The prophet comforts the people with the promise of the coming of Christ to forgive their sins. God’s almighty power and majesty.
The prophet comforteth the people with Christs coming to remitte sinnes. 3. Before whom S. Iohn Baptist shal preach penance. 6. sheweth mans imbecilitie. 9. Gods Maiestie, 18. the vanitie of idols: 27. and fal of them that feare not God.
1Be comforted, be comforted, my people, saith your God.Consolatevi, consolatevi, popol mio, dice il Dio vostro.BE comforted, be comforted my people, saith your God.Consolamini, consolamini, popule meus, / dicit Deus vester. 2Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her: for her evil is come to an end, her iniquity is forgiven: she hath received of the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.Parlate al cuor di Gerusalemme, e racconsolatela; perocché è finita l'afflizione di lei, e la sua iniquità, e perdonata: ella ha ricevuto dalla mano del Signore il doppio per tutti i suoi peccati.Speake to the hart of Ierusalem, and cal to her: because her malice is accomplished, her iniquitie is forgeuen: she hath receiued of the hand of our Lord duble for al her sinnes.Loquimini ad cor Jerusalem, / et advocate eam, / quoniam completa est malitia ejus, / dimissa est iniquitas illius: / suscepit de manu Domini duplicia / pro omnibus peccatis suis. 3The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God.Voce di uno, che grida nel deserto: Preparate la via del Signore, raddirizzate nella solitudine i sentieri del nostro Dio.The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare the way of our Lord, make streight the pathes of our God in the wildernes.Vox clamantis in deserto: / Parate viam Domini, / rectas facite in solitudine semitas Dei nostri. 4Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways plain.Ogni valle sarà colmata, e ogni monte, e ogni colle sarà abbassato, e le strade storte diventeranno diritte, e piane le malagevoli;Euerie valley shal be exalted, and euerie mountaine and litle hil shal be humbled, & crooked thinges shal become streight, and rought wayes, playne.Omnis vallis exaltabitur, / et omnis mons et collis humiliabitur, / et erunt prava in directa, / et aspera in vias planas: 5And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.Perocché manifesterassi la gloria del Signore, e vedran tutti gli uomini insieme quello, che la bocca del Signore ha annunziato.And the glorie of our Lord shal be reueled, and al flesh together shal see, that the mouth of our Lord hath spoken.et revelabitur gloria Domini, / et videbit omnis caro pariter / quod os Domini locutum est. 6The voice of one, saying: Cry. And I said: What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field.Voce di uno, che dice: Grida. Ed io dissi: Che è quello, che io ho da gridare? Tutta carne è erba, e tutta la gloria di lei è come il fiore de' campi.The voice of one saying: Crie. And I sayd: What shal I crie? Al flesh is grasse, and al the glorie therof as the floure of the filde.Vox dicentis: Clama. / Et dixi: Quid clamabo ? / Omnis caro fœnum, / et omnis gloria ejus quasi flos agri.
7The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen, because the spirit of the Lord hath blown upon it. Indeed the people is grass:Si secca l'erba, e cade il fiore ogni volta che il fiato del Signore lo investe. Veramente un'erba è il popolo:The grasse is withered, and the floure is fallen, because the spirit of our Lord hath blowen on it. In deede the people is grasse:Exsiccatum est fœnum, et cecidit flos, / quia spiritus Domini sufflavit in eo. / Vere fœnum est populus: 8The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen: but the word of our Lord endureth for ever.Si secca l'erba, e cade il fiore: ma la parola del Signor nostro sta in eterno.the grasse is withered, and the floure is fallen: but the word of our Lord abideth for euer.exsiccatum est fœnum, et cecidit flos; / verbum autem Domini nostri manet in æternum. 9Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Sion: lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem: lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Juda: Behold your God:Sopra un alto monte ascendi tu, che evangelizzi Sionne: alza vigorosa la voce tua, o tu, che evangelizzi Gerusalemme: grida forte, non temere. Dì alle città di Giuda: Ecco il Dio vostro;Vpon an high mountayne get thee vp, thou that euangelizest to Sion: exalt the voice in strength, which euangelizest to Ierusalem: exalt it, feare not. Say to the cities of Iuda: Behold your God:Super montem excelsum ascende, / tu qui evangelizas Sion; / exalta in fortitudine vocem tuam, / qui evangelizas Jerusalem: / exalta, noli timere. / Dic civitatibus Juda: / Ecce Deus vester: 10Behold the Lord God shall come with strength, and his arm shall rule: Behold his reward is with him and his work is before him.Ecco che il Signore Dio verrà con possanza, e il braccio di lui dominerà: ecco che egli ha seco la sua mercede, ed ha davanti a se l'opra sua.behold our Lord God shal come in strength, and his arme shal haue dominion: behold his reward is with him, and his worke before him.ecce Dominus Deus in fortitudine veniet, / et brachium ejus dominabitur: / ecce merces ejus cum eo, / et opus illius coram illo. 11He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom, and he himself shall carry them that are with young.Egli come pastore pascerà il suo gregge: egli colla sua fortezza raccoglierà gli agnelli, e li solleverà al suo seno, porterà egli stesso le pecorelle, che sono piene.As a shepheard shal he feede his flocke: in his arme shal he gather together the lambes, and in his bosome shal he lift them vp, and them with yong himself shal carie.Sicut pastor gregem suum pascet, / in brachio suo congregabit agnos, / et in sinu suo levabit; / fœtas ipse portabit.
12Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and weighed the heavens with his palm? who hath poised with three fingers the bulk of the earth, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?Chi è colui, che ha misurato nel suo pugno le acque, e ha pesati i cieli nella palma distesa? Chi è, che con tre dita sostiene la macchina della terra, e scandaglia i monti, e mette in bilancia le colline?Who hath measured the waters with his fist, and poundered the heauens with a spanne? who hath poysed with three fingers the huge greatnes of the earth, and wayed the mountaines in weight, and the litle hilles in balance?Quis mensus est pugillo aquas, / et cælos palmo ponderavit ? / quis appendit tribus digitis molem terræ, / et liberavit in pondere montes, / et colles in statera ? 13Who hath forwarded the spirit of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor, and hath taught him?Chi ha dato aiuto allo spirito del Signore? Chi gli ha dato consiglio, e chi gli ha insegnato?Who hath holpen the spirit of our Lord? or who hath bene his counseler, and shewed to him?Quis adjuvit spiritum Domini ? / aut quis consiliarius ejus fuit, et ostendit illi ? 14With whom hath he consulted, and who hath instructed him, and taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and shewed him the way of understanding?Chi ha egli chiamato a consulta, e chi è, che abbia istruito lui, e a lui abbia mostrata la via della giustizia, e lo abbia stradato nella scienza, e gli abbia fatto conoscer la strada della prudenza?With whom hath he taken counsel, and who hath instructed him, and taught him the path of iustice, and taught him knowlege, and shewed him the way of prudence?cum quo iniit consilium, et instruxit eum, / et docuit eum semitam justitiæ, / et erudivit eum scientiam, / et viam prudentiæ ostendit illi ? 15Behold the Gentiles are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the smallest grain of a balance: behold the islands are as a little dust.Ecco che le nazioni sono come una goccia della secchia, e son valutate come uno scrupolo, che dà il tratto alla bilancia: ecco che le isole son come un granellino di polvere.Behold the Gentiles are as a droppe of a bucket, and are reputed as the moment of a balance: behold the ilandes are as a litle dust.Ecce gentes quasi stilla situlæ, / et quasi momentum stateræ reputatæ sunt; / ecce insulæ quasi pulvis exiguus. 16And Libanus shall not be enough to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.E il Libano non ha legna a sufficienza pel fuoco, né le bestie del Libano basterebbero per gli olocausti.And Libanus shal not suffice to kindle the fyre, and the beastes therof shal not be sufficient for holocaust.Et Libanus non sufficiet ad succendendum, / et animalia ejus non sufficient ad holocaustum.
17All nations are before him as if they had no being at all, and are counted to him as nothing, and vanity.Le genti tutte sono dinanzi a lui come se non fossero, e come un niente, e cosa vuota di essere sono stimate riguardo a lui.Al nations as if they were not, so are they before him, and they are reputed of him as nothing, and a vaine thing.Omnes gentes quasi non sint, sic sunt coram eo, / et quasi nihilum et inane reputatæ sunt ei. 18To whom then have you likened God? or what image will you make for him?A qual cosa adunque avete voi rassomigliato Dio? o qual immagine farete di lui?To whom then haue you made God like? or what image wil you set to him?Cui ergo similem fecisti Deum ? / aut quam imaginem ponetis ei ? 19Hath the workman cast a graven statue? or hath the goldsmith formed it with gold, or the silversmith with plates of silver?Non è egli il fabbro quello, che ha gettata la statua, e l'orefice l'ha formata di oro, e di lame d'argento l'argentiere?Hath the artificer cast a sculptil? or hath the goldsmith figured it with gold, or the siluersmith with plates of siluer?Numquid sculptile conflavit faber ? / aut aurifex auro figuravit illud, / et laminis argenteis argentarius ? 20He hath chosen strong wood, and that will not rot: the skilful workman seeketh how he may set up an idol that may not be moved.L'artefice intelligente cerca legno forte, e che non si corrompa, proccura di assicurare l'idolo, che non sia smosso.Strong wood, and that which wil not putrifie hath he chosen: the wise artificer seeketh how he may set vp a sculptile which may not be moued.Forte lignum et imputribile elegit; / artifex sapiens quærit / quomodo statuat simulacrum, quod non moveatur. 21Do you not know? hath it not been heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have you not understood the foundations of the earth?Non sapete voi, non avete udito, non fu egli annunziato a voi fin da principio, non avete voi compreso come fu fondata la terra?Why, doe you not know? why, haue you not heard? why, hath it not bene told you from the beginning? Haue you not vnderstood the fundations of the earth?Numquid non scitis ? numquid non audistis ? / numquid non annuntiatum est vobis ab initio ? / numquid non intellexistis fundamenta terræ ? 22It is he that sitteth upon the globe of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as locusts: he that stretcheth out the heavens as nothing, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.Que', che seggono sul globo della terra, e la abitano, sono quasi locuste. Dio distese qual sottilissima cosa i cieli, e li dispiegò come un padiglione, che serve d'alloggio.He that sitteth vpon the compasse of the earth, and the inhabitants therof are as locustes: he that stretcheth out the heauens as nothing, & spreddeth them as a tent to dwel in.Qui sedet super gyrum terræ, / et habitatores ejus sunt quasi locustæ; / qui extendit velut nihilum cælos, / et expandit eos sicut tabernaculum ad inhabitandum;
23He that bringeth the searchers of secrets to nothing, that hath made the judges of the earth as vanity.Egli riduce nel niente gl'investigatori delle occulte cose, ed annichila i giudici della terra.He that maketh the searchers of secretes as if they were not, that hath made the iudges of the earth as a vayne thing:qui dat secretorum scrutatores quasi non sint, / judices terræ velut inane fecit. 24And surely their stock was neither planted, nor sown, nor rooted in the earth: suddenly he hath blown upon them, and they are withered, and a whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.E il loro tronco non è né piantato, né seminato, né radicato nella terra: colpiti dal soffio di lui inaridiscono, e sono dispersi come stoppia da un turbine:and in deede their stocke was neither planted, nor sowen, nor rooted in the earth: sodenly he hath blowen vpon them, and they haue withered, and a whirle wind shal take them away as stubble.Et quidem neque plantatus, neque satus, / neque radicatus in terra truncus eorum; / repente flavit in eos, et aruerunt, / et turbo quasi stipulam auferet eos. 25And to whom have ye likened me, or made me equal, saith the Holy One?E a qual cosa mi avete voi assomigliato, e a qual cosa agguagliato mi avete, dice il Santo?And to whom haue ye likened me, and made me equal, saith the holie one?Et cui assimilastis me, et adæquastis ? / dicit Sanctus. 26Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these things: who bringeth out their host by number, and calleth them all by their names: by the greatness of his might, and strength, and power, not one of them was missing.Alzate all'alto gli occhi vostri, e considerate chi tali cose creò: chi la loro moltitudine guida con ordine, e tutte pel suo nome le chiama, e per la grandezza della possanza, e della fortezza, e della virtù di lui neppur una rimane indietro.Lift vp your eies on high, and see who hath created these thinges: he that bringeth out the host of them in number, and calleth them al by name: by the multitude of his force and strength, and power, not one of them was missing.Levate in excelsum oculos vestros, et videte / quis creavit hæc: / qui educit in numero militiam eorum, / et omnes ex nomine vocat; / præ multitudine fortitudinis et roboris, virtutisque ejus, / neque unum reliquum fuit. 27Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel: My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?Per qual ragione dici tu, o Giacobbe, e pronunzi tu, o Israele: Non è noto al Signore lo stato mio, e non preme al mio Dio di farmi ragione?Why sayest thou Iacob, and speakest thou Israel: My way is hid from our Lord, and my iudgement is passed ouer of my God?Quare dicis, Jacob, / et loqueris, Israël: / Abscondita est via mea a Domino, / et a Deo meo judicium meum transivit ?
28Knowest thou not, or hast thou not heard? the Lord is the everlasting God, who hath created the ends of the earth: he shall not faint, nor labour, neither is there any searching out of his wisdom.Ignori tu, e non hai udito, che Dio è l'eterno Signore, che creò la terra quant' ella è ampia; ch'ei non sente fiacchezza, né affanno, ed è imperscrutabile la sua sapienza?Why knowest thou not, or hast thou not heard? our Lord is God euerlasting, which hath created the endes of the earth: he shal not faile, nor labour, neither is there searching out of his wisdome.Numquid nescis, aut non audisti ? / Deus sempiternus Dominus, / qui creavit terminos terræ: / non deficiet, neque laborabit, / nec est investigatio sapientiæ ejus. 29It is he that giveth strength to the weary, and increaseth force and might to them that are not.Egli al fiacco dà robustezza; e a que', che non sono, somministra forza, e vigore.Which geueth strength to the wearie: and to them that are not, multiplieth force and strength.Qui dat lasso virtutem, / et his qui non sunt, fortitudinem et robur multiplicat. 30Youths shall faint, and labour, and young men shall fall by infirmity.La fresca età verrà meno per la stanchezza, e la gioventù per debolezza cadrà.Children shal faynte, and labour, and yongmen shal fal by infirmitie.Deficient pueri, et laborabunt, / et juvenes in infirmitate cadent; 31But they that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.Ma que', che sperano nel Signore, acquisteranno nuova fortezza, prenderanno ale di aquila, correranno senza fatica, cammineranno senza stancarsi.But they that hope in our Lord shal change their strength, they shal take winges as eagles, they shal runne & not labour, they shal walke and not fainte.qui autem sperant in Domino mutabunt fortitudinem, / assument pennas sicut aquilæ: / current et non laborabunt, / ambulabunt et non deficient.
40:1
Haydock
Be. Septuagint, "comfort my people." Let them not be dejected. (Haydock)
Worthington
The end of the captivity, and still more the coming of the Messias, afford consolation, (Calmet) and to this the prophet chiefly alludes. (Worthington)
40:2
Evil. Hebrew and some Latin copies have, "warfare."
