Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He continues to depict the destruction of Babylon (which occurs for the sake of the Jews, that they might be freed from it), and the pride and ruin of King Belshazzar as another Lucifer, against whom accordingly, in verse 10, he introduces other kings insulting him in hell. Third, in verse 18, he predicts that his name, offspring, and memory will perish. Fourth, in verse 28, he announces disaster to the Philistines through Hezekiah.
Vulgate Text: Isaiah 14:1-32
1. Its time is near to come, and its days shall not be prolonged. For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose from Israel, and will make them rest upon their own land: the stranger shall be joined to them, and shall cleave to the house of Jacob. 2. And the peoples shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord as menservants and maidservants: and they shall take captive those who had captured them, and shall subject their oppressors. 3. And it shall come to pass in that day: when God shall have given you rest from your labor, and from your disturbance, and from the hard servitude in which
you formerly served: 4. you shall take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and shall say: How has the oppressor ceased, the tribute ceased! 5. The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the rulers, 6. who struck the peoples in indignation with an incurable wound, who subjected nations in fury, who persecuted cruelly. 7. The whole earth rested and was silent, it rejoiced and exulted: 8. the fir trees also rejoiced over you, and the cedars of Lebanon: since you fell asleep, no one comes up to cut us down. 9. Hell below was disturbed to meet your coming, it stirred up the giants for you. All the princes of the earth rose from their thrones, all the princes of nations. 10. All shall answer and say to you: You also are wounded as we are, you have become like us. 11. Your pride has been dragged down to hell, your carcass has fallen: beneath you the moth is spread, and your covering shall be worms. 12. How have you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who arose in the morning? You have fallen to the earth, you who wounded the nations? 13. Who said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit on the mount of the covenant, in the sides of the North. 14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. 15. But nevertheless you shall be dragged down to hell, to the depths of the pit: 16. those who see you shall lean toward you, and gaze upon you: Is this the man who disturbed the earth, who shook kingdoms, 17. who made the world a desert, and destroyed its cities, who did not open the prison for his captives? 18. All the kings of nations, all of them, slept in glory, each man in his own house. 19. But you are cast out of your sepulchre, like a useless branch, defiled and wrapped up with those who were slain by the sword, and who descended to the foundations of the pit, like a putrid corpse. 20. You shall have no fellowship, nor even burial with them: for you have destroyed your own land, you have slain your own people: the seed of the wicked shall never be named. 21. Prepare his sons for slaughter because of the iniquity of their fathers: they shall not rise, nor inherit the earth, nor fill the face of the world with cities. 22. And I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts: and I will destroy from Babylon the name, and the remnant, and the offspring, and the progeny, says the Lord. 23. And I will make it a possession for the hedgehog, and pools of waters, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the Lord of hosts. 24. The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying: Surely as I have thought, so shall it be: and as I have purposed in my mind, 25. so shall it come to pass: That I will crush the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains trample him underfoot: and his yoke shall be taken from them, and his burden shall be removed from their shoulder. 26. This is the plan that I have purposed upon the whole earth, and this is the hand stretched out over all nations. 27. For the Lord of hosts has decreed: and who can annul it? And His hand is stretched out: and who shall turn it back? 28. In the year that King Ahaz died, this burden was made: 29. Rejoice not, all you Philistia, because the rod of him who struck you is broken: for from the root of the serpent shall come forth a basilisk, and his seed shall be a flying fiery serpent. 30. And the firstborn of the poor shall be fed, and the needy shall rest in confidence: and I will cause your root to perish with famine, and your remnant I will slay. 31. Howl, O gate; cry, O city: all Philistia is overthrown: for from the North smoke shall come, and there is none who shall escape his army. 32. And what shall be answered to the messengers of the nation? That the Lord has founded Zion, and in Him the poor of His people shall hope.
Verse 1: Its Time is Near to Come
1. ITS TIME IS NEAR TO COME — namely, the time of the destruction of Babylon, about which the previous chapter spoke (whence the Hebrews join this verse to the previous chapter), by which destruction God had mercy on the Jews, namely by releasing them from their captivity through Cyrus, and causing that the Jews, formerly conquered, should now, with fortune reversed and the Chaldeans defeated, insult and rule over their former conquerors, as follows.
Verse 2: They shall Take
2. THEY SHALL TAKE — that is, other nations shall honorably receive the Jews, as Cyrus and Artaxerxes are known to have done, as is evident from Ezra Books I and II. Whence St. Jerome explains it thus: Many from the Gentiles, namely Medes, Persians, Babylonians, and others, invited by the example of the holy life of the Jews returning from Babylon, will come to Jerusalem, leaving their idols. And so the Jews will spiritually subject those to whom they were formerly subject; and corporally they will subject those who voluntarily submit to them, or who, pressed by poverty, sell themselves to them as menservants and maidservants.
Allegorically and more truly, all nations shall obey spiritual Israel, that is, the Church of Christ.
Verse 4: You shall Take up this Parable
4. YOU SHALL TAKE UP THIS PARABLE. — He calls it a "parable," that is, a parabolic, elegant, and extraordinary song, a canticle and a taunt (for this is what the Hebrew mashal signifies), which is, as it were, the mournful and pathetic epitaph of Babylon.
How has the oppressor ceased? — It is a beautiful vivid description of the tyrannical rule by which the Chaldean kings burdened and exhausted other nations with harsh tributes and burdens. Whence he adds: "The tribute has ceased," in Hebrew madheba, that is, tributary gold, says Vatablus. Others translate: the golden one has ceased, or the gold-producing one, that is, the one full of gold and proud, or greedy and avid for gold. Wherefore others translate: the collector of gold has ceased.
Verse 8: The Fir Trees also Rejoiced over You, and the Cedars
8. THE FIR TREES ALSO REJOICED OVER YOU, AND THE CEDARS. — He metaphorically compares the princes and kingdoms of the nations to fir trees and cedars; and the king of Babylon to a lumberjack or feller, as if to say: Kings and princes who had been subdued, afflicted, and harassed by the king of Babylon, rejoiced when Babylon was destroyed and its king slain, just as trees naturally, as it were, rejoice if the woodcutter or feller of them dies. Wherefore, rejoicing, they said what follows.
Verse 9: Hell Below Was Disturbed
9. HELL BELOW WAS DISTURBED. — It is sarcasm, or hostile mockery of the slain king of Babylon, and a poetic fiction, says St. Jerome, by which the Prophet only wishes to signify that hell, that is, the inhabitants of hell, especially the former princes and tyrants, marveled at the fall of the king of the Chaldeans, and mocked and ridiculed him. Similar to this device are the dialogues of Lucian, in which Alexander, Mausolus, and other princes are mocked by the dead.
Furthermore, by "hell" understand both hell and the tomb: for to the former glory of the king he opposes the squalor of burial, to past delights he opposes the decay and putrefaction of the corpse, to former splendor and elegance he opposes moths and blankets of worms. The sense, therefore, is: Just as when a prince is conquered and captured in war, other princes come to meet him, out of curiosity, wonder, and mockery; so to you, O Nebuchadnezzar! or rather to you, O Belshazzar! when you were slain by Cyrus and descended to hell, there came to meet you princes and giants, that is, heroes and mighty and terrible men already dead and placed in hell, especially those whom you had previously stripped of their kingdom or even their life; these mocked you and insulted you, saying: Behold, you are wounded and slain just as you wounded and slew us; you have descended to hell, just as we have. Come then, O our prince! Take the first — that is, the lowest and worst — place in hell: we yield it to you, we offer it to you, as our conqueror, indeed our monarch. For thus when a king arrives, all the princes rise, invite him to sit, and escort him to the first place, as if to the royal throne.
Note: These things apply more to Belshazzar than to his father Nebuchadnezzar; for Nebuchadnezzar lived gloriously, died and was buried, and transmitted the kingdom to his descendants. But Belshazzar was shamefully defeated and slain by Cyrus, and in him the royal line failed, and the city and monarchy of the Babylonians were destroyed, Daniel 5:30-31. Add that many scholars probably affirm that Nebuchadnezzar did not descend to hell, that is, to Gehenna, but was saved, as I said at Daniel 4:34.
