Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He rebukes the Jews, present and future, who despised, vexed, and mocked the just, especially Christ. Second, in verse 5, he rebukes their idolatry, because with insane impetuosity and zeal of mind they were drawn to fabricating and worshipping idols everywhere, like a harlot who is mad for her lovers. Whence he threatens them, in verse 12, with vengeance and the Babylonian destruction. Third, in verse 14, to the penitent and those returning to God, he historically promises the return from Babylon through Cyrus, and under this as a type, he promises to believers and the penitent freedom from the servitude of sin and the devil, together with peace and an abundance of good things. For there is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord.
Vulgate Text: Isaiah 57:1-21
1. The just man perishes, and no one lays it to heart: and men of mercy are gathered together, because there is no one who understands: for from the face of evil the just man is taken away. 2. Let peace come, let him rest in his bed who has walked in his uprightness. 3. But draw near hither, you sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the fornicatress. 4. Against whom have you sported? Against whom have you opened your mouth wide and thrust out your tongue? Are you not wicked children, a false seed? 5. You who comfort yourselves with the gods under every leafy tree, sacrificing children in the torrents, under the overhanging rocks. 6. In the parts of the torrent is your portion, this is your lot: and to them you have poured out a libation, you have offered a sacrifice. Shall I not be angry at these things? 7. Upon a lofty and high mountain you have laid your bed, and thither you went up to offer victims. 8. And behind the door and behind the post you have set your memorial: for beside Me you uncovered yourself and received an adulterer: you enlarged your bed and made a covenant with them: you loved their bed with open hand. 9. And you adorned yourself for the king with ointment, and multiplied your perfumes. You sent your messengers far off, and you were debased even to hell. 10. In the multitude of your way you labored: you did not say: I will rest. You found the life of your hand, therefore you did not ask. 11. For whom were you anxious and afraid, that you lied, and did not remember Me, nor think of Me in your heart? Because I was silent, and as if not seeing, and you forgot Me. 12. I will declare your justice, and your works shall not profit you. 13. When you cry, let your gatherings deliver you, and the wind shall carry them all off, a breeze shall take them away. But whoever trusts in Me shall inherit the land, and shall possess My holy mountain. 14. And I will say: Make a way, provide a path, turn aside from the road, remove the stumbling blocks from the way of My people. 15. For thus says the High and the Sublime, who inhabits eternity: and His name is Holy, who dwells in the high and holy place, and with the contrite and humble spirit: to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. 16. For I will not contend forever, nor will I be angry to the end: for the spirit shall go forth from My face, and I will make the breath of life. 17. Because of the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry, and I struck him: I hid My face from you, and was indignant: and he went away wandering in the way of his own heart. 18. I saw his ways, and I healed him, and led him back, and restored comforts to him and to those who mourn for him. 19. I created the fruit of the lips, peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near, said the Lord, and I healed him. 20. But the wicked are like the raging sea, which cannot rest, and its waves cast up mire and dirt. 21. There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord God.
Verse 1: 1. THE JUST MAN PERISHES, AND NO ONE LAYS IT TO HEART. — He said in the preceding chapter, verse 9, that the...
1. THE JUST MAN PERISHES, AND NO ONE LAYS IT TO HEART. — He said in the preceding chapter, verse 9, that the destruction of Judea was imminent. First, to the causes of the ruin and destruction stated above, chapter 56, verses 9-12, he adds the following:
He rebukes the Jews, present and future, who despised, harassed, and mocked the just, especially Christ. Second, in verse 5, he rebukes their idolatry, in that with insane impulse and zeal of soul they were carried away to fabricate and worship idols everywhere, like a harlot who is mad for her lovers. Whence he threatens them, in verse 12, with vengeance and the Babylonian destruction. Third, in verse 14, to the penitent and those returning to God he historically promises the return from Babylon through Cyrus, and under this as a type, he promises to believers and the penitent freedom from the servitude of sin and the devil, together with peace and an abundance of good things. For there is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord.
1. The just man perishes, and there is no one who considers it in his heart: and men of mercy are gathered up, because there is no one who understands: for the just man is taken away from before evil. 2. Let peace come, let him rest in his bed who walked in his uprightness. 3. But you, draw near hither, sons of the sorceress; seed of the adulterer and the harlot. 4. Upon whom have you jested? upon whom have you opened wide your mouth, and put out your tongue? are you not wicked children, a lying seed? 5. you who console yourselves with gods under every leafy tree, sacrificing children in the torrents, under the overhanging rocks? 6. In the parts of the torrent is your portion, this is your lot: and to them you have poured out a libation, you have offered a sacrifice. Shall I not be indignant at these things? 7. Upon a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed, and you went up there to offer victims. 8. And behind the door, and behind the post you have set up your memorial: for beside Me you have uncovered yourself, and received an adulterer: you have enlarged your bed, and made a covenant with them: you have loved their couch with open hand. 9. And you adorned yourself for the king with ointment, and multiplied your perfumes. You sent your messengers afar off, and were humbled even to hell. 10. In the multitude of your way you labored: you did not say: I will rest: you found the life of your hand, therefore you did not ask. 11. For whom were you anxiously afraid, that you lied, and did not remember Me, nor think of it in your heart? for I was silent, and as if not seeing, and you forgot Me. 12. I will declare your justice, and your works shall not profit you. 13. When you cry out, let your assembled ones deliver you, and the wind shall carry them all away, a breeze shall take them: But he who has confidence in Me shall inherit the land, and shall possess My holy mountain. 14. And I will say: Make a way, provide a path, turn aside from the byway, remove stumbling blocks from the way of My people. 15. For thus says the Most High, the Sublime One dwelling in eternity: and His name is holy, dwelling on high and in the holy place, and with the contrite and humble of spirit: to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. 16. For I will not contend forever, nor will I be angry unto the end: for the spirit shall go forth from My face, and I will make breath. 17. On account of the iniquity of his avarice I was angry, and I struck him: I hid My face from you, and was indignant: and he went away wandering in the way of his heart. 18. I saw his ways, and I healed him, and led him back, and restored consolations to him, and to those who mourned for him. 19. I created the fruit of the lips, peace: peace to him who is far off, and to him who is near, said the Lord, and I healed him. 20. But the wicked are like the raging sea, which cannot rest, and its waves cast up mire and dirt. 21. There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord God.
1. THE JUST MAN PERISHES, AND THERE IS NO ONE WHO CONSIDERS IT. — He said in the preceding chapter, verse 9, that the destruction of Judea was imminent, because "all turned aside to their own way," and because its watchmen were dumb dogs, drunkards, and sleepers. Here he gives another cause of the destruction, not an active one, but one that removes a hindrance, namely the death and withdrawal of the just.
