assyrians and all his glory: and he shall rise over all his channels and flow over all his banks, 8. and he shall pass through Judah, flooding and overflowing, reaching even to the neck. And the stretching of his wings shall fill the breadth of your land, O Emmanuel! 9. Assemble yourselves, O peoples, and be defeated; and hear, all you distant lands: gird yourselves and be defeated, arm yourselves and be defeated: 10. Take counsel together, and it shall be brought to nothing; speak a word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us. 11. For thus said the Lord to me: As with a strong hand He instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12. Do not say, Conspiracy; for all that this people speaks of is conspiracy: and do not fear their fear, nor be in dread. 13. The Lord of hosts, Him shall you sanctify: let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. 14. And He shall be to you a sanctification. But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to the two houses of Israel; a snare and a ruin to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15. And many of them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be ensnared, and be captured. 16. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. 17. And I will wait for the Lord, who hides His face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for Him. 18. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel, from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19. And when they say to you: Inquire of mediums and of diviners, who chirp in their incantations: Should not a people inquire of their God? On behalf of the living, should they consult the dead? 20. To the law rather, and to the testimony. If they do not speak according to this word, there shall be no dawn for them. 21. And he shall pass through it, and shall fall and be hungry: and when he is hungry, he shall be angry and shall curse his king and his God, and shall look upward. 22. And he shall look to the earth, and behold, tribulation and darkness, dissolution and anguish, and pursuing gloom, and he shall not be able to fly from his distress.
Verse 1: Take Yourself a Large Tablet
God commands Isaiah to write on a large parchment that could be rolled into a cylinder (for such were the books of the ancients: hence elsewhere they are called a "scroll") in large letters these five words: "Swiftly strip the spoils, hasten to plunder," and this,
WITH THE PEN OF A MAN -- that is, with a reed pen, or stylus, and consequently in the characters and letters commonly used among men, that is, openly and clearly, so that they could be read and understood by all. Hence the Chaldean translates it as "clear writing"; and this firstly, so that this writing might be a public testimony of this prophecy and promise, by which, if it should be found false, it could be convicted of falsehood; but if it should be found true, as it certainly will be found, it might obtain authority, fame, and veneration among all. Secondly, so that it might be transcribed for future ages, indeed for eternity. All these things happened not in reality, but through a vision, as will soon be evident; which vision, however, was to be publicly set before all, and to be recorded for posterity by Isaiah in this book and chapter. And this was symbolically signified by the pen of a man and the witnesses employed, etc.
SWIFTLY STRIP THE SPOILS, HASTEN TO PLUNDER. -- Isaiah will hear the cause and mystery of this writing explained to him in verses 3 and 4; for in verse 3 he saw that this would be the name of the child about to be born, and this for the reason we shall hear in verse 4.
Verse 2: And I Took for Myself Witnesses
2. AND I TOOK FOR MYSELF WITNESSES -- namely, of the writing, or rather of the approach to the prophetess, about which he continues, and this so that through witnesses I might authentically record and preserve all these things for future ages. These witnesses also were employed by Isaiah not in reality but through a vision, as I shall show in verse 3.
URIAH THE PRIEST, AND ZECHARIAH THE SON OF BARACHIAH. -- These witnesses were men of gravity and beyond all exception; indeed they appear to have been Prophets, to whom the same thing was revealed that is here revealed to Isaiah, and who prophesied the same things about Christ. Hence they were shown to Isaiah through a vision, as were the things that follow: just as in the Transfiguration of Christ, Moses and Elijah were witnesses, to signify that the Law and the Prophets bore witness to Christ and found their fulfillment in Him. So say St. Cyril and Basil. For Uriah, being a priest, was a teacher of the Law in the manner of Moses; Zechariah was a Prophet in the manner of Elijah.
Who this Uriah was, as well as Zechariah, is uncertain. Some wish this Zechariah to be the one who is the last among the minor Prophets: for both were sons of Barachiah, and that one, just like this one, joyfully foretold the birth of the Messiah and the redemption of mankind, although long after Isaiah (namely after two hundred years, for he prophesied after the Babylonian captivity was ended), about which more shortly.
But St. Jerome thinks this Zechariah was that priest who, with others under Hezekiah, purified the house of God that had been profaned by Ahaz, II Chronicles 29:13. There was a third Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, but he had been dead for a hundred years, killed by King Joash, who was the grandfather of Uzziah. Finally, he could have been someone else unknown to us, yet known and famous in Isaiah's time, who had a father named Barachiah, just like that last of the Prophets.
Furthermore, this Uriah appears to some to have been the High Priest, at that time indeed a faithful man, but who after this prophecy -- that is, after Damascus was conquered by the Assyrians -- out of fear of King Ahaz, at his command erected an altar to idols after the rite of the Damascenes and Gentiles, IV Kings 16. But how would God have called and employed such a man -- so fickle, timid, and inconstant -- for such great matters, as a faithful witness, when he was so unfaithful to God and so easily turned from faith in God to idols?