From what has been said it is clear that Leo de Castro unsuitably, indeed wrongly, understands these things of Christ crucified, as if this Lucifer were Christ, who descended in body to the tomb and in soul to hell, and as if the demons had mocked Him as one dead and overcome by death. Leo cites Eusebius, Book X of the Demonstration, last chapter, but in vain and incorrectly, as also many others. For Eusebius there says nothing other than that demons and Lucifer came to meet Christ descending to hell, about whom Isaiah says: "How have you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer? Hell below was disturbed, etc., your pride has been dragged down to hell (to the tomb, and also properly to hell)," in Hebrew geonecha, that is, your glory; as the Septuagint and Chaldean translate; likewise your pomp, haughtiness, arrogance, as our translator and others render it.
Verse 11: Your Carcass has Fallen
11. YOUR CARCASS HAS FALLEN — it was cast out like a dead dog or ass, which, thrown on a dung-heap, either rots there or is devoured by dogs and wild beasts. So it is said of King Jehoiakim, Jeremiah 22:19: "He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, putrefied and cast out beyond the gates." The translator read for hemiath, that is, sound, with different vowel points, hemit, that is, he killed — namely God or Cyrus — that is, it was killed, it fell. Again he read niblatecha, that is, your carcass: but now they read nebalecha, that is, your nebel. Whence Vatablus and others translate: with the sound of your harps; or, as the Chaldean has it, the noise of your musical praise; or as the Septuagint, your great joy; as if to say: Your glory, your feasts and banquets, O Belshazzar! in which you refreshed yourself with music and sounding harps, have failed; they were taken away as you died and descended to hell.
BENEATH YOU THE MOTH IS SPREAD, AND YOUR COVERING SHALL BE WORMS — that is, dead kings are accustomed to be covered and adorned with golden carpets and tapestries; furthermore, Assyrian kings, as Strabo testifies in Book XVI, and Babylonian kings, as Herodotus testifies in Book I, were accustomed after death to be embalmed with ointments and spices, so that they would not smell bad and decay, but would be preserved for a long time, smelling sweet. But you, O Belshazzar! slain in the tumult of the people, shall have none of these things, but shall lie among the corpses of the slain, covered with gore and worms, which will be born from your putrid body and from those of the other slain; that is, your corpse shall rot and become food for worms, just like the rest.
Let the proud, the soft, and the delicate take note of this: for what else do they do by fattening the body than prepare a sumptuous feast for worms, who will gnaw and devour the fat with which they fatten themselves? Piously and wisely, a certain young man recently, scorning the accustomed allurements of the flesh and the world, became a Capuchin, and when afterward visited by a companion who said: Alas! how pale, how emaciated you have become in the Order! He replied: This is my care, this is my concern — to consecrate and exhaust my fat and blood to God by abstinence and mortification: for I do not wish to fatten a body soon to die for the worms, so that they may feast on it; I do not wish to prepare fodder for earthworms; I do not wish to be the caterer and dinner of toads.
So that worldly man whom our Platus mentions, Book III On the Good of the Religious State, last chapter, when he was living a soft life in delights and would allow no word to be spoken to him about conversion; a certain Religious man, courteously visiting him, at last on departing said: Do you know what your bed will be after death? What your coverings? Isaiah will teach you, saying: "Beneath you the moth is spread, and your covering shall be worms." This verse so stung him that he could turn over nothing else in his mind except those worms and those moths: indeed, even when he tried to wipe away this troublesome memory with various games and the consolations of his companions, he profited so little that rather it was fixed more and more deeply. Wherefore, reflecting on this — if the very thought of that punishment was so intolerable, how much more intolerable would the punishment itself be — he finally surrendered to God, and consecrated himself to Him in the Religious life.
Finally, Blessed Peter Damian excellently teaches, Book VII, Letter 19 to Blanca, near the end, that flesh nourished more delicately in life stinks more than others when dead; and he confirms this with the example of the Marchioness Sophia, Duchess of Venice, who, having recently died at that time, exhaled an intolerable stench, because she had nourished her body too delicately.
Symbolically, St. Athanasius, in the Sermon on the Passion and Cross of the Lord, says: Beneath Satan corruption is spread, so that, since by the Passion of Christ he is as if dead, that is, weakened and enfeebled, no one should fear him; but all should worship Christ, and through Christ the Father.
Verse 12: How Have You Fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, who Arose in the Morning?
12. HOW HAVE YOU FALLEN FROM HEAVEN, O LUCIFER, WHO AROSE IN THE MORNING? — For "Lucifer" the Hebrew is helel, which can be translated as "howl"; whence Aquila translates: howl, son of the dawn. So also the Syriac. But others everywhere translate it as "Lucifer."
You will ask, first, who is this "Lucifer"? First, Leo de Castro, as I said, takes it of Christ, as if this were the voice of demons mocking Christ crucified and dead. Second, Origen, Eusebius, Ambrose, Athanasius, and the ancient Fathers generally, whom Leo de Castro cites, understand these things literally of the fall of the devil from heaven. Third, St. Cyprian, Letter 55 to Cornelius, understands Lucifer as the Antichrist.
Fourth, and genuinely, St. Jerome, Cyril, Basil, St. Thomas, Haymo, and St. Augustine, Book III of On Christian Doctrine, chapter 37, understand by Lucifer the king of the Chaldeans: for this is the burden of Babylon and of its king, which he has been treating throughout chapters 13 and 14.
Moreover, although St. Jerome and others understand Nebuchadnezzar by Lucifer, who like another Lucifer arrogated divinity to himself and wished to be worshipped as God in the golden statue which he erected, Daniel 3:1; nevertheless it is more truly the case that Belshazzar is understood here by Lucifer, as I said. Calvin petulantly and ignorantly here criticizes the Church for calling the prince of demons Lucifer. For he says: It was an even grosser ignorance that they pretended Lucifer was the king of the devils, and that this name was given to him by the Prophet. But since these inventions have absolutely no plausibility, let us dismiss them as empty fables.
For all the Fathers and interpreters teach that by Lucifer here the prince of demons is understood; and that by catachresis the king of the Chaldeans is called Lucifer, for the reason I shall soon give. For to whom do the things said here about Lucifer apply, if not to the prince of demons? Such as: "You who said: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will be like the Most High," etc. Therefore Isaiah gives this name of Lucifer properly to the prince of demons, and metaphorically to Belshazzar.
You will ask, second, why Belshazzar is called Lucifer: whether because he was similar to the star Venus, which is called Lucifer and Hesperus? or because he was similar to the devil, who was called Lucifer? I answer first that he is called Lucifer because he was similar to the star Venus. For the Prophet says: "How have you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who arose in the morning?" In Hebrew it is "Lucifer, son of the dawn," that is, Lucifer, who with the dawn and from the dawn seemed to be born, as it were, a son. Whence the Septuagint translates Lucifer as heosphoros, that is, the dawn-bearer, who shines in the dawn and, as it were, brings it. Hence also the Arabic Alexandrian version has: How has the star of the dawn (or the star of the dawn's eruption) fallen from heaven, rising at daybreak? For from this, this star is called in Hebrew helel, in Latin Lucifer, in Greek heosphoros, because in the morning it brings the first light and dawn to the world; the same star is called Hesperus and Vesperugo, because it brings evening and night: for just as in the morning at dawn it precedes the rising sun, so in the evening it follows the setting sun.
Wherefore this star represents the image of both fortunes and conditions, namely of dark and adverse fortune, when it follows the setting sun and is called Hesperus; and of favorable and bright fortune, when it precedes the rising sun and is called Lucifer. Hence Zophar says to Job, chapter 11:17: "A brightness like that of noon shall rise for you at evening: and when you think yourself consumed, you shall rise like Lucifer." For, as Boethius sings:
And he who at the first hour of night Drives the chill hours as Hesperus, Again changes his accustomed reins, Paling as Lucifer at Phoebus's rising.
Hence also Virgil, in Book VIII of the Aeneid, compares the splendid Pallas to the morning star, which first catches the rays of the sun and thereby shines, when he says: Pallas himself, in the midst of the column, Conspicuous in his cloak and painted arms; As when Lucifer, bathed in Ocean's wave, Lifts his sacred face to heaven.
Wherefore, just as Horace compares Julius Caesar to a star, saying: The Julian star shines Among all others: so the most beautiful bride in the Song of Songs is compared to the dawn and the morning star, chapter 6: "Who is she, he says, who comes forth like the rising dawn?" And Ecclesiasticus chapter 50, verse 6, says of Simon the son of Onias: "Like the morning star in the midst of a cloud, etc., so he shone in the temple of God."