For the just are the pillar of the commonwealth, and by their justice, as by a column, they sustain it, both because by word and example they rouse the people and princes to virtue, and are to them what leaven is to bread; and because by their merits and prayers they restrain the wrath of God from raging against the people's sins and destroying them. For this is what God says in Jeremiah chapter V, 1: "Go about the streets of Jerusalem, and look, and consider, and search in its squares, whether you can find a man doing judgment and seeking faith: and I will be merciful to it." Whence He also promised Abraham the preservation of Pentapolis, if he should find ten just men in it. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: These watchmen and dumb dogs, while they sit at their cups, and hear that some just or merciful man, that is, one pious toward God and country (for this is the Hebrew חסיד, chasid), has died; they are not at all moved, nor do they think about his virtue, or that they themselves will likewise die, nor about the loss to the commonwealth which loses such a support and foundation.
Note: These general words of the Prophet properly and primarily apply to any just persons whatsoever, whether those who lived in Isaiah's time, or those who came afterward, as is evident from verse 5 and following, and there St. Jerome teaches this. See Canon IV, and what was said at chapter I, verse 7. So the Chaldean, St. Thomas, Adam, Forerius, and others.
Whence the Hebrews refer these words to the Prophets and just men, very many of whom Manasseh killed, IV Kings chapter XXI, 16; others refer them to Isaiah himself, Jeremiah, and the Prophets of that age. For these were almost the only just men at that time, as is gathered from Jeremiah chapter V, 1.
Second, however, by the just man he chiefly means Christ. For He is the Just One of the just, whose death, procured by the Scribes, was the cause of the destruction of Judea by the Romans, which he treated of in the preceding chapter, verse 9. By "men of mercy," he means the Apostles and their successors and the Martyrs, whom God in singular mercy granted and bestowed upon the world; so that like suns they might illuminate, purify, and perfect it, and obtain for it God's mercy and grace. For these were put to death by the Jews, through the cross, stoning, and other means, which was the ruin of the Jews themselves. So St. Jerome, St. Cyril, Procopius, Theodoret, Haymo, Hugo, Lyranus here. Likewise Tertullian, Justin, Cyprian, Rupert, and others cited by Leo Castro.
St. Gregory explains these words differently, in book V of the Morals, chapter XXVIII, as if giving the reason why the dumb dogs give themselves over to idleness, wine, and sleep, namely because they see just, sober, and hardworking men mocked, harassed, and even killed by the powerful and pleasure-seekers, as if to say: Since we see drunkards and the wicked prosper, and the sober and pious afflicted, let us give ourselves rather to drunkenness than to sobriety, to wickedness rather than to piety and justice.
FOR THE JUST MAN IS TAKEN AWAY FROM BEFORE EVIL. — "Evil," that is, of crimes. Whence alluding to this, the Wise Man, chapter IV, verse 11, says: "He was snatched away lest wickedness should alter his understanding," etc.; he alludes to the rapture of Enoch. Second, "evil," that is, of destruction and calamity, meaning: God will take away the just from this life, lest they see the evils and disasters of their nation and age. Thus God took away Josiah, lest he see the kingdom's destruction and the Babylonian captivity, IV Kings chapter XXII, 20. Thus He took away St. Augustine, when the Vandals were besieging Hippo. Thus Virgil sings of those happy men who fell at Troy, Aeneid I:
O thrice and four times blessed, To whom it befell to meet death before their fathers' eyes Beneath the lofty walls of Troy!
Hence St. Gregory, in book III of the Dialogues, chapter XXXVII, when Peter asked why good people, who could have been an edification to others, are more quickly taken from this life, answers: "The wickedness of those who remain deserves that those who could be of benefit should be swiftly taken away; and when the end of the world approaches, the elect are removed, lest they see worse things. Hence the Prophet says: The just man perishes, and no one considers it in his heart; and men of mercy are gathered up, because there is no one who understands." Thus when Alfonso, surnamed the Catholic, king of Galicia, pillar of the Church and glorious in his triumphs over the Saracens, departed to the Lord in the year of Christ 727, at his death voices were heard in the air praising the Lord and saying: "Behold how the just man is taken away, removed from the face of iniquity, and his memory shall be in peace," as Tudensis reports, and from him Baronius, at the year of Christ 757, at the end.
If you take these words of Christ, Christ was taken away from before evil (Greek ἀδικίας, that is, iniquity and injustice), that is, from the malice of the Scribes and the High Priests. So Cyril. Jerome explains it differently: "From before evil," he says, that is, in order to take away the wickedness and sins of men. And Haymo says: "From before evil," that is, so that henceforth the force and malice of men could have no power over Him.
Verse 2: 2. Let peace come. — He prays well, and at the same time predicts that the just who die in uprightness, that is, in...
2. Let peace come. — He prays well, and at the same time predicts that the just who die in uprightness, that is, in righteousness, will be in eternal peace and rest, both of Limbo before Christ, and of the heavenly bridal chamber after Christ. For thus we also pray well for the dead, saying: "May they rest in peace." The Septuagint translates: His burial shall be in peace (namely Christ's; for no one of the Jews, though Christ's enemies, by the wonderful providence of God, prevented it), it is taken away from the midst, namely through Christ's resurrection, when Christ rose alive again from the tomb. So the Fathers cited at verse 1.
See here for whom death is peace and tranquility, namely for the just, who continually meditate upon it, and why pious men await death — namely, lest they see the evils of the age, and that they may rest in peace.
Verse 3: 3. BUT YOU, DRAW NEAR HITHER, SONS OF THE SORCERESS. — From the just man who perishes, he turns his discourse to the...
3. BUT YOU, DRAW NEAR HITHER, SONS OF THE SORCERESS. — From the just man who perishes, he turns his discourse to the wicked Jews, who lived from the time of Isaiah up to Christ. "Sons" therefore "of the sorceress" are the inhabitants of Jerusalem, devoted to divinations and auguries. The Hebrew עונן onen, descending from עין ain, that is, "eye," means the same as "he observed with the eye," that is, he watched with his eyes either stars, or birds, or entrails, etc., so as to conjecture superstitiously from them things future or hidden. For the Jews were devoted to these practices, and therefore in chapter II, verse 6, he called them עוננים onenim, that is, "observers" or "watchers."
Wherefore he calls them "the seed of the adulterer and the harlot," that is, descendants and children of the idolatrous Synagogue addicted to superstitions. It is well known that superstition and idolatry are called fornication and adultery in Scripture, by which a city or a soul turns away from God, its spouse, to idols, as to adulterers. For although the Jews in the time of Christ did not worship idols, they were nevertheless children, that is, descendants, of those who worshipped idols.
