Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He predicts the destruction of Jerusalem, which on account of its fortification he calls Ariel, that is, the lion of God. Second, in verse 3, he digresses to the Chaldeans who were destroying it, and says that their victory will be like a dream; for they themselves would soon be destroyed. Third, in verse 9, he returns to the disaster of the Jews, and that God will take from them the understanding of the Prophets. Fourth, in verse 15, he rebukes their atheistic wise men, who thought that they and their counsels were hidden from God. Fifth, in verse 17, he predicts the blinding of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles.
Vulgate Text: Isaiah 29:1-24
1. Woe to Ariel, Ariel the city which David conquered: year is added to year, the solemnities have run their course. 2. And I will lay siege to Ariel, and it shall be sorrowful and mourning, and it shall be to Me as Ariel. 3. And I will surround you like a sphere on every side, and I will raise a rampart against you, and I will set up fortifications to besiege you. 4. You shall be brought low, you shall speak from the ground, and your speech shall be heard from the dust: and your voice shall be from the ground like a python's, and your speech from the dust
shall murmur. 5. And the multitude of those who scatter you shall be like fine dust, and the multitude of those who prevailed against you like passing embers: 6. and it shall be suddenly, in an instant. By the Lord of hosts it shall be visited with thunder, and earthquake, and a great voice of whirlwind and tempest, and a flame of devouring fire. 7. And the multitude of all the nations that fought against Ariel shall be like a dream, a vision of the night, and all who warred and besieged and prevailed against her. 8. And as a hungry man dreams that he eats, but when he awakes his soul is empty: and as a thirsty man dreams that he drinks, and after he awakes he is still weary and thirsty, and his soul is empty: so shall be the multitude of all the nations that fought against Mount Sion. 9. Be astonished and wonder, waver and stagger: be drunk, but not with wine: stagger, but not from drunkenness. 10. For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep; He will close your eyes; your prophets and your leaders, who see visions, He will cover. 11. And the vision of all shall be to you like the words of a sealed book, which when they give to one who knows letters, they say: Read this; and he answers: I cannot, for it is sealed. 12. And the book shall be given to one who does not know letters, and it shall be said to him: Read; and he will answer: I do not know letters. 13. And the Lord said: Because this people draws near with their mouth, and with their lips glorifies Me, but their heart is far from Me, and they have feared Me according to the commandment of men and their doctrines: 14. therefore behold, I will again do a marvelous thing among this people, with a great and stupendous miracle: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden. 15. Woe to you who are deep of heart, to hide your counsel from the Lord: whose works are in darkness, and who say: Who sees us, and who knows us? 16. This thought of yours is perverse: as if the clay should think against the potter, and the work should say to its maker: You did not make me; and the thing formed should say to him who formed it: You do not understand. 17. Is it not yet a little while, and in a short time, Lebanon shall be turned into Carmel, and Carmel shall be regarded as a forest? 18. And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and out of darkness and gloom the eyes of the blind shall see. 19. And the meek shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel: 20. for the one who prevailed has failed, the mocker is consumed, and all who watched for iniquity have been cut down: 21. who made men sin by a word, and tripped up the one who reproved in the gate, and turned aside without cause from the just one. 22. Therefore thus says the Lord to the house of Jacob, who redeemed Abraham: Jacob shall not now be confounded, nor shall his face now grow pale: 23. but when he sees his children, the works of My hands, in his midst sanctifying My name, they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall proclaim the God of Israel: 24. and those who erred in spirit shall know understanding, and the murmurers shall learn the law.
Verse 1: WOE TO ARIEL, ARIEL THE CITY WHICH DAVID CONQUERED
1. WOE TO ARIEL, ARIEL THE CITY WHICH DAVID CONQUERED. — Ariel here signifies Jerusalem, as is evident from what follows. So say St. Jerome, Cyril, and Procopius. It is called Ariel, that is, the mountain of God, says Rabbi David; but then Ariel would have to be written with he, and one would have to say hariel: but now it is called Ariel with aleph. Ariel therefore means the same as 'lion of God,' and this first, on account of its strength and sovereignty. For just as the lion is the chief of beasts, so Jerusalem was the chief of cities, and among them so fortified by art and nature that the Jebusites, occupying its citadel Sion, mocked the forces of David besieging it, and placed the blind and lame on the walls, as if the city could be defended by them alone, II Kings V. So Judah, whose seat was in Jerusalem, was called a lion or lioness by the patriarch Jacob, Genesis XLIX, 9, and by Balaam, Numbers XXIII, 24, to which Isaiah here alludes: hence it is called the lion of God, because the things of God are great. Thus cedars and mountains of God are spoken of, that is, great ones. Again, of God, because it was a people devoted to the worship of God: whence
Second, Jerusalem is called Ariel on account of the temple and the altar existing in it, which in Ezekiel chapter XLIII, 15, is called Ariel, because in the altar the strength, majesty, and worship of God are most resplendent: and because Ariel, with the letter yod transposed, as Ezekiel transposes it, signifies the ram of cursing or of sin, namely the one that used to be offered for sin on the altar, from the root ʼarar, that is, 'he cursed,' and el, that is, 'ram.' So says Arias. Vilalpando adds, volume II, page 208 at the end, that it is the common opinion of the Doctors that the temple had the form of a lion: for it was wide in front and narrow in the rear like a lion, says Vatablus: hence it is called Ariel, that is, the lion of God: just as Belgium by its geographical shape resembles a lion; whence it is called the Belgian Lion. Belgium therefore could be called Ariel, and to it, now thus devastated, the things that Isaiah predicts for Ariel in this chapter rightly apply. By a similar figure, Apollonius, according to Strabo, called the city of Alabanda 'an overturned basket full of scorpions;' by this riddle signifying that the citizens of Alabanda were wicked. For that city seems so situated among the mountains as to imitate the form of a basket: that region also abounded in scorpions.
