Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Under the type of the Synagogue freed from Babylon, and returning to Jerusalem, he describes the redemption and salvation of the Church. Whence first, he says he will not cease from prayers, until her salvation and Savior Christ comes, through whom she herself will become a crown of glory, and a diadem of the kingdom in the hand of God. Second, in verse 4, he foretells that she will be called by the Lord with a new name, namely "My will is in her"; and that she will have full peace, and God will rejoice over her. Third, in verse 8, God swears that He will no longer hand her over to be plundered by enemies: and in verse 10, He commands that they prepare the way for all who are coming to her, and raise up a standard. Finally, verse 11: Say, He declares, to the daughter of Zion: Behold your Savior comes, and they shall call them, A holy people, the redeemed of the Lord.
Vulgate Text: Isaiah 62:1-12
1. For the sake of Zion I will not be silent, and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest, until her just one goes forth as brightness, and her savior is kindled as a lamp. 2. And the nations shall see your just one, and all kings your renowned one: and you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. 3. And you shall be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a diadem of the kingdom in the hand of your God. 4. You shall no longer be called Forsaken: and your land shall no longer be called Desolate: but you shall be called My will is in her, and your land Inhabited, because the Lord has been pleased with you: and your land shall be inhabited. 5. For a young man shall dwell with a virgin, and your sons shall dwell in you. And the bridegroom shall rejoice over the bride, and your God shall rejoice over you. 6. Upon your walls, Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen, all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who are mindful of the Lord, do not be silent, 7. and give Him no rest, until He establishes, and until He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. 8. The Lord has sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength: If I give your grain any more as food for your enemies: and if the sons of strangers shall drink your wine, for which you have labored. 9. For those who gather it shall eat it, and shall praise the Lord: and those who bring it together, shall drink it in My holy courts. 10. Pass through, pass through the gates, prepare the way for the people, make the road level, clear away the stones, and raise up a standard for the peoples. 11. Behold the Lord has made it heard in the ends of the earth, say to the daughter of Zion: Behold your Savior comes: behold His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. 12. And they shall call them, A holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. And you shall be called: The sought-after city, and not Forsaken.
Verse 1: For the sake of Zion I will not be silent. — By Zion and Jerusalem he calls the Church of Christ born in Zi...
1. For the sake of Zion I will not be silent. — By Zion and Jerusalem he calls the Church of Christ born in Zion, as I have often said, as if to say: Let no one marvel that I keep repeating, and as it were keep doubling and singing nothing else than the salvation of Zion: Behold, I openly say and profess that the salvation of Zion, as one most dearly beloved by me, is so much in my prayers, that from declaring this prayer of mine, and repeatedly bringing it before God and men, I will not cease as long as I live, until I see the just one Himself, namely Christ the justifier and savior, born and rising like the rising and shining sun; and if I do not live until then, as indeed I will not, I will not cease to cry out through these my writings, and through myself in the limbo of the Fathers. Let Christians note this, for whom the coming of Christ and salvation should be as joyful and celebrated with continual thanksgiving, as it was desirable and prayed for by Isaiah. Note: the word "brightness" signifies that all the time before Christ was nocturnal and dark, and that the coming of Christ would be as bright and joyful in the world as the rising sun after the long darkness of night.
And her savior shall be kindled as a lamp, — that is, so that Christ, like a burning and shining lamp, may illuminate the world. He says the same thing in other words. The Hebrew lappid, that is, a lamp, also signifies a torch or firebrand: and this is more fitting; for Christ was rather a torch illuminating the world, than a lamp, whose small light is confined to a small place.
Verse 2: And the nations shall see your just one. — "And," that is, "because," as if to say: I will not be silent, b...
2. And the nations shall see your just one. — "And," that is, "because," as if to say: I will not be silent, but will pray continually, that the just Messiah may come; because I am certain that He will come, and the nations will see Him. I will pray therefore that He may come quickly, and that His coming may be hastened.
