Isaiah 66

1–2

Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built him an house. Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these things? [Isaiah 66:1-2]

He has not even built a house for himself! He has nothing to do with space. Even if it is written that “the heaven is his throne,” he is not contained as the words suggest.

The Stromata Book 2

“And worship his footstool for it is holy.” What is this footstool of Jesus that is holy? We read in another place: “The heavens are my throne, the earth is my footstool”; and here, “worship his footstool.” If earth is Jesus’ footstool, and the psalm says worship his footstool, then is earth to be adored? How, then, do we read in the apostle that we must worship the Creator, not the creature? In Scripture, adoration conveys two different notions: worship as an act toward God and worship in the sense of reverence. When we use the word worship in relation to God, we mean the adoration that is proper to God. When, however, we use the term with reference to a human being, as for example, Sarah worshiped Abraham and Elijah worshiped Ahab—a most ungodly king—it does not mean that Elijah worshiped Ahab as if he were God but that this worship was more like a greeting.Now, we are ready to examine the words “and worship his footstool,” and [we will] see in which way the word worship is intended. Do we adore God’s footstool just as we adore God or in the same sense that we worship and pay respect to a person? We have read in the Lamentations of Jeremiah and in another of the prophets, “How the Lord has hallowed his footstool!” In this passage, his footstool is Jerusalem, or the temple. And so, the reference is historical. We shall now consider the verse “and worship his footstool” from another point of view. If feet rest on a footstool, the words “Let us worship in the place where his feet have stood” likewise refer to a footstool. In that event, we may hold to the letter and mean, for example, that place where he was born, where he was crucified, where he arose from the dead. This is the explanation for beginners.… [Or] Jesus’ footstool is the soul of the one who believes. Happy the person in whose heart Jesus sets his feet every day! If only he would set his feet in my heart! If only his footsteps would cling to my heart forever!

Homilies on the Psalms 26 (psalm 99)

(Chapter 66, Verse 1) Thus says the Lord: Heaven is My throne, and the earth is the footstool for My feet. What is this house that you are building for Me, and what is this place of My rest? All these things My hand has made, and so all these things have come into being, says the Lord. Similarly, let us understand that Mount Zion is the holy mountain, and let us not be deceived by the Jewish error that believes that Jerusalem must be rebuilt and that all the promises of the Lord must be fulfilled there carnally. He takes away this suspicion from us and presents the testimony that Stephen, the first martyr in Christ, used against the Jewish contention (Acts 7). Solomon built him a house, doubtless for God; but he does not dwell in man-made structures, as the Prophet says: Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. And Paul in the same volume: God, who made the world and all things in it, does not dwell in temples made by hands (Acts 17:24). For if heaven is his throne, and the earth is his footstool, how can he be confined to a small space, who fills all things and in whom all things exist? And Moses also said: 'Lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: 'It is afar off,' God is in heaven above, and in the earth beneath: and there is no other God besides him (Deut. IV, 39).' And the Psalmist: 'Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy face? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present (Psal. CXXXVIII, 7).' To whom Jeremiah also agrees, speaking in the person of God, saying: 'I am a God nigh at hand, and not a God afar off.' Can anyone hide in secret places where I cannot see them? Do I not fill heaven and earth? (Jeremiah 23:23-24) For in Him we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17) He says this to expose the error of the Jewish belief that God, who is invisible, incorporeal, and incomprehensible, can be confined to the temple in Jerusalem. Even Solomon, the builder of the temple, acknowledges this in his prayer to the Lord. (1 Kings 8) Lest we think that the magnitude of God should be measured in both heaven and earth, in another place we read about Him: He holds the heavens in the palm of His hand, and the earth in a fist. (Isaiah 40:12) Through this it is shown that God is both external and internal, infused and surrounding, as He is not contained by the surrounding throne, yet He is contained by a fist and a palm. He is not only the creator of heaven and earth, but also of the invisible beings, the angels and archangels, dominions and powers, and all mankind, as the Apostle speaks about them (Colossians 1). All of these things were made by the hand of God. Job and the Psalmist both mention this: Your hand made me and fashioned me (Job 10:18; Psalm 119:73). For everything was made through him, and without him nothing was made (John 1). He Himself spoke, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created (Psalm 33). And as the Scripture of Genesis demonstrates in mystical speech, God said, and God made (Genesis 1). For by the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. There is no place of rest of the Lord, except the one that the Prophet mentions.

Commentary on Isaiah

“Heaven is my throne, while the earth is my footstool.” … Haven’t you also read that other text, “Who measured the heaven with the palm of his hand?” … Whoever sat in the palm of his own hand?…Does the same heaven become wide when he is sitting in it and narrow when he is measuring it? Or is God the same size in his seat as he is in his palm? If that is the case, God did not make us in his own likeness, because we have palms that are much narrower than the part of the body we sit with. But if he is as broad in the palm as he is broad in the beam, then he made very unequal parts for us. No, that is not where the likeness lies. Such an idol should be ashamed of itself in a Christian mind. So then, take “heaven” as standing for all the saints, since earth too stands for all who are on the earth, “Let all the earth worship you.”

Sermon 53:13-14

In hesitation I turn to Christ, since I am herein seeking him; and I discover how the earth may be worshiped without impiety, how his footstool may be worshiped without impiety. For he took on himself earth from earth, and he received flesh from the flesh of Mary. And because he walked here in very flesh and gave that very flesh to us to eat for our salvation, and no one eats that flesh unless he has first worshiped, we have found out in what sense such a footstool of our Lord may be worshiped, and not only that we do not sin in worshiping it but that we sin in not worshiping.

Explanations of the Psalms 99:8

Thus says the Lord. Here he determines the manner of execution of the sentence. And first, in particular, as to the Jews; second, universally, as to all: but I know their works, and their thoughts (Isa 66:18). The first is divided into two parts: in the first, he excludes false confidence; second, he sets out and determines the sentence that has been given as to the manner of execution: hear the word of the Lord (Isa 66:5).

Concerning the first, he does two things. First, he excludes false trust in the sanctity of the temple, showing that the temple is not the location of God: both from the greatness of God, who fills all things, whose throne is said to be heaven, because it participates greatly in his goodness, as a seat holds the greater part of the one seated; the earth my footstool, because the earth participates least in his goodness, as the outer part of the seated person reaches to the footstool; or, by heaven, he indicates the saints, by earth, the earthly: if heaven, and the heavens of heavens, cannot contain you, how much less this house which I have built? (1 Kgs 8:27); do not I fill heaven and earth? (Jer 23:24); God dwells not in temples made with hands (Acts 17:24). And from his rest, for each thing rests in the place which is its own; however, God does not rest in anything, but all things rest in him, as they are made by him: and what is this place of my rest, above: lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things (Isa 40:26).

Commentary on Isaiah

Let us therefore, brethren, be of humble mind, laying aside all haughtiness, and pride, and foolishness, and angry feelings; and let us act according to that which is written (for the Holy Spirit says, "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, neither let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glories glory in the Lord, in diligently seeking Him, and doing judgment and righteousness" [Jeremiah 9:23-24]), being especially mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus which He spoke teaching us meekness and long-suffering. For thus He spoke: "Be merciful, that you may obtain mercy; forgive, that it may be forgiven to you; as you do, so shall it be done unto you; as you judge, so shall you be judged; as you are kind, so shall kindness be shown to you; with what measure you measure, with the same it shall be measured to you." [Matthew 5:7, Matthew 6:14, Matthew 7:1-2] By this precept and by these rules let us establish ourselves, that we walk with all humility in obedience to His holy words. For the holy word says, "On whom shall I look, but on him that is meek and peaceable, and that trembles at my words?" [Isaiah 66:2]

Clement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 13

If you are not “humble and peaceful,” the grace of the Holy Spirit cannot live within you, if you do not receive the divine words with fear. For the Holy Spirit departs from the proud and stubborn and false soul. Therefore, you ought first to meditate on the law of God that, if perhaps your deeds are intemperate and your habits disordered, the law of God may correct you and reform you.

Homilies on Leviticus 6:2.5

We must preserve in the straight and narrow road of praise and glory; and since peacefulness and humility and the tranquility of a good life are fitting for all Christians, according to the word of the Lord, who looks to no other person than “to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembles at” his word, it the more behooves you confessors, who have been made an example to the rest of the brothers, to observe and fulfill this, as being those whose characters should provoke to imitation the life and conduct of all.

Epistle VI:3

The prophet says in the person of the Father, “My hand made all these things,” meaning by “hand” in his dark saying, the power of the Only Begotten. Now the apostle says that all things are of the Father and that all things are by the Son, and the prophetic spirit in a way agrees with the apostolic teaching, which itself also is given through the Spirit.

Against Eunomius 7:1

2–3

(Vers. 2, 3.) But to whom shall I look, except to the poor and contrite in spirit, and trembling at my words? He who slaughters an ox is like one who slays a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog's neck; he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers pig's blood; he who remembers frankincense, like one who blesses an idol. LXX: And to whom shall I look, except to the humble and peaceful, and trembling at my words? But unjust is the one who sacrifices a calf as if striking a man. Sacrificing from the flock as if killing a dog. Offering fine flour as if it were swine's blood. Giving frankincense as a memorial as if blaspheming. With the altar and earthly temple removed, which human hands had built, the Jewish victims are rightly taken away, lest they should say: We are not so foolish as to think that God can be confined to a place; but in a separate place for sacrificing, we offer to God the victims that are commanded by the law. Therefore, the Inhabitant of heaven, indeed the Creator of all, who refuses to have a temple on earth, willingly assumes a humble, peaceful, and trembling human being into the temple, according to the words of the Apostle: But you are the temple of God, and the Holy Spirit dwells in you. If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which you are (I Cor. III, 16, 17). Therefore, whoever is humble and peaceful, and trembles at the words of God, the Lord looks upon him; and it can be understood from this saying that he is prophesied under the name of "earth": The earth trembled and was still when God arose to judge (Psal. LXXV, 9, 10). For its inhabitants, for whom the land is metaphorically called 'earth,' considering the judgment of God, they rest from evil works; and sitting in their house, they rest on the eternal Sabbath, so as not to engage in the servile work of sin, just as the builders of the tower once moved their feet from the East and abandoned the rising of true light. They did not hear what was said to Cain: 'You have sinned, rest.' But according to the Proverbs of Solomon: 'Whoever listens to God will dwell confidently and rest without fear from all evil.' This is a humble and poor person, with a contrite spirit, and trembling at the words of the Lord, about whom it is written in the Gospel: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3). And elsewhere: Blessed is he who understands the needy and the poor (Psalm 41:1). And again: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor (Isaiah 61:1). And what follows in the Vulgate edition: But the wicked, in Hebrew, is not found, but simply it says: He who sacrifices a bull is like one who kills a man. And in another place it is written: 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings' (Hosea 6:6). And through Malachi: 'You have done what I hate; you have covered the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and groaning, because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand' (Malachi 2:13). Let the Jews hear that God does not desire sacrifices, but the disposition of the offerer's heart. And he who sacrifices, he says, an animal, as if he were cutting a dog's throat. Hence it is also written through Moses: You shall not offer the hire of a prostitute, nor the price of a dog, in the house of your God. (Deut. XXIII, 18). And dogs and prostitutes couple beautifully, because both animals are inclined to lust. Let us also consider that he did not say: He who sacrifices a ram, as if he were sacrificing a dog; but he says, kill the dog. This word is not used in sacrifices, but in those things that are unlawfully killed. Who offers an oblation and a sacrifice, as if offering his own blood. This is also prohibited by the Law, such are the ceremonies of the Jews (Lev. XI and Deut. XIV). Whoever offers incense as if blasphemous, indeed as if blessing an idol. However, there can also be this meaning: After my Son who comes meek and poor, sitting on a donkey's colt, I do not desire meats, I detest the victims, I reject the sacrifices of the Jews, I disapprove the shadows of the Law, because the truth of the Gospel is pleasing to me (Zech. IX, Matt. XXI, Luke XIX, John XII). But if it is said that, after the lightning of the Gospel, the old religion ceases in a cloud, what will they respond, who believe that those from the Jews can offer sacrifices carnally without guilt?

