Cornelius a Lapide

Isaias LIII

Table of Contents

Synopsis of the Chapter

He began to treat, at the end of the preceding chapter, of Christ's passion and ignominy, as well as the glory that followed from it: now he treats the same topic fully and at length, so clearly and plainly that he seems to act not as a Prophet but as an Evangelist, and not to predict the future but to narrate deeds seen and done. For which reason this chapter could be titled, The Passion of Jesus Christ according to Isaiah. For so brilliantly does he describe His sorrows, condemnation, scourging, death, burial, the place, cause, fruit, and finally His companions the thieves, that the Jews have nothing here to object or respond, except their own fantasies (namely, that this chapter describes the affliction and contempt of the Jewish people, which they now suffer from Christians and Turks): which are immediately convicted of falsehood and deception by the Prophet's own words, as St. Irenaeus convicts them, book IV, chapter LVI; Justin Against Trypho; Tertullian Against the Jews, chapter IX; Eusebius, book III of the Demonstration, chapter II; Cyprian, book II Against the Jews, chapter XIII; Chrysostom, Oration 3 Against the Jews, and others; indeed even the Chaldean paraphrast takes these words as referring to Christ, not to the people: for thus he translates at the end of the chapter: Behold, My servant the Messiah shall prosper, He shall be exalted, and lifted up, and shall be exceedingly strengthened. So also R. Moses of Gerona on Genesis chapter XXIX. Therefore St. Augustine, book I On the Harmony of the Evangelists, chapter XXXI, thinks these prophecies of Christ's passion and resurrection need no explanation: indeed they need rather pious meditation, lively feeling, and tears. Would that He Himself, who here comes forth on the stage as the suffering Christ — our sorrow as much as our love — might inspire these in all of us who read this!

First, therefore, he sets before our eyes, with vivid description, Christ's torments, bruises, contempt, and reproaches, as well as His constancy, patience, meekness, and charity, and their cause, namely our sins, which He took upon Himself, out of immense love and compassion, to atone for and expiate. Then, in verse 9, he shows the reward and glory repaid to Him by the Father, namely the subjection of all nations and men, even the impious and the powerful; and full dominion and authority over them, through faith and grace in this life, but through glory in the life to come.

Vulgate Text: Isaiah 53:1-12

1. Who has believed our report? And the arm of the Lord, to whom has it been revealed? 2. And He shall grow up as a tender plant before Him, and as a root out of thirsty ground: there is no beauty in Him, nor comeliness: and we have seen Him, and there was no appearance, and we desired Him: 3. Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and knowing infirmity: and His face was as it were hidden, and despised, and we esteemed Him not. 4. Truly He has borne our infirmities, and carried our sorrows: and we have thought of Him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and humiliated. 5. But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. 6. All we like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned aside into his own way: and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 7. He was offered because He Himself willed it, and He opened not His mouth: He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be silent as a lamb before its shearer, and He shall not open His mouth. 8. He was taken away from distress and from judgment: who shall declare His generation? Because He was cut off from the land of the living: for the sin of my people I struck Him. 9. And He shall give the ungodly for His burial, and the rich for His death: because He did no iniquity, neither was there deceit in His mouth. 10. And the Lord was pleased to bruise Him in infirmity: if He shall lay down His life for sin, He shall see a long-lived seed, and the will of the Lord shall be directed in His hand. 11. Because His soul has labored, He shall see and shall be filled: in His knowledge He, the just one, My servant, shall justify many, and He shall bear their iniquities. 12. Therefore I will distribute to Him very many, and He shall divide the spoils of the strong, because He delivered His soul unto death, and was reputed with the wicked: and He bore the sins of many, and prayed for the transgressors.

Verse 1: 1. WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? — First, these can be taken as the words of one who is marveling, as if to say: Who...

1. WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? — First, these can be taken as the words of one who is marveling, as if to say: Who will believe such an astonishing transformation of Christ? Who will believe that His fame will be the glory, as great as I predicted at the end of the preceding chapter, if he hears those things which I describe in this chapter about His torments and reproaches?

Second, they may be taken as the words of one who is grieving, as if to say: How few, especially among the Jews, will believe these oracles of mine and my followers the Apostles, when they preach these very things in the world, namely, that Jesus Christ crucified alone is their Messiah, and the redeemer and savior of the world! For thus St. John explains this passage, chapter XII, 38, and St. Paul, Romans X, 16. Likewise St. Jerome, Augustine, Chrysostom, Origen, and others everywhere.

Note: "Report" is put metonymically for the thing and the speech, that is, the prophecy or preaching heard, which Isaiah and the Apostles heard and received from God, and which in turn the Jews and Gentiles heard from them. Moreover, Isaiah speaks in the person both of himself and of the Apostles: for he looks back to that passage in the preceding chapter, verse 7: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who announces and preaches peace!" etc.

AND THE ARM OF THE LORD, TO WHOM HAS IT BEEN REVEALED? — "The arm of the Lord," say St. Augustine, in the Sermon Against the Arians, Cyril, and Tertullian, book I Against Praxeas, chapter XIII, is Christ the Son of God, who proceeds from the Father, as an arm from a body, consubstantial with Him; or (which amounts to the same thing) it is the power that God showed in Christ, and the strength that He communicated to Christ and to His passion, sorrows, and death. So St. Jerome, as if to say: Christ's sorrows, reproaches, and cross will seem to men to be signs of the greatest weakness; but God will show them to be His arm, and His strength, by which He will subject the whole world to Christ and to Christ's cross. Who will believe this? Who will believe that a crucified man is God Almighty, is the Messiah? Who will believe that a crucified man, by the power of the cross, will rule the world, will be adored by kings and monarchs, and by the entire world? To this St. Paul alludes, 1 Corinthians I, 23, and elsewhere, where he calls Christ and His cross the power of God, that is, strength and wisdom: "We preach," he says, "Christ crucified; to the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and to the Gentiles foolishness; but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God."

Verse 2: 2. AND HE SHALL ASCEND (that is, He shall sprout, bud, and grow up) AS A SHOOT BEFORE HIM. — "And" is causal, meaning...

2. AND HE SHALL ASCEND (that is, He shall sprout, bud, and grow up) AS A SHOOT BEFORE HIM. — "And" is causal, meaning "because": for it gives the reason why these things seem so astonishing, and why so few will believe in Christ, namely because they will see Him humble, lowly, and afflicted. For "shoot" the Hebrew is יונק ionec, that is, a nursing child, namely an infant sucking the breast; hence the Septuagint translates "child" instead of "shoot." But ionec is transferred metaphorically to plants and shoots, and then it means a tender twig, which like a nursing child draws in and sucks the sap of the root or tree. Just as, therefore, powerful, wealthy, and splendid men are compared to tall cedars and oaks, as is clear with Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel IV, 17, and with Joakim, Jeremiah XXII, 15 and 23; so Christ, poor and lowly, is compared to a tender shoot or twig. Hence Sanchez takes "shoot" to mean a tamarisk, for this is humble, has no beauty, and grows in deserts: for which reason it is a symbol of a poor and lowly man, as is clear from Jeremiah XVII, 6: "He shall be like a tamarisk in the desert." But the Hebrew ionec, which our translator renders "shoot," is a general term, applicable to the twig of other trees and plants as well as to the tamarisk, and signifies first, Christ's childhood and infancy; second, His slenderness, weakness, and lowliness. Hence Theodotion, in Eusebius, Demonstration III, chapter II, translates: He shall ascend as a nursing child before Him. Aquila also translates thus; the Septuagint also translates: We announced before Him as a child; or, as Tertullian, book III Against Marcion, chapter XVII, reads, as a little one, as if to say: We Apostles preached that God became a child for man's sake. For thus St. John begins and intones: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, etc. And the Word was made flesh." Our translator, however, with Symmachus, better renders the Hebrew ionec as "shoot": for the Prophet compares Christ to a plant sprouting and growing up, for there follows: "And as a root out of a thirsty land."

The sense, therefore, is, as if to say: Christ will be born small, and will sprout like a shoot from a single tree, that is, from a virgin mother alone (without the seed of a man, says Origen, Homily 47 on Genesis), but a thirsty or dry one, that is, a poor, wretched, squalid one; and so for thirty years He will grow and live humble and obscure, as a carpenter's son, having nothing beautiful, nothing illustrious or magnificent. Hence he explains this same thing by adding: "There is no beauty in Him, nor comeliness." He begins from Christ's lowly and wonderful birth, from which he passes to His passion, still more lowly and wonderful. Some observe: Just as a shoot that has been cut off grows more, so Christ, cut off in death, sprouting again through the resurrection, grew much more.

BEFORE HIM. — First, namely Israel, before the Jews themselves, says Forerius. Second, Sanchez says: "before him," that is, before himself: for the Hebrew לפניו lephanav can be translated "as to appearance" or "as to his face," as if to say: Christ will seem in appearance to be like a shoot, or will have the appearance of a shoot: or, "before him," that is, before himself, meaning in His own opinion and estimation. Christ will be humble, and will esteem Himself to be like a shoot. Third, more simply and plainly, "before Him," namely the Lord, for "the arm of the Lord" preceded; the pronoun "Him" therefore refers to "the Lord": hence the Septuagint translates, "in His sight." Moreover, by this he signifies that this shoot, lacking seed and father, grew up by the power of the Lord, that is, by the Lord's operation; namely, that Christ was conceived by the Virgin and born of the Holy Spirit. So Hugh and Dionysius.

AND AS A ROOT OUT OF A THIRSTY LAND. — First, "root," that is, a shoot springing from a root, metonymically: in Hebrew it is "from the land of dryness," that is, dry land; for such land thirsts for moisture. This root, therefore, together with its shoot, sprang from dry and squalid earth, and consequently both it and its shoot were dry and squalid: namely, this root is the Blessed Virgin, poor and lowly, and betrothed to a carpenter, from whom Christ was born, poor and lowly, and despised by the Jews.

Second, St. Jerome, Procopius, Cyril, and Augustine cited above say: The womb of the Virgin is called thirsty land, because it was moistened and stained by no human seed; hence Aquila translates, "from trackless land": which Eusebius, book III of the Demonstration, chapter II, explains as referring to the Blessed Virgin.

THERE IS NO BEAUTY IN HIM, NOR COMELINESS. — The Arabic translates: He has no appearance, nor honor, or brightness, comeliness, form. The sense is: just as a shoot growing in a dry place is parched, has no beauty, nor comeliness; so also Christ, being born, living, and dwelling in this world, displayed nothing noble, wealthy, sumptuous, or splendid before the world, but led a life that was obscure, slender, and laborious in the carpenter's trade. This is what He Himself says: "I am poor,

and in labors from my youth." So St. Chrysostom on that verse of Psalm XLIV: "Beautiful in form beyond the sons of men," volume I. Second, in the passion there was no beauty in Him, nor comeliness, because He was disfigured by scourging, bruises, and wounds. Hence He did not then have that beauty by which He is equal to the Father, and which He displayed in the transfiguration, says Tertullian, book III Against Marcion, chapters VII and XVII. So also St. Augustine, in his homily on this saying of Isaiah, which is number 36 among the homilies in volume X, and book I On the Harmony of the Evangelists, chapter XXXI, and Origen on Romans chapter X. See Hector Pinto piously meditating and weighing these things at this passage. Hear also St. Bernard, Sermon 28 on the Song of Songs: "He who is beautiful in form beyond the sons of men, for the sake of illuminating the sons of men, is darkened in the passion, disfigured on the cross, grows pale in death, and altogether has no beauty or comeliness, so that He may acquire for Himself a beautiful and comely bride, the Church without spot or wrinkle."