Calmet
Double. A rigorous chastisement, Apocalypse 18:6. (Calmet)
40:3
Sanchez
God, that he may conduct his people from Babylon. (Sanchez)
Worthington
Yet the prophet speaks chiefly of John the Baptist, (Matthew 3:3.; Calmet) who is evidently foretold. (Worthington)
40:4
Plain. For the captives, or the conversion of the world, Baruch 5:6.
40:5
Glory. God will rescue his people. Christ will redeem mankind.
40:6
Field. On the downfall of the empire of Babylon, the Jews were liberated.
40:9
Haydock
Thou, female. How beautiful are the feet of those who announce good tidings! (Romans 10:15.) (Haydock)
Calmet
Thus a feminine noun is applied to Solomon, Ecclesiastes 1:Prophets make known to all the coming of the Saviour. (Calmet)
Worthington
Christ preaches from the mountain, and his apostles over the world. (Worthington)
40:10
40:11
Young, or have lately had young lambs, foetas. Jesus is the good shepherd, John 10:14.
40:12
Who. He now proceeds to shew the difference between God and idols.
Calmet
Fingers, is not expressed in Hebrew, which may denote the epha, Psalm 79:6. (Calmet)
Worthington
God's power and goodness in the works of the creation, shew what he will do for man. (Worthington)
40:15
Symmachus
Dust. Hebrew caddak, (Haydock) "as dok fallen." (Symmachus)
St. Jerome
It may signify an atom. (St. Jerome)
Calmet
If all nations be only like a drop, what portion of it do I occupy? (Calmet; ver. 17.)
40:18
Haydock
Image. Catholics never pretend to represent the Deity, when they depict the Father as a venerable old man, etc. They do not adore pictures, as our adversaries would insinuate. If we were disposed to cavil, we might bring the same charge against them. For a few weeks ago, "a beautiful altar-piece, painted and presented by the lady of major general Cheney, was put in Hornsea church, representing Christ blessing the bread and wine." But Protestants can confine such things to their proper use, and Catholic must adore them. (Haydock)
Horace
"Such things the Jew, Apella, may believe: not I." (Horace)
40:19
Haydock
Silver. Is God like these idols? (Haydock)
Calmet
Who knows not that the workman is better than they are? (Wisdom 13:11.) (Calmet)
40:20
Wood. Hebrew hamsuccan, (Haydock) which Septuagint, Chaldean, and St. Jerome explain of a sort of wood used for idols. Moderns take it to be "a rich," or rather "a poor man. He who is mean in his offering, chooses wood that," etc. (Calmet) (Protestants)
40:21
Haydock
Beginning, by the light of nature, and (Worthington) has not Moses declared that God alone created the world? (Haydock)
Worthington
His power and goodness herein convince us that he will not deny grace. (Worthington)
40:22
Locusts, compared with the greatest animals.
Nothing. Hebrew, "a curtain." Septuagint, Syriac, "vault, (Calmet) or chamber," kamaran.
40:23
Searchers. Hebrew, "princes to nothing." (Protestants)
Worthington
Philosophers know nothing independently of God, nor can they subsist without him. (Worthington)
40:26
Host of heaven, the stars, etc., Genesis 2:1., and Psalm 146:4.
40:27
Judgment, or conduct, (Genesis 40:13.; Calmet) as if God minded not our affairs.
40:31
St. Jerome
Eagles, who grow young, when they get new feathers, Psalm 102:5. (St. Jerome)
Worthington
In this and the following 26 chapters the prophet chiefly comforts his people, as he had rebuked them for their crimes in the first part. (Worthington)
40:1
The prophet alludeth to the comforte of the Iewes, when they should be deliuered from captiuitie of Babylon: but principally prophicieth of mans deliuerie from sinne by Christ.
40:3
An euident prophecie of S. Iohn Baptist.
Concordance Mat. 3.
Concordance Mar. 1.
40:4
Concordance Luc. 3.
Concordance Ioan. 1.
40:6
Concordance Iac. 1.
40:7
Concordance 1. Pet. 1.
40:9
This is also manifest of Christs preaching in the mountaine: & of his Apostles, and Apostolical preachers.
Concordance Mat. 5.
40:11
Concordance Ioan. 10.
40:12
Gods powre and beneuolence in creating & gouerning al this world, is a signe that he both can and wil bestow these great benefites of grace vpon al nations.
40:13
Concordance Rom. 11.
40:14
Concordance 1. Cor. 2.
40:15
least dust, or atomus.
40:19
Concordance Act. 17.
40:21
From the beginning the law of nature, afterwards the law of Moysestaught that he which made the world is God.
40:23
VVisest Philosophers know nothing neither can consist but by him.
40:26
Concordance Psa. 14•
40:1
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 50
… Or who showed Him judgment? Or who made Him to know the way of understanding? All the nations are reckoned as a drop of a bucket, and as a turning of a balance, and shall be reckoned as spittle. But Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts sufficient for a burnt-offering; and all the nations are considered nothing, and for nothing.’ ”
St Methodius † AD 311 Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna On the Day that They Met in the Temple 1
Blessed art thou, all-blessed, and to be desired of all. Blessed of the Lord is thy name, full of divine grace, and grateful exceedingly to God, mother of God, thou that givest light to the faithful. Thou art the circumscription, so to speak, of Him who cannot be circumscribed; the root
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homily on the Paralytic Let Down Through the Roof 6
… for the magnitude of a trial can lighten the load of sins; as indeed we read was the case with Lazarus, that he received his evil things in full, and thereupon was comforted: and again in another place we read, “Comfort ye my people, say ye to the heart of Jerusalem, that she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for her sins.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 23
… and God did not prevent it: but they were carried away, children and women; yet afterwards did this captivity become a consolation to them in respect of their sins. Therefore He saith to Isaiah, “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, ye priests: speak unto the heart of Jerusalem, for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for sins.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 7.1
… And all things pass away, fly away, and vanish like smoke; and woe to those who love such things! For every soul follows what it loves. “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of the Lord abideth forever.”
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Sermons 28
… Still further, because this was not permitted by natural generation, and because there could be no offspring from our faulty stock without seed, of which the Scripture saith, “Who can make a clean thing conceived of an unclean seed? is it not Thou who art alone ?” David’s Lord was made David’s Son, and from the fruit of the promised branch
40:2
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 13.30
… since He does not render unto any one according to the works of his hands, but more than that which he has done, for “Jerusalem,” as Isaiah taught, “received from the hand of the Lord double for her sins;”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.56
… or prophets teaching lies, or rebellious princes, deserving to share the reproach of their elders for the straitness of the famine, or priests very far from speaking comfortably
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.5
… How is it that some receive at the Lord’s hand double for their sins,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 7.2
… It is now time to direct our teaching to the exposition of the Scriptures. For as, if we had said nothing in reference to the present calamity, one might have condemned us for cruelty, and a want of humanity; so, were we always discoursing of this, we might justly be condemned for pusillanimity. Commending then your hearts to God, who is able to speak
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 5
… And this Paul teacheth us when he says, “For this cause many [are] weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” ( 1 Cor. xi. 30 .) And again, “I have delivered such an one to Satan.” ( 1 Cor. v. 5 .) And the prophet says, “for she hath received of the Lord’s hand her sins double” (
40:3
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 9
… For the same John is called not merely an “angel” of Christ, but withal a “lamp” shining before Christ: for David predicts, “I have prepared the lamp for my Christ;” and him Christ Himself, coming “to fulfil the prophets,” called so to the Jews. “He was,” He says, “the burning and shining lamp;” as being he who not merely “prepared His ways in the desert,”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.33
… “the word of our God shall stand for ever.” Since even then by Isaiah it was Christ, the Word and Spirit of the Creator, who prophetically described John as “the voice of one crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord,”
Tertullian † AD 220 On Baptism 6
Not that in the waters we obtain the Holy Spirit; but in the water, under (the witness of) the angel, we are cleansed, and prepared for the Holy Spirit. In this case also a type has preceded; for thus was John beforehand the Lord’s forerunner, “preparing His ways.” Thus, too, does the angel, the witness of baptism, “make the paths straight”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 2.25
… We have made something of a digression in introducing this story about Jacob and appealing to a writing which we cannot well treat with contempt; but it certainly adds weight to our argument about John, to the effect that as Isaiah’s voice declares
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 6.14
… The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.” The words, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness,” are written immediately after the narrative of Hezekiah’s recovery from his sickness,
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 2.7
… Every channel shall be filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and all crooked places shall be made straight, and rough places plain; and the glory of the Lord shall be seen, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God, because the Lord hath spoken it.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 3.1
… And while the Heavenly Powers rejoice, let the souls that are to be united to the spiritual Bridegroom make themselves ready. For the voice is heard of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 18.34
34. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord alway; again I will say, Rejoice: for your redemption hath drawn nigh , and the heavenly host of the Angels is waiting for your salvation. And there is now the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 5.7
… “I will dwell in them.” Elsewhere also it stands that God said: “Go to, let us go down and confound their language.” God, indeed, never descends from any place; for He says: “I fill heaven and earth.” But He seems to descend when the Word of God enters our hearts, as the prophet has said: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 10
Thus the prophet saith that he shall come saying, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 16
… he also cited Esaias the prophet, testifying of old very long ago, and calling Christ “Lord” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 57.9
… For the first part: “Behold I send my messenger before thy face which shall prepare thy way before thee,” occurs at the close of Malachi. But the second part: “The voice of one crying, etc.,” we read in Isaiah.
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 1.26
… Mark with a prophecy of the prophets Malachi and Isaiah. The first has the face of a man, on account of the genealogical table; the second, the face of a calf, on account of the priesthood; the third, the face of a lion, on account of the voice of one crying in the desert,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 4
7. “And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he said, No. And they said unto him, Art thou a prophet? and he answered, No! They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He saith, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 5
… the righteous baptism of a righteous man; but of a man who had received from the Lord that grace, and so great grace, that he was worthy to be the forerunner of the Judge, and to point Him out with the finger, and to fulfill the saying of that prophecy: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way for the Lord.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 13.2
2. Now, therefore, the order of our reading obliges us to return to that same John. The same is he who was prophesied of by Isaiah, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye a way for the Lord, make His paths straight.”
40:4
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.4
… If nothing, what an impotent state to have to wait for the Creator’s time, in servility to the Creator! But for what end did He send His Son? “To redeem them that were under the law,” in other words, to “make the crooked ways straight, and the rough places smooth,” as Isaiah says
40:5
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 10
You hold to the scriptures in which the flesh is disparaged; receive also those in which it is ennobled. You read whatever passage abases it; direct your eyes also to that which elevates it. “All flesh is grass.” Well, but Isaiah was not content to say only this; but he also declared, “All flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 59
… The apostle, however, in his epistle says, “Whether it be the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours:” and he here constitutes us heirs even of the future world. Isaiah gives you no help when he says, “All flesh is grass;” and in another passage, “All flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Letter to a Young Widow 4
… And the only reason why I mentioned those instances to which I referred just now was that you might learn that human things are nothingness but that truly as the prophet says “all the glory of man is as the flower of grass.”
St Jerome † AD 420 To Pammachius against John of Jerusalem 29
… What we aim at in fasting, they have through fellowship with God. They feed on heavenly bread, and are satisfied with every word of God, having Him as their food who is also their Lord. Listen to the Saviour saying: “And my flesh rests in hope.” And elsewhere, “His flesh saw not corruption.” And again,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 57.5
… For whole Man did the Word take upon Him, and whole Man the Word became. Let it not therefore be thought that there Soul was not, because the Evangelist thus saith: “The Word was made flesh, and dwelled in us.” For man is called flesh, as in another place saith the Scripture, “And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 2
Orth. —Then hear too the psalmist David—“Unto thee shall all flesh come.” Hear too, the prophet Isaiah foretelling “All flesh shall see the salvation of our God.”
St John of Damascus † AD 749 An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 3.18
But if the Evangelist said that the Word was made flesh , note that in the Holy Scripture sometimes a man is spoken of as a soul, as, for example, with seventy-five souls came Jacob into Egypt : and sometimes a man is spoken of as flesh, as, for example, All flesh shall see the salvation of God
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Theodotus † fl. AD 160 Excerpts of Theodotus 1
… So that they preferred curative treatment here. What is to be dreaded is, then, not external disease, but sins, for which disease comes , and disease of the soul, not of the body: “For all flesh is grass,”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 5.33.4
… and they shall do no harm, nor have power to hurt anything in my holy mountain.” And again he says, in recapitulation, “Wolves and lambs shall then browse together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the serpent earth as if it were bread; and they shall neither hurt nor annoy anything in my holy mountain, saith the Lord.”
Tertullian † AD 220 Against the Valentinians 32
As for the human race, its end will be to the following effect:—To all which bear the earthy and material mark there accrues an entire destruction, because “all flesh is grass,”
St Hippolytus † AD 235 The Refutation of All Heresies 8.7
… And with this (rod Moses) smites the Egyptians, for the purpose of altering bodies,—as, for instance, water into blood; and the rest of (material) things similarly with these,—(as, for example,) the locusts, which is a symbol of grass. And by this he means the alteration of the elements into flesh; “for all flesh,” he says, “is grass.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 11.3
… And they did all eat. ” For what is meant by the words, “And He commanded all the multitudes to sit down on the grass?” And what are we to understand in the passage worthy of the command of Jesus? Now, I think that He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass because of what is said in Isaiah, “All flesh is grass;”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 11.19
… And those from fewer loaves leave twelve baskets, but these from a greater number leave seven baskets, inasmuch, as they were able to receive more. And perhaps these tread upon all earthly things and sit down upon them, but those upon the grass—upon their flesh only—for “all flesh is grass.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Dress of Virgins 6
… You sprinkle yourself with the stains of carnal concupiscence, although you are a candidate of purity and modesty. “Cry,” says the Lord to Isaiah, “All flesh is grass, and all the glory of it as the flower of the grass: the grass withereth, and the flower fadeth; but the word of the Lord endureth for ever.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.59
… because earth thou art, and to earth thou shalt go.” Also in the same place: “And Enoch pleased God, and was not found afterwards: because God translated him.” And in Isaiah: “All flesh is grass, and all the glory of it as the flower of grass. The grass withered, and the flower hath fallen away; but the word of the Lord abideth for ever.”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 220
… Do not let all you have hitherto undergone go for nothing; do not nullify a struggle which has been famous over all the world. Human life is but of brief duration. “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.…The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Two Homilies on Eutropius 1.4
… the grass withereth and the flower faileth”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 To My Lady 1
… but having comprised all the things which are esteemed splendid amongst men under the one designa tion of glory he said “all the glory of man is as the flower of grass.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 24
… but if not such, why art thou galled? why thrust the sword against thyself? ‘Because admired by men?’ But men to-day are and to-morrow are not. ‘But because he enjoys glory?’ Of what sort, tell me? That of which the prophet says that it is “the flower of grass.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Philippians 12
… The world hath been crucified to her. Can the loss of children? She fears it not, when she is fully persuaded of the Resurrection. What then can surprise her? None of all these things. Doth wealth elevate her? By no means, she knoweth that money is nothing. Doth glory? She hath been taught that “all the glory of man is as the flower of grass.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 79.6
6. Why do I farther postpone the end? “All flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 13.15
… but Thy Scripture is spread abroad over the people, even to the end of the world. Yea, both heaven and earth shall pass away, but Thy Words shall not pass away. Because the scroll shall be rolled together, and the grass over which it was spread shall with its goodliness pass away; but Thy Word remaineth for ever,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Catechising of the Uninstructed 16
… So, too, with the honors of this world,—what are they but empty pride and vanity, and peril of ruin? For holy Scripture speaks in this wise: ‘All flesh is grass, and the glory of man is as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth for ever.’