Commentary on Isaiah

With the altar and earthly temple removed, which a human hand had built, the sacrifices of the Jews were also rightly removed, lest they say, perhaps, “We are not so foolish as to think that God can be enclosed in one place, but we will choose a different location for offering the sacrifices to God that are commanded in the law.” He who sits in heaven, therefore, the very Creator of the universe, who refuses to be held in an earthly temple, willingly adopts the person as his temple who is humble and meek and trembles at his word, according to the apostle, “But you are the temple of God, and the Holy Spirit dwells in you.”

Commentary on Isaiah 18:19

“On whom does my Spirit rest, if not on one who is humble and quiet and who trembles at my words?” So when he becomes the occupant, he fills and guides and leads the person, restrains from evil and spurs on to good, makes justice delightful, so that the person does good out of love for what is right, not out of fear of punishment. No one is capable on their own of doing what I have said. But if you have the Holy Spirit as the occupant of your house, you will find him also assisting you in everything good.

Sermon 72a.2

At these words Peter trembled, Plato did not; so let the fisherman keep what the great and famous philosopher ignored! “You have hidden these things from the wise and the knowing and have revealed them to the little ones.”

Sermon 68:7

In these terms God rejects the worship that was restricted to one place and shows that he is the maker of heaven and earth, and the shaper of all things and the one who has no need of a temple made with hands... I have a true house and holy temple. It is whoever arranges his or her life according to my laws and fears and trembles at transgressing my commands. It is the person who stands out in a gentle disposition and humility of mind.

Commentary on Isaiah 20:66.2

People do not observe a spiritual sabbath unless they devote themselves to earthly occupations so moderately that they still engage in reading and prayer, at least frequently, if not always.

Sermon 100:4

God wishes to dwell in you. In order that you may not be unable to receive him because you are full, if you are filled elsewhere, let your heart be freed of superfluities so that it may be filled with what is necessary. Vices should be expelled, in order that there may be room for virtues; to say briefly what is useful and quite necessary, let carnal desires be rejected and charity invited. As long as we do not expel evil, we cannot be filled with the good, because jars filled with slime cannot receive and hold precious ointment.

Sermon 210:5

Differently to be admonished are the humble and the haughty. To the former it is to be insinuated how true is that excellence which they hold in hoping for it; to the latter it is to be intimated how that temporal glory is as nothing which even when embracing it they hold not. Let the humble hear how eternal are the things that they long for, how transitory the things which they despise; let the haughty hear how transitory are the things they court, how eternal the things they lose. Let the humble hear from the authoritative voice of the Truth, Every one that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Let the haughty hear, Every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled. Let the humble hear, Humility goeth before glory; let the haughty hear, The spirit is exalted before a fall. Let the humble hear, Unto whom shall I have respect, but to him that is humble and quiet, and that trembleth at my words?

The Book of Pastoral Rule, Part 3, Chapter 17

“For heaven is his resting place and the earth his footstool,” because on the earth he conversed in the flesh with men and women. And the sacred flesh of God has been called his foot. The church, too, is called the place of God, because we have set it apart for the glorifying of God as a sort of consecrated place wherein we also hold conversation with him. Likewise also the places in which his energy becomes manifest to us, whether through the flesh or apart from the flesh, are spoken of as the places of God.

Orthodox Faith 1:13

And he gives a useful remedy: but to whom shall I have respect, but to him that is poor and little, that is, the humble man, who reckons himself to be little, as to the present, and of a contrite spirit, concerning his past sins, and that trembles, as to his intention of doing future things: the eyes of the Lord are towards them that fear him (Sir 15:20[19]).

Commentary on Isaiah

He is angry with them, saying by Isaiah, “Who has required these of your hands?” And by Jeremiah, since they were very bold, he threatens, “Gather together your whole burnt offerings with your sacrifices, and eat flesh, for I did not speak to your ancestors or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” For they did not act as was right, neither was their zeal according to law, but they rather sought their own pleasure in such days, as the prophet accuses them, beating down their bondsmen and gathering themselves together for strifes and quarrels, and they struck the lowly with the fist and did all things that tended to their own gratification. For this cause, they continue without a feast until the end, although they make a display now of eating flesh, out of place and out of season. For, instead of the legally appointed lamb, they have learned to sacrifice to Baal; instead of the true unleavened bread, “they collect the wood, and their fathers kindle the fire, and their wives prepare the dough, that they make cakes to the host of heaven and pour out libations to strange gods, that they may provoke me to anger, says the Lord.” … Therefore now, “he who among them sacrifices an ox is as he who strikes a man, and he who sacrifices a lamb is as he who kills a dog, he that offers fine flour, it is as [if he offered] swine’s blood.…” Now these things will never please God, neither has the Word required this of them. But he says, “These have chosen their own ways, and their abominations are what their soul delights in.”

Festal Letters 19:2

By these words he rejected the worship prescribed by the law by teaching this; it was for their sake that he had established this legislation from early times, not because he took pleasure in their sacrifices but because he was exercising forethought for them in their weakness. That is why he put side by side what was allowed and what was forbidden, for to sacrifice an ox or give a sheep as a burnt offering, to offer the fruit of corn and frankincense—these were in former times permitted by God, but to start a fight and lose one’s tongue to blasphemy was totally forbidden.

Commentary on Isaiah 20:66.3

Second, he excludes the confidence that they took from their rites of sacrifice. And first, he sets out their rejection: he that sacrifices an ox, is as if he slew a man, as if to say: their sacrifices are so abominable, as if they were doing something against the law, because they were offering them to idols; as if he should bless, praise and venerate, an idol, above: offer sacrifice no more in vain (Isa 1:13). Second, he shows the reason for their rejection, first, setting out their fault: all these things have they chosen, namely, their sacrifices, walking in their wicked ways: who are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in the most wicked things (Prov 2:14).

Commentary on Isaiah

(Verse 4.) They have chosen all these things in their ways, and their soul delighted in their abominations. Therefore I will also choose their delusions, and I will bring upon them what they feared. Because when I called, there was none that answered; when I spoke, they did not hear. They did evil in my sight and chose what I did not desire. (Septuagint: And they chose their own ways, and their soul desired their abominations; and I will choose their delusions, and I will repay them for their sins.) Because I called them, and they did not obey: I spoke, and they did not hear. And they did evil in my sight, and chose what I did not want. They sacrificed a bull, slaughtered a ram, offered a sacrifice, burned incense, which God considers as murder, and the offering of a dog. They chose the blood of pigs and blasphemy. And it was their choice to worship such things, as it is stated by Ezekiel: I gave them bad rules and bad commands. (Ezek. XX, 11). And they walked in their own ways, not in the way of the Lord. And their souls desired their abominations, that they would rather be lovers of themselves than lovers of God. For this reason, those who choose their own ways and not Him who says: I am the way (John 14:6), and the Lord chooses illusions, or their deceivers, who are called Thalule in Hebrew, that is, mockers, to establish the most wicked leaders and bring about all their evils, including those they feared. And you write that the reasons why they were handed over to the deceiving scribes and Pharisees, about whom the first psalm according to the Hebrews sings: And He did not sit in the seat of the deceivers, whom they call the pestilential Seventy: such were the sons of Eli, sons of pestilence, for which it is written in Hebrew Belial (or Blial) , that is, of the devil. For, he says, I called, and there was no one to answer; I spoke, and they did not hear; they did evil in My sight; and what I did not want, they chose. He places these verses second in the present location, and above, where it is said: I will number you with the sword, and you will all fall in the slaughter: because I called, and you did not answer (Isaiah 65:12), and so on. The meaning and interpretation of this testimony is explained there.

Commentary on Isaiah

Second, he threatens punishment: wherefore I also will choose their mockeries: he shall scorn the scorners (Prov 3:34); the fear which I feared, has come upon me: and that which I was afraid of, has befallen me (Job 3:25). Third, he denounces the hardness of sinners: because I called: I called, and you refused (Prov 1:24).

Commentary on Isaiah

This is the meaning of the Hebrew text, as it appears to me: Listen, apostles, listen, my disciples, who tremble at the word of the Lord, for I will tell you what your brothers say who hate you and cast you out and judge you to be alien; this is not on account of any evil you have done but on account of my name, for they regard all from their ranks who believe in me as they do unclean Gentiles, to whom they say: “depart from me, for you are impure.” … But then it immediately adds, “and they shall be confounded,” namely, those who speak such things, who do not understand the mysteries of the Scriptures, who utilize its power for their own evil and who hold humility in contempt.

Commentary on Isaiah 18:21

(Verse 5) Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word. Your brothers who hate you and cast you out because of my name have said: Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy; but they will be put to shame. LXX: Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word. Say to your brothers who hate you and despise you, that the name of the Lord may be glorified, and appear in their joy; and let them be put to shame. About which he had already said before: On whom shall I look, unless on him who is humble and quiet, and who trembles at my words? He commands them to pass over to his worship, despising the sacrifices of the Jews and disregarding the arrogance of the Scribes and Pharisees, whom they did not want to hear when he called them, and whom they despised and did evil in his sight. Not content with the end of these precepts, he also commands them to love their enemies, to do good to those who hate them, and to pray for their persecutors, and to imitate the clemency of the Father, who makes his sun rise on the just and the unjust, so that, seeing your works, they may glorify your Father who is in heaven. What is specifically commanded to the general understanding of the apostles and apostolic men, that they should love their Jewish persecutors and those who abhor them, and have them in the place of brothers, saying with Peter: Men, brothers and fathers, listen; and with the Apostle Paul: I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart for my brothers, who are Israelites (Romans 9:2). But the name of the Lord is glorified when men see the fierceness of the persecutors broken by our patience and the hand of the one who strikes, confounded by the downfall of another evil. In the Gospel, it is commanded: Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matt. 5:16); and in the Apocalypse of John: Fear God, and give glory to Him (Rev. 14:7). Paul also writes to the Corinthians, urging them to chastity: That you may glorify God in your body (1 Cor. 6:20). And again: Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). And the Lord did not curse those who cursed him (1 Peter 2); and he prayed for his persecutors. But what he commands: 'Say to your brothers' (Matthew 28:10), should not be taken simply, otherwise many call themselves brothers, yet do not preserve love in their hearts, of whom the Apostle writes: They confess to know God, but deny him by their works (Titus 1:16). Concerning them, the Lord also spoke: Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven (Matthew 7:21). And this statement can stand: No one says, 'Jesus is Lord,' except in the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3). For when the heretics say, 'Lord Jesus,' and many will say at the resurrection, 'Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' The Lord will answer them: 'Depart from me, you evildoers. I never knew you.' Therefore, it is not merely saying with words, which is easy, but it is proven by one's attitude and actions. From these we learn that the Lord of both Testaments commands us, that if we see the beast of our enemy fall under its burden, we should not pass by, but should lift it up with him, and if we find a wandering ox or donkey, we should return it to him (Luke 15, Matthew 18). According to the Septuagint, it seems to me that the meaning is: Listen, Apostles, listen, my disciples, who tremble at the word of the Lord, I will tell you what your brothers who hate you say, and separate you, and consider you strangers, not because of your evils; but because of my name, they think all the unclean ones of their own nation who believe are unclean, and say: Get away from me, for you are unclean. What, therefore, is it that he reminds them of having said: Let the Lord be glorified, and we shall see in your joy? The meaning of this little verse is: Why do you introduce to us a humble God? why a crucified man and a man acquainted with sorrows, and knowing how to bear infirmities? we desire to see him reigning in his (as you say) majesty: we are unable to see him humble and abject. And immediately he adds: But they shall be confounded, implying those who speak such things, who do not understand the mysteries of the Scriptures, and who interpret his power by their own evil, having despised him on account of his humility.

Commentary on Isaiah

“Your brothers who hate you.” Consider them as your brothers, he says, even though they hate you because of your faith, and lead them to the fear of God, so that “the Lord may be glorified in you.” According to Henana, consider them to be execrable and evil, he says, even though they are your brothers by nature. “When they are cast out for my name, the Lord will be glorified” in you, “and they will be put to shame,” and maybe, he says, they will be put to shame because of that and will abstain from evil actions.

Commentary on Isaiah 66:5

Hear the word of the Lord. Here he describes the manner of execution of the sentence. And first, as to the rewards of the good; second, as to the punishments of the wicked: and the hand of the Lord shall be known (Isa 66:14). The first of these is divided into two. First, he stirs up attention: hear the word of the Lord, you that tremble, from reverence for his words: you that fear the Lord, believe him (Sir 2:8); second, he describes the promise. And first, as to vengeance on the mockers, setting out their mockery: your brethren have said: let the Lord be glorified, as if to say: let the glory of the Lord, which you await, appear, as if to say: he will never appear, above: they shall come with speed swiftly, and there is none that shall faint, nor labor among them (Isa 5:26–27); and he foretells their confusion: but they shall be confounded.