Third, if instead of Ariel, by changing one point, you read uriel, that is, the light of God, or the fire of God, it will denote Prophecy and the Prophets, likewise the knowledge of the law and the Prophets, which was in the Scribes and Pharisees, and the Priests of Jerusalem: for the High Priest bore on his breast the urim and thummim, that is, doctrine and perfection, as I said on Exodus, chapter XXVIII, 30. Whence in IV Esdras V, 20, Uriel is the name of the Angel revealing secrets, just as Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael are. Whence the Syriac Lexicon says: Ariel, the city was named after its founder, who was called Ariel; and Ariel, that is, the light of God, is Jerusalem. But all the Interpreters read Ariel, that is, the lion of God, not Uriel, that is, the light of God.
The sense therefore is, that is: Woe to Ariel, that is, Jerusalem, which David conquered from the Jebusites who occupied it, which once like a most fierce lioness gnashed her teeth against the nations — she will now be most wretchedly devastated by the Chaldeans, and afterwards by the Romans: for just as David first captured it by slaying the lame and blind, whom the Jebusites, trusting in the fortification of the place, had stationed to mock David: so secondly, Christ, another David, and the son and heir of David, will capture the same city, and through Titus and the Romans will slay those blind and lame in the ways of God, the mockers of Christ. So say St. Cyril, St. Jerome, and Procopius.
THE CITY WHICH DAVID CONQUERED. — Aquila translates: polignion aulisthanou david, that is, 'the little city' (as St. Jerome translates) 'of the encampment of David'; Symmachus, 'the camp of David'; Theodotion, 'the siege-work of David.'
YEAR IS ADDED TO YEAR: THE SOLEMNITIES HAVE RUN THEIR COURSE. — First, the sense is, that is: After two, that is, a few years, the majesty of Jerusalem will be overthrown, and then its feasts will have run their course and will cease. So say Adamus and Forerius. This sense is the genuine one; for there follows: 'And I will lay siege to Ariel,' etc.
Second, Dionysius says, that is: 'Year is added to year,' that is, the years decreed by God for the destruction of Jerusalem have now been fulfilled.
Third, St. Thomas, Haymo, Hugo, and Sanchez think that here is signified the duration of the calamity and devastation of Jerusalem, that is: Years will succeed years, and times will succeed times; and yet the devastation of Jerusalem will not cease, nor the long silence of its solemnities, that is: For many years and feasts the Jews will remain in exile and squalor.
Verse 2: AND I WILL LAY SIEGE TO ARIEL
2. AND I WILL LAY SIEGE TO ARIEL, — namely Jerusalem, first, through the Chaldeans, says St. Jerome; second, through the Romans, says the same St. Jerome and Cyril. Christ alluded to this in Luke chapter XIX, verse 43, predicting the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by Titus.
Foolishly, Calvin, from the destruction of Ariel, that is, of Jerusalem, infers the destruction of the Roman Church. Hear him in his usual manner, prancing about and mocking:
will be full of the corpses of its citizens. Again others say: 'It shall be to Me as Ariel,' that is: I will attack this city, just as a fierce and harmful lion is usually surrounded and attacked by shepherds: I will treat it not as ariel, that is, as the city of God, but as ariel, that is, as the lion of God.
Fourth, and better, the Chaldean, Vatablus, Lyranus, and Adamus say: Ariel, they say, here is called the altar, as also in Ezekiel XLIII, that is: Just as the altar is surrounded with the blood of victims and, as it were, swims in it: so I, God, through the Chaldeans as if they were My priests, will stain this city, as an altar, with the blood of its impious citizens, and will, as it were, consecrate it to God, that is, to Myself and My vengeance (see Canon XXXVI), so that, just as slaughtered cattle lie strewn beside the altar, so the corpses of the inhabitants may lie strewn in Jerusalem. Thus Jeremiah says in chapter XII, verse 3: 'Gather them together like a flock for the slaughter, and consecrate them for the day of killing.' And Isaiah, chapter XXXIV, 6: 'For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bosra.'
