Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
From chapter 24 until now he has treated of the vengeance and destruction of the world; here he treats of the defeat and destruction of the devil, who is the prince of the world; which Christ began in this life, but will complete on the day of judgment, of which the Prophet here properly treats. In a similar way, in chapter 13, when he had treated of the destruction of Babylon, immediately in chapter 14, he treats of the destruction of the king of Babylon. Second, at verse 2, he introduces the canticle of the vineyard, that is, of the Church of the Blessed wonderfully blessed by God. Third, at verse 6, he predicts that the Apostles will fill the world with the seed of the word of God at the time when the city of Jerusalem will be laid waste, and that then the remnants of the Jews are to be converted. Finally, at verse 12, he teaches that the Jews, exiles and fugitives, will come to the Church of Christ.
Vulgate Text: Isaiah 27:1-13
1. In that day the Lord with His hard, and great, and strong sword shall visit Leviathan the barred serpent, and Leviathan the crooked serpent, and shall slay the whale that is in the sea. 2. In that day the vineyard of pure wine shall sing to Him. 3. I the Lord, who keep it, will suddenly give it drink: lest it be visited against it, night and day I keep it. 4. There is no indignation in Me: who shall give Me a thorn and a brier in battle? I will march upon it, I will burn it altogether. 5. Or rather shall he take hold of My strength, shall he make peace with Me, shall he make peace with Me? 6. Those who rush upon Jacob, Israel shall blossom and bud, and they shall fill the face of the world with seed. 7. Has He struck him according to the stroke of the one who struck him? Or has he been slain as his slain were slain? 8. In measure against measure, when it shall be cast forth, you shall judge it: He has meditated with His hard spirit in the day of heat. 9. Therefore upon this shall the iniquity of the house of Jacob be forgiven: and this is all the fruit, that the sin thereof be taken away, when he shall have laid all the stones of the altar as broken stones of ashes; the groves and temples shall not stand. 10. For the fortified city shall be desolate, the beautiful city shall be forsaken and left like a wilderness: there the calf shall feed, and there shall he lie down, and shall consume its branches. 11. In the drought its harvests shall be broken, women shall come and teach it: for it is not a wise people, therefore He that made it shall not have mercy on it; and He that formed it shall not spare it. 12. And it shall be: In that day the Lord shall strike from the channel of the River even to the torrent of Egypt, and you shall be gathered together one by one, O children of Israel. 13. And it shall be: In that day a great trumpet shall be sounded, and they shall come who were lost in the land of the Assyrians, and they who were cast out in the land of Egypt, and they shall adore the Lord in the holy mount in Jerusalem.
Verse 1: Leviathan the Barred Serpent
1. HE SHALL VISIT (punish and, as it were, slay) WITH HIS SWORD — with His own strength, His own powers and arms; for the arms of God are His very power and omnipotence. He will take away from men. The Arabic version has: In that day the Lord will command with His drawn, great, powerful spear against the viper, and the crooked serpent, and He will slay the dragon that is in the sea.
Theodoret, Nazianzen, Basil, Tertullian, and among them Leo Castrius, understand by the sword Christ, who cuts away the desires of the soul in us, and the deceptions and temptations of the devil.
LEVIATHAN — is a whale or sea-monster, so called on account of the vastness of its body; for Leviathan in Hebrew signifies "their joining together;" as if to say: a body so vast that it seems composed and joined together from many bodies. Thus the devil is called Leviathan, because his power, cunning, and malice are immense.
THE BARRED SERPENT. — The devil is called a serpent, on account of his cunning and the venom of sin, which he cunningly pours into men. He is called a barred serpent, because he runs straight and swiftly, like a bar or rod, to seize his prey.
Hear what manner of bar, and how long and terrible the devil is. Theodosius the Abbot, as related by Sophronius, in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter 66, narrates these things about himself: Before I passed to the solitary life, being in an ecstasy I beheld a certain dragon so immense that it extended from earth to heaven, and seemed to occupy the whole space of the air.
"St. Hilarion," says St. Jerome in his Life, "one night began to hear the wailing of infants, the bleating of flocks, the bellowing of cattle, the weeping of women, the roaring of lions, the murmur of an army, and various horrible sounds, so that he was struck with terror at the mere voices before he saw anything." These are the stratagems of the devil.
THE CROOKED SERPENT. — The Syriac, the seething, excited, agitated serpent; the Arabic, the crooked, treacherous, cunning serpent. The devil is crooked because he never walks in a straight line, but always in curves and crookedness; that is, he deceives by indirect ways, lies, and frauds.
