Isaiah 1
Commentary from 33 fathers
Hear, O heaven, and hearken, O earth: for the Lord has spoken, [saying], I have begotten and reared up children, but they have rebelled against me.
῎Ακουε οὐρανὲ καὶ ἐνωτίζου γῆ, ὅτι Κύριος ἐλάλησεν· υἱοὺς ἐγέννησα καὶ ὕψωσα, αὐτοὶ δέ με ἠθέτησαν.
Слы́ши, нб҃о, и҆ внꙋшѝ, землѐ, ꙗ҆́кѡ гдⷭ҇ь возгл҃а: сы́ны роди́хъ и҆ возвы́сихъ, ті́и же ѿверго́шасѧ менє̀.
Our Lord frequently proclaimed God as a Father to us. He even gave us an instruction “that we call no one on earth father, but the Father whom we have in the heavens.” So, in praying [“Our Father”] we are likewise obeying the precept. Those who recognize their Father are blessed! This is the reproach that is brought against Israel, to which the Spirit attests heaven and earth, saying, “I have begotten children, and they have not recognized me.”
On Prayer 2
All that exists was created by God, and there is nothing uncreated except the nature of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God, who is good by nature, wishing to have those whom he might benefit and who might enjoy the benefits received from him, made creatures worthy of himself, that is, who could receive him worthily.
On First Principles 44:8
The one who is [begotten] from another by nature is a true child, just as Isaac was to Abraham, and Joseph was to Jacob, and as the radiance is to the sun. But those who are called children only from virtue and grace are called so not by nature but because of what they have received by grace. They still are not of the same nature as the one who gave them [the gift]. They are the ones who received the Spirit by participation, about whom it is said, “I produced and exalted children, but they rebelled against me.” Of course, they were never really children by nature, and because of this and the fact that they reverted [to their former ways], the Spirit was taken away and they were disinherited. But when they again repent, God will receive them again and give them light. He will again call them children who at the beginning had been given grace.
Discourses Against the Arians 1.11.37
And if they had examined with their understanding the things which were written, they would not have carefully fulfilled the prophecies which were against themselves, so as not to make their city now desolate, grace taken from them, and they themselves without the law, being no longer called children but strangers.
Festal Letter 10
When Moses was going to bring Israel to the Promised Land, he had in full view all that they would do, that they were going to disregard those things he transmitted to them. “Listen, O heaven,” he says, “and attend, O earth, to the words out of my mouth.” I give you as witnesses to heaven and earth, says Moses, that when you enter the Promised Land and you abandon the Lord God, you will be scattered abroad to all nations. Isaiah came, and the threat was going to be realized. You could not invite the deceased Moses and all those who had formerly heard and had died; so Isaiah calls to mind instead the elements that Moses brought forth as witnesses.
Homily on Repentance and Almsgiving 8:3
(Version 2.) Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth: for the Lord has spoken. Above, it is shown by the title, who the prophet is, whose son, what is against Judah and Jerusalem, or concerning Judah and Jerusalem, and at what time he saw. Now he calls to hear the heavens and the earth. In heaven, representing the heavenly and angelic powers; on earth, the mortal race, metaphorically signifying both those which contain and those which are contained. Whether it be because, through Moses, the Lord had summoned the witnesses of heaven and earth, giving his law to the people of Israel, and had said: 'Listen, heaven, and I will speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth' (Deuteronomy 31:1): after the transgression of the people, he summons them again as witnesses, so that all the elements may know that God, justly provoked to anger by the violation of his commandments, punishes. In Hebrew, 'heaven' is called 'Samaim', in the plural form. Especially when it says 'listen', that is, 'Semu', which is pronounced in the plural form, not the singular. But some want to be called heavens in the plural, but understood in the singular, according to that which we call individual cities, Thebes and Athens. And there is the Hebrew language, in which all words ending in Im are masculine and plural, like Cherubim and Seraphim. And words ending in Oth are feminine and plural, like Sabaoth. And it should be noted that heavens is used, hear, earth, perceive with your ears; for those things that are exalted have a greater understanding, while those that are more humble are wrapped in earthly senses. And the Savior in the Gospel says: He who has ears to hear, let him hear (Matt. XI, 15). Therefore, if anyone is heavenly and has citizenship in the heavens, let him hear mystically what is being said. If anyone is earthly, let him follow the simple history. Also, it should be noted that he did not say: Hear, heaven, and perceive with your ears, earth, what the Lord has spoken to you; but what he has spoken to me, so that I may recount to you what I have heard in the spirit, since you do not deserve to hear him speaking. Some (Origenists) think that the heavens and the earth are, as it were, animated beings capable of hearing, according to what is said elsewhere about the earth: Who looks on the earth, and makes it tremble (Ps. CIII, 32): whereas this is the power of God, not of earthly intelligence.
I have begotten and exalted sons: but they have despised me. For which Symmachus and Theodotion rendered it thus: I have nourished and exalted sons (Exod. IV, 22). From this place the Prophet relates what the Lord has spoken, that he has turned the people of Israel, whom he had established as servants by a common law, into sons, and has said: My firstborn son is Israel. Finally, the Lord in the Gospel promises the Apostles that if they do his will, he will no longer call them servants, but friends (John XV, 15). But if Israel becomes proud, let him understand that he is called the firstborn, because it signifies that he is followed by second sons from the nations. For he is not called the only begotten who excludes other brothers, but the firstborn, to show that others will follow: and yet according to the mysteries of the Scriptures, it is not the firstborn who receive the inheritance, but the second. Cain was the firstborn, but Abel's offerings pleased God. The firstborn was Ishmael, but Isaac received the inheritance. The firstborn was Esau, but he was cheated out of the father's blessing by Jacob the supplanter. The firstborn was Reuben, but nevertheless the blessing of the seed of Christ was transferred to Judah. Therefore, according to the order of their calling, they were the first, and were called the head: we who were second were called the tail, but now we have been turned into the head, and are called the sons of God. For as many as received him, he gave them power to become the sons of God (John 1:12). We have not received the spirit of bondage in fear, but the spirit of adoption, in which we cry out: Abba, Father (Rom. VIII, 15): because perfect love casts out fear (I John IV, 18). But it is better to read according to the Hebrew, 'I have nourished sons', than 'I have begotten', lest it seem contrary to that saying which we read in the Epistle of John: Whoever is born of God does not sin (I John III, 9). Therefore, if these are born from God, how could they have sinned: since everyone who is born from God cannot sin?
Commentary on Isaiah
26. Hear, O you heavens, and give ear, O earth. Here begins the treatise of this book; hence will be accepted a division according to the necessities of the matter. However, it was said above that his intention principally concerns the coming of Christ and the calling of the gentiles; but it is evident that all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth (Ps 24[25]:10). Thus, when Christ was born, it was said by Simeon, behold this child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel (Luke 2:34), and, when the gentiles were entering, it was said by the Apostle, blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in (Rom 11:25). Therefore this book is divided in two parts:
in the first is set out the threat of divine justice for the overthrow of sinners;
in the second, the consolation of divine mercy for the resurrection of the just, where it says: be comforted (ch. 40).
27. The first of these is divided into three parts. For, while he principally speaks concerning Judah and Jerusalem,
in the first part, he threatens the two sinning tribes,
in the second, the others who persecute them: and it came to pass in the days of Achaz (ch. 7);
in the third, he frees them from the enemies who threaten them: behold a king shall reign in justice (ch. 32).
The first of these is divided into two parts:
in the first, he reproaches their fault and threatens corrective punishment;
in the second, he threatens punishment of condemnation to the incorrigible: in the year that king Ozias died (ch. 6).
The first of these is divided into two parts:
in the first, he denounces their fault on the part of what it turns away from;
in the second, on the part of what it turns toward: the word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw (ch. 2).
The first of these is divided into two parts:
in the first, he denounces in them the fault of turning away from the worship of God;
in the second, the fault of turning away from justice for one's neighbor, where it says, how is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a harlot? (Isa 1:21).
The first of these is divided into three parts:
in the first, he reproves the fault;
in the second, he threatens punishment for the fault, where he says, your land is desolate (Isa 1:7);
in the third, he seeks the remedy of the punishment, where he says, hear the word of the Lord (Isa 1:10).
The first of these is divided into three parts:
in the first, he seeks a witness of the judgment;
in the second, he argues the deformity of the sin, where he says, I have brought up children (Isa 1:2);
in the third, he shows the incorrigibility of the sinners, where he says, for what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? (Isa 1:5).
28. He asks creation to be witness to the judgment of the sin, which was also witness to the obligation of the precept: hear, O you heavens, the things I speak (Deut 32:1). For creation was witness of the obligation to the precept (Deut 32); now, however, it is invoked as judge of the transgression: he shall call heaven from above, and the earth, to judge his people (Ps 49[50]:4); but sometimes it is called as an instrument of divine vengeance: creation serving its Creator, will blaze in punishment against the unjust (Wis 16:24).
29. But it seems unsuitable that earth and heaven, which are insensible creatures, should be called to hear.
But it should be said that an insensible creature is called to things which are proper to a rational nature,
to show divine power: I set my bounds around it (Job 38:10); and: he calls those things that are not, as those that are (Rom 4:17);
for evidence of a fact: I will do this thing in the sight of all Israel, and in the sight of the sun (2 Sam 12:12); and: I say to you that if these remain silent, the stones will cry out (Luke 19:40);
to exaggerate malice: be astonished, O you heavens, at this, and you gates thereof, be very desolate (Jer 2:12);
to magnify joy: let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad (Ps 95[96]:11);
to confound sadness: therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwells in it shall languish (Hos 4:3), as if to say: your sin is so plain that it is convicted by irrational things, if such a thing could be; and similarly with the others.
Or it is a metonymy, so that heaven is placed for the angels, and earth for men.
30. Heavens, plural for the singular; or because there are literally many heavens and one center which is earth. The Lord has spoken: you should hear him speaking, who made you by speaking: he spoke, and they were made: he commanded, and they were created (Ps 148:5). Hear, O you heavens, as though they were distant; give ear, O earth, as though it were near.
31. I have brought up children. Here he shows the deformity of their sin. And concerning this, he does three things:
first, he shows the contempt in their affections;
second, he shows the ignorance in their intellect, where he says, the ox knows his owner (Isa 1:3);
third, he shows the distraction in the effect of the deed, where he says, woe to the sinful nation (Isa 1:4).
And this order is followed so that their ignorance is made weightier by their contempt, not so that their ignorance excuse their contempt. He adds to the weight of their contempt by the benefit rendered them.
Hence, concerning the first, he does two things:
first, he brings to mind the benefit;
second, the vice of their ingratitude, where he says, but they have despised me.
He sets out, however, a threefold benefit:
first is the benefit of filial adoption, where he says, sons: Israel is my son, my firstborn (Exod 4:22);
second, the benefit of solicitous education, where it says, I have brought up [enutrivi]: you didst feed [nutrivisti] your people with the food of angels (Wis 16:20);
third, the benefit of their singular exaltation, where it says, and exalted them: showing by the thirst that was then, how you didst exalt thine, and didst kill their adversaries (Wis 11:9).
First, as to the assumption and election of their fathers;
second, in the liberation of their children;
third, in the subjugation of their enemies.
But they have despised me. (Here he places the fault of ingratitude.) As a woman that despises her lover, so has the house of Israel despised me (Jer 3:20).
39. I have brought up children (Isa 1:2). Here three things are to be noted: the benefit of their upbringing, the privilege of their exaltation, and the contempt of their ingratitude. Indeed, he brought them up in the time of the law, when the heir was still a little child (Gal 4:1):
first, refreshing them with promises in the patriarchs: to Abraham were the promises made (Gal 3:16);
second, governing them with judgments in the lawgivers: he has not done in like manner to every nation, and his judgments he has not made manifest to them (Ps 147:20);
third, defending them with helps in the judges and kings: their God will defend them, and we shall be a reproach to the whole earth (Jdt 5:25);
fourth, he taught them with admonitions in the prophets: the Lord has been witness between you, and the wife of your youth (Mal 2:14);
fifth, he corrected them with scourges in their enemies: for it is a token of great goodness, when sinners are not suffered to go on in their ways for a long time, but are presently punished (2 Macc 6:13).
40. But he exalted them in the time of grace:
first, according to the assumption of flesh: for nowhere doth he take hold of the angels: but of the seed of Abraham he takes hold (Heb 2:16);
second, through personal preaching: I was not sent but to the sheep, that are lost of the house of Israel (Matt 15:24);
third, through his own conduct: many good works I have showed you from my Father. For which of those works (John 10:32);
fourth, through the working of miracles: a great prophet is risen up among us: and, God has visited his people (Luke 7:16, John 5);
fifth, through the preaching of his disciples: instead of your fathers, sons are born to you: you shall make them princes over all the earth (Ps 44:17[45:16]).
41. But, on the contrary, they despise the descent of Christ: is not this the son of Joseph? (Luke 4:22);
they reject his teaching: beginning from Galilee to this place, we have found this man perverting our nation (Matt 26:59–68, Luke 23:2, 5);
they blaspheme his life: why doth your master eat with publicans and sinners? (Matt 9:11);
they pervert his miracles: by the prince of devils he casts out devils (Mark 3:22);
they kill his disciples: behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves (Matt 10:16).
Commentary on Isaiah
The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel does not know me, and the people has not regarded me.
ἔγνω βοῦς τὸν κτησάμενον καὶ ὄνος τὴν φάτνην τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ· ᾿Ισραὴλ δέ με οὐκ ἔγνω καὶ ὁ λαός με οὐ συνῆκεν.
Позна̀ во́лъ стѧжа́вшаго и҆̀, и҆ ѻ҆се́лъ ꙗ҆́сли господи́на своегѡ̀: і҆и҃ль же менє̀ не позна̀, и҆ лю́дїе моѝ не разꙋмѣ́ша.
For how shall we not regard it fearful, if one who knows God shall not recognize the Lord? While the ox and the donkey, stupid and foolish animals, will know one who feeds them, Israel is found to be more irrational than these? And having, by Jeremiah, complained against the people on many grounds, God adds, “They have forsaken me, says the Lord.”
The Instructor Book 1
That manger was the one the prophet meant when he said, “The ox knows his owner and the donkey his master’s manger.” The ox is a clean animal, and the donkey an unclean one.… The people of Israel did not know the manger of their Lord, but the unclean Gentiles did.… We should strive to recognize the Lord and to be worthy of knowing him. We should strive to appropriate not only his birth and fleshly resurrection but also his anticipated second coming in majesty.
Homilies on the Gospel of Luke 13:7
If the love of children for their parents is a natural endowment and if this love is noticeable in the behavior even of brute beasts, as well as in the affection of human beings in early infancy for their mothers, let us not appear to be less rational than infants or more savage than wild beasts by alienating ourselves from him who made us by being unloving toward him.… This gratitude is characteristic not only of humans, but it is also felt by almost all animals, so that they attach themselves to those who have conferred some good upon them.
The Long Rules 2
If even among the barbarians harmony is maintained through subjection to a single leader, what should we think of the disharmony among us and our failure to be subject to the Lord’s commands? We should realize that our good God gives us examples to teach us and lead us to conversion. On the great and awesome day of judgment he will use them as a demonstration of the shame and condemnation of those who have not heeded his instruction. He has already said, and he continues to say, “The ox knows his owner and the donkey his master’s manger; but Israel has not known me, and my people have not understood.”
Preface on the Judgment of God 7
Isaiah calls to you to know your owner, like the ox, and to know the manger of your Lord, like the donkey.
On the Birth of Christ, Oration 38:17
What is more evident than that it is said of the passion of the Lord: “The ox knows his owner and the donkey his master’s crib.” Let us, then, know the Lord’s crib where we are nourished, fed and refreshed.
Letter 36.6
[The righteous person] does not say, “My portion consists of herds of oxen, donkeys or sheep,” except, perhaps, he counts himself among those herds which know their owner and wishes to consort with that donkey which does not shun the crib of Christ … [For this person] that sheep is his portion which was led to the slaughter and the “Lamb which was dumb before his shearer and did not open his mouth.” In [Christ’s] humiliation, judgment has been exalted.
Letter 59.93
Before the cross not even the Jews knew him … while after the cross the whole world flocked to him.
Homilies on the Gospel of John 80
His mother laid him in a manger. Joseph did not dare to touch him, for he knew he had not been begotten of him. In awe, he rejoiced at a son, but he did not dare to touch the Son.… Why in a manger? That the prophecy of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled.
Homily 88 (on the Nativity)
Like other Hebrews, Israel does not know its owner, nor does this people understand the cradle of its Lord. Here is the clear meaning: I adopted them as sons and made them a people peculiar to myself, the portion of my inheritance, and I called them my firstborn, but they did not cooperate, because they became dumb beasts to be conquered by favors and to recognize their shepherd and guardian. It does not compare them to dogs because a dog is the most clever kind of animal, which defends the dwelling of its owner for a little food. But the mind of the ox or ass is slower, animals that turn hard clumps of soil while pulling a plow behind some carriages and alleviate the workload of men by bearing heavy loads behind other carriages. Hence they are called beasts of burden, because they assist men. Although this verse can be understood as referring to God the Father, it seems instead to refer to the Son inasmuch as the people of Israel did not recognize him, nor did they receive him whose day Abraham rejoiced to see and on whose advent all the hopes of the prophets hung.
