Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The Prophet sees and describes the appearance of Christ the conqueror, triumphing over the nations He has subdued. When Christ is asked why His garment is red, He responds: I have trampled the enemies in My fury, and their blood has been sprinkled upon My garments. Secondly, in verse 7, the Prophet says that he will continually remember the mercies of the Lord, which He formerly bestowed upon Israel, that is, upon His faithful people, through Moses and others; then he laments that this same people has now been forsaken by God on account of their sins: Where, he says, is He who brought them up out of the sea? Whence thirdly, in verse 15, he asks that God resume this zeal and compassion for His people: For You, he says, are our Father, and Abraham did not know us, and Israel was ignorant of us. Have mercy therefore on Your children, that is, on Your people, afflicted and oppressed by enemies.
Vulgate Text: Isaiah 63:1-9
1. Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosra? this one, beautiful in his robe, striding in the greatness of his strength. I, who speak justice, and am a champion to save. 2. Why then is your garment red, and your clothes like those of one treading in the winepress? 3. I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the nations there was no man with me: I trod them in my fury, and trampled them in my wrath: and their blood was sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment. 4. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, the year of my redemption has come. 5. I looked about, and there was no helper: I sought, and there was none to assist: and my own arm brought me salvation, and my indignation itself aided me. 6. And I trod down peoples in my fury, and made them drunk with my indignation, and brought their strength down to the ground. 7. I will remember the mercies of the Lord, the praise of the Lord for all that the Lord has rendered to us, and for the multitude of good things to the house of Israel, which He has bestowed upon them according to His kindness, and according to the multitude of His mercies. 8. And He said: Surely they are my people, children who will not deny: and He became their Savior. 9. In all their tribulation He was not troubled, and the Angel of His presence saved them: in His love
Verse 1: WHO IS THIS WHO COMES FROM EDOM? The question is: who speaks and asks here? I respond that literally either...
1. WHO IS THIS WHO COMES FROM EDOM? The question is: who speaks and asks here? I respond that literally either Isaiah speaks, as Sanchez holds; or rather Zion and Jerusalem, that is, the citizens of the primitive Church. For these words depend on the preceding chapter, verse 11, where Christ, returning victorious with an immense multitude of nations subdued to His faith through the Apostles, commands it to be said to Zion: "Say," He declares, "to Zion: Behold your Savior comes, behold His reward is with Him, and His work before Him." Now therefore the Prophet brings Christ on stage, as it were, approaching the city of Zion with His multitude of nations and triumphing. The citizens of Zion, therefore, come forth to watch the triumph of their Christ, and seeing such great glory and such a multitude of nations, they ask in wonder: "Who is this who comes from Edom?" Who is that triumphant one who draws the Idumeans and all the nations after Him to Zion, captive yet willing and voluntary? Not because they do not recognize Christ, but because they marvel at His glory, especially in the calling and faith of the Gentiles. For even the Apostles were ignorant of this mystery, thinking that only the Jews were to be called to the Church, just as only they had been called by Moses to the Synagogue, until Peter, instructed by a heavenly vision in Acts 10, understood that the Gentiles too were to be sharers in Christ's Church and salvation. So says Forerius.
Allegorically, or rather anagogically, the Fathers commonly understand this passage of the triumph of Christ ascending into heaven, so that here there is, as it were, a dialogue of the Angels asking, and of Christ answering, why He ascends thus triumphantly, having conquered Satan, death, idolatry, and sin. So say St. Jerome, Cyril, Haymo, and St. Dionysius in chapter 7 of the Celestial Hierarchy; Justin in Against Trypho; St. Augustine in Sermon 5 On the Ascension; Ambrose in his book On the Institution of Virgins, chapter 5; Origen in Homily 14 on Matthew. Indeed, St. Dionysius thinks this is the voice and question of the lower Angels, desiring to be instructed by the higher Angels about so marvelous a triumph and ascension of Christ.
Here may be referred the exposition of St. Athanasius, in his book On the Saving Advent of Christ, who thinks these words belong to the devil, conquered and put to shame by Christ, as if he, astonished at such great glory of Christ, indignantly asks and says: "Who is this who comes from Edom?" that is, from the land and the dregs of wretched and sinful men, advancing and ascending with such power and might? Therefore, the interpretation of some, such as Hugo, who take these words literally as referring to the slaughter of the Idumeans and Moabites fighting against the Jews, and to God's vengeance, seems cold and Judaizing.
FROM EDOM. By Edom and Bosra, which was a city in Edom (and another of the same name in Moab), are signified all the nations alienated from the people of God, indeed His enemies. For just as the Idumeans and Moabites were perpetual enemies of the Jews, that is, of the people of God, so the Gentile nations were enemies of God, of Christ, and of Christians. See Canon 22. He alludes to the etymology of Edom and Bosra: for Edom in Hebrew means "red," and Bosra means "fortress," "tribulation," or "vintage." The nations were indeed fortified; and they were red and bloody both with the blood of Christians and with their own blood, when they were slain and subdued by Christ, of whom verse 3 speaks.
Hence the Fathers, by Edom and Bosra, understand the world, and especially unbelieving Judea, from which Christ ascended victorious into heaven. For this land was bloody with the blood of Christ, the Prophets, and the Martyrs. So say St. Jerome, St. Thomas, Lyranus, Vatablus, Adamus, and others.
