Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He looks in verse 4 at the Messiah under the name of the Lamb, the ruler of the earth. Then, in verse 2, he gives them counsel to kindly receive the Jewish fugitives. Third, in verse 6, he says the pride of Moab is greater than its strength. Fourth, in verse 7, he continues with the disaster and lamentation of Moab, which in verse 14 he says will come in three years.
Vulgate Text: Isaiah 16:1-14
1. Send forth the lamb, O Lord, the ruler of the earth, from Petra of the desert to the mountain of the daughter of Sion. 2. And it shall be: As a bird fleeing, and as young ones flying from the nest, so shall the daughters of Moab be at the crossing of Arnon. 3. Take counsel, gather counsel: make your shadow as the night in the noonday: hide the fugitives, and betray not the wanderers. 4. My fugitives shall dwell with you: Moab, be a hiding place for them from the face of the destroyer: for the dust is finished, the wretched one is consumed: he who trampled the earth has perished. 5. And a throne shall be prepared in mercy, and one shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment, and swiftly rendering what is just. 6. We have heard of the pride of Moab, he is exceedingly proud: his pride, and his arrogance, and his indignation are greater than his strength. 7. Therefore Moab shall howl to Moab, every one shall howl: to those who rejoice upon the walls of baked brick, declare their wounds. 8. For the suburbs of Hesebon are deserted, and the lords of the nations have cut down the vine of Sabama: its branches reached as far as Jazer: they wandered in the desert, its shoots were left behind, they crossed the sea. 9. For this I will weep with the weeping of Jazer over the vine of Sabama: I will drench you with my tears, O Hesebon and Eleale: for upon your vintage and upon your harvest the voice of the treaders has fallen. 10. And joy and exultation shall be taken away from Carmel, and in the vineyards there shall be no exulting, nor jubilation. He who was accustomed to tread wine in the winepress shall tread no more: I have taken away the voice of the treaders. 11. For this my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for the wall of baked brick. 12. And it shall be: when it appears that Moab has labored upon his high places, he shall enter his sanctuaries to pray, and shall not prevail. 13. This is the word which the Lord spoke to Moab from that time: 14. and now the Lord has spoken, saying: In three years, as the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be taken away with all its great people, and the remnant shall be small and few, by no means many.
Verse 1: Send Forth the Lamb
1. SEND FORTH THE LAMB. — The Sixtine codices of the Septuagint, Basil and Cyril have: I will send creeping things upon the earth, that is, I will send serpents into Moab; for in the Hebrew, instead of כר משל ארץ car mosel arets, that is, the lamb ruling the earth, they read by diastole כרמש לארץ keremes laurets, that is, like a reptile of the earth.
Secondly, the Hebrews and R. Solomon translate from the Hebrew: Send the lamb to the ruler of the earth, and they interpret it thus: since the Moabites were accustomed to pay the king of Israel an annual tribute of a hundred thousand lambs, when Achaz died they refused to pay it, IV Kings III. Wherefore, under Hezekiah the pious and fortunate king, Israel, resuming its courage and strength, now taunts the Moabites saying: Send, O Moabites! as you are accustomed, your tribute, namely lambs, to the ruler of the earth, that is, to the new and powerful King Hezekiah, from Petra of the desert, that is, from Moab. But in vain would one twist this from Christ to Hezekiah; for Hezekiah was not king of Israel, but of Judah: much less can he be called the ruler of the earth, nor is it read in Scripture that he waged war against the Moabites, or imposed tribute upon them. Add that both the Septuagint and our version translate: "Send forth the lamb, the ruler (not, to the ruler) of the earth."
Leo Castrius refutes this at greater length. Much less can this passage be taken of Hosea, the last king of Israel: because he had already been killed, and the kingdom of Israel overthrown, not by the Moabites, but by the Assyrians.
Thirdly, some Hebrews and Forerius translate "lamb" as ram, and by ram they understand either battering rams, which are called rams because of their resemblance, or strong leaders and soldiers like rams, as though the Prophet says by irony and mockery: O Moabites! prepare your rams, leaders and soldiers to attack Sion, to rule the Holy Land and subject it to yourselves; but you will do this in vain, indeed you will pay the penalty for your arrogance.