Commentary on Isaiah 1:1.3
(Verse 3.) The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib. But Israel does not know; my people do not understand. Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil. Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence foreigners devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners. And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city. If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. And he did not compare them to dogs, which are the most keen-witted species of animals, and they protect their owners' homes for little food: but rather to dumber animals like oxen and donkeys, one of which pulls carts and turns over the toughest clumps of earth with a plow, and the other carries heavy loads and moderates the labor of men while walking: hence they are called 'beasts of burden' from it, because they aid men. This place can be understood to refer to God the Father: but it is more often related to the Son, because the people of Israel did not know him, nor did they receive him: whose day Abraham saw and rejoiced, and for whose coming the hopes of all the prophets depended. And in the Gospel, he speaks to Jerusalem: How often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing (Matt. XXIII, 37)! We ask, where shall we read about the ox and the donkey together? In Deuteronomy it is written: You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together (Deut. XXII, 10). And in the same Isaiah: Blessed is he who sows beside all waters, where the ox and the donkey tread (Isai. XXXII, 20). Ebion, who plows with the ox and the donkey together, is worthy of humble understanding, poverty in his name; he receives the Gospel in such a way that he does not abandon the ceremonies of Jewish superstitions, which preceded in shadow and image. Blessed is he who sows in the words of Scripture, both of the Old and New Testament: and he treads upon the waters of the letters of the setting sun, in order to reap the fruit of the life-giving Spirit. The ox is metaphorically related to Israel, who carried the yoke of the Law, and is a clean animal. The donkey burdened with the weight of sinners represents the people of the Gentiles, to whom the Lord spoke: Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you (Matt. 11:28). Therefore, the Pharisees and Scribes, who did not believe, but had the key and knowledge of the Law, and were truly called Israel, that is, a people seeing God, a part of the Jewish people believed, so that on one day three thousand would believe together, and on another day five thousand. Even the wise of the world, who did not accept the cross of Christ, were received by the unlearned crowd of the nations. Hence the Apostle said: Consider your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many powerful, not many noble, but what is foolish in the world, God has chosen, to confound the wise; and what is weak in the world, God has chosen, to confound the strong (1 Corinthians 1:26-27). But this is forced, the previous interpretation is true.
Commentary on Isaiah
Therefore “Jesus found a donkey and sat upon it.” … The donkey’s colt upon which no one had sat (for this fact is found in the other Evangelists) we understand as the people of the nations which had not received the Lord’s law. However, the donkey (because both beasts were led to the Lord) is his community which came from the people of Israel, clearly not unbroken, but which recognized the Master’s manger.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 51:5.2
He who fills the world found no room in an inn. Placed in a manger, he became our food. Let the two animals, symbolic of two races, approach the manger, for “the ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib.” Do not be ashamed to be God’s beast of burden. Carrying Christ, you will not go astray; with him burdening you, you make your way through devious paths. May the Lord rest upon us; may he direct us where he wishes; may we be his beast of burden and thus may we come to Jerusalem. Though he presses upon us, we are not crushed but lifted up; when he leads us, we shall not go astray. Through the Lord may we come to the child so that we may rejoice forever with the child who was born today.
Sermon 189:4
The Leader and Shepherd of shepherds is announced to shepherds, and the food of the faithful lies in the manger of dumb beasts.… For that reason he sat upon the colt of a donkey when he entered Jerusalem amid the praises of the multitude surging around him. Let us understand; let us draw near to the manger; let us eat of this food; let us bear the Lord, our Guide and Leader, so that under his direction we may come to the heavenly Jerusalem.
Sermon 190:3
In the persons of the shepherds and the magi, the ox began to recognize his owner and the donkey his Master’s crib. From the Jews came the horned ox, since among them the horns of the cross were prepared for Christ; from the Gentiles came the long-eared donkey, since it was concerning them that the prophecy had been made: “A people, which I knew not, has served me: at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me.” For the Owner of the ox and the Master of the donkey lay in a manger, yet he was furnishing common sustenance to both creatures.
Sermon 204:2
The ox from the Jews, the donkey from the Gentiles; both came to the one manger and found the fodder of the Word.
Sermon 375:1
Therefore those oxen magnified the Lord, not themselves. See the ox magnifying his Lord because the ox has acknowledged his owner; observe the ox fearing that the ox’s owner may be deserted and confidence be placed in the ox. How he is terrified of those who want to put hope in him!
Tractates on the Gospel of John 10:7.3
But, in fact, there were even in that people those that understood, having the faith which was afterwards revealed, not pertaining to the letter of the law but the grace of the Spirit. For they cannot have been without the same faith, who were able to foresee and foretell the revelation that would be in Christ, inasmuch as even those old sacraments were signs of those that should be.
Explanations of the Psalms 78.2
If you did not recognize him soon along with the angels, do acknowledge him now, even though very late, in company with the beasts. Otherwise, while you loiter, you may be deemed less than those very animals with whom you were previously compared.… Yet you argue and quibble with the Jews who turned away from their inns their Master whom the beasts welcomed in their cribs.
Sermon 141
Why does the king of the Jews lie in a manger and not repose in the temple? Why is he not resplendent in purple rather than poorly clad rags? Why does he lie hidden in a cave and not on display in the sanctuary? The beasts have received in a manger him whom you have disdained to receive in his house. As it has been written.… But you, O Israel, have not sought out your Master.
Sermon 156
I am often astonished at human conduct. Humans are endowed with wisdom and prudence, yet at whim they lightly reject the precepts of discipline. How different is the conduct which we see in the beasts! They avoid vices, carry out commands, submit to control and mold their spirits to perfect obedience. As a result, when need arises, they run against armed legions and charge head downward against the javelins of the foe.…The person who is not aware of the obligation flowing from his condition of being a creature simply does not know God.
Homily 1
They who have long since put aside the worship of God cannot be called the people of God. Neither can that people be said to see God who have denied the Son of God.
The Governance of God 4
If the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, we are his servants and farmers, and I do not know how we can fail to recognize him as the owner.
Sermon 33:1
By the ox he designates the people of the Jews, who were accustomed to carry the yoke of the law and to ruminate upon its words; by the donkey he represents the people of the nations, who remained always unclean with the stains of idolatry. From both peoples a great many turned to the grace of the gospel and recognized the owner by whom they were created. [They] were seeking by means of his heavenly nourishing fare to grow toward perpetual salvation.
Homilies on the Gospels 1:6
32. He adds to the weight of their ignorance, however, through the example of beasts; hence, concerning this, he does two things:
first, he introduces the knowledge of beasts,
second, the ignorance of sinners, where it says, but Israel has not known me.
The ox knows his owner, by a sort of custom of benefit. But Israel: he denounces in them a twofold ignorance,
namely, of the one who commands, when he says, has not known me, contrary to where he had said, his owner; and contrary to the signification of the name Israel—for Israel is interpreted as "seeing God"—they have not known the Father nor me (John 16:3);
and ignorance of the law, my people has not understood; contrary to where he had said, crib, and where he says, people, who are subject to a lawgiver who commands: I shall write to him my manifold laws, which have been accounted as foreign (Hos 8:12).
Commentary on Isaiah
Ah sinful nation, a people full of sins, an evil seed, lawless children: ye have forsaken the Lord, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
οὐαὶ ἔθνος ἁμαρτωλόν, λαὸς πλήρης ἁμαρτιῶν, σπέρμα πονηρόν, υἱοὶ ἄνομοι· ἐγκατελίπατε τὸν Κύριον καὶ παρωργίσατε τὸν ἅγιον τοῦ ᾿Ισραήλ.
Оу҆вы̀, ꙗ҆зы́къ грѣ́шный, лю́дїе и҆спо́лнени грѣхѡ́въ, сѣ́мѧ лꙋка́вое, сы́нове беззако́ннїи, ѡ҆ста́висте гдⷭ҇а и҆ разгнѣ́васте ст҃а́го і҆и҃лева, ѿврати́стесѧ вспѧ́ть.
And that this too may be clear to you, there were spoken from the person of the Father through Isaiah the prophet, the following words: "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know, and My people hath not understood. Woe, sinful nation, a people full of sins, a wicked seed, children that are transgressors, ye have forsaken the Lord."
The First Apology, Chapter XXXVII
Correction is a public rebuke of sin. [God] uses it in a manner that is particularly necessary for our instruction because of the weak faith of so many. For example, he says through Isaiah, “You have forsaken the Lord, you have provoked the holy one of Israel.”
The Instructor Book 1
Excoriation is the most vigorous expression of disapproval. God employed excoriation as a remedy when he said through Isaiah, “Ah, sinful nation, a people full of sins, an evil seed, lawless children.”
The Instructor Book 1
(Verse 4) Woe to the sinful nation, a people burdened with iniquity, a wicked offspring, wicked children: they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backwards. The phrase I placed last, 'they have turned away backwards,' is not found in the Septuagint and instead of 'they have blasphemed,' it is written in them, 'they have provoked to anger.' And instead of 'wicked offspring,' it is translated in the Hebrew as 'wicked ones,' so that the vice of the offspring is not so much a defect of their nature (lest good and evil be thought to have different natures) as it is a result of their wickedness, those who have forsaken the Lord by their own will.
In the beginning of the book, the title mentions the characters, the cause, and the time: in the second part, it captivates the listeners; in the third part, it narrates what the Lord said; in the fourth part, it reproaches the sinful nation, and a people full of or weighed down by injustice. Not that there is another nation and another people, as some think, but it is Israel itself, which is called both nation and people, and is referred to as wicked or unjust sons: those who were first called sons of the Lord through his kindness, but afterwards were called sons of iniquity because of their own fault; or as others have said in agreement, corrupting sons, that is, those who have lost the good of their nature through their own fault. And the text continues: 'They blasphemed the holy Israel, it is said specifically of the Jews, shouting: We have no king but Caesar' (John 19:15); and: 'Is this not the son of the carpenter?' (Matthew 13:55); and, 'He has a demon, and is a Samaritan' (John 8:48). Therefore, because they abandoned Christ and blasphemed the Holy Israel, they were estranged backwards, so that those who were called part and children of God would later be called: 'Alien children have lied to me' (Psalm 18:46). The Savior commanded that, with the plow seized, we do not look back (Luke 9:62), so as not to imitate Lot's wife. Hence the Apostle, stretching out towards the things before, forgets the things that are behind (Philippians 3:13). And what he said according to the Septuagint, to a people full of sins (Zechariah 5:7), shows that there was no kind of sins that the people of Israel did not have. But if we read it as in Hebrew, to a people heavy with iniquity, let us remember the testimony of that, that iniquity sits upon a talent of lead, and it is said from the person of a sinner in the thirty-seventh psalm: My iniquities have been lifted up above my head: As a heavy burden, they have been burdened upon me (Psalm 37:5). We pass through things that are manifest, so that we may linger in those that are more obscure and require explanation.
Commentary on Isaiah
When Isaiah calls them “evil seed,” he does not mean to insult the ancestors of those to whom he was speaking. Rather he was denouncing their own wickedness, just as John the Baptist called the Jewish leaders “a brood of vipers” and the Lord called them “an evil and adulterous generation.” They were called these things because they did not preserve the virtuous life of those who went before them.
Commentary on Isaiah 1:4
33. He adds to the weight of the effect of the deed, however, through its confirmed use:
hence he first shows the confirmation,
and second, shows their turning away: they have forsaken the Lord.
He shows the confirmation first through the custom of sin, which gives rise to habit: hence he says, the sinful nation; for a sinner is such out of habit just as a singer is such out of art or office, below: I have called you a transgressor from the womb (Isa 48:8).
Second, through the promptness of sin, which is like a sort of gravity in the sinner: Gregory: a sin which is not washed away by penance quickly draws to another by its own weight; their feet are swift to shed blood (Ps 13:3).
Third, from the succession of sin, because, imitating the sins of their fathers, they have them as if from propagation; hence he says, a wicked seed, that is, seed of the worst, according to another translation: we have sinned with our fathers: we have acted unjustly, we have wrought iniquity (Ps 105[106]:6).
Fourth, as to the magnitude of their sins, when he says, ungracious children: slanderers have been in you to shed blood, they have committed wickedness in the midst of you (Ezek 22:9); below, are not you wicked children, a false seed? (Isa 57:4).
Commentary on Isaiah
Why should ye be smitten [any] more, transgressing more and more? the whole head is pained, and the whole heart sad.
τί ἔτι πληγῆτε προστιθέντες ἀνομίαν; πᾶσα κεφαλὴ εἰς πόνον καὶ πᾶσα καρδία εἰς λύπην.
Что̀ є҆щѐ ᲂу҆ѧзвлѧ́етесѧ, прилага́юще беззако́нїе; Всѧ́каѧ глава̀ въ болѣ́знь, и҆ всѧ́кое се́рдце въ печа́ль.
It shows utter contempt when, even with retributions, [the Israelites] do not become better. But even this is a kind of benefit—to be chastised. For they would have to admit that God not only condemned and rewarded but was also forgiving sinners. And certainly he was coaxing them with rewards and also chastising them with fear of punishments.
Commentary on Isaiah 1:3
(Verse 5). In which way shall I strike you any longer, adding transgression? By this testimony we learn that the Lord strikes sinners in order to correct them, and that the punishment is not so much for retribution as for correction. The meaning is this: I cannot find any medicine that I can apply to your wounds; all your limbs are full of sores; I find no part of your body that has not been struck before. Or certainly in this way: I find no wounds by which I can break your stubbornness. For the greater the tortures are, the more impiety and injustice grows, or as Theodotion translated, the deviation, so that you may depart and deviate from the Lord. Such is that of Jeremiah: I have struck your children without cause: you have not received discipline (Jeremiah II, 30). Hence, he speaks angrily through Hosea: I will not visit your daughters when they commit fornication; and your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery (Hosea IV, 14). And in Ezekiel: My jealousy will depart from you, and I will no longer be angry with you (Ezek. 16:42). Of whom we also read in the Psalms: There is no firmament in their hands, and they are not laboring with men, nor will they be scourged with men (Ps. 73:4, 5).
Every head is weary, and every heart mournful. The joy of the soul sometimes alleviates the pain of the body: but if mental distress accompanies physical illness, the weakness is doubled. Among the senses themselves, and all the members of the body, the head occupies the chief place, in which there is sight and smell, hearing and taste. Therefore, when the head aches, all the members are weak. And by metaphor, it teaches that from the leaders to the lowest of the people, from the learned to the ignorant masses, there is no health in anyone: but all unanimously consent in impiety with equal ardor.
From the sole of the foot to the crown of the head, there is no soundness in it: wounds, bruises, and oozing sores. The translation has been maintained: from the feet to the head, that is, from the lowest to the highest, from the outermost to the innermost, they are pierced through the whole body. 'Wounds,' he says, 'and bruises, and oozing sores': for either bodies turn blue from beatings, or swell from blows, or gape with wounds. We ask, to what time should these things be adapted? After the Babylonian captivity, under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, Israel returned to Judaea and restored its ancient state. Under various rulers and kings, the temple was rebuilt to be more magnificent, to the extent that even foreign nations, such as the Spartans, Athenians, and Romans, formed alliances. Therefore, when it says, 'There is no soundness in it,' it refers to the ultimate captivity, since from Titus and Vespasian to the final destruction of Jerusalem, under Aelius Hadrianus and up to the present time, there is no remedy. And what is written is fulfilled: 'All have turned away; they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one' (Rom. 3:12). And what is also inferred: there is no health in it, either in the people, or in the body, or in the head.
Commentary on Isaiah
Isaiah calls the kings and the leaders the heads and the priests and teachers the heart. For what the heart is to the body, the priests and teachers are for the people, and what the head is for the body, the kings and leaders are for their subjects.
Commentary on Isaiah 1:5
34. For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? Here he shows the incorrigibility of their sin, removing a threefold mode of correction.
First, that correction which is through a divine scourge, saying, for what, that is, to what end, you that increase, so that, namely, the greater the correction, the more you increase your sins: in vain have I struck your children, they have not received correction (Jer 2:30).
Second, that which is through the counsel or help of a neighbor, where he says, the whole head is sick, for no one is fit to succor another because of his own weakness.
And he shows this as to the person of the king or prince, saying, the whole head is sick: when you were a little one in your own eyes, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel? (1 Sam 15:17).
As to the person of the priest, the whole heart is sad: for the heart receives life first from the soul and transfuses it into the body, as a medium between the soul and the body; just so the priest is a medium between God and the people: you will be to them in those things that pertain to God (Exod 18:19).
As to the person of the private individual, when he says, from the sole of the foot, below: all have turned aside into their own way (Isa 56:11).
35. And it is to be noted that the unfitness of the king is shown in sickness, because he is not able to help by punishing through his power. Seek not to be made a judge, unless you have strength enough to extirpate iniquities (Sir 7:6).
The unfitness of the priest, however, is shown in sadness, through which he is made unfit for the sacrifices by which he expiated sins: how could I eat it, or please the Lord in the ceremonies, having a sorrowful heart? (Lev 10:19). Come in before his presence with exceeding great joy (Ps 99[100]:2);
but the private individual is able to correct others by challenging through his example; and therefore he is shown to be unfit through his sin, which is designated in the privation of soundness: they are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together (Ps 15[14]:3); namely, for correction.
