Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
From the defeat of Sennacherib he rises and flies, as is his custom, to the destruction of the world at the end of the age, so that from the defeat of the Assyrians all the impious may learn what great destruction awaits them on the day of judgment, if they imitate their crimes and do not come to their senses. Again, at verse 5, he proposes another type of the destruction of the world, namely the destruction of Idumea; for then all the reprobate shall be struck with a similar, indeed a greater, punishment than the Edomites of old — namely, fire, pitch, and brimstone, as he says in verse 9, and perpetual desolation, so that there onocentaurs, fauns, lamias, etc. shall dwell, as he says in verses 11 and following.
Vulgate Text: Isaiah 34:1-17
1. Draw near, O nations, and hear; and peoples, attend: let the earth hear, and its fullness; the world, and all its offspring. 2. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all the nations, and His fury upon all their host: He has slain them and given them over to slaughter. 3. Their slain shall be cast out, and from their corpses a stench shall rise; the mountains shall waste away with their blood. 4. And all the host of the heavens shall waste away, and the heavens shall be folded together like a book; and all their host shall fall, as a leaf falls from the vine and from the fig tree. 5. For My sword is made drunk in heaven: behold, it shall descend upon Idumea, and upon the people of My slaughter, for judgment. 6. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made thick with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the blood of fatted rams; for the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7. And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bulls with the mighty; their land shall be drunk with blood, and their soil with the fat of the mighty. 8. For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, the year of retribution for the judgment of Zion. 9. And its torrents shall be turned into pitch, and its soil into brimstone; and its land shall become burning pitch. 10. By night and by day it shall not be extinguished; its smoke shall rise forever; from generation to generation it shall lie desolate; through ages of ages none shall pass through it. 11. And the pelican and the hedgehog shall possess it; the ibis and the raven shall dwell in it; and the measuring line shall be stretched upon it to bring it to nothing, and the plumb line to desolation. 12. Its nobles shall not be there; rather they shall invoke a king, and all its princes shall come to nothing. 13. And thorns shall spring up in its houses, and nettles and thistles in its fortresses; and it shall be the lair of dragons and the pasture of ostriches. 14. And demons shall meet with onocentaurs, and the hairy one shall cry to his fellow; there the lamia shall lie down and find her rest. 15. There the hedgehog shall have its burrow, and shall nurse its young, and shall dig around, and shall warm them in its shadow; there the kites shall be gathered, each to its fellow. 16. Search diligently in the book of the Lord and read: not one of these things shall fail; one shall not seek the other; for that which proceeds from My mouth, He has commanded, and His Spirit itself has gathered them. 17. And He Himself has cast the lot for them, and His hand has divided it to them by measure; they shall possess it forever, from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.
Verse 1: DRAW NEAR, O NATIONS, AND HEAR. — Hugo, Lyra, and Castrius, following Theodoret and Ori...
1. DRAW NEAR, O NATIONS, AND HEAR. — Hugo, Lyra, and Castrius, following Theodoret and Origen, refer all these things to the destruction of Judea; for in verse 8 it is said: "The year of retribution for the judgment of Zion." But the very words here stand against this; for he says: "The indignation of the Lord is upon all the nations;" and: "Let the earth hear
and its fullness; the world and all its offspring." I say therefore that the Prophet is speaking of the last judgment and the consummation of the age; for then all nations shall perish. So St. Jerome, Cyril, Procopius, and St. Augustine, Confessions XIII, chapter 15, and Eusebius, De Praeparatione Evangelica XI, chapter On the Renewal of the World, where he adds that Plato transferred this passage of Isaiah into his own writings.
Verse 2: HE HAS SLAIN THEM — all the nations, partly through the fire of the conflagration of th...
2. HE HAS SLAIN THEM — all the nations, partly through the fire of the conflagration of the world, partly through the plagues preceding it.
3. AND FROM THEIR CORPSES A STENCH SHALL RISE. — He alludes to the corpses of the Assyrians slain by the Angel, which putrefied and stank. Such shall also occur at the end of the world, partly in battles, partly slain elsewhere by God.
THE MOUNTAINS SHALL WASTE AWAY WITH THEIR BLOOD — as if to say: So great shall be the number of the slain that from their putrefaction, pus, and gore, even the mountains shall contract corruption.
Second, as if to say: So many shall be slain, so much blood shall be shed, that the mountains shall dissolve and melt from the blood. Whence Vatablus and others translate: the mountains shall melt from the blood. It is a hyperbole.
Third, Sanchez says: "Mountains" means princes: they shall lie unburied just like the common people, and shall waste away and putrefy, rolling in "their" blood, that is, their own blood; for the Hebrews have the same pronoun for the reflexive and the absolute.
Verse 4: ALL THE HOST OF THE HEAVENS SHALL WASTE AWAY. — The "host" or soldiers of "heaven" are ...
4. ALL THE HOST OF THE HEAVENS SHALL WASTE AWAY. — The "host" or soldiers of "heaven" are the sun, moon, and stars. First, St. Thomas, Hugo, Vatablus, Lyra, and others explain it thus by hyperbole: So great shall be the calamity that heaven shall seem to perish; so great shall be the affliction of those times that men shall seem to themselves to see the heavens, which were stretched out, folding together, contracting and rolling up, and the very stars falling from heaven. A similar passage is Ezekiel 32:4. See Canon 32.
Second, St. Thomas, Lyra, and Sanchez explain it thus, as if to say: Under Christ the worship of the stars and idolatry shall waste away and perish; for then they shall not worship them as they did before, but shall worship God and Christ; and so the stars shall fall, that is, the demons shall fall from the heaven, as it were, of their divinity, which idolaters attributed to them by their worship. But this sense seems more remote and mystical; for what is treated here is the consummation of the age.