Fifth, Arias Montanus very aptly explains, that is: Jerusalem, which once was Ariel, that is, a most mighty lion, will now be Ariel, that is, a curse — for its sin it shall be immolated and slain like a ram offered to God. Whence the Arabic translates: and it shall be (let it be) like the land of Ariel. He plays elegantly on the word Ariel, just as if you were to say: 'The altar has been made by the enemy into a pigsty.' Thus a Poet plays on the word sustulit ('he took up / he killed'), when he says: Who would deny that Nero is of great Aeneas's stock? The one took up his mother, the other took up his father. For Nero took up (that is, killed) his mother: but Aeneas took up his father Anchises on his shoulders, to lead him out of the destruction of Troy.
Similarly, Argeus played on the word 'extinguish' while traveling through Selinus. For when he had seen this elegiac poem inscribed on a certain monument: These men, who were perhaps extinguishing tyranny, savage Mars Struck down before the walls of Selinus. 'Rightly did you perish,' they say, 'you who attempted to extinguish the burning tyranny: on the contrary, you should have let it burn until it was entirely consumed.' He seized the joke from the occasion of the word 'extinguish': for what is suppressed is 'extinguished'; and a fire is 'extinguished' when, all things having been consumed, it ceases.
Allegorically, Leo Castro says: The Jews, he says, who once were Ariel, that is, the lion of God, will now be Ariel, that is, a lion against God; because they will kill and crucify Christ the Lamb of God, indeed God, and the Son of God. Whence it is said of Him in Psalm XXII, 14: 'They opened their mouths against Me like a lion seizing and roaring'; and verse 22: 'Save Me from the mouth of the lion.'
Verse 3: I WILL SURROUND YOU LIKE A SPHERE ON EVERY SIDE
3. I WILL SURROUND YOU LIKE A SPHERE ON EVERY SIDE, — that is, on all sides, says Vatablus; through the Chaldeans I will encircle and besiege you like a sphere or crown. The Septuagint, instead of caddur, that is, 'like a sphere,' read caddavid, with changed vowel points, and reading daleth, which is similar to resch, instead of it: whence they translate: and I will surround you as David did, that is: Just as David besieged and captured Sion, so I will besiege and capture you, O Jerusalem, O Sion!
Second, others take Ariel in the dative, that is: Ariel, that is, Jerusalem, will be, or will encounter Me, God, as if it were encountering Ariel, that is, a most mighty lion, by which it would be torn to pieces: for I will be cruel to it as a lion, indeed as a lioness nursing her cubs, as is said in Hosea chapter V, 14. Whence Forerius says: God, he says, compares Himself to a lion, and the city to prey, that is: You who were a lion and a predator to others, will now in turn be prey to Me, as to your lion and predator.
Third, others say: Jerusalem, they say, 'shall be to Me as Ariel,' that is, as a lion; for just as a lion has many corpses around it, so Jerusalem will be full
'From this one can see how ridiculous the Romanists are today, who attach the Church to the chair of Peter, as if God could find no dwelling place in the whole world except in the Roman See. Was any such promise ever given to Rome, such as was given to Jerusalem? This is My rest forever: here I will dwell, for I have chosen it, Psalm CXXXI, 14. But even if it had been given, do we not see what Isaiah pronounces about Jerusalem? That God is expelled where there is no place for doctrine, where the worship of God is corrupted? What then of Rome, which has no testimony?' Foolishly, I say; for Rome is one thing, and the Roman Church and the chair of Peter is another. We acknowledge that Rome, equally with Jerusalem, can be overthrown, and has been overthrown many times: we deny that the Roman Church and the chair of Peter can be overthrown. For firm and clear is Christ's promise given to Peter and to His See and successors: 'You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,' Matthew XVI, 18. The old and Jewish Church heard from God: 'This is My rest forever,' as long, namely, as the Mosaic law and this old state of realities and shadows would endure. For in Jeremiah XIII, 10, and elsewhere, God teaches and predicts that it would be abrogated through Christ and the Christian Church, as the Apostle demonstrates in Hebrews VII, 7. But no Scripture teaches that the Church of Christ will be abrogated by another that will succeed it: indeed, all assert that it will be perennial and entirely perpetual. Moreover, the Church is the monarchy of Christ, who in His own place in this monarchy established as head and vicar St. Peter and his successors. For a visible Church cannot exist and be governed without a head and without a visible head: just as a kingdom cannot exist and be governed without a king, or a king's vicar. Therefore, if the Church of Christ is eternal, the Roman Pontiff is also eternal, who is its head and ruler: the Holy Spirit is also eternal, the director of both, lest it err in faith and religion.