Belshazzar, therefore, is here called "Lucifer," first, because he had an illustrious and splendid empire, so that his brightness, majesty, and splendor seemed to be not so much earthly as heavenly and starlike. Second, because he was a monarch, and among men and kings he stood out and shone like Lucifer among the stars, says Cyril. For this is what the Poet sings of Lucifer or Hesperus: Hesperus, who shines in heaven, a fire more pleasing, that is, a most pleasing star: for the ancients believed the stars to be fiery. Again, the course of Lucifer is coeval with the sun, firm and perpetual; as if to say: As incredible as it is that the morning star should fall from heaven, so incredible it seemed that Belshazzar could be cast down from his royal throne, his eminence, majesty, and glory.
Third, because, just as the morning star first shines, and then with the arrival of the sun disappears; so the first was the monarchy of the Babylonians, which soon vanished with the arrival of Cyrus, that is, the sun: for Cyrus in Persian means the sun, says Herodotus. Fourth, because the Chaldean kings had light and fire, which they worshipped as a god, carried before them, as though they themselves were suns and gods, preceded by the morning star. The Roman Emperors later imitated the same practice; for they had fire carried before them, as Herodian attests, because fire is a symbol of sovereignty, prosperity, power, and glory. So Holofernes, as the Septuagint has it, Judith chapter 10, last verse, when he went out to Judith in the vestibule, torches preceded him as a mark of honor: for the sun had already risen, so that he did not need torches for light. For this reason the Chaldean kings were the first to place on their heads a crown adorned with rays, so as to present the appearance of the radiant sun. Hence also they wished to be called and greeted by the name of the Sun, as Cyrus was called, as if to say "sun." So by God the son of Manoah was called Samson, that is, "little sun" — a small sun, who shone from heaven upon the Hebrews like a salutary sun amid the darkness of the afflictions by which they were oppressed by the Philistines, and by his strength dispelled and drove them away.
Belshazzar, therefore, is called "Lucifer" because a blazing fire preceded him, making him splendid with a rayed crown like the sun; just as the morning star precedes the sun, says Sanchez. Fifth, because, just as the morning star rising at dawn becomes Hesperus at sunset, so also Belshazzar; as if to say: How is it that you, O Belshazzar! who in your rising shone like the morning star, have now in your setting been turned into Hesperus, indeed have fallen, as it were, from heaven to earth?
for this is the burden of Babylon and of its king, which he has been treating throughout chapters 13 and 14. Moreover, although St. Jerome and others understand Nebuchadnezzar by Lucifer, who like another Lucifer arrogated divinity to himself and wished to be worshipped as God in the golden statue which he erected, Daniel 3:1; nevertheless it is more truly the case that Belshazzar is understood here by Lucifer, as I said.
Wherefore St. Bernard aptly says, Sermon 3 on the Vision of Isaiah, chapter 5: "Why, he says, do you hasten to rise in the morning like Lucifer? Why do you boast above the stars, among which you sometimes seemed to shine more brightly? Your boasting will be altogether brief: the Sun of Justice follows, whom you boasted with vain pretense to be, by whose heat and splendor alike you shall be reduced to nothing and utterly perish. How much better was John the Baptist as Lucifer, who, preceding the Sun of Justice, Christ, strove more to burn than to shine? It would have been good for you to be a fire-bearer rather than a light-bearer." How then, O Lucifer! have you become a night-bearer, indeed a gallows-bearer? How have you fallen from heaven into filth, from the highest to the lowest, from life to death, from glory to Gehenna? See the same St. Bernard, Sermon 17 on the Song of Songs, which is entirely about the casting down of Lucifer.
I say, second, that Belshazzar is also compared to Lucifer, that is, the devil: for the devil was called Lucifer because he shone with grace and glory in heaven, like the star called "Lucifer"; but through his fall he became dark like Hesperus. For Belshazzar imitated the pride of Lucifer, and therefore, punished with a similar penalty, he descended to hell: for a descent of a star does not fit here.
Therefore with a poetic device he vividly depicts here the fall of the devil, and beneath it, as a type, he understands literally the fall of Belshazzar, as is customary in parables.
I assert, therefore, that just as in parables there is, first, the truth of the parable itself or of the history or matter that is narrated parabolically; and second, there is the truth of the thing signified by the parable, which second truth is the literal sense of the parable itself: so in this device the pride and fall of Lucifer is described like a parable, but through it the pride and fall of Belshazzar is literally understood. That this is the sense, the context itself teaches, and the Fathers unanimously, such as St. Augustine, Ambrose, Cyprian, Tertullian, Athanasius, and others, whom Arias Montanus cites here. Christ alluded to this, Luke 10:18, saying: "I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven."
Mystically, here is signified the mystical ruin of the devil, which occurred at the dawn, that is, at the beginning of his creation and of the world. Whence the Syriac has: How have you fallen from heaven? Howl, in the morning you fell; and the Arabic Antiochene: How have you fallen from heaven upon the earth at the dawn, in the morning you fell?
Moreover, Christ took away from him his dominion over men and over the Church. Hence it is said in Scripture that that accuser of the brethren has already been cast out, and bound with chains by Christ; indeed Forerius thinks this is the literal sense of this passage.
Verse 13: I will Ascend Into Heaven, I will Exalt my Throne Above the Stars of God
13. I WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN, I WILL EXALT MY THRONE ABOVE THE STARS OF GOD. — St. John Damascene, Book II of On the Faith, chapter 4, thinks this proud demon was created in the air and placed over earthly things: "I will ascend into heaven."
Second, St. Jerome thinks Lucifer was created in the firmament, and from there wished to ascend into the empyrean heaven: "Either he was saying these things before he fell from heaven; or after he fell from heaven. If he was still placed in heaven, how did he say: I will ascend into heaven? But because we read: The heaven of heaven belongs to the Lord; when he was in heaven, that is, in the firmament, he desired to ascend into heaven, where God's throne is — not with humility, but with pride. But if he speaks these words after he fell from heaven, we must understand his arrogance, that even after being cast down he does not rest, but still promises himself great things; not to be among the stars, but above the stars of God."
But the common opinion is that Lucifer and all the angels were created in the empyrean heaven. So, from Strabo and Bede, the Master of the Sentences, Book II, distinction 2; Janilius, at the beginning of the Hexaemeron; Hugo, Summary of the Sentences, treatise 3, chapter 1; St. Thomas, Part I, Question LXI, article 4, and others.
For explanation, therefore, note: Just as in parables some things more apply, indeed apply only to the letter, that is, to the parable itself; and some things apply more to the reality signified by it: so also it happens here. For it is fictionally represented in parabolic fashion that the star Venus, which was in its own heaven, desired to ascend into the highest heaven above all the stars; because it was worshipped as a deity by the Saracens.
Hear St. Jerome in the Life of St. Hilarion: "Hilarion, he says, arrived at Elusa on that very day when the anniversary festival had gathered the entire population of the town in the temple of Venus. Now they worship her on account of Lucifer, to whose cult the Saracen nation is devoted." And Theodoret, in the History of the Fathers, chapter 26, attests that Simeon Stylites converted the Ishmaelites from the worship of Venus to the worship of Christ: "Breaking their idols and renouncing the orgies of Venus (for from time immemorial they had received the worship of this demon), they receive the divine Sacraments." Hence also Mohammed in the Quran prescribed for his followers the worship of the star they call Cubar, that is, of Lucifer.
Therefore this star is fictionally represented as having desired divinity, because namely Lucifer, that is, the devil, desired the heaven of divinity and equality with God, and wished to ascend into it: so also the king of Babylon, like another Lucifer, was not indeed so insane as to wish literally to fly into heaven; but he aspired to the highest throne of glory, majesty, and even divine honor, which is properly heaven: for he wished to be regarded and worshipped as God; whence, explaining, he adds: "I will be like the Most High," as if to say: I will be worshipped by men with the same honor and reverence with which God is worshipped in heaven. For this and nothing else is the meaning of all these parabolic and hyperbolic exaggerations.
For tyrants wishing to be worshipped as gods, and subsequently as the sole god, and therefore abolishing all other gods, were in reality invading God's very throne, and wishing, as it were, to ascend into heaven and to dislodge God from His throne, or at least to sit with Him on the same throne. With a similar hyperbole Callimachus says: He touched the earth with his feet, and Olympus with his head. Whom Virgil imitated: He walks on the ground, and hides his head among the clouds. And Horace: With my sublime head I shall strike the stars. And Seneca: Touching the lofty sky with his proud head. How truly Timon said: Man is a bag most full of vain ambition.
St. Thomas adds that the Gentiles were so vain and foolish that they believed princes and heroes after death were transported among the stars, or numbered among the heavenly gods; as Hercules, Castor, Pollux, and others are said to have been placed and fixed in the sky.