Others, perhaps more plausibly, think this Uriah was that Prophet who lived long after Isaiah in the time of Jeremiah, and predicted many evils that would befall the two tribes, and was therefore killed by King Joakim, as Jeremiah testifies in chapter 26, verse 20. The same scholars think that Zechariah the son of Barachiah, Isaiah's other witness, was the Zechariah who is last among the minor Prophets, about whom I spoke a little before. For since these witnesses were presented to Isaiah through a vision, it is no wonder if those not yet born but about to be born are cited: for to God, all future things are present. And God did this firstly, so that Isaiah by this prophecy might confirm the future prophecy of Uriah and Zechariah, and they in turn might confirm Isaiah's prophecy, now past, by their own oracles. Secondly, because this prophecy of Isaiah embraces two things chiefly: namely the calamities threatening the Jews, which Uriah copiously foretold, and the future liberation through the coming and birth of the Messiah, which Zechariah joyfully sang of in chapter 2, verse 10: "Praise and rejoice, O daughter of Zion," and chapter 9, verse 9: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion." This is the opinion of St. Chrysostom, Procopius, the Chaldean, and R. Akiba as cited by Galatinus, book VII, chapter 16.
Verse 3: And I Went to the Prophetess
3. AND I WENT TO THE PROPHETESS, AND SHE CONCEIVED. -- The Rabbis, followed by Richard of St. Victor, book I, On Emmanuel, chapter 8; St. Thomas, St. Chrysostom, Sixtus of Siena, Vatablus, Isidore Clarius, Forerius, and Montanus, understand this prophetess to be Isaiah's wife, to whom Isaiah went by knowing her, who thereupon conceived and bore a son, to whom Isaiah the father gave the name: "Hasten to strip the spoils, make haste to plunder"; so that this son by his name might portend to the Jews that Syria and Samaria would soon be despoiled and exposed as plunder for the Assyrians, as Isaiah had predicted in the preceding chapter, verse 16. Hence he adds about him: "For before the child knows how to call his father, the strength of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria shall be taken away," that is to say: Before this child is three or four years old so that he can speak and call his father and mother, the Assyrians will despoil Syria and Samaria. They prove that this happened in this way, since this prophecy appears to have been uttered at the beginning of the reign of Ahaz, who began to reign in the 17th year of Pekah king of Israel. Now Pekah reigned only 20 years, and at the end of Pekah's reign, Tiglath-Pileser king of the Assyrians devastated many cities of Samaria and transferred their inhabitants to Assyria, IV Kings 15:29. Therefore Samaria began to be devastated when this son of Isaiah had not yet completed his third year. For Ahaz reigned contemporaneously with Pekah for only three years.
Furthermore, they assert that this son of Isaiah was a type of Christ our Emmanuel, who quickly despoiled the kingdom of the devil. And therefore the mother of this son is called a prophetess: partly because she was the wife of the Prophet Isaiah, just as formerly the wife of a bishop was called a bishopess; of a priest, a priestess; of a deacon, a deaconess -- one who had been his wife before ordination, for after ordination, bishops, priests, and deacons were required to abstain from their wives and live celibately according to the Canons; partly because this wife was pious and devoted to prayer, and perhaps taken from the community of virgins who served God in the temple, just as from the same community Joseph received as wife the Blessed Mary; partly because she perhaps truly had the prophetic spirit; and finally because she was a type of the Blessed Virgin, who was truly a prophetess.
But St. Jerome, Cyril, Basil, and the Chaldean here, R. Haccados as cited by Galatinus, book VII, chapter 18; Procopius, Rupert, St. Augustine, book XVII of The City of God, last chapter; Epiphanius, Heresy 78; Eusebius, book VII of the Demonstration, chapter 2; Ambrose on chapter 1 of Luke, at verses 41 and 44, and many other ancients and moderns reject this sense as crude and Jewish, indeed base and obscene, as well as Calvinist, and explain this passage of the conception of the Virgin and the birth of Emmanuel.
First, because as he began to treat of the Virgin and Emmanuel in the preceding chapter, so he continues to do in this chapter and the following.
Second, because in verse 8 he calls this child Emmanuel: for he says, "And the stretching of his wings shall fill the breadth of your land, O Emmanuel!" -- words which cannot apply to a son of Isaiah.
Third, this child is the same as the child in the preceding chapter, verses 13 and 16; for what he says there: "For before the child knows how to reject evil and choose good, the land which you detest shall be abandoned before the two kings" -- here he says of the same child in almost the same words, verse 4: "For before the child knows how to call his father and his mother, the strength of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria shall be taken away, before the king of the Assyrians." Now that child in the preceding chapter cannot be understood as a son of Isaiah (who was not yet born at that time, indeed Isaiah had not yet made any mention of him; for in this chapter he is said to be conceived), but as Emmanuel or Christ, as is evident from what immediately precedes: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel." Therefore in this chapter too, no other child can be understood than Emmanuel.
Fourth, because the Seventy in verse 4 say that this child will despoil Samaria. For where we have, "the strength of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria shall be taken away," they translate: he will receive the strength of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria -- which can properly apply to Christ alone, and to a son of Isaiah only improperly.