Third, better is our Jerome Prado in Ezekiel I, page 19, at the end: The heavens, he says, shall waste away, that is, shall flow down, so that stars, that is, lightnings, may fall from the sky; for when there is lightning, the common people seem to themselves to see, as it were, stars falling from heaven.
Fourth, and properly: the sun, moon, and stars, toward the day of judgment, shall be shaken, darkened, and shall withdraw their light, so that they seem, from God's indignation, to waste away, melt, and dissolve. Others add that the fixed stars shall properly fall from heaven to earth. So St. Chrysostom, and Maldonatus on Matthew chapter 24 (who says: We should assent more to Christ affirming it than to Aristotle denying it could happen,
stretched out, because they are directed by no breath of the Holy Spirit. And therefore this ship, having lost the rudder of true faith, with adverse spirits dominating, is plunged into the shipwreck of eternal death, which does not deserve to be governed by Christ the Lord, and becomes the prey of demons and of hell.
From the disaster of Sennacherib he rises and flies away, as is his custom, to the destruction of the world at the end of the age, so that from the defeat of the Assyrians all the wicked may learn how great a slaughter awaits them on the day of judgment, if they imitate their crimes and do not repent. Again, at verse 5, he proposes another type of the world's destruction, namely the destruction of Idumaea; for then all the reprobate will be punished with a similar, indeed greater, punishment than the Idumaeans of old, namely with fire, pitch, and sulfur, as he says at verse 9, and with perpetual desolation, so that onocentaurs, fauns, lamias, etc. may dwell there, as he says at verse 11 and following.
Verse 1: Come near, O nations, and hear; and peoples, attend: let the earth hear, and the fullne...
1. Come near, O nations, and hear; and peoples, attend: let the earth hear, and the fullness thereof; the world, and all its offspring. 2. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and His fury upon all their host: He has slain them, and given them over to slaughter. 3. Their slain shall be cast out, and from their corpses shall rise a stench: the mountains shall waste away from their blood. 4. And all the host of the heavens shall waste away, and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll: and all their host shall wither, as a leaf withers from the vine and from the fig tree. 5. For My sword has been made drunk in heaven: behold, it shall descend upon Idumaea, and upon the people of My destruction, unto judgment. 6. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, fattened with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the blood of fatted rams: for the Lord has a sacrifice in Bosra, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7. And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bulls with the mighty: their land shall be drenched with blood, and their soil with the fat of the stout. 8. For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, the year of recompenses for the judgment of Sion. 9. And its torrents shall be turned into pitch, and its soil into sulfur: and its land shall become burning pitch. 10. Night and day it shall not be extinguished; its smoke shall rise forever: from generation to generation it shall be laid waste; for ages upon ages none shall pass through it. 11. And the pelican and the hedgehog shall possess it: the ibis and the raven shall dwell in it: and the measuring line shall be stretched over it, to reduce it to nothing, and the plumb line to desolation. 12. Its nobles shall not be there: they will rather call upon a king, and all its princes shall be brought to nothing. 13. And thorns shall spring up in its houses, and nettles, and the paliurus in its fortifications: and it shall be the lair of dragons, and the pasture of ostriches. 14. And demons shall meet with onocentaurs, and the hairy one shall cry out to one another: there the lamia has lain down, and found rest for herself. 15. There the hedgehog has had its burrow, and nourished its young, and dug around, and cherished them in its shadow: thither the kites have gathered, each to its companion. 16. Search diligently in the book of the Lord, and read: not one of them has been lacking, one has not sought another: for that which proceeds from My mouth, He has commanded, and His Spirit has gathered them. 17. And He Himself has cast the lot for them, and His hand has divided it to them by measure: they shall possess it forever, from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.
1. Come near, O nations, and hear. Hugo, Lyranus, and Castrius, following Theodoret and Origen, refer all these things to the destruction of Judah; for at verse 8 it says: "The year of recompenses for the judgment of Sion." But the very words here stand against this; for he says: "The indignation of the Lord is upon all nations;" and: "Let the earth hear
and the fullness thereof; the world, and all its offspring." I say therefore that the Prophet speaks of the last judgment and the consummation of the age; for then all nations will perish. So St. Jerome, Cyril, Procopius, and St. Augustine, book XIII of the Confessions, chapter 15, and Eusebius, book XI of the Preparation for the Gospel, chapter On the Renewal of the World; where he adds that Plato transferred this passage of Isaiah into his own writings.
The mountains shall waste away from their blood. — That is to say: So great will be the multitude of the slain that from their putrefaction, gore, and corruption, the mountains too will contract decay.
Secondly, that is to say: So many will be slain, so much blood will be shed, that the mountains will be dissolved and flow away with blood. Whence Vatablus and others translate: the mountains will melt away from the gore. It is a hyperbole.
Thirdly, Sanchez says: "Mountains," that is, princes: equally with commoners they shall lie unburied, and shall waste away and rot, wallowing in their blood, that is, their own; for the Hebrews have the same pronoun for reflexive and absolute.
Verse 2: He has slain them — all nations, partly by the fire of the world's conflagration, partl...
2. He has slain them — all nations, partly by the fire of the world's conflagration, partly by the plagues preceding it.
Verse 3: And from their corpses shall rise a stench. — He alludes to the corpses of the Assyrian...
3. And from their corpses shall rise a stench. — He alludes to the corpses of the Assyrians slain by the Angel, which rotted and stank. Such also will there be at the end of the world, partly in battles, partly slain by God elsewhere.
Verse 4: All the host of the heavens shall waste away. — The "host" or soldiers of "heaven" are ...
4. All the host of the heavens shall waste away. — The "host" or soldiers of "heaven" are the sun, moon, and stars. First, St. Thomas, Hugo, Vatablus, Lyranus, and others expound it thus by hyperbole: So great will be the calamity that heaven itself will seem to perish; so great will be the affliction of those times that men will seem to themselves to see the heavens, which are stretched out, being folded up, contracting and rolling themselves together, and the very stars falling from heaven. A similar passage is Ezekiel 32:4. See Canon XXXII.
