Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He threatens woe and destruction to the ten tribes, because when invaded by the Assyrians they implored the help not of God, but of the Egyptians. Conversely, in verse 4, he commends the two tribes who under Sennacherib invoked God alone, and promises that God will protect them, as a lion protects its prey, and as a bird defends its nest with beak and claws. Hence in verse 6, he exhorts the ten tribes to return to God along with the two: for if they do so, they will experience God as protector, just as the two tribes experienced Him, when God, fighting for them, struck down the camp of Sennacherib.
Vulgate Text: Isaiah 31:1-9
1. Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, trusting in horses, and having confidence in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are exceedingly strong: and they have not trusted in the Holy One of Israel, and have not sought the Lord. 2. But He Himself is wise and has brought evil, and has not taken away His words: and He will rise up against the house of the wicked, and against the aid of those who work iniquity. 3. Egypt is man, and not God: and their horses are flesh, and not spirit: and the Lord will stretch out His hand, and the helper will fall, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all be consumed together. 4. For thus says the Lord to me: As a lion roars, and a young lion over his prey, and when a multitude of shepherds comes against him, he will not be frightened at their voice, nor troubled at their multitude: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight upon Mount Sion, and upon its hill. 5. As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts protect Jerusalem, protecting and delivering, passing over and saving. 6. Return as deeply as you had receded, children of Israel. 7. For in that day a man will cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands made for you unto sin. 8. And Assur shall fall by the sword not of man, and a sword not of man shall devour him, and he shall flee not from before the sword: and his young men shall be tributaries: 9. and his strength shall pass away from terror, and his fleeing princes shall be afraid: says the Lord; whose fire is in Sion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
Verse 1: WOE TO THOSE WHO GO DOWN TO EGYPT
1. WOE TO THOSE WHO GO DOWN TO EGYPT. — First, Leo Castrius literally understands Egypt as meaning the Romans, and explains all these things as referring to the destruction of the Jews by Titus. But this interpretation is forced, and twists many things out of their proper meaning.
Second, St. Jerome, Cyril, and Haymo refer these things to the Jews who, after the killing of Gedaliah, fearing the Chaldeans, fled to Egypt.
Third, more correctly Adam, Sanchez, and others refer these things to Shalmaneser and Sennacherib (for he is the Assur of whom verse 8 speaks); for at that time many Jews, fearing him, fled to Egypt. And so the first part of the chapter concerns the ten tribes, who because they implored the help not of God but of Egypt, were overthrown by Shalmaneser and carried off into Assyria; the latter part concerns the two tribes, who when harassed by Sennacherib sought God's help, and were therefore saved. So Adam and Sanchez.
And indeed in the preceding chapter Isaiah had touched upon the stubbornness of the Jews, who preferred to trust in Egypt rather than in God; but immediately digressing to the happiness of those who placed their hope in God, he seemed to have interrupted his discourse. He therefore now returns to that point and tries to expose their folly; yet he does not cease from occasionally more openly hinting at the mystery of the destruction of the Jews and their liberation.
This chapter is therefore like a summary repetition: first, of the condemnation by which flight to Egypt is shown to be shameful, useless, and harmful, 1-3. Second, of the consolation by which, first, God's help for the protection and liberation of the people is promised as swift and effective, 4, 5; second, the conversion of the Jews and the abolition of idolatry are predicted, 6, 7; third, the slaughter, flight, and terror of the Assyrians, received from the Angel, are foretold, 8, 9.
Verse 2: BUT HE HIMSELF, BEING WISE, HAS BROUGHT (will bring: for it is a prophecy) EVIL
2. BUT HE HIMSELF, BEING WISE, HAS BROUGHT (will bring: for it is a prophecy) EVIL. — He calls God wise, whom He opposes to the wisdom which the Egyptians foolishly arrogated to themselves, Isaiah 19:11.
AND HE HAS NOT TAKEN AWAY HIS WORDS — that is, He will not take them away, will not revoke them, but will fulfill what He threatened by His word. It is a meiosis or litotes, as if to say: God, who is most wise in His counsels, will bring evil upon both the Egyptians and the Samaritans who fled to Egypt, that is, a disaster through Sennacherib; for He will not take away His threats against them, but will rise up as a fierce avenger against the house, that is, against the ten tribes, who having despised God fled to the golden calves and to the Egyptians.
AND AGAINST THE HELP OF THOSE WHO WORK INIQUITY — that is, against the Egyptians, who aid the ten tribes and are wicked men working iniquity. Others translate: against the help of the craftsmen of vanity. Now the craftsmen or artificers of vanity are said to be the Jews, because they thought to fortify themselves with a vain defense against the avenging hand of God, namely by the unlawful assistance of the Egyptians. We are taught here that in adversities and dangers there is nothing better than, having denied our own judgment, to submit ourselves entirely to God; because in all the anxious caution with which unbelievers torment themselves, there is nothing firm — indeed the wrath of God is provoked, as if deliberately, by these deceitful stratagems of the flesh.