Commentary on Isaiah

(Verse 6) The voice (of the common people) cries out from the city, the voice from the Temple, the voice of the Lord giving retribution to his enemies. They put "LXX" in place of "cries out" and "clamor", and so on. We want to know what the confusion of the Jews is, who said: Let the Lord be glorified, so that we may see your joy and the triumphs of your king, not in vain through promises, but with our own eyes. The voice, he says, of the cry from the city: undoubtedly it signifies Jerusalem surrounded by the Roman army and divided internally into three factions, when one occupied the Temple and possessed all things previously sacred, fighting against external enemies and internally against fellow citizens. At that time, both in the city and in the Temple, the cries of priests and Levites, as well as the cries of the common people, women, and children, were heard when the Lord fulfilled His promise of vengeance against His enemies, fulfilling the prophecy: 'Your house shall be left to you desolate' (Luke 13:35), and that prophecy: 'I have left My house.' When the leaders of the temple, with voices harmonizing like angels, said: 'Let us depart from these seats.' About which not only Josephus, a writer of Jewish history, testifies but also many centuries before the Psalmist, saying: I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city (Ps. 54:10), which surrounds its walls all day and all night, so that the city would be overturned (Mic. 3), and another prophecy would be fulfilled: Zion will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will be left like a hut in a cucumber field (Isa. 1:8).

Commentary on Isaiah

For it was the Lord’s voice that said, “rendering recompense to his enemies,” ordering and exhorting those who destroy to spare none of those captured, savagely attacking the enemies and not only simply with the wrath of warriors but also with the will of the Sovereign. For this was only the means of their captivity and suffering.

Commentary on Isaiah 5:6.66:6

In this manner, because a voice of the people, fearing, the voice of the Lord, as to the tumult of their enemies: the voice of the day of the Lord is bitter (Zeph 1:14).

Commentary on Isaiah

“Before she was in labor, she gave birth; before her pains came, she escaped and delivered a male child.” Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? The most holy virgin mother, therefore, escaped entirely the manner of women even before she gave birth, doubtless in order that with the Holy Spirit betrothing her to himself and sanctifying her, she might conceive without intercourse with man. She has brought forth her firstborn Son, even the only-begotten Son of God … who on earth, in the Virgin’s nuptial chamber, joined to himself the nature of Adam, like a bridegroom, by an inalienable union, and he preserved his mother’s purity incorrupt and uninjured; him in short who in heaven was begotten without corruption and on earth birthed in a manner quite unspeakable.

Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna 3

(V. 7) Before she was in labor, she gave birth; before her pain came, she delivered a male child. Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her sons. Shall I bring to the point of birth and not give delivery? says the Lord. Or shall I who gives delivery shut the womb? says your God. LXX: Before she who is in labor gives birth, before the pains of childbirth come upon her, she escapes and gives birth to a male. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children. But I have given this expectation, and you have not remembered me, says the Lord. Have I not made the barren woman give birth, says your God? With a noise as of a woman in labor, with a cry of distress from Jerusalem and her Temple, when she was besieged and destroyed, and with the enemies of Christ, who refused to receive God as their king, receiving eternal punishment for their impiety and blasphemies, the Church, gathered in the name of the Lord, of which it is said in the psalm: "A man is born in her"; and the Most High himself has founded her before she gives birth, she has given birth, before her labor pains come, she has given birth to a male. For it was not long, as the people of the Jews through Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelve Patriarchs, and again through their children and grandchildren, grew in size, but at the preaching of the Gospel the whole world immediately conceived, and brought forth, and gave birth to a male, whom Pharaoh and Herod were trying to kill, who was also saved in Egypt both in Moses and in Christ. Finally, Abraham and Isaac had male children, and Jacob was the father of many sons, and he begot one daughter, for whom he endured hardship. But if the daughters of Zelophehad, according to the will of God, inherit their father's property (Num. 27), it should be considered that their father died in his sin, having no sons, and Moses did not dare to judge them, but referred the matter to the Lord, who commanded them to marry their kinsmen so that they would not be left destitute. The book of Genesis (Ch. 6) also tells us that after people began to multiply, a great number of them engaged in wickedness, and the daughters born to them were taken by the sons of God, not angels, from whom the giants were born; or as it is written in Hebrew, ἐπιπίπτοντες, that is, 'falling upon' or 'descending upon.' In contrast to the holy, it is said: 'Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table' (Psalm 128:3). And again: 'May you see your children's children' (ibid., 128:6). Therefore, Zion gave birth, that is, the remnant of Israel and the faith of believing Apostles, to the male Lord and Savior, who was generated in the whole world at the same time, which no one heard, which no history or teaching narrates, so that all nations would believe in a short time. And of all nations, one nation became Christian, of which Paul also speaks: If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (II Cor. V, 17): in accordance with what is written elsewhere: And they shall worship before him, all the families of the nations: for the kingdom is the Lord's, and he shall have dominion over the nations. For, says he, all nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, and shall glorify thy name (Psal. XXI, 28 et seqq.). About whom Jacob says: He is the expectation of the nations (Gen. XLIX, 10). And the Psalmist: The hope of all the ends of the earth (Ps. LXIV, 6). And the same Isaiah whom we will now explain: There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise up to rule the nations, in him the Gentiles shall hope (Isai. XI, 10); the Apostles fulfilling what was commanded: Teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matth. XXVIII, 19), so that a new people may be born, of whom the twenty-first psalm also sings: The heavens shall declare his justice, to a people that shall be born, which the Lord hath made (Psal. XXI, 32). And again: The people that shall be created shall praise the Lord (Ps. 101:19). But this people was created in one day, which the sun of justice illuminates, as the Scripture says: The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light (Isa. 60:19). We can understand this that is said: A nation shall be born together, because Zion has brought forth and borne her children, and refer it to that time when, in one day, three thousand and five thousand of the Jewish people believed (Acts 2). It is also said in the same book of the Acts of the Apostles that people from all the nations under heaven were in Jerusalem, hearing them speak in various languages about the great deeds of God (Ibid.). And what follows according to the Septuagint, 'But I have given this expectation, and you have not remembered me,' says the Lord. 'Did I not make the barren woman give birth?' your God says, and it is more clearly stated in Hebrew, which all other interpreters agree with: 'Did I not, who make others give birth, not give birth myself?' says the Lord. If I, who give birth to others, am sterile, says the Lord your God, according to what is said elsewhere: 'He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see?' (Psalm 39:9). That is to say, the one who created all men out of nothing, can make one part of all nations into the Church of believers. Finally, in the twenty-eighth psalm, where we read: 'The voice of the Lord shakes the desert' (Psalm 29:8), in Hebrew it is written: 'The voice of the Lord makes the desert give birth' (According to the Hebrew), so that the desert may first give birth to the Church, and the stags may be completed in open and broken places. Furthermore, according to the Septuagint, here the meaning is that at one time the preaching of the Gospels will arise from one nation of the whole world. This has been promised many times by the prophets, and you have not remembered my promise, O city that is full of cries: O Temple that has been abandoned by the Lord: O people, to whom I have restored their fortunes. Did I not, it is said, make the barren woman give birth; she who was once barren, later gave birth and brought forth? About which it is written in the psalm: He maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children (Psalm 113:9). Or certainly, the order of things has been reversed: the one who was bearing children has become barren, and the one who was once barren has borne many, for this is the sentence of the Lord.

Commentary on Isaiah

7–9

Again Isaiah teaches that Jerusalem will not be destroyed root, branch and all. For when he foretold the complete captivity of Jerusalem, he mentioned those chosen to survive. For a not insignificant number will be saved, obviously through faith in Christ—and he wants to make this clear. But the Jews were enraged with him and killed the prince of life. But when he rose again, trampling on death, he returned to his God and Father in heaven. In the meantime, the divine apostles proclaimed him to all, and they called even those who had been enraged with him to repentance and to salvation through faith and the forgiveness of sins through baptism.

Commentary on Isaiah 5:6.66:7-9

Now when the fullness of time came, an angel of the Lord was sent to [Mary] with the good news of her conception of the Lord. And thus she conceived the Son of God, the subsistent power of the Father, “not of the will of the flesh or of the will of man”—that is to say, not of carnal conjunction and seed—but of the good pleasure of the Father and the cooperation of the Holy Spirit. To the Creator she gave that he might be created, to the Fashioner that he might be fashioned, and to the Son of God and God that he might from her innocent and undefiled flesh and blood put on flesh and become man. And thus she paid the debt for the first mother. For as Eve was formed from Adam without carnal conjunction, so did this one bring forth the new Adam in accordance with the law of gestation but surpassing the nature of generation. Thus, he who is without a mother begotten of a father was without a father born of a woman. And because it was of a woman it was in accordance with the law of gestation; while, because it was without father, it surpassed the nature of generation. And because it was at the normal time, for having completed the nine-month period he was born at the beginning of the tenth, it was in accordance with the law of gestation, while because it was without pain it surpassed the established order of birth—for where pleasure had not preceded, pain did not follow, as the prophet said, “Before she was in labor, she brought forth,” and again, “before her time came to be delivered she brought forth a man child.”And so the Son of God became incarnate and was born of her. It was not as God-bearing man that he was born of her but as God incarnate; not as a prophet anointed through the operation of the one anointing but as one anointed with the entire presence of the one anointing—so that the one anointing became man and the one anointed became God.

Orthodox Faith 4:14

Second, he describes the promise as to abundance of goods. And first, as to the reuniting of the people, setting out the promise, before she was in labor, she brought forth; that is, the children of Jerusalem will be gathered to her suddenly and at the same time, just as if a woman brought forth a child suddenly, without first being in labor, above: the children are come to the birth (Isa 37:3). Mystically, this is interpreted as concerning the labor of the Blessed Virgin, and the labor of the Church in the conversion of the faithful, and the labor of eternal begetting.

Commentary on Isaiah

Zion therefore gave birth, that is, the remnant of Israel and the faith of the believing apostles gave birth to the male Lord and Savior, who was generated at once throughout the entire universe. No one has either heard or told his story or taught it to anyone, so that all the nations might come to believe in a very short time and that there might be formed one Christian people from all the various peoples. This is what Paul was talking about when he said, “If any are in Christ, they are new creatures; the old has passed away and behold, they are made new,” as it is also written elsewhere, “All the families of the nations will worship before him.” … And this people was created in one day, whom the “sun of righteousness” illumined, as the Scripture says: “The Lord will be your everlasting light.” We can also correlate what is said here, “a people will arise as one because Zion bore and delivered her sons,” to that time when, on one day, three thousand and another five thousand of the Jewish people believed. Moreover, it is said in the same book of the Acts of the Apostles that there were persons in Jerusalem from all the nations under heaven, who heard one another speaking the glorious deeds of God, each in their own language. … But the meaning of the Septuagint’s text of this verse is that one people from the entire world shall arise in one moment to the preaching of the gospel. Or, in other words: I have repeatedly made this promise through many prophets, but you have not kept my promise in mind, O city full of crying, O temple vacated by the Lord, O people to whom I returned its own rejection. Is it not I who make fertile and make sterile? Did not she who was previously barren not later bear and deliver a child? Of this is it written in the Psalms: “He gives the barren woman a home and makes her a joyful mother of children.”

Commentary on Isaiah 18:23

And he introduces the wondering question: who has ever heard such a thing, above: who has begotten these? (Isa 49:21).

Commentary on Isaiah

And he sets out the response in the person of the Lord: shall not I that make others to bring forth children, myself bring forth, gathering the Jews, or the converted faithful; or the Son, from eternity. Similar to this is Psalm 93[94]:9: he that planted the ear, shall he not hear? Or he that formed the eye, doth he not consider? And these arguments hold, if that which belongs to the perfection of creatures is attributed [to God], removing all that which belongs to imperfection.