AND WE SAW HIM, AND THERE WAS NO APPEARANCE. — That is, He was not worth looking at, He had nothing worthy of sight that would draw or turn the eyes of beholders toward Him: but He was "despised," as follows. See Canon XXXVIII. Hence the Septuagint translates, "He had no beauty, nor comeliness." Moreover, this was true of Christ both throughout His whole life and especially in the passion, when His face was disfigured and deformed by spittle, blows, welts, sweat, and blood flowing from His head pierced by the crown of thorns.

AND WE DESIRED HIM — we, namely, the Prophets and Apostles: because although we saw Him disfigured, we nevertheless knew that He would be the Savior of the world. Second, Leo Castro, Salmeron, and following them Sanchez fittingly repeat the negation "not" which preceded; for this is familiar to the Hebrews, as if to say: We did not desire to look at Him and gaze upon Him, because "there was no appearance in Him," as if to say: There was no desirable appearance in Him that would excite men to desire and gaze upon Him. Hence Symmachus and Vatablus translate: He has no form, no dignity that we should look at Him, nor appearance that we should desire Him. For which reason Forerius also explains our text, "and we desired Him," thus, as if to say: So that we might desire or seek Him. For since the Jews were greedy, Christ's poverty was repugnant to them; since they were eager for glory and most ambitious for honor, Christ's lowliness and humility were repugnant to them.

Symbolically, St. Augustine on Psalm XLIV, in the exposition of the title, says: "Christ crucified appears to the Jews to be a scandal, to the Gentiles foolishness; but to us who believe, the beautiful bridegroom meets us everywhere; beautiful in heaven, beautiful on earth, beautiful in the womb, beautiful in the hands of His parents, beautiful in miracles, beautiful in scourging, beautiful on the wood, beautiful in the tomb, beautiful in the understanding." He has the same and more in Sermon 13 On the Seasons.

Verse 3: 3. DESPISED, AND THE MOST ABJECT OF MEN. — Supply "we saw." The Septuagint translates: His appearance was dishonored...

3. DESPISED, AND THE MOST ABJECT OF MEN. — Supply "we saw." The Septuagint translates: His appearance was dishonored and failing, compared to the sons of men, or compared to all men, as St. Augustine reads, book XVIII of the City of God, chapter XXIX. For "despised" the Hebrew is נבזה nibze, that is, scorned, meaning contemptible, wretched, despicable. For "the most abject of men" the Hebrew is חדל אישים chadal ischim, that is, the cessation or abstinence of men. Which first, Vatablus and Forerius explain as rejected, that is, the most despised of men, from whom, as from someone base and poor, other men cease and abstain from conversing: whose company they shun as disgraceful, whom they reject from their assemblies as the dregs of humanity. To this St. Paul alluded, 1 Corinthians IV, 13: "We have become as the refuse of this world, the offscouring of all," that is, the rejected thing, namely the sweepings, dregs, and filth that men sweep out from their houses and cast away. For thus the Pharisees, and the wise and noble of the world, disdained to associate with Christ and the Apostles, as if they would suffer loss to their name and dignity if they approached them. For which reason Nicodemus came to Christ by night, and none of the rulers believed in Him; and they called the crowd that adhered to Him accursed, and they said that to be His disciple was a curse or accursed thing; indeed they excommunicated them and expelled them from their synagogue, as they did to the blind man illuminated by Christ, John IX, 22 and 34.

Second, the same Forerius and Sanchez say: Christ is called the cessation, ending, or ceasing-point of men, that is, the ultimate limit, terminus, or lowest of men, beyond whom there is no longer a man, who in the class of men is the least that exists, so that there is a cessation and ending of men, so that the state of men cannot proceed further but ends in Him; otherwise men would not be men but worms, or the reproach of men and the outcast of the people, that is, not so much men as a certain empty phantom of men. Hence the Septuagint translates, "failing below the sons of men," as Tertullian reads, book Against the Jews, chapter XIV; the Arabic, "worthless among men." Such a man was Christ from the beginning of His birth until His death. For He was born small, and as a rustic child: He was placed in a manger between an ox and a donkey, because there was no room for Him in the inn. Such He was until His thirtieth year, practicing the carpenter's trade with Joseph. Such He was during the three remaining years of His life, preaching and wandering on foot through Judea and Galilee. "For foxes," He Himself says, Matthew VIII, 20, "have holes, and the birds of the air nests: but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." But such He was especially in His passion and on the cross, where among thieves, like a criminal and robber, He hung, as if unworthy of the company of men, unworthy of life, unworthy to touch and tread the earth with His feet, and therefore He hung suspended between heaven and earth.

But why did Christ will to become the cessation, or "the most abject of men?" Because Adam, as well as Lucifer, willed to become not the first of men, but of Angels; indeed of gods: for he willed to be made equal to God.

refreshment and solace is in nothing else than in humility and contempt of yourself." Be of the Order of the Minims, and the least of the least.

For this God reproaches Adam with in Genesis III, 22: "Behold, Adam has become as one of us." Hence there was inborn in his descendants pride and ambition, and so inborn that this vice is the first to live in man and the last to die, which the natural philosophers say of the heart of an animal and of a man. Therefore, to heal this vice so inborn in us, Christ used this most effective remedy, namely His own example: that, though He was in the form of God, He emptied Himself, and took the form of a servant, and became man, indeed the most abject of men. For what pride of a mere mortal will be so great that so great an emptying and humiliation of the Son of God, the King of kings and Lord of lords, will not overthrow it? Who will complain that he is despised, who, if he sincerely examines himself and his conscience, is truly despicable on many counts, when he sees the Lord's Christ despised, and so despised? Who is so despised as to be, as He was, chadal ischim, the ceasing-point of men? Who now will seek honors and praises, when he sees that Christ sought reproaches and contempt of Himself? Blush, O earth: God humbles Himself; and you, O little worm, exalt yourself? Do you wish, then, to heal the deadly wound inflicted on you by Adam, do you wish to cure your ambition? Follow Christ, seek not the highest but the lowest, desire from the heart to be the last and most abject. Here lie hidden great riches, great treasures concealed from men, because the lowest place is the center of the humble, in which he enjoys the greatest peace and tranquility of soul, fearing no fall or descent; for since he places himself in the lowest place, he cannot descend or fall further: on the contrary, "lightning strikes and smites the highest mountains," and casts them down to the lowest depths. This place is also the most noble and most illustrious. For the most illustrious place is the one next to the king or emperor. But the place of our King Christ was the lowest, as Isaiah says here. You err, therefore, O Christian, if you think the most illustrious place is the highest and pursue it, not the lowest. Hear Christ advising: "When you are invited, etc., sit down in the lowest place."

St. Cyril says excellently on chapter 1 of St. John: "As it were, a certain place of creatures is devised, namely nothingness itself. For all came into this world from nothing." If this is the place of all creatures, then of man too. Whoever, therefore, you are who are driven by the spirit of arrogance, whoever you are who seek to be first, set before your eyes Christ who became chadal ischim. Whoever you are who are despised, scorned, cast down from your rank and place, rejoice and exult, because you occupy the place of Christ, who for you, and to give you an example, willed to become chadal ischim. The truly humble person with Christ seeks the last place, and wishes to be placed after all; he abhors the first place, and fears to be preferred to even one person. This is the wisdom of the saints. See St. Bernard, Sermon 37 on the Song of Songs, at the end. Thus Christ gave a certain holy virgin this rule: "You shall greatly desire to be subject to all, and you shall dread being preferred to anyone, even the least. Your

Finally, commenting on these words of Isaiah, St. Bernard, on the Passion of the Lord, rightly exclaims: "O most abject and most exalted, O humble and sublime, O reproach of men and glory of Angels! None more sublime than He, none more humble." And he adds: "Wondrous is Your passion, Lord Jesus, which has driven away the passions of us all. In this passion, brothers, it is fitting to contemplate three things in particular: the work, the manner, and the cause. For in the work, patience is commended; in the manner, humility; in the cause, charity. The remembrance of patience banishes all pleasure, the consideration of humility utterly crushes the pride of life, charity entirely blows away the vice of curiosity."

A MAN OF SORROWS — that is, consumed by sorrows, says Vatablus; second, Forerius says: A man of sorrows, that is, exposed to sorrows, who had nothing by which to ward them off; third, the Septuagint translates: A man existing in affliction; fourth, more richly and fully, a man of sorrows, that is, beset on every side by sorrows, pierced through and full of them, so that He seemed to be formed of sorrows, and to be nothing but sorrow, indeed a sea of sorrows.

For first, Christ's soul was full of sorrow: "My soul, He said, is sorrowful even unto death," and this sadness pressed out from Him bloody tears, a bloody sweat. For He was thinking of all the sins of all men who are, were, and will be, even the most utterly horrible, and He grieved intimately over all of them, as if He Himself had committed them, so that by this sorrow He might expiate them and make satisfaction to the Father.

Second, from the first instant of His conception until the last breath of His life, He was continually thinking of all the labors and sorrows, the greatest that He was to undergo in life and in death; and He represented them to Himself so vividly, as if He already had them present and felt them.

Third, He was thinking of all the troubles and miseries of men, all the torments of the Martyrs, all the penances and mortifications of the Saints, all the struggles of virgins; and He Himself felt these, and by this His feeling and sorrow He obtained for them from the Father the strength to overcome them.

Fourth, He was thinking how many would scorn these His sorrows, for how many all this labor of His would be useless, how many millions of men would be damned, how few would be saved. For His zealous soul this was an immense sorrow and an immense torment.

Finally, all the powers of Christ's soul — intellect, will, memory — were full of sorrows, as were each of His internal and external senses.

Second, in His body each of Christ's members had its own most acute pains, as is evident to anyone who considers each one. For, as St. Thomas says, III Part, Question XLVI, article 5: "Christ as to touch was scourged and pierced with nails (and this

in the sinewy and most sensitive parts, namely the hands and feet, where the pain is most acute, especially on the cross, where from the weight of the body the wounds were gradually and slowly widened, and so were prolonged); as to taste, He was given gall and vinegar to drink; as to smell, He was hung on the gibbet in the foul-smelling place of dead corpses, which is called Calvary; as to hearing, He was assailed by the voices of those blaspheming and mocking; as to sight, He saw His Mother and the disciple whom He loved, weeping." Moreover, in Christ the sense of touch and His other senses were most keen and most perfect: and therefore He felt all pains more keenly than other men.

Second, "Christ suffered on His head the crown of piercing thorns, in His hands and feet the driving in of nails, on His face slaps and spittle, and on His whole body the scourges."

Third, "He suffered in all things in which a man can suffer. For Christ suffered in His friends, who deserted Him; in reputation, through the blasphemies uttered against Him; in honor and glory, through the mockeries and insults heaped upon Him; in possessions, through being stripped even of His garments; in soul, through sadness, weariness, and fear; in body, through wounds and scourges." And all these things He suffered purely and entirely, without any tempering of consolation or joy.