And you shall be called by a new name, — as if to say: Hitherto you have been called Zion, that is, the watchtower of future happiness, under Christ; and Jerusalem, that is, the vision of future peace in the Church: but now through Christ I will give you a new and illustrious name. You ask, what is this name? They respond first, St. Jerome, Cyril, Haymo, Lyra here, Nazianzen, and St. Chrysostom, according to Leo Castrius, that it is: "The Church of Christ," or as St. Jerome and Eusebius, book 2, Demonstration chapter 49: "Christians and the assemblies of Christians;" since formerly the people of God were called Israel. Again, Procopius says: It is promised to the Church that, with its name changed, it will be a glorious crown. Since therefore we are crowned with the appellation of the Christian name, as with a crown, this crown needs to shine with gleaming pearls, and blaze like glowing garnets. Whence St. Chrysostom says: "Surely no one would be a Gentile, if we ourselves took care to be Christians as we ought; no one would be so much a wild beast as not to hasten immediately to the worship of the true religion, if what we profess by the name of Christian, we actually demonstrated by our life." Note this, O Christian, and if you do otherwise, be ashamed of your name, or rather of the dishonor of your life.
Second, St. Thomas and Cyril, in the book On the Faith to Theodosius, near the middle, think that this new name is the name "Jesus," given to Christ the Lord at His circumcision. But the subject here is the new name of the Church, not of Christ; unless you say that this too is the Church's name, so that she is named after her head and called "the Church of Jesus."
Third and genuinely, this new name is: "My (God's) will is in her." For this the Prophet expresses in verse 4.
Verse 3: And you shall be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord. — First, Forerius. It is, he says, a Hebraism: "...
3. And you shall be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord. — First, Forerius. It is, he says, a Hebraism: "in the hand of the Lord," that is, in the Lord, namely on the Lord's head: or which He Himself will place with His hand on His head; for a crown is placed on the head, not on the hand. Second, St. Jerome, Cyril, and Procopius explain it thus: "In the hand of the Lord," which the Lord will place with His hand on the head of Christ; for just as children are the crown and glory of parents, and subjects of princes: so the faithful and the Church are the crown of the triumphant Christ. In a similar sense it is said in Proverbs chapter 17: "The crown of the old is their children; and the glory of children is their parents." Hear St. Jerome: "She will be as a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, when the crowd of believers shall have crowned her; and the diadem of empire, which the Martyrs shall have adorned with the variety of their gems, will be in the hand of God, so that He may crown His Son with their victories. Whence Paul too spoke to the saints: My joy and my crown." Third, Sanchez thinks that "crown" and "diadem" can mean any ornament; whence here they are taken for rings or bracelets, on which the names or likenesses of those we love are usually engraved, so that they may always be before our eyes: so that the same thing is said here as was said in chapter 49:16: "In My hands I have inscribed you." Fourth: "You shall be a crown of glory," as if to say: God will be to you, as to His bride, like a crown, encircling and adorning your head and your whole self, and you in turn, as a bride, will be to God like a crown, adorning and beautifying Him. For to be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord is nothing other than to be a bride whom the Lord has taken by the hand and joined to Himself; for a wife is the glory of her husband, and a husband of his wife. Whence he adds in verse 5, that God will rejoice over her, as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.
And a diadem of the kingdom in the hand of your God, — as if to say: On the shield of God, which He holds in His hand, Jerusalem is depicted, as the insignia and trophies of the king, namely of God, with this inscription: "King of Jerusalem." For rightly that city is called "the diadem of the kingdom," from which the king receives his title, when he is first crowned. So St. Jerome. Prado on chapter 16 of Ezekiel, verse 14, page 190. But this crown, as well as the diadem, is of the kingdom: it is therefore royal rather than nuptial.