Secondly, St. Thomas, Lyranus, and Sanchez expound it thus, that is to say: Under Christ, the worship and idolatry of the stars will waste away and perish; for then they will not worship them as they did before, but God and Christ: and thus the stars will fall, that is, the demons, from the heaven, as it were, of their divinity, which the idolaters attributed to them by their worship. But this sense seems rather remote and mystical; for the passage here deals with the consummation of the age.
Thirdly, better is our Jerome Prado in Ezekiel I, page 19, at the end: The heavens, he says, shall waste away, that is, flow down, so that stars, that is, lightning bolts, fall from heaven; for the common people, when there is lightning, seem to themselves to see as it were stars falling from heaven.
Fourthly and properly, the sun, moon, and stars on the day of judgment will be shaken, darkened, and will withdraw their light, so that they will seem to waste away, melt, and dissolve before God's indignation. Others add that the fixed stars will literally fall from heaven to earth. So St. Chrysostom, and Maldonatus on Matthew chapter 24 (who says: I assent more to Christ affirming this, than to Aristotle denying it can happen), and the Sibyl in St. Augustine, book XVIII of the City of God, chapter 23:
It will crash, he says, the brightness of the sun, and the chorus of stars perishes: The heaven shall be dissolved, the splendor of the moon shall pass away.
From which Ovid, book I of the Metamorphoses, thus sings:
He remembers too that there is in the fates a time to come, When sea, when earth, and the seized palace of heaven Shall burn, and the laborious mass of the world shall fail.
This is what Christ says, Matthew chapter 24, verse 29: "The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven;" and John, Revelation 6:12, uses the same words as Isaiah here, according to the Septuagint: "The sun," he says, "became black as sackcloth of hair; and the whole moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell upon the earth, as the fig tree casts its green figs when it is shaken by a great wind; and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled up;" and chapter 8:12: "And the third part of the sun was struck, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, so that a third part of them was darkened, and the day did not shine for a third part."
Symbolically, some according to St. Jerome understand by stars the demons who move about in the air to tempt men, who from heaven, that is from this air, will rush into hell on the day of judgment. For of these it is truly said what follows: "For My sword has been made drunk in heaven."
They shall be rolled up like a scroll of heaven. — He alludes to the books of the ancients, which were not distributed in leaves, like ours, but were a single sheet or membrane sewn together from various pieces, which they rolled around a cylinder, as we roll up geographical charts. For when they wanted to read them, they unrolled and opened them; but when the reading was finished, they rolled them up again: for this was for them what closing a book is for us. I saw two such ancient books of the Pentateuch, written in Hebrew, in the Vatican Library, whose paper is skin, or raw and hairy parchment.
Now "the heavens shall be rolled up," first, because the pagans, say St. Thomas and Lyranus, in the heavens thus disturbed and as it were folded up and rolled together, will no longer be able to read or predict future events, that is to say: They will no longer divine from the stars and heavens, as from a prognostic book.
Secondly, Denis the Carthusian, that is to say: The entrance to the kingdom of heaven will no longer be open, but the door will be closed.
Thirdly and genuinely, that is to say: Just as a book of the ancients, folded and wrapped around a cylinder, with the letters hidden, could not be read: so the heaven and its stars, like letters, will be hidden by dark clouds and obscured, so that they cannot be seen, just as if the heaven had been folded up and rolled together, indeed as if the heaven had vanished and receded into another world, as St. John says in Revelation 6. For just as the creation of the heavens is signified by a skin or tabernacle stretched out (as Psalm 103: "Stretching out the heaven like a skin"): so its obscuration, which is a kind of moral dissolution, is indicated by a skin and scroll folded up, says Sanchez.
Again, the known use, motion, and influence of the heavens will cease, just as we cease to use a book when we fold it up or close it. For there is a metalepsis in the word "they shall be folded up."
Furthermore, just as when books or membranes are split apart, each part folds and rolls back upon itself, so the heaven, as if split by lightning, will seem to roll and fold back upon itself, that is, into opposite parts, says Prado, that is to say: At the end of the world, the heavens and stars will change their aspects and influences, and thus all things will be disturbed. Then by lightning, clouds, comets, falling stars, and other meteors, the air will be so mixed up that the heavens will seem to be folded up and rolled together, and all things will seem to be disturbed and confused. So Adamus, Pererius, on Revelation 6, and generally the Scholastics, who with St. Augustine, book XXIX of the City of God XIV; St. Jerome, on Isaiah II; Gregory, book XVII of the Morals, chapter 5, and others, consider that the heaven and stars are to be changed and renewed only with respect to light and other qualities, but not with respect to form and substance. For at Psalm 148:6, God is said to have established them forever and ever; and because, according to Aristotle and the Philosophers, the form of the heavens is incorruptible, and so Aristotle deduces from this that it is eternal. For he himself holds that the world has existed from eternity and is uncreated, as some suppose, in which it is clear that he erred.
Many Fathers and more recent authors, however, who want Philosophy to be measured against Sacred Scripture, not the reverse, hold that heaven and earth will perish even as to substance, and will be changed into another new heaven and another new earth. For this seems to be said most clearly here and elsewhere, as at chapter 51:6; chapter 65:17; Revelation 6:14 and 21:1; Sirach 47:30; Psalm 101:27; Matthew 24:35; II Peter 3:7 and 12. Note here that Sacred Scripture speaks far more forcefully about the change of the heavens and elements than about the change of blessed bodies in the resurrection, and clearly signifies that the change of the former will be far greater than that of the latter; because the former will be substantial, the latter only accidental. Moreover, the heavens were made from the abyss and from waters, as I taught on Genesis 1:8: therefore they are not absolutely incorruptible according to form, but according to prime matter, according to which they are said to endure forever. This same point is confirmed by the fact that in the year 1572 a new star was seen in Cassiopeia, which disappeared after two years. Modern astronomers have noted many such changes in the heavens; whence some, convinced by these phenomena, hold that the heavens are not solid and hard, but yield, change, and can be cut and divided like air; though the air excels in subtlety and excellence; for the heavens are ethereal, not aerial, and are the ether itself. But this belongs to another question and another place.