Fourth, He suffered from every kind of men: from Jews and Gentiles, from the common people and the rulers, from laymen and priests, from the Chief Priests and Pilate. He was betrayed by Judas, denied and abandoned by the Apostles. His Mother, standing by the cross, doubled His sorrows; for as they constantly gazed upon each other, with as many swords and blows as glances of their eyes, they mutually pierced and wounded each other's hearts.

Fifth, Christ alone in Scripture is called a man of sorrows; Abel was afflicted by Cain, Isaac by Ishmael, Jacob by Esau, Joseph by his own brothers, David by Saul, Elijah by Jezebel, and many others were pressed by heavy sorrows; but among all of them, Christ alone is called a man of sorrows, both because He felt every kind of sorrow, and because the others bore their own sorrows, but Christ bore both His own and those of all men.

Sixth, there are three roots of all vices and evils, which St. John describes, 1 John II, 16: "All, he says, that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life." These three roots Christ conquered and uprooted by three contraries. For, to crush the pride of life, He became a prodigy of contempt and humility; for He became "the most abject of men," as Isaiah says; second, to suppress the concupiscence of the eyes, He became a prodigy of poverty and nakedness; third, to tame the concupiscence of the flesh, namely gluttony and lust, He became a prodigy of sorrows. In these three consists perfect patience,

perfect virtue, perfect victory over the world and vices, perfect holiness, perfect love of God; because without sorrow, one does not live in love. "Look and make it according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain."

Truly says Sidonius Apollinaris, book IX, letter 41: "However many cups of anxiety the affliction of the present life may serve us, we endure little if we remember what He drank at the gibbet who invites us to heaven;" and from him Helinand, Chronicle XLIV: "The memory of the passion of Christ makes every tribulation grow sweet." Just as, therefore, the wood cast by Moses into the waters of Marah made them sweet from bitter, Exodus XV; so all our tribulation will grow sweet if the cross of Christ enters our mind, and all gall will be turned into honey. For by its contemplation, faith is illuminated, hope is strengthened, patience is aroused, charity is inflamed. Hence St. Gregory in a certain letter says: Nothing is so heavy that it cannot be endured with equanimity if the passion of Christ is recalled to memory. For we endure little if we remember what harsh words, harsher blows, harshest torments He suffered for us: He who bore on His head the crown, on His eyes the veil, in His ears reviling, in His mouth gall and vinegar, on His face spittle and slaps, on His cheeks plucking, on His shoulders the cross, in His heart grief, in His bowels a shaking, on His body scourges, in His limbs stretching, in His hands and feet piercing. Finally, from the top of His head to the soles of His feet He endured innumerable wounds and sorrows. Christ was therefore a man of sorrows, indeed the king and prince of sorrows; both because He bore more and more bitter ones than any mortal has borne; and because He dominated all as a king, and surpassed all by His patience and divine charity, indeed far transcended them. You reign, therefore, O Christ, in the palace of Calvary, on the throne of the cross, in the purple of Your blood, with the scepter of nails, with the crown of thorns, and You bear the very title of Your kingdom: "King of the Jews," that is, king of the most unjust citizens, that is, king of the most savage enemies: accusers fill the places of attendants, thieves the places of guards, executioners the places of cohorts. There, there, as in Your kingdom, in all royal pomp and royal splendor You triumph: You have gall for delicacies, stench for perfumes, darkness for festive lights, blasphemies for music, earthquake for dances, bones of corpses for tapestries or scattered flowers, a splendid wound of the breast for a pendant hanging from a necklace. Such a kingdom, such a king, it was fitting to be of sorrows.

Would that we understood what sort of people it befits us to be under such a king, in such a kingdom!

AND KNOWING INFIRMITY. — "Knowing," that is, feeling and experiencing, both in life and especially in death. For in life He grew weary, says Forerius, He made journeys on foot, He suffered from hunger and thirst, He wept often, He never laughed, and, when He burned inwardly with zeal for God, and saw the name of God being despised, justice and right being trampled upon, and hypocrisy ruling, He drew sighs, grieved, and groaned. Again, he calls infirmity the sorrows, adversities, persecutions, mockeries, reproaches, torments, and all the afflictions and hardships of both the life and the passion of Christ; for the Hebrew חולי choli, that is, infirmity, signifies these, as I said in 2 Corinthians XII, 9 and 10; third, the Septuagint translates, "knowing how to bear infirmity." For Christ not only bore such things, but bore them steadfastly; He knew how they were to be borne, namely prudently, humbly, and bravely: and in a similar way He taught and teaches us daily how to bear them. He therefore was a prodigy of constancy and fortitude.

AND HIS FACE WAS AS IT WERE HIDDEN. — Because in His human body the divine power and splendor of Christ were concealed, says St. Jerome. Second, Pagninus translates: He will be as one from whom a person would hide his face, as if to say: He will be like a leper, or so horrible that those meeting Him would turn their faces away from Him. Similarly Leo translates the Hebrew: And we hid our faces from Him, as if to say: We were ashamed of Him, or we shuddered to look at Him.

Third, properly "the hidden face" of Christ signifies His lot and condition to be so wretched that, as if ashamed, He would hide His face, because His state was such that, out of shame and embarrassment, any honorable man placed in it would cover his face. For which reason the Hebrew reads, "hiding the face from himself," as one who is ashamed of himself and his lot; hence he as it were turns away from himself and hides himself. Hence the Septuagint translates, "His face was turned away," or, as Procopius reads, "His face was confounded." Forerius thinks there is an allusion to lepers, who were commanded to veil their mouths and hide their faces, lest they inspire horror in anyone, Leviticus XV, 45. Fourth, Sanchez adds that the hidden face signifies that Christ was proclaimed by the Jews as guilty of death and condemned. For such criminals, sentenced to death, customarily had their faces veiled.

Verse 4: 4. TRULY HE HAS BORNE OUR INFIRMITIES, AND CARRIED OUR SORROWS. — The Septuagint translates: He bears our sins, and...

4. TRULY HE HAS BORNE OUR INFIRMITIES, AND CARRIED OUR SORROWS. — The Septuagint translates: He bears our sins, and grieves for us. Following the Septuagint, St. Peter, 1 Peter II, 24, says: "He Himself bore our sins in His body upon the tree;" where Cyril of Alexandria, book IV on John chapter XII, reads: He Himself carried our offenses in His body onto the tree; St. Athanasius, Oration 4 Against the Arians: "Bearing our sins on the cross with His body;" the Syriac: He carried all our sins, and bore them in His body to the cross, so that by suffering and making satisfaction for them He might abolish them, and as it were nail them to the cross, as Paul says, Colossians II, 14. The Chaldean here translates: He will pray for our sins, and our offenses will be forgiven on His account. Moreover, St. Matthew, chapter VIII, verse 17, after narrating various diseases and sick people and demoniacs healed by Christ, adds: "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the Prophet, saying: He Himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses." You will ask: how does St. Matthew apply this to diseases of the body, and how did Christ bear them?

First, Forerius explains it thus: "He bore," that is, He took away; "He carried," that is, He removed, cast out; but He did not take them upon Himself. For thus it is said: "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away, that is, removes, the sins of the world:" for Christ did not formally take the sins of the world upon Himself and into His own soul. But the Hebrew סבל sabal properly means to carry and bear a burden: and it is certain that Isaiah speaks of the sorrows taken on by Christ: for he called Him "a man of sorrows," and soon after "a leper and one struck by God."

Second, St. Thomas and Lyra understand by sorrows and infirmities hunger, thirst, weariness. But what have these to do with curing the diseases of others?

Third, Jansenius and Maldonatus think that St. Matthew speaks in an accommodated sense: that he accommodates the words of Isaiah, said of diseases of the soul, to diseases of the body. But the phrase "that it might be fulfilled" stands against this: for it is one thing to fulfill, another to accommodate. Hence when it is said: "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken," that passage ought not to be explained in an accommodated sense, as Gabriel Vasquez rightly teaches, I Part, disputation 18, chapter V, volume I.

I say first: St. Matthew does not mean to say that Christ took the diseases of others upon Himself; for Christ did not fall ill or have any disease, but His body was always healthy and sound. This is proved first, because diseases were not fitting for a divine body most perfectly formed by the Holy Spirit, and they would have been an impediment to His labors, journeys, preaching, and the work of legislation and our redemption, for which He was sent into the world by the Father. Second, because Christ only took on human passions common to the whole nature of men, not those proper to this or that man, such as fever, kidney stones, and other diseases. Third, because diseases arise from the imperfect formation of the body, namely from an incongruous and badly tempered constitution and balance of the four humors, or from intemperance in diet, labors, studies, etc., or finally from ignorance and imprudence, by which we either do not know, or do not notice, or do not guard against foods, air, and other things harmful to health. But none of these was in Christ; as neither was it in Adam in the state of innocence. Finally, in Christ, in whom there was no concupiscence, it was fitting that there be no disease; for disease is its effect, punishment, and a bridle destined by God. So St. Thomas, III Part, Question XV, Suarez, and others.

I say second: It is probable that Isaiah here has a double literal sense. The first is about diseases of the soul, that is, sins and their punishments, which Christ took upon Himself and discharged on the cross: and this is what Isaiah chiefly intends, as is clear from what follows and from the word "bore." The other is subordinate to the former, concerning diseases of the body, as Cajetan teaches on Matthew chapter VIII. For these are types and effects of diseases of the soul, which St. Matthew says Christ bore, not by taking them upon Himself, but through compas-

sion, by which He was moved to take them away and to restore the sick to health: in the way that the Apostle, Galatians VI, 2, says: "Bear one another's burdens." So Leo Castro.

I say third: It is truer that by the infirmities and sorrows which Christ bore, Isaiah understands sins, as the Septuagint translates, and their offspring, which are diseases, sorrows, and all the hardships and punishments of body and soul. For this is the progeny and offspring of sin, which Christ bore and abolished. For Christ endured so many torments and so bitter a death in order to abolish all these infirmities and hardships, and death itself, either here or in the resurrection. Just as, therefore, He bore and expiated our sins on the cross: so consequently also our diseases, and hence He had the power to cure them, because He took them upon Himself to be atoned for. So St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius on Matthew VIII, and Origen on Romans chapters VIII and XV.

This is what Hilary says, cited by St. Thomas in the Catena, on Matthew VIII: "Christ, by the passion of His body, according to the sayings of the Prophets, absorbed the infirmities of human nature's weakness." To this St. Peter alludes, 1 Peter II, 24: "He Himself bore our sins in His body upon the tree." For he follows, as usual, the Septuagint, which here translates: He bears our sins, and grieves for us.

Note here: He calls the infirmities and sorrows "ours," because the guilt of sins was in us, and was ours; but the punishment was ours, that is, owed by us. The guilt, therefore, or the obligation to punishment, was likewise ours and clung to us. For we were liable to present and eternal sorrows and torments. But Christ transferred all these things to Himself.

Hence Sanchez and other learned and pious men judge that our diseases and infirmities (since they are punishments of original sin, and often are inflicted on each person by God on account of actual sins) added something to the sorrow and torment of the suffering Christ, and that He, in order to cure and remove them, underwent and endured certain special punishments, or some increase of punishments. All the sorrows, therefore, which the elect have endured or endure, passed through that sacred humanity, and thereby were made sweet and lovable to us (as a certain holy virgin afflicted with a grave illness used to say).