I say therefore, the plain and genuine meaning is this: O Zion, O Church! "you shall be a crown of glory," that is, renowned and glorious, and "a diadem of beauty," that is, beautiful and illustrious, "in the hand of God," that is, with God, or from God, because God with His own hand will make and raise you to the crown of the kingdom, that is, to a crowned, glorious, and magnificent kingdom, indeed He will make you His own kingdom, proper to Himself, so that the crown of your kingdom will be the crown of the kingdom and of the King, God. For through the Apostles and through the Church, God has occupied and possessed the whole world, as His spiritual kingdom of faith and grace. How great is the glory of those men, from whom God fashions for Himself the crown of His kingdom! The crown of the Martyrs therefore is the crown of God; the crown of the Apostles, Virgins, Doctors, etc., is the crown of God: with these God is crowned, indeed He crowns Himself. He alludes in the allegorical sense to what God said through Moses to the Hebrews, giving the law and entering into a covenant with them, Exodus 19:6: "You shall be to Me a priestly kingdom," that is, a kingdom and priesthood, or you shall be to Me kings and priests. For the same thing, and more, He says here through Isaiah of the Church and Christians, namely what St. Peter says to them, 1 Peter 2:9: "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation."
Moreover, "in the hand of God" signifies many things: first, that this kingdom belongs to the hand, that is, to the right and portion of God, that is, it is divine, not human, indeed it is the very kingdom of God; second, that this kingdom is precious and delightful to God; as a glorious and beautiful thing which He holds in His hand, and always sets before His eyes, and feeds them with it, so that He may place it on His head, if He wishes, as a royal crown; third, that this kingdom is the work of the hand of God, and the Church was raised to a kingdom not by herself, but by the mighty hand of God, and is preserved in it by Him; fourth, that this kingdom is secure, and will be perpetual; for it is in the hand, that is, in the guardianship and protection of God, say St. Thomas, Adamus, and Sanchez. Whence follows: "You shall no longer be called Forsaken;" and: "Upon your walls I have appointed watchmen, all the day and all the night they shall never be silent."
Now this kingdom of the Church is begun in this life through grace and virtues, especially heroic charity and fortitude, by which the Saints have dominion, first, over anger, gluttony, pride, and all vices and concupiscences; second, over sickness, persecutions, torments, death, and martyrdom; third, over riches, honors, and all creatures that are in the world; fourth, over Pagans, unbelievers, heretics, and all the wicked, whom they convert or confound by their teaching or the holiness of their lives. For thus the Apostles and apostolic men spread the kingdom of Christ throughout the whole world, when they subjected it to the faith of Christ. But this kingdom will be perfected in heavenly glory; for there the Church, or the assembly of the Blessed, will be a crown of glory in the hand of God, that is, God will give the Blessed the crown and glory of the heavenly kingdom and sovereignty; He will give them royal and priestly crowns. For the Hebrew tseniph, that is, diadem, signifies the turban and tiara, both of the Pontiff and of the king. This is what the Blessed in heaven say to Christ, Apocalypse chapter 5, 10: "You have made us a kingdom and priests to our God, and we shall reign upon the earth;" for we shall have dominion over the whole world, as kings; and we shall triumph, as victors; and we shall offer God the perpetual incense of praise, as priests.
This therefore is the priestly kingdom, this the diadem, this the crown of the Saints, for which we must fight bravely even to the death. Oh, if we could see these heavenly crowns, how we would resist concupiscences and sins! How we would strive for them! How many labors, how many struggles would we endure for them! The Martyrs and all the Saints continually had these before their eyes, and by contemplating them they overcame, indeed laughed at, every kind of suffering and torment.
In the Roman Martyrology on the 15th of May, there is a famous memorial of St. Stephana, or Corona, and Victor, Martyrs in Syria, under the Emperor Antoninus. For while Victor was being afflicted with various and horrible tortures by the judge Sebastianus, Corona, the wife of the same soldier, when she had begun to call him blessed for his constancy in martyrdom, saw two crowns fall from heaven, one sent to Victor and the other to herself; and when she testified this in the hearing of all, and said to the judge: "My name is Stephana, and a crown is laid up for me in heaven," Victor was beheaded; she herself, bound to the tops of two upright trees that were bent down by force, was split and torn apart when the trees were released, and so obtained the heavenly crown she had seen, being sixteen years old. Hence also the crowns of the Martyrs, named in the Martyrology, as on the 13th of January we read in it: "At Rome, on the Lavican Way, the crowns of the forty holy Soldiers, which under the Emperor Gallienus they merited to receive for the confession of the true faith."
