All nations shall flow to the church of Christ. The Jews shall be rejected for their sins. Idolatry shall be destroyed.
Al nations shal come to the Church of Christ; which shal beginne in Ierusalem. 6. And the Iewes shal be reiected for their idolatrie, auarice, and other sinnes. 11. Proud men shal be humbled, & Gods glorie shal increase, 18. Idolatrie shal be destroyed.
1The word that Isaias the son of Amos saw, concerning Juda and Jerusalem.E cose vedute da Isaia, figliuolo di Amos, riguardo a Gerusalemme, e da Giuda.THE word, that Isaie the sonne of Amos saw vpon Iuda and Ierusalem. And in the laterVerbum quod vidit Isaias, filius Amos, super Juda et Jerusalem. 2And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.E sarà negli ultimi giorni fondato il monte della casa del Signore sopra la cima di tutti i monti, e si alzerà sopra le colline, e correranno a lui tutte le genti.dayes the montaine of the house of our Lord shal be prepared, in the toppe of montaines, and it shal be eleuated aboue the little hilles: and al nations shal flowe vnto it.Et erit in novissimis diebus: / præparatus mons domus Domini / in vertice montium, / et elevabitur super colles; / et fluent ad eum omnes gentes, 3And many people shall go, and say: Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall come forth from Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.E popoli molti verranno, e diranno: Venite, andiamo, e salghiamo al monte del Signore, e alla casa del Dio di Giacobbe; ed ei ci insegnerà le sue vie, e le vie di lui batteremo: perocché da Sionne verrà la legge, e da Gerusalemme la parola del Signore.And manie peoples shal goe, & shal say, come and let vs goe vp to the mount of our Lord, and to the house of the God of Iacob, and he wil teach vs his wayes, and we shal walke in his pathes: because the law shal come forth from Sion, and the word of our Lord from Ierusalem.et ibunt populi multi, et dicent: / Venite, et ascendamus ad montem Domini, / et ad domum Dei Jacob; / et docebit nos vias suas, / et ambulabimus in semitis ejus, / quia de Sion exibit lex, / et verbum Domini de Jerusalem. 4And he shall judge the Gentiles, and rebuke many people: and they shall turn their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they be exercised any more to war.Ed ei sarà giudice delle genti, e convincerà popoli molti: e delle spade loro ne faran vomeri, e falci delle lor lance: non alzerà la spada popolo contro popolo, né si eserciteranno più a combattere.And he shal iudge the Gentiles, and rebuke manie peoples: and they shal turne their swordes into culters, and their speares into siethes: nation shal not lift vp sword against nation, neither shal they be exercised any more to battel.Et judicabit gentes, / et arguet populos multos; / et conflabunt gladios suos in vomeres, / et lanceas suas in falces. / Non levabit gens contra gentem gladium, / nec exercebuntur ultra ad prælium.
5O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.Casa di Giacobbe venite, e camminiamo nella luce del Signore;House of Iacob come ye, and let vs walke in the light of our Lord.Domus Jacob, venite, / et ambulemus in lumine Domini. 6For thou hast cast off thy people, the house of Jacob: because they are filled as in times past, and have had soothsayers as the Philistines, and have adhered to strange children.Imperocché tu (Signore) hai rigettato il popol tuo, la casa di Giacobbe; perchè sono pieni come in antico, e hanno avuti degli auguri come i Filistei, e sono affezionati a' servi stranieri.For thou hast reiected thy people, the house of Iacob: because they are filled as in times past, and haue had southsayers as the Philisthijms, and haue stucke fast to strange children.Projecisti enim populum tuum, / domum Jacob, / quia repleti sunt ut olim, / et augeres habuerunt ut Philisthiim, / et pueris alienis adhæserunt. 7Their land is filled with silver and gold: and there is no end of their treasures.Il (loro) paese è pieno d'argento, e d'oro e i suoi tesori sono inesausti.The land is replenished with siluer and gold: and there is no end of their treasures.Repleta est terra argento et auro, / et non est finis thesaurorum ejus. 8And their land is filled with horses: and their chariots are innumerable. Their land also is full of idols: they have adored the work of their own hands, which their own fingers have made.E il loro paese è pieno di cavalli, e i suoi cocchi son senza numero. E il loro paese è pieno d'idoli: hanno adorato l'opera delle lor mani, fatta dalle lor dita.And their land is replenished with horses: and their chariotes are innumerable. And their land is ful of idoles: they haue adored the worke of their handes, which their fingers made.Et repleta est terra ejus equis, / et innumerabiles quadrigæ ejus. / Et repleta est terra ejus idolis; / opus manuum suarum adoraverunt, / quod fecerunt digiti eorum. 9And man hath bowed himself down, and man hath been debased: therefore forgive them not.E il piccolo s'incurvò, e il grande si umiliò; tu adunque non dar loro venia.And man bowed himself, and man was humbled: therfore forgeue them not.Et incurvavit se homo, / et humiliatus est vir; / ne ergo dimittas eis. 10Enter thou into the rock, and hide thee in the pit from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty.Entra nella caverna, nasconditi nella fossa dalla faccia terribile del Signore, e dalla gloria della sua maestà.Enter thou into the rocke, and be hid in a pitte, in the ground from the face of the feare of our Lord, & from the glorie of his maiestie.Ingredere in petram, et abscondere in fossa humo / a facie timoris Domini, et a gloria majestatis ejus.
11The lofty eyes of man are humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be made to stoop: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.Gli occhi superbi dell'uomo sono umiliati, e la altura de' grandi sarà depressa: e il Signore solo sarà esaltato in quel giorno;The loftie eies of man are humbled, and the height of men shal be made to stoupe: & our Lord onlie shal be exalted in that day.Oculi sublimes hominis humiliati sunt, / et incurvabitur altitudo virorum; / exaltabitur autem Dominus solus / in die illa. 12Because the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and highminded, and upon every one that is arrogant, and he shall be humbled.Imperocché il giorno del Signore degli eserciti per tutti i superbi, e altieri, e per tutti gli arroganti, e saranno umiliati.Because the day of the Lord of hostes shal be vpon al the proude and loftie, and vpon euerie one that is arrogant, and he shal be humbled.Quia dies Domini exercituum / super omnem superbum, et excelsum, / et super omnem arrogantem, / et humiliabitur; 13And upon all the tall and lofty cedars of Libanus, and upon all the oaks of Basan.E per tutti i cedri del Libano alti, e diritti, e per tutte le querce di Basan;And vpon al the ceders of Libanus high, & eleuated, & vpon al the okes of Basan.et super omnes cedros Libani sublimes et erectas, / et super omnes quercus Basan, 14And upon all the high mountains and upon all the elevated hills.E per tutti i monti eccelsi, e per tutti i colli elevati;And vpon al the high mountaines, and vpon al little hilles eleuated.et super omnes montes excelsos, / et super omnes colles elevatos, 15And upon every high tower, and every fenced wall.E per tutte le torri eccelse, e per tutte le mura fortificate;And vpon euerie high towre, and euerie fensed wal.et super omnem turrim excelsam, / et super omnem murum munitum, 16And upon all the ships of Tharsis, and upon all that is fair to behold.E per tutte le navi di Tharso, e per tutto quello, che è bello a vedersi.And vpon al the shippes of Tharsis, and vpon al, that is fayre to behold.et super omnes naves Tharsis, / et super omne quod visu pulchrum est, 17And the loftiness of men shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.E la sublimità degli uomini sarà incurvata, e umiliata l'altura de' grandi, e il Signore solo sarà esaltato in quel giorno.And the loftines of men shal be bowed, and the height of men shal be humbled, and our Lord onlie shal be exaited in that day.et incurvabitur sublimitas hominum, / et humiliabitur altitudo virorum, / et elevabitur Dominus solus / in die illa;
18And idols shall be utterly destroyed.E gl'idoli tutti saranno stritolati.And idols shal vtterly be destroyed.et idola penitus conterentur; 19And they shall go into the holes of rocks, and into the caves of the earth from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he shall rise up to strike the earth.Ed entreranno nelle caverne de' massi, e nelle voragini della terra per la paura del Signore, e della gloria di sua maestà, allorché egli si leverà per flagellare la terra.And they shal enter into the caues of rockes, and into the pittes of the earth from the face of the feare of our Lord, and from the glorie of his maiestie, when he shal rise vp to strike the earth.et introibunt in speluncas petrarum, / et in voragines terræ, / a facie formidinis Domini / et a gloria majestatis ejus, / cum surrexerit percutere terram. 20In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which he had made for himself to adore, moles and bats.In quel giorno l'uomo getterà via gl'idoli, e i simolacri, i quali col suo argento, e col suo oro si era egli fatti, per adorare le talpe, e i pipistrelli.In that day shal a man castaway the idols of his siluer, and the idols of his gold, which he had made him to adore, mowles and battes.In die illa projiciet homo / idola argenti sui, et simulacra auri sui, / quæ fecerat sibi ut adoraret, / talpas et vespertiliones. 21And he shall go into the clefts of rocks, and into the holes of stones from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he shall rise up to strike the earth.Ed entrerà nelle spaccature delle pietre, e nelle caverne de' massi per la paura del Signore, e della gloria di sua maestà, allorché egli si leverà per flagellare la terra.And he shal goe into the clefts of rockes, and into the caues of stones from the face of the feare of our Lord, and from the glorie of his maiestie, when he shal rise vp to strike the earth.Et ingreditur scissuras petrarum / et in cavernas saxorum, / a facie formidinis Domini, / et a gloria majestatis ejus, / cum surrexerit percutere terram. 22Cease ye therefore from the man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for he is reputed high.Lasciate adunque star l'uomo, che ha lo spirito nelle narici; perocché egli è, che e stato riputato l'eccelso.Cease therfore from the man, whose spirit is in his nosthrels, because he is reputed high.Quiescite ergo ab homine, / cujus spiritus in naribus ejus est, / quia excelsus reputatus est ipse.
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Challoner
Days. The whole time of the new law, from the coming of Christ till the end of the world, is called in the Scripture the last days; because no other age, or time shall come after it, but only eternity. (Challoner)
Worthington
It is therefore styled the last hour, 1 John 2:(Worthington)
Challoner
Mountains. This shews the perpetual visibility of the Church of Christ: for a mountain upon the top of mountains cannot be hid. (Challoner)
The Jews can never shew the fulfillment of this prophecy in any material temple. Micheas 4:1. copies this text.
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Jerusalem. Our Saviour preached there, and in some sense the religion established by him, may be esteemed a reform, or accomplishment of the old law.
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Calmet
War. Ezechias enjoyed peace after the defeat of Sennacherib, as the whole world did at the birth of Christ. (Calmet)
Virgil
Claudentur belli portae. (Virgil, Aeneid i.)
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Calmet
Lord. Ezechias, or rather Christ and his Church, invite all to embrace the true faith. (Calmet)
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Jacob. Thus the converts address God, (Haydock) or the prophet gives the reasons of the subversion of the ten tribes.
Filled. Consecrated as priests.
Menochius
Children. Imitating idolatrous nations, (Calmet) and marrying with them, (Calmet; Septuagint; Theodoret) or even giving way to unnatural sins. (St. Jerome) (Menochius)
Worthington
The Jews were not utterly cast off till they had put Christ to death. His Church shall never perish. (Worthington)
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Horses. Which the kings were forbidden to multiply, Deuteronomy 17:16. Great riches often precede the ruin of states.
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Forgive. Septuagint, "I will not dismiss them." Hebrew, "and thou hast not pardoned them."
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Rock. Screen thyself if thou canst. He alludes to the kingdom of Israel, which was ruined by idolatry, ver. 18, 20.
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Basan. Israel; or Syria and the Ammonites, (Calmet) whom Nabuchodonosor subdued, five years after he had taken Jerusalem, (Josephus, [Jewish Antiquities?] 10:11.) as the Idumeans, (ver. 14.) Philistines, and Egyptians, (ver. 15.) and Tyrians, (ver. 16.) who felt also the indignation of the Lord, Jeremias 25:15.
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Tharsis. In Cilicia, denoting large ships for merchandise.
Calmet
Fair. Hebrew, "desirable pictures." Septuagint, "ships." (Calmet)
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Challoner
Destroyed. This was verified by the establishment of Christianity. And by this and other texts of the like nature, the wild system of some modern sectaries is abundantly confuted, who charge the whole Christian Church with worshipping idols, for many ages. (Challoner)
Worthington
Yea, for above a thousand years, while she still professed the name of Christ. (Worthington)
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Bats. The Egyptians adored all sorts of animals. (Herodotus 2:65.)
Juvenal xv
Aegyptus portenta colat. (Juvenal xv.)
Virgil
Omnigenumque Deum monstra. (Virgil, Aeneid viii.)
Calmet
The mole was much esteemed by magicians, who promised any the art of divination and success, who should eat the heart of one still warm. (Pliny, [Natural History?] 30:3.) The Israelites were always ready to embrace such superstitious practices. (Calmet)
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Menochius
High. Adhere to Jesus Christ. (Origen) (Menochius)
Septuagint omit this sentence, and St. Jerome thinks they did it perhaps for fear of shocking their brethren. In Jeremias xvii.
Calmet
It is supplied from Aquila's version, "how must he be esteemed?" (Calmet)
Haydock
Protestants, "for wherein is he to be accounted of?" Jesus will kill the wicked one with the spirit of his mouth, 2 Thessalonians 2:8. (Haydock)
Calmet
No dependence must be had in man. The Israelites vainly trusted in Egypt. (Calmet)
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The last days.... The whole time of the new law, from the coming of Christ till the end of the world, is called in the scripture the last days; because no other age or time shall come after it, but only eternity.—Ibid. On the top of mountains, etc.... This shews the perpetual visibility of the church of Christ: for a mountain upon the top of mountains cannot be hid.
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Idols shall be utterly destroyed.... or utterly pass away. This was verified by the establishment of Christianity. And by this and other texts of the like nature, the wild system of some modern sectaries is abundantly confuted, who charge the whole Christian church with worshipping idols, for many ages.
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It is not only certaine, but also euident that the prophet speaketh here, and in innumerable other places, of the Church of Christ, which is the citie set vpon a mountaine. Mat 5. vnto which al nations are gathered, a•d al the time of the new Testament is called the last houre, 1. Ioan. 2. because no time shal folow after this, but al eternitie.
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The Iewes were reiected after Christs death: before which they were stil conserued: though often seuerely punished. And so now the Church of Christ shal neuer be reiected, no•
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It is most absurde, and contrarie to this and other Scriptures, that Protestants seyne of great idolatrie in the Christian world, for a thousand or more yeares together, professing Christs name & Religion, and yet continually committing (as these new masters imagine) grosse idolatrie.
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Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 2.1
… We now come to consider the next point in the work before us, How the Word was with God. To this end it will be of service to remember that what is called the Word came to certain persons; as “The Word of the Lord which came to Hosea, the son of Beeri,” and “The Word
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Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 3
… just as Isaiah foretold, saying that in the last days the mount of the Lord and the house of God were to be manifest above the tops of the mounts: “And it shall be exalted,” he says, “above the hills; and there shall come over it all nations; and many shall walk, and say, Come, ascend we unto the mount of the Lord, and unto the house of the God of Jacob ,”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 3.21
… “and all nations shall come unto it; and many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us His way, and we will walk in it: for out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.4
… who also ordained, as “ signs ” of time, suns and moons and constellations and stars; who furthermore both predetermined and predicted that the revelation of His Son should be postponed to the end of the times. “It shall come to pass in the last days , that the mountain (of the house) of the Lord shall be manifested”;
Origen † AD 254 A Letter from Origen to Africanus 1
… for out of Zion shall go forth a law, and a word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 74.1
… Which also it is becoming for us to say, because, indeed, the spiritual house of God is one. “For it shall come to pass in the last days,” saith the prophet, “that the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, and the house of God above the tops of the mountains.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 2.19
… and He will tell us His way, and we will walk in it. For from Sion shall proceed the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; and He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke much people; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks, and they shall no more learn to fight.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 21.7
… For this holy thing is a spiritual safeguard of the body, and salvation of the soul. Of this the blessed Esaias prophesying of old time said, And on this mountain ,—(now he calls the Church a mountain elsewhere also, as when he says, In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be manifest
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 9.3
… Thy exhortations, consolations, and faithful promises assure us that Thou now repayest Verecundus for that country house at Cassiacum, where from the fever of the world we found rest in Thee, with the perpetual freshness of Thy Paradise, in that Thou hast forgiven him his earthly sins, in that mountain flowing with milk,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 93.29
… “If thou knowest not thyself,” He says; as if He said, “Surely the city which is set upon a mountain cannot be hid; and therefore, ‘Thou art not as one veiled, that thou shouldst run to the flocks of my companions.’ For I am the mountain established upon the top of the mountains, unto which all nations shall come.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 10.32
… and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 39.2
… For the words of the Lord could not be without effect. If ye are thinking of “trees” and “mountains” in their ordinary and familiar sense, it has not been done. But if ye think of that tree of which He spake, and of that mountain of the Lord of which the Prophet said, “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be manifest;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John 1.13
… Esaias was read yesterday; whosoever of you was awake not with his eyes only but with his ear, and not the ear of the body but the ear of the heart, noted this; “In the last days shall the mountain of the house of the Lord be manifest, prepared upon the top of the mountains.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 46.5
… The Lord truly said to His disciples, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say to this mountain, Be Thou removed, and be Thou cast into the sea, and it shall be done.” Haply “to this mountain,” He said of Himself; for He is called a Mountain: “It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 68.19
… For there is also a mountain called by that name, that is to say, Selmon. But what mountain ought we to understand by “the mountain of God, a mountain fruitful, a mountain full of curds,” but the same Lord Christ? Of whom also another Prophet saith, “There shall be manifest in the last times the mountain of the Lord prepared on the top of the mountains”?
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 68.20
… ( ver. 16 ). “Why do ye imagine?” For as they are a light, because to themselves also hath been said, “Ye are the Light of the world,” but something different hath been called “the true Light which enlighteneth every man,” so they are mountains; but far different is the Mountain “prepared on the top of the mountains.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 72.18
… Whence He came also Himself upon earth, in order that He might confirm all these things, that is, in Himself might show them to have been fulfilled. “For it was necessary,” He saith, “for all things to be fulfilled which were written in the Law, and the Prophets, and Psalms, concerning Me:” that is, “in the tops of the mountain.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 88.9
… Just as He is the Mountain of mountains; as it is written, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be manifested in the top of the mountains:”
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Theodotus † fl. AD 160 Excerpts of Theodotus 1
LVIII. “The law of God is perfect, converting souls.” The Saviour Himself is called Law and Word, as Peter in “the Preaching,” and the prophet: “Out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 The First Apology 39
… “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.34.4
… “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; and He shall rebuke many people; and they shall break down their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks, and they shall no longer learn to fight.”
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 3
… and nations shall not take up glaive against nation, and they shall no more learn to fight.”
Tertullian † AD 220 A Treatise on the Soul 3
… The fault, I suppose, of the divine doctrine lies in its springing from Judæa
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.1
… but yet all this diversity is consistent with one and the same God, even Him by whom it was arranged and also foretold. Long ago did Isaiah declare that “out of Sion should go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.4
… But for what end did He send His Son? “To redeem them that were under the law,” in other words, to “make the crooked ways straight, and the rough places smooth,” as Isaiah says —in order that old things might pass away, and a new course begin, even “the new law out of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem,”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 5.33
… and all the nations come to it, and the “many nations” go forth, and say to one another, turning to the religion which in the last days has shone forth through Jesus Christ: “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord , to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in them.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 1.11
In Micah: “For the law shall go forth out of Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among many peoples, and He shall subdue and uncover strong nations.” Also in Isaiah: “For from Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; and He shall judge among the nations.”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 6
… with the voice of joy and praise, with the shouting of those who keep festival ?’ To this course the saints also encourage us, saying, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 59
2. I write this after reading the memoranda submitted by your piety, which I could wish had not been written at all, so that not even any record of these things should go down to posterity. For who ever yet heard the like? Who ever taught or learned it? For ‘from Sion shall come forth the law of God, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 18.34
… for thy light is come . Of this Jerusalem the prophet hath said, And afterwards thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, Zion, the faithful mother of cities ; because of the law which went forth out of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 18.50
Then was fulfilled that prophecy, “Out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 18.54
… For the first, which is called the old testament was given from Mount Sinai through Moses. But concerning this which was to be given by Christ it was predicted, “Out of Sion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Of the Work of Monks 25
… Because they were found, being near, and were useful to the Gentiles, who, being afar off, were thence called from the worship of idols, as it is said, “Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 6.9
… Whither were they sent? “Go,” said He, “baptize the nations.” You have heard, brethren, how that inheritance comes, “Ask of me, and I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance, and the utmost bounds of the earth for Thy possessions.” You have heard how that “from Sion went forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 46.11
… Who is so blind as to stumble at a mountain? Came He to thee that thou shouldest have whereat to stumble, and not have whereto to go up? “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 48.5
5. “For, lo, the kings of the earth are gathered together” ( ver. 3 ). Behold now those sides of the North, see how they come, see how they say, “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord: and He will teach us His way, and we will walk in it.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 3.21
… “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,” shall not stir up discord. “Neither shall they learn war any more,”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.1
… Long ago did Isaiah declare that “out of Sion should go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” —some other law, that is, and another word. In short, says he, “He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people;”
St Hippolytus † AD 235 The Refutation of All Heresies 6.11
All things, therefore, he says, when unbegotten, are in us potentially, not actually, as the grammatical or geometrical (art). If, then, one receives proper instruction and teaching, and (where consequently) what is bitter will be altered into what is sweet,—that is, the spears into pruning-hooks, and the swords into plough-shares,
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 5.33
… And to those who inquire of us whence we come, or who is our founder, we reply that we are come, agreeably to the counsels of Jesus, to “cut down our hostile and insolent ‘wordy’ swords into ploughshares, and to convert into pruning-hooks the spears formerly employed in war.”
Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Oration of Eusebius 16.7
… “He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.” And again, “In his days shall righteousness spring up; and abundance of peace.” “And they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into sickles: and nation shall not take up sword against nation, neither shall they learn to war any more.”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 On the Incarnation of the Word 37
Who then is He that has done this, or who is He that has united in peace men that hated one another, save the beloved Son of the Father, the common Saviour of all, even Jesus Christ, Who by His own love underwent all things for our salvation? For even from of old it was prophesied of the peace He was to usher in, where the Scripture says: “They
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 19
And raising aloud the cry of victory over death, he said, “Where, O Death, is thy victory? Where, O Grave, is thy sting?” And another again, declaring glad tidings of the most profound peace, said, “They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.”
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St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 135
… but as there the prophet says, ‘And now, O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord; for He has sent away His people, the house of Jacob, because their land was full, as at the first, of soothsayers and divinations;’
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 1.8
In Isaiah: “Come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. For He hath sent away His people, the house of Israel.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Harmony of the Gospels 1.28
… for in that day a man shall cast away the abominations of gold and silver, the vain and evil things which they made for worship, in order to go into the clefts of the solid rock, and into the holes of the rocks, from before the fear of the Lord, and from the majesty of His power, when He arises to break the earth in pieces.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 135.12
… Therefore, “He hath judged His people.” Isaiah spake the judgment. “And now, thou house of Jacob, come ye, let us walk in the light of the Lord.”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 6
… One single man, a common soldier, stole the sacred property, and all were smitten. Ye know, doubtless, the history I mean? I am speaking of Acham the son of Carmi, the man who stole the consecrated spoil. ( Joshua vii. 1–26 .) The time too when the Prophet spoke, was a time when their country was full of soothsayers, like that of the Philistines. (
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 63.1
… Shall I not be angry for these things? saith the Lord.” And in another place, “He that sacrificeth to any god, save unto the Lord only, shall be destroyed.” Moreover, the Lord again speaks, and says, “They have worshipped those whom their own fingers have made: and the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: and I will not forgive them.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Lapsed 7
… and the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself, and I will forgive them not?”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 An Address to Demetrianus 16
… “They worshipped them whom their fingers made; and the mean man hath bowed down, and the great man hath humbled himself, and I will not forgive them.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Exhortation to Martyrdom, Addressed to Fortunatus 3
In Exodus: “He that sacrificeth unto any gods but the Lord only, shall be rooted out.” Also in Deuteronomy: “They sacrificed unto demons, and not to God.” In Isaiah also: “They worshipped those which their fingers have made; and the mean man was bowed down, and the great man was humbled: and I will not forgive them.”
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Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 5.4
… This is true of every writing, for every written work needs the reason (Logos) which closed it to open it. “He shall shut, and none shall open,” and when He opens no one can cast doubt on the interpretation He brings. Hence it is said that He shall open and no man shall shut. I infer a similar lesson from the book spoken of in Ezekiel,
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.33
… “That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God,” He recalls Isaiah: “For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is arrogant and lifted up, and they shall be brought low.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 54.3
… and they that see thee shall wonder at thee.” Whence also divine Scripture threatens a like punishment to such in another place, and says, “For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is injurious and proud, and upon every one that is lifted up, and lofty.”
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Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 1
“Whoever heard such things? Who taught them? Who learnt them? ‘Out of Zion shall go forth the law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.’
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.33.13
… and whosoever is justified, let him draw near to the servant of God;” and, “Woe unto you, for ye shall wax old as doth a garment, and the moth shall eat you up;” and, “All flesh shall be humbled, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in the highest,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 13.9
… And they shall hide the workmanship of their hands in the clefts of the rocks, and in dens and caves of the earth, from fear of the Lord, and from the glory of His power, when He shall arise to shake terribly the earth. For in that day a man shall cast away his idols of gold and silver, which they have made to worship, as useless and hurtful."
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist 2.93
… in another sense, in virtue of their several gifts, whereby this man has one function on the earth, and that man has another. For no man, as a private individual, could command that idols should be taken from the earth, which it was so long ago foretold should come to pass.
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.30
… How often has He already displayed Himself as a Judge, and in the Judge the Creator? How often, indeed, has He repelled, and in the repulse condemned? In the present passage, for instance, He says, “When once the master of the house is risen up;” but in what sense except that in which Isaiah said, “When He ariseth to shake terribly the earth?”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.16
… To Him , therefore, does it appertain to punish such as know not God, for none ought to be ignorant of Him. In the (apostle’s) phrase, “From the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power,” he uses the words of Isaiah who for the express reason makes the self-same Lord “arise to shake terribly the earth.”
Tertullian † AD 220 Against Hermogenes 34
… “And the stars too shall fall from heaven, even as a fig-tree casteth her green figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” “The mountains shall melt like wax at the presence of the Lord;” that is, “when He riseth to shake terribly the earth.”
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 22
… Therefore, although there is a sprouting in the acknowledgment of all this mystery, yet it is only in the actual presence of the Lord that the flower is developed and the fruit borne. Who is it then, that has aroused the Lord, now at God’s right hand, so unseasonably and with such severity “shake terribly” (as Isaiah
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Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 13
… For first, from the day when, according to the saying of Isaiah, “a man cast forth his abominations of gold and silver, which they made to adore with vain and hurtful (rites),”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 3.23
… For it began to come to pass from that day, when, according to Isaiah, “a man threw away his idols of gold and of silver, which they made into useless and hurtful objects of worship;”
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Seven Books of John Cassian on the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius 5.5
… And so the prophet Isaiah says, “Cease ye from the man whose breath is in his nostrils, for it is He in whom he is reputed to be;” or as it is more exactly and clearly in the Hebrew: “for he is reputed high.”
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1. The word which Isaias the son of Amos saw, concerning Juda and Jerusalem — something to come not now, but in the time of the Messiah, namely when Christ shall be born from Juda, the Apostles, and the new Church. For that it is treated of here is evident from the following verses, when he says: "And it shall come to pass in the last days," etc., and he treated of the same thing at the end of the preceding chapter, verses 26 and 27; therefore these things pertain to that. Whence the Septuagint for "and it shall be," translate "because it shall be," as if giving the reason for the things said at the end of the preceding chapter. Note that "word," that is vision, namely something seen, or a thing seen. See Canon I. Again symbolically St. Jerome: "Here," he says, "the word is called rather than vision, because in the preceding chapter Isaias sees a vision, but here the Word which was in the beginning with God (not in itself, but as it taught us made flesh in the Church), and in that threatening the Jews comes to the salvation of the Gentiles: in this beginning from the salvation of the Gentiles, Israel punished, from both callings gathers believers into the Church of Christ." 2. And it shall come to pass. — The "and" by Hebraism is redundant, and is the beginning of the prophecy; for the Hebrews are accustomed to begin a book or discourse with ו ve, that is, and. In the last days, — in the last time, namely of the Messiah. It is a synecdoche. For days and, as St. John calls it, "the last hour," is put for the final time of the law of Christ, which is quite lengthy. Thus St. Augustine, epistle 80 to Hesychius. Note: The time of Christ is called "last," that is later or following (for this alone does the Hebrew אחרית acharit signify), even if properly it is not the ultimate and last. Thus Jacob dying says to his sons, Gen. xlix, 1: "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what things shall befall you in the last days," that is in the following times, namely after my death. Secondly, properly the time of Christ is called "last," both because Christ is the end of the law and the Prophets, and because it is the last with respect to the origin and duration of the world. The mountain of the house of the Lord prepared. — The Hebrew מכון nachon signifies not only prepared, erected, directed, but also founded, fortified, instructed, made firm and established; so that no forces, indeed not even the gates of hell can prevail against it. Thus also elsewhere often to prepare is taken for to make firm, as in Proverbs viii. 27: "When he prepared, that is founded, the heavens, I was present." Psalm xxiii, verse 2: "Upon the rivers he prepared, that is made firm, it," namely the earth. You will ask: Who is this mountain? Some, indeed the Jews, answer that it is Sion, which under the Messiah, they say, will be placed upon the mountain of Carmel and Thabor, and will be raised upward through three leagues. But these are their customary lamentations. See Galatinus, book V, chapter III. Secondly, some Catholics understand by the mountain the glory of Sion, which it received, namely when Christ was presented in the temple, taught in the twelfth year, performed many miracles, and finally sent the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles from heaven. But this sense is symbolic. Thirdly, St. Cyprian, or whoever is the author of the book On Sinai and Sion, say this mountain is the cross of Christ. Again St. Gregory, book I on I Kings, says this mountain is the blessed Virgin: for her holiness shone forth above all the Saints and Angels, and stood out like a mountain. For she "raised the summit of merits above all the choirs of Angels even to the throne of divinity," says St. Gregory in book I on I Kings, chapter 1, near the beginning. But these too are symbolic and mystical. Fourthly, St. Jerome, Basil, Rupert, and many others of the ancients hold that this mountain is Christ. For he is the mountain at the peak of mountains, that is of the Apostles and Prophets, whom his doctrine and grace surpasses and excels. This sense coheres with the following: for Christ is the head of the Church; whence Christ and the Church are considered as one thing, according to the rules of Tyconius in St. Augustine. Whatever therefore is said of the Church is said also of Christ: and conversely. Fifthly, and most fittingly, Cyril here, and Eusebius, book II Demonstr. chapter xxxii, Athanasius, at the beginning of the epistle to Epictetus, understand by the mountain the Church; for this is the house of the Lord most high, and most conspicuous, just as if it were situated on a mountain. It Flies to Christ, and foretells the Church as a mountain to be raised up by Christ, and that to it shall flow together all nations, who shall turn wars into peace, swords into ploughshares. Secondly, verse 6, he returns to his own times, and reproves the crimes of his own people. Thirdly, verse 10, he foretells the ruin and devastation to be brought upon the Jews by the Chaldeans. Finally, in the last verse, he flies to Christ, and warns them not to provoke and exasperate him, as God. 1. The word which Isaias the son of Amos saw, concerning Juda and Jerusalem. 2. And it shall be in the last days, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. 3. And many people shall go, and say: Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth from Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4. And he shall judge the Gentiles, and rebuke many people: and they shall turn their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they be exercised any more to war. 5. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. 6. For thou hast cast off thy people, the house of Jacob: because they are filled as in former times, and have soothsayers as the Philistines, and they covenant with strangers. 7. The land is filled with silver and gold: and there is no end of their treasures: 8. and the land is filled with horses: and there is no end of his chariots; and the land is filled with idols: they have adored the works of their own hands, which their fingers have made. 9. And man hath bowed himself down, and man hath been brought low: therefore forgive them not. 10. Enter thou into the rock, and hide thee in the pit from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty. 11. The lofty eyes of man are humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. 12. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is arrogant: and he shall be brought low. 13. And upon all the cedars of Libanus high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Basan. 14. And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the elevated hills. 15. And upon every high tower, and upon every fortified wall, 16. and upon all the ships of Tharsis, and upon every thing that is beautiful to behold. 17. And the loftiness of men shall be brought low, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day: 18. and the idols shall be utterly destroyed: 19. and they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he shall rise up to strike the earth. 20. In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his images of gold, which he had made himself to adore, to the moles and to the bats. 21. And he shall go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the holes of the stones, from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he shall rise up to strike the earth. 22. Therefore cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for he is accounted high himself. 1. THE WORD WHICH ISAIAS THE SON OF AMOS SAW, CONCERNING JUDA AND JERUSALEM,—to come to pass not now, but in the time of the Messiah, namely when Christ shall be born from Juda, the Apostles, and the new Church. For it is evident that this is treated of here from the following verses, when he says: "And it shall be in the last days," etc., and he treated of the same at the end of the preceding chapter, verses 26 and 27; therefore these things pertain to that. Whence the Septuagint for "and it shall be," translate "because it shall be," as if giving the reason for the things said at the end of the preceding chapter. Note "word," that is vision, namely something seen, or a thing seen. See Can. I. Again symbolically St. Jerome: "Here," he says, "the word is called rather than vision, because in the preceding chapter Isaias sees a vision, but here the Word which was in the beginning with God (not in itself, but as it taught us made flesh in the Church), and in that threatening the Jews comes to the salvation of the Gentiles: in this beginning from the salvation of the Gentiles, Israel punished, from both callings gathers believers in the Church of Christ." 2. And it shall be.—The "and" is redundant by Hebraism, and is the beginning of the prophecy; for the Hebrews are accustomed to begin a book or discourse with ve, that is and. In the last days,—in the last time, namely of the Messiah. It is a synecdoche. For "days" and, as St. John calls it, "the last hour," is put for the last time of the law of Christ, which is sufficiently long. Thus St. Augustine, epistle 80 to Hesychius.
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Note: The time of Christ is called "last," that is, later or following (for the Hebrew אחרית acharit signifies only this), even if properly it is not the ultimate and last. Thus Jacob dying said to his sons, Gen. XLIX, 1: "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what things shall befall you in the last days," that is, in the times following, namely after my death. Secondly, properly the time of Christ is called "last," both because Christ is the end of the law and the Prophets, and because he is last with respect to the origin and duration of the world, and of the preceding ages and states: for instance, if you divide all time from the origin of the world into first, middle, and last; or into the law of nature, of Moses, and of grace: then indeed the law of grace is the last, and no other law or state will succeed it. Therefore the Jews argue in vain: The last time has not yet come, therefore the Messiah has not yet come. THE MOUNTAIN OF THE HOUSE OF THE LORD PREPARED. — The Hebrew מכון nachon signifies not only prepared, erected, directed, but also founded, fortified, instructed, made firm and established; so that no forces, indeed not even the gates of hell can prevail against it. Thus also elsewhere often to prepare is taken for to make firm, as in Prov. VIII, 27: "When he prepared, that is, founded, the heavens, I was present." Psalm XXIII, verse 2: "Upon the rivers he prepared, that is, made firm, it," namely the earth. You may ask: Who is this mountain? Some answer, indeed the Jews say it is Sion, which under the Messiah, they say, will be placed upon Mount Carmel and Thabor, and will be raised upward for three leagues. But these are their customary fables. See Galatinus, lib. V, cap. III. Secondly, some Catholics understand by the mountain the glory of Sion, which indeed it received when Christ was presented in the temple, taught in the twelfth year, performed many miracles, and finally sent the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles from heaven. But this sense is symbolic. Thirdly, St. Cyprian, or whoever is the author of the book On Sinai and Sion, say this mountain is the cross of Christ. Again St. Gregory, lib. I on I Kings, says this mountain is the blessed Virgin: for her holiness shone forth above all the Saints and Angels, and stood out like a mountain. For she "raised the summit of merits above all the choirs of Angels even to the throne of divinity," says St. Gregory in lib. I Kings, cap. 1, at the beginning. But these too are symbolic and mystical. Fourthly, St. Jerome, Basil, Rupert, and many others of the ancients hold that this mountain is Christ. For he is the mountain at the peak of mountains, that is, of the Apostles and Prophets, whom he surpasses and excels by his doctrine and grace. This sense coheres with the following: for Christ is the head of the Church; hence Christ and the Church are considered as one thing, according to the rules of Tyconius in St. Augustine. Whatever therefore is said of the Church is also said of Christ: and conversely. Fifthly, and most fittingly, Cyril here, and Eusebius, lib. II Demonstr. cap. XXXII, Athanasius, at the beginning of his letter to Epictetus, understand by the mountain the Church; for this is the house of the Lord most high, and most conspicuous, just as if it were situated on a mountain. It is a catachresis. See Can. VI. Hence the Septuagint for "prepared" render ἐμφανής, that is, manifest. (1) This therefore is the first of all visions or prophecies which lasts until cap. VI, and contains prophecies uttered under the reign of Ozias, concerning Christ the Lord the end of all prophets, concerning the religion which he himself instituted, and the dignity of his Church, concerning the devastation of Israel on account of their grievous crimes, and concerning the holy remnant which was saved, so that it might fill the whole world with faith and knowledge of the truth. In the first part of this chapter, Isaias predicts to the Gentiles auspiciously, namely: first, the visible Church of Christ openly proposed, which those coming freely will once access, 2; secondly, they will eagerly hear it as a teacher of truth, 3; thirdly, under this teaching they will constantly cultivate peace and friendship, 4; fourthly, the Jews will invite to the same Church, verse 5. In the second part, he prophesies calamities for the Jews, for lest anyone wonder that the Gentiles who knew not God are flooded with divine light before the Jews, first he gives the cause of their reprobation on account of damned arts, unspeakable crimes, 6, earthly pursuits, 7, and idolatry, 8, 9; secondly, he announces the vengeance of the divine judge, not to be avoided by flight, 10; nor to be withheld by the magnitude, extent or beauty of the guilty, 11-17; nor to be restrained by the power of idols, 18-20; nor to be endured by human protection, 22. He alludes both to the temples and altars of the ancients, which were erected on mountains, for they sacrificed there, and from this were called High Places; and also to the mountains Sion and Moria, as I shall say presently, as if to say: The High Place, or altar of the Lord, namely the Church, shall lift itself far above the peaks of all high mountains. Hence it is clear that the Church of Christ is visible, and that Novatian, who flees the light and says he is invisible, belongs not to the Church of Christ, but to the Church of Antichrist. Anagogically, this mountain is the kingdom of heaven, namely the Church triumphant, as St. Bernard says, in his sermon on that passage: "Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord?" For there shall be, he says, the mountain of peace, the mountain of joy, the mountain of life, the mountain of glory. And all these mountains are one mountain of consummated happiness. This is IN THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAINS. — The Church is in the top of the mountains: First, because by its height, dignity and glory it surpasses the mountains of the Jews, namely Sion, on which was the fortress of David, and Moria, on which the temple was erected; and thus Sion and Moria are subject to the Church, as to their summit and head, and as shadowed forth by it: just as in a ground plan the model of a house is subject to the structure and house which it delineates, shadows forth and represents. For thus the shadow is subject to its body, and the image is subject to its exemplar. Thus Sanchez. Secondly, because by the same it surpasses all temples, both of the Jews and of the Gentiles. Thirdly, because its doctrine, life and morals far excel and surpass all philosophy and wisdom, all genius, all ancient religion and assembly, and all places and mountains sacred by any worship; inasmuch as it is cast down from heaven, supernatural and divine. Thus Cyril, Jerome, Basil and others. Fourthly, from St. Augustine and Procopius, Leo Castrius says: Mountains are called the Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles and other illustrious Saints; because although they dwell in the body on earth, yet in mind, conversation and virtues they transcend the stars: upon these mountains the Church is built, as the highest mountain: hills are the lesser Saints. AND ALL NATIONS SHALL FLOW UNTO IT. — Note the miracle: for rivers flow downward, yet here they shall flow upward ascending to the highest mountain. This grace of Christ does, which snatches hearts upward. Again, by "shall flow" is signified the flowing together and the rapid course like a river of all nations to the Church. Thirdly, "shall flow" signifies that this course shall be spontaneous, as if to say: To the Church as a mountain of wisdom and virtues, contrary to nature upward, by the force of heavenly grace, from all nations of the world many shall gather themselves together, with that inclination of mind, striving and impetuosity with which rivers are wont to flow down from mountains into the lowest valleys. This is what Christ says, John IV, that he will give water springing up, namely unto eternal life; and John XII: "If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all things to myself." Indeed, even Euripides in Medea says: "Upward, he says, are borne the fountains of all sacred rivers." Now "shall flow," not all at once, but successively: for first the Jews came to Christ, then the Samaritans, soon the Syrians, then the Greeks, Latins; now the Indians, Japanese and Chinese. 3. AND THEY SHALL SAY: COME, AND LET US GO UP TO THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD (to Christ and the Church), AND TO THE HOUSE OF GOD OF JACOB. — It is a mimesis. He alludes to Bethel, where Jacob saw God leaning upon a ladder, Genesis XXVIII, 17, and said: "This is no other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven," and from this he called the place Bethel. Hence the Church is called "heaven," and by Christ "the kingdom of heaven;" for God dwells in heaven as in his own house. For, as St. Bernard says, sermon 27 in the Canticles: "The Church in its universality is a certain great heaven, extended from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth," Psalm LXXI. In this heaven the moon is faith, the evening star is hope, the sun is charity, the stars are individual virtues and individual Saints. For Bethel means the house of God, namely the Church. The sense therefore is, as if to say: The Apostles of Christ preach to us not some unknown God, but that very God whom our father Jacob worshipped. Again, they invite us to that Church in which Jacob lived, which his Bethel prefigured. Therefore, since God has now fulfilled this figure and revealed Christ in the flesh, let us run to him and his Church; which as Jacob did formerly in type, so he would do now in reality if he were living. The house therefore of God of Jacob is now the Church, for example the temple of St. Peter and St. Paul, St. John, etc. Thus with Galatinus, book V, chapter V, we must answer the Jews objecting that Christians do not say: Let us go up to the house of God of Jacob; but to the Church of St. Peter, St. Paul, etc., namely that these very things are now one and the same.