Fifth, because the preceding explanation does not sufficiently cohere with the words of the Prophet and with the history. For the kingdom of Samaria was overthrown in the 6th year of Hezekiah, when this child of Isaiah would have long since known how to call his father and mother -- for he would then have easily been 16 years old -- the contrary of which Isaiah asserts here.
The prophetess is the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was a prophetess: not only broadly, because she was the leader and queen of virgins consecrated to God; but also properly, because she foretold the future, as in her hymn Magnificat she foretold this: "All generations shall call me blessed" -- which we see being fulfilled and verified everywhere even today. Secondly, she was a prophetess because she bore the supreme Prophet of the world, namely Christ. Thirdly, because in her was accomplished that great mystery of godliness, namely that a virgin should conceive and bear for us Emmanuel, as I said in the preceding chapter; for he alludes to this.
So that all these things may be better connected and understood, note that all this did not happen in reality, but was presented to Isaiah through imagination and vision. And so, just as in chapter 6 Isaiah through a mental vision saw God on a throne and the Seraphim crying "Holy" to Him, and one of them with a burning coal touching his lips, so also here he saw not corporally but mentally a large tablet, on which he seemed to himself to be writing with the pen of a man, "Swiftly strip the spoils," and mentally he employed Uriah and Zechariah as witnesses of his writing. And when Isaiah did not understand what this writing meant, God signaled to him that he should approach a certain venerable matron and prophetess, whom He presented to his imagination. Therefore Isaiah seemed to himself to approach her, and to see that she conceived and bore a son, to whom he was commanded to give that name which he had been ordered to write in the tablet, namely: "Hasten to strip the spoils: Make haste to plunder." Immediately he learns the cause and mystery hidden in this name, when he hears: "For before the child knows," etc.
Symbolically, St. Jerome and Origen take the prophetess to mean the Holy Spirit; for ruach, that is, "spirit," is feminine in Hebrew. For Christ was conceived and born of the Holy Spirit. He is called Prophetess because from Him the Prophets drew and conceived their prophecies, according to the saying: "Come to Him, and be enlightened." This sense is somewhat forced; for the Holy Spirit did not conceive and give birth to Christ, which is what Isaiah asserts here about the prophetess.
Verse 4: Call His Name, Hasten to Strip the Spoils
CALL HIS NAME, HASTEN TO STRIP THE SPOILS. -- "Call," that is, proclaim that this child will be such that he may rightly be so called; for in fact this name was not given to Christ, but another, namely Jesus. See Canons XXXVII and XXIX.
Note: Isaiah is commanded to call Christ by two names that mean the same thing: first, "Hasten to strip the spoils"; second, "Make haste to plunder," so that the certain and great swiftness of this plundering may be signified, as if to say: You, O Child, O Christ! will be the swiftest plunderer; You will most quickly snatch us, who were the spoils of the devil, from him to Yourself, and You will convert and pervade the world like lightning. This is what Paul says of Christ: "Stripping principalities and powers, He made a public display of them, openly triumphing over them in Himself," Colossians 2:15.
Exact chronologists note that these things about the Virgin who would bear Emmanuel were predicted by Isaiah in the 3rd year of Ahaz, or at the beginning of the 4th year; and that the things he predicts in this chapter 8 pertain chiefly to the 4th year of the reign of Ahaz, and began to be fulfilled in it. For from IV Kings 16 and II Chronicles 28, it is established that in this 4th year, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria transferred the Naphtalites and a great part of Samaria into Assyria. Pekah also was killed by Hoshea, who seized the kingdom and was the last king of Samaria, overthrown with his kingdom by Shalmaneser in the 9th year of his reign, which was the 6th of Hezekiah.
Therefore Calvin grossly errs when here at verse 16 he affirms that Pekah perished in the 12th year of Ahaz, and that Hoshea then succeeded him: for from what has been said it is established that these things happened eight years before, namely in the 4th year of Ahaz.
Isaiah therefore here predicts five plunderings. First, that as an antitype of this liberation of Judea from Rezin and Pekah and of the plundering of Samaria and Syria, Emmanuel newly born will free Judea and the Church from the tyranny of Herod and Obodas; and He will begin to plunder when He calls the three Magi, previously unbelievers, guided by a star from Damascus, that is from the East, with their riches and treasures, to His cradle and manger, so that they might offer to Him as their King and Lord gold, frankincense, and myrrh, which they had previously offered to idols and to the devil.
Second, from Damascus and Samaria, that is from the kingdom of the devil, He will take away the innocent little ones, to be killed by Herod out of hatred for the little king born, whom this little king in His cradle will crown with the crown of martyrdom. So says Irenaeus, book III, chapter 48.
Third, this little one, still in His mother's arms, fleeing Herod and entering Egypt, will there break the idols -- as tradition holds He in fact did, about which see below chapter 19, verse 1.
Fourth, this little one will bring the light of faith to the shepherds, whom He will call through an Angel to His manger, likewise to Simeon, Anna, and other elect ones, when He is presented in the temple.
