The people are blamed for their confidence in Egypt. God’s mercies towards his church. The punishment of sinners.
The Iewes are blamed for seeking counsel, and helpe of the Aegyptians. 18. but if they repent, they shal find releefe, and spiritual riches of the soule. 27. Gods iudgement wil be strict: 33. and hel is most horrible.
1Woe to you, apostate children, saith the Lord, that you would take counsel, and not of me: and would begin a web, and not by my spirit, that you might add sin upon sin:Guai a voi, figliuoli disertori, dice il Signore, che formate de' disegni, e non di mia approvazione; e ordite una tela, e non per mia ispirazione, per aggiunger peccato a peccato,VVOE vnto renegate children, sayth our Lord, that you would take counsel, and not of me: & would beginne a webbe, and not by my spirite, that you might adde sinne vpon sinne:Væ filii desertores, dicit Dominus, / ut faceretis consilium, et non ex me, / et ordiremini telam, et non per spiritum meum, / ut adderetis peccatum super peccatum; 2Who walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth, hoping for help in the strength of Pharao, and trusting in the shadow of Egypt.Che siete in via per andare in Egitto, e non avete domandato il mio parere, sperando aiuto dal valore di Faraone, e fidandovi dell'ombra dell'Egitto.which walke to goe downe into Aegypt, & haue not asked my mouth, hoping for helpe in the strength of Pharao, and hauing confidence in the shadow of Aegypt.qui ambulatis ut descendatis in Ægyptum, / et os meum non interrogastis, / sperantes auxilium in fortitudine Pharaonis, / et habentes fiduciam in umbra Ægypti ! 3And the strength of Pharao shall be to your confusion, and the confidence of the shadow of Egypt to your shame.E la fortezza di Faraone sarà a voi di vergogna, e la fidanza nell'ombra di Egitto sarà vostra ignominia.And the strength of Pharao shal be a confusion to you, and the confidence of the shadow of Aegypt an ignominie.Et erit vobis fortitudo Pharaonis in confusionem, / et fiducia umbræ Ægypti in ignominiam. 4For thy princes were in Tanis, and thy messengers came even to Hanes.Imperocché i tuoi principi son' iti a Tanis, e i tuoi messaggeri son giunti fino ad Hanes.For thy princes were in Tanis, and thy messengers came euen to Hanes.Erant enim in Tani principes tui, / et nuntii tui usque ad Hanes pervenerunt. 5They were all confounded at a people that could not profit them: they were no help, nor to any profit, but to confusion and to reproach.Tutti saranno confusi a causa di un popolo, che non potrà soccorrergli, e non e stato di aiuto, e di utile alcuno ma di confusione, ed obbrobrio.Al were confounded vpon the people, that could not profite them: they were no helpe, nor to any profite, but to confusion and to reproch.Omnes confusi sunt super populo qui eis prodesse non potuit: / non fuerunt in auxilium et in aliquam utilitatem, / sed in confusionem et in opprobrium. 6The burden of the beasts of the south. In a land of trouble and distress, from whence come the lioness, and the lion, the viper and the flying basilisk, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of beasts, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels to a people that shall not be able to profit them.Annunzio pesante contro le bestie del mezzodì. Vanno per la terra di tribolazione, e di affanno (donde la lionessa, e il lione, la vipera, e il serpente, che vola) portando le loro ricchezze sugli omeri de' giumenti, e i loro tesori sul dosso de' cammelli ad un popolo, che non potrà aiutarli.The burden of the beastes of the South. In a land of tribulation and distresse, the lionesse, and the lion of them, the viper & the flying basiliscus carying their riches vpon the shoulders of beasts, and their treasures vpon the bunch of camels to a people, that can not be able to profite them.Onus jumentorum austri. In terra tribulationis et angustiæ / leæna, et leo ex eis, / vipera et regulus volans; / portantes super humeros jumentorum divitias suas, / et super gibbum camelorum thesauros suos, / ad populum qui eis prodesse non poterit.
7For Egypt shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this: It is pride only, sit still.Imperocché inutilmente, e senza pro l'Egitto darà aiuto: quindi sopra di ciò io ad alta voce dissi: Non v'e se non superbia, non ti muovere.For Aegypt shal helpe in vaine, and to no purpose: therfore haue I cried vpon this: It is pride onlie, cease.Ægyptus enim frustra et vane auxiliabitur. / Ideo clamavi super hoc: Superbia tantum est, quiesce. 8Now therefore go in and write for them upon box, and note it diligently in a book, and it shall be in the latter days for a testimony for ever.Or adunque va, scrivi questo a lui sopra una tavoletta di bossolo, e registra ciò esattamente in un libro, e sarà pell'ultimo giorno una testimonianza in eterno;Now therfore going in write to her vpon boxe, and drawe it diligently in a booke, and it shal be in the latter day for a testimonie for euer.Nunc ergo ingressus, scribe ei super buxum, / et in libro diligenter exara illud, / et erit in die novissimo / in testimonium usque in æternum. 9For it is a people that provoketh to wrath, and lying children, children that will not hear the law of God.Perocché questo è un popolo, che mi provoca a sdegno, ed ei son figliuoli infedeli, figliuoli, che non vogliono ascoltar la legge di Dio.For it is a people prouoking to wrath, and lying children, children that wil not heare the law of God.Populus enim ad iracundiam provocans est: / et filii mendaces, / filii nolentes / audire legem Dei; 10Who say to the seers: See not: and to them that behold: Behold not for us those things that are right: speak unto us pleasant things, see errors for us.E dicono a que', che profetano: Non profetate; e a quei, che veggono: Non istate a veder per noi quello, che è ben fatto: parlateci di cose gradevoli, profetate cose false.Which say to the seers: See not: and to them that behold: Behold vs not those thinges that are right: Speake vnto vs pleasant thinges, see errours vnto vs.qui dicunt videntibus: Nolite videre, / et aspicientibus: Nolite aspicere nobis ea quæ recta sunt; / loquimini nobis placentia: / videte nobis errores. 11Take away from me the way, turn away the path from me, let the Holy One of Israel cease from before us.Toglieteci davanti questo modo di fare, allontanate da noi tal sistema; non ci si getti più in faccia il Santo d'Israele.Take from me the way, turne away the path from me, let the holie one of Israel cease from our face.Auferte a me viam; / declinate a me semitam; / cesset a facie nostra / Sanctus Israël. 12Therefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel: Because you have rejected this word, and have trusted in oppression and tumult, and have leaned upon it:Per questo il Santo d'Israele dice così: Dacché voi avete rigettata questa parola, e avete posta speranza nella calunnia, e nella violenza, e su queste cose vi siete fondati:Therfore thus sayth the holie one of Israel: For that you haue reiected this word, & haue hoped in calumnie and tumult, and haue leaned therevpon:Propterea hæc dicit Sanctus Israël: Pro eo quod reprobastis verbum hoc, / et sperastis in calumnia et in tumultu, / et innixi estis super eo;
13Therefore shall this iniquity be to you as a breach that falleth, and is found wanting in a high wall, for the destruction thereof shall come on a sudden, when it is not looked for.Quindi è, che sarà per voi questa iniquità come in un'alta muraglia una crepatura grande, che sta lì lì per cadere, da cui viene, quand'un meno vi pensa, subitanea mina.therfore shal this iniquitie be vnto you as a breach that falleth, and is found lacking in an high wal, because sodenly, whiles it is not hoped, shal come the destruction therof.propterea erit vobis iniquitas hæc / sicut interruptio cadens, / et requisita in muro excelso, / quoniam subito, dum non speratur, veniet contritio ejus. 14And it shall be broken small, as the potter’s vessel is broken all to pieces with mighty breaking, and there shall not a sherd be found of the pieces thereof, wherein a little fire may be carried from the hearth, or a little water be drawn out of the pit.E va tutta in frantumi, come frangesi un vaso di terra per una forte percossa, de' cui rottami non trovasi un coccio, col quale possa portarsi un carbone tolto da un focolare, od attignersi da un fosso un po' di acqua;And it shal be broken smal, as the potters vessel is broken with mightie breaking: & there shal not a shread be found of the fragments therof, wherein a litle fyre may be caried from the burning, or a litle water be drawen out of the pitte.Et comminuetur sicut conteritur lagena figuli / contritione pervalida, / et non invenietur de fragmentis ejus testa / in qua portetur igniculus de incendio, / aut hauriatur parum aquæ de fovea. 15For thus saith the Lord God the Holy One of Israel: If you return and be quiet, you shall be saved: in silence and in hope shall your strength be. And you would not:Imperocchè il Signore Dio, il Santo d'Israele dice: Se tornerete indietro, e non vi moverete, sarete salvi: la fortezza vostra sarà nel silenzio, e nella speranza. E non avete dato retta;Because thus sayth our Lord the God of Israel: If you returne and be quiet, you shal be saued: in silence and in hope shal your strength be. And you would not:Quia hæc dicit Dominus Deus, Sanctus Israël: / Si revertamini et quiescatis, salvi eritis; / in silentio et in spe erit fortitudo vestra. / Et noluistis, 16But have said: No, but we will flee to horses: therefore shall you flee. And we will mount upon swift ones: therefore shall they be swifter that shall pursue after you.Ed avete detto: Non sarà così; ma fuggiremo ai cavalli: per questo voi fuggirete. E noi monteremo de' barberi: per questo saran più veloci que', che vi correranno dietro.and you haue sayd: No, but we wil flee to horses: therfore shal you flee. And we wil mount vpon swift ones: therfore shal they be fwifter, that shal persecute you.et dixistis: Nequaquam, / sed ad equos fugiemus: / ideo fugietis; / et: Super veloces ascendemus: / ideo velociores erunt qui persequentur vos.
17A thousand men shall flee for fear of one: and for fear of five shall you flee, till you be left as the mast of ship on the top of a mountain, and as an ensign upon a hill.Fuggirete mille uomini pel terrore di un solo, e tutti pel terrore di cinque, fino a tanto che rimanghiate come un albero di nave rizzato sulla vetta di un monte, o come uno stendardo sopra di un colle.A thousand men at the face of the terrour of one: and at the face of the terrour of fiue shal you flee, til you be leaft as the mast of a shippe in the toppe of a mountaine, and as a signe vpon a litle hil.Mille homines a facie terroris unius; / et a facie terroris quinque fugietis, / donec relinquamini / quasi malus navis in vertice montis, / et quasi signum super collem. 18Therefore the Lord waiteth that he may have mercy on you: and therefore shall he be exalted sparing you: because the Lord is the God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.Per questo aspetta il Signore, affin di usarvi pietà: e nel perdonare a voi, sarà egli esaltato; perchè il Signore e Dio di equità. Beati tutti quelli, che lo aspettano;Therfore our Lord expecteth that he may haue mercie on you: and therfore shal he be exalted sparing you: because our Lord is the God of iudgment: blessed are al they that expect himPropterea exspectat Dominus ut misereatur vestri; / et ideo exaltabitur parcens vobis, / quia Deus judicii Dominus: / beati omnes qui exspectant eum ! 19For the people of Sion shall dwell in Jerusalem: weeping thou shalt not weep, he will surely have pity on thee: at the voice of thy cry, as soon as he shall hear, he will answer thee.Imperocché il popolo di Sionne avrà sua stanza in Gerusalemme: asciugherai le tue lagrime tu, che piangi, egli compassionandoti farà a te misericordia: tosto che udirà il suono delle tue grida, ti risponderà.For the people of Sion shal dwel in Ierusalem: weeping thou shalt not weepe, pitying he wil pitie thee: at the voice of thy crie as soone as he shal heare, he wil answer thee.Populus enim Sion habitabit in Jerusalem: / plorans nequaquam plorabis: / miserans miserebitur tui, ad vocem clamoris tui: / statim ut audierit, respondebit tibi. 20And the Lord will give you spare bread, and short water: and will not cause thy teacher to flee away from thee any more, and thy eyes shall see thy teacher.E darà a voi il Signore pane ristretto, e poca acqua: ma non farà, che se ne vada più lungi da te il tuo maestro, e gli occhi tuoi vedranno il tuo precettore.And our Lord wil geue you straite bread, and short water: and wil not make thy doctor to flee away from thee any more: and thine eies shal see thy master.Et dabit vobis Dominus / panem arctum, et aquam brevem; / et non faciet avolare a te ultra doctorem tuum; / et erunt oculi tui videntes præceptorem tuum.
21And thy ears shall hear the word of one admonishing thee behind thy back: This is the way, walk ye in it: and go not aside neither to the right hand, nor to the left.E le tue orecchie udiranno la parola di lui, che di dietro ti avvisa: La strada è questa, per questa camminate; e non piegate né a destra, né a sinistra.And thine eares shal heare the word of him, that behinde thy backe admonisheth thee: This is the way, walke in it: and decline ye not neither to the right hand, nor to the left.Et aures tuæ audient verbum post tergum monentis: / Hæc est via; ambulate in ea, / et non declinetis neque ad dexteram, neque ad sinistram. 22And thou shalt defile the plates of thy graven things of silver, and the garment of thy molten things of gold, and shalt cast them away as the uncleanness of a menstruous woman. Thou shalt say to it: Get thee hence.E profanerai le lamine d'argento de' tuoi idoli, e le vestimenta delle tue statue d'oro, e le getterai via come un panno di donna immonda. Tu lor dirai: Via di qua.And thou shalt contaminate the plates of the sculptils of thy siluer, and the garment of the molten of thy gold, and shalt scatter them as the vncleannes of a menstruous woman. Thou shalt say to it: Get thee hence.Et contaminabis laminas sculptilium argenti tui, / et vestimentum conflatilis auri tui, / et disperges ea sicut immunditiam menstruatæ. / Egredere, dices ei. 23And rain shall be given to thy seed, wheresoever thou shalt sow in the land: and the bread of the corn of the land shall be most plentiful, and fat. The lamb in that day shall feed at large in thy possession:E il Signore darà pioggia ai tuoi seminati in qualunque luogo tu semini sopra la terra: e il pane delle grasce della terra sarà abbondante, e di gran nutrimento: spaziosi pascoli avrà allora l'agnello nelle tue possessioni:And rayne shal be geuen to thy seede, wheresoeuer thou shalt sow in the land: and the bread of the corne of the land shal be most plentiful, and fatte. The lambe in that day shal feede at large in thy possession:Et dabitur pluvia semini tuo, / ubicumque seminaveris in terra, / et panis frugum terræ / erit uberrimus et pinguis; / pascetur in possessione tua in die illo agnus spatiose, 24And thy oxen, and the ass colts that till the ground, shall eat mingled provender as it was winnowed in the floor.E i tuoi tori, e i giovani asinelli, che lavoran la terra, mangeranno la varia mescolanza, quale è stata tirata nell'aia.and thyne oxen, as the asse coltes, that til the ground, shal eate mingled prouender as it was fanned in the floore.et tauri tui, et pulli asinorum, / qui operantur terram, / commistum migma comedent / sicut in area ventilatum est.
25And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every elevated hill rivers of running waters in the day of the slaughter of many, when the tower shall fall.E sopra ogni alta montagna, e sopra ogni rilevata collina saranno rivi di acque correnti, nel giorno in cui sarà grande uccisione, quando saran cadute a terra le torri.And there shal be vpon euerie high mountayne, and vpon euerie litle hil eleuated, riuers of running waters in the day of the killing of manie when the towres shal fal.Et erunt super omnem montem excelsum, / et super omnem collem elevatum, / rivi currentium aquarum, / in die interfectionis multorum, / cum ceciderint turres: 26And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days: in the day when the Lord shall bind up the wound of his people, and shall heal the stroke of their wound.E la luce della luna sarà come la luce del sole, e la luce del sole sarà sette volte tanta, come (sarebbe) la luce di sette giorni, allorché il Signore avrà fasciata la ferita del popol suo, ed avrà sanate le aperte sue piaghe.And the light of the moone shal be as the light of the sunne, and the light of the sunne shal be seuenfold, as the light of seuen daies in the day, when our Lord shal bind vp the wound of his people, & shal heale the stroke of their wound.et erit lux lunæ sicut lux solis, / et lux solis erit septempliciter / sicut lux septem dierum, / in die qua alligaverit Dominus vulnus populi sui, / et percussuram plagæ ejus sanaverit. 27Behold the name of the Lord cometh from afar, his wrath burneth, and is heavy to bear: his lips are filled with indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire.Ecco, che viene da lungi il nome del Signore, ardente è il furore di lui, e duro a tollerarsi: le labbra di lui sono gonfie di sdegno, la sua lingua è come fuoco, che divora.Behold the name of our Lord commeth from farre, his burning furie, and heauie to beare: his lippes are filled with indignation, and his tongue as a deuouring fire.Ecce nomen Domini venit de longinquo, / ardens furor ejus, et gravis ad portandum; / labia ejus repleta sunt indignatione, / et lingua ejus quasi ignis devorans. 28His breath as a torrent overflowing even to the midst of the neck, to destroy the nations unto nothing, and the bridle of error that was in the jaws of the people.Il suo respiro è come torrente (la cui piena va fino a mezzo il collo) per annichilare le nazioni, e il freno dell'errore, che imbrigliava le mascelle de' popoli.His spirite as a torrent ouerflowing euen to the middes of the necke, to destroy the nations to nothing, and the bridle of errour, that was in the iawes of peoples.Spiritus ejus velut torrens / inundans usque ad medium colli, / ad perdendas gentes in nihilum, / et frenum erroris quod erat in maxillis populorum.
29You shall have a song as in the night of the sanctified solemnity, and joy of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe, to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel.Voi canterete un cantico come nella notte di sacrata festività, e nella letizia del cuore sarete come chi suonando la tibia sen va a presentarsi sul monte del Signore al forte d'Israele.There shal be a song vnto you as the night of a sanctified solemnitie, and ioy of hart as he that goeth with a shaulme, to enter into the mount of our Lord to the strong one of Israel.Canticum erit vobis / sicut nox sanctificatæ solemnitatis, / et lætitia cordis / sicut qui pergit cum tibia, / ut intret in montem Domini / ad Fortem Israël. 30And the Lord shall make the glory of his voice to be heard, and shall shew the terror of his arm, in the threatening of wrath, and the flame of devouring fire: he shall crush to pieces with whirlwind, and hailstones.E farà udire il Signore la gloriosa sua voce, e farà conoscere il terribil suo braccio, intimando furore, e fiamma di fuoco divoratore, e atterrando ogni cosa quasi con turbine, e con grandinata di pietre;And our Lord shal make the glorie of his voice to be heard, and shal shew the terrour of his arme, in threatening of furie, and flame of deuouring fyre: he shal dashe to peeces in whirl winde, and in haile stone.Et auditam faciet Dominus gloriam vocis suæ, / et terrorem brachii sui ostendet / in comminatione furoris, et flamma ignis devorantis: / allidet in turbine, et in lapide grandinis. 31For at the voice of the Lord the Assyrian shall fear being struck with the rod.Imperocché alla voce del Signore sarà spaventato l'Assiro percosso dalla verga,For at the voice of our Lord shal Assur feare being stroken with the rod.A voce enim Domini pavebit Assur / virga percussus. 32And the passage of the rod shall be strongly grounded, which the Lord shall make to rest upon him with timbrels and harps, and in great battles he shall overthrow them.E il percuotere della verga sarà costante, e il Signore farà, che ella si posi sopra di lui in mezzo al suon de' timpani, e delle cetre. In singolare battaglia lo vincerà.And the passage of the rod shal neuer cease, which our Lord shal make to rest vpon him in tymbrels and harpes and in principal battels he shal ouerthrow them.Et erit transitus virgæ fundatus, / quam requiescere faciet Dominus super eum / in tympanis et citharis; / et in bellis præcipuis expugnabit eos. 33For Topheth is prepared from yesterday, prepared by the king, deep, and wide. The nourishment thereof is fire and much wood: the breath of the Lord as a torrent of brimstone kindling it.Imperocché è già tempo, che Thopheth fu preparata, dal re fu preparata, profonda, ed ampia. Ella ha per suo nudrimento il fuoco, e legna in abbondanza: il fiato del Signore quasi torrente di solfo la incende.For Topheth is prepared since yesterday, prepared of the king, deepe, and wide. The nourishments therof, fyre & much wood: the breath of our Lord as a torrent of brinstone kindling it.Præparata est enim ab heri Topheth, / a rege præparata, / profunda, et dilatata. / Nutrimenta ejus, ignis et ligna multa; / flatus Domini sicut torrens sulphuris succendens eam.
30:1
Calmet
Of me. Ezechias was guided by human prudence, in making an alliance with Egypt, though he might have just reasons for refusing to pay tribute to the Assyrians, 4 Kings 18:20. (Calmet)
Haydock
And. Septuagint, "alliances not by," etc. (Haydock)
30:2
Down, with presents, ver. 6., and 4 Kings 18:20.
30:3
Shame. Egypt had been defeated before Sennacherib's approach.
30:4
Calmet
In the Arabic, Nome, which formed part of (Haydock) the dominions of Tharaca. (Calmet)
30:6
Calmet
Burden. This title seems unnecessary, and may be added by some Jew, (chap. 21:13.) though the Chaldean and others explain it, "They carry on their beasts, presents to the south," to the nations of Arabia and Egypt, infested with lions, etc. The rest of the prophecy is against the Jews, who cannot well be styled beasts of the south. (Calmet)
Basilisk. The ibis devours many serpents on their flight from Arabia into Egypt. (Herodotus 2:5.; Solin. xxxii.)
30:7
Calmet
Cried. Hebrew, "called it Rahab, (or pride) it is rest." The people are indolent, though they will make great promises. (Calmet)
30:8
Box. This word was covered with wax. (Propertius 3:3.)
Write, that none may pretend that they were not admonished. Some think that this was addressed to Jeremias: but Isaias spoke to his incredulous countrymen.
30:10
See not. Such were the dispositions of their heart, Isaias 28:15.
30:11
Calmet
Us. Mention God no more, or let him not meddle with our affairs. Seek not to reclaim us, we are pleased with our delusion. (Calmet)
30:12
Oppression. Literally, "calumny," (Haydock) or rebellion against the Assyrians. This was contrary to the respect due to God's name, used in the ratification of treaties, how wicked soever those princes might be.
30:13
For. Psalm 61:3. If God had not miraculously cut off the army of Sennacherib, what would have become of the kingdom of Juda?
30:15
Be. Septuagint, "groan," as Origen, etc., read. If you be seriously converted, and trust not in Egypt, you need not fear.
30:16
Calmet
Ones, or chariots. (Calmet)
Forcr.[Forerius?]
Egypt was famous for horses, Deuteronomy 17:16. (Forcr.[Forerius?])
Haydock
Rebsaces ridicules the Jews for the want of them, 4 Kings 18:23. (Haydock)
30:17
Menochius
Five. A small number shall put you to flight. (Menochius)
Mast, set up after a shipwreck, to warn others, or as a signal, Isaias 33:23.