But I say with St. Jerome, Hugo, Lyranus, Adam, Vatablus and others, that by "lamb" here is understood Christ, who descended from Ruth the Moabitess.
For when Isaiah was prophesying about the destruction of Moab, and saw that the nation was about to perish, he was grieved. Whence, on the other hand, seeing that from Ruth the Moabitess Christ was to be born, he flies in passing to Him according to his custom (whence the Plantin Bibles enclose this verse in parenthesis), and with His nativity consoles both himself and the Moabites, and thence immediately returns to the narrative he had begun, and to the burdens of Moab. See Canon IV, as if to say: Send, O Lord! or, as it is in Hebrew, שלחו scilchu, that is, send forth, and rain down, namely, O heavens! or you, O Father! O Son! O Holy Spirit! not those mute and tributary lambs of the Moabites, but the lamb, the ruler of the earth, that is, Christ, who as the Lamb of God may take away the sins of the world, and rule over the whole Church and the world: send Him, I say, from the city of Petra of the desert, which is in Moab, namely from Ruth the Moabitess, who, born in this city, had long ago migrated from it to the Jews. Wherefore what Vatablus so expounds: O Lord! do not destroy the Moabites, so that the Messiah may at last be born, ought to be understood thus: namely, that the Messiah may be born, who will save His own kinsmen, that is, the Moabites. For He Himself will be born from Ruth, who long ago by this counsel of God passed from Moab to the Jews, so that Christ might descend from her, who would bring salvation to the Moabites. For otherwise, even if all the Moabites had been destroyed, Christ would still have descended from David and Ruth; since she had been incorporated into the Jewish nation long before this disaster. For Boaz begot Obed from Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, Jesse begot David, from whom Christ descended.
He calls Christ "lamb" or "ram": for the Hebrew כר car signifies both. First, because he alludes to the tribute of lambs which the Moabites used to pay to the king of Israel. Second, because the Moabites were most devoted to cattle-raising and very rich in sheep. Third, because the lambs and rams of Moab surpassed in body and strength the lambs and rams of other provinces, and were like leaders of the flocks: whence rightly the lamb or ram here signifies Christ the leader and ruler. Whence the Syriac translates: Send the Messiah, the ruler of the earth. The Arabic Alexandrian wrongly translates: I will send flies or locusts to them; and the Antiochene: I will send to them those ruling over the earth.
Moreover, what some Hebrews report, that Ruth was the daughter of the king of Moab named Eglon, whom the judge Ehud killed, is a Hebrew fable; for between Eglon and Ruth 230 years elapsed, nor is it credible that a king would have given his daughter as wife to a common man, such as Ruth's husband was. So Abulensis and Lyranus.
Finally, for "the ruler" it can be translated, O ruler! For the Hebrews, since they lack cases, use the same noun for any case, as if to say: O ruler of the earth! send us the Lamb, that is, Your beloved Son, who as a sacrificial lamb may redeem and save us.
FROM PETRA OF THE DESERT. — This city was called Petra because it is walled around by rocks and precipices, says Strabo, book XVI, and from it the whole region was called Arabia Petraea. King Baldwin enlarged this city after the Crusade. Then the Sultan, having recovered it, placed there the treasure of Egypt and Arabia. So Adrichomius.
Note: Christ is said to have been sent from Petra of Moab, not in Himself, but in His grandmother Ruth; for she was sent from there by God, as it were, and came to Sion: just as the grandchildren of Judah are said to have gone out from Canaan and entered into Egypt, not in themselves, but in their father Jacob; for they were born after their father's entry into Egypt. See what was said on Genesis XLVI.
Mystically, the Petra of the desert is the Blessed Virgin, who is a defense like a rock for those who are abandoned by all help, says Hugo; for she more directly than Ruth brought forth this Lamb for us. See Viegas, Apocalypse XII, Commentary III, section XXIV.
Finally, Christ was sent to Moab, that is, to the destruction of sin. So Alcazar notes in Apocalypse XIV, 1, note 1, where he contends that this sense is the literal one; but from what has been said it is clear that it is mystical.