AND IT SHALL BE TO ME AS ARIEL. — Ariel is taken here in a different sense than in verse 1. First, St. Jerome thinks that here the restoration of the temple and city is being discussed, and predicts that it would not attain its former splendor, whence it is not called Ariel, but 'as Ariel.' But the discussion here is not about restoration, but about the destruction of the city.
I will surround you as David did, that is: Just as David besieged and captured Sion, so will I besiege and capture you, O Jerusalem, O Sion!
Verse 4: YOU SHALL SPEAK FROM THE GROUND, etc., AND YOUR VOICE SHALL BE FROM THE GROUND L
4. YOU SHALL SPEAK FROM THE GROUND, etc., AND YOUR VOICE SHALL BE FROM THE GROUND LIKE A PYTHON'S, — that is: O Sion, O people of Judah! you who formerly raised your crests high, and thundered with great eloquence as well as with arrogance, now in your devastation you will seek out crypts and caves, and there, found by the enemy and wounded to death, you will groan from the ground into which you collapse, and your voice will be like that of a python, that is, feeble and mournful, such as is the voice of spirits or shades, which the python, that is, the necromancer (for 'python' is derived from pythanomai, that is, 'I inquire,' because he summons the souls of the dead from the underworld and inquires into secrets that he wishes to know), summons from the underworld and makes speak beneath the earth, or from the belly of a man or animal (which are therefore themselves also called pythons); for the voice of these is thin, plaintive, gaping, confused, and groaning: such will be your voice, O Sion, dying beneath the earth. Thus Ovid, in Book V of the Fasti, says of the shade of Remus: The bloody shade of Remus was seen standing by the bed, And speaking these words with a faint murmur. And Virgil says of the souls, or shades, of the Greek princes meeting Aeneas in the underworld: Some try to raise a feeble voice; The cry begun cheats their gaping mouths.
Verse 5: AND THE MULTITUDE OF THOSE WHO SCATTER YOU SHALL BE LIKE FINE DUST
5. AND THE MULTITUDE OF THOSE WHO SCATTER YOU SHALL BE LIKE FINE DUST. — That is, the forces of the Chaldeans scattering and harassing the Jews will be innumerable, most swift, and most violent, like dust raised by a whirlwind, and like embers stirred up by the wind in a fire. So says St. Jerome. Second, and better, that is: The Chaldeans who 'prevailed against you,' O Sion, and who scattered you, will soon after your disaster, by God the Avenger, be crushed and scattered, just as dust and embers are scattered by the wind and vanish. So say Adamus, Sanchez, and others. The Prophet here digresses and begins to prophesy against the Babylonians, the destroyers of the Jews, and continues in this vein up to verse 9.
Verse 6: IT SHALL BE VISITED WITH THUNDER AND EARTHQUAKE
6. IT SHALL BE VISITED WITH THUNDER AND EARTHQUAKE. — Some refer these things to Jerusalem: whence Adamus thinks it is a catachresis, by which is only signified that this destruction will be most cruel: or, as Vatablus and Castro say, that thunder, earthquakes, etc. actually occurred in the capture of Jerusalem, although they are not narrated in Scripture. For thus Josephus, Book VII of the War, chapter XII, narrates that before the siege of Titus, there were seen in the air at Jerusalem battles and chariots of horses, a comet in the shape of a sword, the voice of Angels saying: 'Let us depart from here'; and the very heavy gates of the temple moving and opening of their own accord. But, as I said, these things up to verse 9 pertain to the Babylonians, not the Jews, that is: The Babylonians will be scattered like dust and embers; because God will shake and strike them down as if with thunderbolts, will terrify them also with a horrible earthquake, will engulf them with a violent whirlwind and storm, and will consume them with flames bursting forth from above. When and how these things happened, Scripture does not narrate. Therefore, second, more certainly and truly, we shall understand these things by catachresis, as merely signifying that the plague of the Chaldeans will be sharp and severe: for this, whatever it may be, is signified in Scripture by fire, sword, thunder, earthquake, whirlwind, and storm; especially because these things are perceived in the mind and imagination of afflicted, fearful, and stunned people, so that they think they are being struck from every direction by every kind of blow, according to Canon XXXII.