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AND HE SHALL TEACH (God Jacob) US HIS WAYS. — This is the voice of the Gentiles flowing together to Christ and the Church, as if to say: Plato taught us, Socrates taught us, Aristotle, Diogenes, Pythagoras and others taught us, they promised us true wisdom and a way to virtue and salvation, but falsely; for, as the Psalmist says, Psalm CXVIII, 85: "The wicked have told me fables: but not according to thy law." And Baruch cap. III, vers. 22: True wisdom "hath not been heard in the land of Chanaan, nor seen in Theman." Again, Abraham taught us, Jacob taught us, Moses taught us; but to perfect us, to teach Christian and complete wisdom, to open heaven, to confer grace and strength to accomplish in deed what they taught, they were not able: "For the law was given by Moses, grace and truth was made by Jesus Christ," John I. These therefore, as judges and guides, transmitted us to Christ. Come therefore, act, without hesitation, without delay, come joyfully and eagerly, let us ascend with Jacob our father to Bethel, to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of God, let us ascend to our Messiah, to Christ, the true teacher of the world: he will teach us in the Church the ways of God, the ways to heaven, the knowledge of the Saints; he will confer grace at the same time, so that we may easily enter this way, indeed run it, not by the steps of the body, but of the mind, namely by believing, hoping, repenting, loving, obeying, and living piously and chastely, and so that we may invite others to the same: for this is what "come, let us ascend" means. For it is the duty of a Christian not only to care for his own salvation, but also for that of others; and to this the grace of Christ goes before us and urges us. Morally, it is the duty of a Christian always to ascend to greater and better things. Whence St. Augustine in Psalm XLV, to those words: "Come and see the works of the Lord: What is it," he says, "Come, let us ascend? come, that is believe, let us ascend, that is let us make progress, and let us strive toward perfection." BECAUSE FROM SION SHALL GO FORTH THE LAW (not the Jewish law, but the Christian; namely the law of grace, the vivifying law, given to both Gentiles and Jews), AND THE WORD OF THE LORD (the Gospel and the preaching of the Gospel) FROM JERUSALEM: — namely when the Apostles, having received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, shall go forth from Jerusalem and Judaea, and shall divide themselves and scatter throughout all the regions of the world, so that they may fulfill the precept of Christ, Matt. XXVIII: "Going therefore teach ye all nations," as if to say: Come, let us ascend to Sion, that is to the Church born in Sion, because from there shall go forth the law of grace and salvation. Therefore the cavil of Musculus is frivolous: it is not said, from the Tarpeian rock, not from the Capitol and Rome, but from Sion shall go forth the law. For it is certain that the first preachers of the Gospel, namely the Apostles, went forth from Sion into the whole world, not from Rome: but when, Sion being left behind, they established the head of the Church at Rome, thereafter preachers went forth from Rome, sent by the Roman Pontiff to all nations, as D. Baronius and all the Annals of all nations teach. For Christian Sion is Rome. 4. AND HE SHALL JUDGE THE NATIONS, — namely God Jacob (of whom vers. 3) through Christ and his Apostles and their successors.
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The word "shall judge" can be understood here in four ways. First, that is to say, Christ will pronounce a just sentence for the Gentiles against the slanderer the devil, and will absolve them by his just judgment. Thus Sasbout. For this is what "to judge" signifies repeatedly, not only when joined with the dative, but also when joined with the accusative, as in Psalm XLIII, 1: "Judge me (that is, pronounce a just sentence for me), and discern my cause from a nation that is not holy;" and Psalm LXXI, 4: "He shall judge the poor of the people, and shall save the children of the poor." Where note in passing, in the psalms as in verses the second half-line often explains the first, indeed says the same or nearly the same thing that was said before, but in other words, as: "O God, attend unto my aid," is the same as what follows: "O Lord, make haste to help me. Create a clean heart in me, O God," is the same as what follows, "and renew a right spirit in my bowels. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation," is nearly the same as what follows, "and strengthen me with a principal spirit." For a joyful spirit strengthens the Saints, and animates them to constancy, and every good thing, just as on the other hand a sorrowful spirit casts down the soul, so that it cannot endure in the work. Second, "shall judge," that is, shall vindicate the Gentiles from the tyranny of the devil. For thus Gedeon, Samson, Jephte and others are called judges, that is, vindicators of Israel. Thus it is said in Psalm XXXIV, 1: "Judge (that is, vindicate), O Lord, them that wrong me, fight against them that fight against me." Third, and more simply, "shall judge," that is, shall rule and have dominion; thus again Gedeon, Jephte, Samson, and others are called judges, that is, princes and rulers of Israel. By judging therefore is signified here the full dominion of Christ over all nations, as also in Psalm LXXI, 1: "O God, give thy judgment to the king, etc., to judge thy people in justice." Hence it follows: "And shall reprove many people," namely the Scribes, Pharisees, and any other infidels and disobedient to him, even philosophers and the wise. For Christ shall reprove these both here through himself and the Apostles, and other preachers, either that they may be converted, or that they may be confounded; for this is what Christ says concerning the Holy Spirit whom he sends: "When he shall come, he will reprove the world of sin," John XVI, 8; both in the general judgment, when he shall condemn them. Thus St. Basil and others. Fourth, and more sublimely, "shall judge the Gentiles," that is, shall settle and compose the disputes and hatreds of the Gentiles by just judgment, and shall restrain those who stir up disputes and wars and "reprove" them. Whence the Septuagint translates, shall judge among the Gentiles. Thus Tertullian, in book III Against Marcion, XXI, and Athanasius, in book I On the Incarnation of the Word, that is to say, Christ through the law of the Gospel of charity, modesty, justice, gentleness and patience, shall compose all the quarrels and dissensions of the Gentiles, shall root out hatreds and antipathies, shall restrain the quarrelsome and fierce, and shall make it so that in the same Church they conduct themselves in a friendly manner as brothers, Romans and Greeks, Jews and Gentiles, Spaniards and Franks, Germans and Gauls, English and Scots, etc., because in place of the spirit of wrath, pride, aversion and vengeance, God shall give them the spirit of gentleness, humility, love and concord: by which there shall come to pass what Isaiah says, chapter XI, verse 6: "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the lion and the sheep shall abide together, and a little child shall lead them. The calf and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall rest together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox." Again by this spirit there shall come to pass what follows: AND THEY SHALL BEAT THEIR SWORDS INTO PLOUGHSHARES, AND THEIR SPEARS INTO SICKLES. — When discords and wars cease, from soldiers there shall become farmers, and they shall convert their arms into hoes, into ploughshares and sickles: because all shall strive for concord and peace, and in peace shall till the earth and fields. "Whence come wars and contentions among you? Are they not hence? from your concupiscences, which war in your members?" says St. James, chapter IV. Thus concerning a sword beaten into a sickle in time of peace sings Martial, book XIV, Epigram 34: Sure peace of the leader has beaten me into peaceful uses: Now I am a farmer; before I was a soldier. On the contrary, concerning a sickle beaten into a sword in time of war sings Virgil, book I, Georgics: And curved rigid sickles are beaten into swords. And Ovid, I Fasti: The hoes ceased; and hoes turned into javelins, And from the weight of the rake a helmet was made. And Joel, chapter III: "Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears." The prelude and as it were the beginning of this Christian peace was the peace of the whole world, which was at the nativity of Christ: "Let us review," says St. Jerome, "the histories of the ancients, and we shall find that up to the twenty-eighth year of Augustus Caesar, in whose forty-first year Christ was born in Judaea, there was discord throughout the whole earth, and individual nations burned with eagerness to wage war against neighboring peoples, so that they both slew and were slain. But when our Lord and Saviour arose, when under Cyrenius the prefect of Syria the first census was made throughout the whole earth, and the peace of the Evangelical doctrine prepared the Roman empire, then all wars ceased, and no longer through towns and villages were they exercised in battles, but in the cultivation of fields." Hence concerning the time of Augustus, Virgil sings in book I of the Aeneid: Then shall the harsh ages grow mild, wars laid aside: The gates of war shall be closed, etc. Not long after Augustus, the temple of peace was restored at Rome by the Emperor Vespasian, whose magnificence the ruins of today testify to. Concerning it St. Jerome writes thus in Joel: "Vespasian and Titus, having built the temple of peace at Rome, placed the vessels of the temple of Jerusalem, and all the offerings in the shrine of that temple, which Greek and Roman history relates." Furthermore, that Paul did this among others, Tertullian teaches in Against the Gnostics, chapter XIII: "Paul," he says, "the Apostle, from being a persecutor, who formerly shed the blood of the Church, afterwards changing the sword for the pen, and converting the sword into a plow, the ravenous wolf of Benjamin then bringing forth food himself." Symbolically Pintus interprets this: The Apostle, he says, in Romans VI, asserts that the members of a wicked man are swords and weapons of iniquity, with which he wounds and injures his own soul, when they ought to be weapons of justice, with which he might fight against vices, and in which he might carry God, according to that in I Corinthians VI, 20: "Glorify and carry God in your body." Therefore, nothing else is it for swords to be converted into plowshares, and spears into sickles, than for all the senses and members which were weapons of the devil to become plowshares tearing and plowing the field of the Lord with works of charity, and to be turned into sickles reaping the fruits of piety most pleasing to God. NOR SHALL THEY BE EXERCISED ANY MORE TO WAR. — You will ask: How is this true? For after Christ there have been and are wars not only between Christians and infidels, but also among Christians themselves. The Anabaptists, Erasmus, Agrippa, and formerly the Manichaeans, answer first that war in itself is evil; hence it was permitted to the Jews indeed, as imperfect, but was forbidden and abolished by Christ and the Apostles. Luther was more foolish and more shameless, or rather more impious, who not only removed offensive war, but also defensive war. For this is his paradox: "It is not permitted to resist the Turk invading Christians." The reason is: "Because the Turk is the scourge of God; whoever therefore resists him, resists God." But by the same reasoning he would have concluded that neither the devil nor any wicked man ought to be resisted, whom nevertheless God commands to be restrained, indeed to be killed. Therefore God, just as He wills to permit that the Turks assail us with war, that the demon and the wicked tempt and vex us: so on the other hand He wills that we resist them, unless He expressly reveal the contrary, as He revealed to the Jews that He willed them to surrender Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar. Thus God left some Canaanites in Judaea, that He might instruct and exercise Israel in them, and compel them to His worship, equally as to legitimate warfare, Judges III, verse 1. This therefore is an error and heresy, which is sufficiently refuted from the wars of the Maccabees, Joshua, Constantine, and others, undertaken not only with God's permission, but also by His command. Hence secondly, more catholically and truly, Cyril answers that after Christ in the new law there are not so many wars, nor so great, nor in the very heart of the world, as there were before Christ. Thus IV Kings VI, 23, the Syrians are said not to have come any more into the borders of Israel, because they came more rarely than before: for that they came sometimes is established. But in order that this be true, nevertheless it does not satisfy, nor does it exhaust the force and foundation of the prophetic sentence. Third, St. Jerome and Eusebius, book I of the Preparation, I, respond that these things are to be understood of the birth of Christ, when the Janus gate being closed for a long time, the highest peace was in the world. But neither does this explanation adequately match the words of Isaiah: for by them it seems that not a temporary, but an absolute and eternal peace is promised. For this is what "and no more" signifies. Add to this, that this peace is here insinuated not to precede Christ, but to be brought in through reproof and rebuke, that is, through the preaching of Christ already born; for he says: "And he (Christ) shall judge the Gentiles, and rebuke many people, who being rebuked by him and converted shall beat their swords into ploughshares, etc., and they shall not be exercised any more to war." I say therefore from Canon VI, that when God promises something to the Synagogue or the Church, however much in broad and universal words, it is nevertheless to be understood only of the good and upright, who keep the covenant and friendship with God promising and covenanting. This peace therefore here promised, and sung by the Angel at the birth of Christ, is universal and perpetual among the true faithful of Christ, who shall follow the institution, doctrine and laws of Christ their king and teacher (for these everywhere inculcate peace, concord and charity), of whom Isaiah has hitherto treated here. For these, from Christ's holy discipline, with pride, avarice, and other depraved movements of mind and desires subdued, maintain perpetual peace with themselves, and with God, and with other men, and, if from necessity against some unjust person invading them or their possessions, they move a suit or just war, they abstain from hatred, desiring not to harm another, but to recover their own: and so they seek not war in itself, but through war peace and justice. Thus Tertullian and Athanasius above, and Irenaeus, book IV, chapter LXVII, and Origen, book V Against Celsus. Not therefore true and just wars, such as even the most pious Emperors waged, but ambitious, unjust and tyrannical wars, by which the innocent were invaded from the lust of domination, Isaiah here predicts are to be destroyed and abolished through Christ and Christ's law, such as before Christ were waged by Nimrod, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander, Caesar, and other Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks and Romans: whose wars were not so much wars as robberies, as St. Augustine teaches, book III of the City of God, chapter XIII and following. Christians therefore, who from the lust of domination or enrichment, or from envy, lest namely a neighboring prince become too great and powerful, wage an unjust war against him, are not so much Christians as Pagans. Morally, learn here how great a good peace and concord are, for the sake of which Christ came into this world. This is what the Angels sang to Christ born: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will." Where "of good will," St. Ambrose and some others refer to "men," in this sense, as if to say: Let there be peace to men, not to all, but to those who are of good will; or, as St. Leo (sermon On the Nativity of the Lord), let there be peace to men, which namely makes them to be of good will. But because the Greek εὐδοκίας and the Hebrew רצון ratson in Holy Scripture is almost never attributed to men, but to God, and signifies God's grace, benevolence, good pleasure toward men; hence better Theophylactus, Euthymius, Nyssenus and others give this sense: "Let there be peace to men," to men, I say, whom God pursues with this grace, and good will and benevolence without their merit, so that he might give them such a Savior and reconciler, who might make peace between men, God and Angels, between heaven and earth. Thus men of good will are called elsewhere children of love, that is, children willed and beloved by God. See the sayings at Ephesians I, 9. For this reason again Christ, departing from the world, left peace to us by testament, and made us and all his goods heirs of it, saying: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you." This is what the Apostle says: "Let the peace of Christ exult in your hearts," Colossians III, 15. See the sayings there. Thus our Maffei, in the seventh book of his History of the Indies. Alfonso, King of Aragon, used to say: "I am accustomed to give peace, not to sell it:" that is, he was unwilling to receive from the Venetians a great sum of money, which he could have extorted, for peace; but he gave it freely. Frederick III, Duke of Saxony, a lover of peace, built no fortresses or fortifications, but rather leveled those built by others to the ground; nor did he gather money, but spent it on useful and pious purposes. When asked why he did this, he replied: "Lest I, being easily offended, trusting in my fortresses and money, too readily provoke my neighbors to war, considering them inferior, and violate peace with them." Which indeed he would not have done, being destitute of fortresses and money, which are the sinews of war: he knew assuredly that Peace is the best of things Which it has been given to man to know; peace alone is superior To countless triumphs: peace can preserve safety, And is able to make citizens equal. The Emperor Jovian: "I hate, he said, every kind of contention, but I embrace and love concord uniquely." Thus Socrates, book III, chapter XXI; namely: There is no safety in war; we all beseech you for peace. Thus the Blessed Nazianzen, on account of rivals, yielded the Archbishopric of Constantinople for the sake of peace: "If, he said, this storm has arisen because of me, cast me into the sea;" and to the Emperor Theodosius: "I do not seek, he said, money or dignities, but I beseech to be freed from the Episcopate; let envy cease, let the Bishops cultivate peace; do you especially strive for this: suppress the war of priests, you who have restrained the boldness of barbarians, adorn the greatest trophies of your empire with one thing, namely the concord of Bishops; this gift I ask from you, this final benefit I request." Thus Gregory the Presbyter in his Life. Marcus and Marcellianus, brothers, fixed to stakes, chanted that psalm alternately: "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" And when they mocked their torments, Diocletian blushed, and ordered both to be pierced with lances. Let Christians say the same, and with this concord and peace they will overcome the Turks, heretics, and all enemies. Do you wish also Gentiles? The Emperor Probus used to say: "Soon we shall not need soldiers." He hoped for such great peace that there would be no need for an army. Would that God would instill this mind in all the princes of our age! Thus Vopiscus. Croesus, captured by Cyrus, preferred peace to war by this argument, that "in time of peace sons bury their fathers, in war sons bury their fathers." Philo: "Peace, he says, even joined with great loss, is better than war. Peace is the greatest and divine good, which no mortal can bestow." Antoninus Pius acclaimed that saying of Scipio: "I prefer to save one citizen rather than to kill a thousand enemies;" preferring peace to war, namely, and in war itself feeling that this should be the first care of a leader, that victory be obtained with the least loss of citizens. Thus Julius Capitolinus. Thus Barnagasius, Prefect of the army of the King of the Abyssinians, when about to make a treaty with a Portuguese Praetor, seizing a cross and kneeling: "May, he said, the peace which Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of mankind, left to his disciples, be between us, who profess the same worship and faith." Thus our Maffei, in the seventh book of his History of the Indies. The Emperor Otho, when he saw that he must either lay down the empire or defend it with great slaughter of citizens, resolved to die willingly, his friends and soldiers urging him not to despair so quickly of the outcome of war, denied that his life was worth so much that a civil war should arise on that account. Who would not marvel at this spirit in a pagan prince, and one only thirty-three years old? Cicero, book VII to Atticus, letter 14: "Peace even unjust, he says, is more useful than the most just war." Livy, book XXX: "A certain peace, he says, is better and safer than a hoped-for victory. The former is in your power; the latter is in the hand of the gods." Wherefore "do not seek what belongs to others so as to fight for what is yours." For, as Homer says, Iliad VI: "Mars slays even him who is already slaying." Antisthenes said "that concord among brothers is a stronger fortification than any wall." Musonius used to say that no marriages are honorable without concord, nor any partnership useful. But the wicked cannot maintain concord among themselves: just as straight wood cannot fit with curved, or two curved pieces of wood cannot fit together. Isaeus, when the Spartans were thinking of surrounding their city with walls, recited that saying of Homer: "The shield stuck in the shield; helmet to helmet, and man to man." And he added: "Thus stand for me, Lacedaemonians, and we are surrounded by walls." Thus Philostratus in the Sophists. Scylurus, having eighty male sons, when about to die, distributed a bundle of arrows to each one and ordered them to break it. When each one refused as if it were impossible, he himself took out the individual arrows and easily broke them all, admonishing his sons with these words: "If you shall be in agreement, you will remain strong and unconquerable; but on the other hand, if you are torn apart by dissensions and sedition, you will be weak and easy to conquer." Thus Plutarch in the Apophthegms. Micipsa the king, when about to die, exhorted his sons to concord with this golden saying: "By concord small things grow, but by discord even the greatest things fall apart." Thus Sallust in the Jugurtha. Severus the Emperor, when about to die, called his sons Marcus Antoninus and Geta and said: "See that you agree with one another, enrich the soldiers, despise all others." He gave good counsel: for one afterwards killed the other, and destroyed himself and his family along with him. Thus Dionysius and Xiphilinus in the Life of Severus. 5. O HOUSE OF JACOB, COME, AND LET US WALK IN THE LIGHT OF THE LORD. — This is the voice of the Gentiles converted and made Christian, addressed to the Jews: for it began at verse 3, and here it ends, as Rupert wishes, or rather it is the voice of the Prophet Isaiah himself, inviting his descendants, the Jews who would exist in the time of Christ, to the light of Christian faith, that is to say: O descendants of Jacob! O faithful and holy posterity of the Patriarch Jacob, receive the light, that is, the Gospel of Christ: do not yield in this to barbarous and idolatrous Gentiles: but rather come with them and for them to your Messiah, so that by Him you may be illuminated by the light of faith, grace and salvation, equally as they.
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6. FOR THOU HAST CAST OFF THY PEOPLE, THE HOUSE OF JACOB. — Vatablus translates it as "thou hast cast off moreover"; but the Hebrew כי signifies "for," not "moreover." You will ask, for what reason does it give the "for"? Some answer: for the reason of the burning and destruction of Jerusalem, which was treated at the end of the preceding chapter; for this pertains to that. But this is too remote and harsh: for it follows in chapter II, verse 1: "The word of the Lord, etc."