The citizens of Zion, therefore, and mystically the Angels, seeing Christ, as the mightiest warrior, having wrought such great slaughter of the enemy and stained His garments with their blood, and as it were defiled them, ask in wonder and joy who that one is, who, like a soldier fighting most fiercely, stained with the blood of the enemies,
and in His kindness He Himself redeemed them, and carried them, and lifted them up all the days of old. 10. But they themselves provoked Him to wrath, and afflicted the spirit of His Holy One: and He turned against them as an enemy, and He Himself fought against them. 11. And He remembered the days of old, of Moses and of His people: Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is He who placed in their midst the spirit of His Holy One? 12. He who led Moses by the right hand with the arm of His majesty, who divided the waters before them, to make for Himself an everlasting name: 13. He who led them through the depths, like a horse in the desert that does not stumble. 14. Like an animal going down into the plain, the Spirit of the Lord was their guide: so You led Your people, to make for Yourself a glorious name. 15. Look down from heaven, and behold from Your holy and glorious dwelling: where is Your zeal and Your strength, the multitude of Your tender mercies and Your compassions? They have restrained themselves toward me. 16. For You are our Father, and Abraham did not know us, and Israel was ignorant of us: You, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer; from of old is Your name. 17. Why have You made us stray, O Lord, from Your ways? You have hardened our heart so that we do not fear You. Return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your inheritance. 18. They possessed Your holy people as though it were nothing: our enemies have trampled upon Your sanctuary. 19. We have become as we were in the beginning, when You did not rule over us, and Your name was not invoked upon us.
1. WHO IS THIS WHO COMES FROM EDOM? The question is: who speaks and asks here? I respond that literally either Isaiah speaks, as Sanchez holds; or rather Zion and Jerusalem, that is, the citizens of the primitive Church.
rather than with His own, yet beautiful and striding in the greatness of His strength, ascends into Zion and into heaven; as if they were saying, in St. Jerome's words: "Whence did You stain with blood Your snow-white and virginal flesh, O Christ, O immaculate Lamb! Whence did You redden it with blood? For clemency befits You more than cruelty, radiance more than gore."
Hence the ancient writers teach that the same thing is said here by Isaiah as is said by the Psalmist in Psalm 23:9: "Lift up your gates, O princes." Explaining this, St. Augustine in Sermon 178 On the Seasons, which is the fifth On the Ascension of the Lord, says: "For He was ascending, suffused with the redness of gore, crowned with victorious trophies. All the inhabitants of heaven beheld Christ, beautified by His wounds, the spoils carried back from the tyrant's camp; and marveling at the gleaming banners of divine power, they resound with such hymns, and escort Him with joy: Who, they say, is this King of glory? And they reply: The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory."
But who is this? Hear Augustine continuing: "This is He who is white and ruddy, pierced by the multitude. This is He who had no beauty nor comeliness. Weak in the snare, mighty in the spoil; lowly in His little body, armed in battle; foul in death, beautiful in the resurrection; white from the Virgin, ruddy on the cross; dark in reproach, radiant in heaven."
WITH DYED GARMENTS (in Hebrew, reddened garments, namely from the blood of enemies; the Septuagint has erythema himation, that is, having redness of garments; St. Jerome translates, tawny garments) FROM BOSRA. They ask the same thing in other words. For coming from Edom is the same as coming from Bosra: for Bosra was the capital of Idumea, and it was set on a rock, and therefore fortified; hence it was called Bosra from its fortification. It also signifies a vintage; and the Prophet alludes to this here, as if to say: You come from Bosra, that is, from the vintage and the winepress; for You have garments dyed with red must, that is, with blood. From Bosra, by metathesis, was derived Byrsa, the fortified citadel of Carthage; for the Carthaginians were descended from the Tyrians and Phoenicians, and hence retained their language, namely Syriac or Hebrew, in many respects. For Byrsa the Romans said Burgus, whence were named the Burgundians, because they dwelt in burgi, that is, in citadels and places fortified against enemy attacks.
THIS ONE, BEAUTIFUL IN HIS ROBE (in Hebrew, hadur, that is, glorious in his garment, namely in a military cloak, or rather a royal paludament), STRIDING IN THE GREATNESS OF HIS STRENGTH. That is, advancing with an imperial, powerful, mighty, and magnificent stride, and by his very gait, bearing, appearance, and gesture displaying great strength, mighty spirit, and heroic courage. Just as Agesilaus, king of Sparta, seeing Epaminondas, the general of the Thebans, advancing nobly with his battle line, exclaimed: "What a magnificent man!" as Plutarch says in his Life of Epaminondas.
I, WHO SPEAK JUSTICE, AND AM A CHAMPION TO SAVE. This is the voice of Christ, who, when asked who He is, responds: I am Christ, who speak justice, and am the champion of My faithful ones. They ask therefore: Who is this one returning from battle, who displays such majesty, such courage? Christ answers: I am the Messiah, who have obtained the justice and salvation that I promised by fighting and conquering.
Now first, Forerius and Sanchez take "justice" to mean truth and faithfulness, as if to say: I am He who faithfully delivers what I say and promise, namely that I am the champion and savior of the wretched. For I promised this through Isaiah, chapter 19, verse 20, saying: "They shall cry out to the Lord because of the oppressor, and He shall send them a savior and a champion, who shall deliver them," and so often elsewhere.
Secondly, others take "justice" to mean justification, as if to say: I am He who speaks and teaches the way in which men can be purified from sins, justified, and saved.