Commentary on Isaiah

Those who write of the nature of animals say that all wild creatures, beasts of burden, and sheep and birds have an innate affection for their offspring and young but that the greatest love is found among eagles, who build their nests in very high and inaccessible locations so that no serpent can harm their chicks. Also to be found among newly hatched eagles is the aetiten stone, which overcomes all poisons. If this is true, then the eagle’s affection is rightly compared with that of God for his creatures, who protects his children by taking every precaution to shatter the adversary’s plots on the name of the stone that is placed in Zion’s foundation, lest the dragon and ancient serpent, the devil and Satan, seize his newborns. And this Jerusalem, a mother by whom sons are consoled and caressed on her knees, is she of whom the apostle wrote: “But the Jerusalem above, who is the mother of us all, is free.”

Commentary on Isaiah 18:26

(Verse 10.) Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her. Delight in her with joy, all you who mourn over her, so that you may nurse and be satisfied from her comforting breast, and drink deeply and enjoy the abundance of her glory. LXX: Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and gather together all you who love her. Delight in her with joy, all you who mourn over her, so that you may nurse and be filled from her comforting breast, and after you have nursed, be delighted by the entrance of her glory. The apostles are commanded, and the apostolic men, who love both Jerusalems, and the one that has fallen they mourn and lament, and the one that will rise again they eagerly await with all desire, so that they may rejoice with her and in her, the one that is built with living stones, which roll upon the earth, and in the likeness of the wheels of the Cherubim, they follow the preceding spirit: not in those who have been dissolved into eternal ashes. About which the Lord spoke: Amen, amen I say to you, not one stone will remain upon another, until all these things are accomplished (Matthew 24:2). Rejoice, He says, with joy, all you who mourn for her. As we have taught about Peter and Paul, the apostles, and all who were awaiting the redemption of Israel, in order to suckle and be filled with the breasts of her consolation. For it could not be that she who gave birth to a male and was a mother, lacked an abundance of milk for the raising of her people and infants, who were born together, so that she would offer them two breasts, not at all like before in Egypt, broken and lying down, but whole and standing in virgin beauty, of the old and new Instrument, to offer rational milk. About whom the bridegroom speaks to her: Your breasts are better than wine (Song of Solomon 1:1). These were the ones about whom it was specifically said: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:5). And it should be noted that those who are little children are in need of milk for consolation, and they are still in a mortal place. But those who have progressed from the milk of consolation to solid food will have abundant delights of truth and knowledge of all glory, which is called Ziz in Hebrew. For this reason, where in our and the Greek codices it is read μόνιος ἄγριος, that is, singular wild, in Hebrew it is written Ziz Sadai, which Aquila translated as παντόδαπον χώρας, that is, various kinds of regions, to signify that Israel was devastated not only by the Romans, but by all nations. However, the glorious entrance of the Church is to be understood, about which the apostle John writes: 'And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, and the streets of the city were pure gold, as transparent glass' (Rev. 21:21). These pearls are forbidden by the Lord to be thrown before swine (Matt. 7), which the good merchant, when he found them in the Prophets and the Apostles, goes to one most precious pearl, not rejecting the others, but seeking through them something more precious (Matt. 13).

Commentary on Isaiah

Second, he promises immense comfort to the gathered Jews. And first, he invites others to congratulation: rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, as in the object of joy, setting out the condition of congratulation as to affection: all you that love her: eat, O friends, and drink, and be inebriated, my dearly beloved (Song 5:1); as to the sign of affection: all you that mourn for her: blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted (Matt 5:5).

Commentary on Isaiah

This struggle is the correction of noble good deeds in them. For their sweat is profitable, and they have youth-like endurance in order to gain not an earthly possession but rather so that they become filled with graces from God and are satisfied in every desire. To these he makes this promise, “Like infants at the breast you will be filled by the breasts of consolation.” Since Isaiah has previously compared the figure of a woman with the new Zion, he remains in this way of speaking and compares this comfort with that of the breasts and milk of the Holy Spirit. For in the Song of Songs it says, “Your breasts are better than wine.”

Commentary on Isaiah 5:6.66:10-12

And the fruit of congratulation as to participation in her gladness or peace: that you may suck: your breasts are better than wine (Song 1:1); as to participation in her glory, that you may milk out, as though extracting milk: then shall you abound in delights in the Almighty (Job 22:6).

Commentary on Isaiah

So, then, the Holy Spirit is the river, and the abundant river, which according to the Hebrews flowed from Jesus in the lands, as we have received it prophesied by the mouth of Isaiah. This is the great river that flows always and never fails. And not only a river but also one of the copious stream and overflowing greatness, as also David said, “The stream of the river makes glad the city of God.”

On the Holy Spirit 1.16.177

(Verse 12) For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will incline upon her like a river of peace, and like a torrent overflowing with the glory of the nations, whom you will nurse at your breast; they shall be carried on your side, and cuddled on your knees. LXX: For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will incline towards them like a river of peace, and like a overflowing torrent of the glory of the nations. Their little ones shall be carried on shoulders, and cuddled on knees. After Jerusalem has been rebuilt by the Apostles and restored to its former state, once its children and inhabitants have been comforted by the abundance of milk and have reached the delights of truth, through which we come to the glory of God, then the Lord will incline upon it a river of peace, of which we have often spoken: The river of God is filled with water (Psalm 64:10). And the rush of the river makes the city of God glad (Ps. 45:5); so that when peace possesses all things, and the wars of the nations cease, of which Scripture says, Scatter the nations that desire wars (Ps. 68:32), the torrent of God's teachings may irrigate the fields of the believers. Then his children, or the little ones (as the LXX translated), will be carried on shoulders and receive consolation on the knees. On shoulders, about which it was said in the earlier prophecy and which Jacob curses his son Issachar with: For he has placed his shoulder to work (Gen. 49:15), and he is called a farmer. For it is through excessive sweat and toil that we reach the abundance of fruits. Hence, it is said to Zion through Jeremiah: Put your heart upon your shoulders (Jerem. XXIV, 7), so that he may understand the Lord's commandments, imitating Him of whom it is written: Jesus began to do and to teach (Act. I, 1), so that faith may not be idle, but may run towards the reward through works. However, I have briefly explained the meaning of knees and bosoms above, and now Abraham can teach us by his example, in whose bosom Lazarus finds rest, and all who come from the East and the West will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Commentary on Isaiah

And Scripture calls Christ “glory,” for the psalmist says about him, “to prepare glory in our land.” This entrance is the mystery of the economy in the flesh. Being God by nature, he became man through his incarnation and in such manner came into the world. Those feed on the precise message of faith concerning him, and they learn in what way the glory, that is, Christ came into the world. And directly connected to this, the divine prophet speaks of his clear appearance in the flesh, taking on Christ’s voice as he says, “I will descend on them as a river of peace, and as a spring I will wash over the glory of the nations.”

Commentary on Isaiah 5:6.66:10-12

Second, he promises an abundant gathering of peace: for thus says the Lord: behold I will bring upon her, so that an overflowing is called, as a river descending with great force comes and does not overflow; and of glory: and as an overflowing torrent, above: your peace had been as a river (Isa 48:18).

Third, he promises full reception of comfort. First, as to the administration of the gentiles: which you shall suck, that is, the glory of the Gentiles, for the kings of the gentiles themselves will comfort and sustain you; thus follows: at the breasts. Mystically: this is said of the Apostles, who delighted in the glory of the gentiles who were swiftly converted, and who carried them as at the breast with caressing admonitions, above: you shall suck the milk of the Gentiles (Isa 60:16).

Commentary on Isaiah

A mother draws her children near her; we seek our mother, the church. Whatever is weak and young has an appeal and sweetness and lovableness of its own, just because in its weakness it does stand in need of assistance. But God does not withhold assistance from such an age of life. Just as the male and female parent regard their young tenderly—whether it be horses their colts, or cows their calves, or lions their cubs, or deer their fawn or men and women their children—so, too, does the Father of all draw near to those who seek his aid, giving them a new birth and making them his own adopted children. He recognizes them as his little ones, he loves only them, and he comes to the aid of such as these and defends them. That is why he calls them his children.

The Instructor Book 1

13–14

(Verse 13, 14) Just as a mother caresses her child, so will I comfort you, and in Jerusalem you will find comfort. Your heart will rejoice and your bones will flourish like grass. The hand of the Lord will be known to his servants, and he will be angry with his enemies. The Septuagint translates 'servants' as 'those who fear' and 'enemies' as 'unbelievers'; the rest is the same. We learn from the example of mothers, who surpass all charity by nourishing their children with love in their arms, the mercy of the Creator towards his creatures. Finally, wanting to show how much He loves and cares for those whom He has created, God asks, 'Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you' (Isaiah 49:15). This sentiment is also expressed in the Gospel when the Lord speaks to Jerusalem, saying, 'How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not' (Matthew 23:37). And in Deuteronomy, it is written: As an eagle protects its nest and desires its young, spreading its wings, it receives them and carries them on its shoulders (Deut. XXXII, 11). Those who have written about the nature of animals say that all beasts, and even beasts of burden, and cattle, and birds have an innate affection for their offspring, but the greatest love is that of eagles, which build their nests in high and inaccessible places to protect their young from the serpent. They also say that among its feathers is found a stone called amethyst, which surpasses all poisons. If this is true, the affection of God towards his creatures is rightly compared to that of the eagles, who protect their offspring with constant vigilance, so that the ancient dragon and serpent, the devil and Satan, may not approach the newly hatched chicks, and so that all the snares of their adversaries may be broken by the name of the stone that is laid in the foundations of Zion. This Jerusalem, in which the sons will find consolation in their mother's embrace and will kneel, is the same Jerusalem of which the Apostle writes: 'But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is our mother' (Galatians 4:26). Satisfied with the milk of this consolation, he comforted others who needed his words, saying: Blessed be God, the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation, who comforts us in all our tribulation, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any tribulation, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted by God (1 Corinthians 1:3). And when they have been comforted, it will be said to them: And you will see, and your heart will rejoice, and your bones will flourish like an herb; or according to Symmachus: they will bloom (John 16:22). But they shall indeed see God, which is true joy. Of whom the Lord spoke: Blessed are the clean of heart; for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8). The vision of God is perfect joy, which dwells in a heart full of faith: and the resurrection of the bones follows, of which we have already spoken. If the reader has forgotten these things, let them return to the original explanation. For it is better for them to reread what has been written, than for us to repeat what has been said. And he says, 'Behold, the hand of the Lord will be upon his servants, or upon those who fear him, and he will threaten his enemies, or his unbelievers. But the hand is also understood as power, because God is able to do all things that he promises, according to what Moses, speaking as the voice of God, says to Pharaoh: 'Now I will stretch out my hand and strike you and your people with pestilence, and you shall be cut off from the land' (Exodus 9:15). And again, concerning the same tyrant, Moses says: 'Behold, the hand of the Lord will be upon your livestock' (Exodus 9:3); about which the Psalmist says to God: 'Your hand has destroyed nations and planted them' (Psalm 44:2). Certainly, the hand of the Lord Christ must be understood, about whom we have also read above: My hand has made all these things. The Lord will make this known to his servants and those who fear him, and he will threaten the unbelievers and his enemies, so that he may promise rewards to some and threaten punishment to others. In this, the proper use of words must be considered, that he did not say: He will inflict upon his enemies; but he will threaten, so that, being deterred by the threat, they themselves may pass into the service of the Lord.

Commentary on Isaiah

Second, as to divine protection: as one whom the mother caresses: you have forgotten the consolation (Heb 12:5).

Commentary on Isaiah

For it is not only in the present life that I provide consolation for you through my heralds, but also in the heavenly city I will fill you with manifold joys—granting you the resurrection from the dead. This is what he meant by comparing the growth of bones to the growth of a plant.

Commentary on Isaiah 20:66.13-14

Third, as to the enjoyment of goods, you shall see good things given to you by God; bones, you who in adversity were like dry bones: you dry bones, hear the word of the Lord (Ezek 37:4). Or you shall see the divine essence: the light is sweet, and it is delightful for the eyes to see the sun (Eccl 11:7); and your bones shall flourish like an herb, in the resurrection.

And the hand of the Lord shall be known. Here he promises punishment to the wicked. And first, he threatens punishment, setting out the indignation of the judge: the hand, afflicting the impious, in his servants; or, the hand, of comfort, in his servants, by its effect, above: there is no indignation in me (Isa 27:4).