30:18
Calmet
Wait for him. Having convinced Ezechias that he ought to trust in no other, the Lord rescues him from the hand of Sennacherib. (Calmet)
30:19
Calmet
Weep. The citizens expected certain death, (Haydock) or slavery. (Calmet)
30:20
Haydock
Water. The land will be reduced to a miserable condition by the ravages of Sennacherib. (Haydock)
The following was a sabbatical year, ver. 23., and Isaias 37:30.
Calmet
Teacher. It seems that Isaias, etc., had been silent. He spoke after Ezechias had sent for him, and God promises that the people shall not be left without guides. (Calmet)
Menochius
Christ will not abandon his Church. (Menochius)
30:22
Garment. Hebrew, "ephod," belonging to the idol, or its priests. Ezechias had prohibited idolatry at first. After his deliverance he was still more zealous, and even those who had formerly retained an affection for idols, saw their vanity, and became sincere.
30:24
Floor. They shall not have straw only, but wheat, etc., to denote abundance.
30:25
Towers, or chief officers of Sennacherib. All shall be luxuriant.
30:26
Calmet
Sevenfold. Exceedingly great, equal to the light of 49 days. (Calmet)
Calmet
The fame of Ezechias spread widely. His kingdom was a figure of that of Christ, when this was more perfectly realized, the preaching of the gospel having dispelled the darkness of error. (Calmet)
Menochius
He alludes to the day of judgment. (St. Jerome) (Menochius)
30:27
Haydock
Name. Majesty of God, (Calmet) in the future ages. (Haydock)
30:28
Error. The unjust government of Sennacherib, who endeavoured to engage all in idolatry.
30:29
Calmet
Night. When the festivals commenced. (Calmet)
Vatable
He may particularly mean that night, when the destroying angel slew the Egyptians. (Vatable)
Haydock
Pipe. Music. (Haydock)
This was not prescribed.
30:30
Stones. The Angel raised the storm, which destroyed many, while the rest in a panic fell upon one another, Isaias 9:5., and 37:36.
30:31
Rod. Sennacherib is terrified, who a few days before insulted the living God.
30:32
Calmet
Harps. The sound of thunder will fill the people of Ezechias with joy, while the enemy shall perish irrecoverably. (Calmet)
30:33
Challoner
Topheth. 'Tis the same as Gehenna, and is taken for hell. (Challoner)
Calmet
The Assyrians perish amid horrid cries (Haydock) and thunders, which resembled the noise made by drums, and by children who were burning in the arms of Moloc, 4 Kings 18:4., and 23:10., and 2 Paralipomenon 29:16. Some think that the carcasses of the Assyrians were to be burnt in this common sewer of Jerusalem. But they were too far distant, Isaias 37:33. (Calmet)
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Topheth.... It is the same as Gehenna, and is taken for hell.
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You that trust in your owne counsels and forces, or in other mens and not in God, shal finde the miserable euent of your follie, as is before noted. chap. 2•.
Apostatae. or, denyers.
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Either Isaias was commanded to write this which should be fulfilled manie yeares after; or els he speaketh prophetically to Ieremie, nere 200. yeares before he prophecied; signifying that he should: hen write it, as in dede he did. Iere. 41 &c.
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Concordance Psal. •3.
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This claritie in sunne and moone shal be after the general resurrection.
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Christ wil exercise his seuere iustice in the general iudgement, when he shal bid the damned goe into euerlasting fire. Mat. 25.
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If often happeareth that when euil men seme most secure, they •al into sodaine calamities.
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Hel.
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St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 79
… For the shadow of Pharaoh shall be a disgrace to you, and a reproach to those who trust in the Egyptians; for the princes in Tanis are evil angels. In vain will they labour for a people which will not profit them by assistance, but [will be] for a disgrace and a reproach [to them].’
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.18.3
… For Jeremiah says, “Behold, neither thine eyes nor thy heart are good; but [they are turned] to thy covetousness, and to shed innocent blood, and for injustice, and for man-slaying, that thou mayest do it.” And again Isaiah saith, “Ye have taken counsel, but not of Me; and made covenants, [but] not by My Spirit.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 54.5
… “Their sacrifices are as the bread of mourning; all that eat thereof shall be polluted.” And the Holy Spirit also cries by Isaiah, and says, “Woe unto you, children that are deserters. Thus saith the Lord, Ye have taken counsel, but not of me; and ye have made a covenant, but not of my Spirit, that ye may add sin to sin.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 3.5
… but with God it is quite the reverse. Not when we apply to him continually respecting our affairs, but when we fail to do so, then is he especially displeased. Hear at least what He reproves the Jews for, when He says, “Ye have taken counsel, but not of Me, and made treaties, but not by My Spirit.”
Anonymous A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop 2
… whom the Holy Spirit rightly rebukes by the prophet, saying, “Ye have taken counsel, but not by me; and have made a confederacy, but not by my Spirit, to add sin to sin.”
Pseudo-Cyprian Exhortation to Repentance 1
Also in the same place: “Woe unto you, children of desertion, saith the Lord! ye have made counsel not by me, and my covenant not by my Spirit, to add sin to sin.”
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Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 10.18
… For of men, perhaps, no one had ever sate on the foal, but of hearts or of powers alien to the Word some had sate on it, since in the prophet Isaiah the wealth of opposing powers is said to be borne on asses and camels.
Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Church History of Eusebius 6.32.1
1. About this time Origen prepared his Commentaries on Isaiah and on Ezekiel. Of the former there have come down to us thirty books, as far as the third part of Isaiah, to the vision of the beasts in the desert;
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St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 14
… And when the soldiers came into the city to them, and told them all that had come to pass, they said to them, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole Him away while we slept ? Well therefore did Esaias foretell this also, as in their persons, But tell us, and relate to us another deceit
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 19
… That the man has buried them. And what here? That we do not hear them. Say, when is a person most insulted—when he is silent, and one makes no answer, or, when he does speak (and is unheeded)? So that the insult is greater in the present case, when He does speak and thou wilt not hear: greater the contempt. “Speak not to us” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 30
… For indeed malice stops at nothing. But see what boldness of speech! “It was necessary,” he says, “that the word should have been spoken first to you, but since ye put it from you,”—( v. 46 ) it is not put as affronting (though) it is in fact what they did in the case of the prophets: “Talk not to us,” said they, “with talk”—(
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 27.1
… adulation, but with sincere faith, that they may supplicate the Lord with true penitence and groaning and sorrow, since it is written, “Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent.” And again, the divine Scripture says, “Thus saith the Lord, When thou shalt be converted and lament, then thou shalt be saved, and shalt know where thou hast been.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 2.15
… For when he had fallen sick, Esaias said to him, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live . What expectation remained, what hope of recovery, when the Prophet said, for thou shalt die ? Yet Hezekiah did not desist from repentance; but remembering what is written, When thou shalt turn and lament, then shalt thou be saved
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 122.1
… Let us hear what God says through Jeremiah, “withhold thy foot from a rough way and thy throat from thirst” and again “shall they fall, and not arise? Shall he turn away, and not return?” Let us hear also what God says by Isaiah: “When thou shalt turn and bewail thyself, then shalt thou be saved, and then shalt thou know where thou hast hitherto been.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 147.9
… “Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.” You too will have your sight restored; if you cry to Him, and cast away your filthy garments at His call. “When thou shalt turn and bewail thyself then shalt thou be saved, and then shalt thou know where thou hast hitherto been.”
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Letters 108
… because we cannot place limits to God’s mercy nor fix times for Him with whom true conversion suffers no delay of forgiveness, as says God’s Spirit by the prophet, “when thou hast turned and lamented, then shalt thou be saved
Pseudo-Cyprian Exhortation to Repentance 1
Also in Isaiah: “Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, When thou shalt turn and mourn, then thou shalt be saved, and shalt know where thou wast.”
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 42.4
… I think I may add, only too appropriately, I found Israel like a figtree in the wilderness, and like one or two ripe grapes in an unripe cluster, preserved as a blessing from the Lord, and a consecrated firstfruit, though small as yet and scanty, and not filling the mouth of the eater: and as an ensign on a hill,
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 60.17
… Alas! for our shame and folly reaching even to unbelief! Rome’s army, once victor and lord of the world, now trembles with terror at the sight of the foe and accepts defeat from men who cannot walk afoot and fancy themselves dead if once they are unhorsed. We do not understand the prophet’s words: “One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 On Prayer 3
… So far, for the glory of God. On the other hand, for our own petition, when we say, “Hallowed be Thy name,” we pray this; that it may be hallowed in us who are in Him, as well in all others for whom the grace of God is still waiting;
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 13.12
… “All the day long I stretched forth My hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people;” and He is invited by us when we say to Him: “All the day long I have stretched forth My hands unto Thee.” He waits for us, when it is said by the prophet: “Wherefore the Lord waiteth to have compassion upon us;”
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 13.11
… for when God sees us inclined to will what is good, He meets, guides, and strengthens us: for “At the voice of thy cry, as soon as He shall hear, He will answer thee;” and: “Call upon Me,” He says, “in the day of tribulation and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.”
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 14.13
… “And the Lord will not cause thy teacher to flee away from thee any more, and thine eyes shall see thy teacher. And thine ears shall hear the word of one admonishing thee behind thy back: This is the way, walk ye in it, and go not aside either to the right hand or to the left.”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.28
… or what pardon for the wicked there will be from Him who, after our sin, ceases not to call us. And indeed this mercifulness, in calling after transgression, is well expressed through the Prophet, when to man turned away from God it is said, Thine eyes shall see thy teacher, and thine ears shall hear the word of one behind thy back admonishing thee (
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 14.16
… and, according to this that the prophet promised, “the rain will be given to your seed, wherever you shall sow in the land, and the bread of the corn of the land shall be most plentiful and fat.”
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 5.34.2
… “And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every prominent hill, water running everywhere in that day, when many shall perish, when walls shall fall. And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, seven times that of the day, when He shall heal the anguish of His people, and do away with the pain of His stroke.”
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 23.3
… The bliss of which world is thus described: “The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold as the light of seven days.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.29
… Whereas He burnt up Sodom and Gomorrah with a tempest of fire. Of Him the psalmist sang, “A fire shall go out before Him, and burn up His enemies round about.” By Hosea He uttered the threat, “I will send a fire upon the cities of Judah;” and
St Ephrem the Syrian † AD 373 Ephraim Syrus: Fifteen Hymns For the Feast of the Epiphany 8.22
22. The Prophets have called the Most High a fire,—“a devouring fire,” and “who can dwell with it?”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 31
… And where (it is said) and in what place is this hell? For some fablers say that it is in the valley of Josaphat, thus drawing that which was said about a certain by-gone war, to apply to hell.
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1. WOE, CHILDREN DESERTERS, — woe to the Jews, who, deserting and spurning the counsel of God, which they received through Jeremiah, that they should not flee from the Chaldeans into Egypt, but remain in their own land, followed their own will, and fled into Egypt. THAT YOU MIGHT WEAVE A WEB, AND NOT BY MY SPIRIT (that is, that you might begin this work of flight, with me not inspiring, but protesting), that you might add sin, — namely that you might increase the former sin by a new sin of disobedience, contempt and pride. In the word web he hints that by this flight they weave for themselves a net and a snare, in which they are so entangled and ensnared that they cannot extricate themselves. 2. And you did not consult my mouth. — They had consulted the mouth and will of the Lord, as is evident from Jeremiah xlii, but they were unwilling to follow it. It is therefore a metalepsis: "you did not consult," that is, by consulting you did not obey me: because it is the same thing not to follow counsel as not to seek consultation. Thus not to hear is said of one who does not obey; and not to know, whom knowledge and understanding do not direct in acting rightly. Thus Sanchez. See Canon lv.
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IN THE SHADOW OF EGYPT. — The Septuagint, that you might be protected by the Egyptians; it is a metaphor from the shadow of trees, which protects travelers from the heat. 3. AND THE STRENGTH OF PHARAOH SHALL BE YOUR CONFUSION. — For Nebuchadnezzar pursued the Jews into Egypt, and there struck them down with the Egyptians, Jeremiah xlii, 15 and seq.
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4. FOR YOUR PRINCES WERE IN TANIS. — Tanis was the royal city of Pharaoh, where Moses performed his wonders before him, Psalm lxxvii, verse 43. Thus Hanes, says St. Jerome, was the last city of Egypt near the Ethiopians and Blemmyes. The Prophet signifies that the Jews sent messengers, namely some of their princes to Pharaoh, who asked from him permission, and a place for all the Jews, fleeing from the Chaldeans, to dwell in Egypt.
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Note: For your messengers the Septuagint translates, Evil angels labored in vain for the people. Which St. Justin, Against Trypho, and Procopius understand of demons, who rather aided Pharaoh, so that they might perform miracles, by which they might contend with Moses. But here the matter is not about the time of Moses, but of Jeremiah. 5. They were confounded, — they shall be confounded: thus also the following past tenses are to be explained by the future; for they are prophetic words, as is evident from the preceding and following.
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6. THE BURDEN OF THE BEASTS OF THE SOUTH. — The Septuagint translates, a vision of four-footed beasts in the desert; and they place this as it were as a title to the following prophecy. Moreover, this is not a new prophecy, but a continuation of the former against the Jews, fleeing into Egypt against God's will. It is evident from what follows. The preceding things therefore have been as it were a preface, and a preamble narrative to the following prophecy, of which the title is placed here. Thus St. Jerome.
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(that is, so that you would begin this work of flight, not with me inspiring, but with me protesting against it), so that you would add sin—namely, so that to the former sin you would increase a new sin of disobedience, contempt and pride. By "in voice" he hints that they weave for themselves by this flight a net and a snare, in which they are so entangled and enveloped that they cannot extricate themselves. These Jews therefore he calls beasts of burden: first, because stupidly and brutishly, abandoning God, whose aid and vengeance they had so often, and indeed so recently now experienced, they fled to the king of Egypt and to idols. Second, because they walked laden with their goods, which they had carried off from the destruction of Judea, like beasts of burden. They are called of the South, because Judea borders on the South, that is on the Meridian, to the desert, by which one goes into Egypt, and because they were fleeing into Egypt, which is to the South of Judea. Thus St. Jerome and others, as if to say Forerius, "burden," that is a threatening and harsh prophecy against the Jews, who contrary to the will of God, like beasts of burden laden with their goods toward the South, that is toward Egypt, are setting out. Mystically St. Bernard, On the Burden of the Beasts of the South, sermon 11, although less aptly to the literal sense: "The South," he says, "which is a hot wind, signifies the Holy Spirit, as you have in the Song of Songs: Arise, O North wind, and come, O South wind, blow through my garden. Blessed is the soul which is a beast of burden of this South wind, which is governed by the bridle of this moderation, which in all things is subject to his will. Blessed indeed is the soul to which the Holy Spirit presides, and directs all his works, disposes his thoughts, orders his movements, and composes his morals. Of such it is written: Whithersoever the impulse of the spirit was, thither they went as they walked. Of whom the Prophet says: Thou madest a way in the sea for thy horses. Paul was a beast of burden of this South wind, who said: Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God. And see how the beast of burden of the South is governed everywhere by the bridle of the one presiding," etc. And soon after: "He therefore who is a beast of burden of the South, is burdened with the infirmity of another, is burdened with the iniquity of another, is burdened with the necessity and perversity of another. A burden is the hunger of the poor, the oppression of the needy, the misery of the fields. of such magnitude, the temptation of one making progress, the fall of one failing. But you also, brethren, who have fled from the North from the midst of Babylon, and now dwell in the land of the South, bear ye one another's burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ as a beast of burden of the South." And above: "The beasts of the South are, therefore they are burdened by the South, namely by the Holy Spirit, whose charity is poured forth in our hearts. IN THE LAND OF TRIBULATION,—namely they were, or they passed through, as if to say They passed through, the beasts of the South, that is the Jews, the land of tribulation, that is the desert, in which there is great scarcity of things, hunger and thirst: whence, Deuteronomy XXXII, 10, it is called a place of horror and vast desolation; in which again "lions from it," namely from the places and caves of the earth come forth, who attack travelers; likewise also "vipers" and "flying serpents" as appears in Deuteronomy VIII, 15, they passed through, I say, the Jews "carrying upon the shoulders of beasts of burden their riches:" for thus these things are to be connected and explained. Thus Vatablus, Pagninus, Adams and Sanchez, as if to say I seem to see the fleeing Jews through the desert, and their beasts of burden and camels carrying on their backs the wealth which they had carried off from the destruction of Jerusalem. Second, Procopius by the lion, viper, and flying serpent understands the demons and deities of the Egyptians: for Herodotus teaches in the Euterpe that the Egyptians worshipped these, as if to say Wretched Jews, why do you flee from the true God to idols, indeed to beasts? for example to Jupiter Ammon, whom the Egyptians worshipped in the form of a goat. For Ammon signifies a goat to the Egyptians, as Herodotus testifies. Third, St. Jerome, Haymo, Forerius, and Cyril agrees, think that the lion, viper, and flying serpent are here called the Jews themselves, as if to say These beasts of burden, namely the Jews, who are like a lion, an asp, a flying serpent, in ferocity and poisoned conscience, in the land of tribulation, that is in the desert, were going, carrying their riches by camels into Egypt. Mystically Origen, homily 16 in Leviticus, and from him Cyril, by the lion, asp and flying serpent understands demons, who place the riches of their deceptions, that is the wealth and pleasures by which they deceive men, upon the backs of camels and beasts of burden, that is upon stupid and perverse souls. Moreover the asp is a serpent most poisonous, which by a slight bite without sensation and pain, with a sweet sleep (whence also it is called sleepy) dissolves a man in death: such again are pleasures and sins, which with a sweet tickling kill the soul. Whence Origen admonishes, and from him Castrius, that each of us consider how many riches of asps he has carried before, and the wealth of beasts in his mind, so that he may cease to sin, lest he should feel the bite of the asp. FLYING SERPENT.—In Hebrew שרף מעופף meopheph saraph, that is a flying fiery serpent, or prester, such as were those sent against the Hebrews murmuring, Numbers XI, 6. See the remarks on chapter XIV, 29.
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7. Pride alone is, be quiet, — that is to say, In Egypt there is nothing but pride, that is, a vain display of wealth and strength, and "vain anger without strength:" you are deceived therefore, O Jew, who hope in Egypt! wherefore do not flee there, but be quiet and remain in the land of your fathers. Vatablus and the Rabbis translate from the Hebrew, their strength to be quiet, or dwelling and rest, that is to say, The salvation and strength of these fugitives is situated in this, that they remain in Judea, and do not flee into Egypt.
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8. Now therefore enter, — namely into a chamber. It is commanded here not to Jeremiah to be born afterwards, as the Hebrews and Hugo wish; but to Isaiah himself, that he write these things for the people upon a tablet, as being about to happen after 150 years, so that on the last day when these things shall have come to pass, they may know that they were foretold, and that they were forewarned by God, indeed so that it might be an eternal testimony, both of the divine care and providence toward them, and of their own obstinate malice and perversity against so many warnings and commandments of God. UPON BOXWOOD, — In Hebrew, upon a writing tablet, which was formerly made almost entirely of boxwood, whose wood is incorruptible, as St. Jerome says, so that it might be set forth more durably and clearly before the eyes of the Jews. For it looks to the distant times of Jeremiah, as I have said. Thus Propertius says, book III, elegy 3: "Upon common boxwood (that is, tablets) was dirty wax;" and Prudentius, book IX in the Martyrdom of St. Cassian, pierced by his disciples with styli and tablets: "Some wrestlers hurl them, and upon the faces tablets. Waxed boxwood cracks, driven upon bloody cheeks." He calls them waxed, because they wrote upon wax with styli, with which the boxwood tablet was covered: this tablet therefore was waxed.
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9. LYING CHILDREN, — children of treachery, and therefore bastards and degenerate from the faith and piety of their patriarchal fathers.
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10. SPEAK TO US PLEASANT THINGS, — which may favor our desires. Such are today the soft and voluptuous men, who cannot bear austere preachers and sermons about death, judgment, hell, eternity. And this was the cause of heresy; for the people sought to hear pleasant things about the liberty of the flesh. Luther and Calvin thrust these upon them. What wonder, if so many have gone after them? When the philosopher Arcesilaus was asked why so many more went from the Academy to Epicurus, and so very few returned, he answered most acutely: "From men eunuchs can be made, but from eunuchs men can in no way be made." Thus from wisdom into the pit of error all are easily hurled headlong, but from error to return to the way of truth is the lot of few. Thus Laertius, book IV. So Stratus the Physicist, when objected to that Menedemus had more disciples than himself, said: "What wonder if more are found who prefer to be washed rather than anointed?" for the delicate are washed, those who prepare themselves for contest are anointed: signifying that he does not tickle ears, but teaches practice in overcoming vices and exercising virtues. ERRORS, — namely pleasant and agreeable to our ears, eyes and palate; for these are often false and erroneous. Again, "errors," that is, false oracles about the prosperous success of our flight into Egypt. These impious men said: Speak to us pleasant oracles, but because these were erroneous, hence the Prophet, substituting the true name of the thing, says: "Speak, etc., errors."
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11. TAKE AWAY FROM ME THE WAY. — "From me," that is, from us; for the people speak of themselves, now in the singular, now in the plural. By "way" and path he understands either the well-trodden discourses, and those frequently used by the Prophets about hearing and worshipping the Holy One of Israel, or rather the manner and method of life which the Prophets prescribed for them. THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL. — For which the Septuagint and the Chaldean translate, the holy word of Israel, that is to say, Why do you so often, O Prophet, repeat to us? "Thus says the Holy One (God) of Israel: Turn to me in fasting, weeping, lamentation," etc. We are weary of hearing these things, let these ungrateful and bitter voices cease, let this mournful sermon cease. It is a mimesis: for it is the voice of the stubborn Jews, as is evident.
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12. YOU HAVE HOPED IN CALUMNY AND IN TUMULT, — that is, in riches and luxury obtained through frauds, robberies and tumults of faction. Thus Vatablus. Secondly, Adamus and Sanchez, that is to say, You have hoped in the Egyptians, who are slanderers and tumultuous. The third and proper sense, you have hoped and relied upon calumny and tumult, by which namely you have tumultuously slandered Jeremiah forbidding this flight, as a false Prophet, so that you might oppress him, Jeremiah XLII, 2. Thus the Geusii in this age in Belgium, France, England increased their affairs through tumults and calumnies; for they learned to fish in troubled waters.
