Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He returns to the destruction of Babylon, which he graphically depicts with great pathos, and this because at that time Hezekiah was cultivating a treaty and friendship with Merodach, king of the Babylonians, and showed all his treasures to his ambassadors, for which reason he was reproved by Isaiah, IV Kings xx, 12. Lest therefore he and the Jews rely too much upon them, and lest they be too familiar and friendly with them, he predicts their ruin. He predicts therefore that Babylon will be overthrown, by the chariot of the camel and the donkey, that is, of Darius and Cyrus. Secondly, verse 11, against Idumea. Thirdly, verse 13, he prophesies against Arabia.
Vulgate Text: Isaiah 21:1-17
1. The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds come from the South, it comes from the desert, from a terrible land. 2. A harsh vision has been declared to me: he who is faithless acts faithlessly, and he who is a plunderer lays waste. Go up, Elam; besiege, O Mede: I have made all its groaning to cease. 3. Therefore my loins are filled with pain, anguish has seized me like the anguish of a woman in labor: I fell when I heard, I was troubled when I saw. 4. My heart withered, darkness stupefied me: Babylon, my beloved, has been made a wonder to me. 5. Set the table, watch in the watchtower, eat and drink: arise, O princes; seize the shield. 6. For thus the Lord said to me: Go, and set a watchman: and whatever he sees, let him announce. 7. And he saw a chariot of two horsemen, a rider of a donkey, and a rider of a camel: and he observed diligently with much attention. 8. And the lion cried out: Upon the watchtower of the Lord I stand, standing continually by day: and upon my guard I stand, standing through all the nights. 9. Behold, this rider comes, a man of a chariot of horsemen; and he answered and said: Fallen, fallen is Babylon: and all the graven images of its gods are broken upon the ground. 10. My threshing, and the sons of my threshing floor, what I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you. 11. The burden of Dumah. One cries to me from Seir: Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? 12. The watchman said: Morning comes, and also the night: if you inquire, inquire: return, come. 13. The burden in Arabia. In the forest at evening you shall sleep, in the paths of the Dedanites. 14. Meet the thirsty, bring water, you who dwell in the land of the South, with bread meet the fugitive. 15. For they have fled from the face of swords, from the face of the drawn sword, from the face of the bent bow, from the face of grievous battle: 16. for thus the Lord said to me: Within one year, as the year of a hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall be taken away. 17. And the remnant of the number of archers, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the Lord God of Israel has spoken.
THE BURDEN OF THE DESERT OF THE SEA. — He calls Babylon a sea, first, because just as the sea swallows all rivers and is never filled, so Babylon swallowed the wealth of all nations and was never satisfied; secondly, because it was situated near the Euphrates, for every abundance of waters is called a sea by the Hebrews; thirdly, and
more properly, it is called a sea, on account of the multitude of its inhabitants, the vastness of its streets and buildings, and the confluence of all nations thither: for so we say that Rome, Venice, Paris are a sea, are a world, on account of the throng of people: so St. Jerome, Cyril, and others; fourthly, on account of the movements and waves of wars, by which it was constantly agitated like a sea, and harassed all nations.
Verse 1: Secondly, he calls Babylon a desert, substantively, that
Secondly, he calls Babylon a desert, substantively, that is a wilderness and solitude: for this is what the Hebrew מדבר midbar signifies; because it was to be reduced to a desert and a solitude by God the avenger. So St. Jerome.
The sense therefore is, as if he said: This is the burden, that is, the threatening and burdensome prophecy against Babylon, which, although it was a sea of nations, will now be laid waste by God, so that it will seem to be a wilderness and a desert.
Note: The prophecies were uttered by the Prophets at various and different times: whence it is not surprising if they repeat the same things more obscurely; just as Isaiah, what he clearly predicted about the destruction of Babylon in chapters XIII and XIV, here repeats and reiterates more obscurely. See Canons III and IV. Add that it is not certain whether this prophecy is earlier or later than that in chapter XIII; for in the collection of prophecies the order of time was not observed, as is evident in Jeremiah.
Mystically St. Bernard, in his sermon On the Burden of the Desert of the Sea, sermon 6, discourses thus: "The desert sea is the multitude of the reprobate, who, abandoned by God and separated from the number of the saints, press upon the holy Church with their weight and persecution, themselves to be punished afterward with the weight of penalties which are set forth by the Prophet in this burden. Moreover, they are a sea who are shaken by the various tumults of passions and vices. Who are always in motion and always wandering, never stable, never remaining in the same state, now swelling with pride, now boiling with anger, now sad, now frivolous, now pressed by silence, now dissolved in laughter, they transgress the precepts of their elders and disturb the peace of their brethren. As long, however, as they fear, as long as they grieve, as long as they accept correction and do not flee from making satisfaction, they are not the desert sea. But if, coming into the depth of evils, they scorn; if when corrected they protest, responding with nothing honorable, nothing peaceful, nothing orderly, but swollen, but puffed up even against the one who corrects them, they rise up with words of indignation, so that it is necessary to leave them to themselves, do not hesitate to call them the desert sea." Then, exaggerating their burden and punishments, he adds: "Woe to those who, abandoned by God and dismissed by men, are given over to the desires of their hearts, to go in their own inventions. To whom also the Lord says through the Prophet: I will take away My zeal from you, and I will be angry no more. You know, dearest brethren, how heavy a burden those who are such impose upon the shoulders of the saints. Under this burden the Prophet groaned, who said: Upon my back sinners have wrought. Truly upon our back they build, who are of this sort, burdening us with their daily insults, who add sins to sins, join contempt to contempt, insolent, haughty, slanderers, hateful to God, not obedient to their elders, not accommodating to their companions. Let such know that they will incur the weight of punishments which is contemplated in the burden of the desert of the sea."