Verse 4: 4. UPON WHOM HAVE YOU JESTED? UPON WHOM HAVE YOU OPENED WIDE YOUR MOUTH, AND PUT OUT YOUR TONGUE? — These words refer...
4. UPON WHOM HAVE YOU JESTED? UPON WHOM HAVE YOU OPENED WIDE YOUR MOUTH, AND PUT OUT YOUR TONGUE? — These words refer to any just man whatsoever, of whom verse 1 speaks, mocked by the Jews, but especially to Christ, as the Fathers cited at verse 1 teach, who refer these to the mockeries, jeerings, slaps, insults, blasphemies, and spittings upon Christ; for to open wide the mouth means to heap insults, indeed to vomit cartloads of abuse. Secondly and more plainly, "you opened wide your mouth and put out your tongue" signifies the insolent gesture of a rude mob, which with gaping mouth and tongue thrust out like a dog, contemptuously mocked and jeered at Christ; although the Evangelists do not expressly record this, yet it is clear from this passage that they did so. And this is easily suggested by the petulance and malice of the Jews toward Christ, from which they vomited upon Christ their spittle, their jeers, and whatever their malice suggested to them. So Sanchez.
Forerius refers these words to the Jews who worshipped idols, who, feasting at their sacrifices and heated with wine, praised the idols and reviled the true God. The same author adds, however: "We can understand these words not of God, but of the just men of whom he was just speaking, and of the holy Prophets, whom the wicked mocked and held in derision. For which of the Prophets did they not kill or persecute? as it says in the Gospel. Perhaps also at their funerals they held festivities and sang of their madness, and congratulated one another that they were free from their rebukes. The words that follow lend no small support to this interpretation."
A LYING SEED. — That is, illegitimate or degenerate, meaning: You are sons of Abraham, not true and sincere, but spurious and degenerate, because from his faith and piety you have degenerated to idols and crimes. He alludes to seeds which, either by their own fault or by fault of the soil, degenerate from their species and nature into another of lesser quality. For thus Columella writes about wheat degenerating, book II, chapter ix: "All wheat in a swampy place after the third sowing turns into winter wheat." I have seen the experience of this in my father's field among the Belgians.
Verse 5: 5. You who seek and find consolation IN GODS. — In Hebrew it is נחמים nechamim, which from the root נחם nacham means...
5. You who seek and find consolation IN GODS. — In Hebrew it is נחמים nechamim, which from the root נחם nacham means "who console yourselves"; but from the root חמם chamam it means "who grow hot," as Vatablus and Pagninus translate, meaning: You seem to be driven by furies and frenzy to worship idols, to such a degree that, forgetting even natural love, you sacrifice your little children to them. He alludes to the insane loves and passions of a harlot, of whom Jeremiah says, chapter II, 20: "On every high hill, and under every leafy tree, you lay down as a harlot."
Under the overhanging rocks. — For these, being hollowed out and dark, strike the mind with a certain suspicion of the divine, says Seneca in book V, chapter XLI, as though a deity were emerging from a cave or grotto. Whence there they would erect an altar; at the same time so that they would be sheltered there from rain and winds, and removed from noise could perform their sacred rites more tranquilly.
Verse 6: 6. IN THE PARTS OF THE TORRENT IS YOUR PORTION. — Meaning: Your "portion," that is, your lot, your riches and delights...
6. IN THE PARTS OF THE TORRENT IS YOUR PORTION. — Meaning: Your "portion," that is, your lot, your riches and delights consist in worshipping not God, who formerly was the portion of your inheritance, but idols, in the torrents, that is, in the valleys through which torrents rush down from the mountains; for torrents originate from the mountains. Whence at their source, as if there were something divine there, they would set up altars, as Seneca teaches in the passage cited. In this therefore or some similar part of the torrent they would sacrifice.
Second, not badly do Vatablus and Forerius translate: In the smooth, bare, or polished (for the Hebrew חלקי chalake also signifies this) stones of the torrent is your portion, meaning: When you see some beautiful stone, smoothed by the perpetual washing of water, or otherwise polished, placed in the torrents, you worship it, and from it you expect a portion of eternal inheritance; or you trust it as much, you love it as much, as an inheritance.
Verse 7: 7. YOUR BED, — that is, your altar. He persists in the metaphor of adultery. For thus idolatry is often called.
7. YOUR BED, — that is, your altar. He persists in the metaphor of adultery. For thus idolatry is often called.
Verse 8: 8. And behind the door, and behind the post (meaning: not only on the mountains, but also behind the door), you have...
8. And behind the door, and behind the post (meaning: not only on the mountains, but also behind the door), you have set up YOUR MEMORIAL. — That is, the idol of your god, so that as a guardian image, both entering and leaving the house you might worship it, and seek from it a happy and favorable entrance and exit, that is, that all your actions might prosper through it. For to this end the ancients placed gods in their houses, whom the Romans called Lares, and burned incense to them, namely, so that they might defend and bring good fortune to both the house and its inhabitants. Thus St. Jerome says: "There was no place that was not defiled with the filth of idolatry, to such an extent that they placed idols behind the doors of their houses, which they call household Lares: and both publicly and privately they shed the blood of their souls. By this error, and the worst custom of antiquity, the cities of many provinces suffer, and Rome itself, the mistress of the world, in its individual apartment buildings and houses venerating with candles and lamps a guardian image, which they call by this name for the protection of buildings, so that those entering and leaving their houses might always be reminded of the renowned error." See Alexander ab Alexandria, book V of Genial Days, chapter XXIV.
This was the idolatry of the Gentiles; but piously many Christians, either before their houses or in the houses themselves and workshops, place images of the Blessed Virgin and other Saints, as patrons and guardians: and in the evening, before them they light candles or lamps, both to venerate them, and to refresh their continual memory and imitation of them, and to invoke them, and to obtain a blessing both temporal and spiritual. For it is not fitting that the pious religion of the faithful should be surpassed by the impious superstition of the Gentiles, who therefore ought to display and represent to themselves and others the continual memory and presence of God and the Saints, through crosses, images, altars, etc.
FOR BESIDE ME YOU HAVE UNCOVERED (the bed), AND (in it) YOU HAVE RECEIVED AN ADULTERER, — meaning: Not only outside, but also in My house, that is, the temple, as in the same bedchamber and bed, you have admitted to My injury an adulterer, that is, an idol and a demon.
He refers to King Ahaz, who in the temple of God placed and worshipped the gods of Damascus, IV Kings chapter XVI, 10. Manasseh did the same, IV Kings chapter XXI, verse 4. Whence also Ezekiel, chapter VIII, 14, complains that the Jews had placed an image of Adonis in the temple. And Jeremiah chapter XXXII, 34: "They placed," he says, "their idols in the house in which My name was invoked."