Finally, the swollen spirit of tyrants was so continually puffed up and exalted, and from exaltation so demented and foolish, that they boasted, indeed believed, they could rule over the sea, the winds, and the sky. For Scripture reports this of Antiochus, 2 Maccabees chapter 9:8: "He who, it says, seemed to himself able even to command the waves of the sea, filled with pride beyond human measure, and to weigh the heights of mountains in a balance, etc., and who shortly before thought he could touch the stars of heaven — him no one could bear because of the intolerable stench." So Belshazzar here, impious and insane, says: "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds," as if to say: I will rule over the stars and clouds, from there I will hurl thunderbolts and lightning, I will be Jupiter the Thunderer on high.
He had heard from the captive Hebrews that God had led them by a pillar of cloud, and had often appeared to Moses in a cloud. Whence David sings of Him, Psalm 103: "Who makes the cloud Your chariot." Wherefore St. Chrysostom, Homily 2 on Acts, calls the cloud the vehicle of God. Hence also Christ, ascending into heaven as God, was carried there on a cloud. Therefore Belshazzar here arrogated to himself the same heaven.
So the swollen Pharaoh said: "The river is mine, and I made myself," Ezekiel 29:3. So the Emperor Diocletian, after his triumph over the Persians, forgetful of human mortality, wished to be worshipped as God and to be regarded as the brother of the Sun and Moon: whence in his presence men reverently prostrated themselves on the ground and kissed his feet. Accordingly his pride was sharply punished by God: for his whole body swelled up, then, variously bursting open, he slowly wasted away, so that his blasphemous tongue brought forth a mass of worms within his very jaws, which, crawling from his mouth, filled the entire dwelling-place with the worst stench. Finally, barking like a dog, he breathed out his wicked soul. So Nicephorus, Book VII, chapter 20; Sigonius, Book I of On the Western Emperors, year of our Lord 297.
Thus, for example, in Lamentations 2:1, Jerusalem laid waste by the Chaldeans is said to have been cast down from heaven to earth. With an exactly similar device Ezekiel, chapter 28, under the type of the angel Cherub, describes the glory and fall of the king of Tyre: for he was, as it were, another Cherub; so also Belshazzar was, as it were, a second Lucifer. See Canon XXII. So Virgil says: "Another Achilles is already born for Latium," namely Turnus, and again: Then there will be another Tiphys, and another Argo to carry: "Argo" means any ship; "Tiphys" means any helmsman and pilot.
Wherefore St. Bernard aptly says, Sermon 3 on the Vision of Isaiah, chapter 5: "Why, he says, do you hasten to rise in the morning like Lucifer? Why do you boast above the stars, among which you sometimes seemed to shine more brightly? Your boasting will be altogether brief: the Sun of Justice follows, whom you boasted with vain pretense to be, by whose heat and splendor alike you shall be reduced to nothing and utterly perish. How much better was John the Baptist as Lucifer, who, preceding the Sun of Justice, Christ, strove more to burn than to shine? It would have been good for you to be a fire-bearer rather than a light-bearer." How then, O Lucifer! have you become a night-bearer, indeed a gallows-bearer? How have you fallen from heaven into filth, from the highest to the lowest, from life to death, from glory to Gehenna? See the same St. Bernard, Sermon 17 on the Song of Songs, which is entirely about the casting down of Lucifer.
I say, second, that Belshazzar is also compared to Lucifer, that is, the devil: for the devil was called Lucifer because he shone with grace and glory in heaven, like the star called "Lucifer"; but through his fall he became dark like Hesperus. For Belshazzar imitated the pride of Lucifer, and therefore, punished with a similar penalty, he descended to hell: for a descent of a star does not fit here.
Therefore, with a poetic device he vividly depicts the fall of the devil, and beneath it, as a type, he understands literally the fall of Belshazzar, as is customary in parables. I assert, therefore, that just as in parables there is, first, the truth of the parable itself or of the history or matter that is narrated parabolically; and second, there is the truth of the thing signified by the parable, which second truth is the literal sense of the parable itself: so in this device the pride and fall of Lucifer is described like a parable, but through it the pride and fall of Belshazzar is literally understood. That this is the sense, the context itself teaches, and the Fathers unanimously, such as St. Augustine, Ambrose, Cyprian, Tertullian, Athanasius, and others, whom Arias Montanus cites here. Christ alluded to this, Luke 10:18, saying: "I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven."
Mystically, here is signified the mystical ruin of the devil, which occurred at the dawn, that is, at the beginning of his creation and of the world. Whence the Syriac has: How have you fallen from heaven? Howl, in the morning you fell; and the Arabic Antiochene: How have you fallen from heaven upon the earth at the dawn, in the morning you fell? Moreover, Christ took away from him his dominion over men and over the Church. Hence it is said in Scripture that that accuser of the brethren has already been cast out, and bound with chains by Christ; indeed Forerius thinks this is the literal sense of this passage.
Second, St. Jerome thinks Lucifer was created in the firmament, and from there wished to ascend into the empyrean heaven. But the common opinion is that Lucifer and all the angels were created in the empyrean heaven.
with the arrival of the sun it disappears; so the first was the monarchy of the Babylonians, which soon vanished with the arrival of Cyrus, that is, the sun: for Cyrus in Persian means the sun, says Herodotus. Fourth, because the Chaldean kings had light and fire, which they worshipped as a god, carried before them, as though they themselves were suns and gods preceded by the morning star. The Roman Emperors later imitated the same practice; for they had fire carried before them, as Herodian attests, because fire is a symbol of sovereignty, prosperity, power, and glory.
some things more apply, indeed apply only to the letter, that is, to the parable itself; and some things apply more to the reality signified by it: so also it happens here. For it is fictionally represented in parabolic fashion that the star Venus, which was in its own heaven, desired to ascend into the highest heaven above all the stars; because it was worshipped as a deity by the Saracens. Hear St. Jerome in the Life of St. Hilarion: "Hilarion, he says, arrived at Elusa on that very day when the anniversary festival had gathered the entire population of the town in the temple of Venus. Now they worship her on account of Lucifer, to whose cult the Saracen nation is devoted." And Theodoret, in the History of the Fathers, chapter 26, attests that Simeon Stylites converted the Ishmaelites from the worship of Venus to the worship of Christ: "Breaking their idols and renouncing the orgies of Venus (for from time immemorial they had received the worship of this demon), they receive the divine Sacraments." Hence also Mohammed in the Quran prescribed for his followers the worship of the star they call Cubar, that is, of Lucifer. Therefore this star is fictionally represented as having desired divinity, because namely Lucifer, that is, the devil, desired the heaven of divinity and equality with God, and wished to ascend into it: so also the king of Babylon, like another Lucifer, was not indeed so insane as to wish literally to fly into heaven; but he aspired to the highest throne of glory, majesty, and even divine honor, which is properly heaven: for he wished to be regarded and worshipped as God; whence, explaining, he adds: "I will be like the Most High," as if to say: I will be worshipped by men with the same honor and reverence with which God is worshipped in heaven. For this and nothing else is the meaning of all these parabolic and hyperbolic exaggerations.
For tyrants wishing to be worshipped as gods, and subsequently as the sole god, and therefore abolishing all other gods, were in reality invading God's very throne, and wishing, as it were, to ascend into heaven and to dislodge God from His throne, or at least to sit with Him on the same throne. With a similar hyperbole Callimachus says: He touched the earth with his feet, and Olympus with his head. Whom Virgil imitated: He walks on the ground, and hides his head among the clouds. And Horace: With my sublime head I shall strike the stars. And Seneca: Touching the lofty sky with his proud head. How truly Timon said: Man is a bag most full of vain ambition.
St. Thomas adds that the Gentiles were so vain and foolish that they believed princes and heroes after death were transported among the stars, or numbered among the heavenly gods; as Hercules, Castor, Pollux, and others are said to have been placed and fixed in the sky.
Finally, the swollen spirit of tyrants was so continually puffed up and exalted, and from exaltation so demented and foolish, that they boasted, indeed believed, they could rule over the sea, the winds, and the sky. For Scripture reports this of Antiochus, 2 Maccabees chapter 9:8: "He who, it says, seemed to himself able even to command the waves of the sea, filled with pride beyond human measure, and to weigh the heights of mountains in a balance, etc., and who shortly before thought he could touch the stars of heaven — him no one could bear because of the intolerable stench." So Belshazzar here, impious and insane, says: "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds," as if to say: I will rule over the stars and clouds, from there I will hurl thunderbolts and lightning, I will be Jupiter the Thunderer on high.