Commentary on Isaiah

15–16

(Verse 15, 16.) For behold, the Lord will come in fire: and like a whirlwind, his chariots, to render his anger with indignation, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire will the Lord judge, and by his sword, all flesh: and the slain by the Lord shall be multiplied. Septuagint: Behold, the Lord will come like fire, and his chariots like a storm, to render his vengeance in fury: and his rebuke in flames of fire. For in the fire of the Lord all the earth shall be judged: and all flesh shall fall by the sword thereof: many shall be wounded by the Lord. The hand of the Lord, which shall be made known to his servants, and which shall threaten the unbelievers and his enemies, so that if they do not repent, they shall suffer what follows: For behold, says the Lord, he shall come in fire, and like a whirlwind or storm shall be his chariot. Which we should understand as the angelic powers, when the Lord is coming in the glory of the Father with his angels, to judge the living and the dead: not that the Lord is fire, but that to those who endure punishment, he appears to be fire. And although Moses said (Deut. IV, 24), the same thing is confirmed by the Apostle (Hebr. XII, 29): God is a consuming fire. However, the Savior, expressing the substance of divinity, says: God is Spirit (John IV, 24). But between spirit and fire, according to corporeal understanding, there is much difference. For if fire or spirit, how is it said that they have eyes, ears, hands, feet, a stomach, and other members of the body, when these do not belong to spirit or fire? Therefore, the consuming fire is called God, so that it may consume whatever vices are in us, like hay, wood, and straw, and thorns, that is, the anxieties of this world, which the unfruitful earth brought forth instead of good seed, of which it is said to the Hebrews: But that which brings forth thorns and thistles is rejected, and is near to being cursed: whose end is to be burned (Hebrews 6:8). The Lord also spoke of this fire in the Gospel: I came to cast fire upon the earth (Luke 12:49). And above we read: Iniquity will burn like fire, and dry grass will be consumed by the fire (Isaiah 9:18), and all the weeds that the enemy sowed will grow while the father of the family sleeps (Matthew 13). Concerning this, it is also written in the Letter of James: A small fire kindles a large fuel (James 3:5)! And in Proverbs: Fire thrives on many logs (Proverbs 26:20). Although in that which is a Proverb, another meaning can be understood (Sirach 28). I believe this fire sat upon the tongues of all the apostles and believers when they spoke in various tongues, and it dispelled the darkness of error and illuminated the hearts of those who received the word of the Lord (Acts 2). And what follows: Like a storm, we proclaim the examples of the Psalms, in which it is written: God will come openly, our God, and he will not keep silent. A fire will burn before him, and around him there will be a powerful storm (Psalm 49:3-4). And elsewhere: The chariot of God is ten thousandfold, thousands of joyful ones (Ps. 67:18). With these chariots and horses, Elisha was surrounded, which his servant could not see. Therefore he said: Lord, open the eyes of this boy so that he may see. And when his eyes were opened, he saw the chariots and the charioteers and the horses all around (2 Kings 6:17). With this fiery chariot, Elijah was taken up to heaven, when Elisha cried out: My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its charioteer (2 Kings 2:12). But all these things are narrated, not because God has chariots or horses or is carried by their speed; about whom it is written elsewhere: 'Who walks upon the wings of the wind' (Psalm 103:3); but rather, it is said that He sits on a throne when He assumes the appearance of a judge; and when He comes for vengeance, to destroy His adversaries, He is displayed in the appearance of a victor and triumphalist. We have frequently spoken of the anger of the Lord, which should be understood as His forgetfulness, and repentance, and sadness, and other affections that do not befit His majesty. And in this fire and fury, in these chariots and in the flame of fire, all flesh shall be judged, whether the Lord himself with his creatures, so that he may appear to give judgment not by his power, but by the truth of judgment, according to what is said more fully in Micah, and more briefly in the fiftieth psalm: That you may be justified in your words, and may overcome when you are judged (Psalm 50:5). But the sword by which all flesh is to be judged, that must be understood, of which we have spoken before, and now we will speak in part: Unless you be converted, he will brandish his sword (Psalm 7:13). The Israelites complain about this avenging sword, given into the hands of Pharaoh, against the flesh of sinners and all vices; and they say to Moses and Aaron: May God see and judge you, for you have made our odor abominable before Pharaoh, so that the sword would be given into his hand and he would kill us. (Exod. IV, 21). Concerning this sword, it is also written in Amos: By the sword, all the sinners of the people will perish (Amos IX, 10): while certainly there are other kinds of punishments. Therefore, whatever pricks, strikes, twists, and torments is called a sword in the Holy Scriptures, by which sword those who do not do God's will shall be wounded or killed; and having forsaken the light of truth, they shall be enveloped in the darkness of error. Concerning whom it is written in Jeremiah: 'Can the Ethiopian change his skin?' (Jeremiah 13:23). And in Zephaniah: 'You Ethiopians who have been wounded or killed by my sword.' (Zephaniah 2:12). The Apostle explained in more detail the meaning of the entirety of this passage when he wrote to the Romans: 'But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his deeds.' To those indeed who, according to patience in good work, seek glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life. But to those who are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man who works evil, Jew first and Greek' (Rom. 2:5-10).

Commentary on Isaiah

By “the Lord will come in fire and with his chariots like a tornado or storm” we should understand him to be speaking of the angelic powers, when the Lord will come in the glory of the Father with his angels to judge the living and the dead. This is not to suggest, however, that the Lord himself is fire, but rather that the punishment to be sustained will feel like fire. Although Moses said and an apostle confirmed that “God is a consuming fire,” the Savior expressed the very substance of his divinity when he said, “God is spirit.” And there is a great difference between fire and spirit, according to the corporal understanding.… God is called “a consuming fire,” therefore, because he consumes our weaknesses, our stubble and briars and thorns, that is, the cares of this world, which cause the earth to be fruitless for the good seed, as it is said in the letter to the Hebrews: “But if it bears thorns and stubble, it is reprobate and near to being cursed, the end of which is destruction.”

Commentary on Isaiah 18:27

And he sets out the magnitude of the punishment: for behold the Lord will come with fire, by which the city is to be burned, or by which the world is to be purified; and his chariots, the army of the Chaldeans, in which God comes, as it were, or the angels, who will come with him for judgment: a fire shall go before him (Ps 96[97]:3).

Commentary on Isaiah

“For he will come like fire.” … For he will descend from heaven in the glory of God the Father and with the angels. This is his chariot, as it is praised in the Psalms: “The chariot of the Lord is ten thousand in dimensions with thousands of those rejoicing.” For he will come to give judgment in anger and to cast them off with a flame of fire. For “casting off” means rejection, just as he says to those who are dead in their sins, “Depart from me, you evildoers.”

Commentary on Isaiah 5:6.66:15-17

They shall fall by the sword of God (Amos 9:10). And he sets out the multitude of those who are punished: the slain of the Lord shall be many, above: for there is a victim of the Lord in Bosra and a great slaughter in the land of Edom (Isa 34:6).

Commentary on Isaiah

(Verse 17.) Those who were sanctified and considered themselves clean in gardens afterwards: those who ate pork, abomination, and mouse, will be consumed together, says the Lord. LXX: Those who are sanctified and purified in gardens and thresholds: eating pork, abominations, and mouse: they will be consumed together, says the Lord. Symmachus and Theodotion interpreted this passage as follows: Those who are sanctified and purified in gardens one after another, among them are those who eat pork, abomination, and mouse, they will perish together, says the Lord, in order to show that it is not themselves who eat pork, abomination, and mouse, but those who are sanctified in gardens one after another; rather, it is those who are purified who associate with them, who eat what is forbidden. But the divine word accuses the people of the Jews, rather the Scribes and Pharisees, whom the Lord also accused, saying: You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts, for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God (Luke XVI, 15). Therefore, he reproached them and said: Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside are full of greed and wickedness (Matthew XXIII, 25). And again: You are whitewashed sepulchers, full of dead bones and all uncleanness (Matthew 23:27): those who blessed with their mouth and cursed with their heart (Psalm 62): those who spoke peace to the Lord and softened their words over oil, but they were spears, of whom it was rightly said: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me (Isaiah 29:13). But God commanded through Moses (Numbers 19) that if anyone had been contaminated by sin beforehand, they should be sprinkled with the ashes of a red cow and other means of expiation, through sacrifices and victims, and return to the Temple. However, those negligent ones built baptisteries or pools for irrigating gardens in places of delights and pleasures: thinking that adulteries and all forms of lustful behavior could be washed away with simple water, to whom that saying truly applies: And they cleanse the night with a river (Horace). And let it not seem incongruous to anyone that things that are done shamefully should be explained more clearly in order to correct those who are not ashamed to commit such things, which are shameful both to speak of, while they cling to prostitutes like dogs, and to engage in homosexuality with other males, receiving the punishment of their sin upon themselves. Those who do these deeds are of the same will and wickedness as those who eat pork and all the things that are prohibited by the Law, and the mouse, which we call a dormouse, or in the Eastern provinces, μυωξοὺς. And therefore those who eat these things, and those who practice all kinds of immorality, do the same things that even the pagans do. According to the allegory, we can say: All lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God, are sanctified in gardens and thresholds, because the mysteries of truth are not able to enter, and to eat the food of impiety, while they are not holy in body and spirit: nor do they eat the flesh of Jesus, nor drink his blood. Regarding which He Himself speaks: 'Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life.' (John 6:55). For indeed Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. (1 Corinthians 5). It is not consumed outside, but in one house and inwardly.

Commentary on Isaiah

Second, he reproaches their fault: they that were sanctified, thinking to cleanse themselves of uncleanness by the waters, or even by the sacrifices of idols, in the gardens, in which they worshipped idols, or occupied themselves with pleasure; behind one woman, copulating with women in the manner of beasts, or behind the gate, in other manuscripts; the mouse, the dormouse, contrary to the law (Lev 11:29), above: that eat swine's flesh, and profane broth (Isa 65:4).

Commentary on Isaiah

18–19

(Verse 18, 19.) But I come to gather together with all nations and tongues their works and thoughts: and they shall come and see my glory. And I will set a sign among them, and will send some of them, who have been saved, to the nations in the sea ((or sea)), to Africa, to Lydia spreading the bow, to Italy and Greece, to distant islands: to those who have not heard of me, and have not seen my glory. LXX: And I know their works and thoughts, and I come to gather all nations and all tongues: and they shall come and see my glory, and I will send a sign upon them: and I will send some of them, who have been saved, to the nations, to Tarshish and Put, and Lud and Mosoch and Tubal, and to Greece, and to distant islands, who have not heard my name, nor seen my glory. Before I explain what the enumeration of many nations signifies, it must be briefly said about the variety of interpretation. Tharsis, in the Hebrew language, is called sea; and (as they say) the region of India: although Josephus, changing the letter, thinks that Tarshish is now called Tarsum, a city of Cilicia, to which Jonah, fleeing from Joppa, wanted to go (Jonah 1). Phud, or Phul, however, refers to the Libyans, and the whole of Africa up to the sea of Mauritania, in which the river that is now called Phud, and the whole region around it, is named Phutensis. But the Lydians are called Lud, whose colonists, the Etruscans, who are now called the Tuscans, were once the most skilled in shooting arrows, and they are now said to be arrow shooters. For this reason, it is written in Hebrew as Mosche Ceseth, which all translated similarly without the Septuagint, interpreting it as 'those who shoot arrows.' And the Septuagint put μοσὸχ, interpreting the word as a name. If this is accepted, it means 'Cappadocians,' whose capital is Mazaca, which later received the name Caesarea from Caesar Augustus. Those who do not know what they want, even in Genesis (Chapter X) the last son of Aram, that is, the Syrians of Damascus, who are called Mes, are interpreted as μοσὸχ: for which we more correctly transfer to Moeonas. Thubal, however, is interpreted as either Italy or Iberia, that is, Spain, from the river Iberus, from which today the region of Spain is called Celtiberia. Concerning these, Lucanus (Lucan, Book IV) beautifully says:

The Celts of Gaul mixing with the Iberian people: whom we can call Gallo-Hispanics. The Greeks, however, who are called Javan in the Hebrew language, are signified by Jonas: hence Greeks are also called Jones, and the Ionian Sea. And it should be considered that the Eastern nations are mostly descended from Japheth, one of Noah's sons: although Tharsis and Phut, as well as Shem and Ham, that is, the names of India and Africa, were also mentioned, in order to show the whole world. Therefore, the Lord comes to gather the works and thoughts of each individual. From this, we learn that not only actions but also thoughts will be judged on the day of judgment. For whoever looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5). Regarding this, it is said: 'Now their own thoughts have surrounded them: when the Lord will judge the hidden things of men according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ' (Romans 2:15). So that what the Apostle writes may be proven true by the judgment, with thoughts accusing and satisfying one another, on the day when God will judge the hidden things of men. That all our thoughts, gathered together at once, may be proven by the just judge, whether our conscience accuses us or satisfies us for our wrongdoing, whether there are more sins or good deeds, whether they are old or new, whether they have been erased by repentance or rebuilt with new crimes, as the Lord says: 'I will give them their ways upon their heads, and I will repay their thoughts to them' (Hosea 9:7). He who formed every heart and understands all their works. (Psalm XXXII, 15) About whom we also read in another place: You alone know the hearts of men. (2 Chronicles VI, 30) For no one knows what is in a man, except the spirit of man that is in him. (1 Corinthians II) Therefore, God speaks through Jeremiah: Am I a God at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can a man hide himself in secret places, and I will not see him? (Jeremiah XXIII, 23) Finally, it is said to the scribes and Pharisees: You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts (Luke XVI, 15). In this, it should be considered that he did not say 'Father,' according to the blasphemies of heretics, so as not to appear to exclude the Son, but 'God,' which is common to both the Father and the Son. For in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; this was in the beginning with God (John I, 1, 2). About which John also writes: But Jesus himself did not believe in them, because he knew all men, and he did not need anyone to bear witness of man: for he himself knew what was in man (John 2:24-25). This is also consistent with this: But Jesus knowing their thoughts (Luke 6:8). And in another place: But Jesus knowing their wickedness (Matthew 22:18). And to prevent any doubt, when heretics maliciously slander the Word of God, that it knows all things, it is stated more fully in the Epistle to the Hebrews: For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature invisible in his sight. But all things are naked and open to his eyes, to whom our speech is. (Hebrews IV, 12). But after all thoughts have been gathered into one, accusing or defending us: then all peoples and languages ​​will be brought together with their thoughts. And according to the Apostle Paul, we not only read the languages ​​of men but also of Angels (I Corinthians XIII). From this it is understood that all creatures are to be judged by the Lord, not only on earth, but in the air and in the heavens, as he himself said in the passages above: My sword is intoxicated in heaven, and it will come down to the earth (Isaiah 34:5). But everyone will come to see the glory of God, and he will put a sign on them, as shown in the beginning of the book of Ezekiel under the interpretation of the Hebrew letter Thau (Ezekiel 9). By this sign, the hand of the one who struck will flee. This was also marked on the doorposts of houses in Egypt when Egypt was perishing, and only Israel remained untouched (Exodus 12). Concerning this sign that King Ahaz of Judah did not want to receive, the prophet Isaiah testifies: Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son (Isaiah 7:14). And so the Prophet prays for what was promised: Show me a sign for good (Psalm 86:17). And in another place: You have given a sign to those who fear you, that they may flee from the face of the bow (Psalm 59:4). The Lord left this to us as he ascended to the Father, or placed it on our foreheads, so that we may freely say: The light of your face, Lord, has shone upon us (Psalm 4:7). But what follows: And I will send those who have been saved to the nations: and he enumerates them individually, seems to be contrary to our interpretation. For if it is said of the Day of Judgment: how does the coming of the Savior recur to the first, when the Apostles are sent to the Gentiles, and hear from the Lord: Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. XXVIII, 19.) This is how it is resolved: The Day of Judgment is preached, or rather threatened, so that out of fear of future punishment, they may receive the coming of the Savior and the Gospel of the Apostles, who are to be sent before. But beautifully he said, 'And I will send out of them that shall be saved' (Isai. LXVI, 18). For unless the Lord had left us seed, we had been made as Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrha. And the Apostle says: 'The remnants, he saith, have been saved' (Rom. IX, 27). These are sent to the Gentiles in Tharsis, and Phud, and Lud, and Mosoch, and Thobel, and Greece, and to many islands which are far off, and have not heard my name, nor seen my glory. Of which we have already spoken in the account above (Ch. XII). Now the anagoge must be sought. Tharsis signifies the exploration of joy: so that we may consider not those things which are in the present, but those which are in the future; and may deserve to hear: 'Well done, good and faithful servants, enter into the joy of your Lord' (Matt. XXV, 21). Concerning which the Apostle Peter also writes: 'Rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory' (I Pet. I, 8); so that we may praise God, saying: 'Our mouth is filled with joy, and our tongue with exultation' (Ps. CXXV, 2). And what follows, Phud is interpreted as the exclusion of the mouth: that we may exclude all blasphemy, and speak those things which are good, and say: My mouth shall declare thy righteousness, O Lord: all the day long thy salvation (Psalm 70:15). And again: I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy salvation (Psalm 39:11). Lud also in our language signifies usefulness, and Mosoch signifies extension, and Thubal, or Thobel, signifies mourning, or turned, or universal: all of which are in accord with the calling of the nations, that they may follow usefulness through the confession of their soul, forgetting the past and extending to the future. And let the ancient sins be mourned, and let them be dragged to lamentation and sadness, which leads to life. Blessed are those who mourn, for they themselves will laugh (Matthew 5). And let everyone turn to the Lord, so that they may later pass to grace, and know the saying by the Apostle: Glory and honor, from peace to everyone who works good, to the Jew first and to the Greek (Romans 2:10): for God is not only the God of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles. Furthermore, that which is said: And to the distant islands, who have not heard my name, nor seen my glory, applies to them, of whom we read above: Those to whom it has not been announced about him, they will see; and those who have not heard, they will understand (Isaiah 55:5). And again: I manifested myself to those who did not question me: I was found by those who did not seek me (Isaiah LXV, 1). I said: Behold, I am here, to those who do not call upon my name. However, we often said that the islands signify either all the nations of the world, or the Churches dispersed throughout the whole world.

Commentary on Isaiah

And Zechariah saw during the night, “behold, a man mounting a red horse, who was standing between two shady mountains, and behind him were red and white and chestnut and variously colored horses.” … John also in the Apocalypse testified that he saw this: “I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it was called faithful and true and a righteous judge and warrior. His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many diadems, having a written name that no one knew except himself. And he was clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood and the name by which he was called was Word of God. And an army in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in the purest white linen, and a sharp sword went forth from his mouth to strike the nations.” The Lord and Savior was sitting on a red horse as he assumed human nature, to whom it is asked: “Why are your garments red? And who is this who ascends from Edom with crimson garments from Bozrah?” Horses of various colors followed him, moreover, either red with martyrdom or chestnut in flight or variegated with virtues or white with virginity. But he was sitting on a white horse when he assumed an immortal and uncorrupted body after the resurrection. Whoever followed him also used a white horse, incorrupt and immortal in body. If we wished to explain both texts, it would take a long time, but let me say only this, that the various vehicles by which people are led to faith are angels, or saints who have advanced from being people to being angels. Many Scripture passages teach that each of us should have angels, one of which is: “Do not despise one of these little ones, for their angels daily behold the face of the Father who is in heaven.” Also, when the maid Rhoda announced that it was Peter at the door, others believed him to be Peter’s angel.

Commentary on Isaiah 18:30

Christ makes here in these words something like a summary of the whole message and of the whole prophecy, and in short compass in summary form he announces the things from start to finish and the power of his economy in the flesh. He mentions the calling of the nations, the election of the holy apostles, and that he will be worshiped by the whole wide world. For the former law gathered one people only, that is, those from Israel, and called to those only speaking that language. But our Lord Jesus Christ did not grant the power of his economy in the flesh only to those from Israel by blood but to every nation and language.…

Commentary on Isaiah 5:6.66:18-21

But I. Here he describes the manner of separation as to everyone together. And first, he decrees universal judgment: I know their works, and their thoughts, as though judging them for both; I come, in the day of judgment, or the various kingdoms of your enemies destroying also the wicked among you; they shall come, into Jerusalem after your return, either to judgment, or to faith: behold, I will raise them up out of the place wherein you have sold them (Joel 3:7).

Commentary on Isaiah

“And from them I will send” the sign “to Tarshish, Tubal and Javan,” and to all the other cities, which came to help the house of Gog in its fight against Zerubbabel, that is, against Christ, who was symbolized by Zerubbabel, the king of the people in its return from captivity to the land of the inheritance of the Lord. Therefore the revolt of the nations against Zerubbabel prefigured what the prophet foretold about Christ by saying, “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed.”

Commentary on Isaiah 66:19

It is with them [the apostles] that the prophecy found its accomplishment, because it was they who preached the gospel to all nations.

Commentary on Isaiah 20:66.19

Second, he sets out the summons to judgment: and I will set a sign, the edict of Cyrus, among them, that is, the Jews who were with Zorobabel and the other leaders; to the Gentiles, to the nations whom the Jews had been dispersed; Lydia them that draw the bow, for they are good archers; my glory, which will appear in your liberation, above: he shall set up a sign unto the nations (Isa 11:12). Or he sets the sign of the cross on the apostles, so that they might convert all nations to God, as though prepared for judgment.

Commentary on Isaiah

(Verse 20.) And they shall proclaim my glory among the nations, and they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on carts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord. LXX: And they shall proclaim my glory among the nations, and they shall bring your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, with horses and chariots, and with litters on the backs of mules, with sunshades to the holy city Jerusalem, says the Lord. Those who have been saved and sent to various nations, and to those who have not heard or seen the glory of the Lord, will proclaim it to all nations, and will bring the brothers of the Jewish people, whose remains have been saved, as a gift to the Lord from all nations: either those who have followed the knowledge of the true God, rejecting the error of idolatry, or those who have believed from the entire world among the Israelite people. To them, the apostle Peter writes (1 Peter 1). They brought in horses, chariots, litters, mules, and wagons. As for the wagons, which Symmachus alone interpreted and which we have followed in this place, Aquila, Septuagint, and Theodotion translated them as 'mulos'. And where Septuagint placed 'cum umbraculis', which we can interpret as dormitories or sleeping chambers, others translated with the similar-sounding word 'basternas'. And when they said 'φορεῖα', which we interpret as various types of vehicles, Septuagint and Theodotion used the term 'lampenas', for which Symmachus interpreted as 'lecticas'. Aquila used 'σκεπαστὰ', which itself means 'covered with skins', as a translation for 'lecticas'. This is said about the variety of translations. However, by horses, and chariots, and litters, and mules and wagons, and vehicles of various kinds, we can understand Angelic ministries, of which elsewhere it is said to God: Ascend upon your horses, and your riding is salvation (Hab. 3:8). With these horses, chariots, and chariots, Elijah was taken up to heaven, and Elisha showed himself to be surrounded and protected by them, demonstrating to the unaware boy (2 Kings 2). And Zacharias saw in the night: Behold a man ascending upon a red horse, and he stood in the midst of two shady mountains: and after him there were red, black, and white horses. And I said: What are these, my Lord? And he said to me: I will show thee what these are. And the man that stood in the midst of the mountains answered, and said to me: These are they, whom the Lord hath sent to walk through the earth (Zach. I, 8-10). John also testifies in the Apocalypse that he saw these things: I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse: and he who sat upon it was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed which no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, followed him on white horses. From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations (Rev. 19:11-15). The Lord and Savior was sitting on a red horse, assuming a human body, to whom it is said: Why are your garments red? And: Who is this that comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah (Isaiah 63:2). And there followed him horses of various colors, either red in martyrdom, or starlings in flight, or varied in virtues, or white in virginity. But he was sitting on a white horse when he took on an immortal and incorruptible body after the resurrection. And whoever followed him used white horses, clearly with incorruptible and immortal bodies. It would take a long time, if we wanted to explain both testimonies: I will only say this, that the different vehicles by which people are led to faith are angels, or holy men who have progressed from being human to being angels. That each of us has angels is taught by many Scriptures, among which is this: Do not despise one of these little ones, for their angels behold the face of the Father who is in heaven (Matthew 18:10). And when Rhoda, a girl, announced that Peter was at the door, others believed that he was his angel (Acts 12). But if this is said about the least, and about one man, how much more should it be thought about all the saints, and especially about the Apostles? Whose angels see the face of the Father daily, according to what is written: The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him (Psalm 34:7). And Jacob speaks of himself: The angel who redeemed me. These are those who ascend and descend upon the Son of Man. Those who are swift in faith ride on horses; those who are abundant in grace ride on chariots; those who are in need of consolation are carried in covered litters and shaded tents, so that they may deserve to hear: The sun shall not scorch you by day, nor the moon by night (Psalm 121:6). However, we understand mules in Holy Scripture in two ways: either in terms of barrenness and continence, which is how David and Solomon sat, one interpreted as strong-handed and the other as peaceful, or in a negative sense, of which it is said: Do not be like the horse and the mule, without understanding (Psalm 32:9), to which Doeg was appointed (1 Samuel 21). But the carriages, for which (as we said above) the Seventy, the covered vehicles, the others simply carried them, they are to be understood as the ones the Apostle is speaking of: Bear one another's burdens (Galatians VI, 2). Moreover, the lamps are to be understood as the shining bodies of the saints, and the souls illuminated by the faith of the Lord, of which it can be said: You are the light of the world (Matthew V, 14). However, all this apparatus serves to enter the holy city of God, or the holy mountain of the Lord Jerusalem: not the one that kills the Prophets, and that stones those sent to her; but the heavenly Jerusalem, of which we have frequently said: But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is our mother (Galatians IV, 26). And again: But you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. XII, 22). This can be understood either of the present Church, which is gathered throughout the whole world by the Apostles, or of the future: so that what the Apostle prophesied by the Holy Spirit may be fulfilled: We shall be caught up together with the Lord in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord (I Thess. IV, 16). The Jews and the followers of the Judaic error, the Ebionites, who, for the sake of affected humility, have taken the name of the poor; all those who are looking forward to a thousand years of delight, understand horses and chariots, and chariots, and litters, or palanquins, and beds, and mules and donkeys, and carts, and various types of vehicles, as they are written. Indeed, at the consummation of the world, when Christ will come to reign in Jerusalem, and the Temple will be restored, and the Judaic victims will be offered, the sons of Israel will be gathered from the whole world, not on horses, but on the mules of Numidia. And those who will be of senatorial rank and hold positions of authority, they will come in carts from the Britons, the Spaniards, and the Morini, who are called Morinos by Virgil (Aeneid VIII), and from where the Rhine is divided by the two-horned [river], with all the nations prepared for their service meeting them.