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 69.3
… it flows on, and is seen in its course; and again it is hidden in the sea. Let us despise this stream flowing on, running, disappearing, let us despise it. “All flesh is grass, and all the glory of flesh is as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, the flower falleth away.” Wouldest thou endure? “But the word of the Lord endureth for ever.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 74.1
… So then this is not to be valued much; “Vain is the health of man.” And, brethren, recollect that Prophetical and Evangelical testimony, for it is read in the Gospel; “All flesh is grass, and all the glory of flesh as the flower of grass; the grass withereth, the flower falleth away, the Word of the Lord endureth for ever.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 24.6
… Why were the sick laid at those five porches, but not healed? He, however, there cured the impotent man, who here fed multitudes with five loaves. Moreover, they sat down upon the grass; therefore understood carnally, and rested in the carnal. “For all flesh is grass.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 1.3
… For, “all flesh is grass, and the glory of man as the flower of grass; the grass withereth, and the flower falleth, but the word of the Lord abideth for ever.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 52.8
8. “Wherefore God shall destroy thee at the end” ( ver. 6 ): though now thou seemest to flourish like grass in the field before the heat of the sun. For, “All flesh is grass, and the brightness of man as the bloom of grass: the grass hath withered, and the bloom hath fallen down: but the word of the Lord abideth for everlasting.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 54.2
… “When Christ,” he saith, “your life, shall have appeared, then ye also with Him shall appear in glory.” When these men shall be flourishing, then shall be those Ziphites withering. For observe to what flower their glory is compared: “All flesh is grass, and the honour of flesh as the flower of grass.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 54.7
… And though concordant are these Ziphites, do not much trust to their concord: temptations are wanting; when there shall have come any temptation, so as that a person may be reproved for the flower of the world, I say not to thee he will quarrel with the Bishop, but not even to the Church Herself will he draw near, lest there fall any part of the grass.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 54.11
… And upon mine enemies mine eye hath looked back:” upon those Ziphites “mine eye hath looked back.” Yea, their flower I have passed over in loftiness of heart, unto Thee I have come, and thence I have looked back upon them, and have seen that “All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass:”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 60.2
… Whenever old bushes are burned up, green places succeed; and more speedily and more plentifully, and more fully green, fresh ones spring out, when fire hath gone before them to the burning up of the old. Let not therefore the fire of Christ be feared, hay it consumeth. “For all flesh is hay, and all the glory of man as flower of hay.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 62.5
… For in drinking what do we, but send into our members liquor that is without, and suck it into our body? Thus did Moses in that head of the calf. The head of the calf is a great sacrament. For the head of the calf was the body of ungodly men, in the similitude of a calf eating hay, seeking earthly things: because all flesh is hay.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 72.18
… which without doubt would not have been passed over unless under the name of grass this also were understood; and in many other passages of the Scriptures this is found. But if we must take, “and they shall flourish like the grass of the earth,” in the same manner as is said, “all flesh is grass, and the glory of a man like the flower of grass:”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 78.33
… And yet those old things even though these be unwilling do fall: for “all flesh is hay, and the glory of man as the flower of hay. The hay hath dried up, and the flower hath fallen off:”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 90.6
… 6 ). It is “to fall” in death, be “dried up” in the corpse, “withered” in the dust. What is this but flesh, wherein is the accursed lust of fleshly things? “For all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness of man as the flower of the field; the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of the Lord abideth for ever.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 102.5
5. Look back to Adam, whence the human race sprung. For how but from him was misery propagated? whence but from him is this hereditary poverty? Let him then, who in his own body was at one time in despair, now that he is set in Christ’s body, say with hope, “My heart is smitten down, and withered like grass” ( ver. 4 ). Deservedly, since all flesh is grass.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 103.19
… All the beauty of the year hardly lasteth for the year. Whatever there flourisheth, whatever there is warmed with heat, whatever there is beautiful, lasteth not; nay, it cannot exist for one whole year. In how brief a season do flowers pass away, and these are the beauty of the herbs! This which is so very beautiful, this quickly falleth.
40:7
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 10
You hold to the scriptures in which the flesh is disparaged; receive also those in which it is ennobled. You read whatever passage abases it; direct your eyes also to that which elevates it. “All flesh is grass.”
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 59
… The apostle, however, in his epistle says, “Whether it be the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours:” and he here constitutes us heirs even of the future world. Isaiah gives you no help when he says, “All flesh is grass;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 29
… ( Ps. xv. 4 .) the fear of the Lord excelleth every thing ; fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole of man: ( Eccles. xii. 13 ;) be not thou envious of evil men; ( Ps. xlix. 16 ;) all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass;” (
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.33
… “More easily, therefore, may heaven and earth pass away—as also the law and the prophets—than that one tittle of the Lord’s words should fail.” “For,” as says Isaiah: “the word of our God shall stand for ever.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.39
… If the Creator quietly submits to this, then He is no “jealous God.” But let heaven and earth pass away, since their Lord has so determined; only let His word remain for evermore! And so Isaiah predicted that it should.
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 1.12
… Blush ye not, speaking lies against the divine oracles? For when our Lord Jesus Christ had been among us, we indeed were promoted, as rescued from sin; but He is the same ; nor did He alter, when He became man (to repeat what I have said), but, as has been written, ‘The Word of God abideth for ever
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Two Homilies on Eutropius 2.2
… What kind of discourse? the same which I was always repeating. The wind has blown and the leaves have fallen. “The grass has withered and the flower has faded.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 112.7
… but he will then repent, when “the desire of the ungodly shall perish,” no consolation succeeding. “The desire of the ungodly shall perish,” when “all things shall pass away like a shadow,” when the flower shall fall down on the withering of the grass. “But the word of the Lord that endureth for ever,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 129.6
… If he doth what he enjoineth thee, and thou dost it not; thou wilt go into the flame, he into the kingdom. If he doth not what he enjoineth thee, and equally with thee doth evil deeds, and preaches duties which he doth not; ye will both equally go into the flames. The hay will burn; but “the word of the Lord abideth for evermore.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.13
… He goes up into a mountain, and there spends a night in prayer, and He is indeed heard by the Father. Accordingly turn over the prophets, and learn therefrom His entire course. “Into the high mountain,” says Isaiah, “get Thee up, who bringest good tidings to Sion; lift up Thy voice with strength, who bringest good tidings to Jerusalem.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.2
… When he adds, too, the words, “which is not another,” he confirms the fact that the gospel which he maintains is the Creator’s. For the Creator Himself promises the gospel, when He says by Isaiah: “Get thee up into the high mountain, thou that bringest to Sion good tidings; lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest the gospel to Jerusalem.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 1.11
… And these must be sought by the able ministers of the New Covenant, in order that they may observe the injunction which says:
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 12.8
… In speaking of the salvation of God, speakest thou quietly? In preaching the good tidings of God’s coming for salvation, speakest thou in secret? O thou that bringest good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain. Speak to the cities of Judah . What am I to speak? Behold our God! Behold! the Lord cometh with strength
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 17.21
21. For in the power of the Holy Ghost, by the will of Father and Son, Peter stood with the Eleven, and lifting up his voice, (according to the text, Lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 32
… And now we have both seen and proclaim concisely and simply the doctrine of God the Trinity, comprehending out of Light (the Father), Light (the Son), in Light (the Holy Ghost). He that rejects it, let him reject it; and he that doeth iniquity, let him do iniquity; we proclaim that which we have understood. We will get us up into a high mountain,
John Cassian † AD 435 The Seven Books of John Cassian on the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius 7.10
… For even then how could the fact that God was to come in the flesh escape the knowledge of men, when the Prophet said openly as if to all mankind of Him: “Behold your God;” and elsewhere: “Behold our God.” And this: “God the mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace;” and: “of His kingdom there shall be no end.”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 2.3
… For that voice more readily penetrates the hearer’s heart, which the speaker’s life commends, since what he commands by speaking he helps the doing of by shewing. Hence it is said through the prophet, Get thee up into the high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Sion (
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Pope St Clement I † AD 99 The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 34
… the lazy and slothful cannot look his employer in the face. It is requisite, therefore, that we be prompt in the practice of well-doing; for of Him are all things. And thus He forewarns us: “Behold, the Lord [cometh], and His reward is before His face, to render to every man according to his work.”
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St Barnabas † AD 61 The Epistle of Barnabas 16
… For almost after the manner of the Gentiles they worshipped Him in the temple. But learn how the Lord speaks, when abolishing it: “Who hath meted out heaven with a span, and the earth with his palm? Have not I?”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 2.30.1
… themselves superior to that God who made and adorned the heavens, and the earth, and all things that are in them, and maintain that they themselves are spiritual, while they are in fact shamefully carnal on account of their so great impiety,—affirming that He, who has made His angels spirits, and is clothed with light as with a garment, and holds the circle
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.19.2
2. To these persons one may with justice say (as Scripture itself suggests), To what distance above God do ye lift up your imaginations, O ye rashly elated men? Ye have heard “that the heavens are meted out in the palm of [His] hand:”
Tertullian † AD 220 Against Hermogenes 45
… “For,” says He, “the heavens are the works of Thine hands,” wherewith “He hath meted out the heaven, and the earth with a span.”
Novatian † AD 258 A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity 30
… “I,” says He, “am God, and there is none beside me, righteous and a Saviour.” And in another place: “I am the first and the last, and beside me there is no God who is as I.” And, “Who hath meted out heaven with a span, and the earth with a handful? Who has suspended the mountains in a balance, and the woods on scales?”
St Hilary of Poitiers † AD 367 De Trinitate or On the Trinity 1.6
… but, in addition, we needed to apprehend the operation of His majesty and power. For while absolute existence is peculiar to Him Who, abiding eternally, had no beginning in a past however remote, we hear again an utterance worthy of Himself issuing from the eternal and Holy God, Who says, Who holdeth the heaven in His palm and the earth in His hand
St Ephrem the Syrian † AD 373 Ephraim Syrus: Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh 13.15
15. In the eleventh year, let the great sea praise the fists of the Son that measured it,
St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 5
… “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him?”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 4.5
5. This Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not circumscribed in any place , nor is He less than the heaven; but the heavens are the works of His fingers , and the whole earth is held in His grasp
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 7.12
… For God with unspeakable loving-kindness deigned to be called the Father of men,—He in heaven, they on earth,—and He the Maker of Eternity, they made in time,—He who holdeth the earth in the hollow of His hand , they upon the earth as grasshoppers
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 18.3
3. To thee, poor little feeble man, India is far from the land of the Goths, and Spain from Persia; but to God, who holds the whole earth in the hollow of His hand
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.74
… For hardly may one of those who have been most specially purged, behold here even an image of the Good, as men see the sun in the water. Who hath measured the water with his hand, and the heaven with a span, and the whole earth in a measure? Who hath weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 2.11
… For this cause He sitteth upon the circle of the earth, for this cause He holdeth the ends of the earth in His hand, for this cause He “meteth out leaven with the span, and measureth the waters in the hollow of His hand
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 2.12
… in the eternity of the Beginning of existent things, Who is in the bosom of the Father , Who sustains all things, by the word of His power , the creator of the ages, from Whom and through Whom and in Whom are all things , Who sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and hath meted out heaven with the span, Who measureth the water in the hollow of his hand
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On the Holy Spirit 1
… The heavens are telling the glory of God , and yet they are counted poor heralds of His worth; because His Majesty is exalted, not as far as the heavens, but high above those heavens, which are themselves included within a small fraction of the Deity called figuratively His “span
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Holy Spirit 2.9
… “For of Him and in Him are all things.” Which Isaiah had said of the Artificer of all, as you read: “Who hath measured out the water with his hand, and the heaven with a span, and all the earth with his closed hand? Who hath placed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His counsellor?”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Two Homilies on Eutropius 2.9
… Angels beheld Him and trembled, the Cheru bim veiled themselves with their wings, in awe. He looked upon the earth, and caused it to tremble: He threatened the sea and dried it up: he brought rivers out of the desert: He weighed the mountains in scales, and the valleys in a balance.
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 69.6
… Wherefore also in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel there is seen above the cherubim a crystal stretched forth, that is, the compressed and denser waters. The first living beings come out of the waters; and believers soar out of the laver with wings to heaven. Man is formed out of clay and God holds the mystic waters in the hollow of his hand.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 3.13
… Let us then believe it together. What do I say? Let us search it out together. Lo! hold fast what thou hast so read and believed; “Heaven is My throne (that is, “my seat,” for “throne,” in Greek, is “seat,” in Latin), and the earth is My footstool.” But hast thou not read these words as well, “Who has meted out the heaven with the palm of His hand?”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 8.3
… “Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” And He stands and sits , since He says, “Heaven is my seat, and earth the footstool for my feet:” though He “measure out the heaven with his hand, and holdeth the earth in his fist.”
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St Barnabas † AD 61 The Epistle of Barnabas 6
… What, then, meaneth this: “into the good land, a land flowing with milk and honey?” Blessed be our Lord, who has placed in us wisdom and understanding of secret things. For the prophet says, “Who shall understand the parable of the Lord, except him who is wise and prudent, and who loves his Lord?”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 2.2
… Isaiah even so early, with the clearness of an apostle, foreseeing the thoughts of heretical hearts, asked, “Who hath known the mind of the Lord? For who hath been His counsellor? With whom took He counsel?…or who taught Him knowledge, and showed to Him the way of understanding?”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.6
… But you still maintain that our glory comes from your god, with whom it also lay in secret. Then why does your god employ the self-same Scripture which the apostle also relies on? What has your god to do at all with the sayings of the prophets? “Who hath discovered the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His counsellor?”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.14
… This is the purport of what Isaiah said, and of (the apostle’s own) subsequent quotation of the self-same passage, of the prophet: “Who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? Who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed to him again?”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.18
… But if he states that it was hidden from them, he must needs be understood as having meant that it was manifest to Him. From God , therefore, the mystery was not hidden; but it was hidden in God , the Creator of all things, from His principalities and powers. For “who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His counsellor?”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Holy Spirit 2.9
90. But if you really consider whence the passage is taken you will have no doubt that it is said of the Son. For the Apostle says, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, “Who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His counsellor?”
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Tertullian † AD 220 Against Hermogenes 18
… This alone, indeed, knew the mind of the Lord. For “who knoweth the things of God, and the things in God, but the Spirit, which is in Him?” Now His wisdom is that Spirit. This was His counsellor, the very way of His wisdom and knowledge.