Valerian, the bridegroom of St. Cecilia, having already been baptized and returning home, found St. Cecilia praying in her chamber, and the Angel of the Lord standing near her, shining with flaming wings, and of sparkling appearance, holding two crowns in his hands, radiant with roses and lilies. One of these he gave to St. Cecilia, the other to Valerian, saying: "Guard these crowns with an immaculate heart and a pure body; for I have brought them to you from the paradise of God." Therefore Valerian, preserving virginity with Cecilia and devoting himself to holy works, merited to obtain both the crown of virginity and the laurel of martyrdom.
So too Christ offered St. Catherine of Siena two crowns: one of thorns, the other of gems, so that if she chose the one of thorns in this life, in the next she would receive the one of gems in exchange: on which account she immediately seized the one of thorns, and pressed it firmly upon her head.
Forty soldiers under the Emperor Licinius were cast at Sebastia in Armenia by the prefect Agricolaus into a freezing pool. Soon their guard saw angels descending from heaven, distributing thirty-nine crowns to the soldiers. He wondered where the fortieth crown was; and soon he saw that one of the soldiers had fainted and leapt out of the pool: therefore he himself, taking his place, leapt into the pool, and obtained his crown. So St. Basil, homily 20.
Eusebius narrates, in book 6 of the History, chapters 4 and 5, that St. Potamiena, an illustrious virgin and martyr, when she was being led to martyrdom by the soldier Basilides, and was being defended by him from the insolence of the crowd, promised that she would obtain for him a special grace from God after her death as his reward. Therefore on the third day after her martyrdom, appearing to him by night, she placed a crown on the head of Basilides, and said that she had asked the Lord for grace for him, had obtained what she asked, and that the Lord would receive him into His glory within a short time. Therefore Basilides, professing himself a Christian and being baptized, was struck with the axe the next day and gifted with the glorious crown of martyrdom. The day of his heavenly birthday is recorded in the Martyrology on June 28.
Rightly therefore St. Agapetus the Martyr, who as a boy of fifteen years old set himself like an adamant against the fury of Aurelian, in the year of Christ 275, and with rods, sinews,
with fire, smoke, boiling water, and other most grievous torments was tortured and torn apart, when burning coals were heaped upon his head, giving thanks to God he said: "It is a small thing if the head that is to be crowned in heaven is burned on earth; how the crown of glory will adorn the wounds and blows received for Christ!" So his Life records under August 18.
Verse 4: But you shall be called My will is in her. — "You shall be called," that is, you shall be, so that you can ...
4. But you shall be called My will is in her. — "You shall be called," that is, you shall be, so that you can rightly be so called: this therefore is the new name which He promised the Church in verse 2, namely in Hebrew cheptsi ba, that is, "my will is in her"; will, that is, my good pleasure, delight, delectation, and my delights, as if to say: This is My Church, My bride, My beloved, in whom My soul is well pleased, as follows, whereas before Christianity she was called, and was, forsaken by Me. So Samson demanded from his parents the wife from Timnath: "Because, he said, she has pleased my eyes," Judges 14:3.
This is the good will of God toward men, of which the Angels sang when Christ was born: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will," to whom, namely, God has decreed to show His good will, that is, His benevolence, pious affection, and love. So St. Jerome, Cyril, Procopius, Forerius, Adamus, Vatablus, and Sanchez.