He had heard from the captive Hebrews that God had led them by a pillar of cloud, and had often appeared to Moses in a cloud. Whence David sings of Him, Psalm 103: "Who makes the cloud Your chariot." Wherefore St. Chrysostom, Homily 2 on Acts, calls the cloud the vehicle of God. Hence also Christ, ascending into heaven as God, was carried there on a cloud. Therefore Belshazzar here arrogated to himself the same heaven.
So the swollen Pharaoh said: "The river is mine, and I made myself," Ezekiel 29:3. So the Emperor Diocletian, after his triumph over the Persians, forgetful of human mortality, wished to be worshipped as God and to be regarded as the brother of the Sun and Moon: whence in his presence men reverently prostrated themselves on the ground and kissed his feet. Accordingly his pride was sharply punished by God: for his whole body swelled up, then, variously bursting open, he slowly wasted away, so that his blasphemous tongue brought forth a mass of worms within his very jaws, which, crawling from his mouth, filled the entire dwelling-place with the worst stench. Finally, barking like a dog, he breathed out his wicked soul. So Nicephorus, Book VII, chapter 20; Sigonius, Book I of On the Western
the mountains (Zion and Moriah), which are to the North. Parabolically he notes, first, under this device the pride of the devil, that he wished to sit on an equal throne with God both in heaven and on earth, namely in the temple, so as to be worshipped there. Hence St. Chrysostom, Homily on Adam and Eve, vol. I, holds that the angel who said these things was called Sathael, that is, the position of God, or one who sets himself as God: "One, he says, the first angel, who was called Sathael, assuming a wicked and nefarious presumption, said: I will set my throne at the North, and I will be like the Most High." Therefore he who is called Lucifer in Latin is called Sathael in Hebrew. "And so for such presumption he fell irreparably, so that the first angel, cast down from the angelic summit, was called the devil."
St. Bernard, Sermon on St. Benedict: "Lucifer said (he says), (but no longer Lucifer, but darkness-bearer and Hesperus): I will sit on the mount of the Covenant.
Emperors, year of our Lord 297. The Emperor Heliogabalus assumed this name because he wished to be and to be called the sun; for Heliogabalus means the sun: for previously he was called Gabalus. The most impure deeds of this most impure man can be seen in Lampridius.
Caligula wished to be considered God, and indeed to appear equal to the Moon. Wherefore he asked the senator Vitellius whether he had seen him with the goddess. To which Vitellius, astutely flattering, replied: "Only you gods, Lord, are permitted to see one another." See to what folly pride drives mortals. The witness is Dio, Book LIX. The reasoning of Caius Caligula, says Philo in his book On the Embassy, was this: The shepherd of sheep is not a sheep, nor is the shepherd of goats a goat; therefore the shepherd of men is not a man: what then? A god. And so he made himself a god. He assumed the insignia of the gods: the caduceus, winged sandals, and cloak of Mercury; the rayed crown, bow, and arrows of Apollo; the breastplate, sword, and shield of Mars, and by this reasoning displayed his divinity. Thus that madman made men into cattle so that he might make himself God.
Xerxes joined the Hellespont with boats, as if with a bridge, and then, with earth thrown on top, crossed it on foot with his entire army. But when a storm destroyed the bridge he had made, Xerxes ordered the sea to be beaten with rods. Hear Herodotus, Book VII: "Xerxes, indignant that the sea had scattered the ships, ordered three hundred lashes to be inflicted on the Hellespont, and a pair of shackles to be lowered into its waters. I have also heard that he sent men to brand the Hellespont with marks. Certainly he ordered them to strike the Hellespont with blows, saying barbarous and mad words: O bitter water! Your master inflicts this punishment on you, because you injured him who had done you no wrong. Nevertheless, King Xerxes, whether you will or not, will cross you."
Julian the Apostate, in order to be considered a god, wished while dying to pretend that he had vanished from the sight of men and, as it were, ascended into heaven, and therefore secretly planned to plunge himself into a river; but he was prevented by his own men, who sensed what he was about, as St. Gregory Nazianzen reports in his oration on Julian.
Chosroes, king of the Persians, insolent with victories, wished to be worshipped as a god. Hence he had a chariot made of gold, in which, through subtle and hidden channels, he poured water as if from heaven, so as to appear to give rain: and in a subterranean cave, horses drew a chariot in a circle, producing a sound rivaling thunder, so that he himself might seem to thunder. In such a shrine the profane man sat, as if God the Father, and placed the Cross of the Lord at his right hand in the place of the Son, and a rooster at his left in the place of the Holy Spirit; he therefore ordered himself to be called and worshipped as God the Father. Wherefore he was punished by God, defeated by Heraclius, and finally murdered by his own son. So Siffridus the priest, Book I of the Epitome, year of our Lord 612, and Baronius, year of our Lord 614.
Hear what the Chronicles of the Danes write about King Canute, and from them Polydore Virgil: Canute, they say, king of Denmark and England, having placed his chair on the shore, is reported to have said: "O sea, you are part of my kingdom, therefore obey me"; but the sea immediately surged and drenched his lap with waves. Wherefore the terrified king rose from his seat, saying: "Vain is the power of all kings, and God alone is almighty"; and having placed his crown on a cross, he afterward was an outstanding practitioner of piety and modesty, more than before, and persuaded his own men (for whose sake he had done this) to do the same.
I WILL SIT ON THE MOUNT OF THE COVENANT. — Understand by a Hebraism "as if," that is: Just as God was worshipped on the mount of the Covenant, that is, in the temple of Jerusalem, before it was destroyed by my father Nebuchadnezzar: so also I, Belshazzar, will be worshipped as a god on my throne, or in the temples of Babylon.
Note: Solomon's Temple is called a mountain, both because it was lofty like a mountain, and because it was situated on Mount Zion. It is called the mount of the Covenant, that is, of the treaty, because in it the tablets of the law and the ark of the covenant were kept. The same temple is called "the sides of the North" because it was situated in the northern part of the city, as is clear from Psalm 47:2: "Mount Zion, the sides of the North, the city of the great King." Whence the Septuagint here translates: Upon the high mountains.
I WILL BE LIKE THE MOST HIGH. O shameless one! O shameless one! Thousands of thousands minister to Him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stand before Him: and you will sit? The Cherubim stood, and did not sit. What have you labored at, that you should now sit?
Second, under this device, say Jerome, Cyril, and Basil, he signifies the pride of the king of Babylon, as though he said: I will strive to elevate my name and kingdom above all and everything, so that I may rule the entire universe; and as if, having cast aside all reverence for God, he scarcely knew himself to be mortal, and thought some divine power resided in him, and therefore wished to be worshipped and adored as a god in temples.
The Hebrews also add that Nebuchadnezzar wished to be worshipped and adored as a god in the temple of Jerusalem, which is scarcely credible, for he himself destroyed it. With a similar figure Ezekiel, chapter 28:14, says of the proud king of Tyre: "You, the extended and protecting Cherub, and I placed you on the holy mountain of God: you walked in the midst of fiery stones."
Mystically, St. Augustine, Book III of On Christian Doctrine, last chapter, according to Ticonius's Rule VII, takes these things of the devil, that is, the body of the devil, which is the assembly of the faithless, the impious, and the reprobate; and St. Bernard, Treatise on the Twelve Steps of Humility, step 1, at the end, understands the reprobate by the North: "O Lucifer! he says, who arose in the morning — indeed no longer Lucifer, but night-bearer, or even death-bearer. Your proper course was from East to South, and you in reverse order tend toward the North; the more you hasten to the heights, the more swiftly you decline to the setting: for this cold North is the reprobate; your seat is your power over them."
The same, Sermon 85 on the Song of Songs: "The devil, he says, did not stand in the truth, because he did not lean on the Word, but trusted in his own strength. And perhaps therefore he wished to sit, because he was unable to stand. For he said: I will sit on the mount of the Covenant. But with God judging otherwise, he neither stood nor sat, but fell, as the Lord said: I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven. Therefore he who stands, if he does not wish to fall, should not trust in himself, but lean on the Word. The Word speaks: Without Me you can do nothing."
The same, Sermon 4 on the Ascension: "Alas, wretched one, he says, in the sides of the North! That mountain is cold, we do not follow you. You have the desire for power, you presume upon the height of might. Yet how many to this day follow those foul and unhappy footsteps! Indeed how few escape, over whom the lust for domination does not dominate? Whom do you follow, wretched men, whom do you follow? Do you not see Satan falling like lightning from heaven? Is not this the mountain on which the angel ascended and became the devil?"