Verse 2: And it shall be: as a Bird
2. AND IT SHALL BE: AS A BIRD. — The Prophet returns after the parenthesis, in which he briefly aspired and flew to Christ, to the disaster and captivity of Moab which he had begun, as if to say: The Moabites beyond the river Arnon, where the borders of Moab are, will be violently and swiftly carried off to Babylon, and will be scattered there, just as birds are scattered flying from the nest, when some predator invades the nest.
Verse 3: Take counsel
3. Take counsel, — as if to say, says St. Jerome: Do you wish to escape disaster, O Moab! and to render God favorable and a protector for you? Take counsel, not from your own people, but rather from me; do, I say, what I suggest; namely what I add below:
Make your shadow as the night. — Symbolically, just as the noonday and heat signify great affliction and calamity — because at noon the sun burns most fiercely — so shadow and night signify its remedy, refuge, and refreshment. Hence in chapter IV, verse 6, it is said: "It shall be a shelter by day from the heat." The sense therefore is, as if to say: O Moabites! do you wish to be safe, do you wish to escape the hands of Nebuchadnezzar? Do what I say: namely, receive the Israelites, your kinsmen and neighbors, exiles and fugitives from their homeland — both from fear of Sennacherib, from other tyrants, and especially from the devastation of Nebuchadnezzar — receive them humanely, cherish them, protect them, and repay the kindness shown to you. For thus Abraham their father received Lot your father, helped him, cherished him, and freed him when captured by Chedorlaomer. Moreover, he demands a shadow like night, that is, the thickest shadow, as though to say: Your reception, piety, and humanity should not be light, narrow, and brief, but copious, generous, and liberal.
Tropologically, note here that the best remedy for escaping imminent affliction and God's vengeance is mercy: do you wish to escape misery? Be merciful to the wretched; do you wish to be received into heaven? Receive the stranger with hospitality: for "blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Hence St. Nazianzen says: "Be a god to the unfortunate, and you will find the Lord God in your calamity," and Daniel urged Nebuchadnezzar, so that he might escape the impending destruction: "Redeem your sins with alms, and your iniquities with mercy toward the poor."
Thus Lot in Sodom received the Angels with hospitality, thinking them to be foreign travelers, and defended them against the insolence of the Sodomites as best he could. Hence he was freed and led out by them from the fire of Sodom, Genesis XIX.
Rahab received the spies whom Joshua had sent into Jericho with hospitality, and faithfully guarded and released them. Consequently her whole household alone was preserved by the Hebrews in the destruction of Jericho, Joshua II and VI.
The Shunammite woman received Elisha, who was passing through, with hospitality; and on account of this he obtained a son for her and raised him from the dead, IV Kings IV.
Zacchaeus joyfully received Christ into his house, and therefore heard from Him: "Today salvation has come to this house," Luke XIX.
St. Gregory narrates, book III of the Dialogues, chapter XI, that Cerbonius, Bishop of Populonia, received certain passing soldiers with hospitality, hid them from the Goths who came upon them, and preserved their lives. When Totilas, king of the Goths, heard this, he ordered him to be thrown to bears before the entire people, so that he might be devoured by them. But the bear released against him, forgetting its ferocity, with lowered neck and head humbly bowed, began to lick the Bishop's feet: "So that it might be openly given to all to understand that toward that man of God the hearts of men were bestial, and those of beasts were as human." Wherefore the people and the king himself were moved to reverence for him.
The same Gregory, in homily 23 on the Gospels, narrates about a certain very hospitable man, who through hospitality merited to receive Christ in his own person, from whom through a vision he heard: "On other days you received Me in My members; yesterday you received Me Myself."
St. Augustine narrates, in book XXII of the City of God, chapter VIII, that a certain Innocentius, devoted to hospitality, was miraculously cured of a most dangerous wound.
Pope Leo IX was a man of marvelous hospitality, to such a degree that, when he once found a leper before his doors, he ordered him to be placed in his own bed: but when the doorkeeper opened the doors in the morning, the leper was nowhere to be found: it was believed that Christ had lain there under the name of a poor person. So Platina and others in his Life, around the year of the Lord 1050.