Verse 3: EGYPT IS MAN, AND NOT GOD
3. EGYPT IS MAN, AND NOT GOD. — "Egypt," that is, the Egyptian, as if to say: The Egyptians are fragile and weak men; why then do you flee to them, and not rather to the immortal and most powerful God, against whom to fight is the same as if flesh, that is man, were to fight against spirit, that is against the wind, or rather against an angel or demon?
THE LORD WILL STRETCH OUT HIS HAND — namely, to strike both the Egyptians, who offer, and the ten tribes, who expect help from them.
Verse 4: FOR THUS SAYS THE LORD
4. FOR THUS SAYS THE LORD. — He proves by a contrary example that the Samaritans acted wrongly in fleeing not to God but to the Egyptians: because the two tribes, invoking God alone, escaped unharmed from the enemy.
AS A LION ROARS. — Here he passes to Hezekiah and the two tribes who, when pressed by Sennacherib, fled not to the Egyptians but to God: and therefore God, like a most powerful lion fighting for his prey and food, protected them.
Procopius notes that a lion when it hunts, first terrifies both the flocks and their keepers with its roar, then attacks and tears them to pieces: so God first roars, that is, threatens through the Prophets; then He crushes, tears apart, and scatters men who are obstinate in their sins.
Verse 5: AS BIRDS FLYING
5. AS BIRDS FLYING. — He compared God the protector of Hezekiah first to a lion, on account of strength, because He can defend His own. Second, here He compares Him to a bird brooding over its chicks, which wants to protect them in every way from the hawk and the fowler, indeed risks its own life for its chicks. In the lion, therefore, strength is noted; in the birds, devotion, mercy, and diligence: the latter so that He may will, the former so that He may be able, to preserve those who have entrusted themselves to God's faithfulness and help.
Note: In chapter 10:14, Sennacherib threatened the Jews and the nations that he would destroy them like nests with their chicks: here, alluding to and as it were answering him, the Lord promises that He will defend the Jews, just as a bird defends its nest and chicks with beak and wings, while it nourishes them in the nest and gradually accustoms them to flight.
Homer uses the same image, Iliad XVIII, 161: 'As from a body the field-dwelling shepherds cannot drive away a tawny lion when he is very hungry,' As the field-dwelling shepherds cannot drive away a tawny lion, when he is very hungry, from the body.
So Christ, in Matthew 23, compares Himself to a hen gathering her chicks under her wings. So St. Jerome.
Hence symbolically, Plato in the Phaedrus, says Castrius, asserts that sublime and divine men become birds and grow feathers, by which, like birds and eagles, they fly up to heaven.
Verse 6: RETURN AS DEEPLY AS YOU HAD RECEDED
6. RETURN AS DEEPLY AS YOU HAD RECEDED. — More forcefully in Hebrew: as you have deepened iniquity, as if to say: As deeply as you have turned away from Me and descended to your idols and crimes, so now seriously from the deep and lowest heart return to Me. He addresses the ten tribes, that by the example of the two they may return to God; likewise some of the Jews from the two tribes, who under Ahaz had turned aside with him to idols and crimes.
Verse 7: FOR IN THAT DAY A MAN WILL CAST AWAY HIS IDOLS
7. FOR IN THAT DAY A MAN WILL CAST AWAY HIS IDOLS. — These words are connected with and must be completed by the following verse, as if to say: Return to God, O ten tribes! For thus you will experience His help, just as the two tribes will soon experience it, when, having cast away all the idols which some of them made in the time of Ahaz, they will worship Me unanimously with their whole heart and call upon Me: for then I will deliver them and strike down Assur, that is, Sennacherib who attacks them.
Verse 8: AND ASSUR SHALL FALL BY THE SWORD NOT OF MAN
8. AND ASSUR SHALL FALL BY THE SWORD NOT OF MAN. — Hence it is clear that this passage deals not with the Chaldeans, but with Sennacherib: for he was the Assur who fell "by the sword not of man," but of the Angel, who in one night slew 185,000 from his forces. So St. Jerome. See here that the world is nothing other than a perpetual ruin of every kind and condition of men.
AND HIS YOUNG MEN SHALL BE TRIBUTARIES — as if to say: The Assyrians, who used to impose tribute on others, will now be compelled to pay the same, both to the Chaldeans, and to the Persians and Medes, etc. In Hebrew it is: and his young men shall be for melting; that is, they will lose heart and, as it were, melt. So Vatablus. Pagninus: they will be dissolved; the Septuagint: they will be conquered — the young men, namely, who were formerly fervent, warlike, and fierce. Our translator most aptly renders it tributaries: for the Hebrews call tribute mas, that is, melting, from the root masas, that is, he melted, because tributes melt, gradually erode, and consume everyone's wealth.
Verse 9: AND HIS STRENGTH SHALL PASS AWAY FROM TERROR
9. AND HIS STRENGTH SHALL PASS AWAY FROM TERROR — as if to say: The courage and strength of Sennacherib and the Assyrians will pass away, vanish, and fall from the terror of the Lord striking their camp: for all, shaken with fear, will either be slain or flee as if lifeless.