Commentary on Isaiah
From the feet to the head, there is no soundness in them; neither wound, nor bruise, nor festering ulcer [are healed]: it is not possible to apply a plaister, nor oil, nor bandages.
ἀπὸ ποδῶν ἕως κεφαλῆς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ ὁλοκληρία, οὔτε τραῦμα οὔτε μώλωψ οὔτε πληγὴ φλεγμαίνουσα· οὐκ ἔστιν μάλαγμα ἐπιθῆναι οὔτε ἔλαιον οὔτε καταδέσμους.
Ѿ но́гъ да́же до главы̀ нѣ́сть въ не́мъ цѣ́лости: ни стрꙋ́пъ, ни ꙗ҆́зва, ни ра́на палѧ́щаѧсѧ: нѣ́сть пла́стырѧ приложи́ти, нижѐ є҆ле́а, нижѐ ѡ҆бѧза́нїѧ.
And just as there are some wounds that are cured by emollients, others that are cured by oil and others that need a bandage, there are still other wounds about which it is said, “It is not emollients or oil or bandages; but your land is desolate, your cities burned with fire.” So there are some sins that pollute the soul, and for those sins one needs the lye of the Word, the soap of the Word. Yet some sins are not cured this way, because they do not pollute the soul.
Homilies on Jeremiah 2:2
Isaiah teaches that there are certain wounds of the soul.… Without doubt, he is speaking about the transgressions of the people, because there are some to whom the medicine of the poultice must still be applied. Others may be sinners in such a degree that no cure can be found for them.
Homilies on Leviticus 8:5.5
Let your exhortations be full of meaning.… Speech is a bandage that ties up the wounds of souls, and if anyone rejects this, he shows his despair of his own salvation. Likewise, with those who are vexed by a serious sore, use the oil of speech that you may soften their hardness of heart; apply a poultice; put on a bandage of salutary advice, so that you may never allow those who are astray or who are wavering regarding the faith or the observance of discipline to perish through the loss of courage and a breakdown of activity.
Letter 2.7
They had nothing to pour. If they had had any oil, they would have poured it on their own wounds. Isaiah cries, “They cannot apply ointment or oil or bandage.” But the church has oil, with which it tends the wounds of its children, that the wound may not harden and spread deep. [The church] has oil which it has received secretly.
Letter 41 (ex 1).19-20
You see now how the rebuilding of Jerusalem takes place: the broken heart is mended.… You wound your heart, and the Lord binds your wounds.… It refers to those who are penitent, but of the unrepentant, Scripture says, their wounds “are not drained or bandaged or eased with salve.”
Homilies on the Psalms 56 (psalm 146)
(Verse 6) It is not wrapped, nor treated with medicine, nor anointed with oil. For which the LXX translated: It is not to apply a plaster, nor oil, nor bandages. Even today, the wound and swelling of the people of Israel are not wrapped with strips, nor treated with medicine. Which Aquila interpreted as μότωσιν, namely, the little linen cloths that are applied to wounds to dry up pus and extract impurities. Nor was oil applied, so that the hardness of their wounds might be softened by tears of repentance. For the boils, with which the wounds of the Israelites were not at all bound up, the 70 doses were transferred. Therefore, Israel lies wounded and slaughtered because they killed the doctor who had come to heal the house of Israel. Hence, in Jeremiah, the Angels speak tropically under the person of Babylon: We have healed Babylon, and she is not healed (Jeremiah 51:9), namely the city of confusion and vices. And in the Gospel (Luke 10) we read that a man, who was descending from Jerusalem to Jericho, was attacked by robbers and was cared for by a Samaritan. And after the severity of the wine, the softness of the oil poured on his wounds. Therefore, from that place where it was said above: In which I will strike you, and: every weak head, until it is brought to the suffering: There is no healing remedy or soothing oil, the likeness of the translation is preserved, and the description of incurable wounds expresses the eternal captivity of the Jews.
Commentary on Isaiah
36. Third, where it says, wounds and bruises, he removes the manner of correction which is through human exertion, as when someone is disposed to grace, which blots out sins through good works. Hence he says, wounds, open fault, and bruises, hidden envy, and swelling sores, inflating pride, they are not bound up, by the bond of the law drawing them back: of old time you have broken my yoke, you have burst my bands, and you said: I will not serve (Jer 2:20), as to the first; nor dressed, with healing charity, as to the second: charity covers all sins (Prov 10:12); nor fomented with oil, with soothing humility: the prayer of the humble and the meek has always pleased you (Jdt 9:16); the greater you are, the more humble yourself in all things (Sir 3:20); a mild answer breaks wrath (Prov 15:1); can I leave my fatness, which both gods and men make use of? (Judg 9:9).
Commentary on Isaiah
Your land is desolate, your cities burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is made desolate, overthrown by strange nations.
ἡ γῆ ὑμῶν ἔρημος, αἱ πόλεις ὑμῶν πυρίκαυστοι· τὴν χώραν ὑμῶν ἐνώπιον ὑμῶν ἀλλότριοι κατεσθίουσι αὐτήν, καὶ ἠρήμωται κατεστραμμένη ὑπὸ λαῶν ἀλλοτρίων.
Землѧ̀ ва́ша пꙋста̀, гра́ди ва́ши ѻ҆гне́мъ пожже́ни, странꙋ̀ ва́шꙋ пред̾ ва́ми чꙋжді́и поѧда́ютъ, и҆ ѡ҆пꙋстѣ̀ низвраще́на ѿ люді́й чꙋжди́хъ.
7–8And concerning its desolation, and that no one should be permitted to inhabit it, there was the following prophecy by Isaiah: "Their land is desolate, their enemies consume it before them, and none of them shall dwell therein." And that it is guarded by you lest any one dwell in it, and that death is decreed against a Jew apprehended entering it, you know very well.
The First Apology, Chapter XLVII
7–8What therefore? Have these things not come to be? Have the things announced by you not come to fruition? Is not their land, Judah, desolate? Is the holy place not burned? Are their ways not thrown down? Are their cities not laid waste? Do strangers not devour their lands? Do the Romans not rule over their land?
On the Antichrist 30
7–8Christ ceased to be in them. The Word deserted them.… The Jews were left behind, and salvation passed to the Gentiles. God meant to spur on the Jews with envy. We contemplate God’s mysterious plan, how for our salvation he rejected Israel. We ought to be careful. The Jews were rejected for our sake; on our account they were abandoned. We would deserve even greater punishment if we did nothing worthy of our adoption by God and of his mercy. In his mercy God adopted us and made us his sons [children] in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and power for ages of ages.
Homilies on the Gospel of Luke 5:4
7–8Isaiah lived almost [two] thousand years ago and saw Zion in a hut. The city was still standing, beautiful with public squares and clothed in honor; yet he says, “Zion shall be plowed like a field,” foretelling what has been fulfilled in our day. Observe the exactness of the prophecy; for he said, “Daughter Zion will be left like a hut in a vineyard, like a shed in a melon patch.” Now the place is full of melon patches.
Catechetical Lecture 16:18
7–8Isaiah is not recalling events that have happened but is announcing events in the future. The prophets customarily use fear to demonstrate the truth of what they are saying.
Commentary on Isaiah 1:3
7–8But since the fruits were removed in this manner, only the drying arbors of the bushes and the cottages remain, the custodian having departed because there is nothing left for him to preserve. Therefore God omnipotent also abandons the temple and causes the city to be deserted. There is no need to prove this with words, especially to us who see Zion deserted and Jerusalem overthrown and the temple leveled to the ground. But the fact that he calls Zion a daughter displays the most clement affection of a parent. Neither is it any wonder that Zion is called a daughter, since Babylon also is frequently referred to as a daughter. For we are all children of God by nature, though we have been alienated from him by our own sins. Analogically, our souls can be called God’s vineyard and a paradise of fruits, having God as its custodian provided that the mind, that is, the nous, presides. But if it is plundered by sin as though by wild beasts, then we are forsaken by God the custodian and rendered utterly alone.
Commentary on Isaiah 1:1.8
(Verse 7) Your land is deserted; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your land before your eyes, and it is desolate like a hostile wasteland. These things were partially fulfilled under the Babylonians, with the temple being burned and Jerusalem being destroyed, when the Samaritans possessed the region of the ten tribes, and the promised land was so desolate that it was ravaged by lions. But a more complete and perfect description of what would happen under Roman captivity is given: when the Roman army devastated all of Judea, and the cities were burned, and their land is currently being devoured by foreigners, and the desolation of the Jews will continue until the end of the world. However, we can interpret these things tropologically about sinners who have fallen from their former holiness, after they have been handed over to contrary powers: that all their goods come to a desert: and God does not remember the former righteousness: and they are consumed by the fire of the devil; and they become food for beasts, of whom it is also written in another place: Do not give the soul confessing to you to beasts (Ps. 73, 19).
Commentary on Isaiah
37. Your land is desolate. Here he threatens punishment:
and first, he sets out the judgment of the one who punishes;
second, any solace of consolation, where it says, except the Lord of hosts had left us seed (Isa 1:9).
He sets out a threefold punishment.
First, as to the destruction of their possessions; hence he says, your land is desolate, as to the plains, which thus uncultivated will be as the desert, below: for briers and thorns shall be in all the land (Isa 7:24). Your cities are burnt with fire, as to the cities: and I will send a fire into Moab, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem (Amos 2:2); I looked, and behold Carmel was a wilderness: and all its cities were destroyed at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of the wrath of his indignation (Jer 4:26).
The second punishment is as to the destruction of the products of the soil: hence he says, your country strangers devour before your face, as to its fruit: it will devour the fruit of your cattle, and the fruits of your land, until you be destroyed (Deut 28:49). It shall be desolate, as to the destruction of trees and vineyards: woe unto us, for we are laid waste (Jer 4:13).
Commentary on Isaiah
The daughter of Sion shall be deserted as a tent in a vineyard, and as a storehouse of fruits in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
ἐγκαταλειφθήσεται ἡ θυγάτηρ Σιὼν ὡς σκηνὴ ἐν ἀμπελῶνι καὶ ὡς ὀπωροφυλάκιον ἐν σικυηράτῳ, ὡς πόλις πολιορκουμένη·
Ѡ҆ста́витсѧ дще́рь сїѡ́нѧ, ꙗ҆́кѡ кꙋ́ща въ вїногра́дѣ и҆ ꙗ҆́кѡ ѻ҆во́щное храни́лище въ вертогра́дѣ, ꙗ҆́кѡ гра́дъ вою́емый.
(Verse 8) The daughter of Zion will be abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field. The vineyard, which is called the whole of Israel, is testified to by the Prophet in the following, saying: 'The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel; and the man of Judah, a new plant and beloved' (below chapter 5, verse 7); and in the Psalm: 'You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it' (Psalm 80:9). This vine, as long as it brought forth abundant fruits, had God as its guardian, of whom it is written: 'He does not slumber or sleep, who keeps Israel' (Psalm 121:4). But after they had harvested it, everyone passing by the road trampled it down, and a wild boar from the forest ravaged it. The Lord abandoned his temple and, rising up in anger, said, 'Arise, let us leave this place; and let your house be left desolate to you.' (Matt. XXIII, 38). And through Jeremiah: 'I have forsaken my house; I have abandoned my inheritance. My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest; it has roared against me, therefore I hate it.' (Jerem. XII, 7). However, the likeness of the devastation of the Temple and Jerusalem is taken from the farmers, who, as long as the vineyard is full of grapes, place guards in the shade. In the Cucumber House, which they call the guardian of seventy fruits, small huts are built to shield against the heat of the sun and to deflect its rays; and from there, they drive away either the men or the little animals that are accustomed to lurking in the newly grown crops. But when these types of produce have been harvested, only the withered coverings of the bushes and the huts remain, as the guard withdraws because he no longer has anything to protect. So the almighty God abandoned the Temple and made the city deserted: which does not need to be proven by words, especially to us, who see Zion deserted and Jerusalem destroyed, and the Temple completely demolished to the ground. But what he calls the daughter of Zion shows the affection of a most merciful parent. It is not surprising if Zion is called daughter, since even Babylon is often called daughter. For we are all by nature children of God, but by our own fault we become estranged. According to the anagoge, our soul can be called the vineyard of God and the paradise of apples: if our mind, that is, νοῦς, is in charge, it has God as the guardian of the mind; but if our vices have preyed upon us like certain beasts, we are abandoned by the guardian God, and all our things are reduced to solitude.
If the Lord of hosts had not left us seed, we would have been as Sodom, and we would have been like Gomorrah. This place Paul the Apostle explains more fully to the Romans, writing: I say therefore, has God rejected his people? By no means: For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew (Romans 11:1-2). And a little later: Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace (Romans 11:5). From this it is shown that the earlier prophetic discourse against Jerusalem and Judah is not referring to the time of the Babylonian captivity, but to the final period of the Romans, when the remnants of the Jewish people were saved in the Apostles; and on one day three thousand believed, and on another five thousand, and the Gospel was spread throughout the whole world. In the Lord of hosts, which we, following Aquila, translate into Latin, it is read in Hebrew as Lord Sabaoth, which the Septuagint interpreters, depending on the context, translate in two ways: either Lord of hosts, or Lord Almighty. And let it be sought whether it is said of the Father or of the Son. There is no doubt that what is read in the twenty-third (or fourth) psalm: Lift up your gates, O princes, and be lifted up, eternal gates, and the king of glory will enter. Who is this king of glory? The Lord of hosts (Psalm 23:7-8), that is, the Lord of powers, he is the king of glory, to be referred to Christ, who after the triumph of his passion ascended to the heavens as the victor. And in another place it is said about the Lord, that he is the king of glory: For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (I Cor. II, 8). Therefore, not only according to the Apocalypse of John and the Apostle Paul, but also in the Old Testament, the Lord of hosts, that is, the Almighty, is called Christ. For if all things are the Father's, and as he himself says in the Gospel: All power is given to me in heaven and on earth (Matth. XXVIII, 18); and: All mine are yours, and I am glorified in them; why should not the name of the Almighty also be referred to Christ: so that as God of God, and Lord of Lords, so may the Almighty Son be?
Commentary on Isaiah
Third, as to the captivity of men: hence he says, the daughter of Zion shall be left, that is, Jerusalem or the temple, from which came the protection of the whole province, as it was solitary and as a covert in a vineyard after the harvest, below: for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel: and the man of Judah, his pleasant plant (Isa 5:7); as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, after the last fruits have been collected, through which he signifies their fathers: I saw their fathers like the first fruits of the fig tree in the top thereof (Hos 9:10); as a city that is laid waste, because it was the metropolis: the city is laid waste (Ezek 33:21), said he who had come from Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited, all oppression is in the midst of her (Jer 6:6).
Commentary on Isaiah
And if the Lord of Sabaoth had not left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been made like Gomorrha.
καὶ εἰ μὴ Κύριος σαβαὼθ ἐγκατέλιπεν ἡμῖν σπέρμα, ὡς Σόδομα ἂν ἐγενήθημεν καὶ ὡς Γόμορρα ἂν ὡμοιώθημεν. -
И҆ а҆́ще не бы̀ гдⷭ҇ь саваѡ́ѳъ ѡ҆ста́вилъ на́мъ сѣ́мене, ꙗ҆́кѡ содо́ма ᲂу҆́бѡ бы́ли бы́хомъ, и҆ ꙗ҆́кѡ гомо́ррꙋ ᲂу҆подо́билисѧ бы́хомъ.
Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha. [Isaiah 1:9] What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
And besides, they beguile themselves and you, supposing that the everlasting kingdom will be assuredly given to those of the dispersion who are of Abraham after the flesh, although they be sinners, and faithless, and disobedient towards God, which the Scriptures have proved is not the case. For if so, Isaiah would never have said this: "And unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah."
Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter CXL
For all the Gentiles were "desolate" of the true God, serving the works of their hands; but the Jews and Samaritans, having the word of God delivered to them by the prophets, and always expecting the Christ, did not recognise Him when He came, except some few, of whom the Spirit of prophecy by Isaiah had predicted that they should be saved. He spoke as from their person: "Except the Lord had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom and Gomorrah."
The First Apology, Chapter LIII
He here shows that even the few that were saved were not saved through their own resources. Even they would have perished and suffered like Sodom. That is, they would have been completely destroyed—for Sodom was destroyed root and branch, and not even the smallest seed remained. He means to say that they too would have been like those, except that God demonstrated his goodness to them and saved them by faith. This happened as well in their visible captivity in which most of them were taken captive and perished, in which only a few were saved.
Homilies on Romans 16:10
It was shown above what the prophetic word threatened against Jerusalem and Judah, not pertaining to the time of the Babylonian captivity but to the end of the Romans, when the remnant of the Jewish people were saved in the apostles, and three thousand believed in one day and five thousand on another, and the gospel was spread throughout the entire world. “The Lord of hosts” is our Latin translation, following Aquila, of the Hebrew “Lord of the Sabbath,” to which the Septuagint translators gave a double sense: either the Lord of powers or the Lord omnipotent. We also need to ask whether it was said about the Father or about the Son. But there is no doubt what we read in the twenty-third psalm: “Lift up your heads, gates, and be lifted up, eternal doors, and the king of glory will enter! Who is the king of glory? Lord of the sabbath.” The Lord of powers, he is the king of glory, referring to Christ, who ascended to heaven as victor after the triumph of the passion. And in another place it says about the Lord, the king of glory: “If they had known him, they never would have crucified the Lord of glory.” Not only according to the Apocalypse of John and the apostle Paul, therefore, but also in the Old Testament Christ is named as Lord of the sabbath, that is, Lord omnipotent. For if all things of the Father belong to the Son and, as he himself says in the Gospel, “All power in heaven and on the earth has been given to me” and “All that is mine is yours, and I am glorified in them,” why then does the title of omnipotence not also belong to Christ, so that just as he is God of God and Lord of Lord, he would also be the omnipotent Son of the omnipotent One?