Thirdly and genuinely, "justice" is here taken properly, and is set against mercy and salvation. For Sacred Scripture frequently conjoins these two things, namely mercy and judgment, and attributes them to God and to kings. For it is the role of kings, first, to uphold justice and protect the just, and to punish the wicked who trouble and disturb them; secondly, to be merciful and compassionate, and to aid the wretched and afflicted. Christ here professes Himself to be such, as if to say: I am He who pronounces a just sentence on behalf of the human race, afflicted and oppressed by the tyrant devil, and by sins and death, and I carry it out by overthrowing the devil from this tyranny of his, and powerfully freeing men from it. Therefore I am their champion for salvation. So say Adamus, Forerius, and others. That "justice" is here taken for a just sentence and vengeance is clear from verse 3, where He says He has trampled the enemies in His wrath and fury. And from Apocalypse 19:11, where, alluding to this passage, Christ is called "Faithful and True," who "judges and makes war with justice." The same is clear from the preceding question. For they had asked: Who is this who comes from Edom, a hostile land, beautiful, striding in the greatness of His strength? To this He fittingly responds that He is the just avenger of enemies, and the mighty champion and savior of His people. Hence St. Dionysius, in the passage cited, thinks that Christ here announced the manner and reason of His incarnation to the Angels of the highest order, and that they in turn announced the same to the lower Angels.
CHAMPION. In Hebrew, rab, that is, great, hence mighty, namely a prince and champion for saving.
Verse 2: WHY THEN IS YOUR GARMENT RED? The citizens of Zion had asked two things: first, Who are You? second, Why do...
2. WHY THEN IS YOUR GARMENT RED? The citizens of Zion had asked two things: first, Who are You? second, Why do You have dyed and bloodstained garments? To the first Christ responded that He is the king of justice and the champion of the people. To the second He did not respond, in order to give occasion for them to ask again and press further, and for Him to respond more fully. They therefore press the question and say: If You are just and a savior, why then do You have garments reddened and dyed with blood? For a savior is more fittingly
clothed in white, as befits a mark of innocence and mercy, as well as of glory, than in a red and bloodstained garment.
From this passage, Frederick Nausea, in his Catechism, chapter 36, holds that Christ ascended into heaven in a red and purple garment (such as that of the Pope and Cardinals). St. John favors this in Apocalypse chapter 19, verse 13: "He was clothed," he says, "in a garment sprinkled with blood," namely so that by His garment He might represent the illustrious and bloody victory won by His blood. Others, on the contrary, hold that Christ ascended in a white robe. For this color and garment befits the Blessed: hence in the transfiguration of Christ His garments became white as snow. And the Blessed were seen by John clothed in white robes, Apocalypse 7:5, and in shining white linen, Apocalypse 19:14. But since Christ hid the splendor of His glory before the Apostles, so that He might deal with them familiarly, converse, be seen, and be touched, I would believe that He appeared to them in ordinary clothing, similar to what He was accustomed to wear in life, so that He might be seen to be the same one who had risen, and not another; and that He ascended in the same garment, yet in such a way that, as He ascended, He transfused the rays of His glory into it, making it radiant with a brightness partly white, partly purple. For the endowment of brightness will be purple in Martyrs (whose head was Christ), white in virgins, and green in doctors, says Dominicus Soto in book IV, distinction 49, at the end.
AND YOUR GARMENTS LIKE THOSE OF ONE TREADING IN THE WINEPRESS? As if they say: Why are Your garments red, as if You had trodden grapes in a winepress in Bosra, and had sprinkled and dyed them with their juice?
Verse 3: I HAVE TRODDEN THE WINEPRESS ALONE. The Septuagint translates: I am full of the trampled, that is, of the r...
3. I HAVE TRODDEN THE WINEPRESS ALONE. The Septuagint translates: I am full of the trampled, that is, of the red liquid pressed out by the treading of the winepress. Christ responds, as if to say: You have rightly said that I am in such a state as if I had trodden and pressed the winepress; for I pressed and trampled in it, not grapes, but all my enemies most powerfully; I, I say, alone. What wonder then if all my garments, from such great and prolonged an outpouring of blood, have been sprinkled with it? The sense is, as if to say: I alone won this difficult and bloody victory for myself; I alone trampled the enemies; for there was no man, that is, no one, helping me and fighting alongside me against the enemies. So say St. Jerome and Chrysostom on Psalm 44. And this is clear from what follows.
Note: "Winepress" in Scripture proverbially signifies vehement oppression, slaughter, and destruction; for those who undergo it are like grapes that are pressed in the winepress. Thus in Lamentations 1:15 it is said: "The Lord has trodden the winepress for the virgin daughter of Zion," that is, He pressed and afflicted Jerusalem with a grievous punishment. See the comments on that passage.
AND THEIR BLOOD WAS SPRINKLED UPON MY GARMENTS. Note the poetic catachresis: for the Prophet does not here speak properly and directly of the blood that Christ shed in the winepress of the cross, with which He bloodied His own body; but of the blood of Christ's enemies, namely the devil and his allies, that is, the idolatrous and impious nations. For he treats of Christ's victory -- not that the devil truly has blood that Christ would have shed, or that He pierced or killed the nations -- but because in human victories much blood is usually shed. He alludes to this, especially because the carnal Jews, for whom Isaiah writes these things, were expecting, and still expect, such a Messiah -- one who, like David, would be powerful and warlike, and would establish and extend his kingdom with much blood of his enemies.
It is therefore a catachresis; for, as St. Jerome says, by the shedding and sprinkling of blood on garments, nothing else is signified than a complete victory, and the signs of a complete victory, by which He becomes King of kings and Lord of lords. For St. John alludes to this in Apocalypse 19:13, saying: "And He was clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood; and His name is called the Word of God. And on His thigh He had written: King of kings, and Lord of lords." Note: For "their blood was sprinkled," the Hebrew has "their excellence was sprinkled," nitscham, that is, their excellence, meaning their blood, as the Septuagint, Vatablus, and others translate: for in the blood consists life, and consequently the excellence of man.