Commentary on Isaiah

For like something consecrated to God, the host of the nations are given over to God’s glory, released from all charges through faith and washed from all filth through holy baptism, like a guest’s gift, as if given out of the apostolic fervor for God. On that account they rejoice, naming him their joy and crown. For that the return of the nations to God happens in an extremely comfortable fashion and without sweat and struggle is clearly declared in parabolic fashion when he speaks for our instruction, saying that “they will be led with horses, chariots, now with illuminations, now with shade.…”

Commentary on Isaiah 5:6.66:18-21

Third, he sets out the preparation of those to be judged. And first, as to the good; second, as to the wicked: and they shall go out, and see (Isa 66:22). The first of these is divided into two parts. First, as to the Jews, he sets out their honorable return: and they shall bring all your brethren out upon horses, by which are signified the reinforcements they reverently received from the gentiles: the Lord will bring them to you (Bar 5:6); or by which are signified the various conditions of those who are converted to the faith, as the Gloss explains.

Commentary on Isaiah

21–22

“ ‘And I will take from them priests and Levites,’ says the Lord,” so that those who will be saved can preach to the Gentiles.” Concerning this, one author said, “Thus a person should regard us as ministers of Christ and dispensers of the mysteries of God,” and the Evangelist Luke wrote, “just as they delivered to us, who saw from the beginning and were ministers of the word.” We, too, read above about this very matter: “But you will be for me priests of the Lord.” For just as he who is circumcised by the Spirit is a Jew in hiding, of whom it is written “we are the circumcision who serve the Spirit of God and offer spiritual sacrifices pleasing to God and sing psalms with the Spirit and with the mind,” so also they are priests and Levites in hiding who follow not a genealogy but the order of faith. It is certain, at least, that this does not speak of the apostles or of apostolic men, who were the princes of the church from the people of the Jews, but it speaks instead of those Gentiles enumerated above, from the sea, from Africa, from Lybia, from Cappadocia, from Italy, from Greece, and from all the islands, the inhabitants of which have not yet had an opportunity to hear the Lord for the first time or to see his glory and afterward to be made priests, such that those who were the tail may become the head and those who were the head may become the tail.“For, like the new heaven and the new earth that I will cause to stand before me,” says the Lord, “so shall your seed and your name stand. From month to month and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh will come to adore the Lord in my presence in Jerusalem.” When the Lord says, “I will take from them priests and Levites,” he shows the old priesthood to have passed away, which was bound to the tribe of Levi, where there was no choice but only a succession by the order of nature in family posterity. For “when there is a change in the priesthood, it is necessary that there be a change in the law as well” and that election to the priesthood be conferred by no means according to blood lineage but according to merits and virtues, choosing people who will come from the islands of the Gentiles and proclaim the glory of the Lord.

Commentary on Isaiah 18:31-32

(Verse 21) Just as the sons of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. And I will take from among them priests and Levites, says the Lord. LXX: Just as the sons of Israel offer their sacrifices to me with Psalms in the house of the Lord; and I will take from among them priests and Levites, says the Lord. As they have been directed to the nations, and have proclaimed my glory to them, so they shall bring your brothers from all nations as an offering to the Lord, with horses, and chariots, and litters, and mules, and carts, and various vehicles, to the holy mountain Jerusalem, just as the sons of Israel used to do when their religion was established and the ceremonies of the Temple were observed, offering sacrifices with Psalms in the house of the Lord. Or, as it is written in Hebrew, they rendered it all with consonant voice in pure vessel: which they also offer until this day in the House of God, which is the Church, the sons of Israel who behold God with their mind, spiritual sacrifices with the fruits and virtues of their soul in pure vessels, that is, in holy bodies. Concerning which the Apostle writes: Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Holy Spirit dwells in you (1 Corinthians 3:16)? And I will select, says the Lord, priests and Levites from among them, so that those who are saved may proclaim the message to the nations. Of whom one spoke: Thus let a man consider us as ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God (I Cor. IV, 1). And Luke the evangelist says: Just as they handed down to us, who from the beginning saw and were ministers of the word. Of whom we also read above: You shall be priests to me, says the Lord (Isaiah LXI, 6). For just as a Jew is hidden, who is circumcised in spirit (Rom. II), of whom it is written: We are the circumcision, who serve God in spirit (Philipp. III, 3), and offer spiritual sacrifices pleasing to God, and sing with spirit and understanding: thus also the priests and Levites are hidden, who do not follow the order of their lineage, but the order of faith. Or certainly he does not speak of the Apostles and apostolic men, who were the leaders of the Church from the Jewish people, but of those mentioned above the nations, from the sea, from Africa, from Libya, from Cappadocia, from Italy, from Greece, from all the islands, the inhabitants of which had not first heard the Lord, nor seen His glory, and afterwards they turn into priests, so that those who were tail become the head, and those who were the head, turn into the tail.

Commentary on Isaiah

“And I will take from them priests and Levites.” From whom? This is not yet so clear, meaning either those sent to call them out from the nations or from those who were thus called out. For the divine disciples served through Christ as priests. But many were called to the priesthood, and many are still called who are of Greek stock, once God has changed them into the newness of life and knowledge.

Commentary on Isaiah 5:6.66:18-21

Second, the exaltation of their return, first, as to their worthiness: and I will take of them to be priests, which was literally fulfilled in the Jews, and also in the apostles, above: you shall be called the priests of the Lord: to you it shall be said: you ministers of our God (Isa 61:6).

Commentary on Isaiah

22–23

(Vers. 22, 23.) For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make to stand before me, saith the Lord: so shall your seed stand, and your name. And there shall be month after month, and sabbath after sabbath: all flesh shall come to adore in my sight, saith the Lord. LXX: For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make to remain before me, saith the Lord: so shall your seed and your name remain. And there shall be month after month, and sabbath after sabbath: all flesh shall come to adore in my sight in Jerusalem the Lord. When he says: 'Assume from among them priests and Levites,' he indicates that the old priesthood was passed over, which was owed to the Levitical tribe, where there is not an election, but a natural order, and it is a succession of a family descending through offspring. For with the translation of the priesthood, it is necessary that both the translation of the Law be made, and the election pertain to those to whom priesthood is conferred, not according to blood, but according to merits and virtues, who will come from the islands of the Gentiles and announce the glory of the Lord. And they shall be brought in on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and in wagons. But as for the new heaven and the new earth, and the new Jerusalem, that it may not be said: The heaven and the earth shall pass away (Matt. XXIV, 35). And again: The heaven shall be folded up like a book: and the earth shall be dissolved by its corruption (Apoc. VI, 14): so in all things new, the people of God shall be made new, as scripture says: The old things have passed away: behold all things are made new (Isa. XLIII, 19). And in another place: If any man be in Christ a new creature (II Cor. V, 17) . And there shall be a new people; for Christ is the firstfruits, then they that are Christ's, at his coming: and there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, whereof it is said among the eight beatitudes: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land (Matth. V, 3, 4) . For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that made it subject, in hope (Rom. VIII). But they will be set free from the slavery of corruption into the glory of the children of God, who will be made sons of him through men, and they will stand before him forever, and their name will always remain so that no other nation may succeed them, as happened among the Jews; but they shall remain forever. And, he says, month by month there will be a month, and Sabbath after Sabbath: so that from carnal Sabbaths and months, delicate spiritual Sabbaths may be made, which is the Sabbath of God reserved for the people. The spiritual month, when it is completed from one point to another by the moon, and follows its own order, in order to make a month, that is, the kalends, which in Greek are called 'neomeniai', that is, the beginning of the new month. Among them, the beginning of the kalends does not start and end according to the course of the sun and the different spans of the months, but according to the circuit of the moon. This is the moon about which in praise of the true Solomon it is said: 'It shall endure as long as the sun and before the moon throughout all generations' (Psalm 72:5). She who is called the chosen one in the Song of Songs: Who is this that comes forth like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awe-inspiring? (Song of Songs 6:9) Physicists, who are concerned with discussing celestial matters, say that the moon does not have its own light, but is illuminated by the rays of the sun. It is always filled and shines by a part of it, from which it is closer to the sun, and it is not hidden by the shadow of the earth, as the poet also demonstrated in a single verse (Virgil, Georgics Book I).

Nor does the moon rise under the rays of her brother.

If this is true, and we can also say in a metaphorical sense, that the Church which grows and diminishes in times of peace and persecution, and once again takes on its original light, shining with the radiance of the sun of justice, and this is what is meant by: 'The moon will shine like the sun' (Isai. XXX, 26); and its inhabitants will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. And during these months, the seed of the Lord, which is renewed forever, comes to its solemnities, which the holy one proclaimed with mystical words, saying: 'I have considered the eternal years, and I have meditated' (Psal. LXXVI, 6). But on the Sabbath, which signifies rest, we have treated extensively in the sermon (On Chapter LVI), about the prophecy of the eunuch strangers. And now it must be said briefly that they come on the new moons and on the Sabbaths, those who, having passed and left behind the six days in which the world was made, hasten to the seventh day, that is, the Sabbath, in which true rest is found. Concerning these solemnities, the believing Apostle Paul instructs, saying: For the law having a shadow of the good things to come (Hebrews X, 1). And again: Therefore let no one judge you in food, or in drink, or regarding a festival, or a new moon, or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come (Colossians II, 16). But if these have preceded in the shadow of future goods, and in an image, then the whole law must be understood spiritually, of which the same Apostle said: We know that the law is spiritual (Romans VII, 14), the mysteries of which David desired to know: Open my eyes, and I will contemplate the wonders of your law (Psalm CXVIII, 18). For the things that are seen are temporal; but the things that are not seen are eternal. (II Corinthians IV). To quickly run through a discussion about these things is not of this time. For if the eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for those who love him (I Corinthians II), how can we attempt to show the summary of the entire Law and the world in a short tablet? And what follows: All flesh shall come to adore in my sight in Jerusalem, it should be known that it is not written in Hebrew, Jerusalem, so that we may deride the pride of the Jews, but only 'in my sight', so that the word of the Lord may be fulfilled, saying in the Gospel: Amen, amen, I say to you, that the hour comes when you shall neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem adore the Father (John IV, 21). And again: The Spirit is God. And those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John, 4:24). And the Apostle also said: Lifting up holy hands in every place (I Tim. II, 8). But all flesh does not signify the Jewish people, but every kind of people, according to what was said above: All flesh shall see your salvation (Isaiah, 40:5). And in Joel: I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters will prophesy (Joel, 2:28). And in Zechariah: Let all flesh fear before the Lord (Zech. II, 13). And in the Psalms: To you all flesh will come (Ps. LXIV, 2). Which in other words is said in another psalm: All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name (Ps. LXXXV, 9). They interpret from month to month, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, when all flesh will come to worship God, the "chiliasts," who we can call the Milestones: so that those who are nearby come to Jerusalem every Sabbath; those who are far away come through months, that is, completing the cycle of the calendar; those who are very far away come through individual years, that is, on the days of Passover or Tabernacles, according to what is said in Zechariah: And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles (Zech. XIV, 16). And to provide greater laughter to the hearers, which is written in the last volume of the same prophet: 'And there will no longer be a merchant in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day,' thus they interpret, that merchants will cease to exist for a thousand years, because everything will be produced in all places, so that neither will we need the leaf of amomum and pepper, nor will the Indians desire pennyroyal from us.