AND THE FLEEING SHALL BE AFRAID. — For "fleeing," the Hebrew is nes, that is, from the standard, says Vatablus, that is, from the forces of Angels attacking the Assyrians: and perhaps the Angels had standards, like soldiers and the army of the Lord. The Chaldean translates: on account of the miracle, namely, of so great a slaughter. Our translator reads minnos, that is, from fleeing, that is, in flight, fleeing.
WHOSE FIRE IS IN SION, AND WHOSE FURNACE IS IN JERUSALEM. — It is remarkable that the Septuagint translates: Blessed is he who has seed in Sion, and household members in Jerusalem. For Symmachus also translates as our translator does: He has fire in Sion, and an oven in Jerusalem; and Aquila and Theodotion: His light is in Sion, and an oven in Jerusalem. The meaning is, as if to say: God will so devastate and burn up the Assyrians for the sake of the Jews; because He is worshipped on the altar with a perpetual fire of sacrifices in Sion. Second, because He dwells in the temple as a citizen, indeed as the Lord of Jerusalem. Hence the Septuagint translates: Blessed is He (God) who has seed in Sion, and household members in Jerusalem. Therefore He will protect this city of His, indeed His royal city, and like a fire going forth from His temple and altar, He will leap upon the Assyrians, His enemies, and consume them like straw and wood, as a devouring flame, says St. Jerome; see what was said at chapter 10:17. Third, symbolically, Sanchez says, as if to say: Therefore God will have fire and thunderbolts which He hurls against the enemies of His people; because among us the fire always burns for the worship of God: we therefore furnish, as it were, weapons to God, which He may use for us against our enemies, while we reconcile Him to us through victims and prayers, and make Him hostile to our enemies, and sharpen His wrath — just as, conversely, by our sins we arm God's fury against us, provoking it and treasuring up wrath for ourselves, as Paul says in Romans 2:5.
Let Princes, Magistrates, and citizens note this, and let them say that churches and monasteries are not to be rejected, nor are the houses of citizens to be preferred to them, as though these increase the city: for those who have temples and altars in their streets and squares have God dwelling in them as a neighbor and household member, indeed as a guardian and protector, who like fire will defend them, "whose fire is in Sion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem." We know how Egypt flourished in temporal as well as spiritual matters, when the Anthonys, Macariuses, Pambos, etc. dwelt in it; indeed Oxyrhynchus and other cities were almost entirely inhabited by monks, so that there were as many monasteries as houses, as many — indeed more — monks than citizens. Even the Gentiles saw this same thing, and accordingly in all their cities and assemblies had temples, so that they might have the gods as neighbors, indeed as inhabitants and guardians.
Hear Plutarch, in his book Against Colotes, near the end: "If you were to traverse the lands, you might find cities lacking walls, literature, kings, houses, wealth, and coinage; cities ignorant of gymnasiums and theaters: but a city lacking temples and gods, which does not use prayers, oaths, or oracles, which does not sacrifice for the sake of good things, which does not strive to avert evils by sacred rites — no one has ever seen. Indeed, I think it easier for a city to be founded without soil than for a commonwealth to come together or stand firm with the opinion about the gods entirely removed. Moreover, that which holds together all society (namely, the religion, fear, and worship of divinity) is the foundation of all laws." Aristotle said in his Rhetoric to Alexander: "The gods are more favorable to those who worship them most." Cicero ventured to boast, in his oration On the Responses of the Haruspices, that the Romans "surpassed all nations not by cleverness or strength, but by piety and religion."
Wisely therefore did Maecenas advise Augustus, as reported by Dio Cassius, Book 52: "Worship that divine power yourself in every way, at all times, according to the laws of your fathers; and cause others to worship it as well." For, as Diogenes says according to Stobaeus, "it is fitting that what is best be worshipped by the best, and that what commands be worshipped by one who commands." And Justin, Book 8: "Rightly is he considered nearest to the gods, through whom the majesty of the gods is vindicated."
Why God is represented by fire, and appeared in fire, I have discussed at Exodus chapter 24, verse 17, and Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 15, and Hebrews chapter 12:29.
Mystically, this "fire" is charity, by which God is especially worshipped in the Church. For in this charity, and in its author the Holy Spirit, God resides and rests in the mystical Jerusalem and temple, that is, in the Church and her Saints. Hence St. Gregory, Homily 21 on Ezekiel: "From love, he says, there is fire of the Lord in Sion, and a furnace in Jerusalem: because here we burn somewhat with the flames of His love, when we contemplate something of Him; but there we shall burn fully, when we shall fully see Him whom we love." For by Sion he understands the Church Militant, by Jerusalem the Church Triumphant: and it is more to be a furnace (for in it the flame is vaster) than a fire. St. Jerome by fire understands the illumination and judgment of God, by which He enlightens the just, and blinds and consumes sinners, as in Daniel 7:9.