"For Christ, as St. Peter Chrysologus piously and learnedly says, Sermon 150, came to take on our infirmities and to confer His own virtues upon us; to seek human things, to bestow divine things; to receive injuries, to return dignities; to bear weariness, to bring back health; because the physician who does not bear infirmities does not know how to cure; and he who has not been weakened with the weak cannot confer health upon the weak."

Finally, Rupert, Vasquez, Maldonatus, and following them Sanchez say that this passage of Isaiah directly pertains to sins, indirectly to diseases; because Christ cured diseases of the body for this purpose, that through them He might make a step toward curing the diseases of the soul. For when the sick saw themselves being healed by Christ

so beneficently and miraculously cured, they believed in Him, and stirred up by Him they grieved and were pricked with compunction for their sins, and thus obtained pardon and grace from Him, as happened to St. Mary Magdalene. Hence many teach that all those whom Christ bodily healed were also spiritually healed and justified by Him. But this sense does not explain how Christ bore and carried the diseases of the body. Therefore the third sense, which solidly explains this, must be embraced, and this one must be joined to it.

AND WE THOUGHT OF HIM AS A LEPER. — "We," namely the Jews (for he speaks in their person), did not consider that Christ was bearing our infirmities, but we thought that He was so afflicted and disfigured on account of His own sins that He seemed to be a leper; but the leprosy He bore was not His own, but ours. Again, "we thought of Him as a leper," that is, as unclean, and struck by God for His own crimes. For leprosy among the Jews was often a punishment for sin, and God inflicted it on the proud, the murmuring, and the rebellious, as on Miriam the sister of Moses, on King Uzziah, and on others, as I have shown in Leviticus XIII, at the beginning.

Note that Christ is compared to a leper on account of eight analogies. First, because, just as a leper spotted with leprosy over his whole body inspires horror in those who look at him: so Christ, bruised over His whole body by scourging and wounds, moved both horror and compassion in those who beheld Him; so that Pilate, presenting Him to the Jews, rightly said: "Behold the man."

Second, a leper had torn garments: so the soldiers tore the garments, and indeed the flesh, of Christ.

Third, a leper had his head bare: so Christ had His head bare, but crowned with a crown of thorns.

Fourth, a leper had his mouth covered with a cloth: of Christ Isaiah says: "His face was as it were hidden;" again: "As a lamb before its shearer He shall be silent, and He shall not open His mouth."

Fifth, a leper had to cry out that he was contaminated and unclean: What does Christ, all covered in blood, cry out? Nothing but: "O all you who pass by the way, look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow," Lamentations I, 12.

Sixth, the flesh of a leper was the most vile and abject; Christ says: "I am a worm, and not a man, the reproach of men and the outcast of the people." Christ was like St. Job, who, sitting on the dunghill, was not recognized by his friends, because He had no appearance, and was despised and the most abject of men.

Seventh, the proud were customarily punished with leprosy: and Christ bore the appearance, as it were, of the leprosy of our pride, and cured it by this His abjection. For by His bruises the wound of our pride was healed.

Eighth, lepers were driven from the city; no one deemed them worthy of approach, meeting, or conversation, all spurned them and fled from them as from a plague: so Christ, like a leper, was cast out beyond the gate

and was crucified, Heb. 13:12; and Psalm 37:12: "My friends," he says, "and my neighbors drew near against me and stood (in Hebrew it is, opposite my wound; St. Jerome translates, as if they stood against my leprosy): and those who were near me stood far off." Isaiah chiefly regards the first analogy here: for he calls Him a leper, because struck by God.

AND STRUCK (Theodotion translates, scourged) BY GOD AND HUMILIATED. — The Syriac translates, struck of God, that is, by God; from the Hebrew it can be translated, struck God, and humiliated, or afflicted. For this is plainly what מוכח אלוחים ומענה mucke elohim umeunne signifies. Christ therefore was God struck and humiliated. Wherefore Andrew Payva teaches in Defens. Trid. fidei, book IV, after the beginning, that through these Hebrew words many Jews were converted from Judaism to Christianity. For when asked how they had surrendered to Christ whom they despised, they answered that they were convinced by these words of Isaiah, so clear that they could not, even if they wished, evade them. A certain distinguished Hebrew told me the same thing here in Rome.

Verse 5: 5. BUT HE WAS WOUNDED FOR OUR INIQUITIES, HE WAS BRUISED FOR OUR SINS. — Indeed not Christ's, but our iniquities...

5. BUT HE WAS WOUNDED FOR OUR INIQUITIES, HE WAS BRUISED FOR OUR SINS. — Indeed not Christ's, but our iniquities wounded and bruised Christ, made Him weep, sigh and groan. Your gluttony, O glutton, gave Christ gall and vinegar to drink. Your ambition, O proud one, hung Christ between thieves. Your luxury of clothing, O vain one, crowned Christ with a crown of thorns. Your lust, O voluptuary, pierced Christ with nails, cut Him with scourges, and made His whole body bloody. Your curses and blasphemies, O accursed one, loaded with spittle the face of Christ, into which the Angels desire to gaze! Do you wish then, O sinner, to see a living image of your sinning soul? Look upon Christ scourged, spat upon, crowned and crucified: look upon His whole body bloodied and bruised, so that the whole body appears to be nothing but one wound, one bruise and one sore: look upon Him disfigured as a leper. This is the form, this the appearance of your soul, which Christ took upon Himself and expressed. Pray to Him that by His stripes He may heal the wounds of your soul, by His wounds cure your wounds. Again see and admire the abyss of Christ's love, who substituted Himself for you before God in this deformed form, in these punishments and torments, who willed to suffer all these things for you, who offered Himself as a victim to God for your sins — a victim, I say, so mangled and torn; as many welts, bruises and marks as you see on His body, so many signs, so many characters of immense love you behold. "You see how upon the whole body is written," indeed carved, "love." O love, love, our love, good Jesus! How much You loved us, with what pain, indeed what love You brought us forth! For the measure of pain is love, yet the measure of love is not pain. For far greater was Your love than Your pain: the sea of Your love swallowed up all the rivers of pain. Grant, Lord Jesus, that

we may feel Your pain, that we may feel Your love, not our own: wound our heart with Your pain, intoxicate our heart with Your love, so that with St. Paul we may say: "But far be it from me to glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ: through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world: who loved me, and gave Himself for me;" and with the bride: "My beloved is mine, and I am his, who feeds among the lilies, until the day breaks and the shadows decline. A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, he shall dwell between my breasts;" and with St. Ignatius: "My love is crucified;" and with St. Francis: "Grant, Lord Jesus, that I may die of love for Your love, You who deigned to die of love for my love." Grant, O Lord, that we may never be separated from You, that we may completely die to the world and the flesh, live for You, dwell in Your wounds, be born into Your love in time and in eternity. And with that holy Italian virgin who, gazing fixedly upon Christ crucified, burning and intoxicated with love, exclaimed: "O God, O love, O intoxication of love! Give me so great a voice that it may be heard from East to West, from heaven to hell, that I may proclaim You as Love to all." O love, how little You are known, how little You are loved! O souls, love your Love, who has so loved you!

THE CHASTISEMENT OF OUR PEACE WAS UPON HIM. — For chastisement the Hebrew has מוסר musar, that is, correction. For children need this, who frolic like little beasts and wander by their senses, so that they may be restrained and may receive and learn discipline from a teacher. Hence correction, scourging, beating, and even the whip itself by metonymy and metalepsis is called discipline, because it begets and induces discipline. Thus the Hebrew מלמד malmad, that is, goad, is derived from למד lamad, that is, he learned. For calves and oxen, as well as children and untutored people, do not learn to bear the yoke and discipline unless driven by goads. Hence Proverbs 23:13 says: "Do not withhold discipline from a child," that is, correction; and 22:15: "The rod of discipline will drive it away," namely the foolishness of a child. Ecclesiastes 12:11 alludes to this when it says: "The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails deeply fixed, which have been given by the counsel of masters from one shepherd." See our Gretser, book On Discipline. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: Christ was chastised, harassed and tortured with scourges and blows, so that He might reconcile us to God and that we might have peace with Him, so that indeed "being dead to sins, we might live to justice," says St. Peter alluding to this passage, 1 Peter 2:24. So Procopius. Again, by peace the Hebrews understand all prosperity and every good: for Christ obtained these for us by His sufferings and afflictions.

Therefore Calvin wrongly infers from this that a penitent, whose sins God has remitted through Christ, has no temporal punishment to undergo, on the grounds that Christ has paid it, since Isaiah says: "The chastisement of our peace was upon Him." Wrongly, I say. For

"the chastisement of peace" here signifies not temporal punishment, but guilt and eternal punishment. For this begets war and the hatred of God, which Christ removed by His death, making peace and reconciling us to God.

Third, Sanchez, translating the Hebrew שלום scalom as retribution, explains it thus: The chastisement of our retribution was upon Him, that is, the punishment which we ought to have paid and rendered for our sins, this God imposed upon Him, as if to say: Whatever punishments God ought to have or could have exacted from us for sins for all eternity, this the Father exacted from His innocent Son. Moreover, Calvin ignorantly and blasphemously infers from this that Christ experienced the pains and despair of hell, on the ground that these were owed for our sins: for He took them upon Himself not formally, but satisfactorily, because He made condign satisfaction for them on account of the dignity of His suffering Person.

BY HIS BRUISE WE HAVE BEEN HEALED. — Vatablus translates: And by His bruise we have been healed. This is the precious remedy which Christ prepared not from the juices of herbs, not from the fat of beasts, not from another's body and blood, but from His own. He stored this remedy in the Holy Sacraments which He instituted; for from this the Sacraments have their power of justifying and healing the diseases of the soul, namely, from the bruise, blood and wounds of Christ.

Verse 6: 6. ALL WE LIKE SHEEP HAVE GONE ASTRAY — like sheep having no shepherd and not following one, but following their own...

6. ALL WE LIKE SHEEP HAVE GONE ASTRAY — like sheep having no shepherd and not following one, but following their own gluttony and concupiscence. "We have gone astray" through the labyrinths of pleasures, exposed to the fury of wolves who would tear us apart and transport us to the cavern of hell. Christ alluded to this when He compared Himself to a shepherd who sought the lost sheep and, having placed it on his shoulders, brought it back to the fold, Luke 15:4; and St. Peter, 1 Peter 2:25, when he says: "For you were as sheep going astray, but you have now been converted to the shepherd and bishop of your souls."

AND THE LORD LAID ON HIM THE INIQUITY OF US ALL. — For laid Vatablus translates, cast; Forerius, caused to fall upon or rush upon. For the Hebrew פגע hifgia signifies first, to encounter, to fall upon: second, to rush upon someone and kill him, as Gideon rushed upon the princes of Midian, Judges 8:21: "In both ways, says Forerius, our sins fell upon Christ; they rushed upon Him to destroy Him; they fell upon Him to be destroyed by Him. Here with me, Christian reader, consider that your sins and mine were part of that army which rushed upon Christ" and slew Him.