Sanchez adds that the immolation and burning of children in Topheth is noted here, which was near Jerusalem and the temple.
YOU HAVE ENLARGED YOUR BED. — He refers to Ahaz, who erected an altar larger than usual, in the manner of the altar of Damascus, to Baal. He further rebukes them that they built as many altars as possible to idols, everywhere in groves, valleys, and torrents. "You have enlarged" therefore means "you have multiplied."
YOU LOVED THEIR BED (of the adulterers, that is, of the idols) WITH OPEN HAND, — that is, by deed, zeal, and wanton gestures, not hidden but open and public. For harlots with seductive gestures of their hands lure their lovers. Others say "with open hand" means generously giving and bestowing upon them many gifts, such as victims, ornaments, offerings, etc. Third, Forerius interprets "with open hand" as meaning with lavish works and monuments, namely by building them temples, altars, inscriptions, and other public monuments.
Verse 9: 9. You adorned yourself for the king with ointment. — The Plantin Bible has regio instead of regi, meaning the finest...
9. You adorned yourself for the king with ointment. — The Plantin Bible has regio instead of regi, meaning the finest and most excellent: but the correct reading is "for the king." For so the Hebrew and the Roman Latin have it. By "the king" St. Jerome, Rupert, Sanchez, and others understand the idol Moloch: for this in Hebrew means "king," and Isaiah here indicates and rebukes the idolatrous Jews for adorning and anointing themselves for it, so that they might worship it more magnificently, in the manner of a bride, or rather a harlot (for he alludes to her throughout). Forerius interprets it differently, understanding by "the king" the king of the Assyrians, to whom, he says, the Jews went with ointment and many perfumes, like a harlot who wishes to please her lover. Furthermore, by these things he understands balsam and other precious goods and gifts which they offered to him, in order to win his favor. What follows lends some support to this meaning: "You sent your messengers afar off."
YOU SENT YOUR MESSENGERS AFAR OFF, — meaning: Not content with the idols of your own country and your neighbors, you even sent messengers to the distant Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Egyptians, and from there you summoned lovers for yourself, that is, idols. Ezekiel treats the same matter at length, chapter XXIII.
AND YOU WERE HUMBLED EVEN TO HELL, — meaning: You who were once a worshipper of God, sublime and glorious, now as a worshipper of demons, have been cast down into a brothel and an abyss of lusts, that is, of idolatry. For the Hebrews say a woman is "humbled" when she is carnally known and violated; for this is her greatest humiliation, that is, disgrace and degradation. See what was said at Jeremiah II, 16.
So that monk, as St. John the Abbot reports in Palladius's Lausiac History, XLIV, proudly trusting in his own sanctity and merits, was tempted and overcome by a demon appearing to him in the form of a woman, and enticing him to lust. While he wished to embrace her, the phantom vanished, and the voice of demons was heard mocking him in the air and saying: "He who exalts himself shall be humbled. You indeed have been exalted to the heavens, but you have been humbled to the abyss." Wherefore the monk, despairing, returned to the world.
Verse 10: 10. IN THE MULTITUDE OF YOUR WAY YOU LABORED: YOU DID NOT SAY: I WILL REST. — He calls "way" the manner of life,...
10. IN THE MULTITUDE OF YOUR WAY YOU LABORED: YOU DID NOT SAY: I WILL REST. — He calls "way" the manner of life, customs, religion, namely the zeal for multiplying idols, as if to say: In summoning from all sides the idols of all nations, and in fabricating, erecting, adorning, and worshipping many of them, you labored and wearied yourself; nor yet do you wish to rest, but as if insane with love for them, you labor more each day in the same pursuits and weary yourself in vain. For "I will rest" Vatablus and Forerius translate: "it is hopeless," or "my spirit fails me" (for the Hebrew נואש noas signifies this), and therefore "exhausted I will rest," as our translator correctly renders it.
Note: Wonderful was the madness of the Gentiles, whom the Jews imitated, in multiplying idols and gods. Blind paganism descended to such a level of superstition that it assigned its own god to every herb, root, and thing. Thus Pomona was consecrated by them as goddess of fruits, Mellona of honey, Flora of flowers, Cardea of hinges, Hippona of horses, Bubona of cattle, Segesta of crops, Seia of seeds, Agonius of affairs to be done, Ajus of speech, Priapus of gardens, Hymenæus of weddings, Fidius of faith, Angerona of silence, Meditrina of medicines, Limentinus of boundaries, Myagrus of flies, Portunus of harbors, Eanus of travelers, Janus of doorways, Momus of blame, Consus of counsels, Vitumnus of life, Rubigus of rust, Æolus of winds, Sentinus of feeling, Vallonia of valleys, Vitula of joy, Hebe of youth, Mania of the household gods (for they placed three guardian gods at the doorway, as is evident from what has been said), Libitina of tombs, Pitho of eloquence, Carmenta of fates, Volupta of pleasure, Rumilia of nursing infants, Pecunia of money, Collina of hills, Tutilina of defense, Numeria of numbers, Edulica of food. Moreover, also to diseases and vices: thus Æsculapius was the god of the sick, Libentina of lusts, Mena of menstruation, Vacuna of the idle and leisurely.
Finally, they assigned divinity not only to virtues but also to vices and diseases, such as to modesty, concord, mind, clemency, faith; and likewise to pestilence, fever, death, old age, poverty, fear, and laughter. To what does man sink, into what abyss does he fall, when he abandons God and is abandoned by God?
YOU FOUND THE LIFE OF YOUR HAND. — First, Leo Castro says "life" means desire, and "of your hands" means of your affections (for these are, as it were, the hands of the soul), meaning: You found what you desired and wished for, namely your beloved idol. Second, meaning: You acquired "life," that is, great riches by which you live and lead a splendid life, by the "labor of your hands"; therefore you neglected God and did not ask Him. For riches puff up the rich, so that trusting in them, they neglect God. So St. Jerome and Forerius, who adds: In the word "life" there is irony. For he calls "life" what is a plague, indeed death itself, which they nevertheless regarded as life. So today many labor and sweat to attain status and riches by which to live sumptuously, and they think they are preparing life for themselves, when they are preparing a snare for their soul and often for their body. Third, and best, he calls the idols made by hand "the life of your hand"; both because from them they hoped for riches and necessities, indeed the luxuries of life; and because they were their beloved ones. For these harlots are wont to call their lovers their heart, their soul, their life. Whence follows: "therefore" you did not "ask" God. It is irony, as I have already said.
You did not ask. — Forerius translates: you did not grieve; Vatablus: you did not grow weak. For the Hebrew חלה chala means to be weak, and from this by metalepsis, to pray. For weakness teaches a man to pray.