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13. THEREFORE THIS INIQUITY SHALL BE TO YOU AS A BREACH FALLING DOWN, — that is to say, As a wall broken and leaning toward ruin, suddenly and abruptly falls at last, and by its own weight and fall crushes those who dwelt beneath it: so this iniquity, that is this proud and vain confidence which you place in the Egyptians against God's command, shall crush you. Again, the Egyptians themselves being smitten by the Chaldeans, like a wall collapsing, shall by their fall bury and crush you who are hiding under their protection: as the tower of Siloam falling crushed eighteen men, Luke XIII, 4. He compares the destruction of the Jews, that is their devastation, first to the ruin of a wall; secondly, to the breaking of a small vessel, which is so shattered that no fragment remains. AND SOUGHT IN THE HIGH WALL. — For "sought" in Hebrew it is בערה, which Arias, Vatablus and Forerius translate as swelling, swollen, projecting beyond the perpendicular, because it is a part torn from the wall and falling into ruin. But the root בערה baa signifies to dig out, to draw forth from a person or thing something that was hidden; but in a person, it is to question and to seek. Therefore our translator rightly renders it "sought." Now first, Arias interprets "sought" as sought out; secondly, others "sought," that is which the enemy seeks to break through; thirdly, Hugo, "sought," that is repaired; fourthly, Emmanuel Sa, "sought," namely by the Jews, who hoped and desired to be saved under this broken wall of the Egyptians; fifthly, others, "sought," that is visited by builders, as if suspected and dangerous, and therefore needing inquiry, visitation and examination; sixthly, Sanchez: "sought," he says, that is absent and failing; for thus we say those are sought or desired in battle who have fallen: so also a sought part of the wall is that part which, when it has fallen, is not found in the wall, or whose firmness is sought, that is not found; seventhly, and most aptly Adams, "sought," that is huge, sudden and unforeseen, whose cause therefore after the fall, which does not appear, is inquired into with amazement. Thus David inquires concerning the sudden and sad fall of Saul and Jonathan: "How are the mighty fallen?" II Kings I; and Isaiah, cap. XIV, concerning the fall of Baltassar: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer?" and Jeremiah concerning the fall of Jerusalem: "How doth the city sit solitary?" Lamentations I, 1.
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15. IF YOU RETURN AND REST, YOU SHALL BE SAVED. — That is to say, strive to flee, and take the way to go into Egypt: if you return from this striving and way home, and rest there, you shall be saved from the assault of the Chaldeans. For that the matter here concerns flight into Egypt is clear from what precedes and follows. Secondly, if from your disobedience, by which against the will of the Lord you wish to go into Egypt, and from every other crime, by true contrition you return to God, and propose henceforth to rest from all sin, you shall be saved, that is, you shall be justified, and you shall gain for yourselves God's grace and friendship in this life, and His glory in the life to come. Whence the Septuagint translates, if you return and groan, then you shall be saved (from which words that opinion commonly bandied about seems to be drawn: "In whatever hour the sinner shall groan, he shall be saved"). Whence from this place rightly do St. Leo, Chrysostom, Augustine, Jerome and others whom Francis Suarez cites and follows, tract. On Penance, Question VIII, art. 1, disput. 4, sect. 2, infer that true contrition abolishes sins, and is always joined with the infusion of justifying grace; because the truth of the conditional demands that, the antecedent being posited, the consequent be infallibly posited, namely, that conversion being posited, inchoate salvation be posited, that is, justice; but man is converted when he first elicits an act of contrition. IN SILENCE AND IN HOPE. — That is, if you be silent and rest in your land, and hope in God, and do not laboriously run into Egypt, you shall be strong, and safe from the Chaldeans: he alludes to Exodus XIV, 13 and 14. Morally, learn here how useful and strong hope, rest and silence are, if namely you do not anxiously look to human aids, but trust in God, and rest silently. Do you wish to know the fruits of silence of the tongue, as well as of the mind's tumult? Take these: The first is, that it avoids and restrains both the sins of the tongue, and the tumults of the mind. St. Lawrence Justinian, lib. On Discipline, cap. xv, having enumerated the vices of the tongue: "All," he says, "are avoided by the censure of taciturnity alone;" and this St. Augustine taught before in Psalm LXXXVIII: "Against these (vices of the tongue)," he says, "silence is the best remedy. The author of the rule of monks with St. Jerome: "A cursed tongue," he says, "is corrected by unspoken silence." The second is, that it teaches the mind to be wise; the tongue to speak prudently and piously. Whence St. Lawrence Justinian, in the place already cited, says, "taciturnity is the beginning of speaking well." Richard of St. Victor in that passage of the Canticle IV: "Thy lips are like a scarlet ribbon," teaches that the ribbon which binds and ties signifies the custody and discipline of the tongue; the scarlet color, charity. For silence teaches the bride of Christ to speak things pious and of charity. St. Gregory, hom. 2 in Ezekiel: "He," he says, "knows how to speak truly, who has first learned to be silent well." And for this reason in monasteries there is such care for silence. Hear what the author of the Life of the Cloistered one under St. Bernard writes, lib. I, cap. vii: "At midday and midnight silence was found by those arriving, except for the sound of labors, or if the brothers were occupied in the praises of God. Moreover the order and fame of that very silence made such reverence even among secular men arriving, that they themselves, I do not say wicked or idle things, but even something that did not pertain to the matter, feared to speak there." The third is, that, as a certain Saint says: "Silence is the mother of the wisest thoughts," and makes man heavenly and divine. Hear Blessed Peter Damian to Agnes the Empress, epist. 130: "When," he says, "the noise of human speech ceases, the temple of the Holy Spirit is built in you through silence. Hence it is that the sacred History testifies concerning the construction of the Israelite temple, that the hammer and axe and every iron tool were not heard in the house of the Lord, when it was being built. For the temple of God grows through silence; because, when the human mind does not pour itself out through external words, the structure of the spiritual building rises to a sublime height; and the more it grows in higher things, the more it is lifted up, by how much through the custody of silence it is prevented from pouring itself out externally; for silence is the guardian of justice, and through Jeremiah it is said: It is good to wait with silence for the salvation of the Lord." Illustrious examples of silence are these. Among Christians, St. Thomas Aquinas was called the Dumb Ox from his silence, and by keeping silent and meditating he drew forth all his knowledge. St. Romualdus, already an old man, was shut up for seven years and kept perpetual silence. Theodosius in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter LXVII, spent 35 years in solitude always observing silence. Concerning the Monks of the Blessed Dominic Loricati, Peter Damianus in his Life speaks thus: "They indeed maintained strict silence throughout the whole week; which on Sunday after Vespers they released, having freedom to speak with one another until the completion of the office." Radulphus the Silent, a monk of Affligem near Brussels, was silent for sixteen years; a fire broke out; and when it could not be extinguished, Radulphus broke his silence and said: "Stand, fire, at this hour, flame, be entirely quelled." A marvelous thing! immediately the fire obeyed and was extinguished. Thus Thomas of Cantimpré relates it, book II of the Bees, chapter xiv, § 4. St. John the Almsgiver, from being a Bishop became a monk, and was silent for all 47 years until the year of his age 104. St. Arsenius heard from an Angel: "If you wish to be saved, flee, be silent, rest." The same man, when a brother visited him, after greeting spoke nothing further, but continually said to himself: "Arsenius, why did you go out?" And: "I have often repented of having spoken, never of having been silent." Thalassius, in Theodoret in the Religious History, chapter XXII, knowing that the tongue is slippery, spoke nothing for a very long time. For the same reason Agatho carried a stone in his mouth for three years, as Palladius testifies in the Lausiac History, chapter L. Theonas was silent for 30 years, as is evident in the Lives of the Fathers in Theonas. St. Gregory of Nazianzus was silent throughout the whole of Lent: he gives the reason, in the oration On the Silence of Lent: "Obeying the prescriptions of pious men, I have shut my lips as it were with a bolt: if you ask the reason for my deed, for this reason I have entirely abstained from speech, that I might learn to moderate my words." St. Arnulphus, Bishop of Soissons, was silent perpetually for three years and six months, as his Life has it, chapter viii, in Surius on August 15. "Severus Sulpitius in his old age, deceived by the Pelagians, and recognizing the fault of talkativeness, held silence until death, that he might entirely amend by silence the sin which he had contracted by speaking," says Gennadius in Illustrious Men, in Severus. Pambo the Abbot, hearing that passage from Psalm XXXVIII: I said: I will keep my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: "It is enough," he said, "let me hear the rest when I shall have fulfilled this." After a long time, returning and being asked why he had delayed so long, he answered: "I had not yet perfected what I had learned." Thus the Tripartite History, book VIII, chapter 1. For by silence he achieved this, so that dying he said: "In this hour I do not repent of any word that I have spoken: and thus I depart to God, as one who has not begun to be either pious or religious." Palladius in the Lausiac History, chapter x, is the witness. Moreover, even beasts observe silence at appointed times: birds sing in the morning, are silent during the day: cicadas in the morning, nightingales at midday are silent: shall not the Religious be silent at the hours defined by the rule? Geese flying from Cilicia in flocks, about to cross Mount Taurus, fearing the eagles dwelling there, which they sense are hostile, take a large stone in their mouths and stop their mouths lest they make noise while they pass through the danger. Plutarch is the witness, in the book On the Cleverness of Animals. Bees, while flying, make noise, but in the hive they are silent and labor. Swallows nesting in the town of Alviano, and making loud chattering, were hindering the sermon of St. Francis. He commands them to be silent: they are silent until the word of God is completed, says St. Bonaventure. St. Ambrose relates, book III to Virgins, that when the great murmuring of frogs was obstructing the ears of the religious people, a priest of God commanded them to be silent and to show reverence to sacred prayer; then suddenly the surrounding noises ceased. "Therefore the marshes are silent, says St. Ambrose, but men will not be silent." Among the Gentiles, Pythagoras was illustrious, who imposed silence on his disciples for five years, that they might learn moderation of speech and to speak rightly by being silent, as Nazianzenus says. Philostratus, book I, chapter xi, writes that Apollonius of Tyana, because he could not be silent, imposed on himself a five-year silence of Pythagoras, and observed it so persistently that when the Emperor questioned him, he answered not by voice but by writing. Stobaeus, sermon 126, 128, 129, relates that Xenocrates assigned to each business of the day its own parts, and gave silence its own part: that Aeschines the Socratic said he learned from Socrates not only to speak but also to be silent. That Harpocrates the philosopher, who preferred silence to all things, was worshipped by the Greeks as a god in the image of a man compressing his lips. Finally, the most wise Solomon says, Eccles. III, 7: "A time to keep silence, and a time to speak." Pythagoras, and after him Nazianzen, taught that one should speak when speech is better than silence; one should be silent if it were otherwise. St. Jerome, on the passage cited from Eccles. III: "Let us learn, he says, first not to speak, so that afterwards we might open our mouths to speaking: let us be silent at a certain time, so that we might hang upon the words of the teacher; let nothing seem right to us except what we learn, so that after much silence we might become teachers from being disciples." The means and practice by which someone might learn to be silent is: First, to close the ears, and to restrain curiosity about hearing and knowing new things. Whence John the Abbot in the Spiritual Meadow, cap. CLXXXVII: "He who, he says, wishes to restrain his tongue, let him stop up his ears, lest he hear many things!" And Seneca, epist. 105: "There is a certain, he says, sweetness of speech, which creeps in and flatters, and no otherwise than drunkenness or love produces secrets; no one will keep silent about what he has heard." Second, for some time to refrain completely from speaking, and therefore to withdraw into a cell, and to beware of the company of chatterers. Whence St. Basil, in the Shorter Responses, 208: "It is necessary, he says, to maintain perpetual silence, until through it both those who suffer from the vice of petulance in speaking are healed, and in leisure they might learn what, when and how it is fitting to speak." Blessed Peter Damian, epist. 114: "Let the tongue, he says, accustom itself to restrain itself under the discipline of taciturnity, and by being silent let it learn what it might afterwards gravely set forth by speaking; lest, if now it neglects to keep strict silence, it might afterwards be unable to restrain the itch of speaking." Hence Nyssenus and Olympiodorus note in Eccles. III that it is said first: "A time to keep silence," then "a time to speak;" because that ought to precede, this to follow; for through silence in the time of keeping silence we learn from ourselves what afterwards through speech in the time of speaking we might set forth; and Blessed Ennodius, lib. VIII, epist. 3, speaking of the philosophy of saying nothing, hands down that "The ancients, in order to speak better, spoke nothing in the presence of others, and that care of silence was the nurse of speech." Third, to think and to persuade oneself how great is the strength, honor and fruit of silence. Thalassius, centuria 1, num. 66: "Silence, he says, and prayers are the greatest weapons of virtues," and, as Blessed Antiochus says, hom. 103: "Silence is the mother of virtues;" St. Bernard, serm. On the Change of Water: "Silence, he says, is the guardian of religion, and that in which our strength lies;" others: "Silence, they say, is the honor of religion, and the chief guardian of peace of mind." Hence Blessed Peter Damian, epist. 59 to Desiderius, says that the violator of silence is like a crocodile yawning, into which then the enemy hydrus (Pliny attributes these snares to the ichneumon) enters the jaws, and eats away the belly; likewise an oyster carelessly opening itself to the sun, into which first the lurking crab throws a pebble so that it does not close, then it devours its entrails: then he concludes: "He (the Religious) indeed lives, while he is enclosed under the discipline of silence; but he perishes when he opens himself to speaking too immoderately." Hence our Holy Father Ignatius gave three signs by which one might perceive whether there was good discipline in some monastery or college: first, if the gate and enclosure were well kept; second, if all places were clean and orderly; third, if silence were well kept, there were no tales, noise, or shouting. On the contrary, the inconveniences of talkativeness are very many. See concerning these the opinions of the ancients, which I have reviewed in Levit. xv, 22.
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16. TO HORSES (of Egypt) WE WILL FLEE. — For Egypt abounds in horses and cavalry, as is evident from III Kings x, 28, since the Jews in wars scarcely used cavalry, as I have shown in Deut. XVII, 16. THEREFORE YOU SHALL FLEE. — He plays by antiphrase on the word flee, as if to say: "You said: We will flee," that is, we will have recourse to the cavalry of Egypt; therefore you shall flee as if conquered and routed, before the face of the Chaldeans laying waste Egypt. AND UPON SWIFT (horses of Egypt) WE SHALL MOUNT: THEREFORE (with me as avenger) SWIFTER SHALL BE (the Chaldeans), WHO SHALL PURSUE YOU. — In a similar manner Servius Tullius, king of the Romans, played on the word of fleeing of stags and servants, who, born of a slave woman, dedicated a temple of Diana on the Aventine, because under her protection are stags, from whose swiftness they call fugitive servants. Wherefore he ordained that the festival day of servants should be celebrated in this temple on the Ides of August, because on that day he himself was born of a slave woman. Thus teaches Bartholius Marlianus, lib. V of Ancient Rome, cap. II. See here how God comprehends, ridicules and overthrows rebels and the proud in their own words.
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17. A THOUSAND MEN SHALL FLEE AT THE FACE OF THE TERROR OF ONE (supply, they shall flee: for what follows must be repeated by zeugma): AND AT THE FACE OF THE TERROR OF FIVE YOU SHALL FLEE, — namely many, as the Septuagint has it, or all together, that is to say, One Chaldean will terrify and put to flight a thousand of you, and five Chaldeans will put to flight your entire flock. Thus St. Jerome. For "a thousand men" in Hebrew it is אלף אחד eleph echad, that is, a thousand one, or one thousand. Thus the Septuagint, the Chaldean, and Our version. Vatablus translated it otherwise, a thousand as it were at the face of the rebuke of one shall flee. And Sanchez otherwise too, that is to say, A thousand men at the face of the terror of one, and, that is, rather, at the face of the terror of one, five thousand men shall you flee. UNTIL YOU BE LEFT AS THE MAST OF A SHIP ON THE TOP OF A MOUNTAIN, — that is to say, Just as, when a ship is broken, with planks and all other equipment floating and perishing, sailors alone carry the mast to a mountain and set it up, or raise some other sign on a hill, so that it may be a sign to sailors that the place is dangerous on account of sandbars, rocks, sands, etc.: so you few survivors of this disaster shall be as a sign of God's wrath, so that by the example of your calamity others may avoid and beware of the same. Thus St. Jerome. The destruction of Jerusalem is compared to a shipwreck, from which the mast, that is, a few escaped, so that scattered throughout the world, they might be witnesses and heralds of the Jewish disaster.
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18. THEREFORE THE LORD WAITS THAT HE MAY HAVE MERCY ON YOU, — that is to say, Because such a disaster is about to come, therefore God waits, so that being warned here by Isaiah you may do penance, and thus God, having mercy on you, may avert this disaster. AND THEREFORE HE SHALL BE EXALTED (that is, shall be lifted up as it were withdrawing himself, and his hand, and, as Vatablus translates it, shall suspend the blow), SPARING YOU. — Thus in Hosea chapter XI, it is said: "I will be to them as one exalting," that is, lifting up on high, and withdrawing "the yoke upon their jaws." Others on the contrary say, "he shall be exalted," that is, God shall lift up his hand on high, as it were threatening a mighty blow, so that he may terrify and move you to compunction, and thus avert the blow; others say, "he shall be exalted," that is, God shall be glorified by this clemency of his, and by the delay of punishment "sparing you"; for God is especially exalted in showing mercy and sparing. Thus St. Jerome. BECAUSE THE LORD IS A GOD OF JUDGMENT; — because God is not moved by fury, but judges and avenges with just judgment and equity: hence he defers punishment and tempers it with clemency. Others say: "Because the Lord is a God of judgment," that is, because God is faithful and just, fulfilling his promises: hence he waits for Jerusalem to repent, and thus spares her; for he promised her his aid, favor and salvation. BLESSED ARE ALL THEY THAT WAIT FOR HIM. — This is an epiphonema of the preceding, that is to say, Miserable and unhappy are you and shall be, O Jews, hoping in men, fleeing for refuge to the Egyptians! but blessed, nay thrice and four times blessed and happy are they who hope in God, who wait for him and his aid.
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19. FOR THE PEOPLE OF ZION SHALL DWELL IN JERUSALEM. — He proves that he said those are blessed who hope in God and wait for him, from the fact that the people of Zion, that is, the true and faithful Jews who hope in God, shall dwell safely in Jerusalem under Hezekiah, not fearing the threats and forces of Sennacherib. Thus Forerius. Secondly, Procopius, St. Thomas and Hugh refer these things to the Jews returning to Jerusalem from Babylon under Cyrus. Thirdly, and especially, the Prophet under these symbols understands that the people of Zion, that is, the faithful and Christian people, shall dwell peacefully in Jerusalem, that is, in the Church under Christ, who shall be their teacher and doctor, as follows; for the transition to Christ is customary. Whence St. Jerome, Procopius, Cyril, Theodoret, and others refer all things which follow from this place to the end of the chapter literally to Christ and to Christ's grace, redemption and salvation; but in such a way that the Prophet alludes to it, and as it were touches upon in passing his type, namely the happiness of those returning from Babylon under Ezra, and Jesus son of Josedech. AT THE VOICE OF YOUR CRY, AS SOON AS HE SHALL HEAR, HE WILL ANSWER YOU. — Thus the Lord immediately heard Hezekiah crying out and praying in the siege of Sennacherib, and delivered him with Sennacherib slain: thus also in Babylon he heard the captives crying out, bringing them back to their homeland: thus, nay much more, he hears faithful Christians invoking him.
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20. AND THE LORD SHALL GIVE YOU BREAD OF AFFLICTION, AND WATER OF OPPRESSION — But the Hebrew has, He shall give you לחץ ומים צר אחל lechem tsar umayim lachats, that is, bread of anguish or tribulation, and water of anguish, or rather of oppression, as the Septuagint translates here and Our Version, III Kings, last chapter, 27. Such indeed it is if the bread be narrow, that is, restricted and scanty; and water brief, that is, little and meager, so that they cannot satisfy hunger and thirst, as if to say: You shall indeed suffer, O Jews! under Sennacherib, as also in Babylon some want, famine, thirst, etc.; yet God shall be present with you, He shall protect you, and shall give you teachers and instructors, namely Esdras, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi and other Prophets, who shall always be present with you, indeed from behind they shall not cease to admonish you opportunely and importunely, so that you may walk in the straight way of the Lord, nor turn aside to idols; and then in place of narrow bread and water God shall give you abundance of things, as He did with the Jews returning from Babylon, as is evident from Zechariah VIII, 11, and Haggai, II, 17; then to Hezekiah under Sennacherib, as is evident from IV Kings XIX, 29. Thus St. Thomas, Procopius, Hugh, Lyra. These things are more truly fulfilled in the time of Christ, who is the perpetual teacher and instructor of the faithful through all ages, as if to say: God shall give to the faithful the teacher Christ, says St. Jerome, and the Holy Spirit and the Apostles. Secondly, St. Cyril, Procopius and St. Jerome, by bread of affliction and water of oppression understand the Gospel, and the brief doctrine of the Gospel, which in chapter x, 23 the Septuagint called the word shortened, which succeeded the long and winding precepts of the law; for this indeed feeds souls like bread. But brief bread does not signify here ultimately small bread, but bread of affliction, as is evident from the Hebrew: although the Gospel also be bread of affliction, because it commands us to mortify the flesh, to bear the cross, to suffer hardships for Christ. Thirdly, St. Cyril and Leo Castrius: This narrow bread, they say, is Christ, who descended from heaven, and narrowed Himself to an infant body, to the manger, and to the cross: again it is called narrow, because it is found with labor and sweat. Hence again narrow bread is the Eucharist, or Christ in it, which must be received with penance and tears: thus water of anguish is either baptism, which loosens and frees those oppressed by the demon; or it is the blood of Christ in the Eucharist, in which we recall the anguishes of His passion, so that we may be encouraged to bear similar things bravely for Him. This sense is conveniently allegorical. Tropologically, narrow bread and brief water is poverty, hunger, thirst and every anguish and tribulation sent by God, so that He may purify and test His own: and then He is accustomed likewise to give teachers and comforters, who strengthen, console, teach and perfect the afflicted. Anagogically, this refers to the end of the world: for then there shall be great affliction and want, and then God shall give to the unfaithful teachers Elijah and Enoch. Thus the Fathers, whom St. Jerome mentions. YOUR TEACHER SHALL NOT HIDE HIMSELF FROM YOU ANYMORE. — In Hebrew לא יכנף lo iikaneph, that is, shall not hide, that is, shall not fly away from you, your teacher. Thus Vatablus.
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21. AND YOUR EARS SHALL HEAR A WORD BEHIND YOU SAYING, THIS IS THE WAY, WALK IN IT. — It is a periphrasis of a teacher, or master and pedagogue, who is accustomed always to be present with disciples, and to follow them, to admonish from behind, etc. Secondly, morally Haymo: God, he says, follows a sinner turned away from Him, and converted to fleeting goods, as it were from behind, so that He may draw him to Himself and turn him back. And St. Gregory, homily 34 on the Gospel: "As if we turn our backs, he says, to the face of the teacher, when we despise his words, whose precepts we trample on, and yet He does not cease to call us." On the other hand St. Jerome takes the back not of the sinner, but of God; for God offended by the sinner departs, and turns His back to him, but in such a way that, loving him, He often looks back, and turns Himself toward him so that by a nod, by gestures, by voice He may call him back to Himself. THIS IS THE WAY, WALK IN IT. — This way is the doctrine of the law and the Prophets, and especially the evangelical doctrine of Christ, in which we walk, when following Him we proceed to perfection and to heaven. Thus the rule and institution of St. Benedict, which embraces the counsels of Christ, appeared as a bright way; for when, as St. Gregory relates in book II of the Dialogues, chapter XXXVII, St. Benedict had finished his life, on the same day it seemed to two of his monks that they saw a certain broad and straight way strewn with vestments, and shining with innumerable lights; and a certain old man standing, who said: "This is the way by which the beloved of the Lord Benedict ascended to heaven."