Verse 7: AND IT SHALL BE LIKE A DREAM
7. AND IT SHALL BE LIKE A DREAM, — that is: The Chaldeans, the conquerors of the Jews, will not be enriched, nor will they rejoice for long: for like a dream, both they themselves and their wealth and spoils that they took from the Jews will vanish. Likewise Vespasian and his son Titus, who overthrew Jerusalem, quickly perished, as is evident from Dio and Suetonius. So says St. Jerome. Whence Ambrose, in his book On Joseph, chapter VI, teaches from this passage that the goods and delights of this world, like a dream, feed us: because after they have passed, they leave us equally hungry; just as one who dreams he has eaten, after the dream finds himself empty. Thus Plato and Philo rightly said: 'The hopes of mortals are the dreams of the waking.' Thus the devil often deceives magicians and witches, and through their illusions deceives others, so that they think they see wondrous things, feast wonderfully, and are at banquets furnished with every kind of delight: but shortly after, when the illusions by which the devil deceives their imagination cease, all things vanish, and they find themselves empty and hungry, and see that they have not truly eaten.
Verse 9: BE ASTONISHED
9. BE ASTONISHED. — He returns to the devastation of the Jews: for Christ teaches that these things pertain to the Jews in Matthew chapter XV, 8, where from this passage of Isaiah He rebukes the Jews saying: 'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.' Here the zealous Prophet rises to the third tone of his discourse, that is: O stupid, wavering, blind, and not drunk with wine but with madness, O mocking Jews, both of the present time and those of the future time of Christ: with God justly punishing you for your sins with this blindness.
Verse 10: FOR THE LORD HAS POURED OUT UPON YOU A SPIRIT OF DEEP SLEEP
10. FOR THE LORD HAS POURED OUT UPON YOU A SPIRIT OF DEEP SLEEP. — For 'deep sleep,' first, the Chaldean translates 'error'; second, Theodotion translates ekstasos, that is, 'ecstasy' or 'departure of the mind'; third, Aquila translates kataphoron, that is, 'heavy sleep.' For the Hebrew word tardema signifies the deepest slumber, and as it were a stupor, which takes from a person the use of eyes and ears and every sense, such as was that which was sent upon Adam, so that he did not feel his rib being taken from him, from which Eve was formed, Genesis chapter II, and the deep sleep sent upon Jonah, chapter I, 5, and upon Abraham, Genesis chapter XV, verse 12.
Whence fourth, the Septuagint translates katanuxen: for they seem to have put katanuxin for katanystaxin, that is, 'a state of drowsiness,' as Leo Castro maintains. Our Interpreter, however, in Romans XI, 8, translates it as 'compunction,' not that which pierces the soul and leads to repentance, but rather that which pierces and fixes the mind in evil. See what was said there. 'Of compunction,' therefore, that is, of stubbornness fixed in evil. Whence there follows:
HE WILL CLOSE YOUR EYES; YOUR PROPHETS AND YOUR LEADERS, WHO SEE VISIONS, HE WILL COVER, — that is: God will blind your hearts, will veil and cover for you Isaiah and the other Prophets, so that you may not understand them. So say St. Jerome, Cyril, and Procopius. See Canon XXVII. For to 'cover' the Prophets is to so conceal their meanings that, even though you hear or read them, you do not understand them, but seem to yourself to be reading Hebrew or a foreign language, or as in a sealed book, as follows. What he adds, 'your leaders,' is added by way of accumulation, as is evident from what follows: 'who see visions'; for it was common among the Jews that the leaders and rulers of the people received visions and revelations from God, and were Prophets. So says Adamus.
Second, Forerius thinks it is an apposition, and that by 'your eyes' is to be understood 'your Prophets and your leaders.' For Prophets, he says, are the eyes of the people, through whom it sees: just as the sun is called 'the eye of the world, through which the earth sees all things.' It is therefore a sign of an angry God, as is often said in Scripture, to take away the Prophets and to cause the people to lack a teacher; nor should this be less grievous to people than to be deprived of the eyes of the body. Thus for 'leaders' the Hebrew has 'your heads,' because leaders look out for the whole people as heads, and govern them. He also said 'He will cover,' continuing in the metaphor of the head: for those who have their whole head wrapped see nothing. Therefore, for the sins of the people, the Prelates and leaders are blinded, so that they may not understand what they ought to provide for the whole body, that is, for the commonwealth. Those therefore who note the errors of their leaders and criticize them would act more wisely if they would bewail their own sins, from which the darkening of leaders often takes its origin. So far Forerius; so also Vatablus.
Third, others understand these things of false prophets: for God covers their eyes, so that from a spirit of error and falsehood they may prophesy falsely. But the first sense is the genuine one; for he speaks of the true Prophets, who had a covering or veil, so that, when they were read by the Jews, they were not understood: for this is what follows:
Verses 11 and 12: AND THE VISION OF ALL SHALL BE TO YOU LIKE THE WORDS OF A SEALED BOOK (that is:
11 and 12. AND THE VISION OF ALL SHALL BE TO YOU LIKE THE WORDS OF A SEALED BOOK (that is: The writings and oracles of the Prophets will be to you so obscure, hidden, and not understood, as if they were the words of a sealed, folded, and closed book, which when they give to those who profess knowledge of the law, namely the Scribes, Pharisees, and Rabbis, and say): Read (and interpret for us the prophecies of this book and Prophet, they will respond): I cannot; for it is sealed (and if they give it to one who does not know letters, that is, to an unlearned and ignorant person of the people, to read, he will respond): I DO NOT KNOW LETTERS, — that is: These oracles will be impenetrable and unknown to both the wise and the foolish.