Commentary on Isaiah 1:1.9
Beware, O Christian, beware of pride. For though you are a follower of the saints, ascribe it always wholly to grace. That there should be any “remnant” in you, the grace of God has brought it to pass, not your own merits.
Sermon 100.4
38. Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed. Here he sets out consolation from the promise to liberate their seed. The Lord, however, left to them the gathered seed of the flesh, below: I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west (Isa 43:5); the promised seed of blessing: to Abraham were the promises made and to his seed (Gal 3:16); the scattered seed of preaching, below: when he shall rush out from Jacob, Israel shall blossom and bud, and they shall fill the face of the world with seed (Isa 27:6); the new seed of the saints, below: as the new heavens, and the new earth, which I will make to stand before me, says the Lord: so shall your seed stand, and your name (Isa 66:22).
Commentary on Isaiah
Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodoma; attend to the law of God, thou people of Gomorrha.
᾿Ακούσατε λόγον Κυρίου, ἄρχοντες Σοδόμων· προσέχετε νόμον Θεοῦ λαὸς Γομόρρας.
Оу҆слы́шите сло́во гдⷭ҇не, кнѧ̑зи содо́мстїи: внемли́те зако́нꙋ бж҃їю, лю́дїе гомо́ррстїи.
(Verse 10) Hear the word of the Lord, rulers of Sodom: listen with your ears to the law of our God, people of Gomorrah. After preserving the remnants of the people of Israel through the Apostles, the Scribes and Pharisees, and the people who cried out: Crucify, crucify him (John 19, 6), the prophetic word turns; and it calls them rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah, according to what we read in the following: They have declared and shown their iniquity like Sodom. Woe to their souls: for they have devised an evil counsel against themselves, saying: Let us bind the just, because he is unprofitable to us (Isaiah 3). Therefore, the rulers are called of Sodom, and the people of Gomorrah, because they have devised an evil counsel, and have bound the just, and have said: We have no king but Caesar (John 19:15). And again: We know that God spoke to Moses: but as for this man, we know not from whence he is (John 9:29). At the same time boasting in the Gospel: We are the seed of Abraham and have never served anyone (John 8:53); they hear from the Lord and Savior: If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham; and again: You were born of the devil as your father, and you want to do the works of your father (ibid., 39). Such a thing Ezekiel also speaks to Jerusalem: Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite (Ezekiel 16:45). The Hebrews say that Isaiah was killed for two reasons: because he called the princes of Sodom and the people of Gomorrah, and because while the Lord was saying to Moses, You cannot see my face (Exodus 33:20), he dared to say, I saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne (Isaiah 6:1); without considering that the seraphim cover the face and feet of God, or their own, because it is ambiguously read in Hebrew, and Isaiah writes that he only saw the middle part of Him. Therefore, a human being cannot see the face of God. However, angels in the Church always see the face of God, even the faces of the least. And now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. When we progress from being human to being angels, we will be able to say with the Apostle: But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. Although no creature can see the face of God according to its own nature, it is seen in the mind when it is believed to be invisible.
Commentary on Isaiah
42. Hear the word of the Lord. Here he gives the medicine for the punishment.
And first, he calls them together to hear;
second, he removes the useless remedy, where it says, to what purpose?;
third, salutary counsel is applied, where it says, wash yourselves, be clean (Isa 1:16).
However, he first calls together the great, saying, hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom;
second, the lowly, where it says, people of Gomorrah. Amen I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city (Matt 10:15).
But why does he invite those of high degree to hear and those of low degree to receive? Because things which are heard by those of high degree are easily received by those of low degree.
Likewise, when he leaves seed to them, why does he compare them to Sodom and Gomorrah? And to this is to be said that as to the incorrigible he makes this comparison for two reasons:
first, because of the similarity of their sin, below: and they have adhered to strange children (Isa 2:6);
and because of its publication, below: they have proclaimed abroad their sin as Sodom, and they have not hid it (Isa 3:9).
And while there were five cities, nonetheless he chiefly compares them to Sodom and Gomorrah, because they are chief among the others. And because of this he also compares their princes to the inhabitants of Sodom, because that city was a metropolis, as is evident from Genesis 14. It belongs to princes, however, to hear from the Lord his word and impose the law on the people; and therefore he invites them to hear the word and the people to receive the law.
Commentary on Isaiah
Of what [value] to me is the abundance of your sacrifices? saith the Lord: I am full of whole-burnt-offerings of rams; and I delight not in the fat of lambs, and the blood of bulls and goats:
τί μοι πλῆθος τῶν θυσιῶν ὑμῶν; λέγει Κύριος· πλήρης εἰμὶ ὁλοκαυτωμάτων κριῶν, καὶ στέαρ ἀρνῶν καὶ αἷμα ταύρων καὶ τράγων οὐ βούλομαι,
Что́ ми мно́жество же́ртвъ ва́шихъ, гл҃етъ гдⷭ҇ь; И҆спо́лненъ є҆́смь всесожже́нїй ѻ҆́внихъ и҆ тꙋ́ка а҆́гнцєвъ, и҆ кро́ве ю҆нцє́въ и҆ козлѡ́въ не хощꙋ̀.
How do you hope to find any redemption for your souls through sacrifices that are offered in quantity but with no repentance worth mentioning? For God is merciful not through the blood of animals or through slaughter on the altar but upon the contrite heart. For “the sacrifice to God is a contrite heart.”It is fitting for the same to be said to those who are lavish in their expiations but do not repent through their deeds.… Scripture says, “What is the multitude of your sacrifices to me?” So it dismisses the multitude and seeks after the single sacrifice.
Commentary on Isaiah 1:24
Observe that God does not say that he does not wish for any blood, but for this particular blood from these particular animals. For he would not say that he does not wish for the blood that was poured out “in the last times for the annulment of sins,” “which speaks more effectively than that of Abel,” but he changes the sacrifices to the spiritual plane, since “the change of priesthood” is about to happen. For if he rejects the physical sacrifices, he manifestly rejects the high priest according to the law.… They of the stock of Aaron are cast out, therefore, so that he [Christ] according to the order of Melchizedek might enter instead. The “continuous sacrifices” are no more, no more the sacrifices of the Day of Atonement, no more “the ashes of the heifer which purify those that partake.” For the sacrifice is one, the Christ, and the mortification of the saints according to him; the sprinkling is one, the bath of regeneration;14 the absolution of sins is one—the blood poured out for the salvation of the world. Because of this God renounces the former things, so that he may establish the latter.
Commentary on Isaiah 1:26
By saying that he does not delight in the sacrifices of the people, God is saying this: I abound in my own [sacrifice], I do not seek yours, I do not desire whole burnt offerings of rams and the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and of goats. And do not come so into my sight.
Interrogation of Job and David 4.9.33
(Verse 11) What use to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord. I am full. I do not desire burnt sacrifices of rams, or the fat of fattened cattle, or the blood of bulls, or lambs, or goats. Because they exist, I did not desire them. The Septuagint translates 'I do not desire' as 'I will not desire', using the present tense instead of the past tense. Furthermore, according to the Hebrew, it demonstrates that God never desired the sacrifices of the Jews, as we read in the forty-ninth psalm: I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your flocks. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I have known all the flying creatures of the sky, and the beauty of the field is with me. If I were hungry, I would not say to you: for the world is mine and all its fullness. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? (Psalm 49, seq.) And when he rejected the ceremonies of the old Law, he passed on to the purity of the Gospel and showed what he desires for these things: Sacrifice to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you, and you will honor me. Therefore, the content of this chapter, up to the point where it says: Judge the orphan, defend the widow, and come, let us reason together: it rejects sacrifices of victims and teaches that obedience to the Gospel is a superior sacrifice. And what he brings is to be understood in this sense: I am full, I need nothing: the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof (Psalm 24:1). Therefore, we have all received from his fullness. This can also be understood about those who, not obeying God's precepts, believe they can redeem themselves with gifts and offerings to God: or those who offer stolen goods and ill-gotten gains on the altar and to the poor.
Commentary on Isaiah
43. To what purpose? Here he shows the uselessness of the remedy which they were applying;
and first, as to the offering of sacrifices;
second, as to the celebration of feasts, where it says, the new moons (Isa 1:13);
third, as to divine prayers, where it says, and when you stretch forth your hands (Isa 1:15).
Concerning the first, he does two things:
first, he rejects the sacrifice of living things;
second, the sacrifice of inanimate things, where it says, incense is an abomination to me (Isa 1:13).
In the sacrifices of animals, however, there was one which was allotted whole to the worship of God, as the holocaust, i.e., "all burnt"—from olon, which means "all," and cauma, which means "fire" (Lev 1); the fat which was all offered in sacrifice (Lev 3:3); and the blood which was all poured out (Lev 17:6).
There were certain sacrifices, however, which were allotted partly to the worship of God, partly to the use of the ministers, as the sin offering, except when it was for the sin of a priest or for the multitude (Lev 4:3).
There were also certain other sacrifices from which something was offered to the worship of God, something to the use of the ministers, and something to one who offered, as in the peace offerings, which were offered for thanksgiving or for well-being (Lev 4).
And next, these three are divided in three parts.
44. First, he rejects the sacrifices distributed in three parts, namely, the peace offerings.
And first, he places the rejection, saying, to what purpose . . . to me, that is, for what do you offer to me, the multitude of your victims, as if they were not already mine? And they are called victims, either because the animal is led bound [vinctum] to the priest, or because it is offered for victory [victoria] had or to be had.
Next, he gives the reason for the rejection, saying, I am full, either because of weariness, because the offerings were not good: but to Cain and his offerings he had no respect (Gen 4:5); or because of his dominion: all the beasts of the woods are mine: the cattle on the hills, and the oxen (Ps 49[50]:10).
Commentary on Isaiah
neither shall ye come [with these] to appear before me; for who has required these things at your hands? Ye shall no more tread my court.
οὐδὲ ἂν ἔρχησθε ὀφθῆναι μοι. τίς γὰρ ἐξεζήτησε ταῦτα ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν ὑμῶν; πατεῖν τὴν αὐλήν μου
Нижѐ приходи́те ꙗ҆ви́тисѧ мѝ: кто́ бо и҆зыска̀ сїѧ̑ и҆з̾ рꙋ́къ ва́шихъ; Ходи́ти по дворꙋ̀ моемꙋ̀ не приложитѐ.
As for the burdensome sacrifices and the troublesome scrupulousness of their ceremonies and oblations, no one should blame the Jews, as if God specially required them for himself.… But he should see in those sacrifices a careful provision on God’s part, which showed his wish to bind to his own religion a people who were prone to idolatry and transgression by that kind of services wherein consisted the superstition of that period. He did this in order to call them away from idolatry, while requesting sacrifices to be performed to himself, as if he desired that no sin should be committed in making idols.
Against Marcion 1.
Now this is the spiritual victim which has set aside the earlier sacrifice.… The gospel teaches what God demands. “The hour is coming,” he says, “when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” … We are the true worshipers and true priests who, offering our prayer in the spirit, offer sacrifice in the spirit—that is, prayer—as a victim that is appropriate and acceptable to God; this is what he has demanded and what he has foreordained for himself.
On Prayer 28
It is obvious that sacrifices were established as an instruction to inspire right living in the people and were not given as an end in themselves. When the people refused to do those works that were necessary in order to busy themselves with only sacrifices, God said that he would no longer accept the sacrifices.The entire book of Leviticus offers laws that are very strict regarding sacrifices. Moreover, there are numerous laws concerning sacrifices scattered throughout the book of Deuteronomy, as well as other books. How then can God ask, “Who has required these things from your hands?” This is to teach us that God’s will was not to make laws in this way but that the people suffered from slothfulness in not abiding by this command.
Commentary on Isaiah 1:4
(Verse 12.) For who indeed sought these things from your hands? Let the Ebionites hear, who after the passion of Christ think that the Law has been abolished and should be observed. Let the associates of the Ebionites hear, who decree that these things should be observed only by Jews and those of Israelite descent. Therefore, the offering and sacrifice of victims were not primarily sought by God, but so that they would not be made to idols; and so that we might pass from carnal victims, as it were by a type and image, to spiritual sacrifices. But by saying that he did not desire sacrifices, he showed that the law is spiritual: and that all the things that the Jews do in a carnal way are fulfilled spiritually by us.
Commentary on Isaiah
God seeks us, not what’s ours. Anyway, the Christian’s sacrifice is alms, or kindness to the poor. That is what makes God lenient toward sins.
Sermon 42:1
45. Second, he rejects the sacrifices which were offered wholly to God.
And first, he places the rejection of these three animals; and he mentions only three animals, because the sacrifices which were from the herd were made only from these; holocausts were also made from turtledoves and the young of doves, but these were because of the deprivation of poverty, as is evident from Leviticus 1 and 4 and many other passages; and again the use of these was not universal in all sacrifices, since peace offerings were not offered from them.
Next he sets out the reason for the rejection, where it says, when you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in my courts? As if to say, you offend me more walking in my courts and polluting them than your holocaust would please me, thus I do not accept this communion: burnt offering and sin offering you didst not require (Ps 39:7[40:6]); I spoke not to your fathers, and I commanded them not, in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning the matter of burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this thing I commanded them, saying: hearken to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people (Jer 7:22–23).
Commentary on Isaiah
Though ye bring fine flour, [it is] vain; incense is an abomination to me; I cannot bear your new moons, and your sabbaths, and the great day;
οὐ προσθήσεσθαι· ἐὰν φέρητε σεμίδαλιν, μάταιον· θυμίαμα, βδέλυγμά μοί ἐστι· τὰς νουμηνίας ὑμῶν καὶ τὰ σάββατα καὶ ἡμέραν μεγάλην οὐκ ἀνέχομαι· νηστείαν καὶ ἀργίαν
И҆ а҆́ще принесе́те мѝ семїда́лъ, всꙋ́е: кади́ло ме́рзость мѝ є҆́сть.
Further, He says to them, "Your new moons and your Sabbath I cannot endure." Ye perceive how He speaks: Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to Me, but that is which I have made, [namely this,] when, giving rest to all things, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, that is, a beginning of another world. Wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead.
The Epistle of Barnabas, Chapter XV
Tell me, you who come to church only on festal days, are the other days not festal days? Are they not the Lord’s days? It belongs to the Jews to observe religious ceremonies on fixed and infrequent days.… God hates, therefore, those who think that the festal day of the Lord is on one day.
Homilies on Genesis 10:3
For actions not done lawfully and piously are not of advantage, though they may be reputed to be so, but they rather argue hypocrisy in those who venture upon them. Therefore, although such persons feign to offer sacrifices, yet they hear from the Father, “Your whole burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices do not please me”; and although you bring fine flour, it is vanity; incense also is an abomination to me.”
Letter 19.2
Listen to the words of the inspired writer: “Incense is an abomination to me”—as if to suggest the bad intention of the one offering the sacrifice. You see, just as in the present case the good person’s virtue transformed the smoke and stench into an odor of fragrance, so in their case the malice of the one making the offering caused the fragrant incense to smell like an abomination. Consequently, let us earnestly take every opportunity, I beseech you, to demonstrate a sound attitude. This, after all, proves responsible for all our good things. You see, the good Lord is accustomed to heed not so much what is done from our own resources as the intention within, on which we depend for our first move in doing these things, and he looks to that in either approving what is done by us or disapproving it. So whether we pray, or fast, or practice almsgiving (these, after all, being our spiritual sacrifices) or perform any other spiritual work, let us begin with a pure intention in performing it so that we may procure a reward worthy of our efforts.
Homilies on Genesis 27:8
(Ver. 13.) You will not trample on my courtyard. Note that after the devastation of Babylon, the Temple was built again by Zerubbabel: and for many years sacrifices have been offered in the Temple (1 Esdras, 5). Therefore, it indicates the final destruction of the Temple under Vespasian and Titus, which will persist until the end of the world.
Commentary on Isaiah
How, tell me, can festivals that God hates be intended for continual and uninterrupted observance? Are we to say that God changed his mind, and that ordinances God originally said to be good, when he established them through Moses, are ridiculed by the prophets, so that we must conclude he who enjoined them made a mistake, and that he is subject to the same infirmities that afflict us?… He was in favor of the good for the ancients, but he wished, rather, that by passing from symbols and shadows into the beauty of the truth, they should commend the worship most well pleasing to him, and it is clear that such worship is intellectual and in spirit.
Against Julian 9
When, from the teaching of ancient doctrine, dearly beloved, we undertake the fast of September to purify our souls and bodies, we are not subjecting ourselves to legal burdens. We are embracing the good use of self-restraint that serves the gospel of Christ. In this too, Christian virtue can “exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees,” not by making void the law but by rejecting worldly wisdom.