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22. AND YOU SHALL DEFILE, — as if to say: Under Esdras, and more under Christ you shall defile, that is, you shall lead away defiled, cast off, burn your graven images, that is, your idols, and their precious garments, and you shall have them as the foulest things, such as the filth of menstruation. BEGONE, — as if to say: Go to perdition, "you shall say to it," namely to the graven image and molten image, that is, to the idol.
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23. AND RAIN SHALL BE GIVEN. — God gave rain and fertility to the Jews under Ezra; but He gave a better rain of the grace of the Holy Spirit to the earth, that is to the souls of the faithful under Christ, so that they might produce fruit of good works. Thus St. Cyril. THE LAMB SHALL FEED, ETC., SPACIOUSLY. — This happened literally under Hezekiah and Ezra, symbolically under Christ. For lambs are the meek and innocent, who follow Christ the lamb: bulls are the Apostles and Evangelists, who cultivate the field of the Church: young asses are the sons of the Gentiles, these are fed abundantly with spiritual food in the Church.
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24. THEY SHALL EAT MIXED FODDER, AS IT HAS BEEN WINNOWED IN THE THRESHING FLOOR. — That is, pure, without chaff: for these have been winnowed in the threshing floor. Migma or smigma in Greek is the same as in Hebrew בליל belil, and in Latin mixtio, from the root μίγνυμι, that is misceo. Now mixtio is the same as fodder: just as mixtum signifies a drink or wine, Psalm LXXIV: "Full of wine, mingled with mixture." For just as in wine even pure wine many grapes, many drops, many liquors are mixed: so in the fodder of beasts many grains, or many stalks are mixed. This fodder is therefore mixtio, or mixtum. For commixtum in Hebrew is חמץ chamets, that is fermented, that is seasoned with sourness; for rustics are accustomed to add something to the fodder of beasts, even if pure, in summer when it becomes flaccid (for example cakes made from the husks of rape seeds, and from which by pounding they have drawn out oil), which sharpens it, and by its sourness provokes the languid appetite, as ferment does in bread. Secondly, it is called commixtum, because although it is winnowed, and without chaff, nevertheless mixed with it is migma, that is grain of various kinds (such as vetch, lentil, oats, barley, etc.), a mixed miscella, or farrago, as St. Jerome says; for these by their variety are pleasing to the palate and remove nausea. Symbolically first, Christ gives to the faithful migma, that is doctrine from both testaments; and mixed from Moses, the Prophets and the Apostles. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, Procopius and Leo Castrius. Secondly, Christ gives migma, that is Himself in the Eucharist, says Castrius. This is called migma: First, because it is mixed from the divinity, body, blood of Christ, and from the species of bread and wine. Secondly, because these species are made from various grains and are mixed. Thirdly, because the Eucharist signifies and effects a wonderful mixture: for through it we are really mixed with the flesh of Christ, with God, and with the whole Holy Trinity. Whence St. Cyril says through it we are united to Christ and God, as liquefied wax is mixed with and united to another, and therefore through it we become concorporeal and consanguineous with Christ, indeed Christbearing. Again through it we are spiritually mixed, namely by reason of charity, with Angels and other men. For this is the migma of Angels and men, or food common to both. See St. Bernard, sermon 3 in the Vigil of the Nativity of Christ, on the threefold mixture which was made in the incarnation: this is proposed to us to taste in the Eucharist, namely, first, of God and man; secondly, of virgin and mother; thirdly, of faith and the human heart. In him sermon 2 On the Nativity, see also another threefold mixture, first, of creation; secondly, of redemption; thirdly, of glorification. Leo Castrius notes that some Hebrews derive belil in Hebrew, that is migma, from beli, that is not, and lo, that is to itself, as if to say fodder not to itself, that is not its own, as if to say the faithful shall eat the migma of the Eucharist, namely food not their own, but of the Angels: "For man did eat the bread of Angels." But this etymology is more subtle and more foreign; for it is certain that belil is derived, not from beli and lo, but from בלל balal, that is to mix; whence belil is mixtio, migma. Rather therefore the Eucharist is called migma, because Christ, who before had been food only of Angels, now mixed with flesh, has become in it also the food of men, and in it mixes men with God and Angels, as I have said.
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25. UPON EVERY ELEVATED HILL, STREAMS OF FLOWING WATERS, — as if to say Under Hezekiah as well as under Ezra there shall be streams of water, or rains, or fountains bursting forth on mountains, which shall themselves also make fertile the mountains and hills, as if to say There shall be great fertility from the abundance of waters "in the day of the slaughter of many," when 185 thousand Assyrians shall be slain by Cyrus; "when the towers shall have fallen," then of the walls and palaces of Babylon, then towers, that is princes, who stood out in the people like towers in a house. Thus St. Thomas, Hugh, Forerius and Sanchez. Secondly, and more truly, streams, indeed rivers, of grace flowed through Christ everywhere, with tyrants slain or prostrated, and enemies of the faith under Constantine. Then the towers fell, that is, the Gentile Emperors and princes, and all the wisdom of the Gentiles, however lofty, was cast down, and the whole world submitted its neck to Christ. Thus St. Cyril, Jerome, Haymo, Procopius, and the Author of Questions on the New and Old Testament; in St. Augustine, vol. IV, Question CV. The same will more truly be at the end of the world; for then rivers of glory shall flow down upon the elect, when the impious shall be slain, and all towers, walls and cities shall fall, as will be more evident in the following verse.
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26. AND THE LIGHT OF THE MOON SHALL BE AS THE LIGHT OF THE SUN. — First, Vatablus, Sanchez, Hugo, Forerius and the Rabbis explain it thus: When the Jews are liberated from Sennacherib, and likewise when returning from Babylon under Ezra, there will be great light, that is, joy: so will they rejoice that the moon and sun will appear to shine sevenfold more than before, and this when God shall have healed the wound inflicted by the Assyrians and Chaldeans, and shall have restored what was torn down or destroyed by them. Thus concerning the Jews liberated from destruction by Haman through Esther, cap. XI, 11, it is said: "Light and the sun rose upon them;" and cap. VIII, 16: "But to the Jews there seemed to rise a new light." This sense is cooler and thinner: yet the Prophet alludes to it, as I have said. Second, St. Cyril, Procopius and the Author cited by St. Augustine, Quest. CV, explain it, as if to say: After the cross Christ will rise, and then as an intelligible sun sevenfold, that is, much, and as it were immensely, will shine forth to the Church; and the moon, that is the Apostles and other preachers will shine before it, as if they were suns. This is what Isaiah says, cap. IX: "To them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen." Thus it was a common saying among Plato, Aristotle and others: "Neither Vesper nor Lucifer is so admirable as the just." Third, and most excellently, St. Jerome, Haymo, Adam, Lyra, and Dionysius refer these things to the day of judgment and to the resurrection: for thither the Prophet flies. For then cities and towers will fall, then the moon renewed and glorified will shine as the sun, and the sun sevenfold, that is far brighter than usual, will be clearer; and this so that the sun and moon may obtain the rewards of their course and labor. Whence there will be then a new heaven and a new earth. Thus St. Jerome, Lyra and the Gloss; which however falsely adds that the light of the sun and moon is to be increased, because it was diminished by sin, concerning which in the next §. Furthermore, this light the sun and heavens will receive, not from the splendor of the bodies of the Blessed, as Richard wishes in IV, dist. XLVIII, art. 2, ad 5, but immediately from God, and this first, so that thus in the heavens the majesty of God may shine forth; second, for the greater joy and glory of the Blessed, and so that between place and what is placed, that is between heaven and the glorious bodies of the Blessed there may be a fitting and congruous proportion; third, so that the sun and moon opposed to each other, separately, but clearly and gloriously may illuminate the whole of each hemisphere for all eternity; for then there will be no further motion of the sun, moon or heavens. Mystically, the Author cited by St. Augustine, Quest. CV: In heaven, he says, the just will shine as the sun, especially those who leaving all things have followed Christ. For these, as being illustrious in justice and holiness, are rightly compared to the sun and moon; because in heaven they will be sevenfold clearer than others; for they will be like Christ, John cap. III, vers. 2, so that their resurrection may deservedly be compared to the sun and moon, but that of others to the stars, epist. I to Corinth. cap. xv, vers. 41. AS THE LIGHT OF SEVEN DAYS. — That is, as the sun shone in the first seven days of the world, before Adam sinned. Thus St. Jerome, Haymo and the Gloss: for they think that in the first seven days of the world the sun had a clearer light than it now has, but that it was diminished on account of Adam's sin. But it is objected that the sun and moon were created on the fourth day of the world, Adam on the sixth, when also he sinned, as the Fathers commonly teach; therefore before his sin the sun could not shine for seven, but only for three days. Second, therefore and genuinely, as if to say: The light of the sun will be sevenfold greater, whence Vatablus translates, it will be as great as is the light of seven days. Thus Claudian, lib. De Raptu Proserpinae, introduces Pluto consoling and promising her a wonderful light: Believe not the day lost, we have other stars for us / and other spheres: and you will see light / purer, and will marvel more at the Elysian sun, / and its pious inhabitants. IN THE DAY WHEN THE LORD SHALL BIND UP THE WOUND, — namely when God shall heal the wound of all corruption, misery, sadness, mortality in us through the four gifts of the glorious body.
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27. BEHOLD THE NAME OF THE LORD COMES FROM AFAR. — Cyril, St. Thomas, Hugh, Forerius refer these things to the destruction of the Babylonians, as if to say: After a long space of time, namely after two hundred years, the Lord will come to overthrow Babylon through Cyrus. Others refer these things to the destruction of Sennacherib and the Assyrians; but that did not come from afar; for it happened at this time, namely around the fifteenth year of Hezekiah. Secondly and genuinely, St. Jerome, St. Thomas, Hugh and Lyran refer these things to the day of judgment: for the preceding verse dealt with it, and the following verses deal with it, especially verse 33, where he speaks of the fire of Tophet, that is of hell. The sense therefore is, as if to say: "Behold the name," that is the majesty, power and vengeance of the angry God, which he himself will exercise upon the reprobate on the day of judgment, will come after a long time. Whence follows: "His burning fury," etc. Mystically, Sanchez: The vengeance, he says, of God comes from afar; because it comes from the hardness of our sins, which is far removed from God, and compels him to rush forth to vengeance, whereas by himself and by his nature he is most merciful, and far removed and alien from punishing. HIS BURNING FURY. — It is a beautiful vivid description of God angered: for the angry are accustomed to breathe forth fury with eyes sparkling, nostrils smoking, and flames flashing from tongue and lips.
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28. HIS SPIRIT AS A TORRENT OVERFLOWING, — as if to say: The breath which was exhaled from the mouth of the indignant God was so vehement that it seemed it alone would prostrate all enemies; just as an aroused torrent, which has swollen to the middle of the neck, prostrates, overwhelms and submerges men. Thus Sanchez. Note: "A torrent overflowing" is a proverb signifying both the greatest abundance, and swiftness, and force, and destruction and calamity. For these things are involved in "torrent," especially "overflowing." Thus Seneca in Oedipus: "Golden torrent conducting rivers to the bank": "Torrent," that is overflowing, by catachresis. TO DESTROY THE NATIONS INTO NOTHING, — so that they may no longer be on earth, but in hell; on earth therefore they will be nothing: in hell they will be burned and annihilated as far as the force of fire and burning is concerned; but God preserving them for eternal torments, they will never be nothing or annihilated. From the Hebrew it can be translated with R. David, Pagninus and Vatablus, to sift the nations with a sieve of vanity, that is with useless winnowing, that is because the grain is not purified but lost, and everything in the fan is cast into the wind. AND THE BRIDLE OF ERROR WHICH WAS IN THE JAWS OF THE PEOPLES. — First, Forerius and Sanchez explain it, as if to say: The bridle and yoke which Sennacherib and the Chaldeans imposed upon the Jews, by which they made them, exiles from their country, wander through various regions, and many even from their native religion to the gods of the Gentiles (as appears in Jeremiah XVI, 13), God will destroy and crush. Secondly and genuinely, as if to say: God on the day of judgment will take away and destroy the power of the demon, by which he himself ruled sinners as if by a bridle, and led them into all error and impiety; consequently he will take away and the bridle of the world and the flesh, by which many are now unbridled. To this pertains the exposition of St. Gregory, homily 18 on Ezekiel: "The bridle," he says, "of error had constrained the jaws of the peoples, when paganism bound by the error of idols, did not know how to give praise to God in confession. But this very bridle of error has now been turned into a song for us, when rejoicing we sing and chant: All the gods of the Gentiles are demons, but the Lord made the heavens. And it is well said: As the voice of a sanctified solemnity; because while we render the praise of confession to God, we rejoice in a sanctified solemnity."
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29. YOU SHALL HAVE A SONG AS THE NIGHT OF A SANCTIFIED SOLEMNITY. — Thus it should be read, namely night, as the Roman, Hebrew, and Chaldean texts read it; not voice, as Plantin and others read it. Now first, he says, "as the night"; because, says Pintus, when the victim was to be immolated in the morning, the Jews spent the whole preceding night with joy and songs. Secondly and genuinely, the Prophet speaks to the saints and the elect, who in heaven will sing "a song as the night" (that is "of the night"; it is a Hebrew antiptosis: for the Hebrews lack cases; whence they use one for another, indeed for all); "of a sanctified solemnity," not of the Passover, but of the passage of the Red Sea, as if to say: The Blessed will sing such a song as the Hebrews sang when, the Red Sea having been crossed in the night, and Pharaoh having been submerged, they sang: "Let us sing to the Lord: for he is gloriously magnified," Exodus XV, 1. For St. John teaches that the elect will sing this song of Moses, Apocalypse XV. Thus St. Jerome. Some understand by night the night of nuptials, in which, they say, the Hebrews, from the desert, that is from gardens, with pipes and music went to the mountain, that is to Jerusalem, as if to say: The song of the Blessed will be like an epithalamium or hymeneal; but nuptials are nowhere called, nor were they then "a sanctified solemnity." AS ONE WHO GOES WITH A PIPE, TO ENTER INTO THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD — For those about to pay vows and to sacrifice were accustomed to go exulting with harps and pipes to the temple, or to God, who is mighty, indeed the strength of Israel.
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30. AND SHALL MAKE IT HEARD (that is, the Lord shall make known to the whole world the power of His voice, by which as it were with thunder He shall hurl the impious into Tartarus, and shall carry the saints into heaven): IN, etc., A FLAME OF FIRE (both of the conflagration of the world, and of hell), SHALL DASH IN A WHIRLWIND, — that is, as it were in a whirlwind and hail. It is a catachresis, signifying that God will destroy the reprobate in a terrible and horrible manner and with violent force. See Can. XXXVI. Thus St. Jerome.
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31. FOR AT THE VOICE OF THE LORD ASSYRIA SHALL BE AFRAID. — ASSYRIA, that is the devil, and any tyrant and oppressor, shall be struck and condemned by God's judgment. Thus St. Jerome. He alludes to Assyria, that is to Sennacherib, who was struck by God the avenger.
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32. AND THE PASSAGE OF THE ROD SHALL BE ESTABLISHED (that is, this rod or scourge of God passing through the reprobate and striking them, shall be established, that is strong, firm, stable and perpetual in hell: and thus) IN TIMBRELS AND HARPS (that is with the greatest rejoicing and triumph of the saints), AND IN BATTLES MOST GLORIOUS (that is in a renowned and glorious manner of fighting and subduing enemies, namely by His nod and command alone, which is wont to be celebrated with timbrels and harps, as was done for Moses, Exod. xv, and for David against Goliath), SHALL HE OVERCOME THEM: — for the Saints will indeed rejoice wonderfully over their impious enemies conquered, trampled down and delivered to eternal damnation. Thus St. Jerome. Secondly, Vatable expounds it, that is, God shall conquer the Assyrians not with arms, nor fighting seriously, but as it were playing. Thirdly, Forerius, that is, the Assyrians and Sennacherib shall be conquered, not with arms, but with sacrifices, which were offered with timbrels and harps: for the prayers of the pious avail more for victory than the arms of soldiers. For in Hebrew תנופה tenupha, which our translator renders "most glorious," signifies elevation and agitation, and thence a victim, which in sacrifice to God the creator of all was offered by elevating and agitating it toward the four regions of the world in the manner of a cross. But rather bellum tenupha is a keen and illustrious battle, in which the victor tosses the enemy about in every direction, as a lion tosses a bull; or in which, as if certain of victory, he exults with uplifted hands, rejoices, and as it were celebrates a triumph while fighting. Our translator therefore rightly renders it "battles most glorious"; and accordingly the first sense is more genuine; the Septuagint render tenupha as exchange; for they render it, they themselves with timbrels and harp shall fight against him by exchange.
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33. FOR TOPHETH HAS BEEN PREPARED FROM YESTERDAY. — The Chaldean [version renders it] gehenna; the Septuagint, a deep valley. For Topheth was gehenna, that is the valley of the sons of Ennom, near Jerusalem, where the Jews burned their sons to the idol Moloch, and, lest they be moved by their wailing, they struck תוף toph, that is drums; hence the place was called Topheth, as it were Drum, and by its possessors it was called Gehenna: whence on account of similar cruelty and burning, hell was called Topheth and Gehenna. Now first, St. Cyril, St. Thomas, Hugh, Forerius and Sanchez refer these things to the Assyrians and Chaldeans, and think that the forces of Sennacherib were slain by an Angel in Topheth, indeed burned, just as infants were burned in Topheth to the idol Moloch. Again to the Chaldeans and to the king, as Pagninus translated it, namely to Belshazzar, "Topheth" was "prepared" by God, namely in Babylon, where he was cast unburied into a dunghill and rotted: just as in Topheth there was a burial place of Jews, who rotted there, as Jeremiah teaches in chapter XIX, 11. The Septuagint plainly translates otherwise, namely, thou shalt indeed be deceived before days. Thus the Complutensian [edition] reads, although the Roman codices of Carafa have, thou shalt indeed be exacted before days; for it was an easy lapse from ἀπατηθήση, that is thou shalt be deceived, into ἀπαιτηθήση, that is thou shalt be exacted. The cause of this diversity is that the Septuagint took Topheth, or as it is in Hebrew Tophte, not as a proper name, but as a future tense of the verb פתח patha, that is he enticed, he deceived. Second and genuinely, the Prophet here gives the reason why he said in the preceding verse that the passage of God's rod upon the wicked is founded, that is perpetual; because namely he prepared for them from yesterday, that is from old, from the beginning of the world, Topheth, that is hell. Concerning the origin, etymology, etc. of Topheth, I shall speak at Jeremiah VII, 31. The Jews from this place think that "Topheth," or hell, was created by God on the second day of the world, because that day alone had "yesterday," that is one preceding day; but "yesterday" signifies all past time, as I showed at Hebrews XIII, 8; see what I said at Genesis I, 4, where I showed that hell was established immediately after the fall of the Angels on the first day of the world. "Yesterday" therefore signifies first, that the torments and fires of the damned are always new and recent, just as if they had begun on the day before yesterday. Second, the eternity of the same: because in eternity, inasmuch as it is stable and immobile, whatever span of ages is just like a day of yesterday: and therefore at any moment of eternity that fierce hellish fire will be so burning, as if it were burning today and had begun to be kindled yesterday, says Sanchez. Note here six conditions of hell. The first is, that it be "Topheth," that is a place of burning and of drums by which they are struck. The second, that from "yesterday," that is from the beginning of the world, it be prepared for the wicked. The third, that it be "deep," because near the center of the earth: whence, Job X, 21, it is called "the dark land and covered with the mist of death." See St. Gregory there. The fourth, that it be "enlarged"; both because it has a wide belly, so as to hold so many millions of men; and because it has an open and gaping mouth, so as to swallow the damned: hence hell is compared to a beast hungry and gaping with hunger, and dilating the opening of its mouth, so as to devour food or a man. Whence it is said Habakkuk II: "He hath enlarged his soul like hell"; and Isaiah v: "Therefore hath hell enlarged her soul, and opened her mouth without any limits." Namely "hell opens its insatiable gullet." Wherefore in Hebrew hell is called שאול scheol, that is demanding; because, as it is said Proverbs XXX, 13: "There are three things that are never satisfied, and the fourth, which never says: It is enough; hell, and the mouth of the womb, and the earth, which is not satisfied with water: and fire never says: It is enough." The fifth condition of hell follows, when he says: ITS NOURISHMENT, FIRE AND MUCH WOOD. — By "wood," which are the common fuel of fire, he understands by catachresis something else whatever; which will be eternal sulphur, and the same in number always burning, as I said at Apocalypse XIX. Again the very bodies of the damned themselves: these are called wood, Luke XXIII, 31; Ecclesiasticus XI, 3. Calvin takes the fire, etc., metaphorically for the punishment of God. For he denies that the damned are burned in hell by fire, and therefore asserts that the punishment of the damned is nothing other than that they continually apprehend God to be angry with them: for by this apprehension he says they are tormented and tortured. But Scripture and Christ everywhere threaten true fire to the damned: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire," he himself says, Matthew XXV, 41. The Church, St. Augustine and all the Fathers teach the same. See here how much Calvin weakens a matter of faith, and how much he takes away from men the fear of God and of hell, while he makes it imaginary and phantastic. This is the fraud of the devil, and men without fear of hell sin with impunity. THE BREATH OF THE LORD LIKE A TORRENT OF SULPHUR KINDLING IT. — "Topheth," or hell. This is the sixth condition of hell. Just as therefore of the Blessed it is said, Psalm XXXV: "Thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of Thy pleasure, for with Thee is the fountain of life," which namely continually in eternity pours forth to the Blessed the same life and joys always: so from God a torrent of sulphurous fire shall burst forth, which with the same perpetual burning shall torment the damned in eternity. Furthermore, "the breath of the Lord" is a tempestuous spirit divinely stirred up there to sharpen the fire, just as wind excites the burning of Etna, or it is the divine power perpetually preserving the fire, by which that fire shall burn perpetually without consumption. This breath shall kindle hell in the same manner as if a torrent of burning sulphur were poured into it: what more horrible can be conceived in the mind? "Hell is a lake without measure, deep without bottom, full of incomparable burning, full of intolerable stench; there is misery, there is darkness, there is no order, there is eternal horror; there is no hope of good, no despair of evil," says Hugh, book IV On the Soul: "In a horrible manner there comes to the wretched death without death, an end without end, defect without defect; because death always lives, and the end always begins, and defect knows not how to fail. Death destroys, and does not extinguish; pain torments, but in no way puts to flight fear; flame burns, but in no way shakes off darkness," says St. Gregory, IX Morals XXX. Morally, learn here how great are the torments of hell, how eternal the fires; meditate on them often, always keep them before your eyes, when the allurement to sin solicits you, when lust, when companions; put your finger in fire, in a burning candle for a few moments, and say to yourself: If so great is the torture of a burning candle for a moment, how great will be the torture of the fire of hell burning in eternity? "I do not buy eternal repentance at such a price;" I do not deserve a little honey for eternal gall, nay for fire. St. Gregory, book IV of the Dialogues, relates that Peter the hermit, deceased and straightway restored to his body, reported that he had seen the punishments of hell and innumerable places of flames, and in them certain powerful ones of this age: and when he had already been led so that he himself would be plunged into that fire, suddenly an angel of shining appearance appeared, who forbade him to be plunged into the fire, saying: "Go back, and henceforth pay the most careful attention to how you must live." Coming back to life, he bound himself with such fastings and vigils, that even if his tongue were silent, his conduct would speak of his having seen and feared the torments of hell. In the same place St. Gregory relates that a certain illustrious man Stephen, deceased, was led to the torments of hell, saw many things which he had not believed when heard before: and when he was brought before the judge, he heard: "I did not order this man to be brought, but Stephen the blacksmith." Who straightway was restored to his body, and Stephen the blacksmith, who dwelt near him, died at that same hour. St. Gregory continues: A certain soldier, he says, coming to himself from being lifeless, asserted that he had seen these things: "There was a bridge, beneath which a black and misty river, exhaling a cloud of intolerable stench, flowed. But after crossing the bridge, there were pleasant and green meadows, adorned with fragrant flowers of herbs, in which assemblies of white-robed men seemed to be: and so great was the fragrance of sweetness in that place, that the very fragrance of sweetness satisfied those walking and dwelling there: there were dwellings of various kinds, each full of the magnitude of light: there a certain house of wondrous power was being built, which appeared to be constructed of golden bricks, but whose it was could not be known. But there were certain dwellings on the bank of the aforesaid river; but some were covered by a cloud of rising stench, but others the rising stench from the river did not touch at all. But this was the test on the aforesaid bridge: that whoever wished to cross it from the unjust, would slip into the dark and foul river; but the just, to whom guilt did not stand in the way, would proceed across it with secure and free step to pleasant places." How Josaphat, converted by Barlaam, was led into paradise and hell, and what and how great things he saw there, by which he plainly overcame a most grave temptation of lust, nay fell into sickness and loss of strength, the Damascene relates in his History, chapter XXX. John Climacus, in the fourth degree, relates that in visiting monasteries he found a certain brother who had charge of the kitchen, endowed with singular grace of tears: whom asking whence he had obtained it, he heard from him "that he had never thought himself to be serving men in the kitchen's ministries, but to be well deserving of his brothers from among the Apostles; and from the fire which he perpetually beheld before his eyes, he had turned over in his mind the vast conflagrations of the fire of hell: which consideration was wont to draw forth abundant tears from his eyes." Thus also our Father Francis Borgia, by meditation on hell arrived at such contempt of himself and the world, and when he burned with fever: "Hence," he says, "consider, Francis, how great are the flames of hell." St. Gregory, in the fourth Dialogue, chapter 30, asserts that a certain holy and solitary man saw Theodoric king of the Goths, at the hour when he died, between Pope John and Symmachus the Patrician, whom he had unjustly killed, ungirt, unshod, and with hands bound behind his back, cast into the Vulcanian pot, which is in the island of Lipari. To the same pot the soul of the tyrant Ebroin was being conveyed by ship, as a certain man blinded by Ebroin heard from sailors, as Ado relates in the Chronicle, age 6. St. Mary of Oignies saw her deceased mother, saying that she was damned on account of unjust goods which she had possessed; and because, she said, I was unwilling to take notice what was being done against God in my household, and by my subjects. Hearing which, Mary immediately conformed herself to God's will, and blessed God's just judgment, as the Cardinal Vitriaco relates in book III of her Life, chapter 11. Remember thy last things, remember hell, and thou shalt not sin for ever. O Tophet! O Gehenna! how sharp thou art! how wide! how everlasting thou art!