Finally, before He is born, He will put to flight unbelief, sin, and the devil from the hearts of many; through the grace and faith of Himself, as the one and only mediator, He will cause all the Saints, both in the law of nature and the Mosaic law, to conquer the devil through His merits foreseen, which God in His foreknowledge had already accepted and rewarded. So says St. Athanasius, book On the Incarnation of the Word, chapter 1. You see therefore how this little one began to despoil and plunder from the womb, indeed even before the womb.
Note: Fittingly the kingdom of Damascus and Samaria represents and signifies the kingdom of sin and the devil. First, because these kingdoms were impious and unfaithful, and full of crimes. Second, because these kingdoms were hostile to the kingdom of Judah and David, that is, to the people and temple of God. Third, because they worshipped idols, and consequently the devil.
TO CALL HIS FATHER. -- For Christ called Joseph father, not only because the common people thought him to be the father of Christ, but also because he truly was the father of Christ in this sense: that Christ, born to him in his lawful marriage with the mother of God, although through a miracle, in a certain divine manner, and given to him by God as a son.
Tropologically, the infant Christ at His very birth began to conquer Damascus and Samaria, that is, the strength, wisdom, and glory of the world, and He subdued the world in His manger as well as on His cross -- not by iron, but by wood; not by striking, but by suffering. For what else was the birth of our new King and His coming into the world without arms, without troops, without servants, and without any military or royal equipment, but the overthrow of the world's vain strength and ostentation, which glories in such things? He conquered then these powers of the world by contempt of them, and taught that true Christian strength and victory consist not in these things, but in pure religion toward God and obedience, in brave patience, in the loftiness and constancy of a spirit that transcends all human things -- for this is unconquerable and subjugates all things. This is what St. Paul says in I Corinthians chapter 1, verse 20: "God has made foolish the wisdom of this world"; and verse 27: "The foolish things of the world God has chosen, to confound the wise; and the weak things of the world God has chosen, to confound the strong; and the ignoble things of the world and the contemptible God has chosen, and the things that are not, to destroy the things that are."
Verse 5: And the Lord Spoke Further
5. AND THE LORD SPOKE FURTHER TO ME, SAYING. -- All these things pertain to the same prophecy and were foretold at the same time; indeed, even those things which are recounted in the following several chapters.
Verse 6: Because This People Has Rejected the Waters of Shiloah
6. BECAUSE THIS PEOPLE HAS REJECTED THE WATERS OF SHILOAH, WHICH FLOW IN SILENCE. -- Note first: Shiloah is a spring at the foot of Mount Zion, which does not flow continuously but at uncertain hours and days, says St. Jerome; it bubbles up with a sound, then falls silent, that is, hides itself underground, and is carried through channels to the pool of Siloam, whence through pipes it is derived silently and gently into the royal gardens and irrigates them. Hence Shiloah is called in Hebrew as if "Sent," John 9. Again, Shiloah is also called Gihon, by which name the Nile too is called in Hebrew.
You may ask: Who is this people who despised the waters of Shiloah? St. Jerome, St. Thomas, and others answer that it is the ten tribes who separated themselves from Shiloah and Judah. Better, St. Cyril, Procopius, Forerius, and others think it was the two tribes, who, when they saw themselves afflicted with so many calamities by Rezin and Pekah, many of them seeing the smallness of their own numbers and despairing of the help of God promised through Isaiah, were contemplating defection from Ahaz and from the scepter of the family of David -- which was like the waters of Shiloah, modest and gently flowing -- and were thinking of submitting to Rezin and Pekah, and receiving as king the son of Tabeel, whom Rezin and Pekah had destined for them.
To these therefore Isaiah threatens the king of the Assyrians, Sennacherib, whom he compares first to the overflowing Euphrates River -- for thus he with his abundance of soldiers overwhelmed Judea; second, to a great eagle that overshadows much land with the spread of its wings.
Allegorically and principally, Shiloah is Christ, gentle, meek, and led like a lamb to the slaughter: for He was sent and dispatched by the Father, from whom He proceeds in hidden silence as God in heaven, and as man through the Virgin on earth. Again, Christ is Shiloah, that is, the fountain of water springing up to eternal life. The Jews despised Him and called upon Rezin, saying: "We have no king but Caesar"; therefore Assyria, that is, Titus and the Romans, destroyed them. So say St. Cyril, Basil, and Eusebius, book VII of the Demonstration, chapter 2.
THE WATERS OF SHILOAH, WHICH FLOW IN SILENCE. -- Hence symbolically, the waters of Shiloah became proverbial, and through them are signified rest, confidence, and the secure tranquility of the soul; and to rest securely in His help promised by me, you were unwilling to do, imitating the silence of your spring Shiloah; therefore God will send upon you not the gentle and silent waters of Shiloah, but the strong and roaring waters of the Euphrates, that is, the Assyrians, who will flood and destroy your region.