Sermon 92:2
46. Third, he rejects the sacrifices which were owed to God and the priest, saying: offer sacrifice no more. Shall the holy flesh take away from you your crimes, in which you have boasted? (Jer 11:15); and: what shall I offer to the Lord that is worthy? . . . Shall I offer holocausts unto him, and calves of a year old? May the Lord be appeased with thousands of rams, or with many thousands of fat he goats? (Mic 6:6–7).
47. Incense. Here he rejects offerings of inanimate things, for all of which he places incense, because, among all of them, it was worthier, as thymiama (Exod 30:35), and commoner, as to frankincense, which was set out and added to any such offering, and burned whole to God, below: he that remembers frankincense, as if he should bless an idol (Isa 66:3).
48. But it is objected concerning this that the Gloss says that God never loved their sacrifices, although he commanded that they should be made: and the Lord smelled a sweet savor; and he said: I will no more curse the earth for the sake of man (Gen 8:21).
And to this it is to be said that in any sacrifice there is something to be considered on the part of the offerer and something on the part of the thing offered.
On the part of the thing offered, our sacrifices please God of themselves, but not the sacrifices of the ancients. And this is because something is said to be pleasing or loved of itself because it has in itself something whence it may be loved, as a virtuous good; but something that is only loved for its relation to another is not said to be loved of itself, as, for instance, being cut or burned is said to be loved, in as far as it is related to the end of health. Our sacrifices, however, contain in themselves the grace of sanctification, according to which they are accepted by God; but the sacraments or sacrifices of the ancients were only signs of these, and therefore they were not loved of themselves.
On the part of the offerer, however, both ours and theirs were able to be accepted out of the devotion of the offerer.
49. Therefore, a fourfold time can be distinguished.
The first is the time before the written law and the idolatry of Israel; and at that time the ancient sacrifices made by the holy patriarchs were pleasing both because of the devotion of the offerer and because of the signification of the thing offered.
The second is the time under the written law; and at that time, after their idolatry, something was added which made the sacrifices displeasing in themselves, for it was not proper that God should be pleased and the devil worshipped at the same time; and on the other hand, one advantage on the part of the offerer was added, that it might be a remedy against idolatry for the people who were prone to it. Hence nothing was commanded concerning sacrifices before the fabrication of the idol, and thus the passage from Jeremiah brought in above is understood.
The third time was under the prophets, when, because of the sins of the people, the sacrifices were now not pleasing on the part of the offerer, but only insofar as they were signs. Hence, following this, they did not please God, but offended him more.
The fourth is the time under grace, when their use is now totally abolished, because with the coming of the reality, the figure has ceased.
50. The new moons, and the sabbaths. Here he removes the celebration of solemnities.
And first, as to the future, he sets out a proposition of prohibition, saying, the new moons: blow up the trumpet on the new moon, on the noted day of your solemnity (Ps 80:4[81:3]); sabbaths (Exod 20:8); other festivals: these are the feasts of the Lord which you shall call most solemn and most holy (Lev 23:37). Your assemblies are wicked, below: behold in the day of your fast your own will is found, and you exact of all your debtors (Isa 58:3).
Commentary on Isaiah
I should have some sympathy with the Jewish Sabbath, if it were a Jewish Sabbath... But the absurdity of the modern English convention is that it does not let a man sit still; it only perpetually trips him up when it has forced him to walk about. Our Sabbatarianism does not forbid us to ask a man in Battersea to come and talk in Hertfordshire; it only prevents his getting there. I can understand that a deity might be worshipped with joys, with flowers, and fireworks in the old European style. I can understand that a deity might be worshipped with sorrows. But I cannot imagine any deity being worshipped with inconveniences.
Tremendous Trifles, A Cab Ride Across Country (1909)
[your] fasting, and rest from work, your new moons also, and your feasts my soul hates: ye have become loathsome to me; I will no more pardon your sins.
καὶ τὰς νουμηνίας ὑμῶν καὶ τὰς ἑορτὰς ὑμῶν μισεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου· ἐγενήθητέ μοι εἰς πλησμονήν, οὐκέτι ἀνήσω τὰς ἁμαρτίας ὑμῶν.
Новомⷭ҇чїй ва́шихъ и҆ сꙋббѡ́тъ и҆ днѐ вели́кагѡ не потерплю̀: поста̀ и҆ пра́здности, и҆ новомⷭ҇чїй ва́шихъ и҆ пра́здникѡвъ ва́шихъ ненави́дитъ дш҃а̀ моѧ̀: бы́сте мѝ въ сы́тость, ктомꙋ̀ не стерплю̀ грѣхѡ́въ ва́шихъ.
Fear and patience, then, are helpers of our faith; and long-suffering and continence are things which fight on our side. While these remain pure in what respects the Lord, Wisdom, Understanding, Science, and Knowledge rejoice along with them. For He hath revealed to us by all the prophets that He needs neither sacrifices, nor burnt-offerings, nor oblations, saying thus, "What is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me, saith the Lord? I am full of burnt-offerings, and desire not the fat of lambs, and the blood of bulls and goats, not when ye come to appear before Me: for who hath required these things at your hands? Tread no more My courts, not though ye bring with you fine flour. Incense is a vain abomination unto Me, and your new moons and sabbaths I cannot endure." He has therefore abolished these things, that the new law of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is without the yoke of necessity, might have a human oblation.
The Epistle of Barnabas, Chapter II
Through this arises the question for us, what sabbath God willed us to keep? For the Scriptures point to an eternal sabbath and a temporal sabbath. For Isaiah the prophet says, “My soul hates your sabbaths,” and in another place he says, “My sabbath you have profaned.” From which we discern that the temporal sabbath is human and the eternal sabbath is accounted divine.
An Answer to the Jews 4
God has here expressed an aversion to certain sabbaths. By calling them “your sabbaths” he means that the sabbaths he rejects are humanity’s, and not his. He rejects them because they were celebrated without the fear of God by a people full of sins who love God “with the lip, not the heart.”
Against Marcion 1.
(Verse 14.) I will not bear your new moons, and sabbaths, and other feasts: your assemblies are wicked. Every gathering that does not offer spiritual sacrifices, and does not listen to what is sung in the fiftieth psalm: A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit: a broken and humbled heart God does not despise, is abominable to God. And therefore it connects and says: Your new moons and solemnities. So that it does not call them their own feasts: but those who misuse them. And as the Seventy translated, fasting and idleness: we can say that fasting is accepted by God, because it does not have the idleness of good works. My soul hates it. Anthropomorphically, not that God has a soul; but it speaks with our affection.
Commentary on Isaiah
Second, where it says, your kalends, as to the present, he sets out hatred, saying: kalends, which are called new moons above; hence, in another Psalm: take up the trumpet at the beginning of the month (80:4[81:3]). The Lord has caused feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion: and has delivered up king and priest to reproach, and to the indignation of his wrath (Lam 2:6).
Third, as to the past, he sets out weariness, saying, they are become troublesome to me, and he sets out two things:
the gravity of the weight, they are become troublesome: as a heavy burden are become heavy upon me (Ps 37:5);
second, the labor of the carrier: I labor bearing them. Below: you have given me labor with your iniquities (Isa 43:24).
And he speaks of God according to human manner, because it is said to be heavy for man to labor in what does not please him.
Commentary on Isaiah
When ye stretch forth your hands, I will turn away mine eyes from you: and though ye make many supplications, I will not hearken to you; for your hands are full of blood.
ὅταν ἐκτείνητε τὰς χεῖρας ὑμῶν πρός με, ἀποστρέψω τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου ἀφ᾿ ὑμῶν, καὶ ἐὰν πληθύνητε τὴν δέησιν, οὐκ εἰσακούσομαι ὑμῶν· αἱ γὰρ χεῖρες ὑμῶν αἵματος πλήρεις.
Є҆гда̀ простре́те рꙋ́ки (ва́шѧ) ко мнѣ̀, ѿвращꙋ̀ ѻ҆́чи моѝ ѿ ва́съ: и҆ а҆́ще ᲂу҆мно́жите моле́нїе, не ᲂу҆слы́шꙋ ва́съ: рꙋ́ки бо ва́шѧ и҆спо́лнєны кро́ве.
Let those who do nothing right in life and think they are justified by the length of their prayer listen to these words. For the words of the prayer are not useful by themselves but only when they are offered up with earnest intent. Now the Pharisee also seemed to multiply his supplication. But what does the Scripture say? “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus to himself,” not to God, for he turned back toward himself, since at all events he was in the sin of arrogance.
Commentary on Isaiah 1:36
One asks, “What if I have been overcome?” Then cleanse yourself. “How, in what manner?” Weep, groan, give alms, apologize to the one who is offended, reconcile him to yourself in so doing, wash clean your tongue so that you will not offend God more grievously. If someone were to fill his or her hands with dung and embrace your feet asking something of you, you would push that person away with your foot rather than listen. Then why do you draw near to God in such a manner, because in reality the tongue is the hand of the one who prays, and by it we embrace the legs of God.
Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 51:5
(Verse 15) You have become wearisome to me; I will by no means forgive your sins. Regarding this, Aquila interpreted, 'I labored and endured.' Symmachus, feeling sorry, said, 'I have failed in seeking mercy,' in order to show that he will no longer have compassion, because it is one thing for a servant sent to him to be killed, and another for a Son. We read this same meaning in the prophet Hosea: 'Your destruction, Israel; only in me is your help' (Hosea 13:9). This is understood thus: Perish, Israel, not by your merit, but only by my help are you saved.
Your hands are full of blood. The reason is clear why God turns His eyes away from you and does not listen to your multiplied prayer: because you have shed the blood of the righteous, and the wicked farmers have killed the heir sent to them. Therefore, the Savior speaks to them: And you, fill up the measure of your fathers (Matth. XXIII, 31). For they have killed the messengers sent to them: you kill the Son of the Master of the house. This testimony should be used against those who, while having their hands full of blood with their daily works, join in prayer day and night.
Commentary on Isaiah
O foolish and wretched person, what are you doing? Why do you burden yourself with the weight of greater sins? Why do you inflict injury on God in addition to your contempt? Why, in order to provoke his wrath more quickly in manifestation of your punishment, do you extend to God your crime stained hands when he who has commanded that only holy and unspotted hands be lifted up to him refuses to look at yours? Why do you beseech God with that mouth by which not long ago you spoke evil? Its prayers, however they be multiplied, are an abomination to him.
On the Christian Life 11
Whenever [those who are lazy] pray to Him, He does not quickly hearken to them, but waits until they grow weary and have learned in no uncertain manner that these things befell them because of their slothfulness and negligence.… Even if this was said of others also, nonetheless it is written especially about those who have abandoned the way of the Lord.
Ascetical Homilies 5
51. And when you stretch forth. He rejects their prayers.
And first, he places the rejection;
second, the reason for the rejection, where it says, for your hands are full of blood.
Concerning the first, he does two things:
first, he rejects their prayers as to the sign of devotion, where it says, and when you stretch forth your hands: let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens (Lam 3:41); and below: I have spread forth my hands all the day to an unbelieving people, who walk in a way that is not good (Isa 65:2);
second, as regards the length of prayer: he that turns away his ear from hearing the law, his prayer shall be an abomination (Prov 28:9).
For your hands are full of blood, which you have shed: their feet are swift to shed blood (Ps 13:3); restrain your foot from their paths. For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood (Prov 1:15–16).
Commentary on Isaiah
Wash you, be clean; remove your iniquities from your souls before mine eyes; cease from your iniquities;
λούσασθε καὶ καθαροὶ γίνεσθε, ἀφέλετε τὰς πονηρίας ἀπὸ τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν ἀπέναντι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν μου, παύσασθε ἀπὸ τῶν πονηριῶν ὑμῶν,
И҆змы́йтесѧ, (и҆) чи́сти бꙋ́дите, ѿими́те лꙋка̑вства ѿ дꙋ́шъ ва́шихъ пред̾ ѻ҆чи́ма мои́ма, преста́ните ѿ лꙋка́вствъ ва́шихъ.
16–20The ministers of the grace of God have, by the Holy Spirit, spoken of repentance; and the Lord of all things has himself declared with an oath regarding it, "As I live, says the Lord, I desire not the death of the sinner, but rather his repentance;" [Ezekiel 33:11] adding, moreover, this gracious declaration, "Repent, O house of Israel, of your iniquity." [Ezekiel 18:30] Say to the children of my people, Though your sins reach from earth to heaven, and though they be redder than scarlet, and blacker than sack-cloth, yet if you turn to me with your whole heart, and say, Father! I will listen to you, as to a holy people. [2 Chronicles 7:14] And in another place He speaks thus: "Wash you and become clean; put away the wickedness of your souls from before my eyes; cease from your evil ways, and learn to do well; seek out judgment, deliver the oppressed, judge the fatherless, and see that justice is done to the widow; and come, and let us reason together. He declares, Though your sins be like crimson, I will make them white as snow; though they be like scarlet, I will whiten them like wool. And if you be willing and obey me, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse, and will not hearken unto me, the sword shall devour you, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things." [Isaiah 1:16-20] Desiring, therefore, that all His beloved should be partakers of repentance, He has, by His almighty will, established [these declarations].
Clement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 8
Beloved, see how the prophet predicted the washing of baptism. For the person who comes to the washing of regeneration with faith, renounces the devil, joins himself to Christ, denies the enemy, confesses that Christ is God, puts off the bondage and puts on the adoption is the one who emerges from the baptism “as bright as the sun,” shining with beams of righteousness and, most importantly, returns a child of God and a joint heir with Christ.
On the Theophany 10
Let us become as clean as is possible. Let us wash away our sins. And the prophet teaches us how to wash them away, saying, “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, put away from my eyes the evil of your souls.” … See that we must first cleanse ourselves, and then God cleanses us. He first said, “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean,” and then said, “I will make you white.” … The power of repentance is then tremendous as it makes us white as snow and wool, even though sin had stained our souls.
On the Epistle to the Hebrews 12:4
I say this, for in the prophet’s words he does not mean bathing by water—the Jewish method of purification—but the purifying of the conscience. Let us also, then, be clean.
Homilies on the Gospel of John 70
Let us accept the medicine that obliterates our failures. Repentance is not what is spoken in words but what is confirmed by deeds, the repentance that obliterates the filth of impiety from the heart.… Why “before my eyes”? Because the eyes of people see differently, and the eye of God sees differently.… “Do not adulterate repentance with pretense,” he says, “but, before my eyes, which examine what is secret, reveal the fruits of repentance.”
Homilies on Repentance and Almsgiving 7:3.10
“You are being washed; be clean.” Instead of the sacrifices named above and holocausts and the abundance of fat and the blood of bulls and goats, instead of incense and new moons, the sabbath feast day and fastings, festivals and other solemnities, the religion of the gospel is what pleases me, that you would be baptized in my blood through the washing of regeneration, which alone is able to remove sins. For no one will enter the kingdom of heaven who has not been reborn from water and the spirit. And the Lord himself, ascending to the Father, said, “Go and teach all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
Commentary on Isaiah 1:1.16
(Verse 16.) Wash yourselves, be clean. For the previous sacrifices, and burnt offerings, and the fat of the rich, and the blood of bulls and goats: and for the incense and new moons, sabbaths, feast days and fasts, calends and other solemnities, the religion of the Gospel is pleasing to me: that you may be baptized in my blood through the washing of regeneration, which alone can forgive sins. For unless one is born again of water and the Spirit, they will not enter the kingdom of heaven (John 3:5) . The Lord himself, ascending to the Father, said: Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).
Remove the evil of your thoughts from my sight. As John the Baptist said: 'Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit worthy of repentance.' (Matt. III, 7; Luke III, 7) So, whoever has received Christ's baptism, let them remove evil from their heart and cease to do evil, and afterwards learn to do good, according to what is commanded elsewhere: 'Turn away from evil and do good.' (Ps. XXXVI, 27)
Learn to do good. Therefore virtue must be learned, and the good of nature alone is not sufficient for justice, unless someone is educated in appropriate disciplines (I Pet. II, 11). Jesus also son of Sirach speaks as follows: You have desired wisdom, keep the commandments, and the Lord will give it to you. And in the following, the same Isaiah mentions: Everyone who has not learned justice on earth will not do truth (Ch. XXVI, 10, sec. LXX). Therefore, justice must be learned, and the thresholds of wise teachers must be worn away.
Commentary on Isaiah
He [the one who is fasting] will wash his face, that is, cleanse his heart, with which he will see God, no veil being interposed on account of the infirmity contracted from squalor; but being firm and steadfast, inasmuch as he is pure and guileless.… From the squalor, therefore, by which the eye of God is offended, our face is to be washed.
Sermon on the Mount 2:42
So present yourself to such a head as a body worthy of him, to such a bridegroom as a worthy bride.… This is the bride of Christ, without stain or wrinkle. Do you wish to have no stain? Do what is written.… Do you wish to have no wrinkle? Stretch yourself on the cross. You see, you do not only need to be washed but also to be stretched, in order to be without stain or wrinkle; because by the washing sins are removed, while by the stretching a desire is created for the future life, which is what Christ was crucified for.
Sermon 341:13
For he neglects being clean after washing, whosoever after tears keeps not innocency of life. And they therefore are washed, but are in no wise clean, who cease not to bewail the things they have committed, but commit again things to be bewailed. Hence it is said through Isaiah, Wash you, be ye clean.