AS WHIRLWINDS COME FROM THE SOUTH, FROM THE DESERT IT COMES. — The phrase 'from the desert' is to be referred both to 'the whirlwinds come' and to 'it comes.' The Africus is a wind blowing from Africa, and therefore western; but lateral, inclining toward the south. This wind is turbulent and stormy, whence Horace calls the storms stirred up by the Africus 'African tempests,' book I of the Odes, ode 3, and Virgil in Aeneid I: "And the Africus, thick with storms."
The sense is, as if he said: Just as, when the Africus blows, a huge, sudden, and stormy tempest of sand arises from the desert, so (for by a common Hebraism the mark of similitude 'so' or 'thus' is understood) this burden, and
this whirlwind of the Persians comes, that is, will come, from a similar desert, which will bring a similar tempest upon Babylon. So St. Jerome. For a whirlwind is a most rapid and violent wind, which spins everything in its path in a circle and carries it away.
He calls Media and Persia a desert, both properly, because between them and Babylon vast deserts lie; and metaphorically, because the Medes and Persians will be destructive to Babylon like a whirlwind that comes from the desert.
He alludes to the sands of the desert, for example of Paran and Arabia, which the Hebrews crossed when coming from Egypt into Canaan, and which was therefore very well known to them; or of the province of Cyrenaica, which when the south wind blows rolls up immense waves of sand like a raging sea, as Pliny testifies, book II, chapter XLV; Pomponius Mela, book I, chapter VIII; Solinus, chapter XI, and Herodotus in the Thalia, where he narrates that armies led against the Ammonians were so buried in sand when the south wind blew that not even one escaped or survived. In a similar manner therefore he teaches that the Chaldeans will be overwhelmed by the Persians; for this is what Jeremiah predicted about them in chapter LI, 36: "And I will make its sea a desert, and I will dry up its spring, and Babylon shall be in heaps," namely of sand, says St. Jerome here.
Verse 2: A Harsh Vision (which will come upon Babylon) has Been Declared to Me
2. A HARSH VISION (which will come upon Babylon) HAS BEEN DECLARED TO ME, — to Isaiah, for these are his words; not Babylon's, as some would have it.
HE WHO IS FAITHLESS ACTS FAITHLESSLY (in Hebrew, he who is a traitor to others is a traitor to Babylon: the Hebrew בגד bagad means to act treacherously, to break faith, to rebel, to cast off the yoke): AND HE WHO IS A PLUNDERER LAYS WASTE, — as if he said: The Persians and Medes, a faithless and treaty-breaking people, do not keep faith with the Babylonians, just as they do not with other nations; and as they are accustomed to ravage other nations, so they will also devastate Babylon. For it is clear that the Medes and Persians were allied with the Babylonians from the fact that Nebuchadnezzar together with Cyaxares, king of the Medes, conquered Nineveh and overthrew the monarchy of the Assyrians, as St. Jerome, Eusebius, and others teach, whom I shall cite at Jeremiah chapters I-II. Whence also Nebuchadnezzar married Nitocris, the daughter of Cyaxares: hence also the Elamites, that is the Persians, came with the Chaldeans against Jerusalem, as is said in the following chapter, verse 6. Therefore this is the genuine sense. So Adamus and others.
Secondly, Sanchez thinks these words are to be understood of Godata and Gobrias, who deserted from Belshazzar to Cyrus, and were the first to break into Babylon and into the palace, and there killed Belshazzar, as Xenophon teaches, book VII of the Education of Cyrus. And Sanchez adds that in the word שדד sadad, that is 'he lays waste,' there is an allusion to כשדים Casdim, that is, Chaldeans, as if he were saying: Two Chaldean princes just mentioned will act treacherously against their own king, and according to their name they will be
Thirdly, the same Sanchez prefers this explanation above all others, in which the first part is applied to the Babylonians, the second to the Medes and Persians, as if he said: As the Babylonian is faithless and acts treacherously, so the Persian or Mede is a plunderer and lays waste. Whence in Hebrew it reads, 'a traitor, a traitor, and a devastator, a devastator,' that is, as he, namely the Babylonian, obstinately acts treacherously and sins against God and men: so he, namely Cyrus, will obstinately devastate the same.
Fourthly, Vatablus translates it: 'a traitor to the traitor, and a devastator to the devastator,' shall be, or shall come. It is a proverb, as if he said: The Chaldean, who was doing injury to others, will be injured by the Persians; the same one who was devastating others will himself be devastated.
Fifthly, Forerius translates: 'the plunderer plunders and the devastator devastates,' and St. Jerome in his Commentary: 'You who slay, slay; you who lay waste, lay waste,' as if he said: O Medes and Persians who slay and lay waste other nations! Slay and lay waste the Babylonians; this is your task, this your Sparta, adorn it.
GO UP, ELAM; BESIEGE, O MEDE, — as if he said: Come now, O traitor, O devastator of Babylon! You, I say, O Elam! that is, Persian, and you, O Mede! Invade the city hateful to me and destined for your slaughter. The Septuagint, instead of 'Mede,' translate 'Persian,' perhaps, says Leo Castrius, alluding to the Greek πέρθειν, that is, to destroy and ruin, as if he said: The Medes shall be Persians, that is, destroyers of Babylon. So in Apocalypse IX, that angel is called in Hebrew Abaddon, in Greek Apollyon, in Latin the destroyer or exterminator.
I HAVE MADE ALL ITS GROANING TO CEASE, — 'its,' namely of the Persian and the Mede: so some think; secondly, 'its,' namely of the Jewish people, whom Isaiah always bore in his mind and heart; thirdly, and more fittingly, 'its,' namely of Babylon — I have made its groaning to cease, because it will be so suddenly overwhelmed by the Persians that, struck with stupor, it will not be able to weep and groan, or I will take away its groaning, that is, its public and funereal lamentation, as if he said: I will cause the Chaldeans slain by the Persians to lack funeral rites, and funeral pomp and mourning. So Sanchez; fourthly, and best of all, Vatablus takes these words actively, as if he said: I have made its groaning to cease, namely of Babylon, which by its tyranny and oppression was forcing others to weep and groan. Whence the Chaldee paraphrase translates: all who groaned before the king of Babylon, I have made to cease, namely by slaying him.