Verse 11: 11. For whom were you anxiously afraid? — Note that these words are to be read as a question, meaning: What were you...
11. For whom were you anxiously afraid? — Note that these words are to be read as a question, meaning: What were you afraid of? Why did you fear the idols, lest you lose the necessities of life? So that you lied, that is, broke the conjugal faith and the covenant made with Me, both generally, at Exodus XXIV, and individually in the circumcision of each one. For you ought rather to have feared Me and My wrath and vengeance. For although I am still silent, yet shortly, like a woman in labor, I will speak, and publicly before the whole world I will declare your justice, that is, your injustice, by delivering you to enemies, so that all may see that you are delivered to them on account of your crimes, and through them punished by God. For it is irony and antiphrasis. So St. Jerome.
Sanchez explains it differently, meaning: "For whom were you anxiously afraid?" Which of those things, by which you inflamed divine fury against yourself, was a terror to you? Meaning: Nothing. For you sinned undaunted and shameless, breaking faith and the covenant, because you saw Me being silent and still. Therefore by My clemency you became more bold and brazen; whereas rather from it you should have been drawn and invited to love and seek Me in return.
Verse 12: 12. YOUR WORKS SHALL NOT PROFIT YOU. — "Your works," namely the feigned and hypocritical ones, with which you try to...
12. YOUR WORKS SHALL NOT PROFIT YOU. — "Your works," namely the feigned and hypocritical ones, with which you try to conceal and veil your injustice: or "works," that is, idols. So Vatablus, Forerius. Whence follows:
Verse 13: 13. WHEN YOU CRY OUT (afflicted by enemies, especially the Chaldeans, captive in Babylon), LET YOUR ASSEMBLED ONES...
13. WHEN YOU CRY OUT (afflicted by enemies, especially the Chaldeans, captive in Babylon), LET YOUR ASSEMBLED ONES DELIVER YOU. — That is, your gods, whom you gathered and worshipped, and the idolatrous nations allied to you and assembled for your aid. This is what Moses predicted to them, Deuteronomy XXXII, 37 and 38: "Where are their gods, in whom they had confidence? Let them arise and help you." It is sarcasm.
AND (that is, but, as Vatablus translates; for the Hebrew ו vav also signifies this), THE WIND SHALL CARRY THEM ALL AWAY, — meaning: Your gods and the nations, though assembled and numerous, are so light and feeble that, no differently from chaff and straw, they are to be tossed and scattered by a wind or gently blowing breeze. For God, like a wind, most easily and effortlessly will scatter them and you along with them. So Euripides says in the Troades: "The reproaches of the Argives and the praises of the Phrygians I hand over to the Winds to carry away," and Propertius:
These things I used to imagine, which now the East Wind and the South Wind Toss as vows through the fragrant Armenians.
13. BUT HE WHO HAS CONFIDENCE IN ME SHALL INHERIT THE LAND, — meaning: It will turn out far differently for those who entrusted themselves and their salvation and life to Me. For they will possess the land promised to them, and Mount Zion both earthly and heavenly. He signifies that the Jews who believe not in idols but in God, and hope in Him, will return from Babylon to Jerusalem: but under them he means the just, who hope in
God, who will possess both the Church and the land of the living in heaven. So St. Jerome, St. Cyril, St. Thomas, Haymo, Forerius, and others.
Wherefore Theodoret not inappropriately takes this land to mean Judea and the whole world through which the Church of Christ is spread; so that the faithful citizen of the Church, through it, as it were inherits and possesses the whole world; and this is what is promised here. "For the faithful man, therefore, the whole world is riches."
Verse 14: 14. AND I WILL SAY: MAKE A WAY. — In Hebrew סלו סלו sollu, sollu, that is, pave, pave, or raise, raise, that is, by...
14. AND I WILL SAY: MAKE A WAY. — In Hebrew סלו סלו sollu, sollu, that is, pave, pave, or raise, raise, that is, by heaping up earth fortify and prepare the way, as roads are fortified and prepared in marshy places. So Vatablus and Forerius.
TURN ASIDE FROM THE BYWAY, — that is, clear the byway, sweep away the dirt, stones, logs, etc. In Hebrew it is פנו דרך pannu derech, that is, give a face, that is, a flat and fair surface, to the road; or square the road, that is, level the road to a right angle and a plumb line. The meaning is: I will level and make easy and clear the way through Cyrus for the faithful Jews returning from Babylon. Much more will I say to the Apostles: Level the way for believers striving to enter the Church, and afterward through it proceeding to the Holy of Holies in heaven. So St. Gregory Nazianzen, in his oration at the arrival of 150 Bishops, and St. Jerome and Cyril, who say the same thing is said here as what he predicted in chapter XL, 3: "Prepare the way of the Lord."
Verse 15: 15. THE MOST HIGH AND SUBLIME ONE DWELLING IN ETERNITY, etc. — This is a vivid portrait and living description of the...
15. THE MOST HIGH AND SUBLIME ONE DWELLING IN ETERNITY, etc. — This is a vivid portrait and living description of the divine Majesty. For He opposes it to the vile, dumb, powerless, stone and wooden idols. Here note the wondrous amplitude and magnificence of God, by which He combines things supremely distant and extreme: namely, He joins the highest and the lowest, that is, heaven and the humble. For just as He dwells in heaven, so also in the humble. Again He joins eternity and contrition, that is, the contrite and the crushed. For just as He dwells in eternity, so also in the contrite, as in His tabernacle and temple: for God so elevates the humble and contrite even to heaven, even to eternity.
Beautifully St. Augustine says on Psalm CXII, at the words: God dwells on high and looks upon the lowly: "He so exalts the humble as not to make them proud. And so He dwells in the heights, whom He exalts, and makes them His heaven, that is, His seat; and yet not proud ones, but always submissive ones; and looking even in heaven itself He regards what is lowly, in whom, being exalted, He dwells; for the Spirit through Isaiah speaks thus (he cites this passage according to the Septuagint): Thus says the Most High dwelling in the heights, His name is eternal: the Lord Most High having rest in the holy ones. He explained what he had said: dwelling in the heights. For expressing this more fully, he says: having rest in the holy ones. But who are the holy ones, except the humble, those children who praise the Lord? And so he adds: And giving magnanimity to the fainthearted, and giving life to those who are in humility of heart. In these holy ones in whom He has rest, He gives magnanimity to the fainthearted. Giving indeed magnanimity He makes them exalted, in whom having rest He dwells on high; but because He gives magnanimity to the fainthearted, the same heights in which He dwells, He regards as lowly." And further: "God regards what is lowly in heaven and on earth; because they remember indeed what they were through their own wickedness, namely earth and earthly; what they have been made through the Lord's grace, namely heaven and heavenly.