AND HE WILL SLAY — with eternal death, by banishing and binding him in hell, where he will always be tormented by the fire and pains of an immortal death — THE WHALE THAT IS IN THE SEA — that is, the devil, who is like an immense whale in the sea of this world, devouring souls.
Verse 2: The Vineyard of Pure Wine
2. IN THAT DAY THE VINEYARD OF PURE WINE WILL SING TO HIM. — Others, and more correctly, judge these to be not threats, but praise and congratulation to the Church, because it did not produce wild grapes, as the vineyard in chapter 5, but pure wine, that is, the wine of virtue and holiness.
You will ask, who sings this song, and to whom? Note that in Hebrew the word is feminine; therefore it does not refer to God, but to the vineyard itself, that is, the Church, which sings to God a song of thanksgiving.
Second, others think it is a song of the Angels to the Blessed, or to the Church Triumphant.
Third, therefore, and most fittingly, Sanchez judges it to be a song of God; for there follows:
Verse 3: I the Lord, Who Keep It
3. I THE LORD, WHO GUARD IT, etc. — From this verse 3, therefore, up to verse 6, is the song of God, who will sing these things to His Church, applauding and congratulating it, because it has rendered Him wine such as He thirsted for, namely pure wine of virtue and holiness.
The meaning therefore is: In that day, namely of judgment, when Leviathan and the impious will go into eternal death, "it will sing," that is, with a song God will laud and glorify the Church, as if to say: I the Lord, who keep this vineyard of Mine, will give it drink at every moment; that is, I will irrigate and refresh it with the water and dew of My grace.
Vatablus translates, I irrigate it in due season; and thus our "I will give it to drink" can be understood as "I will irrigate;" for what drinking is to men, irrigation is to a vineyard.
LEST ANYTHING BE DONE AGAINST IT — lest anything be done against it, lest any evil befall it: for this reason I guard and watch over it night and day.
Verse 4: There Is No Indignation in Me
4. INDIGNATION IS NOT IN ME — I cannot be angry and indignant at a vineyard so good, so fertile, as I was indignant at the barren vineyard, namely the Synagogue, in chapter 5.
Note that God, as it were, does violence to Himself when He punishes. Whence St. Jerome explains thus: "Who will make Me hard and cruel, so that I overwhelm this vineyard of Mine? Far be it! Rather I will cherish and protect it."
SHALL I MARCH AGAINST IT IN BATTLE, SHALL I BURN IT ALTOGETHER? — as if to say: By no means. For it is a vineyard dear and chosen by Me; therefore I will guard and protect it, not destroy it.
Verse 5: Shall He Take Hold of My Strength?
5. OR RATHER WILL IT TAKE HOLD OF MY STRENGTH? — as if to say: It will certainly take hold of it, namely this vineyard of Mine by its grace and beauty will lay hold of My strength, that is, My protection and favor, and will make peace with Me.
Second, Sanchez understands by strength clemency: for thus strength is understood in Numbers 14:17, as if to say: This vineyard will not fail to hold fast My clemency and make peace with Me.
Third, others refer these words to Leviathan, and understand the contrary, namely, he will by no means hold it, as if to say: Let Leviathan and his ministers try to lay hold of My strength, if they dare; they shall never prevail against My vineyard.
Verse 6: Those Who Rush Upon Jacob
6. THOSE WHO ENTER WITH FORCE TO JACOB. — So the Roman edition, not "from Jacob," as the Syriac translates; and the Prophet passes to the Apostles and their preaching and its fruit. The meaning is, as if to say: The Apostles, who enter with the force of the Gospel to Jacob, that is, to the Jewish people, and through them to the whole world, shall cause Israel to blossom and bud, and they shall fill the face of the world with seed — with the seed of the word of God and of faith.
Sanchez takes it differently; for he continues to understand these things of the Blessed: The Prophet shows, he says, who those will be to whom He will give such great blessedness, namely those who in this life walked in the footsteps of the Patriarch Jacob, that is, in simplicity, patience, and faith.
Again Forerius translates by the subjunctive in this manner: "If those coming would make peace with Me, the Jacobites would take root, the Israelites would blossom and bud" — meaning: If only my people would accept the peace I offer through Christ, they would flourish like a well-watered vineyard.
Verse 7: Has He Struck According to the Stroke?
7. HAS HE STRUCK IT ACCORDING TO THE STROKE OF THOSE WHO STRUCK IT? — namely Israel and the Jewish people. He passes from the faithful remnants of the Jews, who believed in Christ and through whom the Church flourished, to the unfaithful mass of the Jews, whom God punished by the destruction of Jerusalem.