Verse 3: Therefore my Loins are Filled with Pain
3. THEREFORE MY LOINS ARE FILLED WITH PAIN. — Cyril and Adamus think this is mimesis, for the Prophet speaks in the person of Belshazzar, when he saw the hand writing on the wall: Mane tekel phares, and from these words, as Daniel explained them, he recognized that destruction was hanging over himself and his kingdom.
But, since there follows 'set the table,' which happened before this hand wrote: hence St. Jerome better judges that these are the words of Isaiah, who loved Babylon even though it was hostile to his own nation, and who was compassionate toward it after his custom, when he foresaw in the spirit that it would be besieged by Cyrus, and made a wonder, that is, constrained by astonishing straits. He mentions the pain of the loins because he alludes to the pains of women in labor, as he shortly explains, which
are most intense in the loins; for these are wonderfully convulsed during childbirth, so that they seem to be utterly dislocated and wrenched apart.
I WAS TROUBLED WHEN I SAW. — Hence it seems that the sight of Babylon in flames was presented by God to the eyes of Isaiah's mind.
Verse 4: Darkness Stupefied Me
4. DARKNESS STUPEFIED ME, — from grief and fear a mist was poured over my eyes, and thence stupor and horror upon my mind.
BABYLON MY BELOVED. — In Hebrew, instead of Babylon there is נשף neseph, that is, darkness, obscurity. So he called Babylon "the gloomy mountain," chapter XIII, 2, for the reasons given there. St. Jerome adds that it is called "darkness" because it raised the summit of its pride to heaven (where our eye grows dim). Whence secondly, Vatablus, Adamus, and others translate: 'the twilight, or the night of my desire has been turned into terror for me,' and they explain it as the words of Belshazzar, as if he said: The last night, in which I was planning to feast and rejoice, God has turned into mourning and horror for me: this sense is very fitting if we consider the Hebrew; thirdly, Sanchez thinks the destruction of Babylon is called twilight because it was the dawn, as it were, of light, that is, the beginning of joy, which was about to arise for the Jews from the liberty that would follow under Cyrus. The twilight of desire therefore is the beginning of such longed-for freedom: this was turned for Isaiah into fear and mourning, because he grieved that the Jews were to be freed with such great pain and loss to the Chaldeans. The Septuagint, reading by metathesis נפש nephes instead of neseph, that is 'soul,' translate: My soul was filled with fear.
MY BELOVED. — Some think this is said ironically and by antiphrasis: 'beloved,' that is, a city hated by me and the Jews. Secondly, Sanchez thinks that 'my' is paragogic, for it corresponds to the Hebrew yod, which here is not an affixed pronoun but a paragogic letter. A similar case is Song of Songs I, 9, סוסתי susati, that is 'my cavalry,' where the yod, that is 'my,' seems to be paragogic. Babylon is therefore called absolutely 'beloved,' in Hebrew חשקי chiski, that is, desirable, on account of its wealth, beauty, and pleasures.
HAS BEEN MADE A WONDER TO ME. — Babylon, on account of the splendor of its walls and buildings, was one of the seven wonders of the world: now it is a wonder of ruin, distress, terror, and trembling; for this is the Hebrew חרדה charada.
Verse 5: Set the Table, Watch in the Watchtower
5. SET THE TABLE, WATCH IN THE WATCHTOWER. — It is irony, as if he said: Come, Belshazzar, set the table, feast, and in the meantime station watchmen to observe from the watchtower, lest Cyrus, who is besieging the city, attempt some assault upon it. These along with me will cry out to you and yours: Arise, O princes, who are feasting sumptuously with Belshazzar, eating and drinking, seize the shield, the enemy is at hand, has entered Babylon, is flying toward the palace; go and meet him as he rampages through the city, say Vatablus, Adamus, and others. Xenophon narrates that this is how it happened, book VII, where he says that Belshazzar had posted these watchmen: whence the Persians who burst into the palace found the king with drawn sword, and there slew him.
Others — St. Thomas, Hugo, and Sanchez — understand the watchtower differently, namely as the wall, as if he said: Watch, O Belshazzar! and observe on the wall the hand of God writing: Mane tekel phares, and threatening you with destruction; whence in Hebrew it reads, 'watch the watching,' or 'see the vision.'
EATING AND DRINKING: ARISE. — St. Thomas, Hugo, and Haymo think that Cyrus and Darius, invited by Belshazzar to the banquet, after the carousing invaded Belshazzar and killed him, and that this is predicted here by Isaiah. But neither Scripture, nor Xenophon, nor anyone else says any such thing; indeed they assert rather the contrary, namely that while the king was banqueting, Cyrus diverted the Euphrates into trenches prepared beforehand, and through its dry channel entered the city with his men. Add that Babylon was not captured at the banquet, and the king was not killed then; but long after the banquet, namely after he had seen the hand writing on the wall, had summoned the wise men to explain the writing, and since none could do it, had called Daniel, who read and explained the writing, and was therefore honored by the king — all of which took much time. Therefore Cyrus could not have killed the king at the banquet. So Lyranus and others.
Secondly, Sanchez refers 'eating' to the Babylonians and 'arise' to the Persians, as if he said: While the Babylonians are eating and drinking, arise, O princes of the Persians, seize your arms, invade the city. But the sense that I gave a little before seems more connected and genuine.
SEIZE THE SHIELD. — The translator seems to have read משכו mischu, that is, draw, attract, seize; whence the Septuagint also translate 'prepare': others now read משחו misichu, that is, anoint the shield, as if he said: Do not anoint your head and body in the usual manner, O guests of Belshazzar! Do not season your foods more lavishly, but anoint your shields, take up arms; it is not the time for feasting but for fighting. Again, 'anoint the shield'; for soldiers used to anoint their weapons so that they would be polished and gleaming. Whence Virgil, Aeneid VII:
'Some polish their light shields and gleaming spears With rich fat.'