Second, Haymo and Hugo explain it thus: "You shall be called My will;" because you will always obey My will, and promptly carry it out. This meaning follows from the first. For the reason God is pleased with the Church is that she conforms herself in all things to the will of God, and prays continually: "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." And conversely, the reason the Church does the will of God is that God is pleased with her, loves her, and breathes into her abundant grace for fulfilling the law and will of God. This is what God promises the Church in the new covenant, Jeremiah 31:33: "I will put My law in their inward parts, and in their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."
And your land (shall be called, not Desolate, as it was called before Christianity, but) Inhabited — and populous with the number of the faithful, namely Christians; the Hebrew is beula, which Vatablus and Pagninus translate "married," which God has married to Himself. But it is a bride that is married, not a land. Therefore beula should properly be translated "occupied and possessed," as Aquila renders it. For baal signifies to hold and possess something, whether as a husband holds a wife, or as a master his servant, or as a lord his land, or anything else of his.
Verse 5: For a young man shall dwell with a virgin. — For "shall dwell" the Hebrew is iibal, that is, "he shall marr...
5. For a young man shall dwell with a virgin. — For "shall dwell" the Hebrew is iibal, that is, "he shall marry, lead, betroth," as if to say: Your land will be inhabited and populous, because you will enjoy full peace, in which young men are accustomed to contract marriages with virgins, who otherwise in time of war are selected and led to the camps, and think not of weddings, but of battles. Second and better, the Chaldean and Septuagint supply, in the Hebrew manner, the little word "as," from which you may translate and explain it thus, as if to say: As a young man dwells most happily with his virgin bride: so peacefully and most happily in one spirit will all the faithful live, though unlike in nature and character, in the Church. Third, Lyra and the Glossa explain it thus, as if to say: The young man Joseph shall dwell most happily and most holily with his wife the Virgin Mary, Mother of God. This sense is accommodated.
And your sons shall dwell in you (the Hebrew is iibaluch, which can be translated, "they shall marry you, or be married to you"). — This is what the Psalmist says: "Instead of your fathers, sons have been born to you, you shall make them princes over all the earth." For from the sons of the Church, the leaders and Bishops of the Church were appointed, as husbands; for Bishops marry the bride Church to themselves.
And the bridegroom shall rejoice over the bride, and your God shall rejoice over you. — That is, as from the Septuagint, the Chaldean, and St. Jerome: as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God shall rejoice over you, and married to you He shall beget from you great and most illustrious offspring, namely a great multitude and abundance of holy Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins, etc. So Castrius from St. Cyril.
Note with Forerius: God, who is most happy and of immense Majesty, places His pleasures, joys, and delights in man; for He betroths men to Himself, is pleased in them, rejoices and takes delight in them, as a bridegroom in his bride: wherefore it is unworthy if man, having abandoned God, seeks other pleasures and loves in creatures.
Verse 6: Upon your walls, Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen (both Preachers, Prophets, Pastors, and Prelates, as ...
6. Upon your walls, Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen (both Preachers, Prophets, Pastors, and Prelates, as St. Cyril, St. Thomas, and St. Jerome say, and also the holy Angels, who) all day and all night shall not be silent, — that is, they shall never cease to watch, and to warn you, that you may beware of the snares of enemies, namely of demons, and the enticements of concupiscences. St. Jerome, Hugo, and St. Bernard, sermon 4 On the Dedication of the Church, understand this of the Angels. For the Angels are the guardians of the Church and of the faithful, who protect them from dangers, teach them, admonish them, and continually arouse them to a pious life and to the praises of God.
Note: "To be silent" signifies "to rest," by catachresis; for things that are at rest are silent.
You who are mindful of the Lord. — In Hebrew mazkirim, that is, those who commemorate the Lord, or whose office it is continually to set forth God and the benefits of God, both to themselves and to the people, and to recall them to memory, namely Pastors and Prophets, whom he shortly before called watchmen. For thus formerly the kings of the Hebrews, Persians, and other nations had their mazkirim, that is, remembrancers, who would bring to the king's mind each thing done and to be done, whom our Translator is accustomed to call "those who are over the king's records." He says therefore: You, O Pastors! do not be silent, that is, do not cease from watching, from exhortation among the people, and from prayer before God.