Dwelling in eternity, — meaning: Dwelling in the incorruptible and eternal empyrean heaven. Second, "dwelling in eternity," that is, in eternity, in the eternal realm, whose measure is not the time of men, not the age of Angels, but "the eternity of the Most Holy Trinity." Third, properly "dwelling in eternity," that is, dwelling in Himself, because He is His own "eternity," dwelling in His deity, which is itself "eternity," as well as "immensity." For just as the latter measures, as it were, the extension of the deity, so the former measures its duration. Nor can it be measured by any other created place or time. Hence Deuteronomy XXXIII, 26 and 27, God is called "the rider of heaven; His dwelling is on high," in Hebrew, His dwelling is antiquity, that is, eternity. See what was said there. God therefore, from the loftiest watchtower of eternity, contemplates all times, present, past, and future, flowing and revolving below Him, while He stands fixed and unmoved.
You therefore who aspire to God, ascend from earth to heaven, from flesh to spirit, from men to Angels, from time to eternity. "For God is He whose nature is majesty, whose place is immensity, whose time is eternity, whose life is holiness, whose power is omnipotence, whose work is mercy, whose anger is justice, whose throne is sublimity, whose seat is humility." For "dwelling in eternity," that is, the Eternal One, the Syriac translates: the Giant of the ages. Here note: the Syrians everywhere in the Divine Office elegantly and expressively call God the Giant of the Ages.
For first, "giant" signifies the greatness, majesty, and immensity of God, by which He surpasses all things and towers over heaven and the whole world as a giant in an assembly of people. Second, it signifies the strength, power, and dominion of God, by which He rules over all ages as a giant over pygmies. Third, it signifies the eternity of God, which like a giant stretches through all ages, fills them, and equals them, indeed transcends and embraces them, as a giant embraces a child. Just as therefore God is called by Paul, I Timothy chapter I, verse 17, "the King of the ages"; so by the Syrian He is called the Giant of the Ages. Thus by Daniel, indeed by Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel III, 100, this praise is given to God: "His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His power is from generation to generation." And by Isaiah, chapter XLI, 4: "Calling the generations from the beginning. I am the Lord, the first and the last." And by St. John, the Alpha and Omega, Apocalypse I, 8.
The argument of the Prophet is this: So great is the sublimity, amplitude, and magnificence of God that, being most high, He regards what is lowly; being in heaven, He considers the things that are on earth; and indeed while He inhabits heaven, He also dwells with the humble and abject; again, while He is eternal and impassible, He yet has the contrite and crushed at heart and in His care, so as to heal them: therefore it befits Him not to contend forever, but to bring back, care for, and heal those who have been humbled, contrite, and broken in Babylon and captivity. You therefore who are broken by calamities, hope that the God whom you have experienced as angry, you will soon experience again as kind and merciful. For the Eternal One cares for mortal and temporal things, the Holy One for the wounds of sinners, the Most High and Sublime for the humble and abject. And in this He wishes us to imitate and cooperate with Him. So Forerius.
TO REVIVE, — that is, to refresh, raise up, restore, and thus as it were revive. For the humble and contrite, either from the affliction they suffer, or from their dejection and compunction, seem mortified and as if dead to the pleasures of this life and the things of this world. Whence God, raising, consoling, and gladdening them, revives them again. So Sanchez. To this St. Paul alludes: "He who comforts the humble, God has comforted us," II Corinthians chapter VII, 6.
Verse 16: 16. Unto the end. — Our God loves unto the end, because He reaches the end and limit of love, beyond which love cannot...
16. Unto the end. — Our God loves unto the end, because He reaches the end and limit of love, beyond which love cannot advance. This is what St. John says of Christ going to His death, chapter XIII, 1: "Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end (both of life and of love)." But He is not angry unto the end; for when angry He does not drain the depths of His wrath, so as to punish only as much as either wrath suggests or our sins deserve. Hence when God persisted longer in anger, the Psalmist prays: "Why, O Lord, are You angry unto the end?"
FOR THE SPIRIT SHALL GO FORTH FROM MY FACE, AND I WILL MAKE BREATH. — First, Hieronymus Prado explains it thus, meaning: I will pour out My fury upon the wicked with blast and spittle, as if foaming out My anger. Second, Hugo says, meaning: I will breathe out and exhale My anger: and so I will not be angry unto the end; but I will cease to be angry and bring the Jews back from Babylon. For thus the angry with frequent breathing and panting blow out and exhale their choler.
Third, the same Hugo says, meaning: The wicked, driven as by an adverse wind, have been cast upon shoals and rocks, that is, into Babylon; but I will breathe a favorable wind upon them, so that from there they may sail to the harbor of salvation in their homeland.
Fourth, and more genuinely, "the spirit and the breath," that is, I make and create souls, meaning: Therefore I love those which I have created, I have mercy on them, and if they are humbled and crushed, I forgive their offenses. Therefore I will not be angry in perpetuity against those who have from Me that they live and breathe. So Theodoret, the Chaldean, Cyril, St. Jerome and Augustine, epistle 146, Adam, Forerius, and others. He alludes to Genesis chapter II, 2: "He breathed into his face the breath of life."
Fifth, others take "breath" to mean the soul; by "spirit," the Holy Spirit, and His grace and power breathed into the soul by God. So Haymo and Tertullian, in his book On the Soul, chapter XI, and St. Augustine, book VII of On Genesis Literally, chapter XIV. Whence Symmachus, Aquila, and Theodotion translate: The Spirit who covers and surrounds all things, namely, who is the giver of life and the vivifier of all things. Hence also Plato said that God is the spirit and soul of the world, meaning: Just as I created souls, so I will give them the Holy Spirit: why then should I be angry with them unto the end? Certainly I will not be angry; but I will turn My wrath into clemency and mercy. This meaning is rather mystical than literal.
But note: For "shall go forth" the Hebrew is יעטוף iaatoph, whose root עטף ataph, when said of the soul, life, or spirit of a man, signifies that these are hidden, covered, and overwhelmed, so that they cease and are no longer seen, as happens in great afflictions, distresses, and faintings of the soul and spirit, when they fail and suffer swooning. The meaning therefore is: I am He who causes the spirits, that is, the souls and vital breath, of the humble and contrite to fail and as it were go forth: I am also He who again makes, that is, restores, refreshes, and revives them; "I am He who kills and gives life: who leads down to hell and brings back." Therefore I will not be angry unto the end: but when through captivity or a similar affliction I have humbled and crushed their souls, again having mercy on them, I will raise them up, comfort them, and make them glad. So Forerius. Whence also Leo the Hebrew translates: For the spirit before My face will fail, and the breath I have made.