The Septuagint translates: The Lord handed Him over to our iniquities, so that those iniquities, transferred from us to Christ, might rest upon Him as it were, and present Him as a defendant to the judge to be punished and tormented. For the most innocent Christ, the supreme enemy of iniquity, the greatest cross was to be handed over to iniquity, and far greater than to be handed over to Caiaphas, Pilate, scourges, nails and the cross.

Verse 7: 7. HE WAS OFFERED BECAUSE HE HIMSELF WILLED IT. — In Hebrew it is, He approached, namely as a victim for sin to be...

7. HE WAS OFFERED BECAUSE HE HIMSELF WILLED IT. — In Hebrew it is, He approached, namely as a victim for sin to be slaughtered on the altar of the cross, that is, He was offered (as our Translator rightly renders), because He Himself answered, namely God calling Him, that which the Psalmist says, and from him Paul, Hebrews 10:5: "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire: but a body You have fitted for Me, etc. Then I said: Behold I come," here I am, a victim pleasing to You, which You require. Wherefore Symmachus here translates, He was brought forward and obeyed. Hence it is clear that both Symmachus and our translator, for נגש niggas, that is, He approached, read in the Pual, נגש nuggas, that is, He was made to approach, brought forward, presented, offered.

Now for nuggas with shin, they read נגש niggas with sin, which means He was exacted from, pressed, afflicted, as a surety or debtor: for Christ stood surety for our debt; whence the Father exacted our debt from Him. So Cyril and Sanchez. Forerius translates, He was driven, or rather driven away like a sheep, and He Himself was destitute of help; Vatablus, He was punished and afflicted; Pagninus, He was oppressed and afflicted.

Because He Himself willed it — not forced by the arms and violence of the Jews who seized Him, not unwilling and reluctant; but freely accepting the will and command of the Father, and generously offering Himself to Him. This is what Paul says, Galatians 2:20: "He loved me, and gave Himself for me," and Christ Himself, John 10:18: "No one takes it (my soul) from Me; but I lay it down of Myself." Hence it is clear that Christ's death was truly and properly a sacrifice of Christ: it is otherwise with the death of Martyrs. For Christ properly immolated Himself on the cross to the Father for the redemption of mankind, that He might reconcile God to them, which is the proximate end of sacrifice. Wherefore He was also offered in a mystical rite. For it happened not by chance but by His own and the Father's choice that He suffered on the feast day of Passover, on the altar of the cross, with outstretched hands, and outside the gate of Jerusalem. Whence Christ, John 17:19, says: "For them I sanctify," that is, I sacrifice, "Myself." So St. Leo, epistle 83, St. Augustine, book I Against the Adversaries of the Law and the Prophets, chapter 18. See Bellarmine, book I On the Mass, chapter 3.

Devoutly and truly St. Bernard, sermon 3 On the Purification of the Blessed Mary: "He was offered, he says, not because He deserved it, not because the Jew prevailed; but because He Himself willed it. I will sacrifice to You voluntarily, O Lord, because You were voluntarily offered for my salvation, not for Your need. But what, brothers, do we offer, or what do we render to Him for all that He has rendered to us? He offered for us a more precious victim than He had — indeed, one that could not have been more precious. And so let us do what we can, offering Him the best we have, which is surely ourselves. He offered Himself: who are you to hesitate to offer yourself? Who will grant me that so great a majesty may deign to accept my offering? I have two mites, Lord — I mean body and soul: would that I could perfectly offer these to You in a sacrifice of praise! For it is good for me, and far more glorious and useful, to be offered to You rather than left to myself. For within myself my soul is troubled; but in You my spirit will rejoice, if it is truly offered to You."

LIKE A SHEEP HE SHALL BE LED TO THE SLAUGHTER, AND LIKE A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER HE SHALL BE SILENT. — In that bitter shearing, in which not wool and clothing, but skin, flesh, blood and life would be shorn and scraped from Him by scourges, nails and blows, He will not groan, not complain, not cry out, not resist, but with the gentlest patience will silently endure all things. Symbolically St. Ambrose, epistle 25, past the middle: "Rightly, he says, before the shearer, who laid aside on that cross what was superfluous, not what was proper; who put off the body, but did not lose His divinity." St. John the Baptist alluded to this, John 1:36: "Behold the Lamb of God," namely the one predicted here by Isaiah, and prefigured in the paschal lamb. So Theophylactus there. Note: Symbolically, the name of the Lamb, namely Jesus, in Greek is by anagram the same as sheep, as is clear from this anagram: Ἰησοῦ: Jesus, σὺ ἡ οἶς, that is, you are a sheep. So William Blancus of Albi, book On Anagrams. For in both cases the very same letters appear, but in a different order.

More admirable than His very passion and cross was the lamb-like, indeed divine, meekness, patience and silence of Christ in His passion; especially joined with such heroic constancy, freedom and fortitude, "who, as St. Peter says, 1 Peter 2:23, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten: but He delivered Himself to him who judged Him unjustly." Indeed here He gave a perfect mirror of virtue. Here our sheep brought forth those like Himself: for from Him all the patient, all the constant, all the meek, all the Martyrs drew and imbibed their fortitude as well as their patience. Wherefore St. Francis, seeing or hearing a lamb mentioned, was moved with tender affection, dissolved in tears, and would redeem lambs being led to the slaughter: for he beheld in them this Lamb of God, from whom he professed that he had drawn his own lamb-like simplicity, innocence and gentleness. The redemption, therefore, of our Lamb is, first, most merciful; second, universal; third, eternal. It is most merciful because it is a lamb's, not a lion's; it is universal because it is the world's; it is eternal because it is of all time: it embraces all peoples, all cities, all human beings, of every age, of whatever sex and condition they may be. In the time of Noah, God took away the sins of the world as a lion (for He overwhelmed all with the flood): but through Christ He took them away as a lamb. The flood of waters killed men, not sins: the flood of the Lamb's blood brought destruction to sins, life to human beings.

Here one must note the wondrous, more than leonine fortitude and victory of the gentlest Lamb. For this Lamb subdued the world not by iron, but by wood; not by the sword, but by the cross; not by striking, but by suffering; not by killing, but by dying. This Lamb, therefore, is also the Lion of the tribe of Judah; first, because He overthrew sin, the devil, hell, the world and the flesh; second, because both in this life and especially at the judgment, He will be gentle and sweet as a lamb to the saints and the elect, but terrible as a lion to the reprobate; so that they, struck with terror, will say to the mountains and rocks: "Fall upon us and hide us from the face of Him who sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb," Revelation 6:16; third, because this Lamb transforms lions and wolves and makes them lambs. Whence St. Augustine, sermon 1 On the Conversion of St. Paul: "The lamb (Christ), he says, was slain by wolves, and makes (Paul) a lamb from wolves." The same, tract 7 on St. John: "The lamb came, he says. What manner of lamb? One whom wolves fear. What manner of lamb? One who by being slain slew the lion. For the devil is called a lion going about and roaring, seeking whom he may devour: by the blood of the lamb the lion was conquered. Behold the spectacles of Christians." And on Psalm 131: "Our King, he says, conquered the devil by meekness. That one raged, this one endured. He who raged was conquered; he who endured conquered. In this meekness the Church conquers her enemies." The Lamb conquered by meekness, the Martyrs conquered by meekness, Christians have conquered and continue to conquer by meekness. For our Lamb loves little lambs, loves ewes, loves yearling lambs, loves the innocent, loves virgins, loves Martyrs, the meek and the patient. "Behold, He says to His dearest ones, I send you as lambs among wolves," Luke 10:3.

Receive now lambs, and followers of the Lamb — indeed, His offspring — in bearing insults and injuries. St. Spyridon, Bishop of Trimithus in Cyprus, called by the Emperor Constantius, came in humble attire, holding a staff in his hand, wearing an earthen vessel from his neck. Therefore in the palace a certain man struck him on the cheek as if he were a lowly person. The holy man bore this not only patiently, but with a spirit ready to suffer, he offered the other cheek to the striker. This so confounded that insolent man that he suddenly became a suppliant and begged forgiveness; which the saint gladly granted, and paternally instructed the man to restrain himself from inflicting injury. He was then honorably led to the Emperor. So his Life records.

"St. Stephen the Abbot," says St. Gregory, homily 35 on the Gospels, "was of such patience that he considered as his friend whoever had inflicted some trouble upon him. He returned thanks for insults. If any loss had been caused in his very poverty, he considered it the greatest gain. He regarded all his adversaries as nothing other than helpers."

The same St. Gregory, book I of the Dialogues, chapter 3, praises the patience of Libertinus, who, unjustly struck by the Abbot with a footstool so that his face was swollen and bruised, by his patience brought the choleric Abbot to great meekness.

St. John Chrysostom, homily 20 to the People, celebrates the deed and saying of the Emperor Constantine, who, when his image had been stoned and many were urging him to take revenge for the insult, saying that they had wounded his entire face in the image, feeling his face with his hand and gently laughing, said: "I truly see no wound made on my forehead; but my head is sound, and my whole face is sound."

Cassian, Collation 19, chapter 1, celebrates the patience of a certain young monk, who, publicly struck hard on the cheek by the Abbot, gave no sign of murmuring or pain; indeed, he in no way changed the modesty, tranquility and color of his countenance.

A certain innkeeper had insulted a young man, a relative of St. John the Almsgiver: the complaining youth reported the matter to St. John, who, to calm him, said: "So he dared to offend you even by a word? I shall do something to him that all Alexandria will marvel at." And immediately, having summoned the tax collector, he ordered that innkeeper to be exempted from all tax. All Alexandria marveled at this. And the innkeeper thenceforth courteously honored the Bishop and the young man. So Leontius in the Life of St. John the Almsgiver.

St. Martin, unknown, was received by soldiers with whips and clubs; silent and wonderfully patient, he offered his back to those striking him. They, growing more furious as if he were scorning their blows, so bloodied the man of God and tore his whole body that he fell senseless to the ground. And when they wished to depart, they could not move their beasts of burden from the spot by any whipping. Returning therefore to their senses and understanding that it was St. Martin whom they had struck, they went back to him and on their knees begged forgiveness: which he mercifully granted, and caused the beasts to move from the place. So Sulpitius in his Life, book I, chapter 4.

Sophronius, in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter 218, relates that two Religious men, assailed with insults by a peasant, said: "Forgive us, for we have sinned." Moved by this humility, the peasant followed them and became a monk.

St. Lidwina, a virgin of great holiness in Holland, when assailed with injuries, spittle and curses, returned blessings and kindnesses, saying: "I confess that I am indebted to those who compel me to run the way of God's commandments, the fullness of which is love." The same Saint saw in an ecstasy of mind a most precious crown, but not yet fully completed in its circle. Returning to herself, she asked to suffer for Christ, that the crown might be completed. Soon, at the inauguration of Duke Philip among the Dutch, his soldiers approached the Saint and tormented her greatly; indeed, they shamelessly and indecently handled her virginal and sickly body, heaped wounds upon wounds, and added insults, calling her a beast, a harlot, a glutton, etc. Then an Angel came to her, splendid as the sun, and said to her: "Hail, dearest sister. Behold, now the crown is complete, which you recently saw incomplete. On account of the shameless touches of those men, know that you have been placed in the footsteps of the Savior. The mockeries and wounds inflicted on your body were the gems which in that crown you saw both present and missing." So her Life records.