And Vegetius, book II, chapter XIV: "The decurion," he says, "should compel the soldiers to frequently clean their breastplates, lances, and helmets; for the splendor of arms imparts very great terror to the enemy;" and: "Who would believe a soldier to be warlike, whose negligence allows his iron and weapons to be defiled with neglect and rust?" Wherefore the Chaldee paraphrase translates: 'polish and make bright your weapons.' So Sanchez. He notes the sluggishness of the Babylonians, who allowed their weapons to become covered with rust, so that they needed to be fitted and polished when they had to be used and when they had to engage with the enemy. Again, 'anoint the shield'; perhaps a shield made smooth and slippery with oil will elude the javelins of the enemy, and turn aside blows, for which roughness usually opens the way. For this reason the ancients anointed their shields, says Forerius, Rabbi Solomon, and Vatablus. Secondly, Hector Pintus and Pagninus say: 'Anoint the shield,' that is, anoint another king in place of Belshazzar who is about to be killed, who may be a shield for you: namely, anoint Cyrus, submit yourselves to him. For it was customary in the creation of a king to anoint him and his shield, say Vatablus and Rabbi Solomon, and they thus explain that passage in II Kings I, 21: "For there the shield of the mighty was cast away, the shield of Saul, as if he had not been anointed with oil." But there 'anointed' is to be referred to Saul, not to the shield.
Verse 6: Go, and Set a Watchman
6. GO, AND SET A WATCHMAN. — These words are spoken in a comic or rather tragic manner, as if he said: I told you, O Belshazzar! Watch from the watchtower; now because of the impending danger I say again: Set a watchman, and if you please, set me, as if he said: If you wish to read or hear this prophecy of mine, I, Isaiah, will be for you a most truthful and faithful watchman. Wherefore, in the following verse, Isaiah announces that he has observed the hostile chariot, which was drawn by a donkey and a camel, with two horsemen. Less fittingly therefore do some understand the watchman as God or an angel, who observes these things and tells Isaiah so that he may announce them to the Chaldeans.
Verse 7: And He Saw a Chariot of Two Horsemen
7. AND HE SAW A CHARIOT OF TWO HORSEMEN. — These two horsemen are Darius and Cyrus, who, as if in one chariot, that is with one army and united forces, marched against Babylon and captured it. This chariot was drawn by a donkey and a camel; the donkey signified the Persians, the camel the Medes.
Secondly and more fittingly, I saw a chariot, that is, I saw a chariot of two horsemen, namely a chariot drawn by donkeys, in which sat Cyrus the Persian; and another chariot drawn by camels, in which sat Darius the Mede: these chariots were however similar and equal, so that they seemed to be one and the same chariot; whence in Hebrew it reads, 'I saw a chariot of equals,' or 'equal horsemen.' Each king therefore had his own chariot, as is clear from Ahab and Jehoshaphat fighting against Ramoth-Gilead. Again, the same chariot could not be drawn by a donkey and a camel, which is far larger and has a completely different gait from a donkey. Whence Symmachus, for 'two riders' or 'horsemen,' translates 'two chariots.' For in Hebrew it reads, 'I saw a chariot,' that is chariots, 'of equal horsemen,' namely a chariot of donkeys and a chariot of camels, as if he said: I saw two chariots: one was drawn by donkeys, the other by camels. So Vatablus, Forerius, Pagninus, and also Cyril and Procopius.
The Medes and Darius their king are compared to the camel; because the Medes were warlike and powerful, and rode on camels, and Darius, born of the royal blood of the Medes, was illustrious and magnanimous. So St. Jerome.
Cyrus and the Persians are compared to the donkey because up to that time they had been lowly and ignoble: secondly, because they were a laborious nation, patient of hardships; thirdly, because they gained their empire not so much by military skill as by physical strength and numbers of men, or by the cowardice of those against whom they fought. For the same reasons they are compared by Daniel, chapter VII, 5, to a bear; fourthly, because although the earlier Persians were most temperate and extremely frugal, as Xenophon testifies, the later ones however dissolved into luxury and lusts, as is evident from the time of Xerxes and Darius Codomannus, etc.; indeed Theodoret, in his Questions on Leviticus, question XXIV, says: "The Persians to this day unite not only with sisters but also with mothers and daughters under the law of marriage." So also Augustine in the same place, question LVIII. For the lustful are compared to donkeys. Whence in Ezekiel XXIII, 20, it is said of the Egyptians and Chaldeans: "Whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys" — "flesh," that is, private parts so large, says St. Jerome. Finally, Eusebius, book IX of the Preparation for the Gospel, last chapter, from Alphaeus and the annals of the Chaldeans, teaches that Nebuchadnezzar, seized by divine frenzy, predicted to the Chaldeans: "A half-donkey Persian will come, who will impose upon you the yoke of servitude: Cyrus will come, who is called a half-donkey, that is a mule, begotten from a mare and a donkey, or a she-camel and a donkey, because Cyrus was born of his mother Mandane, daughter of Astyages king of the Medes, but his father was a Persian of obscure birth. Whence some think that one and the same Cyrus is called here a rider of a donkey, because born of Persians he ruled over them; and a rider of a camel, because born of a Median mother, upon the death of his uncle Darius, he came to the kingdom of the Medes. But it is more true that two riders or horsemen are placed here, namely Darius and Cyrus.
Allegorically, Hesychius, book II on Leviticus XI, says: Christ is the rider of the camel, that is, of the Jewish people, who bore the heavy yoke of the law and had crooked and proud manners, like a camel: He is also the rider of the donkey, an unclean animal, that is, of the Gentile people, and from these He made one two-yoked chariot of the Church: or, as Castrius says, Christ is the rider and Lord of the camel, that is, of the heavenly Angels, and of the donkey, that is, of earthly men. Finally, Alcazar, in his commentary on Apocalypse XVII, note 1, beautifully applies these words to Saints Peter and Paul, who overthrew mystical Babylon, that is, Rome and idolatry, and subdued it to Christ. For the rider of the donkey is St. Peter, as the Apostle of the Jews, who like donkeys were accustomed to the burden of the law. The rider of the camel is Paul, as the Apostle of the proud and untamed Gentiles: indeed he contends that this sense is the literal one; but from what has been said it is clear that it is mystical.