Verse 14: I will be Like the Most High
14. I WILL BE LIKE THE MOST HIGH — that is, to put it in a word, I will be the supreme and sacred Majesty, not only human and royal, but also divine, and as such be worshipped. Belshazzar learned this from his father Nebuchadnezzar, who wished to be worshipped in a golden statue of great height, namely sixty cubits, Daniel 3. So the king of Tyre, Ezekiel 28:2, said: "I am God, and I sit in the seat of God in the heart of the sea"; to whom accordingly God replies, verse 9: "You are a man, and not God; you shall die the death of the uncircumcised at the hands of those who slay you." So Augustus Caesar usurped divine honors and wished altars to be set up for him. Whence Horace, Book I, Letter 16: He touches the throne of Jove, and attempts the heavenly heights. And Virgil, Eclogue 1: For he will always be a god to me: his altar A tender lamb from our folds shall often stain.
Nor did that Phaethon and that Icarus of the Gentiles signify anything else by their flight into heaven. Note "I will be like": For Lucifer, that is, the devil, was not at the beginning so foolish as to wish to be God, or equal to God, as a second quasi-God; for he knew this to be impossible and foolish. But at the beginning, considering the extraordinary beauty, wisdom, power, and grace of his own nature, he took excessive pleasure in it: thence he swelled with pride, which growing, proceeded to the point where, as if self-sufficient, he refused to depend on God, refused to submit to God, refused to be subject to His law and rule. Whence he was blinded, and this blindness could grow along with his pride so that he truly desired the equality of God and divinity, just as we see certain tyrants desired it.
But at the beginning, before he was blinded, he could not aspire to it. Wherefore that opinion of the Doctors is plausible, that the hypostatic union of Christ the man with the Son of God was revealed to the devil, and that he envied Christ for it, and desired it for himself. For he knew that this could be done, and thought it should be done for himself, since he, as an angel, was nobler than man. And indeed, if this mystery of the union was revealed to him, there is hardly any doubt that the proud angel aspired to it and envied Christ. But although we may opine that this was revealed to him, we cannot demonstrate it from Scripture or the Fathers.
Verse 15: But Nevertheless You shall be Dragged Down to Hell
15. BUT NEVERTHELESS YOU SHALL BE DRAGGED DOWN TO HELL. — Note the just punishment of pride. Belshazzar and the devil wished to ascend to the summit of heaven; therefore they descended to the bottom of the pit. For the Prophet opposes the lowest to the highest, hell to heaven, the sides of the pit, as the Hebrew has, to the sides of the North. Homer's adage applies here: "From Tartessus to Tartarus." For Tartarus is a place of unhappiness, Tartessus of happiness; for Tartessus is a city at the borders of Spain, famous for the fertility of the place.
Rightly Climacus, in the step on Humility: "Pride, he says, makes demons from angels, humility makes angels from demons." So St. Michael, humbly saying mi ka El — 'who is like God?' — obtained the seat of Lucifer after he was cast down. For God has put down the mighty from their seat, and exalted the humble.
Rightly St. John the Abbot, who predicted victory against the tyrants to the Emperor Theodosius, in Palladius's Lausiac History, chapter 44, narrates that a certain monk, proud of his virtue, was tempted and overcome by a demon appearing to him in the form of a woman and enticing him to lust. When he finally consented, the demon vanished, disappearing from his hands like a shadow. And laughter was heard in the air of many demons crying out: "He who exalts himself shall be humbled. You were indeed exalted to the heavens, but you have been humbled even to the abyss."
Wherefore, rising up, lamenting and despairing of his salvation, he returned to the world. On the contrary, that elder in the Lives of the Fathers, Book VII, chapter 13: "However much, he says, a man abases himself in humility, so much also does he advance on high; for just as pride, if it ascends to heaven, is brought down even to hell: so also humility, if it descends to hell, then shall be exalted even to heaven."
the ambitious are tossed about like the sea; both on account of the many distractions and cares by which they seek to acquire or preserve honor; and on account of rivals; and so that they may flatter their equals, or superiors, or subjects.
Tenth, let them consider the example of Christ, who, when sought for a kingdom, fled and lived a private life; and was even subject to His parents. Eleventh, that the Saints fled from dignities, and when forced to undertake them, groaned as if under a heavy burden.
Ambrose, called by the voices of the people to be Bishop of Milan, fled from the city by night. St. Chrysostom, fearing the episcopate, retired to solitude. St. Martin, as Sulpicius testifies, did not wish to accept even the diaconate, let alone the episcopate, unless compelled. St. Gregory, elected Pontiff, not only fled but also wrote to the Emperor Maurice, asking him not to consent to his election. St. Ammonius the hermit cut off his own ear so as not to be made Bishop. St. Malachy, as St. Bernard writes in his Life, would not have accepted the episcopate unless the assembled bishops had threatened him with excommunication. "For, says Bernard, he dreaded every lofty position as if it were a precipice." St. Augustine, on learning of the death of his Bishop, fled from the city. Hear him, Sermon 1 on the Common Life of the Clergy: "In whatever place I knew there was no Bishop, I took care not to go there; and I did this as much as I could, so that I might be saved in a lowly place, rather than be imperiled in a high one."
St. Fulgentius did the same, who was finally made Bishop of Ruspe by force. So also St. Leo, elected Supreme Pontiff, was horrified. Hear him, Sermon 2 on his Assumption to office: "Lord, I have heard Your report, and I was afraid; I considered Your works, and I trembled. For what is so unusual, so dreadful, as toil for one who is frail, eminence for one who is lowly, dignity for one who is undeserving?"
Truly Seneca says in Hercules Furens: Rule proudly, bear a lofty spirit. The avenging God follows the proud from behind. On the contrary, "humility" and flight from dignities: first, "is the safest treasury of all virtues," says St. Basil, chapter 17 of the Monastic Constitutions. Second, "is the guardian of chastity and the mother of patience," says St. Bernard, Treatise on the Order of Life. Third, "is the most solid foundation of the entire spiritual structure," says Cassian, Conference XIX, chapter 12. Fourth, "is the whole discipline of Christian wisdom," says St. Leo, Sermon 7 on the Epiphany. Fifth, God exalts the humble and humbles the proud, says Christ. Sixth, humility is the most effective conciliator of grace and divine help. For just as rain and rivers flow down into valleys, so the grace of God rains down and descends into the humble soul. Seventh, all the gifts of God and all virtues go to ruin unless humility is present, says St. Gregory, Book XXVII of the Morals, last chapter. Eighth, the humble person is lovable to God and men, the proud is hateful to all. Ninth, let him consider that word of Christ, Luke 6: "Woe to you when men bless (praise) you."
Therefore learn morally here what pride is, what ambition is: namely, it is the sin of Lucifer, which made from the most beautiful angel the most loathsome devil. Therefore those who aspire to bishoprics, prelacies, or principalities should know, first, that they are aspiring to the governance of souls, for which God will demand an account from them, and the damnation of those souls, if they perish, He will impute to them: therefore a prelacy is a burden to be dreaded even by angelic shoulders. Second, let them know that ambition, like avarice, drags many sins along with it: for the ambitious are almost always ready to seize any opportunity to advance, by fair means or foul. Third, let them know that most heresies arose from ambition; for the ambitious, when they could not attain the hopes and dignities they claimed in the Church, became enemies of the Church and heresiarchs, and truly Lucifers.
Fourth, let them consider that saying of St. Chrysostom, Homily 34 on the Letter to the Hebrews: "It is remarkable if many Prelates are saved," for more are damned; and let them know that many placed in dignities are damned who would be saved if they lived as private persons; for proportionally many more are saved in the humble state of subjects than in the exalted state of Prelates; indeed, many are raised on high so that they may fall with a heavier crash, and lightning strikes the highest mountains. Fifth, let them consider that saying of the Wise Man: "The powerful shall suffer powerful torments." Let them hear Origen: "All ambition, he says, for obtaining ecclesiastical honor would be cut off, if those who wish to rule over peoples would consider that they will be judged rather than be judges." Sixth, let them know that ambition is never satisfied, because it always tends toward greater things: just as Lucifer did not rest until he invaded the throne of God; for, as Seneca says, "for the ambitious man, it is not so pleasant to see many behind him, as it is painful to have anyone before him." Thus proud Haman was more tormented by the one Mordecai placed above him than he was refreshed by all the peoples and princes submitting to him.