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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In parte ista comminator propheta contra illos qui contempserunt prophetiam Jeremiae, euntes in Aegyptum, contra ejus consilium, sicut habetur Jerem. 45. Et dividitur in duas. In prima comminator contra Judaeos tantum; in secunda contra Judaeos et Aegyptios simul, de quibus confidebunt: 51 cap.: Vae qui descendent etc. Vel, secundum Glossam, in prima parte prohibet desensum, in secunda comminator poenam contra descendentes. Prima in duas. In prima ponit comminationem; in secunda consolationem, ibi, Propterea expectat. Prima in duas. In prima arguit descensum; secundo arguit praecepti contemptum, ibi, Ideo clamavi super hoc. Circa primum tria arguit in eis. Primo itineris dispositionem, ponens propositum, Ut faceretis consilium . . . telam, pravam machinationem; et consequentem effectum, Ut adderetis: 2 Paralip. 28: « Quare vultis addere » peccata super peccata? Secundo ponit consilii executionem quantum ad viae incessum, Qui ambulatis; qui incessus deformatur per contemptum divini consilii, Habentes fiduciam. Os meum, prophetam. Jerem. 15: « Si separaveris pretiosum a » vili, quasi os meum eris: » quia quae dixi facere noluistis.
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Et per fiduciam auxilii, Habentes fiduciam.
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Jerem. 17: « Maledictus qui confidit in homine, et ponit carnem brachium » suum. » Et ponit effectum: Et eris vobis fortitudo Pharaonis in confusionem. Oseaë 4: « Gloriam eorum in ignominiam commutabo. » Unde quantum ad viae terminum, Erant enim in Taphnis, quae est tantum in alia parte Aegypti, quasi timentes in primis terminis remanere. Jerem. 2. « Quid tibi vis in via Aegypti, ut bibas aquam » turbidam? » Et ostendit spei defectum: Omnes confusi sunt. Psalm. 145: « Nolite confidere in » principibus, in filiis hominum, in quibus non » est salus. » Tertio describit rerum asportationem, Onus jumentorum, comminans primo destructionem Aegypti: vel onus filiorum Juda. Jumentorum, propter soliditatem; vel quia sicut jumenta res suas deserebant. Austri, quia ad austrum fugerunt, vel quia in australi parte erat eorum habitatio. In terra tribulationis, in Aegypto, quae Hebraice dicitur Mesraim, quod interpretatur tribulatio, vel angustia. Jerem. 42: « Gladius quem vos formidatis, ibi compre hendet vos in terra Aegypti, et fames pro qua » estis solliciti, ad adhaerebit vobis in Aegypto. et ibi » moriemini. » Secundo ponit asportantium conditionem: Leaena, propter ferocitatem, leo, propter audaciae praesumptionem, vipera, propter crudelitatem. tatem, regulus volans, non quod habeat pennas, sed quia insilit in faciem hominis, propter velocitatem ad male faciendum. Soph. 3: « Principes e- » jus quasi leones. » Tertio rerum asportationem, Portantes.
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Quarto laboris frustrationem, Ad populum qui eis prodesse non poterit. Psalm. 59: « Va- » na salus hominis. » Ideo clamavi super hoc. Hic arguit in eis divini praecepti contemptum: et primo ostendit quomodo contemperint divinum praeceptum; in secundo quomodo contemperint salubrem consilium, ibi, Quia haec dicit Dominus Deus Israel. Circa primum tria ponit, Primo divinum praeceptum; secundo populi contemptum, ibi, Populus enim ad iracundiam provocans est; tertio comminatur contemptentibus mortem, vel mortis intentum, ibi, Propterea haec dicit Sanctus Israel. Primo praeceptum: quia scilicet inutile est ire in Aegyptum, quiesce, in terra tua. Jer. 14: « Haec dicit Dominus populo huic, » qui dilexit movere pedem suum, et non quevit et Do- » mino non placuit. » Secundo ponit praecepti confirmationem.
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Nunc ergo ingressus scribe ei super huxum. Tu Isaias, ingressus, per propheticae visionem, vel tu Jeremias, ingressus, in Aegyptum cum populo, sicut legitur Jer. 45. Tertio assignat confirmationis fructum, Et erit in die illa. Exod. 17: « Scribe hoc ob monumentum. » Populus enim ad iracundiam provocans est. Hic ponit populi contemptum: et primo secundum quod contemnabant Deum. Ad iracundiam, quxum ad peccatum transgressionis. Ezech. 2: « Noli esse exasperans sicut domus Israel » exasperatrix est. » Mendaces, quantum ad peccatum locutionis, quia promiserunt Jeremiae obedientiam, quam servare noluerunt, ut habetur Jer. 42. Psalm. 17: « Filii alieni mentiti sunt mihi. » Nolentes, quantum ad peccatum omissionis.
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Prover: 28: « Qui obturat aurem suam ne audiat legem, » oratio ejus erit execrabilis. » Secundo ponit contemptum prophetarum, Qui dicunt videntibus secundum quod interdicabant eis proprium officium. Amos 7: « Qui vides, gradere, fuge. » Inquantum inducebant eos ad mendacium, Loquimini. 5 Reg. ult.: « Ecce sermones prophetarum ore uno regi » bona praedicant. » Declinate, inquantum prohibent divinae cognitionis verbum. Job. 21: « Qui » dixerunt Deo Recede a nobis, scientiam viarum tuarum nolumus: » Propterea haec dicit Sanctus Israel.
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Hic comminatur eis interitum subitum resumens culpam, ut justior appareat poena: Pro eo quod reprobastis. Poenam autem adjungit, ibi, Propterea erit vobis; significans poenam subitanam per similitudinem ruinae, quae diu latet in pariete, qui tandem subito cadit, Quoniam subito: 1 Thess. 5: « Cum enim dixerint, Pax et securitas; » tunc superveniet eis repentinus interitus. » Et dicit poenam validam, Et comminetur, sub similitudine contractionis lagena, cujus nulla testa remanet integra ad aliquid valens, scilicet ad ignem portandum, et ad aquam hauriendam. Supra 24: « Contractione confringetur terra. »
Nota super illo verbo, Quiesce, quia quiescere debet homo primo a peccati actu. Supra 1: « Quie- » scite agere perversae, discite bene facere. Secundo a vagandi cursu. Jerem. 14: « Haec dices populo » huic, qui dilexit movere pedes suos, et non » queivit. » Tertio ab immoderato appetitu. Infra 57: « Cor impii quasi mare fervens, quod quie-
« scere non potest. » Quarto a praesumptuoso intellectu. Eccli. 18: « Cum consummaverit homo, » tunc incipiet. »
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Quia haec dicit Dominus Deus Israel. Hic arguit in eis divini consilii contemptum: et circa hoc tria ponit. Primo consilium, Si revertamini. Infra 43: « Convertimini ad me, et salvi eritis. » Secundo contemptum: Et dixistis, Nequaquam.
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Ideo fugietis: hoc est verbum Domini. Deut. 2: « Per » unam viam gradiemur. » Et super veloces ascendemus: vox populi rebellis. Ideo velociore: vox Domini. Thren. 4: « Velociores fuerunt persectores » nostri aquilis caeli. » Tertio comminatur meritum, Mille, Aegyptii, unius Chaldaei. Fugietis omnes vos Judaei, quinque, Chaldaeorum. Deut. 52: « Quomodo persequetur unus mille, et duo fugent » decem millia? » Quasi malus, in signum evitandi naufragii.
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Supra 6: « Erit in ostensionem sicut ter- » bintus et sicut quercus quae expandit ramos suos. » Propterea expectat Dominus ut misereatur vestri. Hic ponit consolationem: et circa hoc duo facit.
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Primo proponit miserendi propositum; secundo exequitur misericordiae beneficium, ibi, Populus enim Sion habitabit in Jerusalem. Circa primum tria. Primo miserendi propositum in Deo, Propterea expectat, non ex toto destruens vos. Oseae 5: « Dies mul- » tos expectabis me: » Secundo ingratorum judicium: Et ideo exaltabitur; idest, alius in justitia apparebit, puniens vos ingratos suis beneficiis. Supra 5: « Exaltabitur Dominus exercituum in » judicio. » Tertio bonorum praemium, Beati omnes. Luc. 12: « Vos similes hominibus expectan- » tibus dominum suum. » Populus enim Sion habitabit in Jerusalem. Hic exequitur misericordiae beneficium: et primo in eorum exaltatione; secunda in hostium oppressione, ibi, Ecce nomen Domini venit de longinquo. Circa primum duo. Primo sublationem malorum contra exilii captivitatem. Populus enim, tempore Zorobabel: vel potius mystice totum. Ps. 124: « Non commovebitur in ac- » terum qui habitat in Jerusalem. » Contra tristitiae anxietatem: Plorans, ante, nequaquam plorabis, semper, sed quandoque liberaberis. Supra 25: « Aufere lacrymam tuam ab omni face. » Contra Dei indignationem Miserans. Ps. 90: « Invocabit me, et ego exaudiam eum. » Contra paupertatem: Et tibi dabit Dominus. Et est sensus: modico victu erunt contenti. Eccli. 29: « Initium » hominis panis et aqua. » Vel quia in reditu de Babylone penuriam passi sunt. Mystice secundum Glossam. Secundo ponit collationem bonorum: unde, Faciet.
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Et primo spiritualium, quantum ad electam doctrinam, describens doctorem: Avolare, idest recedere, doctorem, Esdram, cujus doctrina adhuc utuntur, vel Christum, post tergum, sicut fugiens quando ab insequente revocatur. Joel 2: « Dedit nobis Dominus doctorem justitiae. » Et ponit doctrinam, Huc via. Num. 20: « Via regia » gradiemur. » Et etiam quantum ad debitam Dei culturam, Et contaminabis, in usus communes rediges. 4 Reg. 25: « Contaminavit excelsa et » demolitus est ea. » Vestimentum, omnem ornamentum idoli. Secundo quantum ad temporalia bona: unde dicit, Egredere. scilicet a spiritualibus ad temporalia. Et primo promittit terrae fertilitatem promittens causam, Dabitur pluvia: Joel 2: « Descendere fa• ciet ad vos imbrem: • et effectum, quantum ad cibos hominum.
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Et pulli asinorum. Migma, hordeum cum pa- lea purgatum, quod prius commixtum comedebant. Secundo promittit aquarum ubertatem, Et erunt. Judaei dicunt haec ad litteram esse complenda in fine mundi, Multorum, scilicet Romanorum, se- cundum eos; quod est fabulosum. Vel potest esse metaphorica locutio: ut per aquam significetur consolatio, quam post reditum de captivitate et Babyloniae destructionem habuerunt. Vel mystice de doctrina Christi.
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Infra 41: • Aperiam in supre- • mis collibus flumina, et in medio camporum • fontes. • Tertio caeli claritatem, Et erit lux solis sicut lux septem dierum: tantum in uno quantum modo in septem, quasi septemplier: vel sicut fuit in primo septenario dierum. Haec Judaei fabulose ad litteram dicunt tempore au- reae Jerusalem. Sed melius est quod ad futurum sanctorum gloriam referatur, post mundi innova- tionem. Vel metaphorice et hyperbolice ad statum populi referatur. Ps. 146: • Qui sanat contritos • corde, et alligat contritiones eorum. •
Nota super illo verbo, Et panes frugum, quia verbum Dei est panis primo arctus propter observandi difficultatem. Math. 7: • Arcta est via quae • ducit ad vitam. • Secundo uberrimus propter fru- ctus utilitatem. Infra 55: • Quomodo descendit • imber de caelo, et illud ultra non revertitur, • et inebriat terram, et germinare eam facit: sic erit • verbum quod egredietur de ore meo. Tertio pinguis propter delectationis suavitatem. Gen. 49: • Aser panis pinguis. •
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Ecce nomen Domini venit de longinquo. Hic con- solatur eos ex hostium punitione: et circa hoc tria po- nit. Primo judicis punientis adventum; secundo poe- nae modum, Et audilam faciet; tertio punitionis lo- cum, ibi, Praeparata est enim ab heri Thophet. Circa primum tria ponit. Primo adventum: Venit, ad universale judicium, de longinquo, de alto po- tentiae suae. Vel ad destruendos Babylonios, per Medos a longe venientes. Jer. 5: • Ecce ego ad- • ducam super vos gentem de longinquo. • No- men Domini, filius quantum ad primam expositione- m; vel quia redundans est in gloriam ipsius, quantum ad secundam et tertiam. Secundo osten- dit venientis zelum, ponens iram in corde, per an- tropospatos, Ardens furor. Furor est ira accensa. Incenditur autem vel quantum ad vehementiam desiderii; et quantum ad hoc dicit, Ardens: vel quantum ad quantitatem poenae; et quantum ad hoc dicit, Gravis. Infra 63: • Isti fumus erunt in • furore meo, ignis ardens tota die. • Ponit etiam iram in ore: Labia ejus repleta sunt indignatione, improperans peccata; devorans, commodando tor- menta. Supra 11: • Spiritu laborior suorum in- • terficiet impium. • Ponit etiam in opere: Spiri- tus ejus, idest indignatio, usque ad medium colli, idest usque ad extinctionem adducet. Supra 8: • Ibit per Judam inundos furor. • Tertio ponit indignationis effectum. In malis destructionem gen-
tium.
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Ad perdendas gentes. Ps. 72: • Domine, in • civitate tua imaginem ipsorum ad nihilum redi- • ges. • Et cessationem tyrannorum, Et frenum erroris. Job 50: • Frenum posuit in os meum. • Ponit etiam effectum in bonis in laude oris, Can- ticum erit solemnitatis: quia in tribus solemnitati- bus ibant in Jerusalem cum laetitia.
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Levit. 53: • Civitatem solemnitatis nostrae oculi tui videbunt. • Et in jucunditate cordis, In laetitia cordis. Infra 53: • Gaudium et laetitiam obtinebunt, et fugiet • ab eis dolor et gemitus. • Judith elt.: • Erat • autem populus Domini jucundus. • Et audilam faciet Dominus gloriam vocis suae. Hic describit poenae modum: et circa hoc tria facit. Primo de- scribit poenae modum quantum ad punientis actum. Vocis suae, per quam apparebit gloriosus, et terro- rem brachii, per similitudinem irati, qui his modis comminatur. Job 40: • Si habes brachium sicut • Deus. • Et quantum ad instrumentum, Et flamma ignis: quia, ad litteram, Assyrii combusti fuerunt.
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Et in lapide grandinis: forte tempestas aliqua fuit. Vel significantur diversae poenae in die judicii. Ps. 10: Ignis, sulphur, et spiritus procellarum, pars • calicis eorum. • Secundo ponit poenae inflictio- nem, ostendens ejus honorem, A voce enim: et poenae durationem, Et erit transitus fundatus, idest firmatus.
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Tertio sanctorum exultationem, In citharis et in bellis praecipuis, quae sola divina virtute geruntur. Ps. 57: • Laetabitur justus cum • viderit vindictam. • Praeparata est enim ab heri Thophet. Hic describit poenae locum: et primo ipsius dispositionem. Thophet, vallis filii Emen, gehenna, quia conservabatur ibi ignis ad sacrificia in lapi- dibus de Tophis. Eadem est vallis Gehsemani, in qua destructus est exercitus Senacherib. Vel signi- ficatur per ipsam infernus. Unde Judaei conjiciunt ibi esse infernum, quia ex duabus palmis quae ibi sunt, semper emittitur fumus. Ab heri, idest ab initio; vel a secundo die secundum Judaeos, quae habuit tantum heri: unde nudius tertius. De hac valle habetur Jer. 7 et 19: A rege, Deo. Supra 5: • Dilatavit infernus animam suam. • Secundo poe- narum diversitatem, Nutrimenta. Ligna impii, vel illi de exercitu Senacherib. Flatus, idest voluntas, metaphorice. Ps. 10: • Ignis, sulphur, • spiritus procellarum, pars calicis eorum. •
Nota super illo verbo, Ecce nomen Domini, quia filius Dei est nomen Patris: primo quo manifesta- tur. Joan. 17: • Manifestavi nomen tuum homini- • bus. • Secundo quo honoratur. Matth. 6: • Pa- • ter, sanctificetur nomen tuum. • Tertio quo in- vocatur. Joan. 16: • Quaecumque petieritis Patrem • in nomine meo, dabit vobis. •
Item super illo verbo, Venit de longinquo, quod venit de longinquo primo propter diuturnam ex- pectationem. Hebr. 17: • Juxta fidem defuncti sunt • omnes isti, non receptis repromissionibus, sed a • longe eas aspicientes. • Secundo propter meri- torum nostrorum imperfectionem. Ephes. 2: • Ve- • niens evangelizavit pacem vobis qui longe fui- • stis. • Tertio propter temporis dilationem. Num. 24: • Videbo eum, sed non modo; intuebor illum, • sed non prope. • Quarto propter majestatis altitudinem. Ps. 18: « A summo caelo egressio ejus, • et occursus ejus usque ad summum ejus. » Nota super illo verbo, Lingua ejus quasi ignis, quia caritas dicitur ignis primo quia illuminat. Eccl. 2: « Qui timetis Deum diligite eum, et illumina- • buntur corda vestra. » Secundo quia aestuat. Cant. 2: « Fulcite me floribus, stipate me malis, • quia amore languco. » Tertio, quia ad se om-
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v. 4 « Vae, filii desertores, dicit Dominus, ut faceretis consilium et non. ex me, et ordiremini telam et non per spiritum meum, ut adderetis peccatum super peccatum » | — rebellionem et contumaciam voce "D denuntiat (cf. 1, 93), quae in filiis eo magis vituperio est; honoris ac dignitatis titulo prolato quantis modis Deo sint obstricti docet et turpitudinem rebellionis ac protervitatis exaggerat. Haec in eo cernitur, quod contra regimen theocraticum Deo non consulto, immo Deo aperte contradicente et vetante consilia capiunt et foedus inire tentant. Haec enim agentes Deum regem negligunt, seponunt, spernunt et talem rerum gerendarum rationem sibi arrogant, qualem Deus per prophetas et oracula exercendam sibi reservaverat. Cum igitur legem theocratiae fundamentalem ipsumque Dei dominium aggrediantur et subvertant, mirum non est eos compellari rebelles iisque dici haec ab ipsis fieri eo animo, w£ peccatis addant peccata, priora scil. peccata (cf. cap. 9. 7) hac a Deo rege defectione complentes. Quale sit illud consilium et quale foedus, iam indicat per singula
flagitaturi Aegyptios adierunt ; non opem, sed opprobria et confusionem eos reportaturos esse ab Aegyptiis praedicit oraculo in Aegyptum prolato (30, 1-1). Quod oraculum propheta diligenter perscribere iubetur propter contumaces, qui non ea quae utilia sunt ac recta audire velint, sed quae ipsi perverse appetunt; quare poenas iniquitatis dabunt in extremum exitium ruituri. Idque merito; nam normam salutis quam Dominus praefixerat petulanter reiecerunt; unde suis ipsorum conaminibus sibi interitum adsciscent (30, 8-171). Deus autem fidelis et misericors eos qui in ipso fiduciam collocant mediis in angustiis auxilio, institutione divina, abundantia bonorum quam amantissime exornabit (30, 18-26) et tamquam iudex terribilis et vindex in hostes populi animadvertet mirum in modum vindictam capiens, suos autem incredibili laetitia perfundens (30, 21-33). Quam apte hic sermo antecedentibus iungatur, facile cernitur. Eo enim perspicue explicatur, quale sit consilium illud, quod a Domino abscondere nitantur (29, 15) ; appetunt scil. foedus aegyptiacum eoque opem et salutem sibi promittunt. Quod cum normae theocraticae aperte sit oppositum, propheta, custos theocratiae, omni verborum pondere quam inutilis futura sit Aegyptus quantamque ipsis allatura ignominiam denuntiat, contumaciam et perversitatem popularium castigat, unam salutis normam qua Deus uti velit pluribus commendat, 'salutem a Deo dandam egregie describit, ultionem de hostibus capiendam eorumque interitum vivis coloribus depingit. Quibus omnibus id sane assequi vult, uta spe aegyptiaca eos retrahat opprobrio poenisque ostensis, ut ad Dei fiduciam eos alliciat benignitate eius ac salute descripta. Quare hoc quoque sermone auditorum animos in omnem versat partem : modo minis et'terroribus eos absterrens a fiducia humana, modo bonorum promissione ac descriptione eos demulcens, modo Deum vindicem malorum exhibens, modo eum salutis largitorem benignissimum describens. Ita omnes quasi animorum aditus vates tentat, ut a perversis machinationibus eos retrahat et in uno Deo spem ponere efficaciter doceat.