St. Dominic judged that one should contend with the Albigensians not so much by disputation as by holiness of life and mild tolerance of the injuries inflicted by them, and by this he converted many of them.

St. Elizabeth, after the death of her husband the Prince of Thuringia, was cast out of her home by his relatives with her children — destitute, wandering, overwhelmed with troubles, and despised by those upon whom she had bestowed kindness; yet she bore all things with such a brave and joyful spirit that, when summoned by her father the king to return to Hungary, she refused to go back, lest she lose the patience and humility she had found in her miseries amid royal delights, holding this virtue more precious than all treasures.

Do you wish to see lambs in martyrdom and followers of Christ the Martyr? In the year of the Lord 44, when St. James the brother of St. John had been dragged by a certain man into judgment before Herod, he freely bore testimony to Christ; seeing which, the man who had dragged him confessed himself a Christian. Therefore, when both were led together to execution, the latter begged forgiveness from St. James. To whom James said: "Peace be with you;" and kissed him, and so both, struck by the axe, were consummated in martyrdom like lambs. So Eusebius, book II of the History, chapter 8, and from him Baronius.

St. Ignatius, condemned to the beasts in the persecution of Trajan, when he was being sent in chains to Rome and had already reached Smyrna, writing to the Romans who had received the faith, said: "From Syria all the way to Rome I fight with beasts on sea and on land, night and day bound with ten leopards, that is, soldiers who guard me, who become worse when you do them kindness: but their wickedness is my instruction, yet I am not thereby justified. Would that I might enjoy the beasts that are prepared for me, which I also pray may be swift for my destruction, and for my torments, and be enticed to devour me, lest, as with others, they not dare to touch my body! And if they should be unwilling to come, I will use force, I will thrust myself upon them, to be devoured." He adds the reason: "Forgive me, dear children; what is profitable for me, I know. Now I begin to be a disciple of Christ, desiring none of the things that are seen, that I may find Jesus Christ. Fire, cross, beasts, breaking of bones, dismemberment of limbs, and dissection of the whole body, and all the torments of the devil — let them come upon me; only let me enjoy Christ." And when he had already been led into the amphitheater, and heard the lions roaring, he said: "I am the wheat of Christ; let me be ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may be found pure bread." Certainly, there would not have been in him so fervent

a desire to suffer for Christ, if anything could have been sweeter than to enjoy Christ suffering and rising again.

St. Edmund, King and Martyr of England, was captured by the Duke of Normandy, bound, scourged, mocked, pierced with darts and arrows so that there was no room on his body for a new wound, and finally beheaded for the faith of Christ: he bore all these things bravely as well as gently, and obtained the laurel of martyrdom in the year of the Lord 870. So Baronius.

John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, condemned to death by Henry VIII for the constancy of his faith, being led to the place of martyrdom, sang the whole hymn Te Deum laudamus with his eyes raised to heaven: and so, submitting his neck to the axe, as a Martyr he flew to heaven, in the year of the Lord 1534.

The same Henry, in the year of the Lord 1537, when he had ordered the Guardian of the Franciscans of Canterbury to be executed along with the Friars for the same reason, unless they abjured the Pope, they all bravely refused, saying they would rather undergo any death than do it. And so the Guardian, on the scaffold repeatedly reciting that verse of the Psalmist, Psalm 53, verse 8: "I will sacrifice to You voluntarily, and I will confess Your name, O Lord, for it is good," was cast from the scaffold, and soon, half-alive, cut into four parts, he completed his glorious contest. The rest followed their leader with the same eagerness. So the History of England records.

Thomas Bozius, book XI On the Signs of the Church, chapter 1, number 6, narrates the constancy of 32 Martyrs who at Angouleme, in the year of the Lord 1562, were captured by heretics and inhumanely tortured with extraordinary torments, and adds: About the same time at Delft, a city of Holland, Cornelius Musius was captured and, by the order of William the Prince of Orange, was variously tortured as follows. He was hung by his bound hands from a very tall ladder, with an intolerable weight tied to his feet, so that all his joints were dislocated: then his armpits were burned with blazing torches: next, bound on his back, boiling water was poured into his mouth and his entire belly was filled with it, which was then beaten with clubs so that it all flowed out from every opening of his body: afterward, with his head turned downward, he was hung by the two great toes: then, with the fingers of his hands and feet cut off, he was dragged through snow reddened with his own blood to the city of Leiden, and so at last after so many tortures he was hanged. All of which the Martyr bore in silence with a mild and calm, as well as a noble spirit. There still survive many who witnessed his torments with their own eyes in Holland, and celebrate the holy man with wonderful praises.

Verse 8: 8. FROM ANGUISH AND FROM JUDGMENT HE WAS TAKEN AWAY. — So also Symmachus translates. First, Forerius says that the...

8. FROM ANGUISH AND FROM JUDGMENT HE WAS TAKEN AWAY. — So also Symmachus translates. First, Forerius says that the Hebrew עצר otser, that is, anguish, constriction, compression, was the very crowd of people pressing together: and the judgment was the assembly of the judges themselves, or the judges themselves, as if to say: Christ was condemned and killed by all ranks, both by the crowd and by the judges. For the judges themselves, namely the chief priests, said: "He is guilty of death," and they persuaded the crowd to cry before Pilate: "Crucify Him." For was taken away, Forerius translates, He was dragged away, namely to punishment. Second, Sanchez says: was taken away, that is, exalted on the cross, the judgment of Christ, as the Septuagint translates, that is, Christ judged: for often abstract terms are used for concrete. Third and genuinely, it is a hendiadys: "from anguish and from judgment," that is, from the anguish of judgment, or from the anguished judgment. As if to say: Christ, from the judgment of Pilate and the chief priests, full of anguish, oppression and humiliation, was taken away to the punishment of the cross. So from Origen, Leo Castrius. The Septuagint, which St. Luke follows, Acts 8:22, translates: "In His humiliation His judgment was taken away." They seem to have read משפט mispat, that is, judgment, not ממשפט mimmispat, that is, from judgment. Or rather, because to take someone away from judgment is the same as to take away and overturn his judgment. The meaning is, says St. Jerome, Christ the judge of all did not find justice in His own trial: for "in humility," that is, because of Christ's humility, lowliness and silence, by which He was silent like a lamb, the proud chief priests and Pilate tumultuously and most unjustly condemned the innocent one. So therefore His judgment was taken away, because Christ's case was not juridically examined; He was condemned without investigation of the case and dragged to the cross. So St. Jerome, Procopius, Tertullian in his book Against the Jews; Chrysostom, oration 3 Against the Jews. Whence Vatablus translates, without delay and without trial He was seized, namely for the cross. Otherwise, the phrase was taken away is understood by St. Jerome and Rupert again as: Christ was taken away from the anguish of the unjust judgment, of the passion and of the cross, and ascended as victor to the Father.

WHO SHALL DECLARE HIS GENERATION? — First, Forerius and Vatablus by generation understand the age, namely the people and the Jews of that age. For דור dor in Hebrew signifies an age or century; and it is so called from the succession and revolving nature whereby one age succeeds another and one century another, so that they seem to form a circle. It is said both of a time and of the people of that time, and of all things that happen and occur in that period, as if to say: Who can describe the wickedness of the Jews, of Pilate, and of the soldiers of that age, who will so mock, scourge and crucify Christ? This meaning accords well with what precedes; for it explains the judgment of which he said: "From anguish and from judgment He was taken away." Again, the Latin generatio, as well as the Greek γενεά and the Hebrew dor, often signifies by metonymy the people of that age or century.

Second, Lyranus, the Carthusian and others take generation as the offspring and progeny of Christ, namely Christians who are propagated through all ages. For in Hebrew, dor properly means a series, either of time or of people and posterity, namely a certain succession, or revolution both of times and of people successively being born and propagating themselves and their posterity in a fixed order. Whence dor is called a sphere, or globe and ball, from its revolution. And from dor some derive the verb duro: for dor is a successive duration. This interpretation is favored by what follows: "Because He was cut off from the land of the living;" and below: "If He shall lay down His life for sin, He shall see a long-lived seed," as if to say: The Jews tried to cut down Christ and His name and lineage, but in vain: for God will give Him a generation and a numerous progeny through all ages, and He Himself will see His seed long-lived, indeed eternal. Again, Christ had a dor, a brief age and life, and was taken away in the very flower of His age: but in dying He left behind an illustrious offspring that will propagate His name and lineage throughout the whole world and through all centuries. For from Christ began a new age, a new and golden century. Whence He is called by Isaiah, chapter 9, "the Father of the world to come."

Third, the Fathers commonly take this passage as referring to the generation of Christ, either human, as St. Athanasius, book On the Incarnation of the Word; Justin, Question 67 to the Orthodox; Tertullian, Against the Jews, chapter 13; or divine, as St. Basil, book I Against Eunomius; Justin, Against Trypho; Chrysostom, book I On the Incomprehensible Nature of God, and many others; or of both, as St. Augustine, homily 36 among the 50, Jerome, Procopius, Cyril and others. For although the Hebrew dor does not properly signify generation, that is, the act of generating, or birth, it does signify the age of someone and the series of generation by which one is born from father or mother in his own time and succeeds them. The Prophet therefore, contemplating the reproaches and pains of Christ and at the same time contemplating His person and dignity, is carried away and in wonder exclaims: "Who shall declare His generation?" How do you crucify Him, O Jews? How will Christ suffer such terrible things, whose age and series of origin and life is ineffable? For if you regard Him as God, His age is eternity: for from eternity the Father begot and brought Him forth: He is therefore co-eternal with the Father. But if you regard Him as man, His age, by which He was propagated and came forth from His mother into the world, was new and admirable: for He was born and conceived at the end of ages from a Virgin, by the operation of the Holy Spirit. Again, being born, He united human nature to the Word hypostatically: which union is indissoluble and eternal. "For what God has joined, let no man separate." How then was He "taken away from anguish and from judgment"? How was He "cut off from the land of the living"? This meaning, as it is common to the Fathers, is also the more sublime and divine. Wherefore Tertullian, in his book Against the Jews, chapter 13, and elsewhere reads: who shall declare His nativity?

Finally, Rupert takes generation as the future age, in which Christ, rising from the dead, lives and will live gloriously in heaven for all eternity. This meaning is rather anagogical than literal.

BECAUSE HE WAS CUT OFF (like a tree chopped down, indeed uprooted, to which He was compared in verse 2) FROM THE LAND OF THE LIVING. — The word because, if you regard the first and especially the second meaning already given, is causal, as if to say: Therefore Christ will give a generation, that is, a numerous and inexplicable offspring, because He was cut off from the land. For just as a grain of wheat that dies bears fruit and multiplies itself, and just as a tree that is cut down sprouts again in many shoots: so Christ in dying sowed forth from Himself many Christians. But if you follow the third meaning of the Fathers, the word because is not causal but exegetical and emphatic, meaning who nevertheless, as if to say: Christ's divine and human generation is eternal and ineffable, who nevertheless was cut down: although Christ is eternal, He was still cut off from life and the land.

"The life of Christ was taken from the earth, says St. Jerome, so that He might live not at all on earth, but in heaven." Likewise St. Augustine, Origen, and from them Leo Castrius refer the phrase He was cut off to the resurrection and ascension of Christ into heaven. This is rather anagogical than literal, as I have said.