Second, 'sealed,' that is, written in secret marks, characters, and signs, so that it cannot be read except by one who knows the secret art of such marks, in the way that the ancient Roman notaries used to write down all the words of the Martyrs and their torturers in ciphers and other signs. So says Pineda, Book V On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter XIII. About these signs Martial says, Book XIV, epigram 179: Though words may run, the hand is swifter than they: The tongue has not yet finished its work, but the right hand has.
Verse 13: BECAUSE THIS PEOPLE DRAWS NEAR (Here he gives the cause of the blinding of the J
13. BECAUSE THIS PEOPLE DRAWS NEAR (Here he gives the cause of the blinding of the Jews; because, namely, they named God and honored Him only with their lips, but in their hearts they were estranged and turned away from Him); AND THEY HAVE FEARED ME ACCORDING TO THE COMMANDMENT OF MEN AND THEIR DOCTRINES. — That is, they worshipped (for to fear God is to reverence and worship God) Me not according to what was commanded by Me, but according to the traditions of men and their Scribes, partly futile, partly perverse, and contrary to My law, as when they taught their children to say 'corban' to their needy parents, Matthew chapter VII, 11.
Therefore heretics have nothing here to oppose to the traditions of the Church: for these are the commandments, not of men, but of Christ, who either by Himself or through His Apostles and their successors (of whom He Himself said: 'He who hears you hears Me, and he who despises you despises Me') ordained and delivered them to the Church.
leaders look out for the whole people as heads, and govern them. He also said 'He will cover,' continuing in the metaphor of the head: for those who have their whole head wrapped see nothing. Therefore, for the sins of the people, the Prelates and leaders are blinded, so that they may not understand what they ought to provide for the whole body, that is, for the commonwealth. Those therefore who note the errors of their leaders and criticize them would act more wisely if they would bewail their own sins, from which the darkening of leaders often takes its origin. So far Forerius; so also Vatablus.
Note that these mockers are fittingly and justly punished: for just as they gave only their lips to God, praising Him with their mouths, but gave their hearts to vanity and the world: so God in turn gave them only the letters, namely the sounds and bark of the Scriptures as the letter that kills; but the marrow, namely the soul, spirit, and sense of them, He took away from them, so that they did not taste it. So aptly says Sanchez.
Note: The Septuagint, whom Christ follows in Matthew chapter XV, 9, add maten, that is, 'in vain,' 'without purpose,' 'without cause,' because this is understood, or rather is read in the Hebrew. For although they now read: vattehi iratam othi mitsuot anashim melummada, that is, 'and their fear of me will be a commandment of men taught'; yet these words seem absurd and devoid of sense, unless you explain 'me' as 'toward me,' and they read maten, that is, 'without cause,' on which the force of Christ's argument rests. Therefore, with the Septuagint and Christ, with only the letter yod extended to the neighboring vav, and with different vowel points, it should be read thus: vattohu ieretim othi mitsuot anashim malmada, that is, 'and in vain you have feared (that is, worshipped) Me according to the precepts of men and their doctrine.'
Verse 14: A WONDER
14. A WONDER. — In the Chaldean: a blow. For wisdom shall perish. — The Septuagint and from them St. Paul translate: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent I will reject. This is the miracle that he spoke of: for wisdom belongs to the wise; therefore it is, as it were, a miracle to separate and tear away wisdom from the wise; just as if you were to tear away vision from the eye, whiteness from the swan, sweetness from sugar, especially if you were to transfer these to other and opposite things — for example, if you were to place sweetness in wormwood, whiteness in a raven, vision in a stone — as God did here: for He transferred this wisdom from the wise Jews to the foolish, blind, and deaf Gentiles, as is said in verse 18. By wisdom he understands the Pharisaic and Rabbinic wisdom, that is: I will cause the teachers of the Jews, who above all others seemed to be wise, to become foolish, and to be stupidly senseless, when they substitute their own doctrines and the commandments of men for the doctrine and law of God. Paul extends this same thing to the wisdom of the pagan philosophers — for example, the Stoic, Platonic, or Epicurean: for this is vain, and cannot make a person good or lead to blessedness: for that is found in the Gospel and in Christ crucified, where therefore one can find true and Christian wisdom, as St. Paul teaches.