Note here the quiet and silence of Christ, who, in order to lead us to silence both of mouth and heart, kept silent until the age of 30, and likewise during the time of His Passion. For when He was accused as a capital offender: "But Jesus kept silent," to fulfill that saying: "Like a lamb before its shearer He will be silent, and will not open His mouth." Hence Climacus says: "The silence of Jesus was a source of wonder and reverence to Pilate"; and St. Bernard, sermon 1 On the Epiphany: "O humility, virtue of Christ, how greatly you confound the pride of our vanity! I know some small thing, or rather I seem to myself to know, and already I cannot be silent." Rivers that flow calmly and silently are the deepest: so hearts that are silent are of deep wisdom. "The deepest rivers glide with the least sound," says Quintus Curtius.
Verse 7: The Strong Waters of the River
7. THE STRONG WATERS OF THE RIVER (the waters of the Euphrates, that is, the forces of the Assyrians. Hence, explaining, he adds): THE KING OF THE ASSYRIANS -- because Ahaz, oppressed by Rezin and Pekah, neglecting the help of God and the prophecies of Isaiah, was thinking of imploring the help of the Assyrians; hence God threatens -- indeed, certainly predicts -- that the same will be a scourge and devastator to him.
AND IT SHALL RISE (the river Euphrates just mentioned) OVER ALL ITS CHANNELS -- its own, that is to say: The waters of the Euphrates, that is, the forces of the Assyrians, will flood and occupy not only Babylonia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, and other regions adjacent to the Euphrates and its various tributaries, but thence, as if breaking forth in a flood, they will inundate and overwhelm Judea. This was accomplished by Sennacherib, who in the time of Hezekiah the son of Ahaz devastated a great part of Judea.
Verse 8: It Shall Reach Even to the Neck
8. IT SHALL REACH EVEN TO THE NECK. -- The head of Judea was Jerusalem, the neck was the cities neighboring it, all of which the Assyrians and Sennacherib occupied. Jerusalem alone, though besieged, escaped under God's protection and was not captured by him, as is evident below in chapter 30 and IV Kings 18.
Secondly, and more simply: "It shall reach even to the neck" is a proverb signifying that Judea would be in the utmost danger of its head and life, that is, of its kingdom and destruction. For had not God through an Angel struck down 185,000 Assyrians, Jerusalem and Judea would have been overthrown by them. It is a metaphor from flooding and swelling waters, rising to the necks of men: for if they should rise a little further, they would overwhelm their heads and drown them.
AND THE STRETCHING OF HIS WINGS SHALL FILL THE BREADTH OF YOUR LAND, O EMMANUEL! -- Sennacherib is called an eagle; his wings are his military forces. These would fill the land of Emmanuel, that is, Judea, in which Emmanuel was born and reigned, and reigns in the house of Jacob and David forever. Note: When he says, "O Emmanuel!" it is an exclamatory apostrophe to the child about to be born of the prophetess and virgin, as if to say: Since You, O Emmanuel, are our leader and guardian, and are most powerful and mighty, how is it that You allow such devastation to be inflicted by the Assyrians upon us, indeed upon Your own land?
Verse 9: Assemble Yourselves, O Peoples, and Be Defeated
9. ASSEMBLE YOURSELVES, O PEOPLES, AND BE DEFEATED. -- Isaiah, who from his watchtower foresaw the strength and multitude of the Assyrian enemies and had almost been terrified, at the name of Emmanuel takes back his spirit and courage, and insults the enemies with sarcasm -- enemies, I say, both those presently at hand, Rezin and Pekah, and those soon to come under Hezekiah, namely Sennacherib and the Assyrians. That is to say: Go ahead, Syrians, Samaritans, Assyrians, fight against Jerusalem, prepare arms and machines, do whatever you can: you will accomplish nothing, but you will be conquered and slain by the Angel, because Emmanuel, that is, because God is with us. Emmanuel is our leader and protector; He is our entire hope and the cause of our victory. The same should be thought and said by the faithful when rumors of war and tribulations press upon them.
Verses 11-13: As with a Strong Hand He Instructed Me
11. AS WITH A STRONG HAND HE INSTRUCTED ME NOT TO WALK IN THE WAY OF THIS PEOPLE -- that is to say: God, by His wonderful and terrible inspiration and prophecy, by which He promises us help and threatens the Assyrians with disaster, as with a strong hand instructed, that is, corrected, and as if laying His hand on me restrained and compelled me, Isaiah, not to follow the way and counsel of the despairing people, who wished to defect from their king Ahaz to the enemies Rezin and Pekah. Indeed, He instructed and commanded me to persuade others of the same, and to say to them: "Do not say, Conspiracy," that is, do not conspire with the enemy against your king.
12. DO NOT FEAR THEIR FEAR (namely, of the hostile army of the Syrians, or of Rezin, about whom he spoke in verse 6) -- but:
13. THE LORD OF HOSTS, HIM SHALL YOU SANCTIFY. -- That is, worship and glorify Him as pious, faithful, and holy, who stands by His promises and helps His own. You will do this by hoping in Him, by committing yourselves and your affairs to Him, by pleasing Him through good works, by fearing and reverencing Him, by obeying His law and will in all things. For He is the Lord of hosts: the Angels fight for Him, the sky fights for Him, the winds fight for Him, all creatures fight for Him, by which He will most easily slay the Syrians and all your enemies like so many gnats.