Verse 4: For the Dust is Finished
4. FOR THE DUST IS FINISHED. — Martinus de Roa, a learned man, in book IV of his Singularia, chapter III, explains it thus, as if to say: Your wretched and lowly condition, O Moab! along with your mourning, has passed; slavery has been driven away, and the enemy has perished, to whom you were forced to supplicate by sitting in dust or touching the ground with your forehead. For all these things are signified by dust among the Hebrews, Romans, and Greeks: for all in mourning sprinkled dust on their heads, or sat in it.
But what follows shows that the subject here is not the dust of Moab and its friends, but of Sennacherib and the enemies. For although the Prophet is dealing with the destruction of Moab accomplished not by Sennacherib but by Nebuchadnezzar, nevertheless he mentions Sennacherib's threat against Judaea, because many from Judaea had fled to Moab on account of him. Isaiah therefore admonishes the Moabites to receive them humanely, if they wish to merit God's grace and help. For if they are harsh and merciless toward them, they will experience God's vengeance for this sin and many others, once the measure is at last filled, and will be devastated without mercy by Nebuchadnezzar.
The sense therefore is, as if to say: Do not excuse yourself, O Moab! from receiving the Hebrew fugitives, by saying that you fear Sennacherib, or some other enemy and destroyer of theirs, because he will shortly be finished and vanish like dust, and the wretch will quickly be consumed: "and there shall be prepared," etc., that is, and the ancient throne of the kingdom at Jerusalem, for King Hezekiah, just and good, and his posterity, shall be prepared, that is, shall be confirmed and strengthened, in, that is through, the mercy of God. So Adam and others.
Allegorically, this seat belongs to Christ the King, who judges both poor and rich with judgment and justice, Psalm LXXXVIII. Indeed Sanchez and others hold that this sense concerning Christ is the literal one; but it is more truly and plainly the allegorical.
Note, by a Hebraism we understand the comparative particle "as"; for these words must be explained thus: the destroyer is finished, like dust. Sennacherib and those like him are compared to dust. First, on account of his innumerable army, which seemed to be like sand or dust. Second, because he was struck down by the light blow of an Angel, just as by a light gust of wind all dust is blown away and scattered, so that the solid, clean earth appears, as if it had been swept clean.
Verse 6: We have heard the pride of Moab
6. We have heard the pride of Moab. — This pride overthrew Moab: for it was overthrown because, boasting and trusting in its weapons and brick walls, it despised an enemy more powerful than itself. See what was said on Jeremiah XLVIII, 29.
7. THEREFORE MOAB SHALL HOWL TO MOAB, — as if to say: One shall howl to another, the citizens of one city to the citizens of another. Secondly, "Moab to Moab," that is, the surviving Moabites will mourn the Moabites who have been slain, says Vatablus. Otherwise Sanchez: "Moab to Moab," he says, that is, Moab to itself, or will howl within itself, as mourners and despairing people are wont to do.
UPON THE WALLS OF BAKED BRICK, — upon brick walls. Secondly, and better, this is the proper name of a city, which in Hebrew is called קיר חרשת kir charescet, that is, having brick walls. This is clear from IV Kings III, 25, where after the writer had said: "So that only the brick walls remained," he adds: "And the city was surrounded by slingers:" which words plainly signify that the "brick walls" is the city already mentioned, Kir-hareseth, to which as most fortified the king of Moab fled in the last extremity. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Tell the Moabites that Kir-hareseth, which is their impregnable citadel, in which they pride themselves, will not protect them, but will be taken by the enemy.
Verse 8: And the Vine of Sabama
8. AND THE VINE OF SABAMA. — Scripture is accustomed to call cities "vines," both because of the propagation of sons and families, and because of fertility; for Moab was fertile in vineyards, wine, and crops: to which Jeremiah alludes in chapter XLVIII, verse 11. This vine, therefore, that is the city of Sabama, "the lords of the nations," that is the princes, or Sennacherib, or rather Nebuchadnezzar, cut down.
Its branches reached as far as Jazer. — The "branches" of a vine or grapevine are its shoots and tendrils curling around, by which the vine attaches itself to a stake or tree and holds itself up lest it fall: hence they are also called "tendrils." By these shoots he metaphorically understands the people of Moab as fugitives, who crossed the sea when they were carried away to Babylon. So St. Jerome. See what was said on Jeremiah XLVIII, 31.