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 5.29
… Those nations, however, who did not of themselves raise up their eyes unto heaven, nor returned thanks to their Maker, nor wished to behold the light of truth, but who were like blind mice concealed in the depths of ignorance, the word justly reckons “as waste water from a sink, and as the turning-weight of a balance—in fact, as nothing;”
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 1
… fact, that the man who set up to vindicate God’s Law as his own was of the Gentiles, and not a Jew “of the stock of the Israelites.” For this fact—that Gentiles are admissible to God’s Law—is enough to prevent Israel from priding himself on the notion that “the Gentiles are accounted as a little drop of a bucket,” or else as “dust out of a threshing-floor:”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Prescription Against Heretics 8
… “Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” The Jews had formerly been in covenant with God; but being afterwards cast off on account of their sins, they began to be without God. The Gentiles, on the contrary, had never been in covenant with God; they were only as “a drop from a bucket,” and “as dust from the threshing floor,”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.25
… Well, how is it He Himself testifies that He was not known to Israel? “But Israel doth not know me, and my people doth not consider me;” nor to the Gentiles: “For, behold,” says He, “of the nations I have no man.” Therefore He reckoned them “as the drop of a bucket,”
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 59
… If there be any one who bears about in his person two instruments of lasciviousness, he has it in his power, to be sure, to mow down “the grass” of the unclean flesh, and to reserve for himself only that which shall see the salvation of God. But when the same prophet represents to us even nations sometimes estimated as “the small dust of the balance,”
Tertullian † AD 220 Scorpiace 10
… For, say they , even the Demiurge himself did not uniformly approve of the men of our world, whom he counted as a drop of a bucket,
Tertullian † AD 220 On Repentance 4
… This will draw you forth when sunk in the waves of sins, and will bear you forward into the port of the divine clemency. Seize the opportunity of unexpected felicity: that you, who sometime were in God’s sight nothing but “a drop of a bucket,”
St Hippolytus † AD 235 The Refutation of All Heresies 5.4
… and (so is it with) the rest of plants, according to each genus . That Man, however, he says, is of no reputation in the world, but of illustrious fame in heaven, being betrayed by those who are ignorant (of his perfections) to those who know him not, being accounted as a drop from a cask.
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 22.17
… And Isaiah said, All the nations are as a drop from the bucket, and as the turning of the balance. And the isles as a grain of sand shall be cast away, and all the nations are esteemed as nothingness by Him. For destruction and the sword are they esteemed by Him .
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On the Holy Spirit 1
In what sort of manner, then, can you honour the Deity? How can you heighten the Highest? How can you give glory to that which is above all glory? How can you praise the Incomprehensible? If “all the nations are as a drop of a bucket
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 11
Let no man then become chaff, let no one be tossed to and fro, nor lie exposed to wicked desires, blown about by them easily every way. For if thou continue wheat, though temptation be brought on thee, thou wilt suffer nothing dreadful; nay, for in the threshing floor, the wheels of the car, that are like saws,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Philippians 4
… It is now seasonable to say, “What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?” ( Ps. viii. 4 .) Were He only to threaten the earth, all men would become one tomb. “As a drop of water from the bucket,” it is written, “so are the nations in His sight, they shall be counted as very small dust, as the turning of the balance.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Philippians 6
… Whence came he to this? From the love of money. He was a thief. For thirty pieces of silver he betrayed his Lord. So drunken was he with the passion, he betrayed the Lord of the world for thirty pieces of silver. What can be worse than this madness? Him to whom nothing is equivalent, nothing is equal, “before whom the nations are as nothing” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 12
… Pride is opposed to humility, and through it Satan lost his eminence as an archangel. The Jewish people perished in their pride, for while they claimed the chief seats and salutations in the market place, they were superseded by the Gentiles, who had before been counted as “a drop of a bucket.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 59
… But when the same prophet represents to us even nations sometimes estimated as “the small dust of the balance,” and as “less than nothing, and vanity,”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 2
Is. xl. 17 . He doeth what He will in heaven and in earth.
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 1.4
… Now it is God that is in question, whose main property it is to admit of no comparison with Himself. Nature itself, therefore, if not an Isaiah, or rather God speaking by Isaiah, will deprecatingly ask, “To whom will ye liken me?”
Arnobius † AD 327 The Seven Books of Arnobius Against the Heathen. (Adversus Gentes.) 6.14
14. We would here, as if all nations on the earth were present, make one speech, and pour into the ears of them all, words which should be heard in common:
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 2
… Wherefore God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient .’ For they did not listen to the prophetic voice that reproved them (saying), ‘To what have ye likened the Lord, and with what have ye compared Him
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.74
… Who hath measured the water with his hand, and the heaven with a span, and the whole earth in a measure? Who hath weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? What is the place of his rest? and to whom shall he be likened?
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Novatian † AD 258 A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity 3
… who boundeth the circle of the earth, and those that dwell in it like locusts; who hath weighed the mountains in a balance, and the groves in scales,”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Hexæmeron 1.8
… As to the form of them we also content ourselves with the language of the same prophet, when praising God “that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 10.8
8. And both of these points the Scriptures teach, for one in treating of the beauty of the heavens thus speaks; “The heavens declare the glory of God.” And again, “Who hath placed the sky as a vault, and spread it out as a tent over the earth.”
St John of Damascus † AD 749 An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 2.6
Others have pictured the heaven as a hemisphere. This idea is suggested by these words of David, the singer of God, Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain , by which word he clearly means a tent: and by these from the blessed Isaiah, Who hath established the heavens like a vault
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 4
… Wonder then at Him who made them. For this heaven, great as it is, not only was made by Him, but made with ease; and that boundless earth, too, was brought into being even as if it had been nothing. Wherefore of the former He saith, ( Ps. cii. 25 . τῶν χειρῶν . LXX.) “The works of Thy fingers are the heavens,” and concerning the earth, (
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St Hilary of Poitiers † AD 367 Homilies on the Psalms 130.2
2. Neither have Mine eyes been lifted up . The strict sense of the Greek here conveys a different meaning; οὐδὲ ἐμετεωρίσθησαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου, that is, have not been lifted up from one object to look on another. Yet the eyes must be lifted up in obedience to the Prophet’s words: Lift up your eyes and see who hath displayed all these things
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 66
… Here again they call the multitude “the world.” For Scripture is wont to call by the name “world” both the creation, and those who live in wickedness; the one, when It saith, “Who bringeth out His world by number” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 166.13
… whereas we are not capable of perceiving those things by the perception of which, if it were attainable, we should be soothed with an ineffable, tranquil joy. For not in vain has the prophet, taught by divine inspiration, declared concerning God, “He bringeth forth in measured harmonies the course of time.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 12.18
… for Plato, their great authority, represents God as framing the world on numerical principles: and in our books also it is said to God, “Thou hast ordered all things in number, and measure, and weight.” The prophet also says,” Who bringeth out their host by number.”
Pseudo-Clement The Clementine Homilies 18.17
“But if one shall say nothing was concealed from the sons of Israel, because it is written,
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Tertullian † AD 220 Against Praxeas 16
… “The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth , shall never thirst at all, nor be hungry;”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) 3
… If for the toil’s sake God was content with making the Son only, instead of making all things at once, this is an irreligious thought, especially in those who know the words of Esaias, ‘The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, hungereth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of His understanding
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 1.4
… And where the sacred writers say, ‘Who exists before the ages,’ and ‘By whom He made the ages ,’ they thereby as clearly preach the eternal and everlasting being of the Son, even while they are designating God Himself. Thus, if Isaiah says, ‘The Everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 2.17
… and Isaiah too who has said in Scripture, ‘The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary: there is no searching of His understanding
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 3
Orth. —But then you directly contradict the exclamation of the prophet “He fainteth not neither is weary; there is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 4.2.7
7. Of the divine nature the prophet Isaiah said, “He shall neither be hungry nor weary”
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) 3
… there is no searching of His understanding .’ Rather it is He who gives strength to the hungry, and through His Word refreshes the labouring
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St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 3.6
… The comparison is between the great servant and his fellow-servants: but the pre-eminence and the grace of the Son is beyond comparison with servants. Seest thou how great a man God chose as the first minister of this grace?—a man possessing nothing, and a lover of the desert, yet no hater of mankind: who ate locusts, and winged his soul for heaven
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 16
… 13 ), nor embraces, nor the madness of desire, but “God’s love toward man,” which wrought the whole. ( Tit. iii. 5 .) And as in that case it was when the age was past hope, so in this also it was when the old age of sins had come over us, that Isaac suddenly sprang up in youth, and we all became the children of God, and the seed of Abraham. (
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 3
… there is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.” And a little further on “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint.”
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1. BE COMFORTED, BE COMFORTED, MY PEOPLE. — The Jews and Haymo, Hugo and the Gloss refer this to the end of the preceding chapter, namely to the words of Hezekiah: "Let there be only peace and truth in my days," as if to say: Hezekiah, O Jews! seems to have consulted only for himself and his own days, seeking peace for himself; but you and your posterity you have neglected: therefore God himself will take up your care, and promises, saying: "I will comfort you." But from verses 5 and seq. it is clear that this pertains to the times of John the Baptist and Christ; it alludes, however, to the Babylonian captivity, as I have said. The sense therefore is, as if to say: I predicted in the preceding chapter, verse 6, that you would go captive into Babylon; hence you are rightly troubled and grieving: but be comforted, for after 70 years I will snatch you from there, and restore you to your former, indeed better, condition. This I promise you in passing, and as it were touch upon lightly; but under this light consolation, as it were a type, I understand another far greater one, and promise it to you, namely that which Christ will bring, when he will call you back from death, and from hell and the devil, to whom you were given over, into freedom, and restore you to God and heaven. Note: "Be comforted" is taken passively, for "receive consolation": for "my people" follows. The Septuagint, however, take it actively; whence they render it in the accusative, "comfort my people." And thus the Greeks read it, St. Cyril, Procopius, Chrysostom, and thus among the Latins Pagninus and Vatablus render it. Secondly, he calls his people the assembly of the faithful, namely Christians, both Jews and Gentiles believing in Christ.
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2. SPEAK (namely you, O priests! as the Septuagint has it, and you, O Apostles) TO THE HEART OF JERUSALEM, — that is to say, Announce to her things that are mild and sweet, which may soothe her heart, refresh it, and drive away all sadness from her. "It is the idiom of Scripture," says St. Jerome, "that he who speaks to one who is sorrowful, and consoles by speaking gently, is said to speak to the heart." Thus Shechem spoke to the heart of Dinah, whom he had corrupted, and who was therefore sad, as is found in the Hebrew in Genesis, chapter XXXIV. Thus in Hosea, chapter II, it is said: "I will lead her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart." Finally, hear St. Bernard, sermon 5 on the Nativity of the Lord: "Be comforted, be comforted, says the Lord your God, says this Emmanuel, God with us. The stable cries out, the manger cries out, the tears cry out, the swaddling clothes cry out. The stable cries out, preparing itself for the man who had fallen among robbers. The manger cries out, providing food for the same man, who had been compared to beasts of burden. The tears cry out, the swaddling clothes cry out, washing away and wiping clean the very bloody wounds of that same one. For Christ needed none of these things, nothing of these for himself, but rather all things for the sake of the elect." Appropriately, St. Clement, book II of the Apostolic Constitutions, chapter XV, teaches that Bishops ought to use these words of Isaiah with sinners, in order to call them back to penance, by giving them hope of forgiveness. AND COMFORT HER. — The Septuagint: and comfort her. Thus the Holy Spirit is called παράκλητος, that is, advocate, or comforter; there is signified therefore an immense future consolation: for he repeats the word comfort four times: for he says: "Be comforted, be comforted, speak to the heart of Jerusalem, comfort her." In Hebrew it is קרו אליה kiru eleha, that is, cry out to her, or call to her, so that namely you may announce to her this wonderful consolation, and thus refresh and comfort her. For the sense comes to the same thing. Therefore "comfort her" by metonymy is the same as comfort her, as the Septuagint translates it: for she is called to this end, that she may receive consolation. BECAUSE HER INIQUITY IS FULFILLED. — Thus the Roman version. For iniquity in Hebrew it is צבא tsaba, that is, warfare: but the sense is the same. For iniquity here does not signify wickedness, but labor, affliction and military hardships. Whence the Septuagint for iniquity translate humiliation. Thus it is said in Matthew, chapter VI, verse 34: "Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof," that is, affliction, "thereof." Thus the Apostle says: "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil," that is, miserable. "Therefore iniquity here signifies the tribulation and penalties of sins, which the Church suffered, not so much from the Gentile Emperors in the first three hundred years, as some wish (for these happened to her after Christ, not on account of sins, but to sharpen her virtue and glory: but this Prophet speaks of the consolation brought by Christ; for this is her first consolation), but which she suffered before Christ, when she still served Gentile infidelity, sin and the devil; or when Jewish, she served the Romans, Greeks and other Gentiles, who exacted harsh penalties for her sins from her, and grievously harassed her. This therefore was her iniquity, her warfare, that is, the arena of her labors, and the time of her warfare and servitude and afflictions appointed by God (for thus the Jews of old were to serve until the year 50), that is to say, Now the arena of your labor and hardship is completed, and the time of penance, in which in enduring adversities and divine chastisements you served, you exercised yourself, and in a manner waged war: for, as follows, "Her iniquity is forgiven." Christ also, just as he put an end to her iniquity, so also to her warfare and iniquity, or captivity; for as the Poet says of love: Every lover wages war, and Cupid has his camps. and of this arena of labor and pain you may say: Every struggle wages war, and have their camps labor and toil, And the cross, and pain, and rejoicing patience in hardships. So also every penitent wages war: and penance is hard warfare. Thus also St. Job says, chapter VII, 1: "The life of man upon earth is a warfare." And explaining this warfare, verse 3, he says: "I have numbered to myself laborious nights," and chapter XIV, he says: "Man born of woman is filled with many miseries," etc. You will say: After Christ, even the Jews, even those converted to Christ, served the Romans; indeed Christ himself paid tribute to them; how therefore did he put an end to their servitude? I answer: Properly and primarily Christ freed us from the captivity of sin, death, the devil and hell. For this is spiritual, the greatest and eternal, compared to which temporal servitude is small, and as it were nothing. Secondarily, however, he also freed us from temporal servitude. First, because he himself, being born as it were the prince of peace, brought peace with him into the world, and caused Augustus Caesar to rule the Jews not hostilely and tyrannically, as Salmanasar, Nabuchodonosor, and other devastators of the Jews had done, but politically and peacefully, as it were a legitimate prince with equal right, indeed humanely, just as he ruled other peoples subject to him. See the sayings of Isaiah II, 4. Secondly, because Christ drove away sin from the Jews converted to him, and consequently also servitude insofar as it was the punishment of sin: he therefore made it so that servitude to faithful servants was not the punishment of guilt, but the condition of lot and nature, indeed so that it was for them an exercise of patience and virtue, and matter and cause of liberty and heavenly glory. Thirdly, because by his grace he makes it so that servitude to Christians is not forced and harsh, as it was to the Jews, but free and sweet: for he makes it so that they bear it for the love of God with equal and willing mind. "For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," II Corinthians III, 17. This is what Christ says to the Jews: "If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed," John cap. VIII, 36. Fourthly, because Christ, subjecting Constantine the Great and the other Emperors thereafter to his faith, made them rule over Christians, not as tyrants, nor as Caesars, but as fathers. Fifthly, because in the resurrection he will abolish all servitude in the Saints, and will bestow upon them liberty, indeed heavenly kingdom, so that they may be eternal kings, and lords of the world. Secondly, some by malice understand the harshest and most laborious ceremonies, purifications, circumcisions, sacrifices, etc., by which the Synagogue before Christ in the Jewish temple served God, and as it were waged war: for thus the offices of the Levites, and servitude in the tabernacle, Numbers IV, is often called tsaba, that is warfare, as if to say. God abolished that troublesome warfare of the old tabernacle, and made it so that a new, and indeed easy Christian warfare in the Church succeeded it, of which the Apostle writes, I Timothy I, 18, and admonishes him to wage good warfare in it. Whence St. Justin Against Trypho, and Tertullian, lib. I Against Marcion, shortly after the beginning, and from them Leo Castrius and Forerius thus expound: The warfare is completed, that is the law of Moses, and the Synagogue of the Jews is no longer the Church militant; but it is now the law and Church of Christ, which is not so much warfare as peace and rest, and, ceasing from that troublesome warfare of the Jews, easily and sweetly, now aided by Christ and the holy Angels, it wages war for God and heaven. This exposition is fitting. However, what is added favors the former more: "Her iniquity is forgiven." SHE HATH RECEIVED OF THE HAND OF THE LORD DOUBLE. — "Double," that is manifold and great, or many and great. Thus the Chaldean, Origen in Jeremiah hom. 12, and others: for thus double by catachresis is often taken for much and grave, as I said Jeremiah XVII, 18. Now first, the sense is, as if to say, Double, that is many and grave, punishments for sins you have paid: enough therefore of punishments you have given; wherefore your iniquity and affliction is completed. Thus Procopius, Theodoret, Cyril. Who also add that punishments are called double, not because God punishes sins beyond what is deserved, and in double: for this is alien from his justice and clemency: but because, out of love for the Church, it seems to him that he has inflicted double graver punishments upon her than she deserves, just as a father, who has chastised his dearest son for a great sin with the lightest punishment, seeing his sorrows and welts, grieving, and caressing him says: Alas! my son, I have chastised you too much, my sudden anger has inflicted too sharp blows upon you. Again Forerius thinks these things are said to the Church on account of Christ, who is its head, and who took upon himself the punishment of its crimes; whose satisfaction therefore is ours, as if to say: Enough, nay more than enough, have I punished thy son for thy crimes. For Christ by his death and cross so satisfied divine justice, that although men had sinned far more greatly, yet by Christ's satisfaction not only are all faults to be extinguished and all sins remitted, but moreover Christ can demand for himself and for them the most ample rewards due to his obedience and extreme patience, as the Son of God. Through Christ therefore we have satisfied God more than we owed. Finally St. Jerome and Hugh say that the Jews "received double," because first they were destroyed by the Babylonians, second by the Romans. But this is opposed, among other things, by the fact that the destruction by the Romans was accomplished long after Christ. Secondly, these "double" things can be understood not of punishments, but of graces, as if to say: God so remitted the iniquities of the Church, and so now consoles it through Christ, that it has received "double," that is manifold, goods, charisms, graces and consolations from the immense mercy of God in place of its sins and the punishments of sins which it deserved. Thus Adam. For indeed the most abundant consolation is given here to the Church through Christ. The former sense is simpler; this latter sense is more sublime and more divine. For this is a vengeance worthy and proper to God, to render good for evil, and that double; for his goodness is so most generous, that it contends with the malice of men and overwhelms it. Morally, learn here how divine it is to console the afflicted, even enemies and foes. Thus the patriarch Joseph consoled his brothers, sad on account of that grave sin by which they had wished to kill him, Genesis L, 19. Elcana, the father of Samuel, consoled his sad wife, because his rival reproached her with barrenness, I Kings I. Tobias the elder consoles his wife, sad on account of the longer absence of his son, Tobias X, 6. Christ the Lord consoles Martha and Mary Magdalene, sad on account of the death of their brother Lazarus, John XI, 23. St. Antony consoled Didymus the blind, saying: "It is not, Didymus, that thou shouldest afflict thyself with sorrow, because thou lackest eyes, which mice, lizards and vile animals have. Rather should thou be lifted up with pleasure and joy, thou who, like the Angels, art vigorous with inward eyes, by which thou clearly perceivest immortal and divine thought, and seest truth itself exactly." Thus Nicephorus, lib. IX, cap. XVII. St. Gregory, lib. II, epist. 44, consoled Judith, driven from the kingdom of Hungary: "Moreover, let not the adversity which now presses upon thee terrify thee, nor depress the mind of thy nobility: but if anything sad or grave shall befall, dissemble it with the countenance and bearing of royal constancy, and patiently bear the troublesome causes (which God avert), by the natural virtue of thy character, having firm confidence and hope in God our Saviour, because he hath care of thee, who never forsaketh those that hope in him: and the more he now suffereth thy mind to be beaten by anxieties more bitterly, the more he gladdeth it more abundantly from the near and mighty virtue of his consolation. Act therefore so that in all things which kingdom and empire bring, thou mayest show thyself so much the more excellent, as thou knowest that all these things are changed. But God almighty, who is the consolation of the sad, the strength of the weak, may speedily grant you present joy, and bestow true and eternal glory of heavenly happiness." St. Bernard, epist. 110, thus consoles the sad parents of Geoffrey on account of his entrance into Clairvaux: "As many as we are in Clairvaux, or from Clairvaux, we receive him as a brother, you as parents. But perhaps ye fear the harshness of life for his body, which ye know to be tender and delicate. Yet concerning such fear it is said: There they trembled with fear where there was no fear. Be confident, be comforted; I will be to him a father, and he will be to me a son, until the Father of mercies shall take him from my hands, and the God of all consolation. Do not therefore mourn, do not weep, because your Geoffrey hastens to joy, not to mourning. I will be to him father, I and mother, I brother and sister. I will make crooked things straight for him, and rough things into plain ways. I will so temper and dispense all things for him, that both his spirit may profit and his body not fail. Finally he shall serve the Lord in gladness and exultation, and shall sing in the ways of the Lord, because great is the glory of the Lord."
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3. THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING, — supply: shall be, or shall be heard in the desert. Now St. Thomas, Hugo, Toletus and Jansenius proceed to refer these things literally to the return from the Babylonian captivity, as if to say: I seem to myself to hear the herald of Cyrus: He frees you, O Hebrews! Cyrus makes you free: return eagerly to your homeland: and you, O nations! through whom they shall pass, make straight for them the ways, and fill up the hills and valleys, that is, provide them with an easy and convenient passage. It is a catachresis. A similar one in this same matter is in Baruch V, 7. But others refer this to the captivity of mankind freed from the power of the devil through Christ, of which that was a type. But I say that these things are to be understood of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, and preparing the way for him in the desert; I confess, however, that there is an allusion to the return from Babylon. That this is so the blessed John himself teaches, who, when asked: "Who art thou?" answered: "I am the voice of one crying in the desert, etc., as the Prophet Isaias said." For that preaching properly befits him: "Prepare ye the way of the Lord," etc. Finally, all the Evangelists narrate and explain this passage of St. John in this way, and the whole Church, as is evident from Matt. III, 3; Mark I, 3; Luke III, 4; John I, 23. Thus Forerius, Adams and others. And this will be more evident from the following chapter, where he clearly treats of Christ and the calling of the Gentiles. Hence St. John is called by Tertullian, book IV Against Marcion, chapter XI, "a shouter in the wilderness, and a preparer of the Lord's ways, by the denunciation and praise of penance." Note first: This "voice of one crying" or calling pertains to that command of verse 1: "Be comforted, and call her." For this is its execution, or rather its sign, as if to say: If you ask: Whence knowest thou, O Isaias, that this consolation shall come to the Church and to us, that God shall be reconciled to us and shall remit sins, and shall restore double? I answer, says he, I know this from the fact that I see and hear the voice of John the Baptist calling her, and crying out that she prepare herself for this consolation, remission and grace, which Christ brings to her coming, who shall reconcile the world to God, and shall appease God by his obedience and death. Note secondly: John was the voice crying, namely of God, and of the divine Word: for God cried out through the mouth and voice of John, as a king cries out through his herald. Thus St. Ambrose, Theophylactus and others, in Luke III. It can also be translated from the Hebrew as a crying voice: for John was both. Note thirdly: St. John was a voice, first, because just as through the voice we make manifest to others the word hidden in the mind: so the eternal Father through John His Word, namely the Son hidden in the flesh, revealed to the world. Thus St. Augustine, sermon 20 On the Saints. Secondly, just as the voice of the speaker anticipates the conception and understanding of the hearer: so John by his preaching preceded the knowledge of Christ and faith in the minds of the Jews, and engendered it in them. Thus St. Gregory, homily 20 in the Gospel. Thirdly, the voice indeed precedes the word and the conception of the hearer, yet follows the word which preceded in the mind of the speaker: for through the voice the speaker reveals his word and conception to the hearer: so John preceded the Word and knowledge of God in the minds of the hearers; yet this Word of God preceded John, because it was from eternity. Thus St. Ambrose in Luke chapter III, 4, where he also adds: "Because, he says, John was a voice, therefore at his nativity his father the mute recovered his voice." Fourthly, Epiphanius brings another analogy, heresy 69, who understands by voice here an imperfect and inarticulate one, such as heralds are accustomed to utter in a crowd, saying for example sus, sus, when they indicate silence; because a prince is about to speak: for thus John was a herald indicating to the people to pay attention, that they might receive the doctrine of Christ, by comparison with which the preaching of John was imperfect and as it were inarticulate. Fifthly, John is called a voice, because he said nothing of himself: but only those things which he had heard from God. Sixthly, just as the voice precedes the word, for by the voice the word is formed: so John preceded Christ: "Thou shalt go, says Zacharias, before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways." Seventhly, he is called a voice, because his office was not to write his oracles, as Isaiah and other Prophets did, who therefore were both voice and the pen of a scribe writing swiftly; but to preach with a living voice, and to point out Christ. Eighthly, because whatever was in John was a voice, he preached entirely penance and holiness. Eyes, hands, garment, food, whatever finally was in him cried out: "Do penance, prepare the way of the Lord: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Thus we commonly say: "The nightingale is all voice," because it does nothing but sing. Whence by the Syrians it is called Spharcolo, that is a bird of voice, that is a vocal bird, and itself as it were a voice. Let such a voice be the preacher, and he will be "a hammer that breaketh the stones." Finally, John was not a thin and muttering voice, but a crying voice, because with wonderful boldness, constancy, with all his spirit, and with the straining of his voice, he preached publicly, and cried out against the vices of princes and people. For the manners of men were then most corrupt, who were to be terrified and struck down with a great voice. Again, by this cry he signified the preaching of the Gospel to be heard far and wide, to be spread abroad, according to that Psalm XVIII: "Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the whole world." Beautifully St. Basil in Psalm XXVIII, the attributes which the Psalmist gives to the great voice, that is to thunder, saying: "The voice of the Lord in power, the voice of the Lord in magnificence, the voice of the Lord breaking the cedars, the voice of the Lord shaking the desert of Cades, the voice of the Lord preparing the hinds," etc., he explains mystically of the voice of St. John most efficacious. Finally St. Ambrose, sermon 9: "Even today, he says, John cries out by example and word, and by the thunder of his voice he shuts up the deserts of our sins." Fourthly, John was a threefold voice: namely a voice, first, foretelling Christ about to come; secondly, pointing out Christ born; thirdly, inciting to penance, and thus preparing for Christ. Hence in Scripture John has three epithets, namely: "Voice, Angel, Lamp," or: "Preacher, Prophet, more than Prophet." For John was a voice preaching penance, he was an Angel and prophet preaching and announcing the imminent grace of Christ. He was a lamp, and more than a Prophet pointing out Christ present. See Francis Toledo in chapter III Luke, note 16. Finally hear St. Peter Chrysologus, sermon 127: "John, he says, a school of virtues, a teaching of life, a form of holiness, a norm of justice, a mirror of virginity, a title of modesty, an example of chastity, a way of penance, a forgiveness of sins, a discipline of faith. John greater than man, equal to Angels, the sum of the law, the sanction of the Gospel, the voice of the Apostles, the silence of the Prophets, a lamp of the world, a herald of the judge, a precursor of Christ, a measurer of the Lord, a witness of God, altogether in the midst of the Trinity." Moreover, John was so entirely a voice that before he was born, he spoke in the womb, not by speech, but by leaping of the tongue and of his whole body, by which he adored and preached Christ present in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, recently incarnate, and announced the same to his mother, who therefore, filled with the Holy Spirit, recognized him, and for this reason called the Blessed Virgin the mother of the Lord, namely of God, Luke I, 44. Again, this voice could not be shut up in prison and silenced. For John spoke in prison to his disciples, and sent them to Christ, Matthew XI, 2. Indeed, even dying he spoke, not by voice, but by blood bearing witness to chastity, equally as to Christ. Wherefore his blood still cries out, not for vengeance like Abel's, but for Christ's mercy and holiness. Tropologically, St. John was a voice of all virtues. Of penance; saying: "Do penance." Of confession, because "he confessed, and denied not," that he was not Christ, but the voice of Christ the herald. Of humility, because he said he was not worthy to loose the latchet of Christ's shoes. Of faith, saying: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who taketh away the sin of the world." Of chastisement of sinners, thundering: "O generation of vipers, who hath shewed you to flee from the wrath to come?" Luke, cap. III, 7. Of justice, saying to soldiers: "Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely: and be content with your pay," ibid., vers. 14. Of chastity, saying to King Herod the adulterer: "It is not lawful for thee to have her," namely Herodias, as the wife of thy brother, Matthew XIV, 4; and on account of this voice he fell as a Martyr. Of praise and doxology, when he moved his father Zacharias at his birth to sing: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people," and the Blessed Virgin, by greeting her mother as the mother of the Lord, moved her to sing: "My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour," Luke I, vers. 46 and 68. Let holy men learn from John to be entirely voices of virtues, and voices and trumpets celebrating the glory of God. IN THE DESERT. — Jansenius and some others refer these words not to voice, but to prepare. For what, he says, the Prophet says in the first hemistich: "In the desert prepare the way of the Lord," he repeats in the second, and explains when he adds: "Make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God." But all the codices of the Evangelists, equally with those of Isaiah, punctuate these words so that "in the desert" is joined with "the voice crying." For John was a dweller in the wilderness, and a voice crying in the desert: nor did John cry out so that they would prepare the way of the Lord in the desert: for he did not wish to empty Judea of its inhabitants and make them hermits; but the Jews went out from villages and cities to him dwelling and crying in the desert, that they might see and hear him. Whence St. Jerome, writing to Therasias, tom. IX: "He chose," he says, "a place, not where no one would hear him, but to which he might lead peoples from the conversation of corrupted nature. The place itself therefore is a form of doctrine, and solitude itself is a preaching of virtues: the dwelling works, while the hearer anxiously leaves the crowds of cities." In truth therefore John said, nay cried out concerning himself: Mitres grow vile, and the honors of the deceitful world. The desert alone pleases me, the grave earth and cities. O blessed solitude, o sole beatitude, companion and rival of the Angels! Note: Excellent and contemplative men have always sought out desert places. For the desert is as it were the school of paradise. Whence God said, Hosea cap. II: "I will lead her into the wilderness: and I will speak to her heart." Hence St. Anthony, Hilarion, Jerome and countless others, leaving cities behind, cultivated solitude, where free from the company and crowds of men, and from the allurements and dangers of the world, they devoted themselves to study and prayer, and burning with charity, and yearning for heaven, they aspired upward. Wherefore St. Augustine, epist. 