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I say therefore, the sense is, as if to say: Let no one marvel that I, Isaiah, or the Gentiles, who formerly knew not God, exhort the Jews, to whom God alone was known, to the knowledge of the true light, namely Christ, saying: "O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord," because thou, O Lord, hast cast them off, that is, thou hast already begun to cast them off, and thou wilt indeed cast them off in the time of the Babylonian captivity, and altogether in the time of Christ: for here Isaiah returns to his own times, and preaches to his own people after his manner. He subjoins the cause, namely the multitude of sins, such as divination, obscenity, avarice, pride, idolatry. Thus Forerius. Whence it follows, BECAUSE THEY ARE FILLED AS IN TIMES PAST,—as if to say: Just as the ancestors and parents of the Jews, so also their descendants are filled with riches, and consequently with sins which riches are wont to bring, namely idols, as the Chaldean translator renders it (for these are the ancient and old sins of the Jews, as is evident from the golden calf, which they adored in Sinai), and with divinations, as the Septuagint translates, and other things which follow. Thus St. Jerome and others, and it is evident from what follows. For "as in times past" in Hebrew it is מקדם mickedem, that is, from the East, say Lyran and Vatablus, as if to say: They are filled more with divinations and auguries: for the Orientals were devoted to augury. Whence Balaam the soothsayer is said to have dwelt in the parts of the East, Numbers XXIV. But the Septuagint and the Chaldean translator agree with our Interpreter, who render mickedem as from the beginning. For kedem signifies former, beginning; and because the beginning is the East, hence it also signifies the East. The opinion of Scipio: "I would rather preserve one citizen than slay a thousand enemies;" namely preferring peace to war, and in war itself feeling that this ought to be the first care of a commander, that victory be obtained with the least possible loss of citizens. Thus Julius Capitolinus. Emperor Otho, when he saw that he must either lay down the empire or defend it with great slaughter of citizens, determined to die willingly, his friends and soldiers urging him not to despair so quickly of the outcome of war, denied that his life was worth so much that on this account a civil war should arise. Who would not marvel at this spirit in a pagan prince, and one only thirty-three years old? Cicero, book VII to Atticus, letter 14: "An unjust peace," he says, "is more useful than the most just war." Livy, book XXX: "A certain peace," he says, "is better and safer than a hoped-for victory. The former is in thy power; the latter is in the hand of the gods." Wherefore "do not seek after what is not thine so eagerly as to fight for what is thine." For, as Homer says, Iliad VI: "Mars slays also him who is already slaying." Antisthenes said that "concord among brothers is a stronger fortification than any wall." Musonius used to say that no marriages are honorable without concord, nor any partnership useful. But wicked men cannot maintain concord among themselves: just as straight wood cannot fit with crooked, or two crooked pieces of wood cannot fit together. Isaeus, when the Spartans were thinking of surrounding their city with walls, recited this verse of Homer: "Shield was joined to shield; helmet to helmet, and man to man." And he added: "Thus stand ye, Lacedaemonians, and we are surrounded by walls." Thus Philostratus in the Sophists. Scylurus, having eighty male sons, when about to die, gave each of them a bundle of arrows, and ordered them to break them. When each one refused as if it were impossible, he himself took out the arrows one by one, and easily broke them all, admonishing his sons with these words: "If ye shall be of one mind, ye shall remain strong and unconquerable; but if ye are torn apart by dissensions and sedition, ye shall be weak and easy to overcome." Thus Plutarch in the Apophthegms. Micipsa the king, when dying, exhorted his sons to concord with this golden saying: "By concord small things grow, but by discord even the greatest things fall apart." Thus Sallust in the Jugurtha. Severus the Emperor, when dying, called his sons M. Antoninus and Geta and said: "See that ye agree with one another, enrich the soldiers, despise all others." He gave good counsel: for one afterwards slew the other, and destroyed himself and his family. Thus Dionysius and Xiphilinus in the Life of Severus.
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The Gospel of Christ: do not yield in it to barbarous and idolatrous Gentiles; rather, go to your Messiah with them and for them, so that from Him you may be illuminated by the light of faith, grace and salvation, equally as they. 6. FOR THOU HAST CAST OFF THY PEOPLE, THE HOUSE OF JACOB. — Vatablus translates it, thou hast cast off; but the Hebrew כי signifies for, not but. You will ask, what cause does the "for" give? Some answer: of the burning and overthrow of Jerusalem, which he treated at the end of the preceding chapter; for these things pertain to that. But this is too remote and harsh: for it follows, in chapter II, verse 1: "The word of the Lord, etc." I say therefore that the sense is, as if to say, Let no one marvel that I, Isaiah, or the Gentiles, who formerly knew not God, exhort the Jews to whom God alone was known to the knowledge of the true light, namely Christ, saying: "House of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord," because thou, O Lord, hast cast them off, although they are thy people, that is, thou hast already begun to cast them off, and thou wilt completely cast them off in the time of the Babylonian captivity, and altogether in the time of Christ: for Isaiah returns here to his own times, and preaches to his people in his accustomed manner. He adds the cause, namely the multitude of sins, such as divination, obscenity, avarice, pride, idolatry. Thus Forerius. Whence it follows,
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FOR THEY ARE FILLED AS IN FORMER TIMES, — as if to say, As the ancestors and parents of the Jews, so also their descendants are filled with riches, and consequently with sins which riches are wont to bring, namely idols, as the Chaldean translates (for these are the ancient and old sins of the Jews, as is evident from the golden calf, which they adored in Sinai), and divinations, as the Septuagint translates, and other things which follow. Thus St. Jerome and others, and it is evident from what follows. For "as in former times" in Hebrew it is מקדם mickedem, that is, from the East, say Lyran and Vatablus, as if to say, They are filled more with divinations and auguries: for the Orientals were devoted to divination. Whence Balaam the soothsayer is said to have dwelt in the parts of the East, Numbers XXIV. But the Septuagint and Chaldean agree with our Interpreter, who translate mickedem as from the beginning. For kedem signifies former, beginning; and because the beginning is the East, hence it also signifies the East. AND THEY HAVE SOOTHSAYERS AS THE PHILISTINES. — DIVINATION is divination, which is made from the chirping or gesture of birds; for it is called divination as if from bird-divining: hence divination is extended to signify any magic and divination, indeed even conjecture; whence Cicero says, Philippic IV: "O my always fruitless, most true auguries of future things," that is, conjectures.
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THEY HAVE ADHERED TO THE CHILDREN OF STRANGERS. — First, as if to say, They have joined themselves with foreign nations in the worship of idols: thus some. But this is more obscure and foreign, especially since he soon clearly accuses them of idolatry, verse 8. Second therefore and better, Cyril with the Septuagint takes this of marriages, which the Jews had contracted with foreigners against the law of Exodus XXXIV, 16, and from which they had begotten half-Jewish and half-Gentile children: for these children were foreign; that is, foreigners, because from a foreign mother, to whom the Jews adhered as if to their own offspring.
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Thirdly, properly and genuinely St. Jerome, Rupertus, Haymo, and St. Thomas, or rather Thomas Anglicus, think that the Jews are here reproved for the abominable vice of pederasty, or sodomy with boys: which sin the Jews learned from neighboring Gentiles, and it so prevailed among them that they purchased foreign slaves for this purpose, says Haymo, and this is signified by the word "alien." Thus Augustus Caesar, Hadrian, Trajan, and others were pederasts. Hear St. Jerome here: "To such an extent," he says, "did the Greeks and Romans once labor under this vice, that even the most illustrious Philosophers of Greece had publicly concubines; and Hadrian, learned in the arts of Philosophy, consecrated Antinous as a god (as Jupiter did his Ganymede), and instituted for him a temple and sacrifices and priests, and from him an Egyptian city (Antinopolis) and religion took their name. Among harlots also in the brothels of spectacles, boys stood exposed to public lust: until under the Emperor Constantine, with the Gospel of Christ shining forth, both the infidelity of all nations and this turpitude were destroyed." This exposition is approved first, because we often read in Scripture of the prostitution of youths among the Jews; and of effeminate men, for whom shrines were built not only in the city but also near the temple by the impious high priest Menelaus, so that they turned the temple as it were into a brothel, as is evident in II Maccabees, chapter IV, verses 9 and 12. Secondly, because for this reason, in chapter I, verse 10, he called them the princes of Sodom, and the people of Gomorrah. Thirdly, because in Hebrew it is, they are glued together; and Symmachus translated it, they applauded alien boys. 7. THE EARTH IS FILLED WITH SILVER AND GOLD. — The first sin of the Jews, on account of which they were cast off by God, was divination; the second, pederasty; the third is this, namely avarice and insatiable desire of possessing, which never sets any end or limit to riches, but the more it has, the more it desires and strives to accumulate. Note morally: He does not say, The heart is filled, but the earth, with gold; for it can happen that the earth is filled with gold, but the heart of the avaricious man cannot be filled with it. Not without reason did Plato and Archytas of Tarentum compare the soul of a covetous man to a perforated vessel, on account of the insatiable and infinite abyss of appetite. The whole world does not fill the heart of man: by a symbol of this the world has a round figure, the heart a pyramidal one; but a spherical figure cannot square with a pyramidal one. Then shall we be satisfied, when we enjoy God in glory. "I shall be satisfied," says the prophet, Psalm XVI, when thy glory shall appear." Since therefore exile and perishable riches do not fill the soul, but rather irritate and inflame it, why do you so greatly covet them? why do you seek treasures on earth, when you have your portion in heaven? Christ's poor perish from hunger and nakedness, and you hide away in a chest the money by which they could live. Do you not understand that you have enclosed in a chest the life of the poor? What do I say enclosed, rather buried. What is the chest of the avaricious man but a sepulcher, where the life of the poor is buried? Why do you bury their life, indeed your own and yourself? Your treasury is a tomb of yourself. For where your treasure is, there is your heart also. I do not say this, but Christ, Matthew VI, 21. Thus Hector Pintus. Truly the Apostle said, that avarice is the servitude of idols, and covetousness the root of all evils. 8. AND THE EARTH IS FILLED WITH HIS HORSES: AND INNUMERABLE (that is, many, it is a hyperbole) ARE HIS CHARIOTS. — The fourth sin is this, pride. For God had forbidden the kings of the Jews and even the people, Deuteronomy XVII, verses 16 and 18, not to multiply horses and chariots for themselves, both lest they be proud in them for display, and lest in them, but in God, they place the hope of victory in time of war. Thus St. Jerome, Basil and others. See the passages in Deuteronomy XVII, and Exodus XIII, 13. Otherwise Forerius and Sanchez explain these things, as if to say: I God gave the Jews abundance of gold, silver, horses; why therefore do they flee to idols, and seek them from them, indeed convert them to their use, from the gold which I gave them, they forge idols? AND THE EARTH IS FILLED WITH HIS IDOLS. — The fifth sin of the Jews is this, namely idolatry.
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9. AND MAN SHALL BOW DOWN (to idols), AND MAN SHALL BE HUMBLED, — namely the chief and the prince, as if to say: Both the great and the common people worship idols by humbling themselves before them. These things pertain to the times not of Christ, but of Isaiah. For now he flies from one thing to another, now the Prophet mixes both together, according to Canon IV. For St. Jerome notes that the Jews after their return from Babylon never, and consequently not in the time of Christ, willingly and by common consent worshipped idols, and this Tobias predicted, cap. ult., vers. 8; and accordingly that it happened in fact the Jerusalem Talmud testifies, in Galatinus, lib. IV, XXIII, and R. Samuel Marochianus, a Jew converted to Christianity, in his book On the Coming of the Messiah, cap. I, who from this concludes that not idolatry, as formerly, but the slaying of Christ was the cause of the ruin and desolation which the Jews suffer everywhere even to this day. Calvin twists these things against the worship of the images of the Saints. For he thinks that here every sign of reverence is condemned, which is shown to works of hands, that is to statues and images. But he errs and deceives as an impostor. For idols alone are condemned here, not images: because not these, but those are the gods of the Gentiles made by their hands. For he says: "The earth is filled with idols." For idols are works of human hands, not only materially, but also formally; because they received not only the sculpture or painting of matter, but also the form, namely the name and divinity of God, from men, since of themselves and in truth they are nothing, as the Apostle says, I Cor. chapter VIII, vers. 4. To bow down to these, that is to adore them with latria, is therefore wicked. DO NOT THEREFORE LEAVE THEM. — Isaiah says this from zeal, as if to say: Destroy, O Lord, such wicked ones, root out the idolaters. Again the "leave" may be taken prophetically for "will leave." Whence the Septuagint changes the person, and thus translates: I will not therefore leave them. As if God speaks here, and threatens, and predicts a future vengeance, and one that is irrevocable. 10. ENTER THOU INTO THE ROCK, AND HIDE THYSELF. — It is sarcasm, as if to say: On account of these crimes of thine, and because thou neither despisest the warnings nor wishest to repent, a certain and terrible vengeance of God awaits thee, O Israel, a certain destruction: for God will hurl and strike this upon thee, so that he may lay low thy pride, so that he may break thy stiff neck; that to escape this, thou wilt flee into caves, caverns and pits, and there thou wilt hide thyself, but thou wilt not escape: for there enemies will search thee out, and will slay thee, so that even if salvation itself (as is commonly said) should wish to save thee, it could not.
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Note: He speaks of the destruction by the Chaldeans, and the Babylonian captivity, and its terror, and in it the fear of the Jews, which he describes with graphic vividness in this verse and the following ones up to 21. Moreover, the prophet's gaze also penetrated further, namely to the destruction by the Romans, and to the future destruction on the day of judgment, of which that Chaldean destruction was a type (for which reason the prophets often mix these destructions together); see Canon IV. For then Simon and others lay hidden for a long time in a pit in the ground, as Josephus testifies, lib. VII of the Wars, cap. XVI, who also teaches in lib. I, cap. XII, that Judaea, being rugged, abounded in caves, to which the Jews in their extremity were accustomed to flee, since they could scarcely be approached or taken by the enemy; and he describes their form and situation: whence Josephus himself, when Jotapata was taken, hid himself in a well and a cave, from which he was called out and brought to Vespasian, as he himself relates, lib. III of the Wars, cap. XIV. Thus the widow of Hector, hiding her son in the hiding places of a tomb, says to him: If the fates help the wretched, thou hast safety: if the fates deny life, thou hast a tomb. FROM THE FACE OF THE FEAR (that is from the face of terror, that is terrible) OF THE LORD (which will strike fear into you and the whole world): AND FROM THE GLORY OF HIS MAJESTY, — which namely will show his glorious justice upon the Jews, when he will pursue and kill them through the Chaldeans, such strong, warlike and glorious soldiers. The Chaldeans therefore are here called "fear" or terror, and "the glory of the Lord," by metonymy; because sent by God they will strike terror into the Jews, and will exercise upon them the glorious vengeance of God.
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Secondly, "fear" here could be taken properly, as if to say: Flee from the face of fear, that is on account of the fear and dread conceived from the glory full of majesty, which the face of God, that is God present and pursuing you, will show in the punishment of you through the Chaldeans. For "fear is the worst augur in doubtful matters," as Plautus says in the Mostellaria. Whence also Ovid, lib. II of the Art of Love:
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I, wretched, fear many things, because I have done many things wickedly. And I am tormented by fear of my own example. But the former sense is more apt, and agrees better with the "from the face."
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11. THE EYES OF THE LOFTY MAN HAVE BEEN HUMBLED, — that is, they shall be humbled: for the prophet uses the past tense for the future on account of the certainty of what is to come: this is clear from what follows. The sense is, as if to say, the Chaldaeans shall humble, cast down, and trample all the Jews, both common people and nobles and great men (for these are called men, just as the common people are called men): this destruction and calamity shall comprehend all, both small and great and the haughty, and then God alone, exercising this vengeance, shall appear powerful, terrible and glorious, and those who were before puffed up and stiff-necked shall acknowledge God as their avenger, and shall bow down as suppliants before Him. Whence the Septuagint translates: "For the eyes of the Lord are lofty, and man is humble." But the word "of the Lord" is not in the Latin, nor in the Hebrew or Chaldaean. He adds the cause: 12. FOR THE DAY OF THE LORD. — "The day of the Lord" is called the day of judgment and vengeance, which God shall exercise through the Chaldaeans: and allegorically the day of the final judgment; then God through Christ shall most severely and harshly avenge these crimes of the Jews and of other impious men, and shall cast down and crush all the proud.
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13. AND UPON ALL THE CEDARS OF LIBANUS. — Lyra plainly takes these literally of the arms and other machines of the Jews made from the cedars of Libanus and from the oaks of Basan, which were scattered and broken by the Chaldaeans. But others more rightly take the cedars, oaks, mountains and hills figuratively and symbolically, so as to signify the king, the great men and princes, who excelled others in honors and riches: for thus these are taken in Ezech. XVII, 3, and elsewhere. Whence Note with Cyril, the Chaldaean, and Eusebius, lib. VIII Demonstr. IV, that by Libanus is understood the city of Jerusalem, not the temple, as St. Jerome wishes in Zachar. XI; and this for three reasons. First, because Jerusalem was situated on the summit of Mount Sion and Moria, which is like Libanus. Second, because in it there were many magnificent houses, made from the cedars of Libanus. Third, because the city itself, built of white stone, by the whiteness of its walls and buildings presented the appearance of a snowy mountain to those viewing it from afar. Now the king and princes in it are called cedars and mountains, as in Libanus, because they excelled others in glory and dignity, equally as in pride and arrogance, just as mountains excel valleys and cedars excel other trees. AND UPON ALL THE OAKS OF BASAN. — "Basan" was the kingdom of Og the giant, which, after he was slain, Moses gave to the Gadites, Reubenites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, Joshua XII, 4; and it contained part of Galaaditis, Trachonitis and Gaulonitis, and was most fertile and rich in pastures. Hence the Hebrews use Basan and Carmel proverbially for a fertile and rich land: whence the rams, bulls and cows of Basan are called rams, bulls and cows well fattened and fat, as St. Jerome and Symmachus translate. By "oaks of Basan" therefore understand men in Judaea, first, strong, warlike and proud. Thus St. Basil. Second, rich and abounding in wealth and delights. Third, shamefully devoted to luxury and lust. Whence Basan in Hebrew signifies shame: for from wealth and delights one goes to gluttony and shameful lust. See Can. XIX. All these therefore God shall cast down and crush through the Chaldaeans. 15. AND UPON EVERY HIGH TOWER. — For the Chaldaeans cast down the towers and walls of the city. 16. AND UPON ALL THE SHIPS OF THARSIS. — "Tharsis," that is, of the sea. Thus the Septuagint, St. Jerome and the Chaldaean. For from Tharsis the grandson of Japheth, Genesis IV, were born the Cilicians, and from them their metropolis was called Tarsus. Thus St. Jerome in Quaest. Hebraic. in Genesis, and Josephus, lib. I Antiq. cap. VII. From this, because the Tarsians and Cilicians were powerful in ships and masters of the sea, hence also Tyre, in Isaiah XXIII, in the Hebrew is called the daughter of Tharsis, which our version translates "daughter of the sea." For it is clear that the Tarsians once ruled widely from the fact that it is said of Holofernes, Judith cap. II: "And he plundered all the sons of Tharsis;" and Solinus, cap. XLI: "Cilicia," he says, "formerly extended to Pelusium of Egypt." Further, by a part for the whole, the entire Mediterranean Sea itself, and finally the Ocean and any vast sea was called Tharsis. Thus Jonas fled to Tharsis, that is, to the sea. Thus ships and kings of Tharsis are said, that is, of the sea and islands. Thus the fleets of Solomon are said to have sailed to Tharsis, that is, to the Indian sea. Finally, from this the chrysolite stone is called in Hebrew Tharsis, because it is of the color of the sea, namely blue. Isaiah therefore signifies here the fleets of the Egyptians and Tyrians and others who wished to come to the aid of the Jews besieged, which were to be destroyed and overturned by the Chaldaeans. Thus Cyril.
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Sanchez notes that ships of Tarshish are called great, robust and strong ships, which are able to furrow the vast sea exposed to raging winds. For he says "Tarshish," so that they may be distinguished from papyrus boats, with which the Nile and Egypt abound, and from fishing boats, which were in Judaea and Genesareth. Hence it is said in Psalm XLVIII: "In a mighty wind thou shalt break the ships of Tarshish," that is to say, Ships, however strong and firm, shall not withstand the avenging and hostile hand of God. Sanchez adds that by ships of Tarshish are signified the great ships of the kings of the Jews, which, as formerly in the time of Solomon, brought a great quantity of gold into their treasury. But since these things pertain to the times of Zedekiah and Jerusalem besieged, when the Jews were very poor, so that they do not appear to have had such fleets: hence rather these are to be referred to the fleets of the neighboring Tyrians and Phoenicians, as I have said.
