Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He foretells that, just as the Assyrians plundered Samaria and Galilee, so also Christ will plunder the same spiritually; whence a wondrous light will shine upon them and great joy: for a little child is born to us, whose name is God, Mighty, etc. Secondly, in verse 9, he returns to his own times, and threatens Syria and Samaria with disaster and destruction on account of their crimes.
Vulgate Text: Isaiah 9:1-21
1. In the former time the land of Zebulun was lightened, and the land of Naphtali: and in the latter time the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, was grievously afflicted. 2. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light: to those dwelling in the region of the shadow of death, a light has risen for them. 3. You have multiplied the nation; You have not increased their joy. They shall rejoice before You as those who rejoice at harvest, as victors exult when they have captured the spoil, when they divide the plunder. 4. For You have overcome the yoke of their burden, and the rod of their shoulder, and the scepter of their oppressor, as in the day of Midian. 5. For every violent plunder with tumult, and every garment mixed with blood, shall be for burning and fuel of fire. 6. For a little child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is placed upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God, Mighty, the Father of the World to Come, the Prince of Peace. 7. His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom He shall sit, to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and justice, from henceforth and forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall accomplish this. 8. The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it fell upon Israel. 9. And all the people of Ephraim shall know, and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in the pride and greatness of heart: 10. The bricks have fallen, but we will build with squared stones; they have cut down the sycamores, but we will replace them with cedars. 11. And the Lord shall raise up the enemies of Rezin against him, and shall turn his enemies into tumult: 12. Syria from the East and the Philistines from the West: and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. In all these things His anger is not turned away, but His hand is still stretched out. 13. And the people did not return to Him who struck them, and they did not seek the Lord of hosts. 14. And the Lord shall cut off from Israel head and tail, the one who bows down and the one who holds back, in one day. 15. The aged and honorable, he is the head; and the prophet who teaches falsehood, he is the tail. 16. And those who call this people blessed shall be seducers; and those who are called blessed shall be cast down headlong. 17. Therefore the Lord shall not rejoice over their young men, and shall not have mercy on their orphans and widows: for everyone is a hypocrite and wicked, and every mouth has spoken folly. In all these things His anger is not turned away, but His hand is still stretched out. 18. For wickedness has been kindled like a fire; it shall devour the brier and the thorn; and it shall be kindled in the thicket of the forest, and shall roll upward in the pride of smoke. 19. By the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is troubled, and the people shall be as fuel for the fire: no man shall spare his brother. 20. And he shall turn to the right and shall be hungry; and he shall eat on the left and shall not be satisfied; each one shall devour the flesh of his own arm: Manasseh against Ephraim, and Ephraim against Manasseh, and together they against Judah. 21. In all these things His anger is not turned away, but His hand is still stretched out.
Verse 1: In the Former Time the Land of Zebulun Was Lightly Afflicted
1. IN THE FORMER TIME THE LAND OF ZEBULUN WAS LIGHTENED. -- He continues what he said in the preceding chapter, verse 3, that a child would be born who would be a swift plunderer of Samaria, both corporally and spiritually: for he touches upon two corporeal devastations of Samaria by the Assyrians, and through them represents two spiritual plunderings of the same carried out by Christ. Hence the Syriac and Arabic versions connect these with the end of the preceding chapter. The sense therefore is, as if to say: First there was lightened, that is, lightly despoiled and afflicted with a light blow, a part of Samaria: namely, the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali (being the outermost, through which the Assyrians had to pass to reach the other tribes) were conquered by Tiglath-Pileser king of the Assyrians.
AND IN THE LATTER TIME (that is, afterwards, then) IT WAS MADE HEAVY -- that is, it was afflicted with a heavier blow and devastation by Shalmaneser, who captured the whole of Samaria and the remaining ten tribes and transferred them to Assyria.
But the Prophet does not stop here, as many of them maintain, but only hinting at this sense in passing, alluding to and briefly touching upon it, he understands principally: Then He plundered the same more heavily, especially Galilee of the Gentiles, when continually preaching there (not only by Himself, but also through the Apostles), He snatched many from idolatry and the dominion of the devil.
That this is the meaning is clear first, from what follows: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light," etc. Second, from St. Matthew, who explicitly quotes this passage and applies it to Christ preaching in Galilee. Third, because according to this meaning the type corresponds perfectly in all respects to the antitype, namely the plundering of Samaria by the Assyrians to the spiritual plundering by Christ.
Verse 2: The People Who Walked in Darkness
THE WAY OF THE SEA. -- Zebulun and Naphtali are called "the way of the sea," that is, the seacoast, or rather the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, says St. Jerome.
BEYOND THE JORDAN. -- This way or shore of the sea was on this side of the Jordan; it is nevertheless said to be beyond the Jordan with respect to Jerusalem.