Seventh, let them consider that saying of Julius Caesar: "Those who live on high, their deeds are noticed by all"; and they are exposed to the censure, envy, slanders, and hatred of many. Eighth, let them consider that honor and dignity perish quickly, like a flower; whence the Psalmist says: "Their memory has perished with a crash." Ninth, that with various
Tenth, let him consider that saying of St. Augustine, Letter 56 to Dioscorus: Build for yourself no other road to grasping and obtaining the truth than that which was built by Him who, as our true God, sees the weakness of our steps. And that road is: first, humility; second, humility; third, humility. Thus shall that saying of Anna be fulfilled: "The barren has borne many, and she who had many children has become weak." Finally, the humble man is, as it were, another Michael; the proud man is, as it were, another Lucifer. Just as St. Francis through humility became a Seraph, and through a Seraph received the stigmata of Christ impressed on him, and after death was raised to the choir of Seraphim in heaven, as was revealed to a certain holy man in a vision, as St. Bonaventure testifies. So Pharaoh, Arius, and Calvin were plunged by pride into the abyss and cast down to the depths of Tartarus, to sit beside Lucifer in fiery seats.
Hear the sayings of the Fathers in the Lives of the Fathers, Book VII, chapter 13: "One of the Fathers used to say: Humility is the precursor of charity, as John the Baptist was of Christ; and thus it draws to God, because God is charity." Another, when asked what humility was, said: "It is a tree of life growing upward." Another: "It is the earth on which God commanded sacrifice to be offered to Him." Another: "The perfection of man is humility." Another: "Humility neither grows angry nor allows others to grow angry."
Furthermore, Albert the Great briefly describes the signs of humility thus in the Paradise of the Soul, chapter 2: True and perfect humility, he says, is when glory offered is despised, and glory not yet offered is not desired. Second, the truly humble always fears that some glory may be shown to him; and when it has been shown to him, he is troubled to the marrow with distress. Third, the truly humble man never boasts of any glory or grace, unless by this he intends to inspire confidence in God among his hearers. Fourth, the truly humble man compares himself neither to his superior, nor to his inferior, nor to his equal: indeed, he believes no one is inferior to himself, despises no one at all, despises only himself from the heart, and fervently desires to be despised by all, and rejoices when he has been despised. Such a one fears no insult, because he loves no glory. So says Albert.
Verse 18: All the Kings of the Nations, etc., Slept in Glory
18. ALL THE KINGS OF THE NATIONS, ETC., SLEPT IN GLORY — that is, they were gloriously buried, not with the common people, but in the house, that is, in the tomb or mausoleum of their ancestors and kings.
Verse 19: But You (o Belshazzar!) Have Been Cast out of your Tomb
19. BUT YOU (O Belshazzar!) HAVE BEEN CAST OUT OF YOUR TOMB — Belshazzar could not be taken out of a tomb, because he had no tomb. The sense, therefore, is: You, O Belshazzar! slain by Cyrus, were cast out, and not placed in the tomb of kings which your ancestors, and you yourself, had designated and magnificently adorned. Whence Vatablus translates: cast out from the tomb, that is, cast far from the tomb, so as not to be placed in it.
The Hebrews apply these things to Nebuchadnezzar, whom they fabulously claim was extracted from his tomb by his son Evil-Merodach, so that he might thereby show the Babylonians that his father had not been changed into a beast, as before, but was truly dead, and thus he might be admitted by them to the succession of the kingdom as his son and heir; and that he did this on the counsel of Jeconiah, and for this reason exalted him. So St. Jerome reports here. The Abulensis adds, in his work on IV Kings chapter 25, Question XXXVII, along with Haymo and Hugo here, that on the same counsel the corpse was divided into three hundred parts, and these were distributed among the same number of vultures (to devour them), so that there would be no hope of his return. I believe these three hundred things are not wonders, but lies.
Like a useless branch — like a sterile shoot, or one bearing bitter and bad fruit, which is not grafted into the earth, and indeed if grafted is plucked out.
DEFILED AND WRAPPED UP — with gore and blood and the corpses of the slain, and with worms teeming from them; this is what he said in verse 11: "Beneath you the moth shall be spread, and your covering shall be worms."
THEY DESCENDED TO THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE PIT. — Thus he calls the depth both of the tomb and of hell; for it is likely that the corpse of Belshazzar, along with the other corpses of the slain Babylonians, was thrown into a pit or some enormous ditch. Whence what follows: "You shall have no fellowship, nor even burial with them: with them" — supply "the kings of the nations"; for he contrasted him with these in verse 18, not with those slain by the sword; for he compares him to these latter in this verse.
Verse 20: The Seed of the Wicked shall Never be Named
20. THE SEED OF THE WICKED SHALL NEVER BE NAMED — that is, the memory of the seed and line of the wicked shall be blotted out; for no one of the line of Nebuchadnezzar succeeded Belshazzar, but with him the entire royal line was extinguished. So St. Jerome.
Verse 21: Prepare his Sons for Slaughter
21. PREPARE HIS SONS FOR SLAUGHTER. — From this it is clear that the sons of Belshazzar, whether natural or adopted, that is, those designated by him as heirs of the kingdom, were likewise slain; that he had many natural sons, since he had so many concubines, is quite plausible.
NOR SHALL THEY FILL THE FACE OF THE WORLD WITH CITIES. — That is, they shall not fill the surface of the cities of the world, that is, they shall not fill the cities of the world; it is a hypallage; or "world of cities," that is, a world abounding in cities; meaning: God will cut them down, lest they fill the world and cities with governors and men like themselves, namely impious men hateful to God: for as the king is, so are his courtiers and peoples and cities. So Vatablus.
Second, Arias and Forerius translate: they shall not fill the face of the world with cities, that is, so as to found or make famous many cities in it. Third, Sanchez explains, meaning: The sons of Belshazzar shall not fill the face of the world, that is, the entire world, with their cities, that is, they shall not have under their dominion the cities of the whole world, as they boasted; for the face of the world, of the wind, of the sword is called the world itself, the wind, the sword.
Holofernes: for he, sent by Nebuchadnezzar reigning in Assyria, namely in Nineveh, was crushed in the mountains of Israel near Bethulia with his entire army, when his head was cut off by the heroine Judith.
Verse 23: And Into Pools of Waters
23. AND INTO POOLS OF WATERS. — For Babylon is situated in marshes near the Euphrates, which the Persians had diverted into various channels and ditches: therefore, when it was overthrown, only the marshes and channels of the Euphrates remained.
AND I WILL SWEEP IT WITH THE BROOM OF DESTRUCTION. — That is, as Vatablus says, I will sweep it with a devastating broom; meaning: So diligently and thoroughly will the Persians devastate and plunder Babylon, just as a diligent maid sweeps the floor with brooms, so that by sweeping and scrubbing she practically wears it away, as do the Dutch maidservants who are most devoted to cleanliness. With a similar figure Plautus says: "He will sweep me up entirely, even with the dust"; and of Tyre Ezekiel says, chapter 26: "I will scrape her dust from her."
Verse 24: The Lord has Sworn, etc.: Surely as I Have Thought, so shall it be
24. THE LORD HAS SWORN, ETC.: SURELY AS I HAVE THOUGHT, SO SHALL IT BE — that is, He swore saying: If it does not come to pass as I say, may I not be God, may I not be considered truthful. For the word "if" among the Hebrews is the mark of an execratory oath, in which they suppress the actual execration itself through euphemism.
Verse 25: That I May Crush the Assyrian
25. THAT I MAY CRUSH THE ASSYRIAN — that is, Sennacherib: for God crushed him in His own land, that is, in Judea. For the Prophet returns to his own times, and to Sennacherib already pressing upon the city, about whom he treated in chapter 7 and thereafter: so that the Jews, seeing that Isaiah had truly predicted the destruction of Sennacherib, might also believe that the things he had predicted about the Babylonians and other far future events were true and would truly come to pass. Some others understand by "the Assyrian"
Alternatively, the Chaldean, the Septuagint, and Pagninus, reading for arim (cities) tsarim (adversaries), translate: they shall not fill (the sons of Belshazzar) the world with hostile camps, as their parents did, who with warlike movements disturbed everything, in order to recover and extend the lost kingdom. So St. Cyril.