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18. AND THE IDOLS SHALL BE UTTERLY BROKEN. — This was done first, and properly after the devastation by the Chaldeans and the Babylonian captivity, as I said at verse 9. Secondly, this was done after Christ under Theodosius the Elder, the Emperor, who by public edict removed not only from the Jews, about whom this passage properly treats, but also from the Gentiles throughout the whole world idolatry, as is evident from books X, XI and XII of the Theodosian Code concerning Pagans. Thirdly, and most fully, this will happen on the day of judgment; for then the impious will flee into caves and caverns from the face of the wrath of God, as follows, and will say "to the mountains: Fall upon us; and to the hills: Cover us." 20. WHICH HE HAD MADE FOR HIMSELF TO WORSHIP MOLES AND BATS. — Thus the Egyptians and other foolish men of old worshipped crocodiles, apes, cats, beetles, moles, mice, that is their images and idols, as gods, as St. Augustine teaches at length in the City of God, book IV, chapters VIII and XI. Otherwise St. Jerome. Idols, he says, are called moles and bats metaphorically and by sarcasm; because just as moles and bats lack eyes and sense and mind. Forerius also thinks that by moles and bats, which are as it were winged moles, and therefore shun the light and lovers of darkness, the devil is signified, who is the prince of darkness, that he may shoot in the dark at the upright of heart. Morally, moles are men abased in earthly things and in the belly, such as idolaters often were, imitating their idols. For it is written: "Let them become like unto them that make them." I saw in the College of Louvain a secular gardener, who was called the mole of our garden, because he was perpetually bent over the earth with prone breast and body, digging it, sowing, hoeing, weeding, watering, etc. In like manner those who always pant after earthly goods are moles. Bats are those who love darkness, and who are amphibious, that is, they partake of something spiritual and something carnal. Thus Varro: "I have become," he says, "a bat; I am neither plainly among mice nor among birds." For a bat is called so because it flies in the evening: hence it has wings and flies, which does not suit it with mice; but it brings forth living young, not eggs, in which respect it agrees not with the nature of birds, but with that of mice. Secondly, the bat nourishes its young brought to its teats with milk, whereas birds insert food into the mouths of their young. Thirdly, it has teeth, which birds lack. Fourthly, it has a head like a mouse, and wings not of feathers, but of membranes: it is therefore a winged mouse. These things are aptly applied here to similar wandering and various ones, who are neither fish nor flesh, neither heavenly nor earthly, but partaking of both. Wherefore St. Basil beautifully here compares the demon and his companions to a bat. For this creature, he says, flees the light, and the demon is a light-fleeing creature. Secondly, this creature has instead of wings a fleshy membrane, and the demon, though incorporeal, is not impelled by any desire for God with wings: but fixed upon the desire of material things and wasting away, it has hardened like something more concrete than flesh. Thirdly, this creature is both flying and four-footed; weak in feet and in flight: so also the demon is neither an angel nor a man, having weakened the powers of mind and spirit by sinning. Fourthly, this creature has teeth, which birds lack: and the demon is desirous of vengeance, which Angels lack. Fifthly, this creature brings forth living young, not eggs; and the demon most swiftly brings its malignant operation to an end. Whoever therefore prostrates himself in reverence before demons can allegorically be called bats. Thus far St. Basil. 21. AND HE SHALL ENTER INTO THE CLEFTS OF THE ROCKS. — He repeats and emphasizes what he said at verse 10, because it is terrible, so as to strike the hearers. Thus preachers often inculcate to the people the vengeance of God and the remembrance of the last things. 22. THEREFORE CEASE YE FROM MAN, WHOSE BREATH IS IN HIS NOSTRILS. — For breath in Hebrew is נשמה nescama, that is, a breathing or exhalation. It is the conclusion and epiphonema of the whole chapter, and it is a prophecy concerning Christ, say Origen and Jerome, and the ancient Rabbis. For the Prophet flies and revolts toward Christ as toward a mark, according to Canon IV. With this chapter I have prophesied that Christ would raise up the Church, as it were a mountain and the house of the Lord; and that he himself would overturn the whole state of the Jews and the Synagogue: for this reason I seriously warn and command you to cease from vexing and killing Christ, who according to the flesh is indeed a fragile man, says St. Jerome, and has a human soul and breath which breathes through the nostrils (as the Septuagint has it), just as other men (hence in Lamentations IV, 20, Christ is called "the breath," that is the "breath of our nostrils"), but according to his divine nature and majesty is most high, or, as it is in Hebrew, he himself (1) The ancient peoples, when pressed by some calamity, were accustomed to be forced to take flight, carrying away with them the statues of their gods. loftiness and sublimity (concerning which presently). For Christ especially is he who, as it is said in verse 19, shall rise "to strike the earth," namely on the day of judgment: he himself also, as God, will bring upon the Jews all that desolation which I have foretold from verse 10 to 22, through the Chaldeans. The Arabic Alexandrian version indicates this sense, which thus has it, from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he shall have risen to reprove the earth concerning man (that is, for man, on account of man) who smells the wind (odor, air; breath) with his nostrils; for with whom (or in whom) is it measured? Note: That "whose spirit is in his nostrils" signifies not only the humanity of Christ, likewise his long-suffering and patience, but also his magnanimity, wrath, indignation and vengeance. For the Hebrew אף aph, that is, nose and fury, often signifies this: for fury often reveals itself with flaming nostrils. Hence it is said in II Kings XXII: "Smoke shall go up out of his nostrils;" and Martial: You would attempt the smoking nose of a living bear:
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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1. Hic increpatur culpa eorum ex parte conversionis; et dividitur in partes tres. In prima arguit eos pro culpa quam committébant in cultura idolorum; in secunda pro illa quam committébant in oppressione hominum: 5 cap., ibi, Ecce enim dominator Dominus exercituum auferet ab Jerusalem et a Juda validum et fortem; in tertia pro culpa quam committébant in abusu rerum: cap. 5: Cantabo dilecto meo canticum patruelis mei vineæ suæ. Prima dividitur in duas. In titulum et tractatum. Secunda ibi, Et erit in novissimis diebus praeparatus mons domus Domini in vertice montium. Et ponit Verbum in principio capituli: quia specialiter de incarnato Verbo prophetia est. Amos 5: « Non faciet Dominus verbum, nisi revelaverit secretum suum ad servos suos prophetas. » Et erit. Hic exequitur intentum. Et dividitur in partes tres. In prima promittit salutis remedium, ne gravitas sequentis culpæ in desperationem inducat; in secunda ostendit culpæ reatum, ibi, Projecesti enim populum tuum domum Jacob; in tertia comminatur poenæ flagellum, ibi, ergo dimittas eis. Circa primum tria ponuntur. Primo salutis praeparatio; secundo gēntium conversio, ibi, Et fluent ad eum omnes gentes; tertio Judæorum in fine vocatio, ibi, Domus Jacob, venite. Circa primum tria ponuntur. Primo salutis tempus: unde dicit, Et erit. Et copulat ad praecedentem prophetiam, vel ad illud quod a Domino audivit; sicut dicit Gregorius super primam Ezechiélis. In novissimis diebus praeparabitur mons domus Domini in vertice montium; idest in tempore gratiae, quod dicitur novissimum, quia non succedet alia religionis observatio. Matth. ult.: « Ecce ego vobiscum » sum usque ad consummationem saeculi. » Genes. 49: « Congregamini filii Israel, ut annuntiem » vobis quae ventura sunt vobis in novissimis » diebus. »
Sed videatur quod a principio humani generis debuerit ista salus praeparari quae est per incarnationem filii Dei: quia quanto morbo per medicinam citius subvenitur, facilius curatur.
Ad quod dicendum, quod medicina debet offerri secundum conditionem morbi. Et quia peccatum hominis fuit per superbiam, qua praecepta Dei contempsit; oportuit quod ad saluti medicinam percipiendam praepararetur per humilitatem, ut cognosceret infirmitatem suarum virium: quia nec lege naturali nec lege scripta adjutus poterat sibi providere; et sic tanto humilus et ardentius medicinam quaereret, quanto in se auxilium sibi non inveniebat.
Secundo salvantis virtus, cum dicitur, Mons domus Domini, in quo domus Domini est fundata. Ezech. 5: « Dimisit me super montem excelsum. » Terio salvantis gradus: In vertice montium, idest majorum, Et elevabitur super colles, idest super minores principes. Infra 52: « Ecce intellegit servus meus, exaltabitur et elevabitur, et sublimis » erit valde. » Et fluent ad eum omnes gentes. Hic ponitur gentium conversio: et circa hoc tria ponit. Primo ipsam conversionem; secundo declarat conversionis ordinem, ibi, Et ibunt populi; tertio promittit conversionis pacem, ibi, Et judicabit gentes. Dicit ergo quantum ad primum: Et fluent, in quo notatur multitudino et festinantia, omnes gentes, idest de gentibus omnibus aliqui. Jerem. 51: « Ad » ducam eos per torrentem aquarum in via recta, » et non impingent in ea. » Ordo conversionis fuit quod per vocationem eorum qui fuerunt ex Judaeis, gentes conversae sunt. Et ideo tria circa secundam ponit. Primo vocantes, secundo vocationem, ibi, Venite, ascendamus ad montem Domini; tertio ordinis rationem, ibi, Quia de Sion exibit lex. Dicit ergo: Populi, idest qui ex Judaeis, multi, non omnes; in quo notatur paucitas Judaëorum conversorum respectu multitudinis gentium; ibunt, passibus fidei credentes, et dic-nt. 2 Corinth. 4: « Et nos credimus, propter quod et loquimur. » Venite. Hic ponitur vocatio. Vocatur autem tripliciter. Ad fidei eminentiam: unde dicit: Venite, per consensum, ascendamus per fidem in montem Domini, idest ad Christum, et ad domum Dei Jacob, idest Ecclesiam.
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Jerem. 31: « Surgite et ascenda- » mus in Sion ad Dominum Deum nostrum: quia » haec dicit Dominus: Exultate in laetitia Jacob. » Secundo ad doctrinam, cum dicit: Docebit nos vias suas, idest praecepta quibus ad ipsum itur. Cant. 8: « ibi me docebis, et dabo tibi poculum ex vino » condito, et mustum malorum granatorum œo-
rum. » Tertio ad obedientiam consiliorum. Et ambulabimus, post eum, in semitis ejus. Jerem. 6: « Interrogate de semitis antiquis quae sit via » bona et ambulate in ea. » Quia de Sion. Hic ponit ordinis rationem, dicens: Quia de Sion, non de monte Sina, exibit lex, spiritualiter intellecta, et verbum Domini, idest Evangelium, de Jerusalem propter contemplationem pacis: « Salus enim ex » Judaeis est. » Joan. 4. Et infra 29: Quiegredientur impetu a Jacob, floribit, et germinabit Israel.
2. Hic promittit conversis pacem; et circa hoc tria facit. Primo ponit pacis effectivum; secundo pacis signum: Et conflabunt gladios suos in vomeres, et lanceas suas in falces; tertio pacis fructum: Non levabit gens. Effectivum pacis est regis judicium; et ideo primo dicit: Judicabit gentes, dando eis jura, et arguet populos, corrigendo peccata. Infra 2: Judicabit in justitia pauperes, et arguet in aequitate pro mansuet’s terræ.
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Signum pacis est quod instrumenta belli vertantur in cultum agri: unde dicit: Et conflabunt gladios suos in vomeres. Psal. 45: « Arcum conteret, et confringet » arma. » Fructus est in amotione hostium: unde dicit: Non levabit gens contra gentem gladium. Infra 26: Vetus error abiit, servabis pacem, pacem, quia in te speravimus.
Sed contra, quia postea fuerunt multa bella. Glossa respondet, quod non fuerunt iam magna sicut ante. Unde in tempore antichristi quamvis sit futura magna persecutio, tamen habebunt pacem magnam adinvicem, sicut fuit in tempore Diocletiani. Vel melius dicendum, quod referatur ad pacem factam per Christum, quae complebitur in futuro.
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Domus Jacob. Hic ponitur vocatio Judaeorum post conversionem gentium factam: vel ex persona prophetæ, vel ex persona gentilium, ut sint in cauda qui fuerunt in capite. Rom. 11: « Caecitas » ex parte contigit in Israel donec plenitudo gentium subintraret, et sic omnis Israel salvus fiet » ret. » Ambulemus, simul et concorditer, ut sit unum ovile. Joan. 10: « Et fiet unum ovile et » unus pastor. » In lumine. Joan. 12: « Ambulate » dum lucem habetis. » Projectionem populorum tuum domum Jacob. Hic ostendit eorum reatum: et primo in generali; secundo in speciali, ibi, Et augures habuerunt ut Philisthiim. Circa primum duo facit. Primo ostendit eorum a Deo elongationem, cum dicit, Projecisti enim: et sic continet Glossa: « Merito vocandi sunt, quia projecisti. » Jer. 22: « Quare abjecti sunt ipse et senen ejus, et pro- » jecti in terram quam ignoraverunt. » Secundo ponit elongationis causam, quia scilicet repleti sunt, iniquitate, ut olim, in Aegypto. Jerem. 23: « Adulteriis repleta est terra; » Non enim est causa elongationis a Deo nisi peccatum. Unde infra 59: « Peccata vestra et iniquitates vestrae divisere- » runt inter vos et Deum. » Et augures. Hic ponit culpam in speciali; et praecipue circa idolatriam, quam arguit in eis tripliciter. Primo quantum ad gentilem conversationem; secundo quantum ad idolatriae occasionem, ibi, Repleta est terra argento et auro; tertio quantum ad cultus observationem, ibi, Et repleta est terra. Gentilem conversationem reprehendit in eis in duobus. Primo quantum ad divinos angures, quos habebant: unde dicit: Augures, idest pronosticantes de futuris ex voce et garritu avium, habuerunt ut Phlisthaim, in quibus maxime haec superstitione vigebat, contra id quod praecepitur Deut. 18: « Cave ne imitari velis abominationes gentium illarum. » Et infra statim: « Non invenietur in te qui ariolos sciscitetur, et observet somnia atque auguria. »
Sed videtur quod augurium non sit peccatum. Aves enim meliorem aestimationem habent quam pisces qui sunt magis aquosi; sed marinaril ex motu quorumdam piscium accipiunt conjecturas de tempestate futura: ergo etiam per aves potest aliquid pronosticari de futuris.
Et dicendum, quod Deus providit unicuique rei ea quibus possit conservari in esse, secundum suae naturae capacitatem: et ideo homini dedit rationem per quam conferendo potest sibi adinvenire remedia contra nociva. Et quia in brutis deficit ratio, ordinavit ut quod ex ratione deficit, natura suppleteret; et ideo talibus data sunt arna et operimenta naturaliter, quae homo per artem sibi acquirit. Similiter creata est eis quaedam vis naturalis aestimationis, impellens ea ad operandum opera suae speciei. Unde potius aguntur quam agant, ut dicit Damascenus. Et cum natura inferior reguletur per naturam superiorem et moveatur, relinquuntur in ipsis impressiones superiorum motuum fricantium hujusmodi motum per quem moventur ad providendum sibi in necessariis. Et in talibus accipere conjecturam ab avibus, vel avium motibus, vel aliorum animalium, non est peccatum; sed tantum de his quae habent causam ex libero arbitrio, quod non operatur necessitate stellarum.
Secundo, quantum ad passiones innaturales.
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In quibus subjacebant: unde dicit: Pueris alienis, idest alienigenis, vel a Deo alienis, adhaeserunt, per turpem abusum. Rom. 2: « Masculi in masculos turpitudinem operantes. » 2 Machab. 4, dicitur de hoc vitio: « Erat autem et incrementum quoddam, et profectus gentilis; et alienigenae conversionis, propter impii et non sacerdotis Jan-sonis nefarium et inauditum scelus. » Repleta est. Hic ponit idolatriae occasionem, quae est avaritia.
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Ephes. 5: « Aut avaritia . . . . quae est idolorum servitus. » Primo ergo ostendit avaritiam eorum quantum ad multiplicationem rerum quae pertinent ad necessitatem victus, cum dicit, Repleta est terra: in quo notatur abundantia rerum; et non est finis: in quo notatur insatiabilitas avari, qui non implebitur pecunia. Eccli. 5: « Avarus non implebitur pecunia: et qui amat divitias, fructum non accipiet ex eis. » Et Oseae 2: « Dedi eis frumentum et vinum et oleum et argentum multuplicavi eis, et aurum; quae fecerunt Baal. »
Secundo quantum ad res quae pertinent ad portantis usum, cum dicit, Repleta. Psalm. 19: « Hi in curribus, et hi in equis; nos autem in nomine Dei nostri invocabimus. » Et repleta est. Hic arguit in eis idolatriae cultum; et arguit hic ex tribus. Primo ex multitudine, cum dicit, Et repleta est. Oseae 7: « Multiplicavit Ephraim altaria ad peccandum. » Jer. 2: « Sub omni ligno frondoso et in omni colle sublimi tu prosternebaris meretrix. » Secundo ex idolorum vilitate: quia opus manuum suarum, et adhuc plus quod fecerunt digiti eorum. Psalm. 115: « Simulacra gentium argentum et aurum, opera manuum
« hominum. » Tertio ex hominis dignitate: et ideo dicit: Homo, qui ad imaginem Dei factus est, inclinavit se, supponendo se idolis; vir, qui virtuosus videbatur quantum ad acquisita, humiliatus est. Psal. 48: « Homo cum in honore esset, non intellexit; comparatus est jumentis insipientibus, et similibus factus est illis. » Infra 44: Curvatus est ante illud, et adorat, et dicit, Libera me.
5. Hic comminatur eis poenam. Et dividitur in duas partes. In prima ostendit eis imminere periculum; in secunda concludit evasionis remedium, ibi, Quiescite ergo ab homine. Ostendit autem eis imminere periculum, removendo tria. Primo praesumptionem de divina misericordia; secundo confidentiam de propria potentia, ibi, Oculi sublimes hominis humiliati sunt; tertio remedium quod relinquebatur in aliorum fiducia, ibi, In die illa proficiet homo idola argenti sui. Et quia divina misericordia mensuram non habet, sed semper superexaltat judicium, ideo non removet eam praedicendo ut de futura, sed imprecando poenam ut justam. Duo ergo facit.
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Primo ponit imprecationem, dicens: Ex quo tam turpia mala faciunt, ergo ne dimittas eis: quasi dicit: Justum esset ut in nullo eorum miserieris. Jer. 5: « Numquid super his non visitabo, dicit Dominus, et super gentem hujusmodi non uleiscetur anima mea? » Secundo ironice ponit consilium ad suasionem, dicens, Ingredere; quasi dicas: Ex quo ipse non dimittit, restat ut abscondaris a facie ejus.
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Ingredere in petram: ad litteram, in fixuras petrarum ad ibi manendum: abscondere in fossa humo, idest in cavernis terrae, a facie timoris Domini, idest a facie illorum per quos Deus se probat timendum et glorificandum. Jer. 18: « Relinquite civitates. » Sed hoc non valebit eis: unde in Psalm. 138: « Quo ibo a spiritu tuo, et quo a facie tua fugiam? » Bernardus exponit de Christo. « Petra enim est Christus: » 1 ad Corinth. 10. In ipso est intrandum per devotionis affectum. Dicit ergo: « Ego quod mihi deest usurpo de visceribus Jesu Christi. Viscera enim misericordiae affluerunt, nec desunt foramina per quae effluant: foderunt enim manus ejus, et pedes ejus perforaverunt. » Cant. 2: « Surge, propera amica mea . . . . et veni in foraminibus petrae. » Oculi sublimes. Hic removet ab eis confidentiam de propria potentia: et circa hoc duo facit. Primo excludit potentiam resistendi; secundo repelli cautelam latendi, ibi, Et introibunt in speluncas petrarum. Circa primum duo facit. Primo ponit intentum; secundo explicat modum, ibi, Quia dies Domini exercituum; tertio concludit propositum. Et incurvabitur omnis sublimitas hominum. Ponit autem duo ad excludendum potentiam resistendi.
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Primo ipsorum depressionem, tum quantum ad superbiam cordis, cum dicit, Oculi, idest superbia, sublimis, idest hominis potentis, humiliati, idest humiliabuntur: praeteritum pro futuro propter certitudinem prophetiae Prov. 50: « Generatio cujus oculi excelsi sunt, et palpebrae in alta surrectae. » Job 40: « Respiciet cunctos superbos, et confundet eos, et conteret impios de loco suo. » Tum etiam quantum ad nobilitatem generis: unde dicit, Altitudo virorum, idest nobilitas generis. Amos 2: « Ego exterminavi Amorrhaeum a facie eorum, cujus altitudo ejus. » Secundo ponit punitis exaltationem, Exaltabitur, idest alius apparebit in punitione qui infimus videbatur in expectatione. Psal. 9: « Cognoscetur « Dominus judicia faciens. » Infra 5: « Exaltabi- « tur Dominus exercituum in judicio. » Quia dies Domini. Hic ponitur modus expletionis praedicto- rum: et primo quantum ad depressionem homi- num; secundo quantum ad subtractionem rerum, ibi, Et super omnes etc.
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Dicit ergo primo: Ideo erit hoc quod dictum est, quia dies Domini, idest ultionis tempus: infra 63: « Dies ultionis in corde « meo, annus retributionis meae venit: » exerci- tuum; ut non dubitetur de victoria ejus, cui tanta subest obsequentium multitudo: veniet quasi grave pondus ad comprimendum, super omnem superbam et excelsam; idest, super eum qui magis de ma- gnis quae habet extollitur: et super omnem arro- gantem, qui elevatur de eo quod non habet. Gre- gorius: « Arrogans est qui sibi tribuit quod non « habet. » Prov. 8: « Arrogantiam et superbiam, « et viam pravam, et os bilingue detestor. » Et humiliabitur. Luc. 14: « Qui se exaltat humilia- « bitur. » Et super omnes cedros. Hie ponit sub- tractionem rerum quae faciunt ad defensionem: et primo quantum ad ea quae faciunt quantum ad praeparationem machinarum: vel propter altitudi- nem; et sic dicit, Super omnes cedros; vel fortitu- dinem; et sic dicit, Super omnem quercum.
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Zach. 11: « Aperi Libane portas tuas, et comedat ignis « cedros tuas. » Et infra: « Ululate quereus Basan, quia succisus est saltus munitus. » Secundo quo ad ea quae pertinent ad mutationem locorum: aut a na- tura: Et super omnes montes excelsos, et super omnes colles elevatos, Ezech. 6: « Haec dicit Dominus « Deus montibus et collibus, rupibus et vallibus: » aut ab arte: Et super omnem turrim excelsam; et super omnem murum munitum. Soph. 1: « Dies « tubae et clangoris super civitates munitas, et « super angulos excelsos; et tribulabo homines. » Tertio quantum ad ea quae pertinent ad abundantiam victualium; et sic dicit: Super omnes naves, in quibus deferuntur, Tharsis, idest maris.
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Infra 25: « Ululate naves maris, quia vastata est domus « unde venire consueverunt. » Et super omne quod visu pulchrum est. Hoc pertinet ad hostium implacationem; vel augumentationem pugnantium.