Verse 15: WOE TO YOU WHO ARE DEEP OF HEART, TO HIDE YOUR COUNSEL FROM THE LORD
15. WOE TO YOU WHO ARE DEEP OF HEART, TO HIDE YOUR COUNSEL FROM THE LORD. — In Hebrew: Woe to you who make deep, or, as Vatablus says, who hide yourselves in the deep, that is: Woe to you who enter into such deep and secret counsels that you think God's eyes cannot penetrate to see through them, but that they are hidden from Him.
Note: 'you hide,' that is, you think you hide, either practically or even speculatively: for what is signified is not a real act, since this is impossible, but a mental one, according to Canon XXIX.
Behold to what point the impiety and folly of the wise men and mockers has come, so that they say: There is no God, there is no judge, there is no avenger of crimes; so that they may freely rush into all lusts and crimes. Thus in Job chapter XXII, 14, the wicked say: 'The clouds are His hiding place, and He does not consider our affairs, and He walks about the hinges of heaven'; and in Ezekiel chapter IX, 9: 'The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is filled with blood, and the city is filled with rebellion: for they have said: The Lord has forsaken the earth, and the Lord does not see.'
WHOSE WORKS ARE IN DARKNESS, — who flee the light and seek darkness, so as to do shameful things, which they hide from men and God, that is, they think they hide.
Verse 16: As if the clay
16. As if the clay — that is: These impious and atheistic men, denying the knowledge and providence of God, act just as if blind clay were to say to the potter: You have no eyes, you have no knowledge and skill to form me, and to make a potter's vessel out of me; whence it says: 'You do not understand,' the Chaldean says, you do not understand me; the Septuagint: you did not wisely make me.
Verse 17: IS IT NOT YET A LITTLE WHILE AND IN A SHORT TIME THAT LEBANON SHALL BE TURNED IN
17. IS IT NOT YET A LITTLE WHILE AND IN A SHORT TIME THAT LEBANON SHALL BE TURNED INTO CARMEL, AND CARMEL SHALL BE REGARDED AS A FOREST? — that is: After a little and short time, Carmel, that is, Judea, will be desolated by the Chaldeans, so as to be like the uncultivated and desolate Mount Lebanon. So says Sanchez.
Second and genuinely, that is: After a short time, namely after 700 years (for these are but a little thing in the eye of the Prophet, elevated before God, in comparison to eternity, says St. Jerome, and in comparison to the time that the law of Christ will endure), 'Lebanon,' that is, the barren and uncultivated Gentile nations, will be cultivated by the Apostles and will become fertile in good works through the faith and grace of Christ: and conversely, 'Carmel,' that is, the previously fertile field, namely the Jews, once abounding in holy Patriarchs, Prophets, and other virtuous men, will become barren and will degenerate into an unfruitful and uncultivated forest. Note: Isaiah here prophesies the rejection of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles. So say St. Jerome, Cyril, Procopius, Theodoret, and Castro, who also add that 'Carmel' signifies Judea, because Mount Carmel is in Judea, and it is fertile, whence in Scripture it is a symbol of fertility, about which see Jeremiah II, 7, and because Carmel in Hebrew is composed of car, that is, 'lamb,' and mol, that is, 'is circumcised'; whence if that status displeased them, as though God had erred, and they could by their own hand overturn the decrees of God's prudence, they entered into a counsel to kill Him, so that the inheritance would never be taken from their hands. The discourse therefore concerns the plots against the Lord and against His Christ. I understand that they fell into this folly because of their hypocritical righteousness: for they already displayed a specimen of their blindness and ignorance in this one thing alone. (Forerius.)
signifies sacrifices, and circumcision, and the old law: but 'Lebanon' signifies the Gentiles. First, because Lebanon was a mountain in Phoenicia, and was inhabited by Phoenicians and Gentiles. Second, because, just as Lebanon flourishes with pines, cedars, and other incense-bearing and aromatic trees (whence Lebanon is called levanon, that is, 'incense,' says Masius); so the Church flourishes with the fragrance of virtues and the holiness of illustrious men. Third, 'Lebanon' in Hebrew can be derived from lavan, that is, 'white,' because it always gleams white with white incense or snow; whence by prolepsis or anticipation, it signifies the Gentile nations to be made white by the baptism of Christ. Fourth, levana (from which comes Lebanon) means 'moon,' because it receives its brightness and light from the sun: so the Church receives the light of faith from Christ, who is the sun of justice, says Leo Castro. But this seems rather far-fetched: for what does the moon have to do with Mount Lebanon?
Tropologically, Carmel, that is, people and minds that were previously fruitful in good things through diligent cultivation, through sloth become Lebanon, that is, barren, snowy, and cold. Again, if you take Lebanon as a mountain and Carmel as a plain, you may explain it thus, that is: The proud will be humbled, the humble will be exalted, that is, the rough places will be made into smooth roads. Rabbinic interpretations can be seen in Pagninus under the word carmel.