Verse 26: This is the Plan that I Have Purposed
26. THIS IS THE PLAN THAT I HAVE PURPOSED UPON THE WHOLE EARTH, ETC., AND UPON ALL NATIONS. — Understand this conveniently as referring to the subject matter, namely the whole land and all nations subject to or allied with the Assyrians, who bore arms with them against the Jews, such as the Syrians, Samaritans, Moabites, Edomites, Philistines, and Egyptians: to whom accordingly the Prophet announces destruction in the following chapters from the mouth of God. So St. Jerome.
Verse 28: In the Year that King Ahaz Died
28. IN THE YEAR THAT KING AHAZ DIED — whose son Hezekiah succeeded him: therefore in the 1st year of King Hezekiah this prophecy was made against the Philistines, enemies of the Jews, so that through it the spirits of the Jews might be raised, and they might know that the new reign of the pious king would be happy and auspicious. From this passage St. Jerome holds that all the oracles from this point to the end of the book were made under Hezekiah, as I said at chapter 1, verse 1.
Verse 29: Rejoice not, O Philistia, etc., Because the Rod of Him who Struck You is Broken
29. REJOICE NOT, O PHILISTIA, ETC., BECAUSE THE ROD OF HIM WHO STRUCK YOU IS BROKEN. — He calls the smiter not King Ahaz, as St. Jerome, Haymo, and St. Thomas would have it; for Ahaz received a great defeat from the Philistines, 2 Chronicles 28:18; but Samson, David, and Uzziah the grandfather of Ahaz: for he greatly afflicted the Philistines, as is evident from 2 Chronicles 26; meaning: Do not rejoice, O Philistines! that your former smiters are dead, namely Samson, David, and Uzziah, who seemed to you to be serpents, that is, harsh and cruel, striking you with their touch and blow; because from them shall be born Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, the great-grandson of Uzziah, as a basilisk, that is, a cockatrice, far more harmful to you. For just as a basilisk kills men not only by touch but also by sight, namely by the pestilential breath it emits from its eyes, and even kills flying birds, and thus draws them to itself and absorbs them: so also Hezekiah with his power and arms will pervade all your territory, and will strike and absorb the most powerful among you, as if from a distance, by his mere appearance, presence, and authority, says St. Jerome.
That this came to pass is narrated in IV Kings chapter 18, when it says: "He (Hezekiah) struck the Philistines even to Gaza, and all their territories from the watchtower even to the fortified city."
First, the Prophet alludes to the rod of Moses, which was turned into a serpent, and again into a rod, which struck and inflicted so many plagues on Egypt; as if to say: Such a rod and serpent, O Philistines! Hezekiah will be to you. Second, he alludes to Samson, who greatly afflicted the Philistines, about whom Jacob predicted, Genesis 49: "Let Dan be a serpent in the way, a horned viper in the path"; as if to say: That serpent has not yet perished which raged against you, O Philistines! and spewed forth deadly venom: for from it shall be born, that is, shall succeed it, no longer a serpent, but a worse basilisk, namely Hezekiah.
Note: Among the Hebrews there is a proverb: "From the root of the serpent shall come forth a basilisk"; which they use when a lesser disaster, calamity, enemy, or destruction is succeeded by a greater and more hostile one. Similar to this is that of Rehoboam: "My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions"; such is the saying: "He fell into Scylla, trying to avoid Charybdis"; and: "Fleeing the lion, he met the bear"; and Job 6:16: "Those who fear the frost, snow shall rush upon them." So Sanchez.
a basilisk, that is, a cockatrice, far more harmful to you (for this is the Hebrew saraph, killing and absorbing the Philistines, as I said. Similar to this proverb is that of the poet Eubulus: "A locust with eyes, moving in both directions without opening its mouth, a fighter that destroys the seed of the unborn"; by which is signified the ichneumon, an Egyptian animal that breaks into and devours the eggs of crocodiles before the brood can develop into beasts. For it has a double-edged mouth: it stings below and bites with its lips.
The Septuagint translates: and his seed shall be a winged serpent. For "serpent" the Hebrew is saraph, that is, a burning and scorching serpent, such as those sent against the murmuring Hebrews, Numbers 21. Moreover, it is established that some serpents are winged and fly, and Solinus, chapter 35, asserts that such are the Arabian dragons, against which the ibis birds fight; whence the Egyptians worshipped them as if they were gods. Therefore this winged serpent is the same that was called a basilisk just before: for Isaiah also, chapter 30, verse 6, asserts that the basilisk has wings and flies. Such, therefore, Hezekiah was to the Philistines. And such allegorically is Christ, biting the devil and the reprobate, but saving the faithful and the pious: for He was lifted up on the wood like a winged serpent, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish, but have eternal life; and under Him the princes, the Apostles, the very poorest of the poor, led a secure life.
The Syriac translator renders it somewhat differently, namely: From the root of the serpent comes forth a two-headed serpent (the amphisbaena, about which see Solinus, chapter 40, and Pliny, Book XX, chapter 20), and its fruit is a flying basilisk; and the Arabic Antiochene: From the stock of the serpent comes forth a viper, and from the offspring of the deaf serpent a flying serpent; and the Arabic Alexandrine: From the serpent comes forth a basilisk, and a flying serpent devouring the firstborn.
AND THE FIRSTBORN OF THE POOR SHALL BE FED. — "Firstborn" in Scripture often means what is chief and primary, say Forerius, Vatablus, and Sanchez: for such in a household among children is the firstborn. Therefore the firstborn of the poor and successors of their parents' poverty are the Jews under Hezekiah, already shortly before devastated by various nations, as is evident from 2 Chronicles 28; meaning: There will be peace and abundance of things in Israel, even among the poor, when Philistia is consumed with famine; for this is what follows:
AND I WILL CAUSE YOUR ROOT TO PERISH WITH FAMINE. — He speaks of Philistia as of a tree to be dried up or cut down to the roots, meaning: When I dry up the forces and resources of the Philistines and consume all their remnants, then my Jewish people, formerly wretched and poor, will rest and rejoice.
Verse 31: Howl, O Gate; Cry, O City
31. HOWL, O GATE; CRY, O CITY. — Howl, O gates and cities of the Philistines. He indicates by "gates" the magistrates and princes (for they sat and judged in the gates), and by "city" the common people and the populace, meaning: Howl, both princes and all citizens
AND HIS SEED SHALL BE A FLYING FIERY SERPENT. — The seed of the serpent is the basilisk, namely Hezekiah son of Uzziah, as if blowing, burning merely by his breath and exhalation,
Mystically, St. Bernard, Treatise on the Eleven Burdens, Sermon 2, says thus: "There follows the burden of the Philistines, who are interpreted as 'those falling by drink,' signifying those who, intoxicated by pride, fell from the heavenly dwelling. These burden the wretched now with temptation, now with affliction. They burdened the Egyptians with many great plagues, as you have in the psalm: He sent upon them the anger of His indignation, indignation and wrath and tribulation: missions by evil angels. They burdened the heart of Judas with avarice, and the heart of the Pharisees with envy, and the heart of Pilate with folly. They burden the hearts of the faithful with many temptations: taunting the consenting soul and saying: Bow down, that we may pass over." Therefore apply to these things Isaiah's threats against the Philistines.
whether the Philistines or the Jews would prevail and conquer; or rather, to congratulate Hezekiah on the victory already won; to whom Hezekiah and the Jews, attributing the victory not to themselves but to God, will answer what follows:
FOR FROM THE NORTH SMOKE SHALL COME — that is, from Jerusalem, which is to the North of the Philistines, there shall come not Sennacherib, as St. Jerome would have it; but Hezekiah (for it is clear from what has been said, and from the preceding and following context, that the Prophet is speaking of him) with a vast military force, which by its advancing feet will stir up great dust and smoke. Whence this dust and smoke is that of an approaching army; hence Virgil, Aeneid IX: What mass, O citizens, rolls in dark gloom?... The enemy is at hand.
Verse 32: And What shall be Answered to the Messengers of the Nation
32. AND WHAT SHALL BE ANSWERED TO THE MESSENGERS OF THE NATION — that is, of the nations, who according to custom will come from neighboring provinces and nations to inquire about the state of the war, whether
THAT THE LORD HAS FOUNDED ZION, AND IN HIM THE POOR OF HIS PEOPLE SHALL HOPE — that is, we give thanks to God, who has given us this victory, because He loves Zion and Jerusalem, and has determined to strengthen and establish it: wherefore henceforth the poor and afflicted in our people, seeing and considering this, will hope in Him more ardently in any calamity, and will call upon Him.
Allegorically and tropologically, it is easy to apply these things to the spiritual Zion, that is, to the Church and to the faithful soul.