Again, since light naturally, as it were, flows forth from the essence of the heavens, and since it will then be far greater and nobler, it seems likewise that it will flow from another nobler substantial form. For a light as great as it will then be is not connatural to the form of the sun as it now is. So think St. Chrysostom, homily 14 on the Epistle to the Romans, and after him Theodoret and Oecumenius; Justin, Question 98; Ambrose, book I of the Hexaemeron, chapter 6; Basil, homily 3 on the Hexaemeron; Gregory of Nyssa, book On the Creation of Man, chapter 24; Clement, books II and III of the Recognitions; the Sibyl in St. Augustine, book XVIII of the City of God, chapter 3, when she sings:
The seasons shall grow numb, all seeds of the world widowed, Air, earth, sea, fierce light of fire, the heavens, Their hinge, days, nights — all things shall sink into flames: And the most eloquent form of things shall come to be. For all the shining stars shall fall from heaven.
The same is taught at length by Hieronymus Magius, book II of On the Burning of the World, chapters 6 and 7; and Valesius, Sacred Philosophy, chapter 89; and our Molina, treatise On the Work of the Six Days, disputation 3. For all concede that fire can act upon the heavens and corrupt them, if not naturally, certainly by divine power and operation; nor can this be denied, since it is certain that the fire of hell acts with the same power upon the demons and burns them, who have no body but are pure spirits. Moreover, what Scripture says elsewhere, that the heavens and earth will stand forever, does not contradict this opinion. For the same earth, the same sun, and the same heavens will remain generically; for the earth will retain the form of earth, the heavens the generic form of heavens, even if they receive specifically another and a more excellent one. For then there will be a renovation, reformation, and recreation of the whole world.
The Philosophers, however, generally, and most Scholastic Theologians, among whom is Francisco Suarez, Part III, Question 59, article 2, disputation 58, section 6, and the Conimbricenses, book I On the Heavens, chapter 3, Question I, hold that the heavens will be changed only accidentally, not substantially, as I have said. Whence to this and similar Scriptures, which seem to say the contrary, they give three responses. The first is that some speak hypothetically and comparatively, as that saying of Christ: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away." For the meaning is, that is to say: Sooner shall heaven and earth pass away than My words pass away and My promises fail. The second is that by "heavens" is understood the air. For so are called "the birds of heaven," that is, of the air. And thus they understand that passage of St. Peter, Epistle II, chapter 3, verse 7: "But the heavens which now are, etc., by the same word (by which at God's command they were overwhelmed by the waters of the flood, as preceded) are stored up, reserved for fire against the day of judgment." This is well said: but this exposition does not sufficiently agree with verses 10 and 12, where he opposes the heavens to the elements; therefore by heavens he understands not the aerial but the sidereal heavens. For he says: "The heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat;" and more forcefully, verse 12: "The burning heavens shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with the ardor of fire:" where they are compelled to understand by heavens the upper air; by elements, however, the air, water, and fire which are on or around the earth. The third response is that when St. Peter there and Scripture elsewhere adds: "But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to His promises;" they say this renewal will be not substantial but accidental: because namely the sun, moon, and heavens will be adorned with a greater light and will shine more brightly, so as to participate something of the glory of the Blessed, whom they served in this life. Each opinion is probable and has weighty teachers: the former is more conformable to Sacred Scripture, the latter to Aristotelian Philosophy. Which is the truer will be discussed elsewhere.
Verse 5: My sword has been made drunk in heaven. — Drunkenness signifies the abundance of shed b...
5. My sword has been made drunk in heaven. — Drunkenness signifies the abundance of shed blood: for just as a man is made drunk with much wine, so the sword is made drunk with much blood which it sheds.
First, some expound it thus: I directed My sword, that is, a sharp punishment, against Lucifer and his apostate companions, when I cast them down from heaven: how much more shall I draw My sword against earthly men who resist Me? To this approaches the exposition of St. Jerome, who understands these words of the sword of God's wrath, by which He will cast down the demons from this aerial heaven into hell on the day of judgment.
Secondly, Lyranus and Vatablus: "In heaven," they say, that is, in the decree and ordinance of God, who dwells in the heavens, that is to say: In His stable and immovable decree, God has already decreed to exercise His sword upon sinners.
Thirdly, others: "In heaven," that is, from heaven this sword shall descend and rage against Idumaea.
Fourthly, Adamus: "In heaven," he says, that is, up to heaven, that is to say: So great will be the vengeance at the end of the age that it will reach even to the heavens, that is, it will be the greatest. Thus it is said in Psalm 35, verse 6: "Lord, in heaven," that is up to heaven, "is Your mercy," that is to say: Your mercy is most ample and great; whence explaining, he adds: "And Your truth reaches to the clouds."
Fifthly and properly, the Prophet here gives the reason why the heavens and stars will waste away and flow down at the end of the world: "For," he says, "My sword has been made drunk in heaven;" that is, because in heaven itself My vengeance will rage to the point of satiety, and as it were to drunkenness, in the very stars, so that through this I may punish and terrify sinners on earth, who have abused the stars and heaven for their sins.