OF GALILEE OF THE GENTILES -- so the Roman edition. It can be translated "Galilee of the Gentiles," as Matthew 4:15 renders it.
2. THE PEOPLE WHO WALKED IN DARKNESS (the people of Galilee, the people of Zebulun and Naphtali, dwelling in the darkness of unbelief) HAVE SEEN A GREAT LIGHT -- namely Christ and His preaching. This great light is Christ, who says: "I am the light of the world."
Verse 3: You Have Multiplied the Nation
3. YOU HAVE MULTIPLIED THE NATION, YOU HAVE NOT MAGNIFIED THEIR JOY. -- Second and genuinely, others refer these words to the time of Christ; for of Him He said: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light," as if to say: You, O God, who sent Christ as a great light to the Galileans, have also, by His preaching, multiplied the nation, that is, You have multiplied and increased the number of believers through the conversion of the Gentiles.
Note: The Septuagint, the Chaldean, and more recent scholars, for lo with aleph, that is "not," read lo with vav, that is "for him." Hence they translate: You have multiplied the nation, and You have increased the joy for it.
St. Bernard aptly applies these words to the multitude of Clerics, in his sermon On Conversion to Clerics: "Even if You have multiplied the nation, You have not increased the joy."
THEY SHALL REJOICE BEFORE YOU, AS THOSE WHO REJOICE IN THE HARVEST -- as if to say: Nevertheless the Galileans, as well as Jews and Gentiles converted by Christ and the Apostles, shall rejoice before You with the greatest joy.
Verse 4: The Yoke of Their Burden
FOR THE YOKE OF THEIR BURDEN -- He aptly compares the victory of Christ to the victory of Gideon, by which he liberated Israel, in Judges 7, by slaying the Midianites; because, as Origen teaches, in this Gideon was a type of Christ in many ways.
Second, Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress: in Christ's hand is the winnowing fan, that He may purge His threshing floor. Third, Gideon offered a sacrifice of the flesh of a kid and flour: Christ offered Himself as an immaculate kid. Fourth, the Midianites oppressed the people of God with servitude: the devil and his opposing powers oppressed the human race. Fifth, Gideon summoned to his aid the house of Abiezer, that is, "my father's help"; Christ was accustomed to invoke and pray to the Eternal Father. Sixth, Gideon gathered forces from Asher, Naphtali, and Zebulun: did not from these same tribes the first soldiers and leaders of Christ come forth? Seventh, Gideon placed a fleece on the threshing floor to catch the dew: the dew, as St. Augustine shows, is faith and the word of God, and these were first held by the Jews. Eighth, afterwards, when the fleece was dry, the dew passed to the whole threshing floor: so the word of God and faith passed to the people of the Gentiles.
Ninth, Gideon dismissed many from his army: first, all the fearful and timid: so Christ rejects as cowardly soldiers and unworthy disciples those who do not take up their cross. Tenth, there were three hundred with Gideon, so that by this very number they might indicate the hundredfold fruit to be tripled through Christ. Twelfth, someone saw a barley cake rolling and overturning the enemy camp. What is this cake of bread other than the most holy Eucharist, which under the humble species of bread contains the body and power of Christ? Thirteenth, burning lamps in earthen vessels were given to Gideon's soldiers: so the Apostles, as St. Paul writes of himself, had the treasure of the Evangelical light in earthen vessels. Fifteenth, the Midianites slaughtered each other in mutual carnage: so also the enemies of Christ, the Jews, perished more by internal discord and seditions than by the Roman sword.
Verse 5: For Every Violent Plundering with Tumult
5. FOR EVERY VIOLENT PLUNDERING WITH TUMULT -- Fifth, and genuinely, because he gives the reason why he said: "You have overcome as in the day of Midian." The sense therefore is, as if to say: Just as Gideon burned all the garments bloodied with the blood of the Midianites, so Christ by His preaching and death burned and destroyed all the weapons and armaments of the devil and the world.
Verse 6: For a Child Is Born to Us
6. FOR A CHILD IS BORN TO US. -- Behold, this is the victor and plunderer, the cause of the victory just described, of whom in chapter 8, verse 4, and chapter 7, verse 14, he said: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel."
Note: The phrase "a child is born to us" is virtually the same as what he adds, and out of elegance and the delight of love he repeats: "And a son is given to us." "To us" -- to the human race, as a brother and a Savior.
St. Augustine beautifully says, in Sermon 27 On the Seasons, speaking of Christ being born: "The great day of the Angels becomes small in the day of men. The Maker of all days is born, the Word is made flesh."
AND THE GOVERNMENT IS UPON HIS SHOULDER -- as if to say: This little child will be, indeed will be born, a prince, king, and emperor of the world, lord of heaven and earth. Furthermore, he says this government is upon His shoulder; first, because magistrates, or their attendants in their place, carry rods or fasces on their shoulders. But principally, the government is upon the shoulder of Christ because Christ bore His cross upon His shoulder; and from the cross He earned and obtained His kingdom.