ON ACCOUNT OF THE WICKEDNESS OF MY PEOPLE I STRUCK (that is, I exposed to being struck) HIM. — These are the words of the Father concerning Christ His Son. The Septuagint translates: Because of the iniquities of my people He was led to death. Our iniquities, therefore, were the executioners and butchers of Christ. Note: The Septuagint read נגע למות nugga lamut, that is, He was struck (or נגד nuggad, that is, He was led) to death. Our translator reads better: נגע למו nega lamo, that is, there was a blow to him, that is, I struck Him. For Him the Hebrew has למו lamo, that is, them: which the Jews understand thus, as if to say: On account of the sins of Christians I struck the Jews. For the Jews think that they suffer exile and all these things so harsh and prolonged on account of the sins of Christians, especially on account of their hatreds by which they oppress and afflict the Jews. Hence they interpret this entire chapter as concerning the afflictions not of Christ, but of the Jews. Calvin favors the Jews. On which see our Lessius in his Antichrist. Hunnius therefore rightly wrote a book with this title: Calvin Judaizing. But all the preceding words are singular, not plural, and signify a specific person, namely Christ, not the Jews. See Galatinus, book VIII, chapter 15.

I reply therefore that lamo is used for לו lo, that is, Him: for so it is understood in chapter 44:15, Psalm 28:8, and elsewhere. And that it should be so understood here is clear both from the Septuagint, the Chaldee, Vatablus and others, who like our translator render it Him. Whence some suspect that the Jews corrupted this passage, writing למו lamo instead of lo. But even if we translate lamo as them (not him), as St. Jerome translates in his Commentary, Symmachus, Theodotion and Forerius, nothing here favors the Jews, but rather the contrary. For the meaning is, as Forerius and St. Jerome rightly say: On account of the wickedness of my people, that is, the Jews, by which they dared to lay hands on the Messiah whom I sent them as redeemer, I struck them, or, as it is in Hebrew, there is a blow to them: for all the plagues of the Jews flow from the fact that they killed their own and our Christ.

This meaning accords with what preceded: On account of the wickedness of my people there shall be a blow to them, as I said is in the Hebrew.

Second, God the Father will give and subject to Christ the impious who are willing to believe and obey Christ, so that He may kill impiety in them and raise up justice and piety; and so He will slay the impious by transforming them into the pious. For this is the supreme, most noble and divine vengeance of Christ, and this Christ merited by His death and burial: for His entire aim and fruit was that sin might be taken away. Again, He will call the rich away from the pride of wealth and honors, and make them humble and obedient to Christ, and this for His death or His, that is, on account of the merit of His death. So St. Jerome, Haymo, Dionysius, Adam, Forerius and others. The Hebrew words indicate this meaning; for they have: He will give the wicked as His burial, as if to say: God the Father will cause the wicked and wickedness to be buried with Christ, and all wickedness to be thrust back into the abyss and hell, so that henceforth He Himself may reign here on earth, and His justice and holiness, so that we and all the Gentiles, dead to sins and the old life, may rise to a new, holy and Christian life. This is what Paul says, Romans 6:4: "We were buried together with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ rose from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection." See the comments there.

AND THE RICH FOR HIS DEATH. — The rich, that is, the rich ones (plural). So the Septuagint, and from them Cyril, Procopius, Chrysostom, Augustine, Tertullian and others. Furthermore, St. Jerome takes the wicked as the unfaithful and therefore impious Gentiles; and the rich, namely rich in faith and in the law, as the Jews, as if to say: God will give both peoples, of the Jews and the Gentiles, to Christ as His one Church, and this for the merit of His death. But simply speaking, any impious and rich persons can be understood here, whether from the Gentiles or from the Jews.

But why do the Hebrew and our translator have the rich man (singular), not the rich (plural)? I answer, because among the rich it notes one singular person, namely Joseph of Arimathea, who honorably buried Christ, prepared with spices in death, in his own sepulcher. "For that rich man of Arimathea, Joseph, buried the poor Christ, in whom he sought riches," says St. Augustine, homily 36 among the 50. That Joseph is indicated here, they teach with St. Augustine — Vatablus, Forerius and others generally. Whence Pagninus translates: He gave his burial with the wicked, and with the rich among his dead; others: He placed his grave among the wicked, and with the rich in his death, as if to say: The rich Joseph buried Christ in his death among his own dead, that is, in his own tomb. Hence also the Arabic translates: The rich man became a sharer in his burial, or in the linen cloth of his burial: for bodies to be buried are customarily wrapped in linen.

But Forerius, for במותיו bemotav, that is, for his death, reading במתו bamato, that is, his high place,

Verse 9: 9. AND HE SHALL GIVE THE WICKED FOR HIS BURIAL, AND THE RICH FOR HIS DEATH. — First, Procopius and St. Augustine,...

9. AND HE SHALL GIVE THE WICKED FOR HIS BURIAL, AND THE RICH FOR HIS DEATH. — First, Procopius and St. Augustine, homily 86 among the 50, tome X, explain it thus, as if to say: Pilate will give the wicked, namely the soldiers, for the burial of Christ, that is, for the guarding of His sepulcher. Again, Caiaphas will give the rich, namely the Jews, who with their money will bribe these soldiers guarding it, "for His death," lest they confess that He rose from the dead, but lie that He was stolen dead by His disciples. For all these things concern the passion of Christ, and recount the things that Christ suffered, both after death and before.

Second, Vatablus, Forerius and Pagninus translate from the Hebrew thus: He gave his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his deaths, and explain it thus, as if to say: Christ will die on Mount Calvary, where punishment is usually inflicted only on the wicked; but when dead He will be carried by the rich Joseph to his sepulcher, in which He will be laid. However, it would rather have been said: He gave his death with the wicked, and his grave with the rich: but now conversely the text joins his grave with the wicked, and his death with the rich.

Third, Marlorat translates wrongly: And he exposed his grave to the wicked, and his death to the rich, and explains it thus, as if to say: Christ was overwhelmed among the wicked and blood-stained hands of the Jews, and as it were buried. For these hands overwhelming Christ are metaphorically called a sepulcher. So he, in order to undermine the glory of the burial of Christ and of Christians. But in vain: for it is clear that this passage deals with a sepulcher and burial properly so called, and so all the orthodox Fathers and interpreters explain it.

For the genuine meaning, note here that there is Hebrew parallelism, in which the second hemistich says the same or nearly the same as the first: therefore, "He shall give the wicked for His burial" is the same as "He shall give the rich for His death." For the rich man is the same as the rich (plural), as the Septuagint translates. Now He shall give — either Christ Himself suffering, or rather God the Father. For He, just as He struck Him, that is, permitted Him to be struck by the Jews, so likewise He shall give and a fitting reward for His patience, namely vengeance on His enemies the Jews and other wicked, as if to say: God the Father shall give this reward to Christ — that He will overthrow, slay and bury with Himself the hostile kingdom of sin, wickedness and the wicked, because He Himself was unjustly killed and buried by them. But He shall give in two different ways, and therefore twofold. For first, the wicked who remain wicked and rebellious, because they refuse to believe and obey Christ, He shall give for burial, etc., because God the Father will cause the wicked and the rich, such as were the Jews who killed Christ, to pay the due penalties for this murder and death, both in the destruction by Titus and in hell. So Eusebius, book III of the Demonstration, chapter 2, St. Jerome, Cyril, Procopius, Chrysostom, Euthymius, and from them Leo Castrius. Here

Procopius and Leo Castrius. The Septuagint seems to have read נכאר nackeo for דכאו dackeo.

IF HE SHALL LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR SIN — that is, Himself, or His life. In Hebrew it is, if He shall lay down אשם ascam, that is, sin, His life. Sin, that is, a victim for sin, an expiatory offering. For the victim that was offered for the sin of the sinner would take upon itself his sin and become as it were sin: as is clear from the scapegoat that was offered on the day of atonement, Leviticus 16:21.

The Apostle imitated this Hebraism when he says: "Him who knew no sin, for us He made sin (that is, an expiatory offering for sin), that we might become the justice of God in Him," 2 Corinthians 5:21.

HE SHALL SEE A LONG-LIVED SEED — that is, spiritual children, namely very many Christians throughout the whole world: and this "long-lived," because they will endure to the end of the world, indeed for all eternity. Christ alluded to this saying: "If the grain of wheat dies, it brings forth much fruit (seed)," John 12:25. In Christ therefore dying for us and raising us to life by His death, that riddle of the phoenix is true (which others attribute to the pelican, which they say revives its dead chicks with its own blood):

It gives birth as it perishes: And: It perishes as it gives birth:

FOR HIS DEATH. — In Hebrew it is במותיו bemotav, that is, in or for his deaths, which the Jews seize for themselves, as if to say: In the deaths and unjust slaughters of his people, namely Israel and the Jews. But I reply that this is an enallage: for deaths, that is, for his death. For so the Septuagint translates, ἀντί τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ, that is, for his death. So also the Chaldee, and others: whence perhaps one should read in the Hebrew במותו bemoto, with the letter yod deleted: for this means literally, in his death. However you read it, it is clear that death here means Christ's death, not deaths. For all the preceding words speak of the same person in the singular, not in the plural.

BECAUSE HE DID NO INIQUITY, NEITHER WAS THERE DECEIT IN HIS MOUTH — as if to say: Because He sinned neither in deed nor in word, because He was innocent. Here he gives the reason why God granted so great a reward and vindication to Christ in His suffering, namely His innocence, or that He suffered so much when He was completely guiltless and harmless. St. Peter alludes to this, 1 Peter 2:22, and St. John, 1 John 3:5.

Verse 10: 10. And (repeat: because) THE LORD WILLED TO CRUSH HIM IN INFIRMITY — by weakening, afflicting and tormenting Him. For...

10. And (repeat: because) THE LORD WILLED TO CRUSH HIM IN INFIRMITY — by weakening, afflicting and tormenting Him. For to crush the Hebrew has דכאו dackeo, that is, to press out, to bruise.

The Septuagint translates contrarily, namely: The Lord willed to cleanse Him from the blow, that is, as Tertullian reads, to take Him away from death by raising Him: or to cleanse, that is, to show Him clean and innocent, inasmuch as He would punish the Jews through Titus for the killing of Christ, say Cyril, Procopius and Leo Castrius. The Septuagint seems to have read נכאר nackeo for דכאו dackeo.

namely the sepulcher, translates: And he gave his torments with the wicked, and his sepulcher with the rich: for bama means an elevated place, whether an altar or a sepulcher: and such was that of Joseph in which he buried Christ, namely new, hewn in rock, on the elevated Mount Calvary, splendid like a chapel, spacious and magnificent: for it held both the buried Christ, and two Angels in the form of men, and the women. The Prophet therefore here predicts that after the sufferings, Christ's sepulcher would be rich and glorious.

Wherefore the same Forerius, following the common reading bemotav, less correctly takes the rich man as Christ, and translates: He will make the rich man in His torments, as if to say: God will make Christ, poor and afflicted, through His very torments and death, the richest of all, abounding in every good, in joys and delights.