Therefore less correctly (for they are forced to supply many things) Symmachus and Aquila translate it actively: My Spirit who goes forth from My face covers, envelops, occupies all things, meaning: I am He who by My Spirit gives life to all things. Also less correctly Vatablus translates and explains it thus: The spirit from My presence will clothe itself with a body, and souls I have created, that is, I create spirits and souls, which I afterward send into a body, and clothe with it as with a garment.
Note that "shall go forth" means "is wont to go forth." For the future tense in Hebrew signifies habitual action. He speaks of grave tribulation, sadness, and distresses, in which the soul seems as it were overwhelmed and departing; which God through joy and consolation as it were restores and revives, as I have said. Wherefore this verse is rightly applied to the sad and anxious: for they have a spirit that is covered, clouded, and as it were departing from its state and place. For the Prophet speaks not of the first creation, but of the recreation, consolation, and gladdening of souls, both those captive in Babylon and those captive under sin and the devil and gravely afflicted. Whence he adds: "I healed him, and led him back, and restored consolations to him, and to those who mourned for him."
Finally, the word iaatoph can very aptly be translated thus: The spirit from My face shall be covered, or wrapped, that is, it will go forth wrapped, as breath goes forth from the mouth wrapped up in cold weather. For in a similar manner God, as it were, breathes forth the spirit and soul of man, when He creates it and sends it into the body.
Whence, explaining, he adds: "And I will make breath." For this latter half-verse, in the Hebrew manner, explains the former. Our rendering "shall go forth" supports this meaning, and so do the interpreters generally, as I said in the fourth explanation.
Verse 17: 17. ON ACCOUNT OF THE INIQUITY OF HIS AVARICE I WAS ANGRY. — This is the avarice for which he blamed the Scribes in the...
17. ON ACCOUNT OF THE INIQUITY OF HIS AVARICE I WAS ANGRY. — This is the avarice for which he blamed the Scribes in the preceding chapter, verse 11, and it was the mother and origin of all vices. For, as the Apostle says, "the root of all evils is cupidity," in Greek φιλαργυρία, that is, love of money. Therefore the pronoun "his" refers to Israel, as a substantive understood from the circumstances, according to Canon XVII. Truly St. Gregory says, Morals XV, chapter XII: "Avarice is not extinguished by the things desired, but is increased."
Second, St. Jerome takes avarice to mean the insatiable lust for sinning; for the Hebrew בצע betsa signifies any kind of cupidity. And thus the Apostle took avarice for lust, Ephesians IV, 19: "Who despairing, have given themselves over to impurity, to the practice of every uncleanness, in avarice."
Mystically, spiritual avarice is when someone is stingy, sluggish, and cold in teaching, preaching, and helping neighbors, when he uses God's grace sparingly, when he communicates sparingly and grudgingly to others the gifts God has given him: God is angry at such a one, and often takes away the gifts given, and allows him to wander and follow his own lusts.
I HID MY FACE FROM YOU. — In Hebrew it is: I struck him while hiding, that is, I struck him secretly and covertly, says Forerius. For the Jews thought they were being struck by the Chaldeans; but it was God who was secretly striking sinners through them. Second, our translator more correctly understood the usual accusative implied in "I hid," namely, My face. For it follows: "And I was indignant." For those who are indignant turn their face away from the one with whom they are indignant, and thus hide it from him.
AND HE WENT AWAY WANDERING IN THE WAY OF HIS HEART. — This is a grave punishment, when someone abandoned by God is allowed to wander and follow his lusts with impunity, according to Psalm LXXX, 13: "I let them go according to (that is, in) the desires of their hearts, they shall walk in their own devices." He alludes to Cain, who after the fratricide said: "I shall be a wanderer and a fugitive on the earth," Genesis IV, 14. For "wandering" the Hebrew means turned, or returned. Whence the Septuagint translates, grieving; which St. Chrysostom in his letter to Theodore who had fallen, and others explain as penitent: as if this were the cause of what follows: "And I healed him, and led him back," meaning: The people, grieving, went captive to Babylon: whence, brought to themselves by this calamity, they repented; therefore I freed them from captivity and led them back to their homeland. So St. Thomas, Forerius, Hugo, and others. But our version requires the former meaning. For to wander in the way of one's heart is a sign of contrition, not of being led to Babylon.
Verse 18: 18. I SAW HIS WAYS, AND I HEALED HIM, — meaning: I saw him wandering and straying, and going to his ruin; therefore I...
18. I SAW HIS WAYS, AND I HEALED HIM, — meaning: I saw him wandering and straying, and going to his ruin; therefore I finally had mercy on him, and roused him through scourges and pious inspirations, so that he might recognize his error and danger, and return to Me; and so returning, I healed him. He speaks of the Jews captive in Babylon, and there repenting, whom accordingly God healed both in soul and body, and led back to their homeland. But under these he means the unfaithful and sinners, wandering through idols and vices, and finally repenting, whom God heals and leads back to the Church and their former degree of grace and glory.
AND I RESTORED CONSOLATIONS TO HIM (My wandering people just mentioned), AND TO THOSE WHO MOURNED FOR HIM. — The "and" means "that is," as if to say: I consoled the people, that is, the mourners, that is, the afflicted and penitent, in the people. He speaks of the return from Babylon, and in the antitype, from sin. For the Prophets often join the type with the antitype. So Forerius and St. Jerome. See Canon V. To this Christ alludes, Matthew V, 5: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be consoled." The Chaldean translates: I gave consolations to him and to those who mourned over them, namely to the friends and neighbors mourning the fall and afflictions of the Jews.
Verse 19: 19. I CREATED THE FRUIT OF THE LIPS, PEACE. — First, by "the fruit of the lips," Hugo and Adam understand the reward of...
19. I CREATED THE FRUIT OF THE LIPS, PEACE. — First, by "the fruit of the lips," Hugo and Adam understand the reward of prayer, which is usually uttered by the lips, so that it is a metonymy, as if to say: I gave to the Jews in Babylon and to all afflicted, mourning, and repentant sinners who invoke Me, as the fruit and reward of their prayer, peace. For nothing so calms the mind in every tribulation, and especially in contrition and repentance, and renders it peaceful, as prayer. For in Hebrew, "fruit" is ניב nib, that is, produce. Furthermore, the peace given to the Jews through Cyrus was a type of the peace, that is, freedom, rest, and abundance of spiritual goods, given through Christ. This meaning seems the most straightforward, and therefore genuine. Finally, "I created," that is, I will create. For this twofold peace was so new, so wonderful, so great and divine, that it could truly be said to have been created by God. For thus in Scripture a thing is said to be created when it is wretched, afflicted, and as if dead, and then is renewed, restored, and receives new vigor and life. Thus the Psalmist prays that God would cause plants and all things cold and as if dead in winter to grow green and come back to life in spring, saying in Psalm CIII, 30: "You shall send forth Your spirit, and they shall be created: and You shall renew the face of the earth." Thus David, spiritually dead because of the sin of adultery, now penitent, prays in Psalm L, 12: "Create in me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me." Thus in chapter LXV, 17, God says that in the resurrection He will create new heavens and a new earth. Thus at Pentecost we pray to the Holy Spirit:
Come, Creator Spirit, Visit the minds of Your own.