Quantopere a norma theocratica, qua Deus ipse per suos internuntios et oraculis datis res omnes administrare volebat, recesserint, gravi reprehensione propheta effert
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v. 2 « qui ambulatis ut descendatis in Aegyptum et os meum mon interrogastis, sperantes auxilium in fortitudine Pharaonis et habentes fiduciam in umbra, Aegypti » ; — reprehensione illa v. 4 generali praemissa attentio animorum excitatur, ita ut accurata haec altera accusatio eo maiore vi audientes percellat et eis qui abscondere voluerint consilium (29, 13) a Domino, clarissime prodat nihil vatem latere, immo luce clarius machinationes omnes ei patere. Locutione ampliore ambulatis ut descendatis ipse labor itineris ac diuturnitas indicari videtur; « longum iter suscipitis, ut quaeratis humanum auxilium, cum habere possetis divinum » (Mald.). Idque faciunt propheta haud consulto, qui est os Domini (cf. Ex. 4, 16; 1, 1. Ier. 15, 19) ; de rebus enim gràvioribus publicisque ex norma theocratica vel prophetae erant interrogandi vel Dei voluntas per pontificem ope urim et tummim erat exquirenda. Cur descendant in Aegyptum, ex hebr. verte : ut roborentur ! robore Pharaonis (cf. Syr. Chald. Mald. Malv. Net. Drechsl, Naeg.) et confugiant ad umbram Aegypti vel se abscondant in umbra Aegypti. Bene dicitur umbra, vox scil. ambigua, quae uti absconsionem et tutelam protectionemque a calore significat, ita quoque impotentiam, infirmitatem, vanum ac nihil designat ?. Et vere umbram 1. e. debilitatem et nihil : intelligi in subsequentibus satis innuitur a vate. Verum quantopere a spe concepta deiiciendi sint, statim iis declarat
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V. 98 « et erit vobis fortitudo Pharaonis in. confusionem et fiducia umbrae Aegypli in ignominiam » ; — hebr. et refugium (vel absconsio) in umbram Aegypti erit vobis in-opprobrium ; cf. 20, 5. Haec ergo ab ore Domini audire debent, quibus quam misere convellenda sint ipsorum consilia edoceantur. Atque revera opprobriis a Rabsace iactis demum experti sunt, quam vere vaticinatus sit propheta (cf. 36, 6. 4 Reg. 18, 20). — Quam merito id eis eventurum sit, vates ex sedulitate declarat, qua legatos varias in partes miserunt, simulque sermonem per singula pertexens iis manifestat se de occultis eorum machinationibus esse omnino edoctum ; quare quae adduntur etiam antecedentibus robur et probationem adiiciunt ita, ut si forte accusationem factam negare voluerint, omne effugium iis occludatur;
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v. 4 « erant enim in. Tani principes tui et nuntii tui usque ad. Hanes pervenerunt » ; — hebr. nam principes eius fuerant in Tani et nuntii eius perveniunt (venient, perüngent) ad Hanes; modo loquendi indicari videtur, illos iam pervenisse Tanim, sed nuntios adhuc in itinere Hanes versus occupari. Tanis vel hebr. Zoan, hieroglyphice scribitur tan vel ta, urbs antiquissima (cf. Num. 13, 23. Ps. ''1, 12. 43) in cuius regione Moyses miracula patraverat, sita erat in terra Gosen ibique aliquae dynastiae aegyptiacae (ex Manethone 21. et 23.) sedem habuerunt (cf. Brugsch, Geogr. Inschrifien I p. 81. 90. Winer s. v. Schenkel, Bibellexicon V. p. 122). Hanes, hebr. Chanes, a plerisque urbs fuisse censetur in media Aegypto in insula sita, quam Graeci Heracleopolin magnam vocabant et quae hodie Ehnes appellatur et eadem creditur quae "Ayoe:c apud Herodotum (8, 131) et Ahnas apud Arabes (cf. Brugsch l. c. 980; Schenkel, Bibellexicon II p. 590). Urbibus istis nominatis auxilium a Iudaeis efflagitatum esse apparet et.apud regem Aegypti inferioris, qui tum temporis erat Sethos ex dynastia 24 saijca, et apud regem Schabataka ex dynastia 25 aethiopica, qui in Napata et Thebis dominabatur ; unde primores illi qui apud Iudaeos a partibus Aegyptiorum stabant longe lateque opem conquirere studebant. Quod cum Ezechia rege inscio vel invito fieri nullatenus posset, intelligitur cur vates adeo severe modum agendi antitheocraticum condemnet et mala inde proventura adeo vivide proponat. Taphnes (üti quoque in margine legitur cod. 380 apud de Rossi). Perperam quoque Kn. aliique pauci principes nuntiosque intelligunt Pharaonis ; principes scil. militum qui regi irati in Tani manent nec auxilium ferre. volunt, ita ut nuntii regis frustra itineribus defatigentur et frustra ad arma milites convocare studeant (cf. Herodot. 2, 141). Sed principes illos regi iratos in urbe otiosos sedere neque regi ad arma vocanti obsequi velle, nullo modo verbis textus adeo simplicibus exprimitur, lectionem autem hebr. immerito mutari iam ostensum est. Neque explieatio illa rebus revera gestis congruit; nam regem aegyptiacum exercitu conseripto contra Assyrios profectum esse, ex 4 Rey. 19, 9 et Is. 37, 9 indubie constat. : Probatione allata qua constat accusationem vere ac recte fieri et pravis illorum machinationibus detectis et demonstratis propheta cum emphasi id repetit quod iam in v. 3 inculcaverat,
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v. 8 « omnes confusi sunt super populo qui eis prodesse mon potuit; non fu?runt in. auilium et in aliquam utilitatem, sed in confusionem et in opprobrium » ; — i. e. omnes pudore afficientur; in hebr. alterum membrum verbo omisso cum ictu effertur : non in auxilium nequ» in utilitatem, verum in confusionem et etiam in opprobrium. Quod quo megis efferatur, vates oraculam minis plenum et proprio titulo distinctum sermoni inserit
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v. 6 « Onus iumentorum austri »; — hebr. onus behemoth austri; behemoth nomen esse hippopotami, vide ad Iob 40, 10; eo autem animali Aegyptum declarari certum est, id enim iam nomine terrae australis indicatur, dum Babylonia regio dicitur septemtrionalis; id hippopotamo innuitur, qui in Nilo fluvio frequens adest; similiter alias Aegyptus vel 2n serpens, vel crocodilus vel fera arundinis aenigmatice designatur (cf. 27, 1. Ps. 61, 31). Hippopotamo autem animali vasto ac pinguissimo quod non sine difficultate se movet bene delineatur Aegyptiorum indoles * qui ad auxilia ferenda iam saepius non adrepserunt nisi tardius; ita Osee regem Samariae deceperunt, ita Samaria ab Assyriis expugnata sero venerunt (cf. RoAL.). Hippopotamum intelligi recentioribus compluribus placet (cf. Schegg, Roh. Del. Naeg. Troch.) ; explicant n$203 statum constructum de nt572 Iob 40, 10. Aliitamen iumenta retinent ; ita veteres versiones; LX X ópasis 18v vevpumóov ; Aq. Bpaq. xeenyóiv Aufbs ; Sym. Xijuex xenyóv vóvov ; sim. Theod. Syrus. Haec autem iumenta intelligunt plerique Iudaeos : «.cum ludaeos videret [saias ferre divitias suas in Aegyptum per viam australem seu meridionalem, nempe per desertum illud horrendum quod ad australem plagam Palaestinae iacet per quod filii Israel in terram promissam ex Aegypto profecti sunt, et eorum onera videret atque propter hoc a Deo duriter tractandos, dieit onus... i. e. visio gravis (cf. 13, 4) in eos qui veluti iumenta versus austrum onerati proficiscuntur » (For. sim. Mald. Malv. Sanct. Lap. Men. Tir. et iam S. Hier. Thom.) ; alii et Aegyptum et Iudaeorum legatos communi nomine comprehendi volunt (cf. Naeg.). Inscriptionem hanc aliqui recentiores (Ges. Hitz. Umbreit, Kn. Dred.) ut additamentum e textu eiiciunt, quibus iam praelusit Calm. scribens ad h.l. : « inscriptio haec minus necessaria hic videtur ac merito suspicamur Iudaei alicuius additamentum esse ». At perperam. Nam ex v. 8 elucet effatam hoc tamquam oraculum peculiare posterorum memoriae commendari et asservari, unde illud titulo peculiari insigniri quis mirabitur? Ea autem inscriptione attentio quam maxime provocatur, id quod hoc loco magnam habet emphasin. Porro titulus eodem modo profertur, sicut quater cap. 91. 99 et habet aliquid aenigmatici, sicuti illi tituli; quare manum glossatoris hoc loco minime deprehenderis. Minis istis singulari oraculo in Aegyptum iactis pondus magnum accedit orationi ; ipsa Aegypti designatio, ut vidimus, ad rem praesentem est aptissima et eleganti ratione iam praeformat et alio modo effert nomen illud Aegypto v. 7 inditum ; non minus apte quam concinne et eleganter oraculum nomine aenigmatico et inchoatur et concluditur ; nomen denique illud singulari consensu apud omnes testes antiquos quotquot exstant reperitur : quid igitur aniplius requisieris, ut rationibus et internis et externis inscriptionem esse genuinam et ab ipso auctore additam affirmes? Alii verba quidem retinent, at inscriptionem non agnoscunt. Ita iam Chald. : « portant in iumentis suis in via austri, in terra.. » et Vet. : « tamquam vectigal bovis marini portant thesauros suos... » ; at immerito a communi veterum et recentiorum acceptione receditur; novae interpretationi obstat collocatio verborum et sententia nimis interrupta et languida. Indole aegyptiaca in ipso titulo delineata non sine acerba ironia quot labores et pericula subeant, quot thesauros impendant, ut confusionem et opprobrium. sibi comparent, vates exsequitur v. 6 « in terra tribulationis et angustiae, leaena et leo ex eis, vipera et regulus volans, portantes super hwmeros iumentorum divitias suas et super gibbum camelorum. thesauros suos ad populum qui eis prodesse non poterit »; — textum hebr. iunge et explica : per terram tribulationis et angustiarum, ex qua est leaena et leo, vipera et regulus volans, portant super humeros asinorum opes suas. Bene notat Mald. : « describit difficultatem itineris quod a legatis suscipiebatur : transeundum enim erat illis desertum quod propbeta vocat terram tribulationis et angustiae, ubi sunt leones, viperae, reguli qui ex eis (terris) egrediuntur » ; de qua re cf. Deut. 8, 49 : « ductor tuus fuit in solitudine magna atque terribili, in qua erat serpens flatu adurens » i. e. saraph hebr. quae vox hoc quoque loco usurpatur; de regulo cf. 44, 99. Neque minus horrores deserti apud ler. depinguntur : « qui traduxit nos per desertum, per terram inhabitabilem et inviam, per terram sitis et imaginem mortis ». Laboribus vero et periculis quibus se exponunt addunt opum profusionem : asinos enim et camelos onerarunt, ut . thesauros suos effunderent super populum (hebr.), qui tamen nihil utilitatis eis praestabit. Tertio id iam inculcat vates (cf. v. 5 hebr.). Ergo laborant et opes profundunt in vanum, idque iuremerito, quia sine Deo, immo contra Deum rationes ineunt; revera igitur iam periit sapientia a sapientibus (29, 14) ; unde
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v. 1 « Aegyptus enim frustra. et vane auxiliabitur; ideo clamavi super hoc .; superbia tantum. est, quiesce » ! — nomen indit propheta, quo vera Aegypti indoles declaretur ad rem praesentem apta et facta; hebr. 25? qua voce alias quoque Aegyptus designatur (cf. 51, 9. Ps. 86, 4; 88, 11), dicit tumorem, impetum, ferociam, superbiam ; hebr. potest verti cum Malv. : « tumor ipsi i. e. Aegyptus nihil nisi tumor et ampullae inanissimae sunt... tota illa ampla et magnifica Aegyptiorum promissio seu iactatio de mittendis auxiliis eo tandem recidet, ut nihil agant »; id quod in hebr. ultimo verbo indicatur n2X? i. e. cessatio, sessio !; iactant sese quidem dc tument et gloriantur, at quando ipsa res agitur, domi sedent ac remanerit otiosi. Ita cum risu et contemptu Aegyptus decribitur et eo nomine tamquam tessera populo tradito vates conatus illos antitheocraticos eludere et evertere studet. — Interpretes latini cum 5S. /Iier. explicant quiesce de Iuda : desine petere auxilium a superbis Aegyptiis, vel domi mane, o Tuda, quiesce ab ista profectione. Sed cum novum nomen Aegypto indendum annuntietur, prior interpretatio textui hebr. consona praeferenda est.
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v. 8 « Nunc ergo ingressus scribe ei super buzwm et in libro diligenter exara illud, et erit in die novissimo in testimonium usque im aeternum »; — hebr. nunc ingredere, scribe illud in tabula coram eis scil. qui adsint tamquam testes rei praedictae et literis consignatae... et erit (ut sit vel permaneat) ad tempus subsequens, ad perpetuum, usque in aeternum ; cf. 8, 1. Perennis igitur exstet memoria et sollemniter testatum relinquatur, « quam saepe populum hunc de officio suo commonuerim et in quo salutis suae ratio tota consisteret aperte demonstraverim et ne praeceps in pestem rueret obtestatus sim » (Osor.). Tabula et liber parallelismi et emphasis gratia adhibetur, non quasi bis conficienda sit scriptio. Textus mas. fert in perpetuum 25 ; nescio an non praeferenda sit lectio quam sequuntur Aq. Sym. Theod. Syrus, vulg. p lestimonium, elg uxoxógvo», quae lectio magno pondere praestat et vehementem contumacium accusationem effert et cur Deus oraculum velit literis mandari et posteris tradi graviter monet, similiter uti olim Moyses : « tollite librum istum et ponite eum in latere arcae foederis Domini Dei vestri, ut sit ibi contra te 4n testimonium » (Deut. 31, 26). Neque frustra dicitur usque ?n aeternum; voces enim propheticae Dei normas docent aeternas iisque documenta continentur semper et ubique quae valeant. Publicis autem monumentis et testibus sollemniter accitis oraculum illud est consignandum, quia omnia primorum populique studia in rem prorsus contrariam nituntur; quare simplex enuntiatio vel non attenderetur vel statim oblivioni daretur;
Effatum illud in Aegyptum pronuntiatum diligenter literarum monumentis consignare propheta iubetur, ut per cunctas aetates constet quantopere Deus illum agendi modum aversetur et ut oraculum diligenter servatum quando rei exitus aderit divinam manifestet curam, providentiam, rerum praescientiam iisque qui frustra moniti sint, confusioni vertatur ;
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v. 9 « populus enim ad. iracundiam provocans est et filii mendaces, filii nolentes audire legem Dei »; — hebr. populus enim rebellis est vel refractarius, durae cervicis, qui nolit obsequi ; mendaces, qui spem suam in mendaciis rebusque vanis ponunt (28, 15) vel mendacia et fallacias prae veritate amant et amplectuntur, uti versu subsequenti dicitur, vel etiam qui perfidi, adulterini ac degeneres Dei spem et exspectationem fallunt et a foedere inito desciscunt promissis minime stantes (cf. S. Cyr. Osor. Men.). Utpote tales doctrinam Dei respuunt. Quomodo aures suas veritati occludant, vates graphice describit
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v. 10 « qu? dicunt videntibus : nolite videre, et. aspicientibus : nolite aspicere nobis ea quae recta sunt! loquimini mobis placentia, videte mobis errores »! —- prophetas vera videntes respuunt; pseudoprophetis adhaerent qui adulationes (hebr.) loquuntur, qui populi praeiudiciis adstipulantur ; ita enim mores populares conformati sunt, ut iis aures avidae praebeantur, qui ea promittunt et vaticinantur quae quisque libenter audit; cf. Mich. 9, 11 (hebr.), atque in eo potissimum et semper constitit et ubique constat pseudoprophetarum vis et auctoritas, ut cupiditates populares in suas partes connivendo et blandiendo pertrahant. Sermonem propheta instruit, uti 28, 15; quid revera expetant et exoptent, nomine blanditiarum. et deceptionum effert innuens ipsos sua sponte a pseudoprophetis. velle decipi et scientes veritatem repellere et iustam prophetarum reprehensionem aversari. Immo longius progrediuntur
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v. 11 « auferte a me viam, declinate a me semitam, cesset a facie nostra Sanctus Israel »|! — hebr. recedite a via, declinate a semita, facite cessare a facie nostra Sanctum Israel i. e. volunt, ut prophetae tramite veri reclique relicto perversis cupiditatibus obsequantur, ut iam non admoneantur quid Sanctus Israel postulet. Animorum id est in malo proposito obfirmatorum. Aegre ferunt ipsum nomen Sancti Israel, quo prae ceteris Isaias frequenter utitur et quo quae Dei sint partes in populum rebellem, egregie adumbratur (cf. 6, 3); ipso enim hoc nomine inter cetera effertur, quantopere Deus normam theocraticam in populo vigere velit, paratus omnem iniquitatem severe ulcisci. Quare facile intelligitur, cur audire Sanctum Israel gravissimum sit iis ac molestissimum. Sed Sanctus Israel vindex est malorum, qui pro sua sanctitate iniquitatem non relinquit impunitam ; lis ipsis quibus salutem perperam appetentes in Deum peccarunt, iusta ultione castigabuntur; ita
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v. 12 « propterea haec dicit Sanctus Israel : pro eo quod. reprobastis verbum hoc et sperastis in. calumnia et in tumultu et innixi estis super eo,
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v. 13 propterea erit vobis iniquitas haec sicut interruptio cadens et requisita in muro excelso, quoniam subito dum non speratur, veniet contritio eius »; — verbum quod fastidio magno abominati sunt (hebr.) est oraculum contra foedus aegyptiacum et reprehensio eius per prophetam facta; pro ratione agendi a Deo ipsis assignata spem suam collocant in oppressione (hebr.) et violentia ; vi enim et armis repellere volunt Assyrios ; ideo foedus aegyptiacum appetunt, ad quod ut habeant munera et thesauros, oppressione utuntur et duris exactionibus in populum (cf. v. 6 et sim. 4 Reg. 15, 20). Alterum quo a norma Dei deflectunt est 112 res perversa, curva, qua voce modas ille agendi antitheocraticus designatur quem coram Deo occulere student (29, 14). In his duobus spem ponunt, verum in iis ipsis iniquitas eorum et ruina consistit. Qualis pernicies illo peccato eis immineat, comparatione declaratur : Aoc peccatum vobis erit velut ruptura cadens, prominens (protuberans quasi tumefacta) in muro excelso (hebr.) i. e. instar muri rupti iamiam ruinam minitantis, qui subito, repente venit ad contritionem (hebr.); adest scil. ruptura in muro; pars rupta tamquam tumor in alto muro iam prominet; quare singulis momentis timendum, ne murus corruat. Aliis verbis : quibus rempublicam iuvare ac fulcire volebant, iis eam certo certius suffodiunt atque evertunt; murum firmum exstruere sibi promittunt, sed ruinam efficiunt. Quodsi igitur Deus eorum conamina non impediret, rempublicam everterent funditus atque destruerent. Atque revera foedere illo aegyptiaco id effecerunt, ut Sennacherib quam primum audivit Tharacam regem Aegyptiorum egressum esse, ut pugnaret adversus ipsum (4 Reg. 19, 9), eo maiore conatu et impetu urbem 1erusalem occupare tentaret. Ruinam quam sibi et reipublicae allaturi sint consiliis Dei obnitentes, . alia imagine etiam fortius exprimitur
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v. 44 « et comminuetur sicut conteritur lagena figuli contritione pervalida, et non invenietur de fragmentis eius testa, in qua portetur igniculus de incendio aut. hauriatur parum aquae de fovea » ; — hebr. et confringet eum (Deus scil. ultor propter peccatum v. 13 — ita Mald. Malv.).. hon parcet i. e. sine commiseratione. Qua comparatione completa quaedam regni dissolutio atque destructio praedicitur, ita ut nihil remaneat, ac si urceus vel lagena ita frangitur, ut ne testa quidem supersit qua parum aquae hauriatur. Quare serio monentur, ut considerent, ad quid tandem modo illo agendi antitheocratico perveniatur. Eam comparationem vere propheticam dixeris. In calamitate quidem assyriaca contritio illa non est facta, nisi eam retuleris ad internecionem multorum et eversionem multarum urbium ; sed in expugnatione chaldaica et etiam magis in romana respublica iudaica eam subiit ruinam ac disiectionem suorum civium culpa et iniquitate, quae lagena confracta et plane ad omnem usum inepta optime illustratur. Unde altera haec comparatio gradatione continetur, quam explicat Mald. : « sensus est fore ut Iudaeorum ruina peior sit quam ruina excelsi ac tamentis muri ; murus enim cum cadit, manent lapides et lateres saltem integri, ex quibus reaedificari possit, sed Iudaei cum ceciderint, ita comminuentur, ut in pristinum statum restitui non possint, sicut lagena minute confracta refingi non potest » (sim. For.). Aliqua tamen ratione etiam in calamitate assyriaca simile quid experti sunt; talem enim rerum conditionem plane desperatam indicant Ezechiae verba, infra 371, 3; quare versum hunc ita declarat Osor. : « vos sic eritis eversi et afflicti, ut nihil in vobis integrum vel ad aliquod quantumvis vile et abiectum munus obeundum inveniatur ». Tali autem ruinae obviam feruntur necessario, quia salutem a Domino oblatam respuunt neque consiliis divinis acquiescunt, quibus Dominus suam civitatem et rempublicam salvam consistere vult;