76, does not hesitate to say: "There will not be a good cleric who was not a good monk." Thus, to pass over others, St. Gregory Nazianzen, serm. in S. Luminaria Epiphan.: "I cannot," he says, "restrain the pleasure of joy; but I am lifted up in mind, and forgetting my own littleness, I strive or eagerly desire to undertake the office of the great John, or rather his service: and although I am not a precursor, yet I come from the desert," namely from the solitude of Pontus, into which he had gone with St. Basil with desire for the heavenly life. See the sayings at Lamentations III, 28, and Jeremiah IX, 2. Therefore our deserters, the Novations, enemies of monks and anchorites, err, who cultivate and inhabit this desert of John wish it to have been, as if in a paternal house which was in the mountains, John dwelt. These indeed are those reformers of the faith, soft and delicate, who transform John's desert into a city, his garment of goat's hair and haircloth into a wavy fabric (commonly called camelot), locusts into sea crabs. But Isaiah teaches far otherwise, who explains this desert through solitude, and the Evangelists, who teach that he dwelt in the deserted places of Judaea, and the Church, which sings: The caves of the desert in tender years, Fleeing the crowds of citizens, thou didst seek, Lest even lightly thou couldst stain thy life With famine's touch. And all the Fathers, whom see in Canisius, lib. De Corrupt. verbi Dei, cap. II. Cedrenus and Nicephorus relate, lib. I, cap. XIV, that John, when he was about eighteen months old, was led by his mother into the desert, in order to escape the persecution of Herod, as it seems. Cedrenus adds that John hid in a cave, and there his mother died, but an Angel took care of the young John. This cave was afterwards cultivated by hermits, as is evident from Sophronius in the Spiritual Meadow, cap. I. Furthermore, the reason why John withdrew into the wilderness was, that like Moses and Elijah he might emulate the spirit and power of Christ, namely, that by this withdrawal from the world and the world's vices he might prepare for himself the purity and name of holiness, to whom therefore Christ appearing merited that all should have faith in him. Hence the Fathers everywhere call John the prince of Monks and Hermits. Thus St. Chrysostom, Theophylactus and Euthymius in Matt. III, 5; Jerome, epist. 22 to Eustochium; Cassian, Collat. XVIII, cap. VI. A second reason was, that it might be signified that the Gospel was not to be preached in Judaea and Jerusalem; but in the wilderness of the Church, and the deserted places of the multitude of Gentiles. Wherefore this desert of John was most celebrated in Judaea near the Jordan, both on account of the abundance of waters, and the dwelling and miracles of the Prophets near Aenon and Salim, John III, 23. A third reason was, that John might signify the corrupted manners of his age and the world, and that he himself in this world was living as if in a desert among wild beasts and serpents. Whence he says: "O generation of vipers, who hath shewed you to flee from the wrath to come?" Matt. III, 7. Thus Diogenes the Cynic, carrying a lamp in broad daylight in the forum, said he was seeking men; because those whom he saw he did not consider men, but beasts and cattle. PREPARE YE THE WAY OF THE LORD. — For prepare in Hebrew it is פנו pannu, which first Forerius translates, give face, that is appearance, to the way of the Lord; namely, take care that this way have nothing of filth, unevenness, roughness or indecorum, but let it be bright, comely and fair. For the Hebrew root פנה pinna signifies face, whence the verb pana signifies to look, to turn the face. Secondly, Vatablus and Forerius say this verb is of contrary signification: for pana in Cal signifies to turn the face away, pinna in Piel signifies to remove from the face, to cleanse. Whence they translate: Cleanse ye the way of the Lord, namely from mud and filth. Thirdly, it could aptly be translated, in keeping with what follows, pannu as angulate, that is to the angle, that is to the plumb-line, equate, that is exactly level, the way of the Lord. For פנה pinna signifies angle. Whence the same, inculcating and explaining, subjoins: "Make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God," as if to say, Behold your Christ is about to come, that as it were a king he may be inaugurated; therefore level the ways for him, that is, remove all obstacles which might offend him or be unbecoming to him, namely remove errors, vices and sins, and make it so that he may be received readily and eagerly, your hearts preparing studiously for faith in him, and for all his grace and holiness. Therefore it is the same thing: "Prepare ye the way of the Lord," as "do penance: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;" for this was the voice and preaching of St. John, as is evident Matt. III. Maldonatus and others, who think that here is treated of the return from Babylon, believe there is an allusion to the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, to whom God opened a way in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness, as if to say, A way shall be prepared for the captive people returning from Babylon, not otherwise than when they entered the promised land, God prepared and opened a way for them through the sea and through the wilderness. IN THE WILDERNESS. — Forerius refers these words not to "make straight," but to "the voice of one crying:" for he himself repeats this here, as if to say, The voice of one crying in the desert and in the wilderness. But this repetition, with so much transposition of words, is harsh. Secondly, Vatablus says, solitude, he calls a mind barren and uncultivated by the word of God. This is symbolic and mystical. Thirdly, and most plainly, as if to say, Ye go out to me in the wilderness: here therefore with me exhorting you correct your manners, and prepare the way for Christ. The solitude itself invites to this, that separated from the crowd, ye may attend to the word of God and your salvation. Thus St. Jerome.
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4. EVERY VALLEY SHALL BE EXALTED. — This is an enallage of mood: for these future things are to be explained by the imperative: "shall be exalted," that is, let it be exalted; "shall be humbled," that is, let it be humbled; "shall be," that is, let them be. For he explains the manner of making straight, or of leveling the way of the Lord, namely if valleys are filled and raised up, and mountains and hills are cast down and depressed: "crooked," that is, oblique, winding and distorted ways, or turnings, "shall be made straight; and rough," that is, steep and unequal, shall be made plain and level, as if to say: Remove from your minds everything that is crooked, distorted, unequal, too high, or too low: for example, he who carries the mountain of pride in his heart, let him depress this swelling; he who contains in himself the valley of pusillanimity and sloth, let him fill it, raise it up and make it level through magnanimity and confidence in God; he who is of rough manners, let him compose himself to gentleness and modesty. Again, as Tertullian says, book V Against Marcion: "Christ shall make the hills level with the valleys, and shall direct the crooked into straightness and plains: because he shall convert all the difficulties of the Law into the facilities and equities of the Gospel." And this is the reason why he used the future tense and not the optative, saying: "It shall be filled," not, let it be filled. Thus Cyril.
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5. AND THE GLORY OF THE LORD SHALL BE REVEALED. — "And," that is, for: for the Hebrew vau often signifies this: for it gives the reason why the way is to be prepared. GLORY. — This is the glorious humanity of Christ, and the divinity hidden in it, shall be revealed to the eyes of all, announcing to all the glorious Gospel, and through it showing the way to eternal glory, and preaching the kingdom of heaven. For all these things are the glory of the Lord. Formerly a cloud, or smoke, from the midst of which fire flashed forth, and the terrible voice of the Lord was heard, was called "the glory of the Lord," Exodus XIX, 9 and 16. But now in the new law God made man, reconciling the world to the Father, teaching everywhere, and working miracles, is called "the glory of the Lord," revealed to the whole world. AND ALL FLESH SHALL SEE (that is, shall be able to see and experience) TOGETHER THAT THE MOUTH OF THE LORD HATH SPOKEN — as if to say: Then all men shall see in fact that what the Lord now promises through me and other Prophets concerning Christ the Savior is fulfilled and accomplished. Whence St. Luke, chapter III, 6, clearly explains saying: "All flesh shall see the salvation of God," that is, the Savior Christ, as if to say: All shall see that the promises so magnificent concerning Christ made by the Prophets were the promises of God, and shall understand that God was he who made those promises, when they shall behold with their own eyes the truth of the promises, namely God himself in the flesh. This therefore salvation or savior is that glory of God, which they assert is to be revealed.
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6. THE VOICE SAYING (that is, I Isaiah hear a voice speaking to me inwardly and suggesting): CRY OUT. AND I SAID (that is, I answered): WHAT SHALL I CRY (To whom the voice: Cry out)? ALL FLESH IS GRASS. — For what purpose is Isaiah commanded to cry out? What does this have to do with the preceding? First, Sanchez and others who think that the return from Babylon is being discussed here, explain it thus: that is, let not this consolation of your return, O Jews! seem impossible to you, on account of the power of the Chaldeans, who hold you and are masters of things: because their power, although it may seem to be at its height, is nevertheless carnal, and like a flower blooming in spring, which soon withers and dries up and falls away in the burning sun, and becomes grass, because the spirit, that is the anger and fury, of the Lord like a burning wind has blown upon and blown away that one. Second, Forerius refers these things to the cessation of Judaism and of legal ceremonies which the Apostle, Hebrews IX, 10, calls "justices of the flesh," because they purified and justified the flesh, not the soul, that is, Jews, as the Apostle says, glory in the flesh and think that circumcision and their other purifications and carnal ceremonies are solid, and will be eternal, and from these they hope for justice and salvation. I wish therefore, O Isaiah! that you preach to carnal Jews that all those things, since they are flesh and lack spirit, are like grass or hay, earthly and fleeting, and therefore will soon be dried up and abolished. Third and genuinely, Isaiah prescribes here the manner of preparing the way for the Lord, and teaches that it is humility; namely that men think and esteem themselves to be flesh, and all flesh to be grass, and the glory of flesh to be like the flower of grass. For this humble meditation levels all high, perverse and rough things in our soul, removes all vices, inserts all virtues, and draws all God's grace to itself: "For indeed, as Sanchez rightly says, the humble man sees all things in himself, or thinks he sees them, empty and profound, and this brings it about that God, who, as in natural things, so also in the whole of spiritual things, permits nothing to be empty, fills that which humble thought finds empty in itself." And just as, as daily experience teaches, there is nothing in the humble into which men run, strike and stumble: so in the humble there is nothing which deters God from lodging, whereby it comes about that God constitutes His house and temple for Himself in him. Again Isaiah is commanded to cry out: "All flesh is grass," so that men may understand how much the Word of God has humbled and emptied Himself for them, and how immense was the divine goodness, which wished His Christ to descend to men so weak and fragile that they are like grass and a flower which soon withers. At the same time so that men may know that they come to this grace of Christ and immortal glory not by the powers of nature, but by the gift of God, if namely they are joined with grass, that is with the flesh of the Word, which remains forever. Thus Theodoret, Procopius, St. Jerome and others. See here therefore: the Word, when it became flesh, became grass; because all flesh is grass, and therefore to foreshadow this, He wished to be placed in a manger and in hay, and, as the Church sings: He did not abhor the manger, He suffered to lie in hay. Because, as St. Bernard says, sermon 33 in the Canticles, man through sin had become like beasts: "Know therefore, he says, the beast which you did not know as a man. Adore in the stable Him whom you fled in paradise. Honor the manger, whose rule you despised. Eat hay, Him whom bread, and the bread of angels you spurned." For it is plain that these things pertain to Christ from the preceding. For He commanded the way to be prepared for Him by preaching penance, to which the thought that all flesh is grass incites, and the flower which the spirit of the Lord, that is a burning wind blowing, soon withers and dries up. Furthermore he calls grass not mown and dry, but living, and sprouting in the meadow: for this in Hebrew is called chasir, and this soon dries up in the burning sun, especially when it is mown. This is what the Psalmist says, Psalm LXXXIX: "In the morning like grass let it pass, in the morning let it flower, and pass: in the evening let it fall, harden and dry up." See the following, and Psalm CI, 12: "My days have declined like a shadow: and I have dried up like grass." Morally, note here the vileness of flesh and of man, who is like grass or hay, and a flower soon fading away. St. Jerome speaks beautifully and piously: "Truly, if anyone considers the fragility of flesh, and that we grow and diminish in the span of hours, and do not remain in the same state, and that what we speak, dictate and write passes away from the part of our life; he will not hesitate to call flesh hay, and its glory like the flower of hay." He proves this by induction: "He who was recently an infant suddenly becomes a boy, he who was a boy suddenly becomes a young man, and changes through uncertain intervals until old age: and before he sees himself old, he marvels that he is no longer young. A beautiful woman who once drew crowds of youths after her is contracted with a furrowed brow; and she who was formerly the object of love is afterwards the object of disgust." Truly the Poet says: Seize the new flowers, while the flower is new and youth is new; And remember that your age thus hastens away. Truly it is said to man: "Thou art like a leaf of an apple tree, which appears white in the morning, purple at midday, blue in the evening." The son of Adam is like what the Italians call the apple of Adam, which is large and beautiful on the outside, vile and tasteless within. And St. Augustine, on Psalm 102: "As the flower of the field so shall it flourish:" says, "All the splendor of the human race, honors, powers, riches, pride, threats, swellings are the flower of hay. That house flourishes, and a great house, that family flourishes, and how many does it flourish for, or how many years do they live? many years to you, a brief time to God. In comparison with long and long-living ages, all the flower of whatever house is thus as the flower of the field, scarcely is all the beauty of a year annual. Whatever flourishes there, whatever shines there, whatever is beautiful there, does not endure, indeed it cannot be prolonged through the whole year." He then adds: "How short a time flowers pass, and this is what is beautiful in herbs. What is very beautiful falls quickly. Because therefore the Father knew the fashioning of us, because we are hay, and can flourish for a time; He sent us His Word, and His Word which remains in eternity; He made a brother to hay which does not remain in eternity. Do not marvel that you will be a partaker of that eternity: He first became a partaker of your hay. What hope therefore for hay, when the Word was made flesh! That which remains in eternity did not disdain to assume hay, lest hay should despair of itself." And St. Gregory, in the 11th book of the Morals, book XXVI, on that passage of Job, chapter XIV: "Who as a flower goeth forth:" says, "What are men born into the world but certain flowers in a field? Behold, as full of flowers as of men. Life therefore in flesh is a flower in hay; whence by the Psalmist it is said: Man, his days are as grass, and as the flower of the field so shall he flourish. Isaiah also says: All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field." He adds the reason: "For man, like a flower, proceeds from the hidden, and suddenly appears in public, who is immediately withdrawn from public by death to the hidden. The greenness of flesh shows us, but the dryness of dust withdraws us from sight. As a flower we appeared who were not, as a flower we wither who appeared temporally." In a similar manner concerning the flower and hay, Clement of Alexandria, book II of the Pedagogue, chapter X, and his disciple Origen, homily 4 on Psalm XXXVI, and St. Basil, homily 5 of the Hexameron, and from him St. Ambrose, book III of the Hexameron, chapter VII, philosophize piously, whose words Delrio collects and recites, adage 765. For this reason St. James, in his epistle, chapter IV, 15: "For what is your life?" he says, "It is a vapor appearing for a little while, and afterwards shall be made to vanish away;" and David, Psalm 101: "My days have declined like a shadow; and I am withered like grass." That saying is true: "Man is a bubble, life a tale." Homer compares the life of man to the falling leaves of trees; Pindar called man "a dream of a shadow;" Aeschylus compared the life of man not to smoke, but to the shadow of smoke, than which nothing is more empty and fleeting. They perceive this, but too late, condemned in hell: "What profit has pride been to us?" they say, "or what has the boasting of riches brought us? All those things have passed away like a shadow, and like a messenger running past, and like a ship which passes through the billowing water; of which, when it has passed, no trace can be found; or like a bird which flies through the air, of which no mark of its journey is found; or like an arrow sent to a destined place," etc. How wise is he who knows this while he lives here! What, O wretched man! do you seek the favor of a man who will die tomorrow? You are hay, and you seek hay. Why do you lust after a beautiful woman? You lust after hay. Consider: "All flesh is hay." Why do you gape at fowl meat on the table? You gape at hay, you eat hay like an ox: "For all flesh is hay." Why do you cherish your flesh and skin so luxuriously? You cherish hay, nay the ashes of hay. "Remember, man, that you are dust, and into dust you shall soon return." O if today we had more Isaiahs, who through the streets, forums and pulpits with stentorian voice and spirit would cry out to mortals: "All flesh is hay: sons of men, why do you love vanity?" why do you give your lusts to flesh? You heap up hay, but hay that will burn forever in eternal fire. Did not Democritus rightly always laugh, and Heraclitus perpetually weep and mourn over the vanity and folly of men, who, captivated by these fleeting pleasures and pomps, neglect and lose future and eternal things? "All flesh is hay:" therefore Princes, and Kings, and Emperors, and Bishops, and Cardinals, and Pontiffs are hay. This is what is proclaimed to the Pontiff when he is inaugurated, a burning torch, and its flame soon vanishing: "Most Blessed Father, thus passes the glory of the world, remember that you are a man." Soon you will die, and all your glory with you. Most excellently St. Jerome in the Epitaph of Nepotian snatched away in the flower of his age: "O miserable," he says, "human condition, and without Christ all that we live is vain! All flesh is hay, and all its glory as the flower of hay. Where now is that beauty of face? where the dignity of the whole body, by which as by a beautiful garment the beauty of the soul was clothed? The lily withered, alas! when the south wind blew; and the purple of the violet gradually migrated to paleness." And further down: "We ought therefore to meditate in our minds that we shall sometime be, and that what we will or will not, cannot be far off. Not if we exceeded nine hundred years of life, and the times of Methuselah were granted to us, would yet the length of time past be anything, which has ceased to be. For between him who lived ten years and him who lived a thousand, after the same end of life has come, and the irresistible necessity of death, all that has passed is equally nothing; except that the old man departs more burdened with the weight of sins?" Finally a Leonine poet plainly, but truly: Tell, man, vessel of ashes, what does the flower of faces avail? What abundance of things? Death the final end of days. Flowers? You wither. You hear? You grow deaf.