Verse 9: I will weep with the weeping of Jazer
9. I will weep with the weeping of Jazer. — Jazer was the last city of Moab along the Jordan, which seems to have been devastated before Hesebon and Sabama; for Isaiah says he will weep at the destruction of Sabama, as there was weeping at the destruction of Jazer.
The voice of the treaders (that is, of the Chaldeans plundering your harvest and vintage, and treading and pressing them) has fallen. — Note: The devastation of enemies is rightly compared metaphorically to the treading of grapes and crops. All these things are expressed more fully and clearly by Jeremiah in chapter XLVIII.
10. JOY SHALL BE TAKEN AWAY, etc., FROM CARMEL. — Carmel is not in Moab, but in Judaea; but, as St. Jerome notes, Scripture is accustomed to signify proverbially by Carmel any fruitful and fertile place: for such is Mount Carmel. "From Carmel," therefore, that is from the rich and fertile fields of Moab, "joy shall be taken away," for the vintners are accustomed to rejoice and exult in an abundant vintage, and the harvesters in a copious harvest.
I HAVE TAKEN AWAY THE VOICE OF THE TREADERS. — Jeremiah has: "The grape-treader shall by no means sing his customary refrain." See what was said there.
Verse 11: For this my Bowels shall Sound Like a Harp for Moab
11. FOR THIS MY BOWELS SHALL SOUND LIKE A HARP FOR MOAB, — as if to say: My inmost bowels, touched by grief, shall give forth a mournful song and groans for the devastation of the Moabites, though they are our enemies; just as a harp, struck by the plectrum, gives a funereal sound at a funeral. Jeremiah has: "My heart shall resound like pipes for Moab." Note: Harps and pipes, because they produce something mournful, were customarily employed in mourning and funerals in ancient times, as I said on Jeremiah chapter XLVIII, 36.
Verse 12: And it shall be: When it Appears (as
12. AND IT SHALL BE: WHEN IT APPEARS (as if to say: Moab, upon the arrival of the enemy, seeing that it has labored in vain upon its high places, worshipping altars and idols, and that no help is brought from them, it will enter other) SANCTUARIES (namely its public temples), IT SHALL ENTER (that is, it shall attempt to enter, to beseech its gods; but) IT SHALL NOT PREVAIL, — partly because of fear, exhaustion, and collapse of strength; partly because of the sudden attack of the enemies, who will overwhelm them.
Verse 13: This is the word
Verse 13. This is the word, — as if to say: So far I have narrated the oracles and threats against Moab; this is what Jeremiah says in chapter XLVIII: "Thus far the judgments of Moab."
WHICH HE SPOKE, etc., FROM THAT TIME, — that is, from long ago, previously, namely through Amos, who in chapter II predicted the same destruction of Moab before Isaiah.
Verse 13. This is the word, — as if to say: So far I have narrated the oracles and threats against Moab; this is what Jeremiah says in chapter XLVIII: "Thus far the judgments of Moab."
WHICH HE SPOKE, etc., FROM THAT TIME, — that is, from long ago, previously, namely through Amos, who in chapter II predicted the same destruction of Moab before Isaiah.
14. IN THREE YEARS. — Not that this disaster of Moab was inflicted by Sennacherib, three years after this prophecy: for it was inflicted by Nebuchadnezzar, as I said at the beginning of this chapter; but rather that Nebuchadnezzar, three years after having destroyed Jerusalem, that is in the fifth year after its devastation, laid waste to Moab: for Josephus expressly teaches this, book X of the Antiquities, chapter XI; or certainly that for a space of three years he harassed and devastated Moab. So St. Jerome, Hugo, Pintus, Leo Castrius and others. Hear St. Jerome: "It can also be predicted of the Babylonian captivity," he says, "that after Jerusalem was captured, when three years had passed, Moab was devastated by the Chaldeans; or that for a space of three years no rest was given to it."
As the years of a hireling. — That is, the said three years are "as the years of a hireling," that is, fixed, complete, and certain, to which nothing can be added or taken away. For a fixed time is assigned to hired workers, to which they suffer nothing to be added; nor does the one who hires them allow anything to be taken from it. So Vatablus, Forerius, Arias, Osorius and others, indeed even St. Cyril.