Pastoral Care 3:30
Now they ask wrongly who persevere in sins and ill-advisedly entreat the Lord to forgive them the sins they do not at all forgive [others]. He condemns such as these through [the mouth of] Isaiah.… Still, having regard for such as these, Isaiah shows in what way they can obtain what they plead for when he goes on.
Homilies on the Gospels 2:14
52. Wash yourselves. Here he sets out salutary counsel. And concerning this, he does three things:
first, he gives the efficacious remedy;
second, the effect of the remedy, where it says, come, and accuse me (Isa 1:18);
third, the punishment for contempt, where it says, but if you will not (Isa 1:20).
The remedy consists in two things:
in fleeing evil
and following good, where it says, learn to do well (Isa 1:17).
Evil is fled in two ways:
through the purgation of past evil; and as to this, he says, wash yourselves: wash your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that you mayst be saved: how long shall hurtful thoughts abide in you? (Jer 4:14).
Second, through precaution against future evil, and this comes about in three ways:
that one not think evils in one's heart: be clean: he that loves cleanness of heart, for the grace of his lips shall have the king for his friend (Prov 22:11);
that one not fulfill such imagined deeds: take away the evil, namely, the evil deed: woe to you that devise that which is unprofitable, and work evil in your beds: in the morning light they execute it (Mic 2:1);
that one not finish evils already begun: cease to do perversely: keep your foot from being bare, and your throat from thirst (Jer 2:25); as a swift runner pursuing his course (Jer 2:23).
Commentary on Isaiah
learn to do well; diligently seek judgment, deliver him that is suffering wrong, plead for the orphan, and obtain justice for the widow.
μάθετε καλὸν ποιεῖν, ἐκζητήσατε κρίσιν, ῥύσασθε ἀδικούμενον, κρίνατε ὀρφανῷ καὶ δικαιώσατε χήραν·
Наꙋчи́тесѧ добро̀ твори́ти, взыщи́те сꙋда̀, и҆зба́вите ѡ҆би́димаго, сꙋди́те си́рꙋ и҆ ѡ҆правди́те вдови́цꙋ,
God offers a brief summary through the prophet Isaiah of the honor that widows enjoy in the sight of God.… The Father defends these two types of people [widows and orphans] through divine mercy in proportion to their being destitute of human aid. Look how the widow’s benefactor is put on a level with the widow herself, whose champion shall “reason with the Lord.”
To His Wife 8
Do you see the great importance God places on mercy and of standing up for those who have been treated unjustly? We should pursue these good works, and by the grace of God will we receive the blessings to come.
On the Epistle to the Hebrews 12:4
If you must visit someone, prefer to pay honor to orphans, widows and those in want rather than those who enjoy reputation and fame.
Baptismal Instructions 6:12
If you have pity on the widow, your sins are washed away.
Homilies on 1 Corinthians 23:6
53. Learn to do well. Here he gives the remedy as to the following of good.
And first, that they learn it;
second, that they fulfill it in deed, where it says, relieve the oppressed.
For someone does good in ordering himself, and as to this he says, learn to do well: be you instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from you, lest I make you desolate, a land uninhabited (Jer 6:8); in regard to one's neighbor, and he says, seek judgment: the cause which I knew not, I searched out most diligently (Job 29:16); stand on the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths (Jer 6:16).
54. Relieve the oppressed. Here he places the fulfillment of the work in assisting the needy. However, one can be made needy either by violence, and as to this he says, relieve the oppressed: deliver them that are led to death: and those that are drawn to death, forbear not to deliver (Prov 24:11); or the ignorance of youth: judge for the fatherless: in judging be to the fatherless as a father (Sir 4:10); or the weakness of one's sex: defend the widow: the ear that heard me blessed me, and the eye that saw me gave witness to me (Job 29:11).
Commentary on Isaiah
And come, let us reason together, saith the Lord: and though your sins be as purple, I will make them white as snow; and though they be as scarlet, I will make [them] white as wool.
καὶ δεῦτε διαλεχθῶμεν, λέγει Κύριος· καὶ ἐὰν ὦσιν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι ὑμῶν ὡς φοινικοῦν, ὡς χιόνα λευκανῶ, ἐὰν δὲ ὦσιν ὡς κόκκινον, ὡς ἔριον λευκανῶ.
и҆ прїиди́те, и҆ и҆стѧ́жимсѧ, гл҃етъ гдⷭ҇ь. И҆ а҆́ще бꙋ́дꙋтъ грѣсѝ ва́ши ꙗ҆́кѡ багрѧ́ное, ꙗ҆́кѡ снѣ́гъ ᲂу҆бѣлю̀: а҆́ще же бꙋ́дꙋтъ ꙗ҆́кѡ червле́ное, ꙗ҆́кѡ во́лнꙋ ᲂу҆бѣлю̀.
And how those who have sinned and repent shall escape their sins, is declared by Esaias the prophet, as I wrote above; he thus speaks: "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from your souls; learn to do well; judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow: and come and let us reason together, saith the Lord. And though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white like wool; and though they be as crimson, I will make them white as snow. But if ye refuse and rebel, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."
The First Apology, Chapter LXI
In the scarlet color he indicates the blood of the prophets; in the crimson, that of the Lord, as the brighter.
Against Marcion 4.10
The great physician of souls is ready to cure your suffering; he is the ready liberator, not of you alone, but of all those enslaved by sin.
Letter 46
The Father will be seated, having “his garment white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool.” This is spoken anthropomorphically. And the spiritual sense? That he is the King of such as are not defiled with sins. For God says, “Your sins shall be as white as snow, and shall be as wool.” Wool is the emblem of forgiveness of sins, as also of innocence.
Catechetical Lecture 15:19-21
[One] who is baptized is seen to be purified both according to the law and according to the gospel. According to the law, because Moses sprinkled the blood of the lamb with a bunch of hyssop; according to the gospel, because Christ’s garments were white as snow, when in the gospel he manifested the glory of his resurrection, [one] then whose guilt is remitted is made whiter than snow.
On the Mysteries 7:34
What shall I say of human judgments, since in the judgments of God the Jews are set forth as having offended the Lord in nothing more than violating what was due to widows and the rights of minors? This is proclaimed by the voices of the prophets as the cause that brought upon the Jews the penalty of rejection. This is mentioned as the only cause that will mitigate the wrath of God against their sin, if they honor the widow and execute true judgment for minors. Here also the likeness of the church is foreshadowed. You see, then, holy widows, that that office which is honored by the assistance of divine grace must not be degraded by impure desire.
Concerning Widows 2:13
Should you have gone all lengths in wickedness, yet say to yourself, God is loving to humanity and desires our salvation.… Let us not therefore give up in despair; for to fall is not so grievous as to lie where we have fallen; nor to be wounded so dreadful as after wounds to refuse healing.… These things I say not to make you more negligent but to prevent your despairing.
Homilies on 1 Corinthians 8:8 (4)
Why do you deck out your body while you neglect your soul, enslaved as it is by impurity? Why do you not give as much thought to your soul as to your body? You ought, rather, to give it more care. Beloved, you ought at least to give it an equal amount of thought. Tell me, please, if someone should ask you which you would prefer: for your body to be glowing in health and to excel in beauty but to be clad in mean clothing, or for your body to be crippled and full of disease but adorned with gold and lavishly decked out—would you not choose by far to possess beauty as part of the very nature of your body rather than merely in the outward covering of your clothes? If so, will you make this choice with regard to your body but just the opposite one in the case of your soul? If it is foul and noxious and black, what fruit do you think you will enjoy from your golden ornaments? But what insanity is this?Apply this adornment within yourself and place these necklaces around your soul. For the ornaments placed about the body do not contribute either to its health or its beauty, since they do not make what is white, black—or what is discreditable, beautiful or good-looking. If you place ornaments about your soul, on the contrary, they quickly make it white instead of black, beautiful and comely instead of foul and deformed.
Homilies on the Gospel of John 69
(Verse 18) Seek justice, come to the aid of the oppressed, judge the orphan, defend the widow; and come, argue with me," says the Lord. The sacrificial laws of the Jews are replaced by the commands of the Gospel, and therefore provision is made for orphans and widows, so that the spouses and children can proceed to war without concern for their protection. But when you do these things, argue with me if I do not give the rewards that I have promised. However, when he says, "Seek justice," he shows that not everyone judges correctly, but only those who are prudent. Finally, Solomon, in a vision through a dream, asked this of the Lord: that having received wisdom, he would justly judge the people.
If your sins are scarlet, they shall be made white as snow; and if they are red like crimson, they shall be white as wool. The primary order is this: for it is not enough to say 'be washed', unless it is joined with 'be made clean': so that after the washing of the heart they may have the purity of life. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8). And when they have the purity of heart, they must remove evil from their minds, not in the sight of men, but in the sight of God, who can conceal nothing. And that joins: Rest from acting perversely, that Evangelical saying sounds: Behold, you have been made whole: now do not sin, lest something worse happen to you (John 5, 14). Therefore, departing from vices, let him learn what is good, seek judgment, assist the oppressed, support the orphan and the widow: and if he does this, then the sins, which were previously as scarlet, will be forgiven: and the works of blood and flesh will be changed by the garment of the Lord, which is made from the fleece of the Lamb, whom they follow in the Apocalypse (Chapter 5), those who shine with the whiteness of virginity.
Commentary on Isaiah
What is surprising about white garments symbolizing the church?
Sermon 78:2
Humankind has need of God’s grace not only to be made just when they are wicked, when they are changed, that is, from wicked to just, and when they are given good in return for evil, but grace must accompany them, and they must lean on it in order not to fall. This is why it is written of the church in the Song of Songs: “Who is this that comes up clad in white, leaning upon her kinsman?” For she who could not do this of herself has been made white. And who has made her white but him who says by the prophet, “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow”? She was not gaining any good merit then at the time she was made white. But now that she has been made white, she walks aright, provided only that she continues to lean upon him who made her white. Accordingly, Jesus himself, upon whom the church leans, now that she has been made white, said to his disciples, “Without me you can do nothing.”
On Grace and Free Will 6
Such therefore being the promises made by God to them that turn to him, don’t delay … but draw near to Christ, our loving God, and be enlightened, and your face shall not be ashamed. For as soon as you go down into the bath of holy baptism, all the defilement of the old nature and all the burden of your many sins are buried in the water and pass into nothingness. And you come up from there a new person, pure from all pollution, with no spot or wrinkle of sin upon you.
Barlaam and Joseph 32
55. And then come. Here he promises the effect, and concerning this he sets out three things.
First, the obligation of the one who promises, where he says, come, and accuse me, as if to say: if you do what I say, and what I promise does not follow, I oblige myself that you should accuse me. Job mourned this: there is none that may be able to reprove both, and to put his hand between both (9:33).
Second, the ending of evils: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow; and he promises especially cleansing from sins. Because when the cause has ceased, the effect ceases, he touches on two kinds of sin:
that which is from burning love, which he indicates by scarlet because of its intense redness, against which he places the whiteness of cold snow: if I be washed, as it were, with snow waters, and my hands shall shine ever clean (Job 9:30–31);
and that which is from deadening fear, which is indicated by crimson, whose color approaches whiteness, against which he places wool: in the multitude of diverse riches, in wool of the best color (Ezek 27:18); his garment was like white snow, and the hair of his head like clean wool (Dan 7:9).
Commentary on Isaiah
Virtue is not the absence of vices or the avoidance of moral dangers; virtue is a vivid and separate thing, like pain or a particular smell. Mercy does not mean not being cruel or sparing people revenge or punishment; it means a plain and positive thing like the sun, which one has either seen or not seen. Chastity does not mean abstention from sexual wrong; it means something flaming, like Joan of Arc. In a word, God paints in many colours; but He never paints so gorgeously, I had almost said so gaudily, as when He paints in white.
Tremendous Trifles, A Piece of Chalk (1909)
Whatever may be the meaning of the contradiction, it is the fact that the only kind of charity which any weak spirit wants, or which any generous spirit feels, is the charity which forgives the sins that are like scarlet.
Heretics, Ch. 12: Paganism and Mr. Lowes Dickinson (1905)
Now, the profligate is he who wishes to spread this crimson of conscious joy over everything; to have excitement at every moment; to paint everything red. He bursts a thousand barrels of wine to incarnadine the streets; and sometimes (in his last madness) he will butcher beasts and men to dip his gigantic brushes in their blood. For it marks the sacredness of red in nature, that it is secret even when it is ubiquitous, like blood in the human body, which is omnipresent, yet invisible. As long as blood lives it is hidden; it is only dead blood that we see. But the earlier parts of the rake's progress are very natural and amusing. Painting the town red is a delightful thing until it is done. It would be splendid to see the cross of St. Paul's as red as the cross of St. George, and the gallons of red paint running down the dome or dripping from the Nelson Column. But when it is done, when you have painted the town red, an extraordinary thing happens. You cannot see any red at all.
I can see, as in a sort of vision, the successful artist standing in the midst of that frightful city, hung on all sides with the scarlet of his shame. And then, when everything is red, he will long for a red rose in a green hedge and long in vain; he will dream of a red leaf and be unable even to imagine it. He has desecrated the divine colour, and he can no longer see it, though it is all around. I see him, a single black figure against the red-hot hell that he has kindled, where spires and turrets stand up like immobile flames: he is stiffened in a sort of agony of prayer. Then the mercy of Heaven is loosened, and I see one or two flakes of snow very slowly begin to fall.
Alarms and Discursions, The Red Town (1910)
And if ye be willing, and hearken to me, ye shall eat the good of the land:
καὶ ἐὰν θέλητε καὶ εἰσακούσητέ μου, τὰ ἀγαθὰ τῆς γῆς φάγεσθε·
И҆ а҆́ще хо́щете и҆ послꙋ́шаете менѐ, блага̑ѧ землѝ снѣ́сте:
This passage means the blessings that await the flesh when in the kingdom of God it shall be renewed, and made like the angels, and waiting to obtain the things “which neither eye has seen nor ear heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man.”
On the Resurrection of the Flesh 26
Scripture promised these good things to the faithful when it said, “You shall eat the good things of the land.” That we may obtain the good things, let us be like that good, the good that is without iniquity and without deceit and without severity but is with grace and holiness and purity and benevolence and love and justice. Thus goodness, like a prolific mother, embraces all the virtues.
Flight from the World 6:36
Do you perceive that there is need only of the will? Of the will—not merely that faculty which is the common possession of all people—but good will. To be sure, I know that all people even now wish to fly up to heaven, but it is necessary to bring that desire to fruition by one’s works.
Homilies on the Gospel of John 1
Perhaps one will say, “I am willing (and no one is so void of understanding as not to be willing) but to will is not sufficient for me.” No, it is sufficient, if you be duly willing and do the deeds of one that is willing. But as it is, you are not greatly willing.…[One] that wills a thing as he ought puts also his hand to the means which lead to the object of his desire.
Homilies on 1 Corinthians 14:5 (3)
19–20(Verse 19, 26.) If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Free will is preserved, so that on either side, not by the prejudice of God, but by the merits of each individual, there may be either punishment or reward. By the good of the land, I believe those things are meant that we read of in the psalm: I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living (Psalm 27:13); and: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth (Matthew 5:3). Certainly, because he spoke to the Jews, who were not yet able to understand spiritual things, he promises them the goods of the present age, so that they may at least be enticed by the present things and do what is commanded. And because they did not want to listen, but on the contrary provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, therefore the sword devoured them, that is, the Roman army destroyed them. And he says that all these things will happen because the mouth of the Lord has spoken. His judgment, with the sins of men remaining, cannot be changed.
Commentary on Isaiah
Who understands clearly how the sum of salvation is attributed to our will?…What does this all mean except that in each of these cases both the grace of God and our freedom of will are affirmed, since even by his own activity a person can occasionally be brought to a desire for virtue, but he always needs to be helped by the Lord.
Conference 13:9.2, 4
There is also the Pelagians’ second wickedness, for they so attribute free will to their human powers that they believe that they can devise or enact some good of their own accord without God’s grace.… You interpret these and similar passages most perversely, believing that people take the first step of their good intentions of their own accord and subsequently obtain the help of the Godhead, so that (to express the matter sacrilegiously) we are the cause of his kindness and he is not the cause of his own.
Exposition of the Psalms 50:7
Third, the restoration of good things is set out: if you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land. I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living (Ps 26[27]:13); you shall eat, below: behold my servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry (Isa 65:13).
Commentary on Isaiah
but if ye be not willing, nor hearken to me, a sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this.
ἐὰν δὲ μὴ θέλητε, μηδὲ εἰσακούσητέ μου, μάχαιρα ὑμᾶς κατέδεται· τὸ γὰρ στόμα Κυρίου ἐλάλησε ταῦτα.
а҆́ще же не хо́щете, нижѐ послꙋ́шаете менѐ, ме́чь вы̀ поѧ́стъ: ᲂу҆ста́ бо гдⷭ҇нѧ гл҃аша сїѧ̑.
And that expression, "The sword shall devour you," does not mean that the disobedient shall be slain by the sword, but the sword of God is fire, of which they who choose to do wickedly become the fuel. Wherefore He says, "The sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." And if He had spoken concerning a sword that cuts and at once despatches, He would not have said, shall devour.