Behold, upon Idumaea shall My sword descend, and upon the people of My slaughter. — In Hebrew, חרמי chermi, that is, of my anathema; the Septuagint has, of perdition, that is, upon the Idumaeans destined by Me for death, whom I have devoted to My vengeance, says Vatablus, unto judgment, so that I may exercise just judgment and vengeance upon them. He names the Idumaeans above others, because they were the constant and fiercest enemies of the Jews, and so, having joined with the Babylonians, they overthrew Judaea: whence they too were punished by God with a heavy disaster and destruction through the same Chaldeans, as is clear from Obadiah, and from Jeremiah chapter 49, and from Ezekiel chapter 25, and finally from Isaiah chapter 21:5, but in passing; whence here again he treats of it more fully. The Prophet therefore touches here on the surface the defeat and destruction of the Idumaeans by the Chaldeans: but through it he symbolically intends to signify the defeat and destruction of all the wicked on the day of judgment: for to this alone fits what is said at verse 10, that it will burn forever, and for ages upon ages. Of which more presently.
Verse 6: It is fattened (the sword of God) with fat, from (more clearly for "from" Vatablus tran...
6. It is fattened (the sword of God) with fat, from (more clearly for "from" Vatablus translates "and") the blood of lambs and goats. — The knife with which fat sheep are slaughtered is accustomed to be filled and as it were fattened with both their fat and their blood: and by this he signifies that God will run the Idumaeans through with the sword of the Chaldeans, so that their sword will be stained with blood and fattened with the fat of the Idumaeans. By lambs, he understands the common people; by goats, the leaders and princes; by rams, the magistrates and the wealthier, that is to say: The enemy's sword will spare no age, sex, or rank, but will rage against all without distinction.
For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bosra. ("Sacrifice" or offering signifies slaughter and carnage: because a sacrifice is not made without slaying, that is to say: God is about to make a slaughter in Bosra, the chief city of Idumaea, so that He may slay and sacrifice the wicked in it through the Chaldeans for His divine justice: whence explaining in the Hebrew manner (which is frequent in the Psalms) he adds): and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. — Bosra, the capital of Idumaea, was so named in Hebrew both from the abundance of its grape harvest, and this will be clear at chapter 63:1; and from the firmness of its walls, says St. Jerome; whence at Psalm 107:11, for what we have: "Who will lead me into the fortified city?" the Hebrew has: "Who will lead me to Bosra?" Hence from Bosra, by metathesis, was named Byrsa, the most fortified citadel of Carthage, and not from the Greek βύρσα, that is, hide: for the Carthaginians, descended from the Phoenicians, spoke not Greek but the Phoenician or Punic language, which is akin to Hebrew, as St. Augustine attests.
Now symbolically, by "Bosra" and "Edom" understand the whole world — gross, earthly, bloody, and hardened — which will perish at the end. For "Edom" means red, "Bosra" fortified, says St. Jerome, in the last chapter of Joel, although here he explains differently. For Edom, that is, Esau, lusted after the blood and death of his brother Jacob. Foolishly the Jews understand by the Idumaeans Rome and the Romans, as I said at chapter 21:11. Furthermore, Arias Montanus by Bosra (which in Hebrew means fortified) understood pagan Rome, which was the most fortified citadel of the nations. He interprets the fire as the fire of the Gospel, which set the hearts of the Romans ablaze with faith and love of Christ. But the smoke he explains as the uncertain fables, and the statues, idols, and temples left in the city as monuments after the conversion. To this approaches Alcozar on Revelation 14:11, note 5, who by fire understands the vengeance of God, from which, as it were, the praise and glory of God issued forth as smoke: the vengeance, I say, which God took on the Romans, both the unfaithful, condemning them to the fires of hell; and the faithful, those believing in St. Peter, whom He set ablaze with the fire of charity. But this twofold vengeance is very disparate and contrary; and so if the former is literal, the latter cannot be literal, indeed not even allegorical: for the fire of hell cannot allegorically signify the fire of charity.
Verse 7: And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bulls with the mighty. — He calls t...
7. And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bulls with the mighty. — He calls the Idumaeans strong in might and powerful in arms unicorns and bulls: he calls the wealthy and honored the mighty, that is to say: All these shall fall with the helpless common people, and shall descend to the underworld. Thus Christ suffering prays, Psalm 21: "Save me from the lion's mouth, and my lowliness from the horns of the unicorns:" He calls the powerful and cruel Pontiffs, Scribes, and Pharisees unicorns.
Verse 8: The year of recompenses for the judgment of Sion — that is, against Sion, say St. Jerom...
8. The year of recompenses for the judgment of Sion — that is, against Sion, say St. Jerome, Cyril, St. Thomas, Hugo, Adamus, and Forerius. For they think the Prophet here passes from the defeat of the Idumaeans to the defeat of Jerusalem and the Jews to come through the Romans. But better the Chaldean, Lyranus, Vatablus, Montanus, and Sanchez interpret the judgment of Sion as the judgment, that is, the vengeance, which God will exercise against the Idumaeans on behalf of Sion, that is, the Jews: for all these things regard the former. Whence with Vatablus it can also be translated thus: The year of repayments for the quarrel with Sion, that is, the year in which God will repay the Idumaeans in kind, who continually quarreled and waged war with the Jews.
Symbolically: "The year of recompense for the judgment of Sion" will be at the end of the world, when God will judge, that is, avenge and punish the injuries done by the wicked to Sion, that is, the Church, and to God's holy elect.
Verse 9: And its torrents (of Idumaea) shall be turned into pitch. — It is a hyperbole, that is ...
9. And its torrents (of Idumaea) shall be turned into pitch. — It is a hyperbole, that is to say: Idumaea, both in its torrents and in its plains, will be so dried up that it will burn like pitch and sulfur, with the Chaldean sending fire into it; that is, it will be utterly devastated and burned. He alludes to Sodom, which was near to Idumaea both in location and in wickedness and in disaster, which has a sulfurous soil, and was consumed by heavenly fire and sulfur.