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8. THE WORD OF OUR LORD ENDURES FOREVER. — This word is that which, as he said in verse 5, "the mouth of the Lord has spoken," and which he promised; it is namely Christ, and the Gospel of Christ, concerning which St. Peter, citing this passage, says: "This is the word which has been evangelized to you." This is what David says in other words, Psalm CXVIII, 96: "I have seen an end of all perfection; your commandment is exceeding broad." This is the word concerning which Isaiah said, cap. II, verse 3: "For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem."
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9. GET THEE UP INTO THE HIGH MOUNTAIN, THOU THAT BRINGEST GOOD TIDINGS TO SION. — Thus the Roman [Vulgate]. "Sion," that is to Sion, that is to the Church: for earthly Sion was on a high mountain, nor was it higher than that on which a herald could ascend. But the Hebrew texts have, get thee up into the high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings, O Sion, by which Sion, that is the Church, is commanded to bring good tidings to her faithful of that which follows: "Behold your God," etc. But the sense of both is the same. For the Church does not evangelize by herself, but through her Apostles and preachers; nor do these preach to any other than to the Church, that is to the faithful. Therefore the preacher evangelizes to Sion, that is to the faithful in the Church. Add that the Hebrew מבשרת mebasseret, that is she who brings good tidings, can be taken for the masculine me-basser, that is he who brings good tidings. For the Hebrews are accustomed to use the feminine gender for the sake of the beauty of speech, as if to say, Most beautiful and most gracious shall this Evangelist be. Thus Ecclesiastes is called in Hebrew femininely cohelet, that is she who preaches, that is the most elegant preacher, Eccles. cap. I, vers. 1. Moreover, to get thee up into the high mountain, lift up thy voice with strength, fear not, by catachresis alone signify and command that the heralds proclaim Christ and the Gospel of Christ with the utmost eagerness and mental exertion and all their strength and fearlessly, as if to say, Come now, O John the Baptist, and you Apostles, forerunners of Christ! preach publicly, strongly and courageously God promised so many ages before, now incarnate coming to save you. Secondly, Leo Castrius from St. Ambrose, lib. VIII in Luke, cap. XVII: "The mountain," he says, "is thy Paul, the mountain is Peter, the mountain are the other Apostles; upon their faith place the footstep of thy mind, and grow in virtues to the height of the mountain, that thou mayest be a holy mountain of God, and lift thyself from earth to heaven, that thence conspicuous to all nations, places, times thou mayest cry out, and call all voices to Christ and salvation." But this sense is mystical. Morally, rightly from this place concludes Forerius: "Those," he says, "who preach the Gospel perfunctorily, or weakly, or fearfully, still know not what is the dignity of the Gospel. Those also who seek in preaching anything other than the fruit of the Gospel, still understand not how great is the gain and how great the dignity of announcing Christ. Legitimate preachers of the Gospel offer God, offer God, give God. What can be compared to this dignity?" Mystically St. Bernard, serm. 1 in the Feast of All Saints, teaches that preachers ought with Christ to climb the mountain, that is by the desires of the soul and holy conversation to tend to sublime things, and to ascend the mountain of virtues. SAY TO THE CITIES OF JUDA, — say to the particular Churches: hence therefore it is clear that they depend on one primary, namely the Roman, and ought to obey it: for thus the cities of Juda depended on Jerusalem. What therefore Sion and Jerusalem was in Juda, this Rome is in the Church.
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10. BEHOLD, THE LORD GOD SHALL COME IN STRENGTH, — Christ shall come with great power and steadfast mind, so that He may overcome demons, vanquish tyrants, and subject all nations to His faith. For these things must be understood of the first advent of Christ. Thus Cyril, Procopius, St. Thomas, Lyra and Forerius, although St. Jerome and Haymo refer these things to the second advent of Christ, when He shall cast down demons and all the impious into the depths of hell. This also is truly and rightly said: for then the strength and victory of Christ shall be completed. Hence it is evident against the modern Jews that the Messiah or Christ is properly and truly God. For in the Hebrew He is called not only Adonai, but also Jehova. AND HIS ARM SHALL RULE. — "Arm" in Scripture is a symbol of strength and power. Moreover, this arm of Christ is not only of His divinity, but also of His humanity. For by this He redeemed us and vanquished our enemies: for although this, as flesh, is hay, as He said in verse 6; yet, as it is the flesh of the Word, which remains forever, it participates in the strength, arm and power of the Word. Whence again "arm," that is His powerful grace, "shall rule," that is shall make us rule over our lust and other passions and vices, and thus give us not only the power to do good, but also the will and the accomplishment thereof, says Leo Castrius. BEHOLD, HIS REWARD IS WITH HIM. — There is a threefold sense here. The first, that is to say, Christ shall always have before His eyes the reward prepared for Him by the Father, namely that as a reward for His death undergone and His labor, He shall have dominion over all nations, according to that of Psalm II: "Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession"; and of Isaiah chapter LIII: "If he shall lay down his life for sin, he shall see a long-lived seed; therefore shall I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoils with the strong." For those who have the reward and recompense of their labor before their eyes, these labor and strive earnestly for it. Thus also Christ "having joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame." Thus Forerius. The reward therefore of Christ is the faithful, whom the Father delivered to Him as it were sheep for a reward; concerning whom it follows: "As a shepherd he shall feed his flock," etc. The second, reward, that is the price of our redemption, is with Christ; because Christ did not redeem us freely, but by the ransom of His blood from the captivity of the devil, sin and death. Thus Sanchez. The third and most plain, that is to say, Christ is a king, not avaricious, but liberal, who has at hand an ample reward, which He shows to His servants, especially to preachers, and shall give, nay He Himself shall be to them "a reward exceeding great." For thus commanders in war are accustomed to kindle soldiers by proposing to the victors ample reward and prize. This also Christ does. AND HIS WORK BEFORE HIM. — This work can be taken in two ways. First, properly, that is to say, Christ shall receive from the Father an ample reward because (כי and for is causal, signifying because) the work of our redemption and salvation enjoined upon Him by the Father, He shall always have before His eyes, and shall be wholly intent upon it. This is what He Himself says in John XVII, 4: "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." Second, metonymically "work" is the reward of the work, so that in the Hebrew manner the same thing is said in the latter hemistich as in the former. Thus it is said in Leviticus XIX, 13: "The work (that is the reward of the work) of thy hired servant shall not remain with thee until the morning."
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11. AS A SHEPHERD HE SHALL FEED HIS FLOCK. — The Prophet declares how He shall rule, that is to say, the dominion of Christ shall not be a tyrannical rule, but a pastoral one, so that a shepherd shall govern not so much by fear as by love, with great care and kindness, indeed he shall feed his sheep, so that he may appear to be a shepherd rather than a king. Thus Homer calls Agamemnon ποιμένα λαῶν, a shepherd of peoples, because a good king ought to rule the people as a shepherd rules sheep. And Cyrus in Xenophon, book VIII, asserts that a good prince is like a good shepherd. Tiberius Caesar held the same view, adding: "It is the part of a good shepherd to shear his flock, not to flay it." Those who act otherwise are not shepherds, but butchers and tyrants. Such are those today who are lions toward the sheep, lambs toward the wolves; they nourish wolves and kill sheep. IN HIS ARM HE SHALL GATHER THE LAMBS. — Shepherds are accustomed to embrace with their hands and arms the little lambs which the ewes have brought forth in the fields or mountains, and to carry them to the fold. Christ shall exhibit similar care and love toward the faithful. Whence, Luke XV, 5, he compares himself to a shepherd who lifts the straying sheep upon his shoulders and brings it back to the fold. Hence in this form Rome is seen depicted in the most ancient temples and cemeteries. Morally, the lamb and sheep is an innocent, meek, subject, humble animal, useful for wool, milk, and meat. Such ought Christians to be, sheep and lambs, not goats, not foxes, not bulls, not bears, not wolves, not lions. THE ONES WITH YOUNG (which carry offspring in the womb, or have just given birth) HE HIMSELF SHALL CARRY, — he shall lead them gently, and as if carrying them, namely step by step he shall drive them, lest they grow weary, and therefore he shall allow them to rest at intervals, and moreover he shall restore their strength with food, and if need be, taking them into his bosom or upon his shoulder, he shall carry them. Thus Vatablus and Forerius, as Jacob did, Genesis XXXIII, 18, to whom Isaiah here alludes. See the duties of a good shepherd in Ezekiel chapter XXXIV. The sense is, that is to say, Christ with the greatest providence, vigilance and gentleness, as a shepherd, shall cherish the "lambs," that is the simple people newly born again in baptism; and the "ones with young," that is the Apostles and Preachers, who bring forth children to Christ, he shall strengthen with his grace and spirit, and shall support, as a shepherd carrying them in his arms, or gently leading them by hand through all difficulties and adversities, and sustaining them, and as if carrying them. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril and Procopius.
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12. WHO HAS MEASURED THE WATERS WITH HIS HOLLOW HAND? — The Prophet breaks forth into a commendation of divine power and wisdom, for this purpose: that he might show that this wonderful work of the incarnation of the Word, and the entire economy of Christ concerning the redemption of men, which as a shepherd he will feed the lambs, will carry the young, etc., was most easy for him, and that all things were foreseen and provided by God. For he himself most easily and most wisely governs and moderates the whole Universe, as if to say: Do not marvel at the wonderful things which I have said concerning the grace and consolation of Christ, concerning God made man, concerning the Gospel, concerning the calling of the Gentiles as it were his sheep, and their conversion to him; because God, who is wonderful, most powerful and most wise, will accomplish all these things. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoretus and Tertullian in the Scorpiace. Note the catachresis: God contains the orb in his palm, in his hollow hand, in three fingers, that is, most easily; although others say, in three fingers, that is, in his three attributes, namely wisdom, goodness and power. But this is symbolic and mystical, as also that of Paschasius, book I On the Holy Spirit, chapter II, who understands the Holy Trinity through the fingers: "Did he not," he says, "in these three fingers balance the equality of one power under a certain scale of mystery?" Thus also the Gloss: "There are," it says, "three fingers of the Holy Trinity." Thus also Christ the Lord represented the mystery of the Holy Trinity through a hand containing three fingers to St. Anno, Archbishop of Cologne. Sigebert narrates the vision in his Life, chapter XVIII: "Christ," he says, "with radiant eyes casting upon the face of the astonished one a gentle and placid countenance, extending before him three fingers of his left hand, first touched their right index finger, saying: Behold the Father; then the second: Behold the Son; then also the third: Behold the Holy Spirit. And restraining the voices somewhat within his throat: Behold," he says, "three persons in one divinity to be similarly adored, to whom equal glory is said by the universal Church always. The Son has the middle person between the Father and the Holy Spirit, nor does he have any division from the two in any diminution of the same majesty and glory." There is here a remarkable and vivid representation of divine power and majesty: for God contains the vast and profound waters of the whole Ocean as easily as a man easily embraces a few drops of water in his hollow hand. The whole Ocean therefore is to God a thing so small as is the water which we measure and grasp with the palm or hollow hand (Aquila translates, with the smallest finger). The same God weighed the heavens with his palm. The palm is the extended hand from the tip of the thumb to the smallest finger: but if you contract the hand it becomes a hollow hand, as if to say: Just as Atlas is feigned by the Poets to sustain the heavens on his shoulders, so truly God, the heaven and world's Atlas, nay rather Creator, not on shoulders, but on his palm, that is on his hand placed beneath, not only measures, but also weighs, balances and as it were ponders that immense mass and vastness of the heavens. The same God weighs the mass of the earth with three fingers. He alludes to merchants who examine light weights by ounces. Assuredly many thorns lie hidden beneath purple, many cares beneath a crown.
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13. Who hath helped the Spirit of the Lord? — In Hebrew, who has weighed, that is, expended, weighed, penetrated, the "spirit," that is, the mind and counsels of the Lord, so that he might be able to help him with his aid and counsel in working? as if to say: No one. For he himself weighs, measures and penetrates all things; and, as it is said in Proverbs chapter xvi, 2: "The Lord is a weigher of spirits;" but he himself cannot be weighed, penetrated or comprehended by anyone. Hence the Septuagint, and St. Paul following them, Rom. xi, 34, translate: "For who hath known the sense of the Lord?" whence the same one exclaims: "How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways!"