Second, Vatablus and Forerius take "the fruit of the lips" to mean common speech and the subject of conversation, meaning: I am about to renew the speech of this people: for he who before had war and vengeance on his lips, henceforth will speak of peace, which will befall him, so great and so pleasing that nothing will sound on his lips but peace, praise, and thanksgiving. Whence Sanchez also explains it thus: I created, that is, I will create and bring future peace to the people captive in Babylon, as well as to the human race redeemed through Christ, which will be perpetual matter for praise and thanksgiving.
Third, others say, meaning: I created peace, which is the fruit of My lips, that is, of My promise, which namely I, God, through My lips, or those of My prophets, promised to them. So St. Jerome, Haymo, and St. Thomas.
Finally, because the Hebrew שפה sapha signifies not only "lip" but also "shore" and "bank" (which are, as it were, the lip of the sea and the river); hence someone translates: I created peace like the fruit of the riverbanks, meaning: I created a peace as rich and abundant as the fruit growing on a riverbank is abundant and rich; but the wicked always make tumult and seethe like the sea, as follows.
PEACE TO HIM WHO IS FAR OFF (that is, to the Gentile, who until now was remote from faith, God, and salvation), AND TO HIM WHO IS NEAR, — that is, to the Jew, who previously had faith, God, and the hope of salvation. Thus the Apostle explains it, Ephesians II, 17. Whence it is clear that these words from verse 18 onward are to be understood more of Christ and Christians than of Cyrus and the Jews: for Christ brought this full peace to both Gentiles and Jews. He alludes, however, to the peace (and presupposes and briefly touches upon it) brought by Cyrus to the Jews, both to those who were far off, namely captive in Babylon, and to those who were near, that is, who dwelt in Judea, or in neighboring Idumea or Moab. So St. Thomas and Hugo. Historically therefore he speaks of Cyrus and the Jews, as will be evident from the entire following chapter; symbolically and principally, of Christ and the faithful. See Canon V and following.
Verse 20: 20. BUT THE WICKED ARE LIKE THE RAGING SEA, WHICH CANNOT REST. — For "raging" the Hebrew is נגרש nigras, that is,...
20. BUT THE WICKED ARE LIKE THE RAGING SEA, WHICH CANNOT REST. — For "raging" the Hebrew is נגרש nigras, that is, driven, namely tossed and agitated by winds and waves. Whence Vatablus translates: But the wicked rage like the Euripus; for the sea, when compressed into a narrow strait, as happens at the Euripus, swells into waves. Moreover, the Euripus flows and ebbs seven times a day, and therefore is in perpetual agitation and motion, by a great secret of nature which Aristotle was unable to penetrate; whence it is said of him: "The Euripus has Aristotle, not Aristotle the Euripus." The meaning is: The peace just described will be enjoyed by the Jews freed from Babylon by Cyrus, as well as by men redeemed by Christ; but only the pious, for the wicked, since they are perpetually stirred by the heat of their desires and the breath of demons, cannot rest; but like the Euripus and the fluctuating sea they are perpetually tossed about: indeed, as can be translated from the Hebrew, they cast out nothing but filth and mire.
AND ITS WAVES CAST UP MIRE AND DIRT. — He calls "trampling" things that are vile, sordid, and putrid, worthy of being trampled, such as foam, carcasses, and other things cast up by the sea, meaning: Just as the waves of the sea cast upon the shore refuse and putrid things to be trampled, and again foam, which mixed with earth makes mire; so the surging of desires from the heart of the wicked casts out and foams up putrid sins. Conversely, just as the sea, dashing against shells and gems, purges and polishes them; so the surging and agitation and persecution of the pious purifies and glorifies them. Others explain it thus, meaning: Just as the waves of the sea, reabsorbed by the earth, make mire which is trampled; so the wicked will be trampled by God and men on the day of judgment, just as the Jews are now trampled by all. So St. Jerome.
Note: The Hebrew רפש rephes signifies trampling, disturbance, mire, mud, dung, etc., from the root רפש raphas, that is, to trample, and by trampling to disturb. Vatablus translates significantly: But the wicked rage like the Euripus, which does not know how to rest, since its water is troubled with slime and mud, that is, he says: Whose waters drive mire and mud to the shores. Again Procopius says: The wicked, he says, suffer a fluctuation of the soul, avenging themselves like the sea, because the waves that it drives to the shores it continually produces, but is forced to suffer their reflux back upon itself.
Verse 21: 21. THERE IS NO PEACE FOR THE WICKED, SAYS THE LORD GOD. — This is an epiphonema. The Septuagint translates: There is...
21. THERE IS NO PEACE FOR THE WICKED, SAYS THE LORD GOD. — This is an epiphonema. The Septuagint translates: There is no joy for the wicked. Note here that the fruit of holiness is peace of mind and joy in the Holy Spirit; but the fruit of wickedness is disturbance of the soul, and consequently illicit pleasures have more gall than honey, and ultimately end in filth and punishments, both present and eternal. Thus we see that gluttony brings a thousand cares, ending in fevers, colic, and catarrh; lust in abscesses, venereal disease, and cancers; the proud are constantly tossed about by envies, hatreds, and anguish, and finally descend to reproaches and disgrace.
"What use is the silence of an entire region," says Seneca, epistle 57, "if the passions roar? All things were of night, composed in placid quiet: that is false. There is no placid quiet except what reason has composed." And Horace, book II, ode XVI:
For neither treasuries nor the consul's lictor Removes the wretched tumults Of the mind, and the cares flying around Paneled ceilings.
And further:
Neither fear nor sordid desire Removes light slumber.
More fully and completely, St. Augustine, in book XIV of The City of God, chapter VIII, shows that the joys of the wicked from their sins are
false, and full of disturbances. St. Gregory says excellently, Morals XXXIII, chapter II: "It is the sport of demons when they spin unstable and wandering souls from vice to vice." The same author says on Penitential Psalm VII: "Among the manifold tribulations of the human soul, and the innumerable troubles of afflictions, there is no greater affliction than the consciousness of sins. It remains therefore that the sinner, placed in tribulation, should have recourse to God, in whom alone there is true consolation."