Furthermore, it is symbolically signified here that Idumaea, that is, the wicked world, is to be burned with the fire of conflagration, which will be so great that there will seem to be everywhere torrents of fire, pitch, and sulfur, that is to say: The fire of conflagration, composed of pitch and sulfur, will fill all things, and will sweep the damned with it into the blaze of hell; "it shall not be extinguished forever." For this properly belongs to hell, but only improperly to Idumaea: for this is said to have burned forever only in this sense, that it burned for a long and extended time.
Morally, learn here that the earth, which was fertile with its delights for man's luxury, is here turned into bright fire and torment for the same man who abuses it. Thus the most fertile Sodom was turned into the Dead Sea, smoking and most salty, because of the lust of its inhabitants.
Verse 11: The pelican and the hedgehog shall possess it, and the ibis. — It is a catachresis sign...
11. The pelican and the hedgehog shall possess it, and the ibis. — It is a catachresis signifying the extreme desolation and devastation of Idumaea, that is, of the world, so that it is left empty of men, to be inhabited by beasts, if there be any.
And the measuring line shall be stretched over it — that is to say: God, with exact and precise judgment matching punishments to deserts, likewise with a sure sentence, determination, and designation (for this is the measure), will devastate it and annihilate its glory. This measure of devastation will therefore be "and the plumb line to desolation," that is, it will be like a builder's line stretched upon the land, so that according to it the land may be utterly desolated, scraped bare, and leveled to the ground. It is a metaphor from the line or plumb line of builders, by which they measure houses to be erected or demolished, so that they may precisely erect or demolish them according to it. Whence Vatablus translates: he will stretch over it the rule of emptiness, and stones of void; or as others say, perpendicular stones of vanity. Thus in Isaiah chapter 28:17, it is said: "I will lay judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet;" in Hebrew לקו lakav, which our translator here likewise renders "measure." Thus in II Kings 8:2, it is said of David: "And he struck Moab, and measured them with a line, leveling them to the earth: and he measured two lines, one to put to death, and one to keep alive," that is to say: David utterly humbled and prostrated the Moabites, so much so that he could measure them lying, as it were, on the ground, with a line. Moreover, he made two lots of them, but with the measure of justice and of a fair prince, one of those to be killed, the other of those to be preserved. See Cajetan there. See also what I said at chapter 18, verse 2.
For "to desolation" the Hebrew has תהו ובהו tohu vabohu, by which name is called the formless earth, created on the first day of the world, which our translator, in Genesis chapter 1, renders: "And the earth was void and empty," that is to say: Idumaea, and its antitype the earth, will be reduced on the day of judgment by fire to that emptiness, nakedness, and formlessness which it had at the beginning of the world and of its creation. So Virgil says: "And the fields where Troy once stood."
Hence it seems scarcely probable, what some hold, that the earth after the judgment is to be adorned with its plants, trees, fruits, etc., like the earthly paradise, so that infants who died without baptism in original sin may live there pleasantly.
Verse 12: Its nobles shall not be there (the nobles of Idumaea will be killed, or stripped, and l...
12. Its nobles shall not be there (the nobles of Idumaea will be killed, or stripped, and led away by the Chaldeans, just like the commoners. Whence the remnants of the ruined nation) will rather call upon a king — that is, they will wish for a leader in such great desolation who may help their afflicted affairs: but no one will want to undertake the governance of the ruined state.
Otherwise Lyranus; for by "king" he understands Nebuchadnezzar, who devastated Idumaea: for the defeated and suppliant Idumaeans called upon him. In like manner, at the end of the world, after the plagues preceding the final destruction, which are described in Revelation 8 and 9, the remnants of men will wish for a king for themselves, either the Antichrist, or after his death another similar most powerful monarch; but in vain: for he with all his princes, that is, all his strength, pomp, wealth, and glory, will be reduced to nothing.
Vatablus, Forerius, and others distinguish and translate the Hebrew differently, but with the same sense already stated.
Verse 13: And thorns and nettles shall spring up in its houses. — To the letter these things and ...
13. And thorns and nettles shall spring up in its houses. — To the letter these things and what follows were true in devastated Idumaea; symbolically, with the world burned, they signify that the devastation will be extreme.
And the paliurus. — It is a type of thorn and bramble, says Pliny, book 24, chapter 13, of which Virgil says in Eclogue 5:
The thistle and the paliurus rise with sharp thorns.
Verse 14: And demons shall meet with onocentaurs, etc. — Note that the Centaurs, according to Pin...
14. And demons shall meet with onocentaurs, etc. — Note that the Centaurs, according to Pindar and Plutarch in Gesner, chapter On the Horse, were born from Centaurus the son of Ixion, mating with the Magnesian mares: for from this union sons were born who were similar to their father, a man, in their upper parts, and to their mother, a mare, in their lower parts. The same Gesner, in the chapter On the Ass, from Plutarch, Aelian, and Volaterranus, reports that the onocentaur is an animal with neck, breast, and mammary glands like a woman's, and shoulders, arms, and fingers like a human's, but with back, sides, and feet like a donkey's, and also of an ashen color. But the Doctors laugh at these fables handed down by popular rumor and credulity. Whence note with St. Jerome that Sacred Scripture or our Translator, and the Septuagint here and elsewhere, sometimes alludes to the fables of the Poets. Thus Judith 16:8 alludes to the fable of the Titans; for she says: "Nor did the sons of Titan strike him (Holofernes), but Judith." Thus Job 42:14, for "horn of antimony" the Septuagint translates "horn of Amalthea" (who is imagined to be the goat of Jupiter). Thus here he names "lamias" and "onocentaurs."