Verse 7: And give Him no rest, — namely God; for the Hebrew lo is masculine, whence it looks to God, not Jerusalem, ...
7. And give Him no rest, — namely God; for the Hebrew lo is masculine, whence it looks to God, not Jerusalem, as if to say: Give God no rest, cry out to Him continually, continually knock at His ears with your prayers; just as I, Isaiah, continually cry out, and therefore I said in verse 1: "For the sake of Zion I will not be silent;" for God wills that violence be done to Him through prayers, and, as St. Chrysostom says: "He wills us to receive by asking, what He Himself desires to bestow." So St. Jerome. "Those who guard, he says, the walls of the Church, lest our adversary the devil, who goes about like a roaring lion, and seeks how he may enter, should seize the opportunity to devour the flock of the Lord, ought to be silent neither by day nor by night, neither in joyful times nor in sad, but always to implore the Lord's mercy;" and then: "O you who remember the Lord, and weary His mercy day and night with your prayers, take care that prayer never be silent in your mouth, give no rest to Him (that is, to the Lord), but always be insistent, in season and out of season."
Until He establishes, and until He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. — That is, until He sends the Messiah, who in Jerusalem may raise up and establish the Church, and spread it everywhere, so that it may be for praise and joy to the whole world, and may be praised and celebrated by all nations.
Here therefore Isaiah admonishes the Prophets and Pastors of the people, who will come after him, to pray continually to God, that He may quickly send the Messiah, who will restore Zion, and establish and illuminate the Church. That Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, and other Prophets did this is clear from their oracles. Whence the Doctors hold that by their prayers they merited the hastening of the coming of the Messiah, and of the incarnation of Christ, as I said at Daniel 9:23, where at the prayers and desires of Daniel, the seventy weeks are said to have been shortened, that sin might come to an end, and the Holy of Holies might be anointed, namely Christ.
Verse 8: The Lord has sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength: — that is, by His right hand and His ...
8. The Lord has sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength: — that is, by His right hand and His arm. For the Hebrew beth, that is, "by," is the word of one swearing, and signifies "by." In the right hand is noted faithfulness (for this is given by offering the right hand) and the fidelity of God: in the arm, fortitude and omnipotence. By these two things therefore the Lord swears, and promises the Church security and happiness. Whence follows:
If I give your grain any more as food to your enemies. — "If" is the word of an execratory oath, in which the imprecation must be supplied, as if to say: If I allow you to be despoiled by enemies, let me not be held faithful or omnipotent. He alludes to the peace of Jerusalem after the return from Babylon, or rather after the Midianites were routed by Gideon, Judges 7. For the Midianites plundered the crops of the Jews, Judges 6:3. So St. Jerome. But he does not intend to speak of that peace. For it is clear that this peace was neither perpetual nor long-lasting: for not long after, Jerusalem was harassed by the Philistines, Idumeans, and Syrians, and finally destroyed by the Romans. Therefore he speaks of the peace and abundance of things in the Church, and signifies it by grain and wine, as if to say: Before Christ, O Jews, O Gentiles! your labors, efforts, and works, since they were of vanity, concupiscence, and idolatry, the demons seized: but I will bring it about that Christ will free you from their power, and that you yourselves, not demons, will enjoy your goods, that is, your works and virtues, in the courts of the Church, both earthly and especially heavenly, so that whoever sows in tears will reap in joy; and those who have reaped, and having cast away the chaff have gathered the pure grain into barns, will themselves eat the labors of their hands, and extol the Lord with eternal praise, and drink wine in His holy courts, says St. Jerome. This is what Zechariah sings: "He has raised up a horn of salvation for us, in the house of David His servant, that, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we might serve Him in holiness and justice before Him, all our days," Luke 1:69.