The First Apology, Chapter XLIV
Moreover, we know that even holy people have been given over bodily to Satan or to great sufferings on account of some slight sins. For the divine clemency does not permit the least blemish or stain to be found in them on the day of judgment. According to the words of the prophet, which are in fact God’s, he purges away all the dross of their uncleanness in the present so that he may bring them to eternity like fire-tried gold or silver, in need of no penal cleansing.
Conference 7:25.2
He who forgives sins is proclaimed to be just and merciful; we know with the greatest of ease that the forgiveness of sins is granted only to the converted, and the punishment of eternal damnation is inflicted only on those who remain in sin.…In Isaiah is found a similar declaration from the divine Word against the recalcitrant who scorn the divine clemency. In this declaration it is made known that one obeys the divine commands not without reason and that one does not remain in evil without punishment.… Who, I ask, is so hard and altogether inert that, in these words of the highest admonition, if he is not called to conversion out of the pleasure of what is promised, he is not at least compelled by the fear of punishment? Salvation will not accept the one who scorns the divine words, but the sword will devour him.
On the Forgiveness of Sins 1:11.2-3
56. But if you will not. He sets out the punishment for contempt.
And first, he sets out the contempt, saying: but if you will not: as I purposed to afflict you, when your fathers had provoked me to wrath (Zech 8:14).
Second, he threatens the sword of vengeance: the sword shall devour you: I will draw out a sword after them. And I will accomplish my fury, and will cause my indignation to rest upon them (Ezek 5:12–13).
Third, he shows that the judgment is immutable: because the mouth of the Lord has spoken it: God is not a man, that he should lie, nor is the son of man, that he should be changed (Num 23:19).
Commentary on Isaiah
How has the faithful city Sion, [once] full of judgment, become a harlot! wherein righteousness lodged, but now murderers.
Πῶς ἐγένετο πόρνη πόλις πιστὴ Σιών, πλήρης κρίσεως, ἐν ᾗ δικαιοσύνη ἐκοιμήθη ἐν αὐτῇ, νῦν δὲ φονευταί.
Ка́кѡ бы́сть блꙋдни́ца гра́дъ вѣ́рный сїѡ́нъ по́лнъ сꙋда̀; въ не́мже пра́вда почива́ше, нн҃ѣ же (въ не́мъ) ᲂу҆бі̑йцы.
(Verse 21) How has the faithful city become a harlot, full of judgment: justice dwelled in it but now murderers. The Hebrew word Jalin (), which the LXX translated, means slept; and it rested, and it will rest, that is, it signifies the past and future tense. Hence, both Aquila and Theodotio say it as if in the future. But the Prophet marvels in a prophetic spirit that the city which was once faithful, or a refuge for the faithful, has suddenly become a harlot. Which indeed can be understood even in the time of Isaiah: but it is more fully referred to the passion of Christ, when all turned away, together became useless (Ps. XIII, 3). And although in Hebrew there is no Zion: yet the Seventy, in order to make the meaning more evident, added it. But Zion is a mountain on which the city of Jerusalem was founded: which, after being captured by David, was called the city of David. Nor do I doubt that there were holy men in it when it had the tabernacle of God, and afterwards the Temple was built: when Nathan and Gad prophesied: and over the choirs (which are more fully described in the book of Chronicles) Asaph, and Idithun, and Eman, and the sons of Kore were appointed, so that religion might gradually transition from the sacrifices of victims to the praises of the Lord (I Chr. XXV). Therefore, the city of the faithful, which was once full of judgment and justice, now is full of murderers: those who killed the prophets and the Lord Himself, the Savior. But Jerusalem's fornication, how she spread her legs to everyone passing by, is depicted by the name Oolibah in the book of Ezekiel, which means 'my tent is in her,' which is now expressed in different words as 'justice has rested in her.' For 'justice' in Hebrew is written as Sedec (), which sounds more like 'just' than 'justice,' so that we may understand that the Lord dwelled in her first, as it is said elsewhere: 'But what has the just one done?' The Lord is in his holy temple: the Lord's throne is in heaven. (Psalm 11:4) We can interpret all these things allegorically in reference to the soul of a once holy man, in which God's righteousness resided before he sinned, and in which demonic murderers dwelled as guests of God.
Commentary on Isaiah
57. How is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a harlot? Here he shows their sin of turning away from justice towards one's neighbor. And concerning this, he does three things:
first, he describes the fault;
second, he threatens punishment, where it says, therefore says the Lord (Isa 1:24);
third, what follows the punishment, where it says, and I will restore (Isa 1:26).
Concerning the first, he first denounces the sin of the people;
second, the sin of the priest, where it says, your silver is turned into dross (Isa 1:22);
third, the sin of the princes, where it says, your princes are faithless (Isa 1:23).
In the people, he denounces two sins, adding to their weight by comparison to their prior state:
namely, he denounces their venality by comparison to their prior fidelity, hence how is the faithful city become a harlot? Under every green tree, and on every high hill you didst prostitute yourself (Jer 2:20);
and their cruelty by comparison to justice and to judgment, which is the execution of justice: until justice be turned into judgment (Ps 93[94]:15); hence he says, but now murderers: cursing, and lying, and killing, and theft, and adultery, have overflowed, and blood has touched blood (Hos 4:2).
Commentary on Isaiah
Your silver is worthless, thy wine merchants mix the wine with water.
τὸ ἀργύριον ὑμῶν ἀδόκιμον· οἱ κάπηλοί σου μίσγουσι τὸν οἶνον ὕδατι·
Сребро̀ ва́ше неискꙋше́но, корчє́мницы твоѝ мѣша́ютъ вїно̀ съ водо́ю.
Someone who looks at what is done divinely by the Word and denies the body, or looks at what is proper to the body and denies the Word’s presence in the flesh or from what is human, entertains low thoughts concerning the Word … as a Jewish vintner, mixing water with the wine, shall account the cross an offense, or as a Gentile, will deem the preaching folly.
Discourses Against the Arians 3.26
And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as the many, able to corrupt the word of truth and mix the wine, which makes glad the heart of man, with water. [We do not] mix, that is, our doctrine with what is common and cheap, and debased, and stale, and tasteless, in order to turn the adulteration to our profit and accommodate ourselves to those who meet us, and curry favor with everyone. [We do not] become ventriloquists and chatterers, who serve their own pleasures by words uttered from the earth, and sink into the earth, and, to gain the special good will of the multitude, injure in the highest degree, no, ruin ourselves, and shed the innocent blood of simpler souls, which will be required at our hands.
In Defense of His Flight, Oration 2:46
(Verse 22.) Your silver has turned into dross. The city of Zion speaks, in which righteousness once rested: that silver, namely the doctrine of the Scriptures, about which we read in the Psalms: The words of the Lord are pure words: silver tried by fire, purified seven times (Psalm 12:6), has turned into dross, which in Hebrew is called Sigim: namely, the rust of metals, or impurities and dirt, which are refined by fire, so that it may keep the metaphor because he mentioned silver. However, it can also be said that the righteous and holy men who previously lived in the city later fell into the filth of sins.
Your innkeepers mix wine with water. For Symmachus translated, Your wine is mixed with water. And the meaning is: The law of God, pure and sincere, and (so to speak) supported by pure truth (Matth. XV), was violated by the traditions of the Pharisees: which the Lord more fully teaches in the Gospel, that they have neglected the law of God and followed the commandments of men. And every teacher who, as much as he can, corrects those who listen to the severity of the Scriptures, turns them towards grace: and he speaks in such a way that he does not correct but pleases his listeners; he violates the wine of the holy Scriptures and corrupts it with his own interpretation. Heretics also corrupt the evangelical truth with wicked intelligence, and they are the worst merchants, making water out of wine, when on the contrary our Lord turned water into wine (John 2), and such wine that the master of the feast marveled at; just as the queen of Sheba marveled at the attendants and wine stewards at the banquet of Solomon, praising them with her voice (2 Chronicles 9). But even Ecclesiastes describes the ministries of wine and his own banquet in mystical language (Ecclesiastes 2). Aquila, συμπόσιον, that is, convivium, is interpreted as a drinking party, which among the Greeks is rightly called ἀπὸ τοῦ πότου, but among us it is more accurately referred to as a feast.
Commentary on Isaiah
58. He denounces the sin of the priest in two matters.
In corrupting the truth of doctrine: hence he says, your silver is turned into dross: the words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried by the fire, purged from the earth, refined seven times (Ps 11:7[12:6]). The prophets prophesied falsehood (Jer 5:31).
Second, in relaxing the severity of discipline, which is signified by wine, for this is the wine which the Samaritan poured in (Luke 10:34); hence he says, your wine is mingled with water: woe to them that sew cushions under every elbow (Ezek 13:18).
Commentary on Isaiah
Thy princes are rebellious, companions of thieves, loving bribes, seeking after rewards; not pleading for orphans, and not heeding the cause of widows.
οἱ ἄρχοντές σου ἀπειθοῦσι, κοινωνοὶ κλεπτῶν ἀγαπῶντες δῶρα, διώκοντες ἀνταπόδομα, ὀρφανοῖς οὐ κρίνοντες καὶ κρίσιν χηρῶν οὐ προσέχοντες.
Кнѧ̑зи твоѝ не покарѧ́ютсѧ, ѡ҆́бщницы татє́мъ, лю́бѧще да́ры, гонѧ́ще воздаѧ́нїе, си̑рымъ не сꙋдѧ́щїи и҆ сꙋдꙋ̀ вдови́цъ не внима́ющїи.
(Verse 23.) Your leaders were disobedient, partners of thieves. Aquila, departing from the disobedient, interpreted for Symmachus, who turned aside. But the leaders called the scribes and the Pharisees, who departed from the Lord, indeed, abandoning the path of truth, they walked in a crooked way, and became accomplices of the traitor and the thieves of Judah. Indeed, we must be careful not to be called thieves ourselves, but rather partners of thieves, by accepting gifts from the people of the world who accumulate riches through the tears of the poor and through robberies. And it is said to us, You saw a thief, and you ran with him, and with adulterers you set your portion (Ps. 49:18).
Everyone loves gifts, they pursue rewards. Even those who love gifts are counted among the vices. It is not said about those who receive: for this often happens out of necessity; but about those who do not consider friends unless they have received gifts from them: they do not consider their friends' faces, but their hands; and they judge as holy those whose purse they empty; about whom Ecclesiastes also speaks: Whoever loves money will not be satisfied with money (Eccles. V, 9). Such are the following retaliations, that they praise those from whom they have received something, or certainly they give nothing unless they think they will receive it from whom. As for retaliations, Symmachus interpreted them as vicissitudes or vengeance, so that those who repay evil for evil and tooth for tooth, eye for eye (Exod. XXI) are also at fault; and they do not imitate that of David: If I have repaid those who repay me with evil (Psal. VII, 5); and of Jeremiah saying of the just man: He will give his cheek to the striker, he will be filled with reproaches (Lam. III, 30): to fulfill the Evangelical man, about whom it is said: If someone strikes you on the cheek, offer him the other cheek also (Matth. V, 39).
Commentary on Isaiah
59. Your princes are faithless. Here he denounces the sin of the princes.
And first, he shows that they are unfaithful in executing their office, because they do so for their own advantage and not that of the people: that anoint themselves with the best ointments, that drink wine in bowls (Amos 6:6); woe to the shepherds of Israel, that feed themselves: should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds? (Ezek 34:2); and because of this, he says they are faithless.
Second, he shows that they are transgressors in receiving evildoers: companions of thieves, defending them and pleading their causes: like the jaws of highway robbers are the princes of the priests (Hos 6:9); son, walk not you with them (Prov 1:15).
Third, he shows that they are corrupt in receiving bribes, below: woe to you that justify the wicked for gifts, and take away the justice of the just from him (Isa 5:23); hence he says, they all love bribes, received, they run after rewards, promised or hoped for.
Fourth, he shows that they are unjust in spurning the poor, saying, they judge not for the fatherless: they have not judged the cause of the widow, they have not managed the cause of the fatherless (Jer 5:28).
Commentary on Isaiah
Therefore thus saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, Woe to the mighty [men] of Israel; for my wrath shall not cease against mine adversaries, and I will execute judgment on mine enemies.
διὰ τοῦτο τάδε λέγει Κύριος ὁ δεσπότης σαβαώθ, ὁ δυνάστης τοῦ ᾿Ισραήλ· οὐαὶ τοῖς ἰσχύουσιν ἐν ῾Ιερουσαλήμ· οὐ παύσεται γάρ μου ὁ θυμὸς ἐν τοῖς ὑπεναντίοις, καὶ κρίσιν ἐκ τῶν ἐχθρῶν μου ποιήσω.
Сегѡ̀ ра́ди та́кѡ гл҃етъ влⷣка гдⷭ҇ь саваѡ́ѳъ: го́ре крѣ̑пкимъ во і҆и҃ли: не преста́нетъ бо ꙗ҆́рость моѧ̀ на проти̑вныѧ, и҆ сꙋ́дъ врагѡ́мъ мои̑мъ сотворю̀:
(Verse 24) For this reason, says the Lord of hosts, the strong one of Israel: For the strong one of Israel, because they all similarly changed, only the seventy, desiring something unknown, set down: Woe to the strong ones of Israel; which we can explain in this way, saying, even the princes and the robust ones will be rebuked, of whom it is written: The powerful ones will bear torments powerfully (Wisdom 6:7); and: To whom much is given, much will be required from him (Luke 12:48). We will use this testimony, if ever there is a need to oppose the leaders of the Church, who undermine their own dignity with their actions.
Alas, I will find comfort in my enemies, and I will avenge my adversaries. Furthermore, in this, which is not found in Hebrew, they place the Seventy, 'For my wrath has not ceased against my enemies.' However, the Scribe and the Pharisees are rebuked, of whom also it speaks in the Gospel: Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees! (Matthew 23:13ff). And in another place: An adulterous and perverse generation seeks a sign, and a sign will not be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet (Matthew 12:39). But the most merciful Father laments over the guilty princes and calls them his enemies, and he calls his enemies, because they perish, because they do not want to repent, because they did not receive him when he came. As he approached Jerusalem, he wept and said: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the Prophets and stones those who were sent to you, how often I wanted to gather your children, as a hen gathers her chicks, and you did not want to! Therefore, the consolation of God towards his enemies and adversaries is that those who have not perceived his kindness may be corrected by punishments.
Commentary on Isaiah
60. Therefore says the Lord. Here he threatens punishment:
and first, the punishment of the superiors;
second, of the subjects, where it says, and I will turn my hand to you (Isa 1:25).
Concerning the first, he sets out three things.
First, the power of the one who punishes in authority, saying, the Lord: if I be a master, where is my fear, says the Lord (Mal 1:6); in the multitude of his ministers: the God of hosts: is there any numbering of his soldiers? (Job 25:3); in multitude, the mighty one: he is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has resisted him, and has had peace? (Job 9:4).
Second, he sets out the will of the one who punishes: ah, namely, to them, I will comfort myself, because my comfort will be their punishment. Below: the day of vengeance is in my heart, the year of my retribution is come (Isa 63:4).
Third, he sets out the harshness of the punishment, where it says, and I will be revenged of my enemies, as if to say, I will punish you like enemies: I will render vengeance to my enemies, and repay them that hate me (Deut 32:41).
Commentary on Isaiah
And I will bring my hand upon thee, and purge thee completely, and I will destroy the rebellious, and will take away from thee all transgressors.
καὶ ἐπάξω τὴν χεῖρά μου ἐπὶ σὲ καὶ πυρώσω σε εἰς καθαρόν, τοὺς δὲ ἀπειθοῦντας ἀπολέσω καὶ ἀφελῶ πάντας ἀνόμους ἀπὸ σοῦ καὶ πάντας ὑπηφάνους ταπεινώσω.
и҆ наведꙋ̀ рꙋ́кꙋ мою̀ на тѧ̀, и҆ разжегꙋ̀ въ чистотꙋ̀, непокарѧ́ющихсѧ же погꙋблю̀, и҆ ѿимꙋ̀ всѣ́хъ беззако́нныхъ ѿ тебє̀, и҆ всѣ́хъ го́рдыхъ смирю̀.
25–26For we will not mimic the false prophets who say that most things have been done by them. This is the meaning of “to corrupt,” when someone dilutes the wine, or when someone sells something which ought to be given away freely. He seems to me to be both taunting them regarding money and hinting at the fact that they have mingled the things of God with their own things, as I have said. This is the accusation of Isaiah, who says, “Your wine merchants mingle wine with water.” Even if this statement were about wine, one would not sin to say it of doctrine as well. He says, “We do not do this, but we offer to you what we have been given, pouring out the undiluted word.”
Homilies on 2 Corinthians 5:3
25–26[This concerns] the faithful city of Zion, which later became a harlot. In place of the righteous, or righteousness, murderers dwelled within her. The Lord, therefore, turned his hand and purged her of impurities and removed all her alloy and restored her judges as at the beginning, and her counselors as of old. The prior judges were Moses and Joshua the son of Nun, and others from whom a book of sacred Scripture received its name. Later, David and other righteous kings were added. He will restore, therefore, a judge like them, or after the Babylonian captivity, as the Jews desire, Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah and other leaders who presided over the people until Hyrcanus, whom Herod succeeded as king. In any event, the apostles and those who believed through the apostles were established as more trustworthy and upright leaders of the church, in keeping with what we said at the beginning of this vision, namely, that both the threat and the promise pertain to the time of the Lord’s passion and to the faith that formed the church after his passion. “Afterward you will be called the city of the righteous, a faithful city.” This prophetic word clearly embraces the church, composed of both the Jews and the Gentiles who would come to believe in the Lord. It is also the city of the righteous, that is, of the Lord our Savior, for she herself is called righteous about whom it was said, “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” Thus, calling her faithful, or metropolim according to the Septuagint, it shows that those who will believe in the Lord must also be known by these titles.