Hence secondly, Tertullian, in book 4 Against Marcion, chapter 40; Cyril and Rupert here; St. Cyprian, book 2, epistle 3; Origen, tractate 9 on John; St. Augustine, Homily 178 On the Seasons, understand the winepress as the Passion of Christ, in which His blood was sprinkled upon His garment, that is, upon His flesh -- as if the same thing were said here as is said of Christ in Genesis 49:11: "He shall wash His robe in wine, and His cloak in the blood of the grape." This sense is not direct but indirect, and thus can rightly be applied to this passage, as if to say: The Passion was a winepress for Christ, in which His blood was pressed out; and so it was a winepress in which the demons were pressed and trampled by Christ. For Christ by His blood won the victory, and shed the blood of His enemies, and by His death slew His enemies; therefore the scars of His wounds, as trophies, Christ the triumphant one carried into heaven, and will preserve them forever. So says Procopius. Hence St. Gregory, in Homily 13 on Ezekiel, explains thus: "He trod the winepress alone; because He alone trod the winepress in which He was trodden, because by His own power He overcame the Passion which He endured, and rose from death with glory." And this is what St. John means when he says in Apocalypse 19: "And He was clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood." For this garment of Christ is His humanity, bloodied by the Jews, which He brought into heaven; where it remains ruddy even now, with the scars of His wounds still visible, as if to say: Christ ascending carried with Him the marks and memory of His blood and of that of His own, wickedly shed by the wicked, whose vengeance He now seeks, and by which He sharpens and inflames Himself for vengeance, as if to say: Those who bloodied me shall pay the penalty for the blood they shed; I shall be stained with the gore of those by whom I was wounded; I shall make myself drenched with the blood of the enemies who harmed me.
Verse 4: FOR THE DAY OF VENGEANCE (which I conceived, determined, and designated) WAS IN MY HEART. Supply by zeugma:...
4. FOR THE DAY OF VENGEANCE (which I conceived, determined, and designated) WAS IN MY HEART. Supply by zeugma: "has come." For the day or year of vengeance against the enemies is the same as the day or year of "redemption" (for so it should be read with the Roman, Hebrew, and Septuagint texts, not "retribution") of the citizens, namely the year and day on which Christ redeemed us by His death. See Canon 16. This is what Christ says in John 12:31: "Now is the judgment of the world; now the prince of this world shall be cast out;" and Hosea 13:14: "I will be your death, O death! I will be your sting, O hell."
Verse 5: I SOUGHT. In Hebrew, estomem, that is, I was astonished, namely at such great force of enemies, says Vatabl...
5. I SOUGHT. In Hebrew, estomem, that is, I was astonished, namely at such great force of enemies, says Vatablus, and at so difficult a war, which had to be waged by me through such a bitter passion and death. Hence, as the Septuagint translates, I considered and looked about to see whether anyone would bring me help. Forerius translates: I devoted myself.
MY OWN ARM SAVED ME (that is, saved me, or was my salvation and victory in this war of vengeance). This is a Hebraism. For the Hebrews construct the verb iascha, that is, "saved," with the dative lamed.
AND MY INDIGNATION ITSELF AIDED ME. These are the two arms of God, with which He conquers all things, namely His arm, that is, His power; and His indignation, that is, His zeal, which sharpens and spurs His power to exert itself in action, namely in war and victory. See the commentary on chapter 59, verse 16, where he described the panoply of God.
Verse 6: I TRAMPLED DOWN PEOPLES -- not by slaying and destroying them, but by converting and subduing them, that is...
6. I TRAMPLED DOWN PEOPLES -- not by slaying and destroying them, but by converting and subduing them, that is, by slaying their vices, while saving the people themselves. For Christ's greater victory was to bring impious nations to the faith of Christ, to destroy the power of demons and sins, to mortify concupiscence, to implant virtues, and to cause them, having abandoned their gods and renounced the allurements of the flesh, to follow Christ commanding hard things -- such as humility, abstinence, continence, patience, and mortification -- than if He had led an army and slaughtered them all. So says Forerius. See the comments on Ezekiel 20:36, and Canon 46.
Secondly, St. Cyril, Procopius, and Rupert understand these words of Christ's enemies, namely the Jews, whom Christ trampled through Titus and the Romans, and others whom He either trampled and crushed in this life, or will trample and crush on the day of judgment. See Canon 10. And this seems to be how St. John explains it in Apocalypse 19:13. In this sense, Christ is fittingly said to have sprinkled His garment with blood, because He sprinkled the garments of His generals, namely Titus and the Romans, with the same blood.
I MADE THEM DRUNK WITH MY INDIGNATION -- that is, with my punishment, which my indignation poured out and inflicted upon them. It is metonymy: for the cause is put for the effect, and indignation for punishment.
Verse 7: I WILL REMEMBER THE MERCIES OF THE LORD -- as if to say: I will commemorate the benefits mercifully bestowe...
7. I WILL REMEMBER THE MERCIES OF THE LORD -- as if to say: I will commemorate the benefits mercifully bestowed of old by God upon the wretched Jewish people. This verse is the title and introduction to the following prayer and canticle. Up to this point the Prophet has set forth the triumph of Christ and the nations subdued by Him, as it were for viewing on a stage. Now, foreseeing in the Spirit that most of the Jews, when Christ comes, will not receive Him, and will therefore be excluded from the grace and salvation of Christ, he pours forth a prayer to God that lasts to the end of the following chapter. In this prayer he first recounts the mercies and benefits formerly bestowed by God upon the Jews, namely that God chose them from among all nations as His people and Church; that He led them out of Egypt through Moses, and brought them into the land of Canaan through Joshua, etc.