Verse 18: AND IN THAT DAY THE DEAF SHALL HEAR
18. AND IN THAT DAY THE DEAF SHALL HEAR. — The deaf and blind here are called the Gentiles, on account of the ignorance and darkness of unbelief; but through Christ they heard, saw, and understood the words of the book, namely the oracles of Sacred Scripture and the Prophets, which were veiled and unknown to the Jews. So say St. Jerome, Procopius, Cyril, Theodoret, and generally others. This is what Christ says in John IX, 39: 'For judgment I have come into this world: that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.' Behold, this is the miracle that he spoke of in verse 14, namely that through Christ the learned were made stupid and ignorant, and fishermen and rustics were made wise and teachers.
Verse 19: And the meek shall increase their joy in the Lord
19. And the meek shall increase their joy in the Lord, — that is: The Gentiles made gentle through Christ, who with a meek spirit will obey the Gospel and commit themselves to be formed and taught by it, will here 'increase,' that is augment, the 'joy' of the Church: the same ones are 'poor' both in wealth and in spirit; and those who had previously been destitute of faith and grace, and burdened by sins as if by debt,
oppressed by the devil; these, now freed by Christ from those things, 'shall exult in the Holy One of Israel,' that is, in God, who sanctifies the true Israelites and is worshipped by them. Thus Christ says: 'I confess to You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to little ones.'
Verses 20 and 21: For the one who prevailed has failed
20 and 21. For the one who prevailed has failed. — That is, because the prince of this world, namely the devil, who most arrogantly mocked them, has been cast down. Second, and properly, that is: Because the Jews who were the servants of the devil, and who prevailed over the Gentiles in religion and knowledge up to the time of Christ, and who were mockers of the Prophets, saying 'Command upon command,' etc., have failed, and were cut down (by Titus): WHO WATCHED FOR INIQUITY (that is, who were wholly intent upon evil, so that early in the morning they thought of nothing else than how by day and night they might fulfill their lusts): WHO MADE MEN SIN BY A WORD (namely, by which they taught others the doctrines and commandments of men, not of God; and by which they turned men away from piety and the worship of God, through their flatteries, evil counsels, threats, and mockeries): AND TRIPPED UP THE ONE WHO REPROVED IN THE GATE (that is, the Prophets, who publicly rebuked their crimes in the gates, that is, even before the judges (for judgments were held in the gates of cities) and leaders, they mocked, harassed, contriving calumnies and false accusations against them, by which they drove them to condemnation and death. For thus they killed Amos, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Zechariah, and others): AND TURNED ASIDE WITHOUT CAUSE (rashly, without reason) FROM THE JUST ONE, — that is, from equity and justice; or rather, 'from the just one' adjectively (for this is what the Hebrew tsaddiq means), that is, so as not to hear the just ones, namely the Prophets who justly rebuked them, and especially Christ, who is the Just One of the just, says St. Jerome.
Verse 22: Who redeemed Abraham
22. Who redeemed Abraham, — who freed Abraham and led him out of Ur of the Chaldeans.
Jacob shall not now be confounded. — First, Cyril and St. Thomas explain, that is: 'He shall not now be confounded,' that is, Israel will do penance for his sins and for the slaying of Christ, but at the end of the world, when the fullness of the Gentiles has entered the Church: for then, recognizing his crimes, he will be confounded and will repent.
Second, Procopius, Adamus, and Pintus understand these things of the Gentiles, that is: Jacob, that is, the descendants of Jacob, or the Jews, will be confounded not now, that is, not in the time of Isaiah, but in the time of Christ, 'when' they will see 'their children,' that is, the Apostles, sprung from their own lineage, sanctifying, that is, preaching and celebrating the name of the Lord and His Christ. He calls the Apostles the works of the hands of God, namely of Christ, because Christ had instructed and formed them, previously unlearned, into Apostles. Christ is called the Holy One of Jacob and the God of Israel, because He was born from Jacob, and because Jacob and all the holy descendants of Jacob received their holiness from Christ. This is the genuine sense.
Third, Forerius explains: 'Jacob shall not be confounded,' that is: The conversion of the Gentiles will not be a source of shame for Jacob and the Jews, but of glory; because the nations, gathered by faith into the family of Abraham, Jacob, and their descendants, will increase it both in number and in glory.
22. Who redeemed Abraham, — who freed Abraham and led him out of Ur of the Chaldeans. Jacob shall not now be confounded. — First, Cyril and St. Thomas explain, that is: 'He shall not now be confounded,' that is, Israel will do penance for his sins and for the slaying of Christ, but at the end of the world, when the fullness of the Gentiles has entered the Church: for then, recognizing his crimes, he will be confounded and will repent.