Secondly, just as a hireling departs when his years of service are finished, so the consolation and glory of Moab shall depart and be taken away, so that scarcely a grape-cluster remains in it, as follows.
Thirdly, properly these years of the plundering of Moab are called years of a hireling, because for these, as it were for the wage of having destroyed Jerusalem and carried out the divine vengeance, Nebuchadnezzar will receive the kingdom and spoils of Moab, says St. Jerome; just as the same man, for having conquered Tyre, received Egypt as a wage from God, as it were, Ezekiel XXIX.
Fourthly, these years are called mercenary, that is, laborious and burdensome from the enemy harassing and plundering. For thus a hireling spends his day laboring and in hardship, with the master always standing by and urging him to work. So Sanchez and Adam. See Pineda on Job VII, 2.
Symbolically, St. Basil, who here ends his Commentary on Isaiah, says: Those who do good works for the sake of capturing the glory of the people — their glory will be turned to disgrace in three years, that is, in every dimension of time: namely past, present, and future.
WITH ALL ITS GREAT PEOPLE, — out of so numerous a people of Moab, in which it glories, after this disaster very few will remain, just as very few grapes remain after the vintage. Hence some codices read: It shall remain like a small grape-cluster.
See here in Moab the vanity of kingdoms, and of all pomp and pride. For in a short time, when God punishes, their glory is changed to disgrace, their multitude to fewness, power to weakness, wisdom to foolishness, wealth to poverty, magnificence to squalor, excellence to humiliation, favor to hatred, security to distress, peace to a thousand dangers.
Verse 14: In Three Years
14. IN THREE YEARS. — Not that this disaster of Moab was inflicted by Sennacherib, three years after this prophecy: for it was inflicted by Nebuchadnezzar, as I said at the beginning of this chapter; but rather that Nebuchadnezzar, three years after having destroyed Jerusalem, that is in the fifth year after its devastation, laid waste to Moab: for Josephus expressly teaches this, book X of the Antiquities, chapter XI; or certainly that for a space of three years he harassed and devastated Moab. So St. Jerome, Hugo, Pintus, Leo Castrius and others. Hear St. Jerome: "It can also be predicted of the Babylonian captivity," he says, "that after Jerusalem was captured, when three years had passed, Moab was devastated by the Chaldeans; or that for a space of three years no rest was given to it."
As the years of a hireling. — That is, the said three years are "as the years of a hireling," that is, fixed, complete, and certain, to which nothing can be added or taken away. For a fixed time is assigned to hired workers, to which they suffer nothing to be added; nor does the one who hires them allow anything to be taken from it. So Vatablus, Forerius, Arias, Osorius and others, indeed even St. Cyril.
Secondly, just as a hireling departs when his years of service are finished, so the consolation and glory of Moab shall depart and be taken away, so that scarcely a grape-cluster remains in it, as follows.
Thirdly, properly these years of the plundering of Moab are called years of a hireling, because for these, as it were for the wage of having destroyed Jerusalem and carried out the divine vengeance, Nebuchadnezzar will receive the kingdom and spoils of Moab, says St. Jerome; just as the same man, for having conquered Tyre, received Egypt as a wage from God, as it were, Ezekiel XXIX.
Fourthly, these years are called mercenary, that is, laborious and burdensome from the enemy harassing and plundering. For thus a hireling spends his day laboring and in hardship, with the master always standing by and urging him to work. So Sanchez and Adam. See Pineda on Job VII, 2.
Symbolically, St. Basil, who here ends his Commentary on Isaiah, says: Those who do good works for the sake of capturing the glory of the people — their glory will be turned to disgrace in three years, that is, in every dimension of time: namely past, present, and future.
WITH ALL ITS GREAT PEOPLE, — out of so numerous a people of Moab, in which it glories, after this disaster very few will remain, just as very few grapes remain after the vintage. Hence some codices read: It shall remain like a small grape-cluster.
See here in Moab the vanity of kingdoms, and of all pomp and pride. For in a short time, when God punishes, their glory is changed to disgrace, their multitude to fewness, power to weakness, wisdom to foolishness, wealth to poverty, magnificence to squalor, excellence to humiliation, favor to hatred, security to distress, peace to a thousand dangers.