The fable of the onocentaurs therefore seems to have originated from the fact that a Thessalian king ordered men riding horses to prod with long spears the bulls driven mad by gadflies and fleeing, and thus drive them into the city. Whence to the rude men of old, a new and unusual thing — namely a man sitting on a horse or donkey — seemed to be one nature, one animal mixed of horse or donkey and man, namely a centaur. Hence centaurs are called from ἀπὸ τοῦ κεντεῖν, that is, to prick, to goad, and taurus (bull); a centaur therefore is one who goads a bull. Add ἵππος, that is, horse, and you get hippocentaur; add ὄνος, that is, donkey, and you get onocentaur. This account is narrated by Servius, book III of the Georgics, and from him by Leo Castrius, Henri Estienne, under the word centaur, and Gesner. Servius adds: "Others say the fable of the centaurs was invented to express the swiftness of human life, because the horse is acknowledged to be the swiftest animal." By onocentaurs, therefore, understand here such specters or demons, who put on these monstrous forms and masks, so as to seem partly human, partly horse or donkey; and this for the purpose of terrifying and deluding men. This is clear from the Life of St. Anthony in St. Athanasius: for Anthony, seeking St. Paul the first hermit in the desert, saw a beast human down to the waist, which then ended in a donkey, which he, mocking it, put to flight with the sign of the cross. Moreover, what Pliny, book VII, chapter 3, says — that he saw a hippocentaur brought in honey to the Emperor Claudius — it is certain that it was a marine or terrestrial monster, partly resembling a horse, partly a bull, different from ours: whence he himself does not describe its form.
And the hairy one shall cry out to one another. — In Hebrew, a man to his neighbor: man, that is, each one; for in Hebrew "man" signifies distribution, and likewise multitude. Moreover, the hairy ones are the same demons, shaggy in the form of goats, whom antiquity called Fauns and Satyrs; whence the Chaldean translates: Demons shall sport with one another (and, as he said at chapter 13:21, shall dance). Note: Demons delight in and attend dances. Whence Conrad Cling in his Theological Topics, chapter On Dancing: "A dance," he says, "is a circle whose center is the devil, and whose circumference is all his angels;" and Basil here, on chapter 13, teaches that men learned dances from demons.
Unless you prefer that these monsters are a species of apes with Gesner, or that they are animals born from the impure mating of a man with a goat and beasts; such a creature was brought to Alexandria, asserts St. Jerome in the Life of St. Paul the Hermit: although he doubts, and rightly, whether the other creature which appeared to St. Anthony was an animal or a demon: for it conversed with him in human reason and speech, although he calls it a beast, and it is certain it was not a man.
Morally, St. Gregory, book VII of the Morals, chapter 12: "Dragons," he says, "are the wicked, ostriches are hypocrites: onocentaurs are the lustful and proud, who, subject to the vices of luxury, raise their neck where they ought to have been humbled. The hairy one cries to another, when a preceding sin invites the following one, e.g. gluttony invites lust."
There the lamia has lain down. — Lamias are incubus demons, or their specters, which are called Empusae: whence they take the form of women, who are said to entice men to sexual intercourse in order to devour them: for Philostratus, book IV, in the Life of Apollonius, narrates that such a phantom seduced Menippus: and their form, entirely fabulous, is described by Plutarch, Aristophanes, and Eustathius. They are called lamias from λαιμός, that is, throat; or from Lamia, that cruel Pontic queen who cut open the wombs of pregnant women and devoured the infants extracted from them, of whom Aristotle speaks in the Ethics, and Clement of Alexandria in the Protrepticus; or, as Diodorus, Phavorinus, and Suidas say, from Lamia, a queen on a mountain of Asia among the Automoli, who, having lost her son, out of jealousy ordered all the sons of other mothers to be killed. Others say lamias were so called as it were lanias, from laniare (to tear apart). Hence lamias are called nocturnal phantoms, or μορμολύκεια, with which nurses frighten children, as though they were hostile to new mothers and devoured children. But it is altogether likely that foolish, timid men (for as lovers invent dreams for themselves, so do the fearful) and superstitious men of old rashly counted various and empty phantasms, or various apparitions and demonic forms, among the natural species of animals, and indeed ascribed many things to them: just as a painter joins the neck of a horse to a human head. So Strabo, Lucilius in Lactantius, and Gesner think about lamias.
Certainly the Hebrew word לילית lilit from ליל lil, that is, night, signifies a nocturnal specter or monster. Wherefore the Chaldean translates lilit as an owl, or night-wanderer.
Secondly, lamias can be understood here as witches and sorceresses, who poison and kill children: for these are accustomed to hold their gatherings in such deserted places. See our Delrio in his work on Magic.