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v. 45 « quia haec dicit Dominus Deus, Sanctus Israel : si revertamini et. quiescatis, salvi eritis; in silentio et in spe erit fortitudo vestra; et noluistis » ; — normam Deus promulgat eandem eandemque salutis viam quam iam Achaz regi proposuerat (cf. 7, 4) et quam 98, 16 ostenderat. Postulat enim ut a via perversa quam inierant revertantur, ut alieni a foedere antitheocratico spem totam in uno auxilio divino ponant, ut proinde a bellico tumultu et strepitu recedant et plena fide se Domino tradant. In hac fide et spe omue eorum robur consistit ; haec si adsunt, invicti sunt; haec si desunt, hostium incursu prosternentur. Sed quis hominibus rerum mundanarum cupiditatibus pressis normam adeo sublimem et. ab hominum aestimatione alienam persuadebit? lis enim tanguntur quae vident. Unde vim vi repellere, arma armis superare unice meditantur. Quare incredulitatem eorum atque contumaciam Deus perstringens acerba ironia eos exagitat
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v. 46 « et dixistis : nequaquam ! sed ad equos fugiemus ; ideo fugietis ! et super veloces ascendemus; ideo velociores erunt qui persequentur vos »! — hebr. explica : super equis celeri cursu feremur scil. in hostes impetu feremur equis vecti ; non quietem et spem in Domino ponendam affectant, sed pugnam et caedem hostium. At eleganti paronomasia (Mald.) suis ipsorum verbis poenam Deus annuntiat. Mentio fit equorum, quia Aegyptii quos belli socios exspectant equitatu praeprimis valebant. Sententiam in contumaces prolatam Deus verbis confirmat e Pentateucho petitis, quibus scil. iam olim normam illam theocraticam promulgaverat pandens conditiones victoriae vel caedis, gloriae vel interitus
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v. 41 « mille homines a facie terroris unius et a facie terroris quinque fugietis, donec relinquamini quasi malus navis in vertice montis et quasi signum super collem » ; — cf. Deut. 32, 30 : « quomodo persequatur unus mille et duo fugent decem millia? nonne ideo quia Deus suus vendidit eos et Dominus conclusit illos » ? et Lev. 26, 1. 36. Impetum et terrorem praedicit quo exercitus Assyriorum copias Iudaeorum dispellet et universas Iudaeae urbes et oppida occupabit; atque in eas demum angustias res iudaicae redigentur, ut sola urbs regni caput in communi calamitate emineat et relinquatur invicta, ac si silva excisa in montis vertice una relinquatur pinus (hebr.) vel prout signum militare vel vexillum in colle erectum (13, 2) eminet in vasta undique solitudine. Hisce simul magnam fore Iudaeorum cladem plurimosque contumaciam suam morte esse expiaturos praedicitur (cf. 98, 17-90). Neque abs re erit similitudinem adhibitam ita cum aliis inflectere, ut calamitas designetur insignis ubique conspicua et spectabilis, « quemadmodum si quis malum in monte vel signum in colle statuerit » (S. Cyr. Theod. Euseb. Procop.), quod aliis inserviat pro admonitione, ne eodem naufragio implicentur (Mald. Sa, Men. Tir. Calm.) vel ut S. Hier. adnotat : « quomodo si fracta navi et compage illius dissoluta sola arbor quae malus dicitur remaneat et ponatur pro signo in summitate montis sive in excelso colle, sic pro signo atque vestigio vix unus et alter resideant ad Dei potentiam demonstrandam » (sim. Sanct. Malv. For. Osor. Lap. Troch.). Sed calamitas illa infligitur, ut via pandatur saluti; reliquiae enim convertentur ad Deum fortem (10, 21) et Sion in iudicio redimetur (1, 9). Unde sicuti 29, 5, cum omnia ad extremam miseriam redacta videantur et humana subsidia prorsus prostrata iaceant et impii suae impietatis et contumaciae poenas luerint, Deus pro sua fidelitate miserae reipublicae conditioni succurret. Quare
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v. 18 « Propterea exspectat Deus ut misereatur vestri et ideo exaltabitur parcens vobis, quia Deus iudicii Dominus ; beati omnes qui exspectant eum » ; — nexus cum antecedentibus propterea, ideo facile explicatur, dummodo memor sis ab initio prophetiae continuo efferri fore ut ex afflictione et castigatione salus efflorescat (cf. ad 6, 11). In hebr. magnum exprimitur desiderium quo Deus ad praestandam misericordiam feratur. Vim vocis bene expendit For. : « non satis explicat verbum exspecto vim verbi nzn, quod anhelandi et inhiandi verbo reddi potest; huc tendit, inquit, in hoc totus est, at misereatur; ad hoc permittit hostes grassari, vos fugientes intercipi, multos ex vobis interfici et in paucitatem redigi, ut malis fractos et ad se conversos in gratiam recipiat » (sim. Osor.). Et cum sit Deus iudicii, qui scil. ius et iustitiam, statum illum suae sanctitati congruum et multis promissionibus oppigneratum, in terris adesse velit, ideo exsurget, ut misereatur i. e. postquam diu hostes grassari permisit, demum sese elevabit, ut eorum impetu represso gratiam suis praestet (cf. Malv. Schegg, Net.). Quae cum sit Dei agendi ratio, illi merito beati praedicantur, qui magno desiderio ad Deum anhelant (027), « quasi dicat : si ipse inhiat et quasi anhelat ad benefaciendum nobis, uti in principio versus dixerat, o quam praeclare agitur cum iis, qui vicissim ei inhiant et ad eum amplectendum anhelant » (Malv. sim. For.). contrarium exprimere conentur : altior est (longe abest) quam ut misereatur ; sed qualem Dei elevationem propheta intelligat, disce ex 33, 3 et 31, 2. Neque minus contextu ea explicatio reiicitur. Nam sollemniter et repetito Deus profitetur se auxilium laturum, quando summum: aderit reipublicae periculum in calamitate assyriaca. Tale vero periculum certe in v. 17 depingitur ; quomodo ergo apte sequi posset : Deus propterea tardabit? Ex ipsa demum impletione scimus, Deum revera in summis angustiis et in necessitate quasi extrema opem tulisse ; cur ergo verba haec sensu plane alio accipies? Demum cum in v. 19 misericordia Dei praedicetur et statim ad vocem clamoris is dicatur respondere, nemo dixerit quomodo haec sententia particula enim antecedenti copuletur, Si in illa Deus tardare et sese a populo elongare dicitur. Omnia autem in ea expositione optime cohaerent, quam veteres et versiones et interpretes sequuntur (cf. Syr. Chald. S. Hier. Cyr.). — Frequenter exaltabitur ita accipiunt, ut Deus dicatur magnitudinem suam et gloriam parcendo et miserando quam maxime manifestare ; « ideo miseretur et parcit, ut exaltetur illius misericordia et bonitas creatoris nota fiat » (S. Hier. sim. Mald. Sa, Mar. Tir. Calm.) ; sensus quidem praeclarus est ; at propter 33, 3 et 31, 2 alia explicatio praeferri debet. — Ex sensu vindicato simul elucet nos omnino carere posse coniectura illa, qua aliqui pro 2? legi volunt n*1* quiescet (Houbig. Lowth, Ew. Cheyne, Naeg. Bred.) ' [am quomodo Deus suos sit consolaturus in rebus arctis declaratur explicatione addita ad versum antecedentem
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v. 19 « populus enim Sion habitabit in lerusalem; plorans nequaquam plorabis, miserans miserebitur tui; ad vocem clamoris tui statim ut audierit respondebit tibi »; — hebr. quia populus in Sion habitat, in Ierusalem 1. e. Sion centrum ac sedes regiae potestatis, lerusalem caput totius regionis ab invasione hostili servabitur; ibi Dei populus secure deget tempore calamitatis assyriacae; ibi Deus lacrimas et gemitus piorum auferet, gratiam praestabit; ibi confestim opem feret, simulac preces effu- 'derint. Post minas in rebelles iactas ostendit triplici modo quanta benignitate pios sit amplexurus, quanta promptitudine eorum precibus sit obsecuturus, ut hac amicitia et benevolentia proposita animos in verum amorem Dei ac fiduciam attrahat. Et apte quidem ac psychologice post minas et terrores suavem hanc Dei cum suis familiaritatem vates depingit, ut si quorum animos terrore percusserit, eos iam spe erigat, vel si qui miniset poenis non flectantur, ut saltem benignitate et. bonorum exhibitione ad fidem Dei alliciantur. Omnes enim, ut supra monui, aditus ad animos permulcendos vates sapienter pertentat.
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Dominus panem arctum et aquam brevem et non faciet avolare a te ultra doctorem tuum, et erunt oculi tui videntes praeceptorem tuum »; — hebr. dabit vobis panem angustiae et aquam. oppressionis 1. e. aderit pressura, at inrebus quoque maxime arctis Deus non vobis deerit, sed necessaria providebit. Verbis quidem victus tenuis et parcus designatur (cf. 3 Reg. 92, 27. 9 Par. 18, 26); at reram series ex antecedentibus pendens postulat, ut sententiam non intelligamus minacem (cum Sa, Malv. Tir. Calm.), sed aliquid consolationis mediis in angustiis promittentem. Hisce subsequentia quoque congruunt. Nam praeter beneficium illud, ut a Domino sustententurlicet pane tenui et aqua parca, Deus maius aliquid largitur : iam mon abscondentur (sese subtrahent) doctores twi i. e. aderunt prophetae divinitus missi, palam praedicabunt et consilia Dei annuntiabunt; neque frustra; populus enim eos audiet iisque obsequetur. Tempore enim calamitatis verbum propheticum, quod antea saepe irrisioni erat (cf. 8, 16-20 ; 28, 1; 29, 10 seq.), ipso rerum eventu docente et explicante,magni aestimabitur, avide audietur, sollicite quaeretur. Atque revera Isaias propheta regem populumque in tribulatione assyriaca edocuit, confortavit, ad felicem rei exitum perduxit (cf. 31, 9. 6 seq. 21 seq.). Antea multi aderant, qui prophetarum monita respuebant (30, 140); sed tribulatione edocti meliora sapient et voci divinae aures praebebunt
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v. 21 « e( aures tuae audient verbum post tergum monentis : haec est via, ambulate in ea et non declinetis neque ad dexteram neque ad sinistram »! — propheta, sicuti pastor gregem sequitur eumque ne aberret dirigit, populum de singulis rerum conditionibus rite edocet monens, quae via sit terenda, si dextrorsum vel si sinistrorsum. flexeritis (hebr.), si scil. sit periculum a recto tramite deflectendi. Calamitas mentes quam maxime dociles reddet. Praeterea illud commodum e tribulatione enascetur, ut reliquiae idololatriae removeantur. Ezechias rex quidem bellum atrox indixerat ido-" lolatriae et impii cultus instrüamenta deleverat (cf. 4 Reg. 18, 4. 2 Par. 99, 15), at nihilominus idololatriam in occulto serpsisse certum est (cf. 31, 1). Sed angustiis eruditi animos a. cultu iinpio et luxuria pleno avertent atque idola abominabuntur
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v. 22 « et contaminabis laminas sculptilium argenti (ui et vestimentum conflatilis auri tui et disperges ea sicut immunditiam menslruatae ; egredere dices ei »; — idola seil. sive sculptiliasive fusilia laminis aureis vel arzenteis operiri et. veluti amiciri solebant; iam tale operimentum taleinque amictum reputabunt immundum adeoque impium cultam detestabuntur, ut aurum illud et argentum iam ad nullum usum adhibeant, sed utrem foedissimam cum horrore abiiciant; ipsa exclamatione abominatio et fastidium depingitur. — Mentio idololatriae (quam hoc loco fieri nonnemo fortasse mirabitur) eo quoque apte inducitur, quia eius periculum et proxima quasi occasio apud eos aderat qui foedera cum alienis appetebant. Vix enim sine ritu superstitioso vel idololatrico talia foedera iniri poterant; et quae erat veterum opinio, populi alicuius gloria et potentia intime coniuncta considerabatur cum diis popularibus, ita ut qui populi auxilium implorabat, eo ipso dei popularis opem efflagitare censeretur (vide quae notavi ad Am. 4, 15. Nah. 4, 14. fHlab. 1, 16. Zach. 92, 8). Bac ratione populus ope tribulationum mundatur, eruditur, ad pietatem instituitur. Ia talem autem populum Deus liberalitatis suae dona et bona largissima effundit; quare si calamitate assyriáca populus ad Deum accedere eique arctiore modo adhaerere didicerit, eo ipso aditum sibi aperuit ad abundantiam bonorum. Unde propheta ad consolationem piorum et omnium adhortationem ea bona depingit quae Deus fideli suo populo paratus est dare. Ex norma autem veteris legis pietas populi et maxima terrae fertilitas bonorumque terrestrium abundantia nexu intimo inter se sunt colligata, ita ut ubi pietas adest et observatio mandatorum Dei, etiam adsit illa bonorum copia, vel vice versa si eiusmodi bonorum abundantia describitur, illa intelligatur tamquam sanctitatis indicium et merces. Cum igitur propheta certo sciat calamitate assyriaca pietatem populi auctum iri Deumque post tribulationem piis novos maioresque favores esse largiturum, facile intelligitur subsequens bonorum promissio atque descriptio, quae in priore parte promissis pentateuchicis tota innititur (cf. Lev. 26, 3 seq. Deut. 98, 8 seq.)
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v. 23 « et dabitur pluvia semini tuo, ubicumque seminaveris in terra, et panis frugum lerrae erit. uberrimus et pinguis »; — promissio est indoli terrae palaestinensis quam maxime accommodata; agrorum cultura maximum dabit proventum. Abundantia illa in eo quoque cernitur, quod greges longe lateque pascentur et iumenta optime nutrientur : « pascetur in possessione tua in die illo agnus spatiose
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v. 24 et tauri tui. et pulli asinorum qui operantur terram commistum migma comedent, sicut in area ventilatum est » ; — hebr. pascet pecus tuum in campo spatioso ; ergo amplam unusquisque habet possessionem ; boves autem et asini farraginem vel migma comedent, pabuli genus ex hordeo, farre, viciis aliisque constans quod quo sapidius sit sale vel herbis acidis erit conditum (hebr.), et quo melius puriusque etiam venilatum vanno et ventilabro (hebr.). Ex quo facile concluseris quanta adesse censenda sit frugum copia, ut tanta cura iumentis prospiciatur ; simul attende etiam animalia suo modo partem habere et optime valere, si homines in felicissima conditione positi sunt; uti enim regiones propter peccata hominum vastitate-et maledicto plectuntur, ita simul cam hominis pietate, felicitate, beatitate ipsae quoque novo splendore vestientur. Unde quoque
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v. 95 « et erunt super omnem montem excelsum et super omnem collem eleva- £um. rivi currentium aquarum in. die interfectionis multorum, cum ceciderint turres » ; — hebr. erunt rivi, fluenta aquarum, ergo irrigatio abundantissima, unde maxima graminum herbarumque luxuries in montibus ac collibus consequitur ablata sterilitate; nam ubi in plagis orientalibus fluenta aquarum sunt, ibi quoque prata campique laete virescunt. Ea exaggeratione — nemo enim in ipsis montibus ac collibus Deum novos fontes rivosque creaturum esse opinabitur — benedictionis copiam quasi imagine quadam vates exhibet. Illam vero initium capturam dicit a die interfectionis multorum, 2n die caedis magnae (hebr.), i. e. a magna illa calamitate et strage, qua Assyrii plurimos ex Iudaeis impiis prosternent (cf. 28, 18 seq.), et in die cum ceciderint turres, quas non intelliges aggeres et munimenta Assyriorum (29, 3), multoque minus superbos tyrannos — talis enim tropus loquendique modus est inauditus, quamvis haud pauci ita explicent — sed optime explicabis castella, arces, turres Iudaeorum, quae ab Assyriis expugnabantur et deiiciebahtur atque ex Dei consilio deleri debebant. Idem enim hoc loco propheta indicat quod saepe iam docuit : pompam humanam esse destruendam, ut saluti via pandatur; cf. 2, 12 : « quia dies Domini exercituum super omnem superbum et excelsum... super omnem turrim excelsam et super omnem murum munitum... et elevabitur Dominus solus in die illa » et sim. Mich. 5, 10 etc. Sine ullo dubio talis prosperitas ac beatitudo, qualem vates hisce exposuit, post calamitatem assyriacam in terra Iuda non habebatur. Quomodo ergo haec prophetia erit intelligenda? Num dixeris prophetam pia sua desideria solum enuntiasse velspe sua esse deceptum ? Absit ! Eos enim beatos praedicavit, qui magno desiderio ad Deum anhelant v. 18, qui igitur se totos Domino tradunt ; unde in descriptione subsequenie hane explicat beatitudinem demonstrans quid Dominus i/s praebere paratus sit qui se totos Domino dediderint. Quare ex rerum «serie et connexione statim elucet beatitatem illam nullo modo ita proponi, ut ab omni conditione absoluta certo sequi dicatur, sed describi bona quae obventura sint, sí gens iudaica conditionem illam in v. 18 designatam exsecuta fuerit. Num exsecuta est? Minime. Quamvis enim Ezechia rege aliqua morum emendatio effecta sit, tamen mox sub Manasse iterum idololatria et scelerum colluvies praevaluit. Unde perspicuum est bonorum illam copiam non potuisse concedi. Sed num ideo hoc oraculum inanis verborum pompa reputandum erit ? Minime gentium! Aperitur enim nobis norma Dei, declaratur quali modo cum populo suo acturus esset, si is voluntati divinae plane vellet obsecundare, et praeprimis valore suo constat oraculum, si uti debet modo generali accipitur, ut scil. ratione ad indolem veteris foederis accommodata illa delineentur bona et illa depingatur Dei cum hominibus familiaritas, quae ex perfecto servitio Dei enascuntur. Hac consideratione adhibita cum perfectum Dei obsequium proprium sit periodo messianicae, oraculo hoc ultimatim sensuque pleno benedictio ac felicitas regni messianici adumbratur. Illam autem describi bonis terrestribus nullo modo alienum est a more prophetico. Cum enim in vetere foedere eiusmodi bona pietati revera essent proposita, status tali bonorum copia perfectus quasi sua sponte imago quaedam considerari poterat et figura sanctitatis et divinae liberalitatis; ex quo ultro consequitur bona illa accipienda esse non uti verba sonant, sed prout ipsa natura et indole regni messianici exigitur; vide quae notavi ad Os. 2, 91; 4, 3. Am. 9, 43. Mich. 7, 13. Ioel 3, 18. Neque tamen: omittendum est ubertatem illam et pulchritudinem rerum creatarum etiam eo sensu verissime efferri, quia docente revelatione « ipsa quoque creatura liberabitur a servitute corruptionis in libertatem gloriae filiorum Dei; nam exspectatio creaturae revelationem filiorum Dei exspectat » (Rom. 8, 19. 21), ut ipsa quoque in statum claritatis et gloriae transferatur ; qua de re recole quae scripsi ad 11, 6 seq. — Uti ergo vates in antecedentibus post calamitatem assyriacam iam saepius regni messianici splendorem ac felicitatem consummatam nobis proposuit (cf. 9, 6 ; 141, 1 seq.), ita hoc quoque loco ad eam periodum animos evehit. Id quod versu sequenti comprobatur. Prophetam novos coelos novamque terram et creaturae glorificationem eam describere quam docente revelatione in rerum omnium consummatione exspectamus, ipso verborum ambitu omnino suadetur
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v. 96 « et erit lux lunae sicut lux solis et lux solis erit septempliciter sicut lux septem. dierum, in. die qua alligaverit Dominus vulnus populi sui et percussuram plagae eius sanaverit » ; — i. e. sol tanta fulgebit claritate ac si splendor quotidianus quo nunc lucet septies esset auctus vel lucis copia alias per septem dies diffusa in unum diem colligeretur. Cum natura nobis insitum sit, ut gloriam Dei et beatorum immensa quadam lucis et splendoris claritate nobis mente effingamus, aptior modus quo creaturae glorificatio oculis subiiciatur excogitari nequit quam quem hoc loco adhiberi videmus, ut scil. lumine multoties aucto tota creatura coelesti , quodam splendore vestita ac sublimiore gloria praedita repraesentetur. Rerum igitur consummationem propheta tangit et ea nobis proponit, quae ex Rom. 8, 21 et 2 Petr. 3, 13 plane demum ac facile intelliguntur. Ita gloria regni messianici ostensa et aditu beatae aeternitatis quasi patefacto ad quem tandem terminum felicissimum illi perventuri sint turae glorificatione quasi in imagine spectandam exhibet. Si enim tantus splendor in ipsam creaturam redundaturus est, qualem censebimus splendorem eorum, propter quorum gloriam creatura in aliquam claritatis societatem erit assumenda? Unde eo versiculo propheta aptissime absolvit describere : beati omnes qui exspectant eum (v. 18). Nam tali gloria proposita et Dei munificentiam benignitatemque praeclare commendat et omnium animos efficaciter allicit, ut talem Deum tota mente complectantur. Haec autem gloriaerit, quando Deus obligaverit fracturam populi et vulnus plagae eius sanaverit (hebr.) scil. perfecte, omni modo; ad gloriam enim in Deo et per Deum assequendam cuncta condita sunt ; maledictio et infelicitas peccato invecta est; quamprimum igitur vulnus illud perfecte sanatur et reparatio fit integra et consummata, etiam aditus ad gloriam pristinam pandatur necesse est. Ita propheta normam Dei breviter ac nervose complectitur et ad quem terminum singula Dei beneficia tendant ultimatim, proponit. eum insuper de glorificatione creaturae edoceamur revelatione, quid propius adiacet quidve magis et verbis et rerum seriei congruit quam ut versum nostrum de illa gloria explicemus ? Neque quis iure obiecerit obstare quod propheta tam subito ad rerum consummationem transire non sit censendus. Ad eam enim sibi viam iam paravit, dum describere aggreditur, qualia bona sperantibus in Deum sint obventura ; experientia autem edocti scimus prophetas Dei benedictionem et favores amplissimo modo saepe exhibere, ita ut ea quae in tempore et in aeternitate conferantur, uno quasi conspectu proponantur (vide quae notavi Proph. min. II p. 168. 241. 341). Ea dere in altera [saiae parte sermo saepius recurret.