Hear among others Tertullian, in his book Against the Jews: "Who at all among kings bears the standard of his power on his shoulder, and does not wear a diadem on his head, or carry a scepter in his hand, or bear some proper mark of dignity? Only the new King of the ages, Christ Jesus, raised upon His shoulder His new glory and power and authority -- namely, the cross."
AND HIS NAME SHALL BE CALLED, WONDERFUL. -- Six names are here given to our little Emmanuel: the first is Wonderful; the second, Counselor; the third, God; the fourth, Mighty; the fifth, Father of the Age to Come; the sixth, Prince of Peace.
Hear St. Bernard, in Sermon 10 among the lesser sermons, briefly explaining each of these: "He is Wonderful in His birth, Counselor in His preaching, God in His working, Mighty in His passion, Father of the Age to Come in His resurrection, Prince of Peace in our eternal beatitude."
WONDERFUL. -- In Hebrew it is pele, that is, wonderful, marvelous. By this word the Prophet signifies that in Christ are hidden inestimable treasures of marvels. Second, because wonderful is His power and working, and especially the creation and governance of the whole universe. Third, and properly, because wonderful was His incarnation and birth from a Virgin. Fourth, because wonderful is His grace in His saints, martyrs, confessors, and virgins.
COUNSELOR. -- The Septuagint, according to the Roman edition, translates: Angel of Great Counsel. Emmanuel is a Counselor first, because He was the counselor of the Eternal Father from eternity, being His eternal Wisdom and Word. Second, Emmanuel is a Counselor as man, on account of His beatific knowledge, by which from the first instant of His conception He most perfectly beheld in God all things past, present, and future. Third, and most properly, He is a Counselor because He most prudently and faithfully carried out the counsel and dispensation of God's economy concerning the redemption and salvation of the human race.
Finally Haymo says: Christ is the Counselor because from Him proceeds every sound counsel, and especially the counsels of chastity, poverty, and the other Evangelical counsels.
If therefore you are stuck in doubt, wavering, not knowing what to do, what to choose: go to the Angel of Great Counsel. If you are of small courage, of depressed spirit, go to the Counselor.
GOD. -- In Hebrew it is el, that is, God as strong and invincible, who will easily overcome all difficulties, finish all wars, and rout the enemies.
MIGHTY. -- In Hebrew it is gibbor, that is, powerful, a strong man like a giant, and, as Vatablus translates, a mighty hero.
FATHER OF THE AGE TO COME. -- First, because Christ established the future age, that is, the future Christians, for a new and Evangelical life. Second, because Christ, rising after His passion and ascending into heaven, opened the gate of heaven for us; and by suffering and dying merited for us the resurrection and eternal life.
PRINCE OF PEACE. -- This is a name of Christ even by the consensus of the Rabbis; hence His type was Solomon, that is, the peaceful king. Third, because He has established our borders as everlasting peace, both here and in heaven. Fourth, because He Himself is the author and giver of that interior peace which the consciences of the just enjoy. Fifth, because He is in every respect rich and blessed, the richest of the rich and the most blessed of the blessed, who enriches and blesses His own with heavenly gifts.
Verse 7: His Empire Shall Be Multiplied
7. HIS EMPIRE SHALL BE MULTIPLIED. -- He had said that the child to be born would be the Prince of Peace: now he gives the reason for what he said, because of the greatness of His empire and the endlessness of His peace.
AND OF PEACE THERE SHALL BE NO END. -- Neither the empire nor this peace is to be understood as anything other than spiritual, which consists in tranquility of conscience and in the security of eternal salvation.
UPON THE THRONE OF DAVID. -- This throne of Christ and kingdom is likewise not so much earthly as spiritual, by which Christ reigns in the Church through His vicars the Popes.
THE ZEAL OF THE LORD OF HOSTS SHALL DO THIS. -- It is an epiphonema, or concluding exclamation, of all the preceding. "Zeal" is the divine love of mankind, or that most ardent love with which God loved the human race and wished to save it through the incarnation, passion, and death of His Son.
Verse 8: The Lord Sent a Word into Jacob
8. THE LORD SENT A WORD INTO JACOB, AND IT FELL UPON ISRAEL. -- The Prophet has mixed together from chapter 7 to this point the despoiling of Samaria by the Assyrians and the spiritual despoiling by Christ: now he returns to the temporal despoiling and to the Assyrians, threatening the Samaritans with destruction.
Verse 9: And All the People of Ephraim Shall Know
9. AND ALL THE PEOPLE OF EPHRAIM SHALL KNOW -- as if to say: The arrogant Ephraimites, that is, the Samaritans, are accustomed to mock and hiss at these threats and prophecies of mine: but they shall know by experience that I have prophesied truly.