He then introduces the Jews lamenting that they have suffered the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Roman captivities, and other calamities, and therefore they long for the coming of the Messiah. Thirdly, he narrates that the long-desired Messiah has come; but he laments that the Jews were no better off because of it, indeed worse. Finally, as if God had rejected the Jews, he concludes his prayer with a great sense of sorrow, saying: "Zion is deserted; it has been given over to the burning of fire, etc. (Will You restrain Yourself over these things, O Lord? Will You keep silent and afflict us exceedingly?)" To which the Lord responds in chapter 65. This is the outline of the Prophet's entire prayer, which sheds a wonderful light upon it, and without which it is difficult to connect and explain it. So says Forerius.
Verse 8: AND HE SAID: SURELY (indeed, certainly) THEY ARE MY PEOPLE, CHILDREN WHO WILL NOT DENY -- supply: they were...
8. AND HE SAID: SURELY (indeed, certainly) THEY ARE MY PEOPLE, CHILDREN WHO WILL NOT DENY -- supply: they were to be. In Hebrew: children who will not lie, or will not break the faith given to Me, Exodus 24:8. God speaks in a human manner; for He foreknew what the Jews would actually do; but in the manner of men, He prudently judges from the present about the future, although something different was to happen, incidentally, because of the wickedness of the Jews. For He prudently hopes and judges that the Jews will follow the faith and customs of their fathers, and will keep the faith which they solemnly gave to God at Sinai -- even though they would later violate it of their own will. Hence, from this hope of His, "He became their savior," saving them and leading them out of the tyranny of Pharaoh and the Egyptians through Moses, and guiding them safe and unharmed through the desert.
Verse 9: IN ALL THEIR TRIBULATION HE WAS NOT TROUBLED -- He was not constrained or reduced to straits, God; but He a...
9. IN ALL THEIR TRIBULATION HE WAS NOT TROUBLED -- He was not constrained or reduced to straits, God; but He abandoned them for a time, so as to compel them to return to Himself and to call upon Him, and then immediately He freed them easily and with a light hand, when He sent "the Angel of His presence," that is, the Angel constantly present before Him and attending Him. For this Angel was Michael, who is either the first or one of the first Angels, and therefore one of the seven chief Angels who are said to stand before the Lord and His throne, Apocalypse 4:5, and Tobit 12:13. Again, he is called the Angel of the presence, because he represented the face and presence of God, and as a vicar in God's place was present with the Hebrews, and was, as it were, the face of God, so that as a leader he might go before their camp at God's command, and show them where they should move or pitch their camp. For this Angel, going before the camp of the Hebrews in the pillar of cloud, was their guide all the way to Canaan. Hence God says to Moses about this Angel, in Exodus 33:14: "My face shall go before you."
of the people, as I said in verse 7, especially shortly before and during the times of Christ, hardened and rejected by God. Isaiah therefore prays tearfully for this people, that God may look upon them with the eyes of His grace, and display His former zeal and strength toward them, and make them partakers of the grace and salvation of Christ. So say St. Jerome and Cyril.
THE MULTITUDE OF YOUR TENDER MERCIES -- that is, as he explains by adding, "of Your compassions." For the bowels are the symbol, as well as the seat, of compassion.
THEY HAVE RESTRAINED THEMSELVES TOWARD ME -- as if to say: Your customary compassions, zeal, and power have held themselves back, so as not to bring me aid as they usually do.
Verse 16: FOR YOU ARE OUR FATHER, AND ABRAHAM DID NOT KNOW US, AND ISRAEL WAS IGNORANT OF US. Note that here Abraham ...
16. FOR YOU ARE OUR FATHER, AND ABRAHAM DID NOT KNOW US, AND ISRAEL WAS IGNORANT OF US. Note that here Abraham and Israel, the fathers of the Jews, are compared with God, and it is asserted of them that in comparison with God, and relative to Him, they have contributed little or nothing to the Jews: both because whatever they had or gave, they received from God, who is their Father; and because they were parents of bodies, not of souls, while God is the parent of both, indeed of all, says Procopius; especially because they had long since died, while God always lives. God therefore it was who chose this people, formed them, and led them through the Red Sea and the desert, under the leadership of Moses and Joshua, into Canaan, as was shown above. Abraham had not done this, nor had Israel. Hence the Chaldean translates: You are our shepherd: because Abraham did not lead us out of Egypt, and Israel did not work wonders for us in the desert: You are, O Lord, our God. The Syriac and Arabic: You are our father: we do not know Abraham, and we do not know Israel; You, O Lord, are our father, and our redeemer. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Abraham and Jacob
St. Jerome notes that there is a double reading here, namely that some manuscripts read lo with aleph, meaning "not," as our text reads and translates, in the sense that I have given; but others read lo with vav, meaning "to him," and then the opposite sense must be translated, namely: in all their tribulation, to Him, that is to God, there was tribulation; that is, He grieved and had compassion, as if to say: When the Hebrews were afflicted, God Himself, tenderly loving them, appeared likewise to be afflicted; hence He anxiously sought ways to relieve their affliction. So say Vatablus and the Hebrews generally, St. Thomas, and Hugo. This sense is pious and fitting. For thus in Judges 10:16, and elsewhere, God is said to grieve over the miseries of His people. For as Zechariah says, chapter 2, verse 8: "He who touches you touches the apple of My eye."
Thirdly, the Chaldean actively translates: In all their tribulation He did not afflict them, that is, He did not allow them to be afflicted for long; but He quickly snatched them from it, as when He allowed Pharaoh to pursue and press them at the Red Sea, He soon drowned him in it and saved the people. He did the same for them when they suffered want of water, when Amalek, Og, Sehon, etc. attacked them. This is what St. Paul says, 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 8, and chapter 1, verse 5: "We suffer tribulation, but we are not crushed;" because "as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also through Christ our consolation abounds." Let the afflicted take note of this, and when they are placed in straits, let them not lose heart, but call upon God, and they will soon feel His consolation and aid.