Verse 8: In Measure Against Measure
8. IN MEASURE AGAINST MEASURE (in Hebrew, in measure a measure, that is, with an equal and corresponding measure (or a double measure, or measuring one by one) WHEN IT SHALL BE CAST FORTH, YOU SHALL JUDGE IT.
In Hebrew it is: according to the measure in letting it go (it can also be translated, in its branches) You will contend with it: He will carry it away with His hard spirit in the day of the east wind, that is, of heat and tribulation.
Sanchez takes it differently: him, he says, namely Leviathan, to return to verse 1, as if to say: God will strike Leviathan not with that blow by which He struck Israel, but with a much harder blow, namely eternal damnation.
Verse 9: The Iniquity of Jacob Shall Be Forgiven
9. THEREFORE UPON THIS THE INIQUITY OF THE HOUSE OF JACOB WILL BE FORGIVEN. — He returns to verse 6, and to the remnants of the Jews who believe in Christ: their iniquity shall be forgiven when they accept the Gospel and destroy their idolatrous altars.
Note the Hebraism: "When it shall have made all the stones of the altar like stones of lime crushed to ashes," that is, when God shall have reduced the altar stones of the Jewish temple to ashes, or when the Jews themselves shall have destroyed their idolatrous altars — then the iniquity of Jacob shall be forgiven.
Verse 10: The Fortified City Shall Be Desolate
10. FOR THE FORTIFIED CITY WILL BE DESOLATE. — Jerusalem, which killed Christ, will be made desolate by the Romans, to such an extent that not men, but calves and cattle will graze in its ruins.
Verse 11: In the Drought Its Harvests Shall Be Broken
11. IN THE DROUGHT ITS HARVESTS WILL BE CRUSHED (as if to say: The inhabitants of Jerusalem will be afflicted with drought, scarcity, and famine; and the women, that is, the weak and timid, will come and teach it, because it has no brave men left).
Sanchez takes it differently: for he refers these things to the calamity of the Jews under Josiah by Pharaoh, and afterwards by Nebuchadnezzar.
The Septuagint translate, women coming from the spectacle, or from the vision, come here, illuminate: which St. Jerome, Cyril, Origen, Theophilus, Ambrose, and others understand of the holy women who came to the tomb of Christ on Easter morning, and illuminated the Apostles and the whole Church with the announcement of the Resurrection.
FOR IT IS NOT A WISE PEOPLE (therefore it deserves to be ruled by women); THEREFORE HE WHO MADE IT WILL NOT HAVE MERCY ON IT — namely God, its maker and creator. This refers to the obstinate Jews, who refused to acknowledge Christ and therefore merited divine punishment.
Verse 12: The Lord Shall Strike from the River
12. AND IT SHALL BE: IN THAT DAY HE WILL STRIKE. — In Hebrew it is iachbot, that is, He will shake off, as olives are shaken off from the olive tree: as if to say: God will shake off and gather the scattered Jews, as a farmer shakes olives from the tree, from the River (the Euphrates) to the torrent of Egypt (the Nile).
Note that by "the river" is understood the Jordan, or rather, as the Chaldean and St. Jerome say, the Euphrates: by "the torrent of Egypt," the Nile: for Judea lies between these two rivers, and the Jews were scattered throughout this region and beyond.
AND YOU SHALL BE GATHERED ONE BY ONE. — In Hebrew, to one, one, that is, one to one, that is, individually you shall all be gathered into one. The expression denotes the care and diligence with which God will gather His elect, not one shall be overlooked.
Verse 13: A Great Trumpet Shall Be Sounded
13. AND IT SHALL BE: IN THAT DAY THE GREAT TRUMPET SHALL BE SOUNDED, AND THOSE WHO HAD BEEN LOST IN THE LAND OF THE ASSYRIANS SHALL COME — as if to say: God will call the scattered Jews with a great trumpet, that is, with the powerful preaching of the Gospel, and they will return from Assyria and Egypt and all the lands of their exile to worship God in Jerusalem, that is, in the Church of Christ.
Sanchez understands these things literally of the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity and from Egypt. It seems truer, together with others, that this is only alluded to: for the Prophet speaks principally of the future conversion of the Jews to Christ at the end of the world.
Anagogically, understand these things of the trumpet of the Archangel, which will summon the elect from among the Jews as well as the Gentiles to the last judgment and to the eternal worship of God in the heavenly Jerusalem.