Symbolically, in the words "grain" and "wine," the Prophet alludes to the Eucharist; for the species and symbols of this are bread and wine; for these will not cease in the Church until the Antichrist, who will suppress the sacrifice of the Eucharist, so that it may not be celebrated publicly: for he will not be able to suppress it privately. Hence it is called the Eucharist, that is, thanksgiving, and praise of God in which all nations praise God. Again, the bread and wine of the Eucharist anagogically signify the grain and wine of the Blessed; for these in heaven will be new, most delicate, and most enduring. This is what Christ says at the Last Supper: "I will not eat of it any more, until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God;" and: "I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God comes," Luke 22:16 and 18. So St. Jerome. Finally, when He says: "They shall drink in My holy courts," He alludes to the tithes and peace offerings, which the Jews offered to God in thanksgiving for their crops, and other benefits received from God. For after the offering they ate these rejoicing and praising God in the court of the temple, as is clear from Deuteronomy 14:23.
In heaven therefore we shall eat and drink new bread and new wine, especially that which we shall have pressed out here in the winepress of mortification; whence Psalm 84: "How lovely are Your tabernacles, O Lord!" is inscribed: For the winepresses, says Sanchez.
Verse 10: Pass through the gates. — He exhorts the first citizens of Zion, that is, the Apostles, that going forth qu...
10. Pass through the gates. — He exhorts the first citizens of Zion, that is, the Apostles, that going forth quickly and vigorously from Zion and Jerusalem through the gates, they may prepare the ways for the nations coming from everywhere to Zion, that is, the Church. He says to them therefore: Make the road level, make the ways easy and pleasant, so that they may invite and attract travelers to walk along them.
Clear away (that is, as the Septuagint has it, Select and cast away) the stones, — that is, remove all obstacles from the road, and whatever could strike the feet of those coming. Others translate: Pave the road with stones. For the Hebrew sakal sometimes means to remove stones, sometimes to pave with stones.
Raise up a standard for the peoples, — namely the banner of the cross, to which all the faithful, as soldiers of Christ, may flock. So St. Jerome, Cyril, Procopius, Forerius, and others.
Verse 11: Behold, the Lord has made it heard in the ends of the earth, — as if to say: Behold, the Lord will sound th...
11. Behold, the Lord has made it heard in the ends of the earth, — as if to say: Behold, the Lord will sound the trumpet of the Gospel through the Apostles, and will make it resound throughout the whole world, to summon all nations to His banner of the cross. Moreover, this trumpet blast is what follows:
Say to the daughter of Zion: Behold your Savior comes. — God commands the Apostles to proclaim throughout the whole world that He has decreed: "Say" you, O watchmen of Zion, of whom verse 6: "To the daughter of Zion: Behold your Savior comes!" so that the nations may be aroused to come to Zion, that is, the Church, since the Savior has come to her alone, as if to say: Preach everywhere, O Apostles, that it was said to Zion, that her promised Messiah has now come. Say: Behold, the Messiah is here; behold, this is He whom John the Baptist pointed out with his finger, saying: "Behold the Lamb of God; behold He who takes away the sins of the world." Hasten therefore to Him, all nations, that you may become partakers of the Messiah and of the salvation He has brought: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and we shall walk in His paths."
St. Matthew, chapter 21:5, cites this passage together with Zechariah chapter 9:9, saying: "Say to the daughter of Zion (for these words are from Isaiah, not Zechariah): Behold your king comes to you meek." Second and more aptly, Forerius refers these words to the victory and triumph of Christ. For the Prophet, foreseeing that after the Apostles had gone out from Zion, prepared the way, and preached Christ the Savior to the ends of the earth, very many would receive their message and submit themselves to Christ, exultantly adds: "Say to the daughter of Zion," that is, announce to the first Church, dwelling in Zion and Judea, so that she may congratulate herself and Christ: "Behold your Savior comes," as if to say: Behold, Christ comes, not in the flesh, but now that the nations have been conquered, as a triumphator, bringing to you, O Church, a great multitude of captives, that is, of subjects: just as when Jacob returned from Mesopotamia, he returned with a great company of flocks, children, and family, as if to say: Christ went away to a distant region, about to undertake a difficult war: behold, He now returns victorious, bringing with Him the reward and prize of His labor, namely all the nations that He brings, who are all His holy people, and redeemed by Him, who will celebrate you, O Church, with praises, so that henceforth you will be called the city sought after and desired by all nations.