Judith 10: « Quis contemnet populum Haebraeo- « rum, qui tam decoras habet mulieres? » Et in- curvabitur. Hic quasi concludit propositionem; et est omnino idem quod prius dictum est, nisi quod additur de destructione idolorum, ut ostendatur ipse solus excelsus, cum dicit, Et idola. Ezech. 6: « Confringentur et cessabunt idola vestra, et con- « terentur delubra vestra. » Et introibunt in spe- luncas petrarum. Hic ponit cautelam latendi, et est idem quod prius; nisi quod hie praedicitur quasi futurum, quia potentiarn dejiciendam praedicendo et non imprecando exposuerat; Psalm. 62: « Introibunt in inferiora terrae, tradentur in « manus gladii, partes vulpium erunt. » In die illa. Hic removet tertium, scilicet idolorum fiduciam. Et primo removet auxilium, Ut adoraret.
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Ezech. 8: « Et ingressus vidi; et ecce omnis similitudo « reptilium, et animalium abominatio, et uni- « versa idola domus Israel depicta. » Infra 51: In die illa abjiciet vir idola argenti sui, et ido- la quae fecerunt manus ejus in peccatum. Secun- do replicat latendi subsidium, ibi, Et ingredietur scissuras petrarum. Apocal. 6: « Omnis servus et « liber absconderunt se in speluncis, et in petris « montium. » Quiescite ergo. Hic ponit sanum consilium ad evadendum; et dicit: Ergo ex quo omnia ista non valebunt vobis, quiescite ab homine, idest cessate ab offensa ipsius, scilicet Christi.
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Cujus spiritus in naribus ejus, idest qui spirat in nari- bus, idest vivit sicut alii homines quantum ad hu- manitatem. Quia excelsus reputatus est ipse, quan- tum ad divinitatem, a sanctis et ab Angelis. Psalm. 112: « Excelsus super omnes gentes Dominus, et « super caelos gloria ejus. » Vel aliter. Lo- quitur de Deo ad similitudinem hominis per figu- ram antropospatos. Ab homine, idest Deo, cujus spiritu in naribus: loquitur ad similitudinem irati, qui propter multiplicationem spirituum exufflat per nares: unde dicit Homerus, quod fortes austeram virtutem per singulas nares exufflabant. Psal. 17: « Ab inspiratione spiritus irae tuae. » Infra 50: Ardens furor ejus, et gravis ad portandum. Et i- terum (ibidem) Spiritus ejus velut torrens inun- dans usque ad medium collis, ad perdendas gentes in mihilum; et hoc refertur ad primum, in quo removit praesumptionem de misericordia Dei: quia excelsus ipse, discretive, quasi solus.
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v. 2 « Et erit in novissimis diebus praeparatus mons domus Domini in vertice montium et elevabitur super colles et fluent ad eum omnes gentes ;
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v. 3 et ibunt populi multi et dicent : venite et ascendamus ad montem Domini et ad domum Dei lacob et docebit nos vias suas et ambulabimus in semitis eius, quia de Sion exibit lex et verbum Domini de Ierusalem » ; — si vaticinium iam notum proponitur, facilius. etiam intelligitur, cur ab et incipiatur (cf. notam ad Ion. 1, 4); apud Michaeam enim n'à suo loco et ordine ponitur ef erit, minime autem apud Isaiam '. Locutio in fine dierum ? frequenter obvia apud prophetas fatentibus omnibus de tempore messianico usurpatur; est quippe tempus hoc ultimum, « quia non succedet alia religionis observatio » (S. Thom.), sed quia est ultima theocratiae hisce in terris periodus quam sola consummatio ac perfectio coelestis consequitur; est finis dierum, in quem finem saecula anteacta tendunt et ad quem praeparandum et significandum vetus ordinatur testamentum ; unde «£A» «àv aióvov cf. 1 Cor. 10, 11 ei àx' éoy&ros tO» fjpepo» Hebr. 4, 1. 4 Petr. 1, 20. 1 Ioan. 2, 18 etc. Tempore igitur messianico quod est tempus impletionis promissionum et hoc quoque sensu tempus extremum (quasi plenitudo temporis), erit fundatus (hebr.) vel constitutus firmiter mons templi, stabili modo, inconcussus, iam a nullo pe loco movendus erit; adhibet vates in hebr. eandem vocem qua 2 Reg. 1, 26. 3 Reg. 2, 48 thronus David iugiter firmus dicitur. Et tali firmitate instructus non in humili quodam colle, verum in vertice montium erit i. e. in altissimo fastigio collocatus, super omnes colles et montes elevatus, omnia quae in orbe terrarum alta sunt supergrediens. Undique igitur conspicuus mons templi tanta apud omnes valebit gloria, ut iam ad eum confluant omnes gentes; fluent i. e. multitadine ac festinantia (S. Thom.) properabunt; fluere motum dicit minime violentum cuiusmodi esse solet in rebus natura propensis (For.). Iam cur ad eum confluant, vel quid in illo monte cernant, ex verbis quibus inter se studiose cohortantur, facile colligitur; ibunt enim populi multi i. e. numerosi, populi qui maxima hominum multitudine constant, ergo populi praecipui et alacri studio pergent aliosque etiam propria salute non contenti invitabunt (cf. S. Hier. Sasb.) : venile, ascendamus.. et quid exspectant et appetunt? docebit nos vias suas : viae Domini sunt eius consilia, sunt agendi moi et illae rationes quas ipse se[uitur et quas ab hominibus nosci et observari vult; divinam igitur doctrinam appetunt et divinam institutionem ; hane autem consequitur ratio vitae e£ ambulabim»s in semitis eius vel ut est in hebr. per modum cohortationis et a nb'ulemus; lumen igitur divinum efflagitant pro intellectu, vires et robur pro voluntate, ut ita et intellectus divina percipiat et quae percepta sint strenue operibus exprimantur. Perceperunt ergo in monte templi vel quod idem est apud Deum Iacob ' qui i»i sedem suam et regnum collocarat, adesse repositam sacram docirinam et tale robur, ut lex Dei cum gaudio spiritus adimpleataur. Verbis aliquantum explanatis iam ulterius est dispiciendum, quid eo oraculo portendatur. [n visione prophetica vates cernit montem domus Dei elevatum super omnes montes, longe lateque per orbem omnibus conspicuum et gentes undique ad eum sacro studio et salutis desiderio conlluentes. Symbolum aliquod proponi clarum est. Quomolo symbolum explicabimus ? An dicemus cum aliquibus (Hofmann, Weissagung und Erfüll. 2, 211; Drechsl. Del. et etiam Vaeg.) montem templi revera in novo rerum ordine esse physice elevandum vel reliquum terrarum orbem esse in planitiem commutandum ? Sed ratio symboli id minime postulat, e contra suadet elevationem esse aestimatione et dignitate metiendam. Dein cum fieri nequeat, ut omnes gentes et populi numerosi ad montem templi ascendant, eo ipso innuitur, populos non corporibus ad montem templi accedere. Ergo eo ipso etiam non re juiritur elevatio vera physica, quae ita nullo fieri posset modo, ut saltem ab aliquibus populis cerneretur. Sed requiritur elevatio aestimationis et dignitatis qua mons cognoscatur et maximi fiat tamquam sacrae doctrinae et roboris divini fons et thesaurus, ex quo omnes hauriant. Cum igitur non ipse mons templi qua (alis sit communis omnium gentium peregrinationis scopus ac terminus, non relinquitur nisi ut mons templi sensu aliquo altiore pro ea re accipiatur quam mons templi ex suo usu et fine revera repraesentare potest. Quae sit ea res, facile deprehenditur. Erat enim mons templi unicus ille in toto terrarum orbe locus, ubi religio et cultus veri Dei exercebatur, erat centrum theocratiae. Proindesi symbolo aliquo exprimendum erat, veram religionem et sacrum Dei cultum iri propagatum ad omnes late per orbem gentes, fatendum erit symbolum melius, clarius, simplicius inveniri non posse illo quo in nostro oraculo est descriptum. Sensus ergo planus est, tempore messianico veram religionem omnibus fore valde conspicuam, suo splendore ac lumine oculos omnium perculsuram et populos magno studio eam esse amplexaturos et uberes sacrae doctrinae e& bonorum operum fructus ex ea percepturos. Selhic nondum est sistendum. Nam in symbolo praeclaro quoque modo illustratur, qua ratione tempore messianico vera religio constituatur. Mons templi eousque solum notus ac consp cuus [adaeis ex particulari hac et limitata conditione exsurgit ad centrum omnium populorum : ergo ex ipso veteri testamento exsurget novum tamquam illius absolutio et perfectio ; adest nexus quidam internus atque habitudo inter utrumque ita, ut novum testamentum non tam quam res plane nova instituatur, sed inchoat;one quadam et praeparatione iam in vetere tamquam in germine praeformetur et contineatur. Exsistit enim, ut aliis utar verbis, unum Dei regnum, una theocratia; vetus quidem illa proxime a1 unum populum pertinens, imperfecta praelusio quaedam et umbra veri regni Dei, nova vero ex praecedente exorta, eius fundamentis aliquo modo superstructa. at perfectione, indole sublimiore et latissima propagatione ac destinatione insignis. lam quae est nova haec theocratia vel regnum Dei universale? Cernitur a propheta Zn fine dierum i. e. in periodo messianica ; est ergo regnum illud a Messia institutum, est aliis verbis Ecclesia Christi quae symbolica hac visione in se, in sua ad vetus testamentum habitudine, in suis attributis mire adumbratur. Declaratur enim montis templi symbolo tamquam institutio ad veram religionem verumque Dei cultum ; eius elevatione indicatur, hanc Ecclesiam fore visibilem, conspicuam, insignem, cognitu facilem ; et cum videat vates omnes ad montem templi confluentes, eo ipso universalitas, catholicitas exprimitur. In vocibus populorum confluentium Ecclesia praedicatur tamquam sacrae doctrinae divinaeque revelationis thesaurus, tamquam fons ex quo omnes hauriant vires ad ambulandum in viis Domini, atque in laeta illa exhortatione ambulemus in viis eius egregie indicatur sanctitas Ecclesiae. Hae enim voces ad eum pertinent qui gratia Christi confortatus. et spiritu roboratus sanctitatem a Christo propositam studio indefesso consequitur, dum docente S. Paulo homo nondum regeneratus et gratia destitutus gemit : « perficere bonum non invenio » ( Rom. 71, 18 ). Ceterum in omnibus vaticiniis messianicis sollemne est maiorem efferri Dei cognitionem et vitam sanctam ad Dei normam et beneplacitum exactam ( cf. ad Mich. 4, 2 ). Cernitur unitas Ecclesiae in ipso quoque symbolo montis templi : erat enim unum theocratiae centrum, vinculum quoque et adiumentum unitatis quo singulae tribus israeliticae se ad unam Dei familiam pertinere cognoscebant, quo efficaciter in una religione et uno cultu Dei continerentur. Neque minus adest apostolicitas : ad Deum lacob enim esse accedendum palam edicitur, i. e. ad Deum illum qui in certa familia, in certo aliquo coetu se manifestat. Deus se vocat Deum Iacob etiam propterea, quia in familia Iacob suas reposuit promissiones, et quicumque olim horum bonorum se participem reddere volebat, aliquo modo debuit se familiae Iacob adiungere, debuit aliqua ratione populo electo aggregari; ad quam rem vide quae de proselytis portae qui vocantur tradita sunt. Uti ergo veteris testamenti revelatio et religio certae cuidam stirpi erat concredita, ita Messias suam doctrinam et auctoritatem reposuit in certa quadam familia, in collegio nempe apostolorum, quod vivum et perpetua successione permanens adesse voluit in sua Ecclesia et cui oportet adiungi et ritu externo et interna subiectione et obedientia (cf. ad Mich. 4, 2). Porro in symbolo montis per se deprehenditur firmitas inconcussa; :praeclare in hanc rem dicit S. Chrys. : « quemadmodum enim si quis adversus montes innumeros obiiciat exercitus arcus tendentes, hastas vibrantes, machinas admoventes, illos quidem nullo damno afficere poterunt, sed consumpta propria fortitudine recedent, sic et quicumque Ecclesiam impugnaverunt hanc quidem non laeserunt, sed sua amissa potentia pudore sunt affecti ». Verbis quia de Sion exibit lez.. propheta rationem reddit verbisque propriis declarat rem quam symbolica visione perceperat. Dei scil. doctrina, institutio, revelatio promanabit ex Sion, ex centro veteris theocratiae ad omnes gentes (For.); ex Sion longe lateque promulgabitur (ef. Basil. Caiet, Sasb.) ; inde sacrae doctrinae rivulis omnes gentes rigabuntur (cf. Pint. Sanct. Malv.); salus enim, ut Christus ait, ex Iudaeis est (Ioan. 4, 22) et apostoli iussi erant testimonium reddere de Christo in lerusalem et Samaria et usque ad ultimos terrae terminos et ex Ierusalem profecti praedicaverunt ubique (Marc. 16, 20). Salutem ex Ierusalem in omnes redundaturam adumbrant Ez. 41, 4 et Zach. 414, 8. Quamvis maxima sit interpretum concordia in vaticinio hoc de regno messia.nico explicando, singulas tamen partes alii quandoque aliter enarrant. Haud Pinhas ex sententia rabbi Ruben tempore Messiae adducendos esse montes Thabor et Carmelum ad eum locum quo nune est lerusalem et supra illos elevandam esse civitatem, quod ex hoc [saiae loco confirmant » ; et Sasb. : « Iudaei ut sunt crassi et carnales, ita uimis crassa est haec eorum interpretatio ». Iam quis erit effectus religionis verae ubique dilatatae etagnitae ? Quid populi discent ex viis Domini? Propter peccatum inductae sunt inimicitiae et olia implacabilia. Homo enim contra Deum rebellis pace animi amissa odio quoque exardescit in hominem, malis inflammatur cupilitatibus, quae perpetua sunt iurgiorum atque inimicitiarum fomenta. Et quod in singulis contingit, idem in populis deprehenditur. Unde cruenta bella, caedes, servitutes, inimicitiae totidem sunt fructus peccati. Quare lege Dei promulgata et promptis animis ab omn bus accepta causae illae bellorum feraces ablatae sunt. Una enim regnat et valet Dei norma et lex, Deus autem Deus pacis est. [nde igitur vates pergit
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v. 4 « et iudicabit gentes et arguet populos multos et con[labunt gladios suos in vomeres el lanceas suas in. falces ; non levabit gens contra gentem gladium nec exercebuntur ultra ad. proelium » ; — Deus ius dicet ; eius lex est norma suprema, ex qua omnes lites et disceptationes dirimentur ; ipse erit arbiter (hebr.) populis. Et si omnes huic iudici dicto audientes erunt eiusque legem caritatis, iustitiae, patientiae omniumq.ie virtutum summam alte animis insculpserint, cessabunt rixae et dissidia, odia evellentur, summa pace et concordia omnia componentur. Quare bellica instrumenta — « tum quae in congressu et in pugnis cominus comm;ssis ac statariis adh beri solent, quae vocavit propheta gla l'wn, tum quae ad vindictam eminus sumendam cuduntur, quae ait esse hastas et lanceas » (Basil. Procop.) — ad usus pacificos convertuntur ; iam non bellis, sed agriculturae student homines, non arma tractant sed pacis negotia selulo obibunt. Id ergo propheta effert et describit, quod locum habebit, si omnes Deum iudicem supremum et arbitrum agnoverint. Quamdiu populi non in una Dei lege tam juam norma suprema acquieverint plene ac perfecte, fieri nequit, ut talis pax habeatur. Est en:m pax illa ex clarissimis prophetae verbis fructus et. effectus illius communis ac studiosae ad montem templi peregrinationis et maximi ardoris quo vias Domini a.ldiscere et in eius semitis ambulare desiderant. Quamdiu igitur et quicumque non ita animati sunt, quid mirum si apud eos fructus et effectus non cernatur, cum causa et ra lix plane absit? Describit itaque vates vim illam salutarem quae per se legi Dei inest. « His enim tropis i. e. verborum immutationibus, ut. monet For., hoc tantum s'giilicare vult propheta, quod quantum ex evangelio est qui praedicaverint et qui evangelio obedierint, pacis erunt cultores, ut qui didicerint citius bona omnia exterua ipsamque vitam quam caritatem amittere »; velut Sanct. dicit, illam fore Christi oeconomiam et illam evangelii legem, ut homines non ad bellum inflamment, sed ad pacem adducant ; « quod sanedurum non videtur ei qui noverit Scripturae morem esse, ut illa ab aliquo fieri dicantur ad quae ut legitime faciat, naturam et facultatem habet ..; cumigitur evangelii lex ad pacem instituat et illius sanctitas id mereatur, ut bella ex hominum societate depellat, ideo Christi et evangelii: tempore non ultra homines dicuntur ad proelium exercendi ». in eclogis autem prophetarum (M. 22, 1196) pacem illam spiritualem' interpretatur quae adsit malis cupiditatibus devictis. Inter recentiores vero inveniuntur qui perfectum vaticinii eventum in ultima temporis messianici periodo exspectant hisce in terris; periodum enim sibi promittunt futuram qua haec vallis lacrimarum in alterum quasi paradisum transmutanda sit et qua Christi Ecclesia insigni splendore, maxima prosperitate, gloriae ac laudis apud omnes copia abundantissime sit exornata ; ita aliqui .chiliastae moderni in Gallia (de quibus ef. Études relig. 1868, II p. 532) ; ita fere Del. Kurtz, Mayer, Disping (Erklaerung der Apoc. p. 316. 320) aliique. Verum huic opinioni, ut alia taceam, obstant duo : uti statum illum describunt, ille exsistere nequit, nisi fere concupiscentiis malis ablatis hominis naturam ad illam revocaveris integritatem quae propria erat iustitiae originalis ; sed eiusmodi fore vel effectus peccati originalis fere iri ablatum fomite quasi exstincto, non est eur sperare liceat, quia nzllibi promittitur ; alterum est quod Christus suae Ecclesiae crucem abnegationem, persecutiones, pressuras praedixit, viam arctam assignavit. Num haec pro aliquo tantum tempore valebunt? Minime ; insuper Ecclesiam suam describit per parabolam agri, in quo triticum et zizania simul adsunt usque ad messem i. e. usque ad consummationem saeculorum (ef. Matth. 13, 38-42). Alia vide ad cap. 11. De explicatione SS. Patrum vide Tailhan, Kilber, Analysis bibl. 1 p. 350, qui singulari diligentia ad hunc locum et alios locos messianicos Patrum testimonia collegit.