AND HE OBSERVED. — Not Cyrus, but the watchman, namely Isaiah, who here, according to the office he assumed a little before, watches and announces the coming of Cyrus; whence he cries out like a lion, as follows. Isaiah speaks of himself in the third person, which is frequent in Scripture and among the Hebrews.
Verse 8: And the Lion Cried out
8. AND THE LION CRIED OUT. — Some, like Vatablus, explain it thus: The watchman cried out: The lion, namely Cyrus, approaches, preparing destruction for you, O Chaldeans! Whence Aquila translates, 'call the lion'; Symmachus, 'call the lioness'; Theodotion, 'call Ariel,' as if to say: Call Cyrus, that he may rush upon Babylon like a lion; secondly, and better, Isaiah cried out and roared like a lion: for Isaiah, placed as watchman and Prophet, and always standing guard for God's visitation, and most powerfully proclaiming future events, as a guardian of men, is rightly compared to a lion; because the lion is ever vigilant, since it has very short eyelids and gleaming pupils, so that even when sleeping it seems to be watching. Hence the ancients believed that the lion never sleeps: for this reason the Greeks used to paint two lions on the gates of temples, as guardians of the place, as we still see done on the doors of many palaces, cities, and temples. Indeed, here in Rome, in the palace of the Pontiff in the Vatican, I saw an image of a sleeping lion with this inscription: 'Sleeping, he watches.'
Moreover, of all animals with curved claws the lion alone can see as soon as it is born into the light, whence it is called a solar animal by Plutarch. So the Egyptians, says Horapollo, Hieroglyphics 19: "When depicting a watchful man of the age, or even a guardian, they paint the head of a lion: because the lion when awake closes its eyes, and when sleeping keeps them open, which is a sign of guarding and watching. For this reason they paint lions on the enclosures of temples to serve as guards." The Septuagint retains the Hebrew אריה arie, that is 'lion,' as a proper name; whence, reading with different vowel points, they translate: 'call Uriah to the watchtower of the Lord,' as if the watchman here were called Uriah, and were Christ, who in Hebrew is called Uriah, that is 'light of the Lord,' says St. Jerome.
UPON THE WATCHTOWER OF THE LORD I STAND, — as if he said: I, Isaiah, am the watchman and Prophet of the Lord just mentioned, who according to the demands of the office committed to me, by night and day continually keep watch, that I may receive the word of the Lord, and foresee future events, and announce them to others, just as watchmen in a watchtower and sentinels in their guard posts announce to the citizens the approach of soldiers and enemies.
Morally, let the heralds and leaders of the faithful, and the faithful themselves, learn here to watch for coming and future dangers and disasters. This most vigilant watchman heard: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon, my threshing, and the sons of my threshing floor," that is, Babylon, and you Babylonians, sons of the threshing floor on which the threshing will take place — you are all to be threshed: let us likewise foresee from the watchtower the ruin of the wicked and their eternal punishment, and let us observe the wondrous threshing that will take place in the valley of Jehoshaphat and at death, and let us guard against it. To this Christ admonishes, Matthew XXIV, 42: "Watch, for you know not at what hour your Lord will come."
St. Ambrose, book V On the Faith, chapter VIII: "We do not know," he says, "the certain moments of the future judgment, so that, always as if stationed on guard and placed in a certain watchtower of virtue, we may avoid the habit of sinning, lest the day of the Lord catch us among our vices." Peter Chrysologus, sermon 23: "No one is unaware," he says, "that watches are beneficial for everything: to watch more is to live more; for what is more like death than the appearance of one sleeping? The ever-watchful king guards against the enemy's ambushes; the soldier by careful nighttime wakefulness repels nocturnal attacks; the sailor by watching enters uncertain paths; the shepherd joins nights to days, lest any opportunity be given to wolves to ravage the flock; the skillful traveler by the breezes of the night anticipates the heat of the sun." So watch, you too, O Christian, who are a soldier, sailor, shepherd, and traveler to heaven! The Bride, Song of Songs V, 2, says: "I sleep, and my heart watches": the mind sleeps that prepares itself for judgment; it sleeps, I say, to passing things and the trifles of the world; but it watches for eternal things. In the same book, chapter III, verse 7: "Sixty mighty men surround the bed of Solomon, on account of fears in the night." John sees the living creatures, Apocalypse IV, full of eyes before and behind: so it befits Christians to be Arguses with a hundred eyes, lest death and judgment overwhelm them sleeping. For thus Ish-bosheth, that is, the man of confession, was struck by death while sleeping and cast down into the underworld, II Kings IV. Thus Judith, chapter XIII, while watchful, struck down Holofernes sleeping. Sisera, the commander of the army, was put to sleep and killed by Jael, a woman, with a drink of milk, Judges IV. Samson, overcome by slumber, was shorn by Delilah and stripped of his strength, Judges chapter XVI. David took the spear and cup from the sleeping Saul, I Kings XXVI. Wherefore continually reflect on this saying: "The life of mortals is a vigil." Be watchful therefore, and keep watch continually with St. Vigilius. Say with the Psalmist: "O God, my God, to You I watch from the light of dawn."
Verse 9: Behold, this Rider Comes, a Man of a Chariot
9. BEHOLD, THIS RIDER COMES, A MAN OF A CHARIOT. — This watchman announces what he has seen, and roars like a lion, crying out: I see the Persian battle lines approaching and bursting into the city; I see Babylon, overthrown by them, falling and collapsing.