Finally, the Septuagint, reading for tsar (that is, troubled) with a different vocalization tsir (that is, ambassador), and repeating through a Hebraism the negation that preceded, translate: Not an ambassador, nor an Angel, but the Lord Himself saved them, because He loved them and spared them; He Himself redeemed them. In the same way, Sanchez explains our version, as if to say: He was not troubled, nor did the Angel of His presence save them, but God Himself out of His love. For Moses, not content with an Angel as guide, asked that God Himself go before the camp and lead them into Canaan, and God promised He would do so, Exodus 33:17. The Fathers explain this allegorically of Christ, as if to say: Only Christ God was able to redeem us from sin and death, and in fact did redeem us -- not a man, not an Angel. So say St. Athanasius, Cyprian, Ambrose, Augustine, Epiphanius, Cyril, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Irenaeus, and the Popes Hyginus and Pelagius, as cited by Leo Castrius.
Verse 10: BUT THEY THEMSELVES, ETC., AFFLICTED THE SPIRIT OF HIS HOLY ONE. Some take "spirit" to mean the Holy Spirit...
10. BUT THEY THEMSELVES, ETC., AFFLICTED THE SPIRIT OF HIS HOLY ONE. Some take "spirit" to mean the Holy Spirit. He is called "the Spirit of His Holy One," that is, of Christ, because He proceeds from Him, and was sent by Christ upon the Apostles. Hence St. Athanasius, in his book On the Human Nature Assumed, Against Apollinaris, and Nicetas in his commentary on Gregory Nazianzen's Oration on Pentecost, prove from this that the Holy Spirit is God.
Secondly, more simply and better, "the spirit of His Holy One" was the spirit and soul of Moses. For he alludes to Psalm 105:16: "And they provoked Moses in the camp, Aaron the holy one of the Lord," and verse 32: "And Moses was troubled because of them, for they embittered his spirit." So also say Thomas, Adamus, Lyranus, and Sanchez. St. Clement, in book 5 of the Apostolic Constitutions, chapter 15, reads: "They provoked the Holy Spirit, and He turned against them in enmity;" and he explains this of the Jews who refused to believe in Christ: "For they were struck with blindness," he says, "because of their evil disposition; who, though they saw Jesus, did not believe that He was the Christ, the Word of God, whom on account of their unbelief they did not recognize either from His deeds or from the prophecies written about Him."
AND HE HIMSELF (God, provoked by the sins and murmurings of the Hebrews) FOUGHT AGAINST THEM -- subjecting them to servitude, now of the Philistines, now of the Midianites, now of the Moabites, now of the Syrians.
Verse 11: AND HE REMEMBERED (namely God, fighting against and afflicting the sinful Jews. For when He saw them afflic...
11. AND HE REMEMBERED (namely God, fighting against and afflicting the sinful Jews. For when He saw them afflicted and repentant) HE REMEMBERED THE DAYS OF OLD, OF MOSES AND HIS PEOPLE -- how faithful and grateful Moses had been to Him, and how much He had loved the Hebrew people, and had made them the people of God. And so, on account of the grace and merits of Moses, and out of love for His people, formerly chosen and beloved by Him, He had mercy on them, and sent them saviors -- now Gideon, now Jephthah, now Samson, and other judges.
Others, such as Forerius, refer these words to the Jewish people, as if to say: The people, seeing themselves in captivity or otherwise afflicted, remembered the days of Moses, and said: Where is that ancient providence and munificence of God toward Moses and our fathers?
WHERE IS HE? Isaiah here assumes the character of the afflicted people, and from that character bursts forth into a passionate prayer, that God may deliver them and send the savior Christ, so desired through so many prayers and ages, as if to say: O Lord! You have so often had mercy on Your people, now giving them Moses, now Joshua, now other protectors and liberators. You see that this same people is now grievously afflicted; why do You not have mercy on them? Where is Your former piety toward Your people? Where is Your love for Israel? Where is the strength of Your arm? You seem to have forgotten us, to despise and reject us. Break open the heavens, therefore, and come down, and deliver and save them. This is what he said in chapter 62, verse 1: "For Zion's sake I will not be silent, until the Just One goes forth," etc. So also say Cyril and others. He says therefore: "Where is the God who brought them (the Hebrews) out of the" Red "Sea with the shepherds of His flock?" namely with Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and the other leaders and rulers of His people. Where is He who placed in their midst, that is in the midst of His "flock," meaning His people, "the spirit of His Holy One," the spirit of Moses? For God, sending Moses to Pharaoh to break him and compel him to release the people -- inasmuch as he was to govern so great and so stubborn a people -- endowed him with a great and manifold spirit: a spirit of fortitude and constancy, by which He made him a god to Pharaoh; a spirit of prudence, patience, and meekness, by which he bore the murmurings and behavior of the people to an astonishing degree, and, accommodating himself to them, met and aided them. This spirit of Moses
God communicated to the seventy elders, who, relieving Moses of his burden, governed the people under him and with him, Numbers chapter 11, verse 25. Sanchez adds that by "the Spirit of His Holy One" can be understood the spirit of Christ, namely the spirit of love, obedience, meekness, counsel, and endurance, which God communicated to Moses so that, after the pattern of Christ -- indeed as a type of Christ -- he might govern the people, without which this would have been impossible for him. Hence Moses, looking toward Christ, says in Deuteronomy 18:15: "A prophet from your nation... like me, the Lord your God will raise up for you: you shall listen to Him."
Those therefore who wish to rule the people rightly should seek and imbibe with Moses the spirit of Christ, so that they may say with St. Paul: "We are the good fragrance of Christ." Forerius takes a different view, understanding by "spirit" the wind that God sent into the Red Sea, already divided, to dry it up for the passage of the Hebrews; or the Angel who was in the midst of Israel.