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v. 9 « Domus lacob venite et ambulemus in lumine Domini » ! — i. e. familia Iacob, populus ex Iacob progenie; gentes enim viderat summo studio accurrentes ad Deum Iacob; aequissimum ergo est, ut ipsa farailia lacob maiore etiam desiderio suum Deum qui hane familiam ad tantam evexerat dignitatem, amplectatur. Gentes inter se adhortantur; solus Israel videtur haerere anceps et cunctari, immo recedere a Domino, quare propheta populum appellat nomine patriarchae qui tanta fide et constantia per tribulationes Dominum est secutus (cf. ad Os. 12, 3 seq.), et quibus verbis gentes inter se admonent et. excitant, iisdem: populum ad sacram quandam aemulationem provocare studet, ne scil. sinant se superari a gentibus, ne tanta bona a gentibus percipi, seipsos autem spoliari et promissionum expertes fieri aequo animo ferant. Gentium exemplo et gentium felicitate ad sacram quandam invidiam et aemulationem eos accendere studet, ut ita mentium torporem et rerum divinarum negligentiam excutiat, imitatus ipsius Dei exemplum qui eadem aemulatione tamquam extremo subsidio se usurum dixerat ad populum ad se reducendum (Deut. 32, 21). Quantopere ad animos exstimulandos talis apta sit aemulatio, in aperto est positum ; eadem .Se uti profitetur S. Paulus qui omni studio gentium conversionem promoturum se spondet, « si quomodo ad aeinulandum provocem carnem meam » (Rom. 11, 14). Ita scil. propheta oracula de rebus futuris et de bonis messianicis in praesentem etiam usum et utilitatem populi convertere studet. Quare etiam cum plerisque prophetam hic loqui censeo (cf. S. Hier. Cyr. Chrys. Pint. Lap.), non quod alii volunt (Rup. For. Sanct. Mald.) eas esse gentium voces ; accedit quod sane in antecedentibus v. 4 et in subsequentibus v. 6 etc. prophetae verba habentur. Ipsa autem adhortaiio iis verbis est concepta quae quam maxime ad animos alliciendos et suaviter pertrahendos valent : ambulare in lumine Domini ; luminis enim appellatio menti repraesentat quidquid est magnificum, faustum, laetum, dum tensbrarum nomen id designat quod est triste, miserum, calamitosum. Deus enim, summa illa omnium bonorum infinitas, lux est et appellatur et quando eius maiestas homini describitur, amictus lumine dicitur sicut vestimento vel lumine se cingi vel in lumine habitare inaccessibili; quando sese manifestat oculis hominum, aut in splendenti et lucida angeli apparitione cernitur aut in nube lucida se praesentem exhibet. Et quia revelatio divina lucem nobis affundit de Deo et tenebras erroris et ignorantiae removet et altissima quaeque et remotissima, alias homini impervia, illustrat et lumen infundit mentibus easque nova cognitionum luce nobilitat, ipsa revelatio et lex divina, per quam lumen vultus Domini i. e. beneplacitum eius et gratiam . et benevolentiam in nos convertimus, aptissimo nomine luminis designatur. Nam ut iam S. Chrys. ex s. literis monet : « praeceptum legis est lucerna.et lux et vita (Prov. 6, 23) ; praeceptum Domini lucidum, illuminans oculos (Ps. 18, 9); lucerna pedibus meis lex tua et lumen semitis meis (Ps. 118, 103) et ubique legem ita vocari perspicias ». Quare ut legem Dei amplectantur et. vita exprimant, legem suavissimo vocat vocabulo, quo maxima. simul beatitudo declaratur ; unde bene Procop. : « peramanter domesticos adhortatur, ut effusam in gentes omnes pacem amplectantur apta valde et ad incendendum commoda ' adhortatione ». : Quantopere vero tali adhortatione indigeant, sequentia docent. Dum enim propheta oculos ad populum suum convertit, non sine magna indignatione advertit omnia in contrariam plane partem esse mutata, populum scil. gentilium moribus infici, ad gentilium ritus et fastum diffluere, gentilium consuetudinem ambabus manibus complecti. Quare ' magna animi commotione ad Deum conversus exclamat
Nexum cum antecedentibus clare effert S. Hier. : « post vocationem gentium et ostensionem montis Domini super verticem montium ad populum suum i. e. populum Iudaeorum, qui appellatur domus Iacob, propheta convertitur et hortatur eos, ut qui in tenebris versantur erroris lumen suscipiant veritatis et ambulent in lumine Domini ». Obversatur enim menti prophetae alta quaedam ac sublimis species de dignitate Sionis, viderat omnes gentes avide accurrentes ad montem templi et inde maxima beari felicitate et pace; quid quaeso iam maiore desiderio expetere potest, quam ut populus ipse electus tantis bonis potiatur, ut ea familia, in qua tot bonorum thesauros Deus reposuit et ex qua totus orbis largissime accepturus est, ipsa quoque iisdem bonis locupletetur ! Quare magna animi commotione et verbis ad symbolicam visionem adaptatis clamat
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v. 6 « protecisti enim populum tuum, domum lacob, quia repleti sunt ut olim et augures habuerunt ut Philisthiim et pueris alienis adhaeserunt » ; — illud enim causam ostendit proximae exhortationis (Sanct.); quam maxime quippe ad reditum exhortandi sunt, cum iamiam in eo sit, ut Deus populum suum repudiet, eum hostibus puniendum et conculcandum tradat. Huius enim derelictionis indicia satis aperta et tremenda iam adsunt. Regnum Israel iam. Assyriorum invasioni et vastationi patuit non semel (cf. 4 Reg. 15, 19 et vide quae ad Ion. 1, 1 notata sunt); regnum quoque iudaicum hostium finitimorum incursionibus exponebatur ultimis regis Ioatham annis (4 Reg. 15, 31). Ita poenis repetitis iam ostenderat Deus se favorem suum ac protectionem peculiarem populo subtraxisse, quare necessario fieri debebat, ut regnum iudaicum a tot hostibus cireumdatum et oppugnatum modo ab Assyriis, modo a Syris, modo ab Aegyptiis, facile demum hostibus adeo potentibus in praedam cederet. Cur autem Deus populum derelinquat et hostibus conculeandum permittat, ratio redditur quia... usque ad v. 9 longiore enumeratione, qua vates sermone concitato ad oculum iis demonstrat, quantum in omni vitae ratione, in re privata et publica, civili et religiosa a vera theocratia et Dei lege recesserint et ad gentilium mores defluxerint. Et primo quidem ait : repleti sunt ut. olim; accusatio magis generalis est, scil. sicut olim in deserto vel saepius tempore iudicum pleni erant abominationibus eriminibusque, ita nunc in nulla re pessimis temporibus anteactis sunt inferiores. Et ita ex textu lat. et eundem sensum referunt LXX, Syrus, Chald. Textus autem hebr. mp2 verti potest ab oriente, uti iam explicant Lyranus, Vat. Malv. Mald. Pint. Lap. et passim recentiores, i. e. pleni sunt moribus et ritibus quos a gentibus orientalibus petierunt ?. Ad quam explicationem optime convenit quod statim mentio fit, eos ut gentem occidentalem, versus occidentem a Ierusalem habitantem, Philisthiim, augures habuisse; un- 1. Ita nexus adest quem aliqui, ut de Lagarde, penitus non invoniunt. 2. Alii legi volunt 275; alii ET:2 z-7; prius iam apud Houbig. invenitur. dique igitur ritus gentium adoptant et aemulantur. Nomine quidem orientis Hebraeis designatur Arabia usque ad Sinai et etiam regiones euphraticae. Ditio Iudaeorum sub Azaria et Ioatham usque ad Ailam extendebatur, loatham contra Ammonitas feliciter pugnavit (4 Reg. 14, 32 ; 16, 6. 2 Par. 21, 5) ; unde facile liquet quomodo mores orientales in Iudaea serpere potuerint. Auguria et divinationes quae intime cum idololatria coniunguntur, sollemni praecepto Israelitis interdicebantur (cf. Deut. 18, 9 seq.) ; in usu erant apud Philisthaeos (cf. 1 Reg. 6, 2. 4 Reg. 1, 2). Uu Iudaei alienorum mores et ritus aemulantur, ita foedera cum iis inierunt ; eiusmodi autem pacta periculum idololatriae facile inducebant,- regnum iudaicum modo indebito cum regnis gentium coniungebant et theocratiam, in qua Dominus solus rex ac protector esse debebat, summopere dedecebant. Quare saepe a Deo reprehenduntur tamquam apostasiae genus a vera theocratia. Ita hic quoque : cum filiis alienorum foedera pepigerunt (hebr. cf. Ges. Rohl. Naeg.), vel generatim societatem et familiarem inierunt consuetudinem cum extraneis. Id commode quoque referes ad commercia cum iis inita, quorum opportunitas v. g. aderat in Aila ; talia vero Domino valde displicere, collige ex iis quae dicta sunt ad Iosaphat regem postquam amicitiis initis cum Ochozia classem fecerat in Asiongaber : « quia habuisti foedus cum Ochozia, percussit. Dominus opera tua contritaeque sunt naves nec potuerunt ire in Tharsis » (2 Par. 90, 36. 31). Neque enim fudaeos voluit Deus spem et securitatem suam reponere in armis etin apparatu bellico et in foederibus cum aliis, verum in sola pietate et fideli mandatorum Dei observatione; quae si adesset, ipse Dominus ut theocratiae rex se populi sui fore defensorem et vindicem sollemniter spopondit simul edicens pacta cum exteris iis fore perniciel (cf. Lev. 26, 6-9. 14 seq. Deut. '1, 11; 20, 1; 28, 1. 10, 25). Quid proprie significet US dubium est. Iam veleres vocem aliis in locis aliter ex- runt. Pro quo scriplum est in hebr. jesphicu, quod Hebraei interpretantur &97687- 9a» ei nos vertimus adhaeserunt, ut vitiorum in gente iudàea turpitudo monstretur » (S. Hier.), et in eundcm sensum etiam Symmachi versionem accipit S. Hier. At de pathicis non videtur esse sermo. Syrus sequitur versionom LXX ; Chald. habet : et in legibus populorum ambulant. Verbum rz idem forle est cum p EO manus complodere cf. Iob 27, 23, id quod versione quoque Symmachi comprobatur. Unde alii exponunt : filiis exterorum plaudunt i. e, illorum studiis, superstitionibus, vitiis sese obleetant (cf. Clarius, Montanus, Ros.), alii : in filiis nothis (spuriis) sibi satisfaciunt, sibi placent (For.). Scd commodior est significatio manus complodere cum aliquo i. e. foedus inire, consuetudinum habere familiarem, quam recentiores sequuntur (ef. Ges. Diest. Del. Naeg. Rohl.). Si verbum rp 1 Reg. 20, 10 sufficere respexeris, poteris eliam cum Drechsl. explicare formam Aiphil : sibi sufficiunt, seu contenti sunt cum filiis alienorum vel cum illis conversari volunt. Alii, uü Bauer, Ewald, verbo tribuunt nolionem abundare ; sed id arbitrarium esse videtur. Illa quamdedimus explicatio optime ad seriem et nexum cogitationum convenit el facile ad verbi notionem accommodatur. Quam alienam a theocratia mentem gerant, in eo quoque luculentissime apparet quod more gentilium immodicum fastum et luxum fovent, bellicum apparatum in immensum augent, omnia idolis replent
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v. 7 « repleta est terra argento et auro et non est. finis thesaurorum eius,
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v. 8 et repleta est terra eius equis et innumerabiles quadrigae eius, et repleta est. terra idolis, opus manum suarum. adoraverunt quod. fecerunt digiti eorum »; —fter repetitur. repleta est terra, bis in hebr. non est finis (modus) thesauris eius, non est finis quadrigis eius; qua aequalitate enumeratio multum habet ponderis et indignationis. Terra hisce repleta diversam et prorsus contrariam prae se fert speciem ab ea quam Deus voluit theocratiam instituens ; lex enim regis ita habet : « non multiplicabit sibi equos. . non habebit uxores plurimas neque argenti et auri immensa pondera » (Deut. 11, 16. 17). Commerciorum negotiis cum finitimis gentibus initis —- possedit enim Azarias et loatham Ailam — divitiae affluebant ; cum divitiis autem adest, ut S. Cyr. monet, insolentia, fa- Stus, iniustitia, et ad proventus nefariarum et exsecratissimarum voluptatum magna proclivitas. loatham rex rei bellicae peritus et amans apparatum bellicumauxit ; « urbesaedificavit in montibus Iudaetin saltibus. castella et turres « et feliciter bella gessit (2 Par. 27, 4. 5). Sed in copia munimentorum et armorum ponere fiduciam ideoque talia ultra modum augere, alienum esse debuit a theocratia, cuius lex haec est: « hi in curribus et hi in equis, nos autem in nomine Domini Dei nostri invocabimus » (Ps. 19, 8; cf. Ps. 32, 17) ; eodem enim modo quo terram a Deo sibi datam occuparunt illam retinere et defendere debebant : « nee enim in gladio suo possederunt terram et brachium eorum non salvabit eos; sed dextera tua et brachium tuum et illuminatio vultus tui, quoniam complacuisti in eis ; tu es ipse rex meus,.. in te inimicos nostros ventilabimus cornu et in nomine tuo spernemus insurgentes in nobis » (Ps. 43, 4-1; cf. Ps. 146, 10 et iam Deut. 1,11;9, 3 seq. 11, 22 eic.). Ultimo demum « ostendit eos ad eam impietatis mensuram ; processisse, ut ad omnium malorum quasi culmen pertigerint et ultimam moliti meditatique fuerint defectionem a. Deo » (S. Cyr.). Quae praecedunt, quasi viam sternunt et applanant idololatriae. Eius stultitiam incredibilem et maximam perversitatem declarat propheta dicens ab eis coli et adorari opus manwwm, id quod digiti eorum fecerunt (cf. 44, 11 seq.). En fastigium iniquitatis : ii qui ceteroquin adeo tument fastu et superbia et rerum. divinarum contemptu implentur, coram idolis quam: maxima devotione et subiectione sese prosternunt et, non dico inflationem et pompam, sed omnem dignitatis suae sensum abiiciunt
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v. 9 « ef incurvavit se homo et humiliatus est vir »! — homo ad Dei imaginem creatus (S. Thom.), rationale animal (S. Hier.), « in terra praestantissimus, secundum angelos in rationalibus collocatus, Dei imagine cohonestatus, qui rationis artes excogitavit, qui terrena novit, mare nequaquam extimuit, qui aeris cognovit naturam, ventorum originem, stella- '' rum situm, motus, intervalla, concursus, terrae ornatum et ordinem, civitates, leges, exercituum praefecturas, artes... ille ipse ante idolum procidit tamquam ab eo salutem rogaturus, adeo ut animatus ab inanimato et ratione praeditus a sensus experti petat. Is cuius manu subduntur animalia... ille ipse cum timore et vultu in terram demisso coram adest. Mali accessio est virum qui ad principatum aptior est, qui perfectior est intelligentia, qui fortius validiusque agit, hune eundem dignitatis suae oblitum idolo sese submisisse » (S. Basil.): Adde legis divinae institutionem, prophetarum monitiones, frequentes illos et mirabiles inter- . ventus divinos in rebus gestis Iudaeorum conspicuos, flagella quoque divinitusat frustra immissa multaque alia, et intelliges cur propheta tanta rei indignitate commotus exclamet : « neergo dimittas eis »! — «ne ergo.. epiphonema est, patheticum quo propheta exardescens zelo gloriae Dei iudicium ipsius severissimum in idololatras imprecatur » (Malv.). De idolorum frequentia cf. Os. 8, 11. Ier. 2, 18; 11, 13; et quod de Ioatham regno dicitur 2 Par. 27, 2 « et adhuc populus delinquebat » et de Achaz tempore 2 Par. 98, 2 seq. 4 Reg. 16, 3. 4. Ostendit enim, ut advertit Sanct., latissime patere hanc labem, quando non vulgo tantum Iudaei qui hominis nomine significantur, sed etiam principes qui in viro intelliguntur, corruisse proni ante muta simulacra dicuntur (sim. For. Pint. Lap. Men. Tir.). « Immane facinus, dirum scelus ! excellens viri praestantia mutas imagines deprecetur? et qui summi Dei opem im., plorare neglexit, signis supplex sit? Vindica, Domine, tantum scelus, exerce summa cum severitate iudicium » (Osor.)! Eodem modo etiam textus hebr. intelligendüs est; verti enim debet : incurvatus est homo ... et ne dimiltas (ignoscas) illis; prius scil. membrum eodem temporis ordine ponitur et in eadem serie qua antecedentia. Ita rite intellexerunt LXX, Syrus, S. Hier. ; at multi recentiorum (iam apud Vat. Malv.) explicant v. 9 de tempore futuro, uti iam Chald., et de iudicio imminente et incurvetur vel ineurvabitur (cf. Drechsl. Diest. Del. Rohl.). At immerito. Nam num eodem prorsus modo intelligi debet quo Nom ; est enim ibi vav quod conversivum vocant eadem ratione qua in membris antecedentibus, ergo eadem quoque : ratione accipi debet. Praeterea imprecatio prophetae aptius adiungitur ad facinus eorum, euius enormitate provocatur, quam ad futuri iudicii annuntiationem propheticam. Cur huic annuntiationi imprecationem addat vates, non satis cernitur ; facillime autem fluit, cur eo modo scelus immane detestetur. — Aliter rem Naeg. concipit; vertit quidem et incurvatus est idque bene; at id explicat de castigationibus iam immissis. Sed de iis hoc loco vix sermo esse potest, cum v. T. 8 prospera populi conditio describatur et a v. 10 et seq. demum deiectio ac humiliatio futura graviter denuntietur. Quare in explicatione proposita, quam interpretes latini tuentur et etiam Schegg, Allioli, Loch, Troch. approbant, omnino standum est.
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v. 10 « /ngredere in petram et abscondere in. fossa humo a. facie timoris Domini et a gloria maiestatis eius » ! — una sententia quem exitum habiturum sit iudicium, annuntiat et non sine emphasi eam ab initio pronuntiat. Tantus est terror iudicis Dei suos ministros vindictae ablegantis, ut in speluncas et cavernas aufugiant, im pulvere (hebr.) se abscondant!Huccine tandem omnes thesauri, instrumenta bellica et munimenta reciderunt? Nihil reliquum est nisi fuga turpissima, nisi terror summus, quo uti maiores saepius fecerant hostium impetu superati (Iud. 6, 9. 1 Reg. 13, 6 ; 44, 11) in petrarum scissuras et in terrae cavernas se proripiant. Tali modo se illis maunifestabit terror Domini et gloria maiestatis eius; quem enim propitium ac beneficum agnoscere noluerunt, hunc maiestate terrificum venerentur et confiteantur oportet. Qualis autem futurus sit iudicii exitus, summatim declaratur v. 41 « oculi sublimes hominis humiliati sunt et incurvabitur altitudo virorum, exaltabitur autem Dominus solus in die illa »; — superbia humana Deo inimica concidit; solus Deus gloriose regnat; Deus enim gloriam suam alteri dare nequit et cum summa necessitate exigere debeat, ut ipsius gloria ab omnibus agnoscatur, omnia illa quae huic gloriae se opponunt funditus evertere debet. Quare apud Ieremiam quoque postquam universae res tudaicae conciderunt, tamquam ruinarum epitaphium et documentum quid doctrinae ex eis sit colligendum legimus : « non glorietur sapiens in sapientia sua et non glorietur fortis in fortitudine sua et non glorietur dives in divitiis suis, sed in hoc glorietur qui gloriatur, Scire et nosse me » (ler. 9, 23. 94). In hebr. oculi altitudinis i. e. superbiae, fastus (cf. 10, 12. Ps. 47, 28) hominis humiliantur. Humana potentia prostrata omnes fateri debebunt : Domine, tu solus sanctus, tu solus Dominus, tu solus altissimus ! Deus enim finem operum omnium externum, gloriam suam, consequitur semper neque ea unquam frustrari potest. Si homines sua sponte eam rependunt et fini Dei necessario cooperantur, sibi ipsi beatitatem et gloriam acquirunt; si renuunt, sua miseria et ruina gloriam Dei inviti praedicabunt. Iam quis est dies ille exaltationis gloriae Dei v. 11 ? Respondet vates per subsequentia ; hic enim, ut S. Thom. ait, ponitur modus exsecutionis praedictorum ; unde
Scelerum enormitati vates divinam vindictam imprecatus est v. 9. Iam immediate irruens cernit iudicium divinum, cernit hostiles exercitus a Deo vindice missos impetu maximo irrumpere et omnem fastum ae pompam deiicere, vastare, conculcare. Quare « non quasi instantibus sed potius velut praesentibus malis et iam intra portas et in ipsa regione versantibus abscondi iubet eosque qui adhuc viverent tantum non abdi in terram a timore Domini et a gloria fortitudinis eius » (S. Cyr.). Tutos enim et falsa securitate quietos vocibus terrore plenis et extremam calamitatem minitantibus exagitat
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v. 12 « quia dies Domini exercituum super omnem superbum et excelsum et super omnem arrogantem, et humiliabitur » ; — etiam magis iu universum ideoque nervosius quoque fert textus hebr. super omne superbum et elatum et excelsum et humiliatur. Vocatur dies Domini dies quo Dominus iudicio aliquo et suae potentiae manifestatione triumphum agere constituit (cf. Ioel 2, 31. Soph. 4, 7. 14); « belli ipsum tempus et irae expletionem in illos diem appellat Domini » (S. Cyr.). Dei maiestas exhibetur Jahve exercituum, cui vindici et iudici praesto sunt agmina cuncta coelestis militiae et terrestris cunctarumque creaturarum (cf. 1, 9). Quae v. 12 summatim proposita sunt, iam longiore enumeratione explicantur !, ut ad vivum demonstretur, quomodo cuncta quae aut pulchra et excelsa cernuntur in rerum natura aut magnifica habentur arte et industria in hominum operibus, uno impetu corruant, quia humanae superbiae pabulum sunt et nutrimenta ; illis vero fastus humani fuleris sublatis solus Deus tamquam magnus adorabitur. Parttum enumeratione primum arbores procerae et montes excelsi recensentur ex iis quae natura gignit magnifica et pulchra ; dein opera hominum grandia quae terra marique fiunt ; demum cunctis prostratis quasi epinicion recurrit v. 49 summam omnium in se comprehendens et triumphum gloriae "Dei annuntians :
2:13
v. 13 « et super omnes cedros Libani sublimes et. erec- (as el super omnes quercus Basan, v. Aet super omnes montes ezeelsoset super omnes. colles elevatos, v. 13et super omnem turrim. excelsam et super omnem murum munitum,