Note: 'rider,' that is, riders, that is, two horsemen, namely Darius and Cyrus. So we commonly say, 'a soldier or horseman is here,' that is, soldiers or horsemen are here: 'A man,' that is, each of them (for in Hebrew אישׁ ish, that is 'man,' distributes, and means the same as 'each one') sits upon his 'chariot of horsemen,' that is, a military war-chariot, from which or from its horses, donkeys, or camels the horsemen fight: for there are other chariots, rural and freight chariots, which are for carrying loads and goods, not for fighting. Whence in Hebrew it reads: behold, a chariot comes, or a chariot of men, a chariot, I say, of equal horsemen. So Vatablus: a chariot, that is, two chariots, and two chariots of two horsemen. Our translator for רכב recheb, that is 'chariot,' read רכב rocheb, that is 'rider' or 'horseman.'
It could be, secondly, that 'rider' is taken properly in the singular, to denote one person, Cyrus, who carried out this war: he is called 'a man of a chariot of horsemen,' because he came against Babylon with the combined army of two nations, namely the Medes and the Persians: for although in verse 7 he places two horsemen, namely Darius, Cyrus's uncle of sixty years, and Cyrus himself; nevertheless here he places one, Cyrus, who was a young man, spirited and warlike, and who virtually accomplished this matter alone.
AND HE ANSWERED. — Namely, the watchman Isaiah answered, that is, he cried out spontaneously; for no one here asks him. So often in the Gospel Christ is said to have answered, that is, to have spoken, to have begun to speak.
FALLEN, FALLEN IS BABYLON. — "Troy falls from its lofty summit"; Babylon was utterly prostrated: for this is what the repetition of the word 'fallen' signifies. Its antitype is Rome, the city which at the end of the world will return to idolatry and is called Babylon, and is said to be about to be destroyed, Apocalypse XVIII, 2, says Franciscus Ribera in the same place. For indeed in Babylon there is expressed here a type of the destruction of the world and of its king the devil through the faith and grace of Christ; and especially of the city and the world at the end of the age.
Verse 10: My Threshing, and the Sons of my Threshing Floor
10. MY THRESHING, AND THE SONS OF MY THRESHING FLOOR. — 'Threshing' means the same as 'sons of the threshing floor,' namely grain and kernels threshed out on the threshing floor (so "daughters of the quiver" are called arrows, Lamentations III, 13); thus he calls either Babylon, or rather, as St. Jerome says, Jerusalem and the Jews, who were threshed, trampled, crushed by the Assyrians and Chaldeans, and reduced to a few. Whence the Septuagint translates, 'the forsaken and sorrowing,' as if he said: I will not thresh the Babylonians, but I will crush and destroy them; but you, O Jews! who are my nation, I will thresh, as grain is threshed on the threshing floor; so that from a great heap of crops, the chaff having been winnowed away and the stalks and straw cast aside, there remain few grains that have been beaten out of them: for so also you
Moreover, "sons of the threshing floor" means exactly the same as what is threshed on the threshing floor, according to the customary idiom of Orientals. So among the Arabs, "son of the clouds" means rain, "son of the scabbard" means sword, "son of the lip" means speech, discourse.
through so many calamities I will thresh, not to destroy, but to prove and purge, and to store as selected grain in the granary of my Church and commonwealth.
Secondly, he alludes to the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, where the temple was built: for there, as on His threshing floor, God winnowed the chaff of His people's vices and errors with His true law, doctrine, and worship, and stored them like threshed and purified wheat in His granary.
Morally, here and in Jeremiah LI, 33, and often elsewhere, threshing is called tribulation, and a nation or soul that is afflicted: for tribulation is named from the threshing-sledge (tribula), by which crops are threshed and beaten so that the grains are shaken out. The threshing-sledge is named from 'grinding' (terendo), as if teribula, because it grinds the crops to shake out the grains.
Therefore learn here how useful tribulation is: it is, namely, a threshing, and it makes us sons of God's threshing floor, while it separates us from the chaff, so that we may say with St. Ignatius: "I am the wheat of God, let me be ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may be found pure bread of Christ." This is what the Wise Man says, chapter III, verse 5: "Having been afflicted in a few things, they shall be well disposed in many: for God has tried them, and found them worthy of Himself. As gold in a furnace He has proved them, and as a burnt offering He has accepted them, and in due time there shall be regard for them." St. Augustine beautifully says on Psalm LXI: "In the furnace," he says, "the chaff burns and the gold is purified; the chaff is turned to ashes, and the gold is stripped of its impurities: the furnace is the world, the gold the just, the fire tribulation, the goldsmith God. What the goldsmith wills, therefore, I do: where the goldsmith places me, I endure. I am commanded therefore to endure; He knows how to purify. Let the chaff burn to set me on fire and, as it were, to consume me — it is turned to ashes, while I am freed from impurities. Why? Because my soul shall be subject to God, for from Him is my patience. Who is He to you, from whom is your patience? For He is my God and my Savior, my protector, I shall not be moved." The same again: "No servant of Christ," he says, "is without tribulation; if you think you have no persecutions, you have not yet begun to be a Christian." The same elsewhere: "The scourge," he says, "within and without glorifies the sinner, compels the unwilling, instructs the ignorant, guards the one who runs,
protects the one who falters, rouses the one who is sluggish, initiates to death the one who is always living." The same, On the Barbarian Time, chapter III, volume IX: "If you are gold, why do you fear fire? If you are wheat, why do you fear the threshing-sledge? Your quality as you were before in the ear will not be apparent unless the threshing-sledge by crushing has separated the chaff from you; if you are oil, why do you fear the pressure of the press? Your true nature will not be revealed unless the weight of the stone has separated the dregs from you."
Verse 11: The Burden of Dumah
11. THE BURDEN OF DUMAH. — The Septuagint: the burden of Idumea, which is called Edom or Idumea from its red ancestor, and Seir from the same, who was hairy.