Moreover, Matthew aptly cites these words in chapter 21:5: "Say to the daughter of Zion," when Christ as the triumphant Messiah entered Jerusalem: because at that time He began this victory and triumph; for certain of His future victory through death and the cross, He began to triumph before it: whence the crowd acclaiming Him with Hosanna were a type and as it were the first-fruits of the crowds from the Gentiles to be subjected to Him, whom He was to bring with triumph to the Church.
Behold His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. — First, "reward," that is, the fruit of Christ's coming and labor, which He merited for Himself by it, will not delay, but is "before Him," that is, it will hasten, and is at hand, and as it were in His hand, so that He may possess the world. For this is the reward promised to Him in Psalm 2: "Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations as Your inheritance." So Forerius.
Second, as if to say: Christ has at hand the reward and prize, which He will give to those who believe in Him and obey Him, both in this life, namely the rewards of graces; and in the future life, namely the rewards of glory. So St. Jerome, Haymo, and others.
Third, as if to say: Christ our Savior and Redeemer brings with Him the reward, that is, the ransom and price of our redemption, liberty, and salvation, namely His blood and life, which as soon as He was conceived He immediately offers to the Father: therefore He will immediately procure and accomplish the work of our redemption and salvation, so desired by Him. So Sanchez. This meaning aptly connects with what precedes; for he said: "Say to the daughter of Zion: Behold your Savior comes," as if to say: Come, Zion, hasten; receive your Savior: for your salvation and redemption is ready at hand; and with what follows, when he adds: "And they shall call them, A holy people, the redeemed of the Lord," namely through this reward and ransom of Christ.
Fourth and best, according to the latter exposition given in the preceding paragraph, the reward of Christ the warrior is the nations conquered and subjected by Him, whom He brings as it were in triumph into the Church, as I said there.
And His work before Him. — First, Vatablus, Quinta: "work," that is, the reward of work. For "His work before Him" means the same as "His reward is with Him." Second, H. Pintus says: The work of Christ and of God is mercy: therefore He always has this before His eyes and in His hand. Third, others understand by "work" the retribution of works, both good and evil: for Christ has this in His eyes and in His hand, so that on the day of judgment He may render to each, with just balance, a reward or punishment, according to their works. Fourth, Adamus and Sanchez say: The work of Christ is our redemption; this is always with Him: because He always looks to this, He is wholly intent on this, He procures this with all His strength and energy; for this is the proper and adequate work of the Redeemer. See chapter 40, verse 10. Fifth and best, the work of Christ is the nations won and subjected by war, as I said above.
This meaning connects best with the following chapter, which is otherwise difficult to connect with this chapter.
Verse 12: And they shall call them, A holy people. — "Them," namely the peoples, flocking to the standard, as precede...
12. And they shall call them, A holy people. — "Them," namely the peoples, flocking to the standard, as preceded, that is, to the banner of the cross of Christ, into Jerusalem, that is, the Church, and enlisting under Christ's standard: who are the reward and work of Christ, as if to say: All nations, seeing the piety and holiness of the Christians, will say: These are a holy people, these are the redeemed of the Lord, these are "the seed whom the Lord has blessed," as he said in the preceding chapter, verse 9, and therefore aspiring to their holy life, they will seek their fellowship, and will desire to be enrolled in the Church: and consequently the Church will be called, that is, will be, and can rightly be called: "The sought-after city, and not Forsaken." Thus Rome, the head of the Church, is the sought-after city, to which many from all nations flock for the sake of piety and religion. He alludes to Psalm 107, verse 2: "Let those who have been redeemed by the Lord now say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered from the regions."