2:16
v. 16 et super omnes naves Tharsis et super omne quod. visu pulchrum est ; v. A1 et. incurvabitur sublimitas hominum et humiliabitur altitudo virorum et elevabitur Dominus solus in die illa » ; — sed cur et quomodo iudicium. devolvetur in àrbores et montes? Veterum quidem plerique metaphorice verba ea accipientes de hominibus superbis vel de principibus fastu elatis etc. explicant (cf. S. Hier. Cyr. Basil. Chrys; Procop. Barh. Pint. Mald. Sanct. Sa, Mar. For. Lap. Calm.) vel de idolis (S. Ephr-) et etiam recentiorum aliqui non renuunt (Loch, Troch.) vel de aedificiis ex cedris constructis interpretantur (Euseb. dem. ev. 8, 4. S. Thom. Lyranus, Kn.); at non opus est ab obvio sensu. verborum recedere, et si antecedentia et sequentia attenderis, nullo modo licebit. Nam de hominum humiliatione iam erat sermo v. 11 et recurret v. 17; ergo si etiam cedri etc. homines dicunt, molestam habes tautologiam. Turres certe et moenia proprie intelligi debent, eum aperte allusio fiat ad varia aedificia et munimenta ab Azaria et loatham erecta (cf. 2 Par. 26,9; 27, 3. 4), etiam naves Tharsis proprie accipiendae sunt, cur ergo non ea quoque quae antecedunt? Bene monet iam T/eod. : « cum irruentes hostes advenerint, non solum viros occident sed et terram populantur et arbores exscindunt et machinas moenibus admovent et occupato mari commercia prohibent ». Cum populo afflicto et punito etiam campi et agri deva- Stantur (cf. 14, 1. 8) et generatim iudicio Dei cum homine reo etiam creatura punitur; ita iam post peccatum primum auditur : maledicta sit terra ih opere tuo ; et quot exsistunt regiones olim amoenae et fertiles quae hominibus punitis et deletis vastitatis lam et solitudinis horrorem induerunt? Cogita regionem pentapolis, cogita Niniven et Babylonem, cogita ipsam Palaestinam etc. Quare in intimo illo nexu. quem Deus statuit inter hominem et naturam funiatum est, ut in tot vatieiniis cum homine simul terra affligenda dicatur (cf. 13, 91; 24, 1; 33, 9 etoc.). Valet enim quod apud Amos legimus : « Dominus de Sion rugiet.. et luxerunt speciosa deserti et exsiccatus est vertex Carmeli » (Am. 1, 2). Inde facile quoque colligitur, cur in vaticiniis messianicis shnul cum hominis salute, beatitate, gloria etiam celebretur naturae novus splendor, amoenitas summa, maxima fertilitas; de qua re infra latius erit tractandum. Interea sufficiat ad illum nexum inter hominem et rerum naturam comprobandum in mentem revocare, quae S. Paulüs docet de servitute corruptionis cui éreatura non volens est subiecta et de exspectatione qua revelationem filiorum Dei et suam liberationem exspectat (Rom. 8, 19-22). — De Tharsis vide quae notavi ad Ion. 4, 3. Ceterum navis Tharsis etiam generali quodam modo dici potest de navi grandi quae alto mari ! apta sit, etiamsi non unice ad navigationem Tartessum versus adhibetur (cf. For. Sanct. Ges. Troch. Del. Rohl.). At cum Iudaei sub Azaria et Ioatham portum aelaniticum possiderent, fieri potuit quod aliqui censent, ut Iudaeorum quoque naves cum Phoenicibus per mare rubrum euntes et. Africam cireumnavigantes in Tartessum tenderent. His aliisque commerciis inter alia etiam in Iudaeam invehebatur omne quod visu pulchrum est i. e. res luxui inservientes, supellex pretiosa, varia et artificiis exquisitis affabre facta, quae admirationem hominum et cupiditatem ciebant et fastum pompamque fovebant. Vocem ni*2t? optime quoad sensum expressit S. Hier. et recentiores quoque simi- liter explicant (cf. Del. Naeg. Rohl.); est enim n3 ex cognatis dialectis aspicere, spectare; unde rite iam LXX h. 1. 0a» efferunt; significat ergo phrasis res illas quae. cum voluptate et desiderio suspiciuntur et appetuntur vel quae ad oculos voluptate quadam et admiratione pascendos aptae sunt; neque ab his longe absunt For. Malv. Caiet. Yat. Mar. etc. ; quamvis enim aliqui vertant picturas desiderii, tamen explicant res desideratas ad ornatum, « et appellantur picturae, eo quod tamquam si essent pictae miris artium operibus apparent » (Caiet.). For. interpretatur ingeniose » facia, quae Graeci vopsópa:x vocant, referens vocem ad notionem sapientiae (cf. Iob 38, 36) vel ad ry'2172; cf. Lev. 26, 1. Num. 33, 52. Prov. 18, 11; 25, 11. Ez. 8, 12. Alii explicant signa navis vel vexilla i. e. res in navibus excelsas et conspicuas : vexilla velaque quae apud Phoenices et Aegyptios purpurea et pulcherrimis coloribus singulari luxu exornata esse solebant (Ges. Thes. p. 1329); alii species vel figuras (Fürst. C.), simulacra deorum (Doederlein), speculas vel aedificia in hortis (ut sit idem ac nop vox; cf. Durtorf, Lex. Chald. p. 1472; ita interpretantur Ewald, Cheyne) ; similiter vocem iam intellexit Chald., qui castella vel palatia intePpretatur (cf. Levy, Chald. Woerterb. I p. 95) et Syrus qui speculas vertit vel aspectus? cf. Bernstein, Lex. syr. chrestom. Kirsch. p. 104. Denique gloria Domini manifestatur in idolorum destructione
2:18
v. 18 « et idola penitus conterentur » ; — uti supra in enumeratione rerum theocratiae adversariarum (v. 8) culmen et fastigium iniquitatis exprimebant, ita nunc quoque ultimo loco iudicio prosternuntur et cum iis fatui eorum cultores
2:19
v. 19 « et introibunt in speluncas petrarum et in voragines lerrae a facie formidinis Domini et a gloria maiestatis eius, cum surrexerit percutere terram » ; — vel cum paronomasia in hebr. quasi dicas : ut conterat terram (Malv. Vat.) vel terreat terram (Del.). Maiestas iudicis tanto eos terrore percutiet, ut dicant montibus : operite nos, et collibus: cadite super nos (cf. ad Os. 10, 8). Ita vero confusione condigna obruti et Domini terrore quem adeo et tamdiu neglexerant perculsi idola sua ipsi maximo contemptu abiicient ; ceteris omnibus spoliati tantum virium et roboris retinuerunt, ut. idola summa ignominia dissipent:
2:20
v. 20 « in die illa. proiiciet homo idola argenti sut et simulacra auri sui quae fecerat sibi ut adoraret, talpas et vespertiliones,
2:21
v. 91 et ingredietur. scissuras petrarum et in cavernas saxorum a facie formidinis Domini et a gloria maiestatis eius, cum surreaerit percutere terram » ; — a1 id adigentur, ut quae sibi fecerant idola ea ipsi evertant magno suo pudore se ipsos maximae fatuitatis reos profitentes et quam inanis sit fiducia idolorum suo damno omnibus declarantes. Iterata eiusdem versus repetitione altius infigere studet omnium animis documentum iudicii divini ; iam habes, quomodo ex 4, 99 confundantur ab idolis. Stultitia cultus in idolis argenti sui, auri suidepingitur ; homo enim artessuas opesque confert, ut idola exsistant. Vocat ea vates lalpas et vespertiliones, ergo ea perstringit simulacra, quibus sub animalium formis dii exhibebantur, qui cultus homine ratione praedito quam maxime est indignus. Notum est in cultibus Aegyptiorum et etiam Phoenicum saepe sub animalium formis ae symbolis numina esse expressa; hanc rem perstringit Ezechiel : « et ingressus vidi et ecce omnis similitudo reptilium et animalium, abominatio, et universa idola domus Israel depicta erant in pariete in circuitu per totum » (Ez. 8, 10 — vide de cultu. animalium Movers, Die Phoenizier p. 313. 503. 593). Cum Ezechiel adeo in universum loquatur, nil refert etiamsi de talpis et vespertilionibus cultum speciali modo testimoniis veterum comprobare non possimus. At de talpis quidem iuvat referre quae Plinius habet (30, 3) referente Malv.: « peculiare vanitatis fit argumentum quod animalium cunctorum talpas maxime mirantur... nullis aeque credunt extis, nullum religionis capacius iudicant animal, ut si quis cor eius recens palpitansque devorarit, divinationes et rerum efficiendarum eventus promittant ». Ceterum iuvat. meminisse Beelzebub, dominum muscarum, deum Accaron etiam ab Israelitis fuisse consultum (4 Reg. 1, 2) et etiam Is. 66, 47 murem commemorari tamquam animal sacrum. Quare sententia in textu vulg. proposita iure sustineri potest, uti multi eam sustinent. De cultu enim animalium verba intelligunt S. Ephr. Theod. Barh. For. Sanct. Pint. Mald. Mar. Lap. Men. Calm. Schegg et ita iam acceperunt textum hebr. LXX, Syrus et. certe etiam - Chald. qui nominatim animalia quidem non effert, at eorum loco habet : ut adoraret idola et simulacra. Alii tamen aliter verba concipiunt. Iam S. Hier. ea per modum comparatio nis dici existimat ; « istiusmodi animantibus idola comparata sunt quae caeca ctenebrosa coluntur a caecis ». Similiter S. Chrys. : « idola vespertiliones voca-. vit sive ob imbecillitatem sive ob erroris tenebras et quia omnia a daemonibus clam geruntur » ; sim. S. Basil. ; aliter S. Cyr. : « fortasse vespertilionibus solis templa aedificarunt ». -— Iam Caiet. Vat. et recentiores plerique aliter verba coniungunt et vertunt : ef proiiciant idola... talpis et vespertilionibus i. e. fugam quo facilius arripiant, idola abiiciunt in foramina, ea abscondunt iis in locis, ubi talpae et vespertiliones commorantur (cf. Diest. Drechsl. Del. Naeg. Bred. Rohl.). At textus hebr. omnino concipi potest, uti LXX, Syrus, S. Hier. Chald. eum intellexerunt ; coniungitur enim n'nngn eum 5; cf. Gen. 93, 7; immo melius ac rectius ità concipitur propter verborum collocationem ; si enim verba retuleris ad proiiciet, longo intervallo et multis interpositis demum sensus aegre absolvitur. Neque sensus ex ea explicatione ortus valde placet. Nam cur finguntur celeri fuga sese iam proripere cupientes sedulo abscondere in foraminibus vesperlilionum idola sua? Respondet Del., ut ea obtutibus iudicis quasi subtrahant. Sed talis cura et sedulitas est putida et ridicula. Melius sane diceretur cum S. Cyr., ut parcerent materiae, ut aurum et argentum sibi conservarent, eos abscondere illa ab hostibus. Sed cum iudicium tanto impetu ingruens describatur et idola penitus iri consumptum (v. 18) annuntiatum sit, non videtur probabilis expositio. Adde quod etiam alias ad idolorum opprobrium pertinet, asportari ab hostibus (cf. Is. 40, 1. 2. Am. 4, 15. Ier. 48, 7). At ad animorum commotionem, iram, terrorem quam maxime accommodatum est in fuga adeo praecipite, ut idola quibus adeo misere decepti sint quam citissime a se proiiciant. Descripserat vates quomodo quaecumque ab hominibus excelsa putaniura divino iudice prosternenda essent. Et cum populus in talibus spem suam ponat et fiduciam (v. 6 seq.), quid aptius lam vates monere potest quam ut a spe adeo vana et fragili ! recedant? Deus enim omnia adminicula illis adimet et ea quae propria se possidere putant (v. 15) et quae forte a foedere cum Phoenicibus aliisque (cf. v. 16; S. Cyr.) sibi promittunt. Quare post omnium rerum humanarum ruinam per singula descriptam graviter eos admonet
2:22
v. 22 « quiescite ergo: ab homine, cuius spiritus in naribus eius est, quia excelsus reputatus est ille »!. — ultimam versus partem lege vel per ironiam vel per interrogationem; sensus enim est : en ex. iudicio divino quam imbecillus et vilis sit homo; desinite ergo in homine spem ponere, cuius vita tota 1. Unde minime opus.est sententiam hanc cum Diest. Dred. tamquam glossema eiicere. , dependet a spiritu in naribus, qui spiritu intercluso facillime et citissime exstinguitur; en qualis potentia! Hebr. verte : desistite ab. homine... quid enim reputatus est ipse? cf. Pagninus, Mald. Caiet. Mar. Calm. Rohl. Troch. Bene ad rem Theod.. : « hortatur nos sermo propheticus, ut ipsam quoque hominum naturam cognoscamus in eorumque tutela non confidamus. Vitam enim habent, inquit, in naribus et has si obstruxeris, vitam illis eripies; quibus affinia sunt quae a Davide dicuntur : nolite. confidere in principibus neque in filiis hominum » etc. (Ps. 145, 2-4); sim. S. Ephr. Basil. Chrys. Vat. Sa, Mald. Mar. Est. Caiet. Calm. Troch. Loch. De spiritu in. naribus vide Gen. 2, 7. Iob 7, 1; 21, 3. Notat S. Ilier. : - ubi nos diximus excelsus reputatus est iste, Aquila inüterpretaius est in quo reputatus est iste; verbum hebr. bama (22) vel 9topux dicitur i. e. excelsum... vel certe iz quo et eisdem literis scribitur beth, mem, he ac pro locorum qualitate si voluerimus legere in quo, dicimus bamma, sin autem excelsum vel ercelsus, legimus bama. Intelligentes ergo Iudaei prophetiam esse de Christo verbum ambiguum in deteriorem partem interpretati sunt, u& viderentur non laudare Christum sed nihili pendere ». Unde S. Doctor locum esse messianicum putavit eumque sequuntur Haim. Herv. S. Thom. Osor. Pint. Sanct. Lap. Men. Tir. Houbig. — At contextus et verba talem interpretationem non admittunt. Quam in rem bene adverlit Est. : « alii fere omnes tam vetusti quam recenliores inlerpreles illam posteriorem sententiae partem vertunt per interrogationem : in quo enim reputatus est ipse? et sensum reddunt : desinite timere hominem mortalem cui vita consislit in spiratione, qua cessante exstingui eum necesse est; nam quanti talis aestimandus est? quasi dicat nihili ». Ita nexum adesse optimum liquet. — Versum hunc a LXX praetermissum et in graecis exemplaribus ab Origene sub asteriscis de editione Aquilae additum esse S. Hier. monet. Et revera eum non explieant S. Cyr. Euseb. Procop.; eum legunt S. Chrys. Theod. et S. Basil. adnotat in exemplaribus editionis xo:v/: non apponi, at in hebr. poni et ex reliquis interpretibus esse hue translatum. Etiam in cod. syr. hexapl. versus adest sub asteriscis tamen et nota adiecta esse haec sub astcrisco signata posita in hebr. et apud reliquos, non vero apad LXX ; cf. Middeldorpf, cod. syr. hexapl. p. 70. Abest versus in cod. vatic. ; legitur autem in alex. aliisque.
2:1
… like a servant, or a soldier, who has done his duty) because my eyes have seen your salvation (or: your Savior), which you have established for the benefit of all peoples." The universality of messianic salvation had already been foretold by Isaiah (Is. 2:1 ff.), to be brought about especially through the illuminating work of the servant of Yahweh (ibid. 42:6; 49:6). Simeon, taking up this image, praises God who gave us the Savior as "a light …
… suffice: in the Old Testament: the call and the promises made to Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:1-21; 17:1-22), the revelation of the burning bush and of Sinai (Ex. 3:1-17; 19:1 ff.; 24:1), the call and the teaching of the prophets (1 Kings 3:1-21; Is. 1:2; 2:1; Jer. 1:4-19). In the New Testament the existence of a divine revelation is clearly taught by Jesus Christ himself: "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father …
2:2
… All the messianic prophecies bear this imprint (see, for example, Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; Ps. 2:8; 21:26-29; Is. 2:2; 60:4 ff.; Jer. 3:17; Dan. 2:44; Mal. 1:15). In the New Testament the texts that affirm the universalist character of the Church, the kingdom of God on earth, are innumerable. …
… In a messianic context (Isa. 2:2; Matt. 4:1 etc.; cf. Ezek. 38:6, 16; Dan. 10:14: in novissimis diebus or in novissimo dierum) it indicates the end of the era or of the times of the Old Testament (etymological sense …
… benevolence toward ethnics (Ex. 22:21; 23:9; Lev. 19:33 ff.; Deut. 10:18 ff., etc.; cf. H. Lesêtre, Etranger, in DB, II, col. 204); they could embrace the Jewish religion (v. proselutti); and the prophets announce their aggregation to the messianic kingdom: Is. 2:2; 42:6; 49:6; 60:3; Zach. 2:15; 8:23; Mal. 1:11, etc. In the persecutions suffered upon the return from exile (Neh. 5:8; 9:2; 13:1-3) and particularly by the Seleucids (I-II Maccabees) …
I. DOCUMENTS OF REVELATION. - The holiness of the Church, foretold already by the Old Testament (Ps. 71:7; Is. 2:2; Jer. 31:31 ff.; Ez. 11:27-20), is reaffirmed in the New.
His kingdom will be universal, definitive and spiritual: Is. 11, 10; 42, 1-7; 49, 5 ff.; 61, 1 ff.; Jer. 31, 31-34 (= Hebr. 8, 8-12); Dan. 7, 14-27; 9, 24; its center of diffusion will be Zion (Hos. 2, 19-24; Is. 2, 2 ff.; Mic. 4, 2 ff.; Jer. 31, 33; Ez. 16, 60 ff.; 17, 23; etc.); it will be a source of blessings for all the nations (Ez. 34, 26 = Gen. 12, 2). Characteristics of the kingdom of the M.: …
In the second part the perspective is grand and splendid: from Jerusalem the covenant extends to all the nations (ibid. 4:1-5 = Isa. 2:2-4); it is the triumph of Yahweh, brought about against the coalition of the peoples (Mic. 4:6-14 [Vulg. 4:6-5:1]), through the work of the Messiah, of Davidic stock, who will be born …
… He published: Exegesis critica in Is. 52,13-53,18 (Münster 1836); Exegesis critica in Is. 2,2-4 (ibid. 1838); Beiträge zur Erklärung des Alten Testamentes (47 monographs on the more difficult and disputed biblical passages: vols. …
… people, saved from the Egyptian captivity and led, through the desert, into the promised land; the Church is spoken of when Isaiah announces that "in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established on the top of the mountains" (Isa. 2:2). In the Song of Songs the bride is spoken of as a figure of the Church: "One is my dove, my perfect one, she is the only one of her mother, the chosen of her that bore her" (Cant. …
2:3
After Titus destroyed the city, the Christians, having returned from Pella, settled on the southern corner of the western hill, around the Cenacle (v.), to which contemporary apologists applied the oracle of Isaiah "that from S. shall go forth the law" (Is. 2:3). The passage from the symbolic to the concrete meaning was easy; in the 4th century, once the great basilica of the Cenacle was built, it was called "Holy S.," and through a topo-
… books: the t. is given by God to his faithful one (Job 22, 22; Ps. 78, 1 Heb.), by the sages (Prov. 3, 1; 4, 2; 6, 23; 7, 2; 13, 14), by the mother (ibid. 1, 8; 6, 20; 31, 26); Yahweh (or his representative) will give it in the messianic kingdom (Is. 2, 3 = Mic. 4, 2; Jer. 31, 33; Is. 42, 4; 51, 4). In this second semantic stage, the t. ("instruction," "teaching") has as its purpose and effect dâ'ath "knowledge." The t. dispensed …
… to their homeland, to share in the extraordinary glory of the new community, which "will embrace many nations" and will have the Lord at its center (2:5-17: Vulg. 2:1-13). The emphasis on the countless multitude, on the conversion of the nations (cf. Is. 2:3 f.; Mc. 4:2) recalls the kingdom of the Messiah, the ultimate and definitive end of the risen Israel, guided by the priesthood and by the Davidic prince. …
2:5
The name J. (in the manuscripts of 'Ajn Feshah discovered in 1947, in which the "plena" spelling Ja'āqābh is constant) indicates, especially in the prophetic and poetic literature, the entire people (Gen. 49, 7), in parallelism with "Israel" (cf. Num. 23, 10, 21; 24, 5; Is. 2, 5; 40, 27; Jer. 2, 4, etc.). …
2:6
The prophetic writings abound in reproaches against recourse to magic (cf. Hos. 4:12; Is. 2:6; 3:2 f.; 57:3; Jer. 27:9; Mal. 3:5), and this aversion persists in the writings of the New Testament (Acts 8:9; 13:6, 10; 19:19). This shows how deeply rooted in the people was the …
2:7
Ozias (Azarias; Heb. 'Uzzijjah)
… merit the praise of the chronicler: "he loved the soil" (ibid. 26:10). In this way, thanks also to the reactivated trade with the Red Sea through the reconquest of the port of Elath, the kingdom of Judah reached a high degree of prosperity to which Is. 2:7 ff. seems to allude.
2:12
… The p. is the renewing theophany that fills "the day" of the Lord, which is "the day of Yahweh" of the Prophets (Is. 2:12; 13:6, 10; etc.). …
2:13
… its fertility, like Galaad and Sharon (Is. 33, 9; Jer. 50, 19; Mic. 7, 14; v. Ps. 67, 16 f.; Nah. 1, 4), famous for its pastures populated with bulls (a symbol of ferocity and pride; Ps. 21, 13; Ez. 39, 18), once covered with forests of admired oaks (Is. 2, 13; Zech. 11, 2) and exported (Ez. 27, 6), now rich in cereals, especially in the plain of Hawrân. …
poetic texts (cf. Iudc. 9, 15; Is. 2, 13; 60, 13; Jer. 22, 23; Ez. 17, 3; 27, 5; 31, 3; Zach. 11, 1; Ps. 28, 5; 91, 13, etc.) and in the historical ones (cf. I Reg. 5, 6, 9, 11, 13, etc.) already the Egyptians exploited …
2:16
… wealthy colony of Tyre (Is. 23; Ez. 27, 12), famous for its commerce (ibid. 38, 13); silver was extracted there (Ier. 10, 9). Often in the Old Testament there is mention of "ships of T.", large ships used for long voyages (I Reg. 10, 22; 22, 49; Is. 2, 16; Ez. 27, 25; Ps. 48, 8). In the table of nations, T. appears among the sons of Javan (Gen. 10, 4; I Par. 1, 7): "Ionians" of Greece and Asia Minor. …
2:22
… earth) or bāšār (flesh); to designate the superior element there are several names, particularly rūah (generally translated "spirit") and néphēš (generally translated "soul"); less frequent are nēšāmāh (breath, respiration: Gen. 2, 7; I Kings 17, 17; Is. 2, 22) and lēbh or lēbhābh ("heart"; cf. Ps. 73 [72], 26). The different names express the same psychic reality considered under different points of view; they do not indicate in the first …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.