The Jews are foolish when they read 'Rome' for Dumah, as though the Romans were descended not from Aeneas and Troy, but from Esau and the Idumeans, so that as often as the Prophets prophesy against the Idumeans, so often they prophesy against the Romans. St. Jerome ridicules this here and elsewhere.
Note: Proper names often undergo aphaeresis: for thus Idumea is called Dumah, thus Jerusalem is called Salem, thus Abraham is called Ram, Job XXXII, 2; thus Benjamin is called Jemini; for 'son of Jemini' means the same as 'Benjaminite,' as the Septuagint translates. And Cajetan, on Judges III, says this is undoubted among the Hebrews; thus Adeodatus the Bethlehemite is called in the Hebrew 'Lemites,' I Chronicles XX, 5, as St. Jerome notes there in the Hebrew Traditions.
So the Belgians commonly shorten proper names: for Nicolaus they say Claes, for Elisabeth Enfet, for Joannes Sans, for Dorothea Ghegie, for Sebastianus Bastiaen, for Caelia Cilie.
Mystically St. Bernard, On the Burden of Dumah, sermon 7, comments thus: "Dumah is interpreted as silence. You know, brethren, that silence burdens many, and rest weighs heavy: so that for those who are silent and at rest everything is a burden; the head aches, the stomach rumbles, the eyes grow dim, and the loins nearly give way; but for those who go out, wandering here and there and talking, everything is pleasant, pains are consigned to oblivion, their proper functions are restored to each member. O how great is the power of the tongue, which clears the eyes, lightens the head, strengthens the loins, fortifies the unsteady knees! This renders the sick man tireless in labors, patient in injuries, ready for the journey, prompt in obedience. Therefore, if you see a monk sitting in the cloister looking this way and that, yawning frequently, stretching his hands and feet, now putting down his book, now picking it up again — and finally, as though goaded by some kind of stings, running from place to place, from one study room to another — do not doubt that he is sighing under the burden of Dumah. There is moreover another kind of silence, which imposes the weight of eternal punishment on many. It is that silence which, proceeding from shame and confusion, blocks the confession of sins or excludes forgiveness;
what burden of punishment such silence deserves, the prophetic word does not keep silent about."
ONE CRIES TO ME FROM SEIR (wrongly the Plantin editions read 'the king of Seir,' as is evident from the Hebrew, Greek, and Roman texts). The sense is, as if he said: I, Isaiah, established by God as a watchman, seem to see the terror and tumult of war, and to hear the Idumeans, dismayed by the approach of Nebuchadnezzar, anxiously asking their sentinels: WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT — that is, what have you seen or perceived concerning the enemies? or rather, "what of the night?" that is, what hour of the night is it? For anxiously in this fear and terror we await the day and the light: for at night even the very silences terrify, especially when danger threatens from the enemy or from elsewhere. So commonly we Belgians and Germans say: Wat is't van den dach: what is of the day? that is, what hour of the day is it? Wat is't van den nacht? what is of the night? that is, what hour of the night is it? So Arkanus.
Others say, as it were: "What of the night," that is, how will this night of ours turn out? That is, this affliction and danger: will it be perpetual, or will it be turned into light?
Verse 12: Morning Comes and also the Night
12. MORNING COMES AND ALSO THE NIGHT. — First, some explain it thus, as if the watchman answers: Morning indeed dawns; but for us the night will endure, that is, the affliction and calamity threatening from the enemy.
Secondly, others say, as it were: Morning and night you keep asking again and again: "Watchman, what of the night?" Go ahead, as often as you please, going and coming, ask the same thing, keep dinning the same question in my ears. For you ask in vain, you waste your effort, it is all over for you, you must perish. So Vatablus. As if the watchman in exasperation repeats and flings back in the face of the importunate questioners what they had so often asked, and says: "It comes, morning and night comes, it comes, it comes."
Thirdly, Sanchez says, as it were: Why like children do you keep asking morning and night: "Watchman, what of the night?" and in the meantime you do not take up arms, you do not form your battle lines, to resist the enemy? For the enemy must be repelled not by wailing and asking questions, but by swords and by fighting. Whence he adds: "If you inquire, inquire, return, and come," as if to say: If you seriously and heartily ask and inquire, inquire of the watchman by what way
and by what means the enemy should be met, with what garrisons the city should be fortified, what arms should be used; and then at last come equipped with fitting weapons, not with soft and womanish wailing; as we commonly say: "Do what you are doing: do it" — namely, seriously and vigorously.
Fourthly and most plainly, Arias Montanus says: The Idumeans asked their watchman: "Watchman, what of the night?" that is, what hour of the night is it? The watchman answers: "Morning comes and also the night," as if to say: Morning is at hand, and yet it is still night; therefore "if you inquire, inquire," as if to say: If therefore you wish to go out on a raid or elsewhere, make haste, "return and come," that is, come back again and return quickly to the city before the enemies detect you at dawn. It is a Hebraism by which the verb is used for an adverb or participle: "return and come," that is, come again, or returning, come.
Fifthly, Procopius and Theodoret explain it as if to say: O Idumeans! You do well to take your stand on your walls and to question your watchman about the night and about the morning: if however you seek salvation and a sure way to it, come to me who am your God and guardian, do penance, renounce your sins, devote yourselves to justice, and so reconcile yourselves to me; I will defend you, because you are sons of Abraham and Isaac. But then this counsel and these words would be God's or Isaiah's, when it is evident that they are the words of the watchman of the Idumeans, as I said.
Mystically, St. Gregory, book XVI of the Morals, chapter XXV, and St. Augustine, tract 43 on John, and from them Leo Castrius explain it as if the Prophet says: O God! You who are the Samaritan, that is, the guardian of men, Seir cries to You, that is, the Gentile and sinful people: "What of the night?" What will become of such great tribulation? How long shall we be immersed in this night of ignorance, sins, and miseries? When will morning come, when the sun of justice, Christ, shall rise? To whom God answers: If you sincerely and from the heart seek Christ, persevere in seeking, and you will find Him.