Morally, learn here that God is sanctified through hope: for His goodness, power, and faithfulness are honored if we entrust ourselves and our affairs to Him, who alone puts to death and gives life, leads down to the underworld and brings back. St. Peter alludes to this, I Epistle, chapter 3, when he says: "Do not fear their fear, and be not troubled: but sanctify the Lord Christ."
LET HIM BE YOUR FEAR. -- That is, the object of your fear, namely whom you should fear, that is, revere and religiously worship. "God demands to be feared as Lord, honored as Father, loved as Spouse," says St. Bernard, sermon 83 on the Canticles.
Verse 14: And He Shall Be to You a Sanctification
14. AND HE SHALL BE TO YOU A SANCTIFICATION -- that is to say: God will sanctify those who believe and hope in Him and set them apart for Himself, and will protect them as holy and faithful and set apart for Him from every attack of enemies, and He will be for you like a sanctuary and asylum, as can be translated from the Hebrew.
BUT A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE HE SHALL BE TO THE TWO HOUSES OF ISRAEL. -- He calls the two houses or families the two kingdoms of Israel: one of two tribes, the other of ten tribes, namely Judah and Samaria. Here the Prophet turns to the impious and unbelieving, as if to say: Just as God will bring sanctification, protection, and salvation to the pious in Judah, as I have already promised, so conversely, to the impious Jews who have turned to idols, especially the inhabitants of Jerusalem, He will bring offense, ruin, and disaster.
Allegorically, St. Paul, in Romans 9:32, explains these things of Christ, who was to the Jews a stone of stumbling and a rock of scandal. See what was said there.
Verse 16: Bind Up the Testimony
16. BIND UP THE TESTIMONY, SEAL THE LAW AMONG MY DISCIPLES. -- First, our Sanchez thinks that the scroll on which Isaiah was commanded to write in verse 1, "Swiftly strip the spoils, hasten to plunder," is called here first "testimony," because it was confirmed by the witnesses Uriah and Zechariah; second, "law," that is, an edict. As if to say: I, God, commanded you, O Isaiah, in verse 1, to unfold this scroll and clearly set forth its mysteries to the people (as Isaiah has done up to this point). Now I command it to be bound up, that is, rolled up and sealed, that is, closed, because I see that the ignorant multitude will not understand it, so that it may be preserved for my disciples, who will unfold, read, and understand it. For a prophecy is said to be closed and sealed when it is obscure and to be unfolded after many ages, when it will actually come to pass late and slowly.
Secondly, Adamus thinks that "testimony" and "law" refer to this prophecy by which God through Isaiah revealed and attested His will to the Jews, and that there is a metaphor in the word "bind," taken from those who, fearing they might forget something, tie something on their hand or fingers to remind them of the matter and recall it to memory. As if to say: Even if the common people neglect these prophecies of yours, you nevertheless record them, write them down and collect them, because at least my children, that is, the disciples who believe in me, especially the Apostles in the time of Christ, will understand and observe them; for Christ will deliver and hand over to them the key of Sacred Scripture.
Verse 17: I Will Wait for the Lord
17. I WILL WAIT FOR THE LORD -- that is to say: Although the Lord may seem to have forgotten His people, and to have hidden and turned His face from them, nevertheless I will not cast away hope, but will wait for Him, even if He delays; for the Lord will have mercy on His people, and therefore some now, but in the time of Christ many more, will be converted from among them; for to that people I and my children have been given as a sign and a wonder, as follows.
AND I WILL LOOK FOR HIM. -- The Seventy, and from them St. Paul in Hebrews 2:13, translate: and I, trusting in Him, as if to say: I trust that God will now free His people from their enemies, and even more that in the time of Christ He will convert some of the Jews through Christ, namely the Apostles, who will then convert the remnants of the Jews and all nations, and so will plunder and despoil the entire kingdom of Syria and Samaria, that is, of unbelief and of the devil.
Secondly, therefore, and more truly, Isaiah speaks in the person of Christ, as a type, mouth, and voice of Christ, as if to say: Just as I, Isaiah, and my disciples and followers -- that is, other Prophets such as Ezekiel (chapter 24:24), Zechariah (chapter 3:8), and others -- because we despise riches and honors, and preach things so marvelous and so repugnant to the desires and customs of a hard and carnal people, are therefore considered as wonders and mocked as fools: so also Christ, of whom I am the forerunner and figure, with His children, that is, His Apostles, on account of the novelty of His doctrine, life, and miracles, will appear to proud Jews and Philosophers to be a wonder, a spectacle, and a laughingstock. Yet through these things many wise and pious Jews will be moved to compunction and converted, and will desire to become themselves children, that is, disciples, of Christ. For Paul explains these things of Christ in Hebrews 2:13.