Commentary on Isaiah 1:1.26
(Verse 25) And I will turn my hand against you; and I will thoroughly purge away your dross and take away all your alloy. Regarding the dross, which Symmachus interpreted as 'στέμφυλα' (clusters of grapes), Aquila as 'γιγαρτῶδες' (bunch of grapes), and Theodotion as 'acinum uvae' (grape kernel), the Septuagint alone, translating more the sense than the words, understood it as 'unbelievers' or 'disobedient ones'. For after he had said, 'Your silver has become dross,' he now uses a metaphor, that he may stretch out his hand over it, that is, extend his hand for punishment and cleansing, and purge away all the filth and vices of sins, so that, the alloy being separated, pure silver may remain, which cannot be made without fire, through which he signifies that they will suffer torments. We also read in Malachi about the Lord: He will come forth like a flame of a smelting furnace, and like the herb of the fullers, and He will sit refining and purifying like silver and gold; and He will purify the sons of Levi (Malachi 3:2-3), so that after they have been cleansed, it may be said of them: And they shall be the Lord's offering in righteousness. Ezekiel also says that the whole house of Israel is mixed with brass, iron, lead, and tin, and needs to be purified; so that after it has been purified, it may recognize that He is the Lord (Ezekiel 22:18). But also in the Gospel under another metaphor the same meaning is shown: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor and gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. (Matthew 3:12).
Commentary on Isaiah
25–26This occurs for the sake of cleansing, however, when he humbles his righteous ones for their small and as it were insignificant sins or because of their proud purity, giving them over to various trials in order to purge away now all the unclean thoughts … which he sees have collected in their inmost being, and in order to submit them like pure gold to the judgment to come, permitting nothing to remain in them that the searching fire of judgment might afterwards find to purge with penal torment.
Conference 6:11.2
61. And I will turn my hand to you. Here he threatens the punishment of the subjects.
And first is set out the preparation of the one who punishes, where it says, and I will turn my hand to you, to punish, which, in sparing you, I had held as though folded: the hand of the Lord has touched me (Job 19:21).
Second, the completion of the punishment: I will boil away, by the fire of tribulation, unto purity, as long as there is something to be purged: you shall not go out from thence till you repay the last farthing (Matt 5:26).
Third, the multitude of punishments: I will take away all your tin, because [I will punish you] for every sin, below: she has received of the hand of the Lord double for all her sins (Isa 40:2).
Commentary on Isaiah
And I will establish thy judges as before, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: and afterward thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful mother-city of Sion.
καὶ ἐπιστήσω τοὺς κριτάς σου ὡς τὸ πρότερον καὶ τοὺς συμβούλους σου ὡς τὸ ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς· καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα κληθήσῃ πόλις δικαιοσύνης, μητρόπολις πιστὴ Σιών.
И҆ приста́влю сꙋдїи̑ твоѧ̑ ꙗ҆́коже пре́жде, и҆ совѣ́тники твоѧ̑ ꙗ҆́кѡ ѿ нача́ла: и҆ по си́хъ нарече́шисѧ гра́дъ пра́вды, ма́ти градовѡ́мъ, вѣ́рный сїѡ́нъ.
(Verse 26.) And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her penitents with righteousness. But rebels and sinners shall be broken together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks that you desired, and you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen. For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water. And the strong shall become tinder, and his work a spark, and both of them shall burn together, with none to quench them. Your chosen trees shall become fuel for the fire, and the people shall labor in vain, and the nations shall weary themselves for nothing. The Lord's hand shall be raised against Mount Zion, and he will lay it waste; its fields shall become a desolation, and its cities a ruin. Then will the Lord cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones. The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord, when he strikes with his rod. And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord lays on them will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them. For a burning place has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it. Therefore, it will restore the likeness of the Judges: either after the Babylonian captivity, as the Jews desire, Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and the other leaders who governed the people until Hircanus, whom Herod succeeded in the kingdom; or certainly, more truly and rightly, the Apostles, and those who believed through the Apostles, and were established as leaders of the Church, as we have said at the beginning of this vision, that both the warning and the promise pertain to the time of the Lord's passion, and to the faith which he founded the Church after his passion.
After this you shall be called the city of the just, the faithful city. These things clearly pertain to the Church, which will believe in the Lord, both concerning the Jews and the Gentiles, as the prophetic word includes. However, the city of the just, that is, of the Lord Savior, shall also be called just, of which it is said: A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden (Matt. 5:14). Calling it faithful, he also indicates that it should be called a metropolis according to the Septuagint, by those who will believe in the Lord.
Commentary on Isaiah
62. And I will restore your judges. Here he places what follows the punishment.
And first, as to those corrected, renewal;
second, as to the obstinate, consumption, where it says, and he shall destroy the wicked (Isa 1:28): for by the same fire, as Augustine says, gold is tested and chaff smokes.
Concerning the first, he does three things:
first, he promises renewal as to the amendment of the superiors;
second, as to the restoration of their reputation, where it says, after this you shall be called;
third, as to the observation of justice, where it says, Zion shall be redeemed in judgment (Isa 1:27).
Therefore, he says, I will restore your judges, as to the secular princes, to whom it belongs to judge the people, and your counselors, that is, the priests, to whom it belongs to manifest the counsel of God to the people: the lips of the priests shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth: because he is the Angel of the Lord of hosts (Mal 2:7); as they were before, as Moses and Joshua, who pleased God: I will give you pastors according to my own heart, and they shall feed you with knowledge and doctrine (Jer 3:15). You shall be called, that is, you will recover your reputation, so that you are said to be as you had been before, the city of the just, that is, the city in which justice is observed, below: you shall no more be called Forsaken: and your land shall no more be called Desolate: but you shall be called my pleasure in her (Isa 62:4).
Commentary on Isaiah
For her captives shall be saved with judgment, and with mercy.
μετὰ γὰρ κρίματος σωθήσεται ἡ αἰχμαλωσία αὐτῆς καὶ μετὰ ἐλεημοσύνης.
Съ сꙋдо́мъ бо спасе́тсѧ плѣне́нїе є҆гѡ̀ и҆ съ ми́лостынею.
27–28(Verse 27-28.) Zion will be redeemed by justice, and they will bring her back to righteousness. And it will crush the wicked and sinners together; and those who have forsaken the Lord will be consumed. Not all will be redeemed, nor will all be saved, but only the remnant, as mentioned before. However, they will be brought back to righteousness once the wicked and sinners have been crushed, and those who have forsaken the Lord will be consumed.
Commentary on Isaiah
Zion shall be redeemed, from oppressors, in judgment, through the execution of justice; and they shall bring her back in justice, because judgment is the restoration of the equality in which justice consists: to judge your people with justice, and your poor with judgment (Ps 71[72]:2); a king shall reign and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth (Jer 23:5).
Commentary on Isaiah
And the transgressors and the sinners shall be crushed together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be utterly consumed.
καὶ συντριβήσονται οἱ ἄνομοι καὶ οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἅμα, καὶ οἱ ἐγκαταλιπόντες τὸν Κύριον συντελεσθήσονται.
И҆ сокрꙋша́тсѧ беззако́ннїи и҆ грѣ̑шницы вкꙋ́пѣ, и҆ ѡ҆ста́вившїи гдⷭ҇а сконча́ютсѧ:
Moreover, who can agree with the thesis that you [the Pelagians] set down as your next heading: “In the day of judgment, no leniency shall be shown to the ungodly and to sinners, but they shall be consumed in eternal fires,” for you prevent God from showing mercy, and you pass judgment on the sentence of the judge before judgment day, so that if he wanted to spare the unjust and the sinner, he could not, in view of your prescription? For, you say, it is written in Psalm 103, “Let sinners be consumed out of the earth, and the unjust, so that they be no more.” And in Isaiah: “The unjust and the sinners shall burn together, and they who abandon God shall be consumed.” And do you not know that a threat on the part of God at times hints at clemency? For he does not say that they shall be consumed in everlasting fires, but rather that they shall be consumed out of the earth and shall cease to be unjust. For it is one thing for them to avoid sin and injustice and quite another matter for them to perish forever and be consumed in eternal fires. Moreover, Isaiah, from whom you quote your testimony, says, “The unjust and the sinners shall burn together” (without adding the phrase “forever”), “and those who abandon God shall be consumed.” This judgment refers, specifically, to heretics who have abandoned the right way of faith and will be consumed, if they are unwilling to return to God whom they have abandoned.
Against the Pelagians 1.28
63. And he shall destroy the wicked. Here he places the destruction of the obstinate. And concerning this, he does three things:
first, he proclaims their destruction;
second, the manner of their destruction, where it says, for they shall be confounded (Isa 1:29);
third, he takes away the hope of escape, where it says, and your strength shall be as the ashes of tow (Isa 1:31).
And because the punishment is ordered against the fault, therefore, concerning the first, he touches on the fault in two ways.
On the part of turning toward, as to the wickedness of idolatry; hence he says, the wicked; and as to the sin of pleasure and of lust; hence he says, sinners, because men are most prone to such things; against which he ordains the punishment of destruction, in which the punishment is noted for the infliction: with a double destruction, destroy them (Jer 17:18), as if for a double sin.
Second, on the part of turning away, because they have forsaken the Lord; against which he ordains the punishment of consumption, saying, they shall be consumed; in which he indicates the punishment of desertion, because that which is consumed, goes into nothing, and all things would tend towards nothing, unless the hand of the Lord preserved them, as Gregory says. O Lord, the hope of Israel: all that forsake you shall be confounded: they that depart from you, shall be written in the earth: because they have forsaken the Lord, the vein of living waters (Jer 17:13).
Commentary on Isaiah
For they shall be ashamed of their idols, which they delighted in, and they are made ashamed of the gardens which they coveted.
διότι αἰσχυνθήσονται ἐν τοῖς εἰδώλοις αὐτῶν, ἃ αὐτοὶ ἠβούλοντο, καὶ ἐπαισχυνθήσονται ἐπὶ τοῖς κήποις αὐτῶν, ἃ ἐπεθύμησαν.
зане́же постыдѧ́тсѧ ѡ҆ і҆́дѡлѣхъ свои́хъ, и҆́хже са́ми восхотѣ́ша, и҆ посра́мѧтсѧ ѡ҆ садѣ́хъ свои́хъ, и҆́хже возжелѣ́ша.
(Verse 29.) For they will be confounded by the idols to which they sacrificed, and you will be ashamed of the gardens you have chosen. And when they are saved, they will be ashamed of those who previously sacrificed to idols, and they will blush in the gardens they had chosen. However, it signifies places of luxury, groves and forests.
Commentary on Isaiah
64. For they shall be confounded. Here he places the manner of destruction:
and first, as to the confusion of sin;
second, as to the subtraction of good, where it says, when you shall be (Isa 1:30).
Concerning the first, against idolatry, he ordains confusion, saying, they shall be confounded by the idols, that is, because of the idols: let them be all confounded that adore graven things (Ps 96[97]:7);
against pleasure, he ordains shame, when he says, you shall be ashamed of the gardens, that is, the places of pleasure, which you have chosen, of your lust: what fruit had you in those things of which you are now ashamed? (Rom 6:21).
For confusion relates more to evil; but shame to fault, for carnal sins, as Gregory says, are of lesser fault and greater dishonor; and the reason is that they concern the faculties that are less honorable and most material; and nevertheless these faculties are innate and connatural and passible.
Commentary on Isaiah
For they shall be as a turpentine tree that has cast its leaves, and as a garden that has no water.
ἔσονται γὰρ ὡς τερέβινθος ἀποβεβληκυῖα τὰ φύλλα καὶ ὡς παράδεισος ὕδωρ μὴ ἔχων·
Бꙋ́дꙋтъ бо ꙗ҆́кѡ тереві́нѳъ ѿме́тнꙋвый ли́ствїѧ (своѧ̑), и҆ ꙗ҆́кѡ вертогра́дъ не и҆мы́й воды̀.
In the beginning of his whole book, the prophet saw the “vision against Judah and against Jerusalem.” After listing all the many transgressions of the Jewish people and warning them about the complete destruction of Jerusalem, he brought to an end the spiritual sayings concerning them.
Proof of the Gospel 2:3
(Verse 30) For they will be like a terebinth tree with falling leaves; and like a garden, or a paradise, without water. Until today, the Jews reading the holy Scriptures are like terebinth trees or oaks, as Symmachus interpreted. And according to the Gospel (Matthew 21), the withered fig tree, from which the Lord sought fruits and did not find any, he cursed with eternal dryness. But even the leaves and fruits of words have now ceased to be among them: the well-watered garden, that is, the knowledge of the Scriptures, or the paradise of various trees, which is without spiritual grace, does not even produce vegetables, about which the Apostle speaks: Let him that is weak eat vegetables (Romans 14:2). And with dried roots, all the freshness has turned into dryness and decay.
Commentary on Isaiah
65. When you shall be. Here he places the subtraction of good.
And first, of that which pertains to protection and adornment, which is signified by the removal of leaves; second, of that which pertains to fruit, where it says, as a garden, which is barren without water. And on the contrary, it is said of the just man: he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters (Ps 1:3).
Commentary on Isaiah
And their strength shall be as a thread of tow, and their works as sparks, and the transgressors and the sinners shall be burnt up together, and there shall be none to quench [them].
καὶ ἔσται ἡ ἰσχὺς αὐτῶν ὡς καλάμη στιππύου καὶ αἱ ἐργασίαι αὐτῶν ὡς σπινθῆρες πυρός, καὶ κατακαυθήσονται οἱ ἄνομοι καὶ οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἅμα, καὶ οὐκ ἔσται ὁ σβέσων.
И҆ бꙋ́детъ крѣ́пость и҆́хъ ꙗ҆́кѡ сте́бль и҆згре́бїѧ, и҆ дѣ̑ланїѧ и҆́хъ ꙗ҆́кѡ и҆́скры ѻ҆́гнєнныѧ, и҆ сожгꙋ́тсѧ беззакѡ́нницы и҆ грѣ̑шницы вкꙋ́пѣ, и҆ не бꙋ́детъ ᲂу҆гаша́ѧй.
(Verse 31.) And your strength will be like the ash of the broom. For ash, ἀποτίναγμα is interpreted by Symmachus: when the broom is beaten, and whatever dirt it has is thrown away. So all the strength and pride of the sinners and evildoers of Israel, who have forsaken the Lord, and therefore have been consumed: and they have sacrificed to idols, and are ashamed in the gardens, which they have chosen; they will be reduced to the refuse of the broom, which is consumed by a light fire. For it follows: And her work, that is, your strength, or idolatry, in which you have erred, will be consumed by a small spark.
And both will be kindled together: and there will be no one to extinguish it. And surely the knowledge of the Jews, and all the works they do, whether it be idolatry or Jerusalem, in which idolatry was found: and when the Lord kindles it, no one will be able to extinguish it. All these things we can understand about conflicting teachings: that both teachers and disciples will perish together, and all their works will be fuel for the fire.
Commentary on Isaiah
66. And your strength shall be. Here he takes away from them the hope of escape; and he sets out three things.
First, he takes away the support of their own strength; hence he says, your strength shall be as the ashes of tow, which are quickly consumed: the congregation of sinners is like tow heaped together (Sir 21:10[9]).
Second, he takes away the help of idols, saying: your work, namely, of idols, which were made by your hands, as a spark, which is of no importance: where are their gods, in whom they trusted? (Deut 32:37); and nevertheless it is burned up: hence it follows, and both shall burn. Below: walk in the light of your fire (Isa 50:11).
Third, he takes away the help of men: and there shall be none to quench it: the flame of the fire shall not be quenched: and every face shall be burned in it, from the south even to the north. And all flesh shall see, that I the Lord have kindled it, and it shall not be quenched (Ezek 20:27–28).
Commentary on Isaiah
The vision which Esaias the son of Amos saw, which he saw against Juda, and against Jerusalem, in the reign of Ozias, and Joatham, and Achaz, and Ezekias, who reigned over Judea.
ΟΡΑΣΙΣ, ἣν εἶδεν ῾Ησαΐας υἱὸς ᾿Αμώς, ἣν εἶδε κατὰ τῆς ᾿Ιουδαίας καὶ κατὰ ῾Ιερουσαλὴμ ἐν βασιλεία ᾿Οζίου καὶ ᾿Ιωάθαμ καὶ ῎Αχαζ καὶ ᾿Εζεκίου, οἵ ἐβασίλευσαν τῆς ᾿Ιουδαίας.
Видѣ́нїе, є҆́же ви́дѣ и҆са́їа сы́нъ а҆мѡ́совъ, є҆́же ви́дѣ на і҆ꙋде́ю и҆ на і҆ерⷭ҇ли́мъ, въ ца́рство ѻ҆зі́и и҆ і҆ѡаѳа́ма, и҆ а҆ха́за и҆ є҆зекі́и, и҆̀же ца́рствоваша во і҆ꙋде́и.