Verse 10: The Bricks Have Fallen
10. THE BRICKS HAVE FALLEN, BUT WE WILL BUILD WITH SQUARED STONES: THEY HAVE CUT DOWN THE SYCAMORES, BUT WE WILL REPLACE THEM WITH CEDARS. -- It is a double proverb meaning: We will replace what has been destroyed with something better and more magnificent. That is to say, the Ephraimites boast that the devastation by Tiglath-Pileser will not harm them, for they will rebuild more magnificently.
Note: The sycamore, says Dioscorides, is a large tree, with leaves like a mulberry but otherwise similar to a fig, except that it produces its fruit not on branches but from the trunk itself.
Verse 11: The Lord Shall Raise Up the Enemies of Rezin
11. AND THE LORD SHALL RAISE UP THE ENEMIES OF REZIN (as if to say: God will make the enemies of Rezin, king of Syria, namely the Assyrians, superior and victorious over Israel).
12. IN ALL THESE THINGS HIS ANGER IS NOT TURNED AWAY (not of the king of the Assyrians, but of the Lord God: because through this devastation by the Assyrians the Lord's anger against Israel was not yet satisfied).
Verse 14: The Lord Shall Cut Off Head and Tail
14. AND THE LORD SHALL CUT OFF FROM ISRAEL HEAD AND TAIL -- the highest and the lowest. For he calls the elders and nobles the head, and the false prophets the tail.
THE ONE WHO BOWS DOWN AND THE ONE WHO RESTRAINS. -- The Hebrew is "branch and rush"; for branch in Hebrew denotes what bows down, and rush what is restrained. The one who bows down therefore is the spread-out branch, which bends itself: and by this there is proverbially denoted the elder, the ruler, the powerful. The rush, thin and mean, proverbially denotes the lowest of the people, or the false prophet.
The false prophet is called the tail. First, because he is the most vile. Tropologically, St. Jerome says: "By calling them a tail, he shows that heretics are not men but beasts, which use this member to protect their dung and to ward off flies."
16. AND THOSE WHO ARE CALLED BLESSED SHALL BE CAST DOWN HEADLONG -- into death and captivity.
Verse 17: The Lord Shall Not Rejoice over Their Young Men
17. THEREFORE THE LORD SHALL NOT REJOICE OVER THEIR YOUNG MEN -- as if to say: Offended by this flattery and falsehood of the false doctors and prophets, and by the hypocrisy and wickedness of the people, God will not even have pity on the most miserable persons, such as orphans and widows, whom He usually protects with special care, because all are wicked and every mouth has spoken folly.
Note: God is said to rejoice over, or in, a people when the people obeys God's precepts, and for this reason God does good to them; but He is said to grieve over sinners when He punishes them.
Verse 18: For Wickedness Is Kindled Like a Fire
18. FOR WICKEDNESS IS KINDLED LIKE A FIRE. -- He compares the wickedness of Israel, spreading far and wide and dominating, to a fire destroying everything, as if to say: The wickedness of the Israelites, like a raging fire, will consume everything -- first the briers and thorns, that is, the lowest people; then the thicket of the forest, that is, the nobles and powerful.
IT SHALL BE WRAPPED IN THE PRIDE OF SMOKE. -- In Hebrew: they shall raise themselves according to the raising of smoke, as if to say: Their pride, like smoke, will rise up and fill everything; but like smoke it will quickly vanish and be dispersed.
Verse 19: By the Wrath of the Lord the Land Is Troubled
19. BY THE WRATH OF THE LORD OF HOSTS THE LAND IS TROUBLED. -- He shows the material prepared and the cause of the conflagration, as if to say: As God's indignation increases on account of the wickedness of the Israelites, so the calamities heaped upon them also grow. No man shall spare his brother -- so great will be the rage and cruelty, as well as the famine, of the people that a man will not spare even his own brother.
Verse 20: Each One Shall Devour the Flesh of His Own Arm
20. EACH ONE SHALL DEVOUR THE FLESH OF HIS OWN ARM; MANASSEH AGAINST EPHRAIM -- that is to say: Each one will despoil his sons, brothers, and all his neighbors of their goods and property.
MANASSEH AGAINST EPHRAIM -- one tribe against the other. He names these two because they were full brothers, namely sons of Joseph born of the same mother, between whom therefore there should have been the greatest charity.
TOGETHER THEY AGAINST JUDAH -- as if to say: The Ephraimites and the Manassehites, who formerly were at odds with each other, rushing into mutual hatred, will then unite against Judah and together make war upon it.
21. BUT HIS HAND IS STILL STRETCHED OUT. -- This is the third repetition of this verse, by which he passes to Judah alone, as if to say: You have seen the punishments of Israel; now hear those of Judah, which follow in the next chapter.