In like manner, Christ has provided and continues to provide splendid and noble sepulchers for His followers and Martyrs. Thus for St. Agatha the Angels placed this epitaph inscribed in marble on her sepulcher: "A holy mind, voluntary, honor to God, and liberation for the fatherland," as if to say: Agatha had a holy mind, voluntarily offering herself to God through martyrdom, she gave honor to God, and she frees Catania from the fires erupting from Etna, whenever her veil is held up against them, just as by her death she halted and calmed the persecution of the Emperor Decius and the Governor Quintianus. I have recounted more at chapter 11:10.

See here the fruitfulness of obedience and mortification, even though it brings death. If you obey God and His vicars, if you carry about the mortification of Christ in body and soul, from this seed you will reap the harvest of eternal life: nor will there be lacking offspring in the neighbors whom you bring forth for God, to make you joyful. This is what Christ says: "He who shall lose his life, shall keep it unto life everlasting." So Procopius, Eusebius, book III of the Demonstration, chapter 2. Whence St. Augustine, book I On the Harmony of the Gospels, chapter 31, from the Septuagint reads thus: If you give your life for your sins, you shall see a seed of a very long life. He alludes to Abraham who, by immolating Isaac, merited from him a numerous and long-lived seed. Whence he also took him as a parable: for Isaac, destined for death and freed from it by an Angel, and thus as it were rising again, was like a phoenix, reviving itself by dying, a hieroglyphic of resurrection and eternity, as I said at Hebrews 11:19.

THE WILL OF THE LORD (in Hebrew חפץ chephets, that is, the good pleasure, benevolence, counsel of the Lord concerning the redemption and salvation of mankind, which the Septuagint and from them St. Paul calls εὐδοκίαν) SHALL BE DIRECTED IN HIS HAND (that is, through Him, namely Christ) — in Hebrew יצלח iitslach, that is, shall prosper, shall succeed happily. For the will of the Lord cannot be void: wherefore through Christ He will effectively bring about the salvation of all the Gentiles, which He so thirsts and burns for that He gave His only-begotten Son to death for it, even death on the cross. This is the "long-lived seed" that He named. Again, "the will of the Lord shall be directed in His hand, that is, whatever God has determined to do for supernaturally leading people to eternal life shall be carried out by the merits of Christ," says Luis de Molina, Part I, Question 23, articles 4 and 5, disputation 2. Whence St. Jerome: "The will, he says, of the Lord shall be directed in His hand, so that whatever the Father has willed may be fulfilled by His virtues;" and a little further on he adds: "Because He labored, He will see Churches rising throughout the whole world, and will be satisfied with their faith;" and below: "The Lord wishes to show Him the light, so that He may see all illuminated through Himself."

Verse 11: 11. BECAUSE HE LABORED (Vatablus translates clearly, from the labor, sweat and sorrow of His soul), HE SHALL SEE (that...

11. BECAUSE HE LABORED (Vatablus translates clearly, from the labor, sweat and sorrow of His soul), HE SHALL SEE (that is, He shall receive the fruit, with which) AND SHALL BE SATISFIED — as if to say: Christ shall most joyfully see and behold the fruit received from His labor, namely the salvation and harvest of so many souls, and shall be satisfied with it. For this one thing He hungered and thirsted for, both living and dying. Whence on the cross He exclaimed: "I thirst."

BY HIS KNOWLEDGE MY JUST SERVANT SHALL HIMSELF JUSTIFY MANY. — This knowledge can be taken in two ways: first, actively, as if to say: Christ through His knowledge, that is, through His doctrine, preaching and Gospel, will justify many, that is, will teach them and show them the way to justice. Second, passively, as if to say: Christ through the knowledge and faith of Himself — not bare faith, but faith formed by charity and furnished with good works — will justify many. So Vatablus and Sanchez. St. Paul alludes to this, Romans 3:26, saying: "That He Himself may be just, and the justifier of him who is of the faith of Jesus Christ."

In these words, therefore, and in those preceding, is contained the covenant, or promise of God to Christ, in which He promises that He will accept His works, labors, passion and death for the redemption of mankind. Whence it is clear that our grace and glory were owed to Christ in justice. So Francisco Suarez, Part III, Question 1, article 2, disputation 4, section 5.

St. Clement, book III of the Apostolic Constitutions, chapter 19, reads differently, namely: He justified the just one who served many well. Whence he teaches that, following the example of Christ and of what is said here, deacons ought to minister and serve all the sick; and deaconesses to serve sick women, even at the risk of death.

Tropologically, St. Clement, book II of the Apostolic Constitutions, chapter 25, teaches from this passage that a Bishop, after the example of Christ, ought to make the sins of his subjects his own and expiate them by bearing them: "You, he says, Bishops (and pastors), are to your laity Prophets, princes, leaders, kings, mediators of God and His faithful, receptacles of the word of God and its heralds, experts in the Scriptures and voices of God, and witnesses of His will, who bear the sins of all and will render an account for all, etc. For you are imitators of Christ the Lord, so that, just as He bore our sins — the sins of all — on the wood of the cross and was crucified without any guilt or stain for those who deserved punishment, so also you ought to attribute the sins of the people to yourselves and consider them your own. For it is said of our Savior in Isaiah: He bears our sins and grieves for us. And again: He Himself bore the sins of many, and for the iniquities of many was handed over."

AND THE INIQUITIES (the punishments due to their iniquities) OF THEM HE HIMSELF SHALL BEAR — just as a porter carries the burden and weight of another on his own shoulders. For this is what סבל sabal means. The word and is causal; for it signifies the cause and manner of Christ's justifying, namely that on His part He bore our iniquities and merited justice for us; while on our part He requires faith, by which we believe He did this, and that we are justified through His passion and merits. This is the knowledge of the saints, which justifies them.

Verse 12: 12. AND HE SHALL DIVIDE THE SPOILS OF THE STRONG. — First, "of the strong," that is, of the demons, who are the powers...

12. AND HE SHALL DIVIDE THE SPOILS OF THE STRONG. — First, "of the strong," that is, of the demons, who are the powers and princes of these present darknesses. "Spoils," namely the unfaithful and impious Gentiles, Christ will divide among the Apostles, and distribute those converted by them through Churches, bishoprics and dioceses. So Leo Castrius.

Second, "of the strong," that is, of powerful kings, princes and nations, "He shall divide the spoils," that is, He shall subject them to Himself and to His faith and obedience. It is a catachresis from a military commander who, having won the victory, customarily distributes the spoils of the enemy among the soldiers according to their merits.

Third, St. Cyril, book VI of the Thesaurus, chapter 5: Christ, he says, will distribute rewards to the strong, that is, to the Saints, who bravely contended for Him and for the propagation of His kingdom.

Finally, St. Augustine, book I On the Harmony of the Gospels, chapter 31, takes spoils as the riches that Christ snatched from the devil and the temples of idols and assigned to the building of churches. Thus we see here in Rome that the columns, marbles and whatever was august and splendid in the world from the Pantheon were given and attributed by Constantine and others to the temples of Sts. Peter and Paul and others. Indeed, the very numerous temples in Rome are almost all of marble, and so they shine and gleam that they seem to reflect and represent the appearance of heaven.

AND HE WAS REPUTED WITH THE WICKED — because He hung in the middle between two thieves, as though their leader and chief. So St. Mark explains, chapter 15:28. On account of this infamous disgrace, God repaid Him with this glory — that He should divide the spoils of mighty kings and princes. Reputed: in Hebrew מנה minna, that is, He was numbered.

OF MANY — that is, of all. For all are many.

AND HE PRAYED FOR THE TRANSGRESSORS — both at other times, and especially when crying out on the cross: "Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do." For prayed the Hebrew has יפגיע iaphgia, that is, He met the wrath of God, He interceded. So Forerius and Vatablus.

This closing clause seals the entire mystery of Christ's passion with His remarkable and admirable charity, by which, as if forgetful of Himself and His own sufferings, He prayed for His executioners and crucifiers, and by praying obtained for the centurion and others pardon, faith, grace and salvation. Here Christ taught us to overcome evil with good, to love our enemies, to contend with kindnesses against malice; and so to surpass and overwhelm them, that from enemies we may make friends of God and our own friends. This vengeance of charity, paradoxical to the world, is glorious and divine.

Here therefore Christ condemned those Philosophers who permit or advocate the avenging of injuries. For Aristotle, book IV of the Ethics, chapter 3, teaches: "To consider it proper to follow another's anger," and consequently that to endure injury is servile, and that the magnanimous man should not tolerate an insult inflicted by an enemy, but avenge it with a curse. The saying of a severe man is found in Herodotus, book III: "Just as if you are the author of an injury, you will seem unjust: so if you do not avenge injuries received, you are a coward." More impious and anti-Christian is the dogma of Muhammad in the Quran: "So far from doing wrong is he who hates his enemy, that he who kills him deserves to be given the delights of paradise for that very reason." Vespasian, according to Suetonius in his Life, chapter 9, says: "It is not proper to curse senators; but to curse back is civil and lawful." And Cicero, book I of the Offices, says: "A good man is one who helps whomever he can, harms no one, unless provoked by injury." This saying of Cicero is rightly reproved by Lactantius, book VI, chapter 18, and Plutarch, in his book On the Advantage to Be Derived from Enemies, where he teaches that even adversaries and enemies should be loved. Plato, in the first dialogue of the Republic, refutes those who say vengeance is lawful. And in the dialogue Crito he says: "Since doing evil is nothing other than inflicting injury, one ought not to do evil to anyone, even if one has suffered innumerable wrongs from him." Xenophon, book II of the Cyropaedia: "Nature, he says, gave teeth to dogs, wolves and boars, hooves to horses, horns to bulls, and other weapons to other creatures. But to man she gave no arms except reason, by which he might defend himself and repel injuries." Aristippus had fallen into some offence or other with Aeschines; whence someone said to him: "Where now is your friendship?" To whom he replied: "It sleeps, but I shall awaken it;" and he went to Aeschines and said to him: "Do I seem to you so wretched and incurable that I do not even deserve to be corrected by you?" To whom Aeschines said: "It is not surprising if, since you surpass me in talent in all things, here too you were the first to see what needed to be done." The witness is Epictetus, Enchiridion, chapter 48, or as others have it, chapter 44. But these are nothing if compared with the Pauls, the Stephens, the Ignatiuses and other Christian athletes.

Finally from this St. Bernard infers, in a sermon for Wednesday of Holy Week: "Therefore I shall remember, as long as I shall live, those labors which (Christ) endured in preaching, the fatigues in traveling, the temptations in fasting, the vigils in praying, the tears in compassion. I shall also remember His pains, the revilings, the spitting, the blows, the mockeries, the reproaches, the nails and other similar things which passed through Him and over Him most abundantly. His fortitude encourages me, His likeness to me encourages me: but if there is also added imitation that I may follow in His footsteps, otherwise the just blood that was shed upon the earth will also be required of me." And St. Augustine, in the book On Virginity: "Behold, he says, the wounds of Him who hangs, the blood of Him who dies, the price of Him who redeems, the scars of Him who rises. He has His head inclined for kissing, His arms extended for embracing, His whole body exposed for redeeming. Consider how great these things are; weigh them in the balance of your heart, so that He may be wholly fixed in your heart who was wholly fixed for us on the cross." St. Bernard has almost the same words, sermon 34 On the Passion of the Lord, on the text: "I am the true vine," and he transcribed them from St. Augustine, as is noted there in the margin.