Again, St. Gregory, book VI of the Morals, chapter XIII: "From the night," he says, "the watchman came, because the protector of the human race appeared visibly in the flesh; and yet Judea, pressed by the darkness of its own faithlessness, did not at all recognize Him. Where fittingly from the voice of the watchman is added: Morning comes and also the night — because through His presence a new light shone upon the world, and yet in the heart of unbelievers the ancient blindness remained."
Verse 13: The Burden in Arabia
13. THE BURDEN IN ARABIA. — That is, a threatening prophecy against the Arabs dwelling in Arabia, who from their ancestors are called Ishmaelites and Kedarites. For Kedar was the son of Ishmael, Genesis XXV, 13. These were, as they still are, fierce men, dwelling in tents in desert places: they are occupied with pasturing flocks, with hunting, and with plundering; for they are the best archers, as is said in verse 17, and Jeremiah XLIX, 28. According to what the Angel predicted of their father Ishmael to their mother Hagar, Genesis XVI, 12: "He shall be a wild man, his hand against all, and the hand of all against him." Wherefore also
even now the Turk, although he rules over Arabia, cannot with all his power tame the Arabs or restrain them from plundering.
Mystically, St. Bernard, On the Burden in Arabia, sermon 8: "Arabia," he says, "is interpreted as 'evening,' which is the end of day and the beginning of night: not unfittingly signifying, as I think, the hour of death, which imposes no light weight of fear upon almost all mortals. For who among men can escape this burden, to which the Savior submitted Himself by His own voluntary will as an example? For as death approached, as the Evangelist says, He began to be afraid and distressed. Under this fear the whole human race lives: unless perhaps someone be such that he is certain of a blessed life after death, the desire for which causes him not to feel the bitterness of death. Moreover, evening (which, as we said, is the end of day and the beginning of night) expresses the fall of the one who, after the works of light, begins those things that belong to darkness, whose last state becomes worse than the first: who will indeed be crushed by that weight which is contained in the burden of Arabia."
IN THE FOREST AT EVENING YOU SHALL SLEEP. — St. Jerome, Haymo, Forerius, Hugo, and Sanchez understand these words of the Jews, who when Jerusalem was destroyed escaped from the hands of the Chaldeans into neighboring Arabia; accordingly the Arabs are warned to meet them and to refresh and restore them in their hunger and thirst, and because they did not do this, hence in verse 16 a similar destruction is threatened against them.
But, since this burden is against Arabia, not against Jerusalem, hence I say it is a metalepsis, by which is signified the hurried flight of the Arabs as the enemy approaches, from the fact that they are forced to flee at nightfall and to sleep in the forest, and on the road that leads to the city of Dedanim.
Note: It is altogether probable that it was not Shalmaneser, as Forerius would have it, but Nebuchadnezzar who, when he was devastating neighboring Idumea, Judea, Ammon, and everything else, also devastated Arabia: for the same destruction of Arabia was predicted by Jeremiah chapter XXV, verse 23, and chapter XLIX, verse 28, and Ezekiel chapter XXV, verse 13. These, however, foretell the scourge of Nebuchadnezzar threatening all nations. Cyril nevertheless attributes it to Darius the Mede, when he captured Babylon together with Cyrus.
For 'at evening' the Hebrew is בערבוד baaraba, which can be translated, first, "in Arabia;" secondly, "at evening;" thirdly, "at sunset." It alludes to the name of Arabia, which hints at the destruction of the Arabs, as if to say: O Arabs! In Arabia, that is, at evening, at sunset, you shall sleep, when namely the light and day shall set for you, both of the sun and of happiness, joy, and glory; when in the decline of your kingdom you shall say:
'We were Trojans, Ilium was, and the great Glory of the Teucrians.'
Fourthly, baaraba alludes to ערב oreb, that is, 'raven,' as if to say: You shall sleep in Arabia, that is, in the region of ravens — that is, you shall be hanged on the gallows, you shall feed the ravens on the cross; or you shall descend and
DEDANIM. — Dedan and Theman, says St. Jerome, are in the wilderness, and seem to have been the chief provinces of the Ishmaelites.
Verse 14: Meet the Thirsty (Arab in flight from terror
14. MEET THE THIRSTY (Arab in flight from terror and exhaustion) BRING WATER (give drink), YOU WHO DWELL IN THE LAND OF THE SOUTH, — you who dwell toward the south (whither they were fleeing from the enemy coming from the opposite direction), and are neighbors of Arabia.
Verse 16: Within One Year, as the Year of a Hireling
16. WITHIN ONE YEAR, AS THE YEAR OF A HIRELING, — as if to say: After a certain time defined by God, and a brief one, and perhaps after one year from the destruction of Jerusalem, the glory of Kedar, that is, of the Arabs, as I said at verse 13, will be taken away and will expire, just as the time and wages of a hireling expire when the year is finished: or "as the year of a hireling," that is, in the year in which they will be given as plunder, as it were as payment, to the enemy
to their Chaldeans, as payment for the labor by which the Chaldeans served God's vengeance in destroying other nations. See what was said at chapter XXVI, at the end.
Verse 17: The Remnant of the Number (that is, those
17. THE REMNANT OF THE NUMBER (that is, those who can be counted, that is, few of the Arabs) (who at other times are accustomed to be innumerable and most skilled archers) who will survive the Chaldean disaster) SHALL BE DIMINISHED, — that is, they will be of a small and scanty number. Whence Forerius clearly translates: and the remaining number of the strong bows of the sons of Kedar will be few.
But, because it was not easy to believe that such a nation could be conquered, which, accustomed to the deserts, skilled in archery, and with the swiftness of the fastest horses, was accustomed to easily elude enemies, and had no cities that could be besieged — hence for confirmation he adds: "For the Lord God of Israel has spoken," against whose wrath no strength or skill avails. So Forerius.
shall sleep in hell among dark and hideous demons. For this is Arabia, that is, the region of ravens.