Morally, Clement of Alexandria, book I of the Pedagogue, throughout chapter 5, beautifully shows how all Christians, after the manner of Christ the child, of whom Isaiah says in chapter 9, verse 6: "A little child is born to us," ought to be and be called children, on account of the soul's and character's first, innocence; second, simplicity and candor; third, gentleness and tenderness; fourth, humility. Beautifully and briefly St. Ambrose, in sermon 55: "Christian simplicity too," he says, "has its childhood. For just as a child does not know how to be angry, does not know how to deceive, does not dare to strike back: so also the childhood of Christianity is not angered at those who hurt it, does not resist those who despoil it, does not fight back against those who beat it. Finally, as the Lord commanded, it even prays for enemies, to one who takes the tunic it yields also the cloak, and to one who strikes the cheek it offers the other."
Verse 18: As a Sign and a Wonder in Israel
AS A SIGN AND A WONDER IN ISRAEL. -- What is customary does not produce an effect, say the Philosophers, especially among people hardened in their ingrained habit of sinning. Therefore God arranged that Isaiah and the Prophets, departing from the usual manner of preaching, should adopt a new, unusual, and prodigious manner of speaking, acting, and living, and become a wonder to Israel and to the world, so that by this means they might arouse, sharply strike, soften, and bend the stupefied and hardened minds of men.
Jeremiah was sanctified and consecrated a Prophet in the womb: "Before I formed you in the womb," says God in chapter 1, "I knew you; and before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you, and I appointed you a prophet to the nations."
Such a wonder of abstinence, wisdom, and governance was Daniel, who, educated in the royal court among the king's young men, abstained from the royal food and wine.
But the wonder of wonders was Christ, whose name is Wonderful, God, Mighty, Counselor, Prince of Peace, Father of the Age to Come, Angel of Great Counsel. Was not His life and teaching a wonder to the world, when He said: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst. Blessed are those who suffer persecution."
Was not the life of Christ a wonder of humility, a wonder of charity, a wonder of poverty, a wonder of the cross and austerity? The King of kings, the Lord of lords, to whom belong heaven and earth, was born in a stable, always lived as a guest, and died on a gallows. "I am a worm," He says, "and not a man: the reproach of men and the outcast of the people."
He was a wonder of love: being born I gave Myself as companion; eating with you, as food; dying, as the price of redemption; reigning, I give Myself as the reward. For you I was born, for you I labored, for you I preached, for you I was crucified. I gave Myself entirely to you; give yourself entirely to Me.
Behold, I and my children: My Apostles were a wonder to the world. Hear Paul: "Far be it from me to glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world."
Were the Apostles not a wonder? They who say: "Even unto this hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and are without a fixed abode. And we labor, working with our own hands: we are cursed, and we bless; we suffer persecution, and we endure it; we are blasphemed, and we entreat; we have become as the refuse of this world, the offscouring of all things even until now."
A wonder was St. Paula of Rome, who, born of royal blood, the noblest of Romans, leaving behind parents, children, a most distinguished family, wealth, and estates, sailed to Jerusalem, to live at the manger of the Lord in Bethlehem a Christian life -- indeed, a Religious life in humility, poverty, devotion, and love of Christ.
Such a wonder was St. Paul the First Hermit, who from the age of 15 until 113 lived in a cave, saw no human being, spoke to no one but God and Angels. Water was his drink; his food was half a loaf of bread which a raven brought him daily from heaven.
Do you want wonders of nobles and young men? Alexius, the noblest of Romans, when his wedding had been celebrated, from the very banquet and company of the nobles, parents, and bride, tore himself away. He changed his clothes and traveled the whole world like a beggar.
Do you want wonders of foolishness -- rather, of unheard-of wisdom? Simeon surnamed Salus, that is, the fool, as reported by Leontius, so affected the name and reputation of foolishness that he made himself a laughingstock to the world.
Such a wonder was St. Francis, who, dressed as a fool in his cowl and cloak, made foolish the wisdom of this world -- as great a lover of poverty as others are of riches.
And to conclude, receive the wonder of the ages, Simeon the Stylite, who, as Theodoret -- an eyewitness and Simeon's spiritual son -- narrates, being a shepherd of sheep, entered a church and heard the Gospel voice that pronounces blessed those who weep, mourn, and are pure of heart, and wretched those who laugh and are satisfied. He ascended a pillar; a chain bound his foot; his foot rotted down to the ankles. He stood continuously night and day -- in winter and summer, in rain and frost, in snow and hail, in heat and the burning sun. Thus he lived for eighty full years and died when he had passed the hundredth year of his age.
Let us also paint for eternity, let us live for eternity, and therefore let us make ourselves a wonder of constancy and fortitude, that we may be like diamonds: let no companions, no shame, no ridicule deflect us from the fear and devotion of God; but let us design in our minds great, rare, and heroic deeds of virtue, and actually accomplish them. Let us be a wonder of charity and zeal, inspired by heavenly fire (of which Christ says in Luke 12:49: "I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I desire except that it be kindled?"). May God give us many Isaiahs, may He give us Christs, Apostles, teachers, and preachers who may be wonders of the world, so that by the rare example of their lives and by fiery words they may strike, convert, and lead worldly men in their hearts to heaven. Amen.