Thirdly, Dionysius, and Chrysostom in his Libyan History, teaches that lamias are wild beasts, with the face and body of a woman down to the navel, and that their lower part terminates in a dragon; they entice men with their breasts and hissing, and seize, kill, and devour those who approach. However that may be, that lamias are not only women but also beasts — either these or of the ape family, as Gesner holds, or others, whether real or popularly believed — is clear from Lamentations 4:3: "But even the lamias have bared their breast:" where for lamia the Hebrew is תנין tannin, that is, dragon, or any savage and monstrous creature nursing its young. So Lyranus, the Gloss, Haymo, and St. Jerome there, that is to say, Jeremiah says: Even in the most ferocious beasts, such as history, fable, or the common people report lamias to be — most voracious — maternal love for their young is not lacking; yet it was lacking in the women of Jerusalem, who in their famine devoured even their own children. So here Isaiah says, that is to say: This world and place after the judgment will be so deserted that it will be the dwelling place only of beasts, demons, specters, and phantoms, or could be, which antiquity fabulously believed to be of wondrous form, and named onocentaurs, fauns, and lamias: indeed only the damned and demons, now assuming the form of onocentaurs, now of lamias, now of hedgehogs, now of kites, now of dragons (to terrify men, especially the damned: as they tried to terrify St. Anthony and other Saints in similar forms), will dwell in the earth, that is, in hell, which is the lowest and hollow portion of the earth: for the convex and outermost surface will be entirely deserted and empty, both of men and of animals and demons. Just as the Saints will rejoice not only in soul by seeing God, but also in body by seeing the glorious humanity of Christ: so also the damned will be tortured not only in soul, seeing so many torments; but also in body, seeing the horrible specters of demons. For the eyes both of the body and of the mind either sinned or lived holily: it is fitting therefore that they too should have their punishment or reward. Hence painters depict these monstrous demons, clad in the masks of beasts, in hell with horrible form. Among others, our John de Salas expressly teaches this in III, Question V, article 5, treatise 2, disputation 14, section 14, number 113, and confirms it from Wisdom 17:4, where he says of the Egyptians in the plague of darkness: "Sad faces appearing to them struck them with terror:" for these were a type and foreshadowing of hell and the damned; and Job 20:25: "Horrible things shall go and come upon him;" and Deuteronomy 32:24: "I will send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the fury of creatures dragging upon the ground, and of serpents." In like manner, it is probable that the Angels in heaven will assume beautiful bodies from the ether, to feast the eyes of the Blessed, so that they may be seen by them and speak mouth to mouth. For this seems to be required by the friendship, and the closest union and communication, which will exist between the Angels and the blessed, as fellow citizens of heaven. Again, this seems to be deserved by the mortification of the senses, and the angelic life which
in this life the Saints lived with this hope, that they might enjoy the companionship of Angels in heaven: for otherwise the senses of the Blessed would receive no joy from the Angels, indeed they would share nothing with them in any respect; and so between the Angels and the Blessed there would be communication only as to the mind, not as to the body.
Thirdly, because the Angels in every way desire to praise God: therefore they will praise Him not only with the mind, but also with an assumed body and mouth (for they can assume these): just as we praise God not only with the voice, but also with organs and other musical instruments. Fourthly, because Isaiah, chapter 6, saw the Seraphim in human form in heaven: in a similar form Ezekiel saw the Cherubim, chapter 1, and St. John saw the Angels throughout the Apocalypse. Finally, Angels have often been seen in human form carrying the souls of holy deceased into heaven, and they have been heard singing sensible melody and most sweet hymns to God. So expressly teach Salas in the cited passage, and St. Anselm in the Elucidarium, and Viguerius, chapter 16, section 4, verse 36. And our Lessius, book XIII On the Divine Attributes, chapter 22, number 32, speaking of the day of the last judgment: "It is very credible," he says, "that all the Angels will appear in splendid bodies; otherwise this glory and power of Christ could not be seen by the wicked, for whose sake it will chiefly be displayed, nor would that army augment His external majesty (which Scripture wishes to describe). Since therefore the multitude of Angels is innumerable, they will fill the highest regions of the air far and wide on every side for many thousands of miles up to the very heavens, and will present the appearance of an immense army;" and number 134: "It is very credible that even the demons will appear in bodies: either because otherwise they could not be seen by the wicked, or because it pertains to Christ's glory and the confusion of the wicked that they be seen." Of these Virgil sings, book VI of the Aeneid:
Centaurs stable at the gates, and twin-formed Scyllas, And hundred-handed Briareus, and the beast of Lerna Horribly hissing, and the Chimera armed with flames, Gorgons, and Harpies, and the form of the three-bodied shade.
Other Poets have similar passages.
Symbolically, Leo Castrius, following St. Basil, Athanasius, Theodoret, Ambrose, and Gregory, understands by onocentaurs, fauns, and lamias the vices and sins: for these are the greatest monsters and specters, through which man degenerates into beasts, indeed into a demon: or certainly, he says, the demons themselves are understood, the suggestors of monstrous crimes, or the wicked men who commit them, whose dwelling place will be Judaea, indeed the whole earth at the end of the world.
Verse 16: Search diligently in the book of the Lord. — In Hebrew it is, count over, supply, the e...
16. Search diligently in the book of the Lord. — In Hebrew it is, count over, supply, the evils here listed, or rather the animals or monsters just mentioned, that is to say: When the desolation of Idumaea comes, which I have described in this book and chapter, search from this prophecy whether the evils and punishments here stated and recorded, or rather the animals, are in it and dwell there; you will surely find that not even one is lacking, that is to say: In reality you will see that what I predicted about the destruction of Idumaea was most certain and most true: for these things properly regard the devastation of Idumaea, under which he understands the whole world and the assembly of the wicked, in which under the day of judgment, before its complete destruction, these same things will come to pass.
He calls the book of the Lord this prophecy of Isaiah dictated by God. So St. Thomas, Hugo, and Lyranus. Others understand the prophecy of Amos, chapter 1, and of David, Psalm 136, and of Balaam, Numbers 24:18, who predicted this same destruction of Idumaea.
One has not sought another — that is to say: Not one of these monsters or punishments was missing, so that it would need to be sought by its companion: because the spirit of God's vengeance has diligently gathered all of them.
Verse 17: And He Himself has cast the lot for them (for the animals or monsters), — that is to sa...
17. And He Himself has cast the lot for them (for the animals or monsters), — that is to say: God has divided Idumaea among the said animals and monsters, and has given to each its own lot, place, and measure, as though they were to be its proper and perpetual inhabitants. By this phrase, therefore, he signifies that the devastation of Idumaea will be long-lasting. Whence he adds: "Forever." See what was said at verse 10.
Mystically, St. Jerome, Cyril, Athanasius, and from these Leo Castrius understand these last two verses of the Apostles sent to preach throughout the whole world. The "kites" therefore, or, as the Septuagint has, ravens, feeding on corpses, that is, on the vices and sins of men, are the Apostles. This sense is not unfitting, if with Castrius and others you understand this chapter of the destruction of Judaea. But the passage here deals with the destruction of Idumaea, not Judaea, as I said.