Verse 12: HE WHO LED MOSES BY THE RIGHT HAND WITH THE ARM OF HIS MAJESTY -- as if to say: He who, grasping the right ...
12. HE WHO LED MOSES BY THE RIGHT HAND WITH THE ARM OF HIS MAJESTY -- as if to say: He who, grasping the right hand of Moses with His divine arm, led him with the people out of Egypt. So say the Septuagint, Vatablus, Forerius, and others. He names the right hand, both because the right hand is the symbol of good fortune as well as of strength -- these two things Moses received from God, and with them overcame Pharaoh and led out the people -- and because Moses carried in his right hand the rod of God, through which God inflicted the plagues upon Egypt, divided the sea, and performed other miracles. God therefore, that is, the power and presence of God, was at the right hand of Moses, helping, strengthening, and directing it to accomplish such magnificent works.
HE WHO DIVIDED THE WATERS -- of the Red Sea.
Verse 13: HE WHO LED THEM THROUGH THE DEPTHS (through the chasms of the Red Sea), LIKE A HORSE IN THE DESERT THAT DOE...
13. HE WHO LED THEM THROUGH THE DEPTHS (through the chasms of the Red Sea), LIKE A HORSE IN THE DESERT THAT DOES NOT STUMBLE.
that is to say: Just as a horse in the desert, being on level and firm ground, does not usually stumble or slip, so the Hebrews, even the weak ones, children, and women, on the bottom of the Red Sea -- which had been dried out and made level by the wind sent by God -- did not get stuck in the salt water, did not stumble, and did not fall in the mud. So says Vatablus.
Verse 14: LIKE AN ANIMAL GOING DOWN INTO THE PLAIN (Forerius and Vatablus translate: through a valley) (that is to sa...
14. LIKE AN ANIMAL GOING DOWN INTO THE PLAIN (Forerius and Vatablus translate: through a valley) (that is to say: Just as a beast of burden goes down through a valley gently and easily, whereas in climbing a mountain it labors and pants), SO THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD WAS THEIR GUIDE (that is, so the Spirit of the Lord gently and easily led them through the Red Sea. Hence, turning to God in an apostrophe born of joy, he adds): SO YOU LED YOUR PEOPLE -- supply: as a horse in the desert, or an animal that walks gently in the plain, as I said.
TO MAKE FOR YOURSELF A GLORIOUS NAME -- glorious throughout all nations and all ages. Moreover, by "the Spirit of the Lord," St. Jerome understands an Angel. But it can be taken simply as God Himself, animating and strengthening them by His Spirit in this crossing.
Verse 15: LOOK DOWN FROM HEAVEN. This is Isaiah's prayer on behalf of
15. LOOK DOWN FROM HEAVEN. This is Isaiah's prayer on behalf of
had long since died and had no care for us (indeed they do not even know us), but only for their own children who were alive at the time; for they saw and knew them alone. But You, O God, are our Father, who have known us from all eternity, and have had care and providence for us, by which You marvelously freed us from Egypt, Babylon, and other calamities. In You therefore we place all our hopes; we implore You, not Abraham. We are Your children, not Abraham's -- not as though we deny Abraham as our father, but because we prefer You, and because Abraham is nothing compared to You, and without You he can bring us no help. So say St. Cyril, Theodoret, Forerius, and others.
Abraham is therefore said not to know, that is, not to care for, his descendants, as if he did not know them and did not recognize them. First, because the care and help of Abraham was small, and virtually nothing, if compared with the care and help of God.
Secondly, because even if he prayed for his descendants in Limbo, he nevertheless had no such care or direction over them as parents, while they live and are present, are accustomed to have for their children; for the Jews here speak of that kind of care and providence. And God had that kind of care for them, so that, as it were taking them by the hand, He led Moses and the people, as I said in verse 12.
Thirdly, because their captivity and afflictions, of both soul and body, exceeded the power of Abraham and Jacob, and could be removed and healed by God alone. Hence what follows: "You are our Redeemer."
Note the Hebraism. For the Hebrews are accustomed to signify the preeminence of one thing over another by negating the lesser one, as when Christ says in Matthew 23:9: "Call no man your father on earth: for one is your Father, who is in heaven." For He does not forbid us from calling our parents fathers, since this is dictated and required by the law of nature; but He commands that God the Father be preferred to all, as if to say: Do not call anyone father on earth in such a way that you think him the chief author of life, the provider of inheritance and sustenance, so as to depend entirely or more on him than on God, as do the Gentiles and atheists, and others who trust in men rather than in God, because such a father is God alone. Likewise in Matthew 9:13, He says: "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice," that is, I prefer mercy to sacrifice. For it is certain that God also wills sacrifice; He merely prefers mercy to it. In the same way, the Jews here do not deny that Abraham is their father, but they prefer God in fatherhood and fatherly care to him.
Fourthly, St. Jerome explains differently. Abraham, he says, does not know us, that is, he rejects and spurns us, because we have offended You and are Your enemies. For Abraham, since he is a friend of God, hates us who are enemies of God.
Fifthly, Adamus says fittingly: Abraham and Jacob, he says, do not know us and our affairs, because they are in the dark Limbo of the Fathers, where they need the light and help of God just as much as we do. We do not therefore invoke them, who are ignorant of our affairs and troubles, and have enough to do to take care of themselves and procure their own liberation from that place below; but You, O Lord, who alone can help and deliver both Abraham and us. For this reason we do not read in the Old Testament that the living invoked the Patriarchs or the Saints dwelling in Limbo.