Verse 19: Inquire of Mediums and of Diviners
19. INQUIRE OF MEDIUMS AND OF DIVINERS WHO CHIRP, etc. -- Pythons are called divining spirits, who, insinuating themselves into human bodies, utter prophecies; also the people themselves who have such spirits and familiar demons, or are seized or possessed by them. Thus the Pythia was the name of the priestess of Apollo at Delphi, who gave oracles to those who consulted her. The Seventy translate "ventriloquists," because they often spoke through the chest or belly of a person. Hence in Hebrew they are called oboth, that is, wineskins, because through the belly as through a wineskin they often gave forth dark, shrill, confused, ambiguous, and perplexing sounds.
Now the sense is, as if to say: When in these dire straits in which, O Jews, you are pressed by Rezin and Pekah, certain politicians and impious men persuade you to inquire of mediums, diviners, and magicians about the future outcome of this siege, you must freely and boldly answer what I here teach and suggest, namely: Is there not a God in Israel, from whom the people may seek a vision, that is, an oracle about the future outcome? For the salvation of the living, will they consult dead idols or damned demons, and seek from them prophecy and foreknowledge of the future?
Verse 20: To the Law Rather, and to the Testimony
20. TO THE LAW RATHER, AND TO THE TESTIMONY -- that is to say: We must rather have recourse to the law and to the ark and the mercy seat; there we shall hear the true oracle. For the law will teach us what must be done and what must be avoided, both at other times and in time of war -- namely, that not the demon but God, who sits upon the mercy seat, must be consulted.
Note: The Ark is called the testimony because it contained the law or tablets of the Decalogue, which were the testimony of the divine will; for they testified to the Jews what God wished to be done by them.
IF THEY DO NOT SPEAK ACCORDING TO THIS WORD (if the Jews answer otherwise than I here teach and command, and think that oracles about the outcome of the Syrian war should be sought from diviners and magicians, not from God), THERE SHALL BE NO DAWN FOR THEM -- that is, no truth, but they will dwell in the darkness of errors and false oracles. Secondly, "light" means joy and prosperity, as if to say: They will have nothing bright, that is, happy, pleasant, and prosperous, but all things unhappy, sad, and adverse.
Verses 21-22: He Shall Fall and Be Hungry
HE SHALL FALL AND BE HUNGRY, SHALL BE ANGRY AND SHALL CURSE HIS KING AND HIS GOD -- namely, not the light, as is evident, but she, that is, Judea -- for the Hebrews often change the subject and leave it to the reader to change and understand it from the context. HE SHALL LOOK UPWARD. 22. AND TO THE EARTH, etc. -- that is to say: Whether he looks upward to heaven or downward to the earth, he will find and behold nothing but tribulation, darkness, sadness, and misery, dissolution of the powers of body and soul, and on every side distresses pursuing him from which he cannot escape. For above he will see heaven closed and God angry and raging; below, the earth everywhere occupied by enemies. So says Sanchez.
Morally, note here the punishment of those who consult diviners. For God wills that He be consulted, not the devil; the law and Sacred Scripture, not the oracles of magicians. Thus Meroveus, the son of Chilperic king of the Franks, aspiring to the kingdom, spoke many crimes against his father and stepmother. One day he invited Gregory, Bishop of Tours, to a banquet, seeking some instruction for his soul. Gregory, opening the book of Proverbs, fell upon that passage in chapter 30, verse 17: "The eye that mocks a father, let the ravens of the torrent pluck it out." Then Meroveus consulted a sorceress in the year of Christ 580, who answered that Chilperic would die that year and that Meroveus alone, his brothers excluded, would succeed to his entire kingdom. When he narrated these things, Gregory Bishop of Tours rebuked him, saying that such things must be asked of God, for the demon is a liar.
Meroveus therefore went to the tomb of St. Martin, and placed upon it three books -- namely of the Psalter, of Kings, and of the Gospels -- and keeping vigil the whole night, he asked that St. Martin would show him what would happen to him concerning the kingdom. After three days of fasting, vigils, and prayers, he approaches the tomb and opens the book of Kings. The first verse of the page he opened was this: "Because you have forsaken the Lord your God and walked after strange gods and have not done what is right before Him, therefore the Lord your God has delivered you into the hands of your enemies." The verse from the Psalter found was this: "But truly for their deceits You have set evils for them: You have cast them down while they were being lifted up. How are they brought to desolation? They have suddenly failed; they have perished because of their iniquities." In the Gospels this was found: "You know that after two days the Passover will be celebrated, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified." Confused and weeping at these responses, he departed. Deservedly, for these things befell him: for in that same year, Meroveus, pressed by enemies, lest he fall into their hands, perished by his own hand through the machinations of Fredegund, as Gregory of Tours narrates, book V of the History of the Franks, chapters 14 and 18.
So St. Anthony, St. Francis, and others chose their state of life -- namely, to serve God devoutly in poverty and the following of Christ -- from the reading or consultation of Sacred Scripture.