Commentary on Isaiah

This is the immovable hope that Christ promises in all goodness to those who love him and who acknowledged his epiphany. As it says, “When I remake the heaven and the earth, I will allow them to remain, and no passing of time will destroy them.” So your seed and your name will stand before me. For we are the new heaven and the new earth and his promised things, just as they are written about. For the hope of the saints will stand forever and endures, as Paul confirms. …

Commentary on Isaiah 5:6.66:22-24

Second, as to the preservation of their seed: for as the new heavens, as above, so shall your seed stand (Isa 65:17), forever: if these ordinances shall fail before me, says the Lord: then also the seed of Israel shall fail (Jer 31:36); or the saints will stand eternally renewed as heaven and earth.

Commentary on Isaiah

Physicists and those whose concern it is to argue about the heavens say that the moon does not have its own light but is illuminated by the sun’s rays. For it always shines completely on that portion of its orb that is closest to the sun and is not obscured by the shadow of the earth, as the poet demonstrates in one verse: “Nor is the moon liable to rise in the rays of her brother.” If this is true, then we are also able to say tropologically that the church, which grows and declines in peace and in persecutions and receives pure light after enduring the oppression of dark temptations, possesses its splendor from the Sun of righteousness and is that reality that was spoken: “The moon will shine like the sun.” Its righteous inhabitants will also “shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Throughout these months, the seed of the Lord, which is established eternally, comes to his solemnities that the saint sings with a mystical mouth, saying: “I had eternal years in mind as I meditated in the night.” …In relation to what follows, namely, “all flesh will come to adore the Lord in my presence in Jerusalem,” it should be noted that “Jerusalem” is not written in the Hebrew text, thus enabling us to shake off the arrogance of the Jews, but only “in my presence,” so the word of the Lord may be fulfilled by he who says in the Gospel: “Truly, truly, I say to you that the hour will come when you will worship the Father neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” For “all flesh” signifies not the Jewish people but every human race, in accordance with what is said above: “All flesh will see your salvation.” This is also found in Joel: “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and daughters will prophesy,” and in Zechariah: “Let all flesh revere the face of the Lord,” and in the Psalter: “All flesh will come to you,” which another psalm expresses differently: “All the peoples whom you have made will come and worship in your presence and glorify your name, O Lord.” This “from month to month and from sabbath to sabbath,” in which “all flesh will come to adore the Lord,” is given a ridiculous interpretation by the chiliasts, however, whom we can call millenarians, such that all who are in the area come to Jerusalem each sabbath and all who are farther away come every month and those who live at a great distance come for Passover every year, this because of what was said in Zechariah: “Each one shall go up from year to year to worship the Lord, the King of hosts, and to celebrate the feast of tabernacles.” Moreover, providing their audience with still further reason to laugh, because it is written in the last chapter of the same prophet that “there will be no merchants any longer in the house of the Lord of hosts,” they understand this to mean that all salespersons will cease to exist for one thousand years, for everything will be generated in every location, such that we will neither be in need of a sweet pepper nor will an Indian desire a mint leaf from us.

Commentary on Isaiah 18:32

Third, as to the duration of their glory: and there shall be month after month, as if to say, month will follow month and feast will follow feast in your prosperity, above: year is added to year: the solemnities are at an end (Isa 29:1). Mystically: the Church after the end, spiritual rest after carnal rest.

Second, as to the gentiles, and all flesh shall come, for from the various nations they came to Jerusalem to adore the Lord: all the nations shall come and adore before you, O Lord (Ps 85[86]:9); or in the day of judgment.

Commentary on Isaiah

And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. [Isaiah 66:24] For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.

As people who have cut your souls off from this hope, it is necessary that you know how to obtain pardon of your sins and a hope of sharing in the promised blessings. There is no other way than this, that you come to know our Christ, be baptized with the baptism that cleanses you from sin (as Isaiah testified) and thus live a life free of sin.

Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter XLIV

If heaven and earth are renewed, how can we doubt the possibility of our renewal, for whom heaven and earth were made? If the transgressor is kept for punishment, why should not the just person be preserved for glory? If the worm of sinners does not die, how shall the flesh of the just perish? For the resurrection, as the very form of the word indicates, is this: What has fallen shall rise again, what has died shall live again.

On the Death of Satyrus 2.87

If … we have any sense of our own salvation, let us, while we still have time, abandon evil ways, concern ourselves with virtue and despise vainglory.

Homilies on Genesis 22:21

But the worm that will not die and the fire that will not be extinguished are understood by many to be the conscience of sinners, which tortures those who are in supplications. Therefore, due to their vice and sin, they are deprived of the good of the elect, in accordance with which it is said, “I was turned to misery, as thorns pierced me,” and in the Proverbs, “the worm of the bones is the envious heart.” … The Lord also says in the Gospel, “Depart into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels,” and in another place, “Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into outer darkness.” If we hear “hands” and “feet” and “outer darkness,” which is punishment for the eyes that are deprived of seeing the light of God, and “weeping,” which belongs to those very eyes, and “gnashing of teeth,” I marvel that this bronze body is to be dissolved gradually into an ethereal body, given that the Lord in the power of his majesty entered to the apostles when the door was closed. … The fire, like the worm, must also be understood to burn as long as it has material with which the voracious flame is fed. If, therefore, anyone has weeds in his conscience, which the enemy sowed while the head of the family was asleep, this fire will burn them up, and this conflagration devour them.

Commentary on Isaiah 18:33

(Verse 24.) And they shall go forth, and see the bodies of the men who have transgressed against me. Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be extinguished. And they shall be a vision to all flesh, even to the point of satiety. LXX likewise. All flesh that is to worship before the Lord, whether in heavenly Jerusalem or in any place where clean hands are raised, shall go forth to see the bodies of the dead men who have transgressed against God. What can be understood about the Jews, of whom it is said: I have begotten sons and exalted them, but they have rejected me; or about all those who, having knowledge of God in their hearts, have turned to vanity, worshiping the creature rather than the Creator. However, they will depart not from their place, but from their understanding. For the bodies of the dead cannot be in the presence of the Lord. But if all flesh is to worship the Lord, then, on the contrary, the bodies of men who have transgressed against the Lord will be delivered to eternal burnings. In this way, the resurrection of true flesh will occur on both sides. But the worm that does not die, and the fire that is not extinguished, is understood by many as the conscience of sins, which torments those set in punishments: why they have been deprived of the good of the elect by their own fault and sin, according to what is said: I am tormented in misery, while the thorn is fastened to me (Psalm XXXI, 4). And in Proverbs: The moth of the bones is the intelligent heart (Prov. XXV, 20). And again, under a disguise: Just as a moth to clothing, and a worm to wood, so grief tortures the heart of a man (Ibid.). Thus, while they do not deny the eternal punishments of the evildoers and those denying the Lord, as the Lord says in the Gospel: Go into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). And in another place: Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 22:13). If we understand by hands and feet the outer darkness, which is the punishment of the eyes that do not see the light of God; and weeping, which certainly also pertains to the eyes; and gnashing of teeth: I wonder why some introduce an airy body, gradually dissolving into thin air after the resurrection; for the Lord, by the power of His majesty, entered through closed doors to the Apostles (John 20). Certainly, he walked on the sea before the resurrection with a suspended step; and he even demonstrated this to the apostle Peter: that he who walked with faith, afterwards was submerged by disbelief; to whom it was said: Why did you doubt, you of little faith (Matt. XIV, 31)? The fire also must be understood in the same way as the worm, which is burnt for as long as it has matter with which the voracious flame can be nourished. Therefore, if anyone has in their conscience the weeds that the enemy sowed while the master of the house was sleeping, these will be burned by fire, these will be devoured by the flame (Matt. XIII). And in the eyes of all the Saints, the punishments of those who built upon the foundation of the Lord with gold, and silver, and precious stones will be revealed as hay, wood, straw, and the eternal fuel of fire. Moreover, those who desire that the punishments will eventually end, and although after many ages, they will have an end to their torments, use these testimonies: 'When the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then all Israel will be saved' (Rom. 11:25). And again: God concluded all under sin, that he might have mercy on all (Galatians 3:22). And in another place the holy one speaks: I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him; until he pleads my case and takes away my judgement, and brings me into the light (Micah 7:9). And again: I will bless you, O Lord, for you were angry with me. You turned your face away from me, and had mercy on me (Isaiah 12:1). The Lord also speaks to the sinner: When the fury of my anger has passed, I will heal again (Psalm 30:20). And this is what is said elsewhere: How great is the multitude of your goodness, Lord, which you have hidden for those who fear you. All these things they repeat, seeking to affirm, after pains and torments, the future refreshments which must now be hidden from those for whom fear is useful, so that while they dread the punishments, they may cease from sinning. This we God alone must leave to knowledge, whose torments are not less in weight than his mercies; and he knows whom, how, and how long he ought to judge. And let us only say what is suitable to human frailty: O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath (Psalm 6:1, 38:1) . And just as we believe in eternal torments for the devil and all deniers and impious ones, who have said in their heart: There is no God (Psalm 14:1) , so we consider that the punishment of sinners and impious ones, even of Christians, whose works are to be tested and purified by fire, is a moderated and mixed sentence of the judge's mercy (1 Corinthians 3:13) .

Commentary on Isaiah

These misfortunes piled on the Jews are meant to be the things we say happened to them at the hands of the Romans, when the temple was destroyed and all were subjected to cruel slaughter. For suffering such things they became a spectacle for all, but their suffering was not prolonged indefinitely. Yet this is what perhaps is meant when it says, “Their worm will not die nor the fire go out.” Some, however, want to refer these words concerning them to the time of the end of the age.… In any case, Christ will deliver us from all such things, through whom and with whom may glory be to God the Father and the Holy Spirit forever.

Commentary on Isaiah 5:6.66:22-24

Just as I will transform all that is seen and will produce a new creation, so I will guard your memory forever—and not yours alone but all those who have believed through you.… He mentions a description of the city and the various dwellings of which the Lord said, “With my father there are many mansions,” that is, levels of worthiness. He means those continually rejoicing and singing in choirs … he has displayed by that the everlastingness of the chastisement, for the fire is inextinguishable and the worm immortal. With this chastisement he has threatened them, and not them alone but also those who infringe on his divine laws. Finally, therefore, so as not to partake of this chastisement with them, let us avoid partaking of their iniquity; for thus we will join the chorus of those who are in joy.

Commentary on Isaiah 20:66.23-24

And they shall go out. Here he sets out the following judgment as to the wicked. And first, the manifestation of the punishment: and they shall go out, coming to Jerusalem, and see, in the ancient sepulchers, and in the fields, the bones of their dead fathers, above: their slain shall be cast forth, and out of their carcasses shall rise a stink (Isa 34:3); or the saints will see the damned falling into damnation. Second, he sets out the duration of the punishment: their worm, of conscience, by which they will be tortured even when they are dead, and their fire, of hell: he will give fire, and worms into their flesh (Jdt 16:21[17]). Third, the delight from the punishments, as to those who see it: and they shall be a satisfying sight to all flesh, that is, to the saints: the just shall rejoice when he shall see the revenge (Ps 57:11[58:10]).

Commentary on Isaiah