It is different in the New Testament, where the Saints triumph in heaven with Christ, and through God's revelation hear and know our prayers, and love and thirst for us and our salvation. The heretics therefore wrongly twist this passage against the Fathers in support of denying the invocation of the Saints. For even if the souls of the fathers in Limbo prayed for their descendants, they nevertheless could not hear the prayers and afflictions of their own; therefore their descendants would have implored their help in vain; they had to have recourse to God and invoke Him. Again, even if the fathers could benefit their descendants before God through their prayers and merits, they could do so only as captives, only insofar as God willed and granted it. This entire matter therefore depended on God and God's will; therefore the descendants had to flee to God. It is different with the Blessed, who already enjoy God in heaven.
the Jews; and God had such care for them, that He took them by the hand, as it were, and led Moses and the people, as I said in verse 12.
You will say: St. Augustine, in his book On the Care for the Dead, chapter 13, proves from this passage of Isaiah that the Saints in heaven do not know our affairs. I respond: St. Augustine understands this, as well as this passage of Isaiah, as referring to the natural power of reason, or the natural mode of knowing -- namely that the souls of the Blessed, by their own powers of natural light and by the acuity of their intellect, do not naturally recognize our affairs. For with respect to nature and natural powers, they are on a par with the souls that were formerly in Limbo. He merely wishes to teach that these souls do not naturally and ordinarily take part in our affairs so as to see them directly, care for them, and direct them, as they used to do while they were alive. That this is what he means is clear from the three following chapters, where he confirms this statement of his from the fact that he himself did not receive consolation from his mother who had already died, nor was he visited in his sorrows -- since it was not probable that she, having entered a happier life, had become more cruel. Again, from the fact that the Lord promised Josiah (4 Kings 22) that he would die before he saw the evils of his nation. Finally, from chapter 16, where he explicitly teaches that the Saints know our affairs not by their own power but by God's power, and help and promote them.
Moreover, that this passage of Isaiah does not support the cause of the enemies of the Saints, Calvin himself candidly admits, although he is one of those enemies. Hear him: "Nor, however, can it be inferred from this passage that the Saints who have died have no care for us. We do not speak about the matter itself, but we say that by these words it is not proved that Abraham and the other faithful no longer have any care for human affairs." Let Marloratus take note of this, who twists this passage against the invocation of the Saints.
FROM OF OLD IS YOUR NAME -- as if to say: This name, that You are our Father and our Redeemer, was not given to You by a recent age, but by eternity before all memory of the ages; namely, Your eternal predefinition and predestination concerning our redemption.
Verse 17: WHY HAVE YOU MADE US STRAY? That is, why have You permitted it, or why have You set before us the occasion ...
17. WHY HAVE YOU MADE US STRAY? That is, why have You permitted it, or why have You set before us the occasion of error because of our sins? See Canon 27. It is a preemptive argument: as if to say, If You deny us Your help and mercy because of our sins, why, I ask, have You permitted and do You permit us to fall into sins, and to persist and become hardened in them?
Forerius truly observes here that ingratitude is almost always the cause why God permits us to fall into mortal sin; for ingratitude, even though only venial, disposes a man toward the loss of divine grace. See here how carefully we ought to avoid venial sins, cooperate with God's grace, and be grateful to Him. Moreover, God is said to have made the Jews stray from His ways because He did not lead them away from their wandering paths; and to have hardened their hearts so that they did not fear God, because He did not soften them with fear of Himself, says Sanchez. See the commentary on Exodus 7:3.
RETURN (as if to say: Turn Your face, which has been averted from us because of our sins, back toward us, and look upon us with a benign countenance, and help us) FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR SERVANTS, THE (twelve) TRIBES (of Israel), OF YOUR INHERITANCE -- which are Your inheritance. As if to say: Remember the twelve Patriarchs, as well as the tribes of Israel, who are Your servants, that is, Your faithful ones, and Your Church and inheritance. Or, as Vatablus says, as if to say: Return to us for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc., Your servants, who are our fathers, and for the sake of the twelve tribes, which are Your inheritance. For the Jews, when praying, were accustomed to plead before God not their own merits, but those of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Verse 18: THEY POSSESSED YOUR HOLY PEOPLE AS NOTHING (as if to say: Our enemies, especially Herod and the Romans, pos...
18. THEY POSSESSED YOUR HOLY PEOPLE AS NOTHING (as if to say: Our enemies, especially Herod and the Romans, possessed and treated us as if we were a thing of nothing, refuse, dregs, and the scum of the world; hence they also trampled YOUR SANCTUARY -- that is, they profaned your holy temple. He speaks especially of the time when, the scepter having departed from Judah, Herod the Idumean invaded and occupied the kingdom of Judea through the Romans. For the Prophet, just as he began his prayer from the first election of Israel, so he also ends it with the
desolation and final destruction, which took place around the time of Christ. For the Romans polluted the temple when Pompey with his men entered the Holy of Holies, and when those who followed placed the statue of Caesar and the Roman eagle in it.
Verse 19: WE HAVE BECOME AS IN THE BEGINNING, WHEN YOU DID NOT RULE OVER US (as if to say: We are now forsaken by You...
19. WE HAVE BECOME AS IN THE BEGINNING, WHEN YOU DID NOT RULE OVER US (as if to say: We are now forsaken by You as strangers, as we once were in Egypt, before You admitted us into Your law, Your dominion, and Your Church): NOR WAS YOUR NAME INVOKED UPON US -- when we were not yet called, nor were the people of God, as our lord and master. For this phrase signifies lordly dominion. They speak of being forsaken both in guilt and in punishment. See what it means to be forsaken by God and to live without God: namely, such a person is given over to every guilt, and consequently to every punishment, just as the Jews were given over in the time of Christ.