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Beati, qui Dominum exspectant. Hanc beatitudinem propheta modo depinxit. lam a contrario subiungit, quid eventurum sit iis qui se Deo opponunt eiusque consiliis refragantur. Sortem eorum ac perniciem ita exhibet, ut in clade Assyriorum divinitus infligenda symbolum quoddam deprehendatur et exemplum severi iudicii, quo Deus in hostes est animadversurus. Quantopere haec quoque pars apta sit, ut animi rite praeparentur ad calamitatem assyriacam fructuose subeundam, neminem latere poterit, qui consideraverit imagine iudicis exhibita admoneri Iudaeos, quanto cum periculo Deus contemnatur vel eius consilia negligantur. Quare propheta vehementi dictione in id incumbit, ut quam terribilis sit iudex et ultor vivis coloribus omnium oculis subiiciat : post imaginem illam suavem beatitatis (v. 26) terror ultoris ac vindicis animos vehementius percellere censendus est; v. 2" « Ecce nomen Domini venit de longinquo, ardens furor eius et gravis ad portandum ; labia eius repleta sunt indignatione et lingua eius quasi ignis devorans »; — symbola quibus iudicis maiestas tremenda vestiri solet ac demonstrari hic habes collecta ; cf. Ps. 17. 95. 96. Nomen Domini i. e. maiestas Domini nominatissima et celebratissima (Malv. For. Lap.), qua se ut Jahve, tamquam Deum promissa minasque in opus deducentem, exhibere vult, sese manifestabit de longinquo, de coeli altitudine quasi descendit, ut. vindictam exerceat (cf. Mich. 4, 3); hostis enim a longinquo veniens maiore furore et terrore irruere et maiore barbarie formidinem spargere censetur (cf. 5, 26; 10, 3); praeterea hoc loco imaginem subesse tempestatis e longinquo minantis et diu iam imminentis probabile est. Dominus est ignis devorans; quare iudex depingitur igne circumdatus, quo quaecumque impura sunt celeriter absumuntur; vehemens Dei in hostes ira symbolo ignis devorantis apte exprimitur, irae autem magnitudo declaratur hebr. e£ gravis elatio vel (quod aliis praeplacet, accommodate ad ignis symbolum) et gravis fumus ! ; iudex iram flammasque spirat. Quid eius iudicis sententia valeat, exprimitur in labiis indignatione plenis et in linguae igne absumente. Iam quis tali obsistere poterit? Halitu suo universa perdet
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v. 98 « spiritus eius velut torrens inundans usque ad. medium colli, ad perdendas gentes in nihilum, et. frenum erroris, quod erat in maxillis populorum »; — praeter ignem inundationis symbolo quod est exitii genus unum e gravissimis utitur vates ad iudicis terrorem ingerendum. Inundationem exhibet, quae usque ad collum dividit (hebr.), pertingit (cf. 8, 1; 471, 12; 28, 2), qua imagine ex 8, '1 petita simul declarat, quid terrae iudaicae et impiis Iudaeis obventurum sit. Cuncta autem fient ad. cribrandas gentes cribro vanitatis (hebr.) vel perniciei et exitii, ut scil. tamquam paleae inutiles excutiantur, separentur, comburantur (cf. Mald. Malv.). Neque tale iudicium effugere ulla ratione poterunt : et frenum errare faciens in maxillis populorum (hebr.) i. e. tali freno a Deo constricti sunt et ducuntur quo etsi nolint ad perniciem debitam et castigationem pertrahuntur. Ipse enim ille furor et contumacia illa in Deum frenum est erroris, quo interitui adstringuntur et obviam feruntur (cf. Mald. Osor. Mar. Malv.). S. Hier. coniungitad perdendum frenum eumque multi ex latinis interpretibus sequuntur explicantes frangendum esse frenum erroris quo vel diaboli malitia vel gentium perversitate populi obstringantur (ef. Sanct. Lap. Men. Tir. Calm.). Sed textus hebr. non potest ita concipi, neque cernitur quomodo in eum contextum laeta promissio quadret. Quia S. Hier. vertit ad perdendas gentes, opinio orta est perdere ad subsequens quoque membrum posse vel debere trahi. Verum textu originali haec opinio statim destruitur. Textui hebr. adstipulantur Syrus et Chald. et LXX quoque licet liberius vertant ; habent enim : « et spiritus eius quasi aqua in valle trahens veniet ad collum usque et dividetur, ut conturbet gentes errore vano et persequetur eos error vanus et capiet eos in conspectu ipsorum ». Ea sententia addita conditio populorum ad iudicium pertinens describitur, simili modo ut 37, 99. 4 Reg. 19, 28. Deus iudex terribilis in hostes, in suos se benignum praestabit. Iudicium enim in hostes exercitum in maximam vertetur laetitiam Israelitis
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V. 99 « canticum erit vobis sicut noz sanctificatae sollemnitatis et laetitia cordis sicut qui pergit cum tibia, ut intret in montem Domini ad fortem Israel » ; — i. e. hostium clades et prostratio tanta eos afficiet laetitia et exsultatione, ut cantus eorum tam festivus futurus sit, sicut erat nocte illa primi paschatis quando liberationem ab aegyptiaca servitute iamiam capiebant et sicut generatim esse solet in coena paschali ; nox enim pas- 'chatis est nox sanctificatae sollemnitatis. Praeterea tripudii magnitudo alia comparatione ob oculos mentesque ponitur, illius scil. laetitia qui cantu festivo pergit ad templum Domini, ut ibi adeat petram Israel (hebr. ) Deum scil. qui populo suo certissimum est atque immotum salutis vitaeque fundamentum et refugium ab omni adversitate tutissimum (cf. Deut. 32, 4. 18. 3'1 hebr. 1 Sam. 2, 2. Ps. 18, 32 ; 19, 15 hebr. etc.). Quanta vero cum laetitia perrexerint in templum Domini, audi psalmistam : laetatussum in his quae dicta sunt mihi ; in domum Domini ibimus (Ps. 121), neque insolitum erat, ut pompae atque supplicationes festivae cum canticis instituerentur (cf. 2 Reg. 6, 5. Ps. 41, 5), quemadmodum notat S. Ilier. : « erit cordis tanta laetitia, ut imitemini eos, qui ad templum primitiva portantes et in Dei torcularia deferentes munera pergunt cum tibiis cordis gaudia carmine demonstrantes ». Atque revera si maximas illas angustias quas ab Assyriis perpessi sunt (cf. cap. 36. 31) mente consideraveris, facile tibi persuadebis liberatione subito facta eos in laetitiae significationem prorupisse haud absimilem ei quam patres a servitute et angelo vastatore liberati olim experti erant et cantica celebrásse petrae Israel, prout Ex. 18, quando iugum servitutis proiecerunt (S. Hier. sim. Haimo, For. Sasb. Lap. Men. Rohl. Troch.). En, quam praeclare suam ostendet potentiam, protectionem petra Israel !
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v. 30 « et auditam faciet Dominus gloriam vocis suae et terrorem brachii sui ostendet im comminatione furoris et flamma ignis devorantis ; allidet in turbine et in lapide grandinis,
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v. 31 a voce enim Domini pavebit Assur virga percussus » ; — hebr. et ostendet (videre faciet) descensum brachii sui, est scil. metaphora sumpta a fortiter percutientibus, qui sublatum prius brachium fortius dimittunt (Mald.), ita ut Deus tamquam homo exserto et vibrato brachio virium suarum documentum insigne editurus dicatur in Assyrios (Malv. sim. Vat. For. Mar.), et ictus isti infliguntur 2n aestu. irae, in flamma ignis devorantis, in turbine et imbre et lapide grandinis (hebr.). Vox Domini saepe tonitru vocatur, quo scil. Deus in rerum natura gloriam quoque suam ac maiestatem declarare solet (cf. Ps. 28, 3 seq. Mald. For. Malv. Men. Osor. Rohl. Troch.). Unde Deus iudex omnibus illis instructus et circumdatus apparet, quae terrorem, vastationem, interitum multiplicem declarant. Quaecumque enim in rerum natura adsunt exitialia tamquam Dei arma ad hostes delendos describi solent; neque immerito, nam saepius usum esse Deum iis rebus ad perimendos vel puniendos hostes, sacris literis docemur (cf. Gen. 19. Ios. 10, 10. 2 Par. 20, 37. Ps. 4T, 8). Num igitur in clade quoque assyriaca eiusmodi intervenerunt, fulgura, tonitrua, globuli ignei, grandines etc. ? Sunt qui affirment (cf. Sanct. Mar. Calm.). Sed narratione rei Is. 31, 36. 4 Reg. 19, 35 talia non modo non commemorantur, verum omnino excludi videntur. Neque ea ullo pacto accersenda sunt, ut sua huic oraculo stet veritas. Est enim usitatum satis, ut sacri vates poetarum in morem Deum iudicem describant fulgura iactantem, ignes mittentem etc. cuius rei insigne exemplum habes in Ps. 11 (2 Reg. 22), in quo Deus iudex qui Davidis causam tuetur et vindicat schemate et figura vehementis tempestatis iudicium exercere in adversarios Davidis exhibetur. Idem igitur hoc loco expressum cernis neque quidquam amplius exquiras oportet; illis enim exemplis terribilem maiestatem vindicis Dei oculis subiicere vult propheta. Et quam terribilis futura sit illa Dei manifestatio, vates ex eo declarat quia Assur, eousque orbis terrarum terror, pavore correptus tremet v. 94 « a voce enim Domini pavebit Assur virga percussus » ; — hebr. baculo eum percutiet scil. Deus ; nam quod aliqui volunt hebr. vertendum esse : qui (scil. Assur) alios virga percusserat (cf. Chald. Mald. Drechsl.), cum sequentibus non satis cohaeret, in quibus Assur virga percussus magis declaratur
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v. 32 « et erit transitus virgae fundatus quam requiescere faciet Dominus super eum, in tympanis et. citharis, et in bellis praecipuis ezxpugnabit eos » ; — hebr. et erit, omnis ictus virgae dccretae ! quam Dominus super eum demittet, in tympanis et citharis i. e. quotiescumque Assur ictu virgae quam Dominus constituit atque decrevit super eum percutitur, cives hierosolymitani illam percussionem ad animorum laetitiam declarandam tympanis et citharis celebrabunt (cf. Osor. Sa, Men. Tir. Rohl. Troch.). Dum igitur Deus Assyrios prosternit et silvam illam succidit (cf. 10, 16-19. 33. 34), unumquemque ictum Iudaei musicis instrumentis et laetitiae significatione comitabuntur. Attende dicendi genus poeticum, quo propheta declarat quanto cum gaudio nuntium de clade Assyriorum sint audituri; similiter variis dicendi figuris in v. 30 iram Dei et ultionem delineavit. Magnam fore eorum cladem denuo dicit et in pugnis (bellis) agitationis pugnabit adversus eos (hebr.) i. e. in quibus Deus fortiter agitat brachium et virgam ad eos percutiendos (Malv.). Demum poena et interitus Assyriorum eo quoque declaratur, quia Deus iam dudum pro impiis locum praeparavit (cf. virgam decretam v. 32), in quo ingenti flammarum incendio absumentur v. 33 « prae-
30:33
parata, est enim ab heri Topheth, a rege praeparata, profunda et dilatata ; nutrimenta eius ignis et ligna multa; ftatus Domini sicut. torrens sulphuris succendens eam » ; — hebr. praeparata est enim ab heri (i. e. iam dudum) Topheth, etiam ipsa regi est apparata; Topheth (nen locum dicit in valle Ben-Hinnom (gehenna) prope lerusalem, in quo sacrificia humana Molocho offerebantur (cf. 4 Reg. 23, 10. Ier. "1, 31 ; 19, 6. 11 seq.) ; nomen probabilius derivandum erit a ^n spuere ; unde n2n Iob 47, 6 sputum, sputamen, ita ut ipso nomine locus designetur abominationi habitus. Alii vocem explicare malunt ab aram. N2D comburere, ergo locus incendii, bustum, ustrina (cf. Fürst, Scholz ad Ier. 7, 31). Uti vallis Ben-Hinnom (vel gehenna, proprie ge-benehinnom) propter sacrificia illa abominanda locus erat maledictionis et abominationis, ita Topheth, locus combustionis, symbolica ratione pro interitu horrore pleno adhibetur. Legitur h. 1l. in hebr. nn£n qua formatione regio designatur aeque foeda et horrida, sicut Topheth, locus dum talem locum horroris et incendii esse praeparatum et eum etiam regii. e. regi Assyriorum esse apparatum et constitutum. Priore igitur sententia generatim enuntiatur exsistere locum horroris et combustionis, in altera distincte dicitur, in eum impios Dei hostes, Assyrios, iudicio Dei et percussione facta esse proiiciendos. Dein qualis sit locus, per singula describitur : profundum fecit, dilatavit (hebr.) Deus locum, quo plurimi capiantur et puniantur et eius loci horror augeatur; pyra eius ignis et ligna plurima (hebr.), ergo rogi ibi ardent ingentes, qui ipso Dei vindicis halitu succenduntur ; nam « flabellum excitans et acuens hunc ignem est flatus Domini i. e. spiritus seu ventus procellosus divinitus excitatus, qui gehennam perinde accendit àc si torrens sulphuris ardentis in eam infunderetur » (Tir. sim. Osor. Maid. Sanct. Lap. Men.). Num hoc loco nihil aliud dicitur nisi Assyrios fore interimendos eorumque cadavera esse comburenda vel Deum iam destinasse locum, in quo victimae illae sint caedendae et comburendae? Ita aliqui praesertim recentiores censent (cf. Calm. Drechsl. Kn. Del. Rohl.). At hanc explicationem verbis et contextui sufficere, vix mihi persuadeo. Interitus enim Assyriorum in antecedentibus iam saepius est descriptus et verbis propriis et variis dicendi figuris. Hoc autem loco potius ratio redditur, cur Deus deiecturus sit Assyrios, eaque primo generalis, quia locus incendii et horroris iam dudum sit a Deo praeparatus; dein additur, eum locum etiam Assur hosti a Deo esse designatum. Iam quid haec sententia sibi vult? Num nihil aliud, nisi quod iam repetito dictum est, Assyrios esse prosternendos? Annon potius iudicium illud in eos exercendum declaratur ex eo quia Deus hostibus suis locum horroris et incendii paravit, ubi flatus Domini est sicut torrens sulphuris succendens ? Iam si hoc, status quidam indicatur, in quem hostes Dei ope illius iudicii coniiciendi erunt ; duo ergo declarantur : percussio illa vel prostratio et status quidam horroris plenus illam percussionem subsequens et post illam perdurans, in quem per actum illum iudicialem deveniunt. Ad hane considerationem accedit, quod propheta sortem impiorum aperte opponit felicitati piorum. Supra enim a v. 18 exposuit, quid boni exspectandum sit iis qui exspectant Dominum et ea bona absolverat glorificatione creaturarum adumbrata (v. 26), ergo ultima rerum consummatione in aeternum permansura : nostro autem loco a v. 21 contrariam delineat sortem impiorum ; ergo consequens est, ut si verba permittunt, haec quoque sors qualis futura sit permanens ultimatim exhibeatur. Neque eam explicationem a mente Isaiae censeri posse alienam, vide ex loco re ipsa parallelo 66, 24. Saltem hoc concedendum erit, nostro hoc loco iam praeparari illam significationem vallis Ben-Hinnom (gehenna), quam in novo testamento clare videmus expressam, immo Christum cum loquatur de igne aeterno praeparato haud obscure ad nostrum alludere locum combustionis iamdudum praeparatum, et S. Ioannem non uno in loco qualis futura sit combustio illa declarare (cf. Apoc. 14, 40. 11; 19, 20; 20, 9. 10. 14). Unde S. Hier. et latini interpretes fere omnes iuremerito hunc Isaiae locum de inferno interpretati sunt. Eam explicationem Chald. quoque commendat scribens : « quia praeparata est a saeculis propter peccata eorum gehenna ». Sorte igitur impiorum usquequaque demonstrata vates quartum vae absolvit. Magnifice antea descripserat quali bonorum abundantia pii sint exornandi et quanta cum laetitia magnalia Dei sint celebraturi (v. 21 seq. 29. 32). Quis ergo non totum se tradet petrae Israel, ut tantae benedictionis reddatur particeps ? Sed si qui etiamnum ancipites haeserint, eos furore Dei et ultione flammisque incendii ingentibus terret, ne Dei hostibus iungantur et cum iis pereant. Quare ipsa inter se oppositione benedictionis ac maledictionis et vivida utriusque descriptione vatem quam plurimum ad animos commovendos valuisse iuremerito dixeris. Àmc. — Vates eorum stultitiam qui seposito Domino apud Aegyptios auxilium quaerunt denuo castigat. Frustra enim ab iis opem expetunt, eum Dominus ipse pro suo in Sion zelo eorum causam tueri velit ; quare totis animis ad eum se convertant, qui inimicos sua virtute disperdet (31, 1-9). Tum in regno iudaico denuo efflorebit iustitia et sanctitas impietate e sede et auctoritate deiecta (32, 1-8). Verum ut ad conditiotionem adeo felicem perveniatur, tribulationes magnae et angustiae erunt subeundae, quarum acerbitate mulieres quoque nimium securae magnopere affligentur, donec opera Dei iustitia et pax restituatur iudicio in hostes devoluto (32, 9-20). Igitur iterum foedus aegyptiacum reprobatur omnemque spem in Domino qui miro modo auxilium ferre velit esse collocandam denuo inculcatur. Iterum ob oculos ponitur, in quam praeclaram conditionem Deus regnum iudaicum sit restituturus, dummodo consiliis Domini obsequi velint, atque in solatium piorum effertur, quomodo ex tribulatione et miseria miro Dei favore salus sit exoritura. Proinde ea quae vates iam proposuit denuo aliter atque aliter recolit et inculcat. Ita sane repetito egisse censendus est, ut populum ad calamitatem assyriacam rite subeundam praepararet, neque eum piguit eandem doctrinam iterum iterumque auribus et mentibus popularium instillare eorum consulens necessitati. Quis enim non videt in re difficili et in consuetudine inveterata corrigenda minime sufficere, ut doctrina semel proponatur, verum necesse esse ad animos non solum docendos sed etiam commovendos, ut grata quadam varietate iterum iterumque animi ad eandem reducantur percipiendam et meditandam ? a) Non Aegyptus, sed Dominus opem feret 31, 1-9, « Quia res est omnino gravis et prope iam impendens, argumentum idem et eodem pene ordine et modo iterum versat » (Sanct.);
30:1
sent a legation to Jerusalem to conclude a military alliance; negotiations were also conducted by H. with Ethiopia (Is. 18:1) and Egypt (ibid. 30:1 ff.). …
30:2
… Jer. 20, 7-12; 23, 28; Mic. 3, 8; Is. 6, 6-9; Jer. 1, 17-19; Ezek. 3, 8-9). The hagiographer or biblical writer is therefore the intermediary through whom God speaks or writes (Hos. 1, 1-2; Hag. 1, 7; Mal. 1, 1), he is the mouth of God (Jer. 15, 19; Is. 30, 2, in accordance with Ex. 4, 15 ff.; 7, 1). Some symbolic actions describe plastically the divine influence on the prophet-writer, e.g., Ezekiel must devour the book that contains the …
30:6
… Hence the "basilisk" corresponds to venomous serpents (Heb. péthen and 'ep'ēh) in the Septuagint (Ps. 90, 13; Is. 59, 5 [Vulg. regulus]); in the Vulg. 1 time basiliscus (Ps. 90, 13) and 6 times regulus; Aquila has βασιλίσκος (for δράκων) in Deut. 32, 33 and Is. 59, 5 (with ἐχίδναι), Symmachus in Is. 30, 6. R. Goossens identifies with it the ἀδοντοδράκων (cf. Sap. 16, 10). The βασιλίσκος has 7 heads, in Pistis Sophia, 88, 34.
30:7
In Ps. 86:4 and Isa. 30:7 R. is the symbolic name of Egypt. …
30:8
… fills him with the Holy Spirit (Hos. 9, 7; Mic. 3, 8; Ezek. 2, 2; 3, 12; 8, 13; 11, 5, 24; Zech. 7, 12; II Sam. 23, 2; Eccl. 39, 8; 48, 27; II Esdr. 14, 21, 25, 40-44); who orders him to speak or to write (Ex. 17, 14; 34, 27; Deut. 31, 19; Is. 8, 1; 30, 8; Hab. 2, 2; Dan. 8, 26; 12, 4; Ezek. 24, 2; in a special way Jer. 36) and to set forth only what God wills (Deut. 18, 15-22; Jer. 23, 16; 20, 7-9, 15, 19; 14, 14; Ezek. 13, 3-17; Mic. …
… In part the discourses of the prophets were fixed in writing immediately afterward, either by themselves or by their disciples, sometimes (cf. Jer. 36; Is. 30:8) by formal order of Yahweh.
30:10
The other two principal terms: rā'eh "seer" (used only of Samuel [I Sam. 9:9, 11, 18 ff.; I Par. 9:22; 26:28; 29:29], of Hanani [II Par. 16:7, 10] and in Is. 30:10, although the verb rā'eh is frequent to indicate the "visions" that the prophet receives from God) and the synonym hāveh "contemplator," mostly in poetry, express the means or …
30:12
Isaias (HEB. JĒŠA-JĀH[Ā] "SALVATION [IS] YAHWEH", SEPTUAGINT 'HESAIAU)
… His words were not always heard with deference and respect: interests struck, vices denounced sought revenge in calumny, in hatred, in mockery (Is. 28:9-10), in contempt for his word (ibid. 30:12), and at alternating periods they procured for him fortunate influences and unpopularity and disfavor at court. …
30:18
The declarative exclamation beginning with "blessed" (Heb. 'ashre, "blessings of...") occurs in the Old Testament (Deut. 33:29; 1 Sam. 10:8; Job 5:17; Prov. 3:13, 18, and 6 other times; Eccles. 10:17; Is. 30:18; 32:20; 56:2; Dan. 12:12), especially in the Psalms (Ps. 1:1, and 25 other times). …
30:20
… and spiritual "teaching" (Am. 2, 4); "the t. of our God" encompasses the norms of morality in which true service of God consists (Is. 1, 10; 5, 24; 8, 16, 20; 30, 9). The prophet is called môrah ("teacher"), of the same root as t. (Is. 9, 14; 30, 20). In Jer. 6, 19; 9, 13; etc., t. designates both the preaching of the prophets and the Mosaic tradition. …
30:33
… "Jahweh has his fire in Zion and his furnace in Jerusalem" (Is. 31, 9; cf. 30, 33).
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.