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15. Behold the nations as a drop of a bucket. — St. Irenaeus, book V, chapter xxix, reads it as a dripping from a vessel; St. Ambrose in Psalm I, as a dripping from a pitcher. It is an occupation, that is to say: Someone might say: Granted that God has no need of human aid or counsel; yet men are the image of God, and as it were earthly gods, and therefore are esteemed greatly by Him; wherefore they have whereof to please themselves. He refutes this by saying: "Behold the nations as a drop of a bucket," because, as St. Ambrose says in Psalm I, at the end: "As the earth is to heaven like a point, so all nations to the multitude of Angels are as a drop of a bucket." "Consider therefore," says St. Chrysostom in chapter I to the Ephesians, sermon 3, and homily 2 On the Incomprehensible Nature of God, at length, "what part of this drop, or droplet, thou art, and how great thou art in respect to God." St. Athanasius, On the Unity of Substance of the Holy Trinity, book I, at the end, thinks it is signified here that no one can hide himself or flee from the divinity of the Trinity, because that whole world is as a drop. Hence both Plato and Plotinus, when asked: "How can God see all things?" answer: "Because this whole machine of things is in the sight of God as a point." Thus, as Clement of Alexandria testifies, book VII of the Stromata, at the end, Theognis said: "You, Megarensians, are neither third nor fourth, nor twelfth, nor in any number or account, but as dust which the wind casts forth, and as a drop of a bucket." See therefore what all earthly things are, and thou thyself, although thou rulest the whole world. "What is man that thou art mindful of him, O Lord? What is it that man is proud," says St. Jerome, "who is as a drop from a bucket, falling and neglected? nay, the smallest part of this drop, not even certainly a millionth part of a millionth. For as when a drop flows from a small bucket, it is neglected by the one carrying it: so the whole multitude of nations, compared with the heavenly ministries and the multitude of Angels, is reckoned as nothing." Thus far St. Jerome. Again, as a drop does not burden the bucket if it remains, nor lighten it if it falls: so men, whether all perish, leave nothing empty, or whether they exist in the nature of things, occupy or fill nothing, if thou regardest so vast an expanse of sea and world. Thus, Wisdom xi, 23, the whole world is said before God to be "as a drop of dew." Tropologically, mountains and hills are dignities and prelacies, which few know how to balance in weight and scale. Whence Isaiah exclaims: "Who hath weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?" that is to say: Rare and great is he who balances them. For dignities have more of burden than of honor; and as great as is their ascent, so great is also their descent. For if one ascends to prelacy, one descends to servitude. Therefore the mind of the Saint balances mountains in weight, and hills in a scale, who weighs the burden in honor, and servitude in prelacy; and thus it comes to pass that the consideration of servitude and burden extinguishes every appetite for prelacy and honor in his mind. Thus did St. Laurence, Archbishop of Dublin, who was a contemporary and defender of St. Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury and Martyr, and in him placed his aid and his life, as the Author of his Life relates, chapter xi. It is extant in Surius on the 14th of November. Truly Antigonus the king said to his son, grown insolent in the kingdom: "Knowest thou not, O my son! that our kingdom is a splendid servitude?" antilucani," which namely descends before the light, and immediately at the rising of the sun and light is dried up, absorbed and vanishes. And as the weight of a balance. — Thus also Wisdom xi, 23, it is said: "As the weight of a balance, so is the whole world before thee." Weight, that is the smallest inclination, or motion: for in Greek it is thus: ὡς ῥοπή ἐκ πλαστίγγων, that is, as the inclining or leaning from the pans of a balance, which namely, since they are always moved, always one pan more or less hanging inclines upward or downward: which the ancients called to weigh. Vatablus understands it of the balance's own equipoise, or the equalizing fulcrum, which sustains and suspends each pan equally. And thus Plutarch in Camillus seems to take ῥοπήν. The sense is, that is to say: As this inclination of the pan is minimal, and of minimal moment, so also the world, however great it is, in respect to God is minimal. Secondly, as this inclination is unstable and transient, and is always agitated: so is this world before God. Thirdly, as this inclination can be lifted by the slightest motion of him who holds the balance, and inclined to the other side, so also the whole world is in the hand and at the nod of God in all things. The more recent scholars, such as Vatablus and Forerius, translate the Hebrew שחק sachac as if it means lightness, or as if it were light dust (such as are the atoms which we see whirling in the rays of the sun) which adds no weight to the balance, or diminishes it: thus namely man is of no value before God, nor does his addition to God increase anything (for God alone, being immense and infinite, is so great and accomplishes so much as God and the world joined and composed together), nor did creating him for God, and through Christ recreating, reforming, and wishing to authorize him to weight bring anything of aid, counsel, weight or moment. Behold the islands as very small dust. — "Islands" were called by the Hebrews regions situated across the sea, even if they were continuous land, such as Italy, Spain, Greece, etc. For "as dust" the Septuagint translates "as saliva, or spittle." For the Hebrew דק dac means thin, minute, which suits both saliva and dust. "The earth," says Boethius, in book II of the Consolation, "is a point of a point, namely of the world, which is a point if compared with God." Forerius translates: "Behold the islands as a thin thing will cover (יטול for from the root טול talal means to cover), that is to say, It is easy for God to submerge all islands, as if a cloud covered them. But Vatablus, deriving יטול from טיל til, that is to cast, translates it, behold the islands as most minute dust he will cast, or transfer elsewhere; just as in histories we read that islands as if floating and drifting in the sea were often transferred elsewhere. Our translator renders it, behold the islands as dust which is cast, that is vile and small: namely, all are like a light scruple or sand deceiving the eyes. Morally, consider who you are, who God is? so that you may know yourself and humble yourself, admire and revere God. For man is nothing, and more than nothing before God. Thus Abraham: "I will speak," he says, "to my Lord, when I am dust and ashes." Thus Moses, asking the name of God, hears: "I am who am," that is to say, I am, you are not, Exodus iii, 14. See the things said there. Thus St. Francis would meditate whole nights, nor would he say anything other than: "Who are you, Lord, who am I? You are the abyss of essence, wisdom, holiness and all goods; I am the abyss of nothingness, ignorance, sins and all miseries."
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16. And Lebanon will not suffice. — That is to say, So great is the loftiness and majesty of God, that all the wood, all the frankincense, all the aromatics, all the animals of Lebanon, and of whatever mountains would not suffice for holocausts, if they were offered to Him according to His dignity. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril and others. He says this, so that He might stir up the Jews, as well as the Gentiles to the worship and reverence of the true God, and to the contempt of idols, that is to say, The majesty and holiness of God is immense; wherefore it cannot be adequately worshipped and equaled by any victims, except by one infinite victim, namely that by which the only-begotten Son of God will offer Himself on the cross. He therefore will accomplish what Lebanon, and the whole world could not do. For He will equal the dignity of God: for He will be God and equal to God who will be offered, and at the same time will offer Himself to God in holocaust and as the expiation of the world.
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17. And as nothing. — Forerius translates, more than nothing. For if you compare nothing with any created being, it is less distant from it (since both are finite, and the distance of the finite from the finite is finite) than any being, indeed the whole world is distant from God; for the distance of this is infinite. For God in infinity transcends all created beings: and therefore from them He is distant not only negatively, but also positively in infinity: since a being has a finite positive distance from nothing. For just as being is finite, so also its opposite, namely non-being, or nothing, is finite: for it is a negation, or privation of finite being. Nothing therefore in itself, and as it were positively is finite: because it has less being than being: for it has no being, and is nothing at all. Negatively however nothing is in some way infinite, because it negates all being, and all things, even if those were infinite: it therefore negates infinite things which are, or can be; but positively it is finite, and is distant finitely from created and finite being. But if you compare nothing with God, nothing can be more distant from God than nothing. I speak physically: for morally sin is more distant from God. And in this sense it is a hyperbole, that is to say, All nations, indeed all beings are distant from God supremely, and infinitely, and therefore if a greater distance than nothing is from God could be given, they would be more distant from God than nothing. To this the Apostle alludes, I Corinthians i, 28, when he says: "God chose the things that are not," that is, which are of no value, or moment. See also here how much "the Word made flesh" humbled Himself, and how truly the Apostle says: "He emptied Himself taking the form of a servant." For man is nothing, and more than nothing before God. with greater madness poured forth, and began to rage against the worshippers of images and of God. Thus Zonaras and others.
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18. To whom then have you likened God? — He digresses to attack the idolatry of the Gentiles (for this was hindering them from Christ and salvation: for idols were wicked and harsh obstacles in the way of the Gentiles, which, verse 3, he commanded to be removed, that the way might be prepared for the Lord), namely that, pressed by enemies or another nation, or led by desire for some thing to obtain it, they had recourse to golden, wooden and lifeless idols, when they ought to implore God's help and fix all their hope in Him, as being most powerful and most benign; whence he concludes, verse 31: "They that hope in the Lord shall change strength." This therefore is the epilogue of this whole discourse, namely to teach that hope should be placed in God, not in idols, and that the Gentiles should pass from the worship of idols to the worship of God as set forth in the Gospel of Christ. Note: The Gentiles, by making and worshipping images of Jupiter, Apollo, Mercury, etc., of stone and wood, were worshipping idols, not God; yet they are said to have made God like unto them, because they equated them with God, and worshipped no other God than these images, and consequently transferred God and divinity to the images, as if God were like unto them, and had a body like theirs, indeed as if the body of the image were the body of God: which was truly a grave injury to God, namely that images should be equated with God, and consequently should make God similar, nay equal to the images. Whence from the Hebrew word for word thus Forerius translates: To whom will you liken God, and what likeness will you equal to Him? And thus "similem fecistis" (have made like), verse 26, is explained by "æquastis" (have equated). This is what the Apostle says, Rom. i, 23: "They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts," etc., which explaining he adds: "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator." You see here that this likeness or assimilation of images is nothing other than that they transferred the worship of the Creator to creatures, that is to images, "and imposed the incommunicable name (of God) upon stones and wood," as the Wise Man says, Wisdom cap. xiv, verse 21. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Since all Gentiles compared to God are as a drop, nay as nothing and emptiness; with what rashness, impiety and sacrilege do you, O Gentiles! compare and equate Jupiter and Jupiter's idol with God, and make God equal to Jupiter, nay make God Jupiter and Jupiter God? Most perfidiously therefore did Leo the Armenian, the iconoclastic Emperor, abuse this passage here, who had as his accomplice in crime Theodore, whom he had placed in the seat of Constantinople after removing Nicephorus. This Theodore was raging against holy images, and when at some time these words of Isaiah were recited in the Church: "To whom have you likened the Lord? or what image will you make for Him?" he drew near, and whispered in the Emperor's ear: "Hear the Prophet, lord, and obey him." Then indeed Leo confirmed his iconoclasm— Most perfidiously, I say: for the images of Christians are not images, that is idols, of the Gentiles, against which the Prophet here thunders, nor are they worshipped as gods: nor are they equated with God by the faithful, so that God should feel injury done to Himself, in that images are likened, compared and equated to Him. For no faithful person is so simple or stupid as to worship images as gods, as the Gentiles did. Moreover, that God does not censure these images, even images of God Himself, is evident from this, that He Himself assumed this image, and appeared in it, and exhibited Himself to be seen by men; not only when the Word was made flesh, but also when He set before the Patriarchs and Prophets His image and proposed it to be venerated, as He did to Moses appearing to him in an assumed body, Exodus, cap. xxxiii and xxxiv, and to Isaiah cap. vi, 1, and to Daniel cap. vii, 9, and to St. John, Apocalypse cap. i, verse 13. If God exhibited His image to us, why is it not permitted to express it in a similar image? For image is called as it were imitago, from imitating; just as εἰκών from εἰκῶ, that is I liken, I represent, as from the Council of Nicæa II, Sanderus teaches, lib. I De Adorat. imag. cap. ult.; Leoni. See Damascene, lib. IV, cap. xvii, and oration On Images, and the Council of Nicæa II, which is entirely in favor of images. See also the passages Exod. xx, 4, and Wisdom xiv, 21.
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19. Has not the craftsman cast a graven image? — "Graven image" he takes for "cast image," for the craftsman casts this. For the Hebrew פסל pesel, which our translator renders "graven image," signifies an idol, whether it be carved, cast, painted or hewn. He mocks here the madness of idolaters, as if to say: Are not your idols wood or metals hewn, cast, wrought or carved by craftsmen, who for this purpose seek out imperishable wood, lest it be eaten away by worms or decay; and fasten them with hammers and nails, lest they be knocked down by wind or other force, and adorn them with gold and silver? How therefore do you compare these with God and make your gods of them? Does a craftsman then make divinities? Does Vulcan then forge gods?
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21. Do you not know? — Thus the Roman edition reads in the present passage, you shall not know in the future, that is to say: Do you not easily know, and have you not heard from the beginning of the world through the tradition of fathers and grandfathers, that the foundations of the earth have been laid by God, or that the earth itself has been created and established by God the creator? and therefore that this creator of it is one God alone, not Jupiter, not Mercury, not idols, that is to say: If God created the earth and whatever metals are generated in it, who would be so mad as to believe that God is an idol carved or cast from gold or silver? Note: "The foundations of the earth" are not the hinges or ends of the earth, as Cyril wished, but the earth itself, founded and established in itself by God. For the earth, hanging in the air, has no other hinges or supports than that it is firmly placed there by God.
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22. He that sitteth upon the globe (Vatablus, sphere) of the earth, — that is to say, He who in the heavens as it were a king of the world sits and presides, and looks down upon the whole globe and circumference of the earth, and sees in it men as locusts, cicadas and ants walking and leaping about. For in place of locusts Forerius translates cicadas. For these are akin to locusts, both in nature, and in smallness, and in their harsh shrill sound. For the cuckoo cuckoos, the hoarse cicada chirps. Note how fittingly men are compared to locusts; for both are a small, vile, soft, miserable and perishable animal. For, first, a locust is generated from putrefaction; so also man. Whence St. Job says: "I said to putrefaction: Thou art my mother; and my sister to worms." Secondly, a locust swells with moisture: so "what is man but phlegm and bile?" Thirdly, a locust is slender, and by the length of its feet exceeds all animals in proportion to the size of its body: so also man. Whence Eccles. cap. xii, vers. 5, describing the troubles of aging man: "The almond tree, he says, shall flourish, and the locust shall be made fat," that is, gray hair shall come, and swelling of the feet shall approach, namely gout. For a locust is said to be so called because it has long feet, say Isidore, Lyran and Albert, lib. XVI De Animal., where he refutes others, by whom locust is said as if standing in a place. By feet therefore made fat and swollen the locust swells and is made fat. Fourthly, locusts, says Albert, are all females, just as all scarabs are males: so men have feminine souls, and likewise vices. Fifthly, locusts, because they lack eyelids, have very hard eyes; indeed there are those who think they lack eyes and sight: hence they are likewise stupid. Whence the proverb: "The locust has a mind;" that is, it has little mind and brain; which Lucian uses in Jupiter the Tragedian: so also men are foolish, and concerning divine things and salvation are hard, and are blind as moles. Sixthly, locusts lack a king, and devour one another, says Aldrovandus, lib. De Insectis exsang., cap. De locusta: so men labor under disorder, and destroy one another. "Man is a wolf to man." Seventhly, locusts do not have so much their own flight, as are borne by the wind, and when they have raised themselves a little from the earth, again with failing wings they fall: so man as he flourishes in age and glory, so soon likewise he falls. Eighthly, locusts are innumerable: so also men. Again, locusts are most light and mobile: so men are light and inconstant. Whence Isidore: "Locusts, he says, are wandering souls, and leaping in the pleasures of the world." Ninthly, a locust is a gluttonous animal devouring all sprouts; so man is given over to the belly. Hence tenthly, a locust is a most harmful animal to crops, laying waste whole kingdoms and provinces; whence by others locust is said as if burning places. So much so that Pliny, lib. XI, cap. xxix, writes that in the Cyrenaican region there is a law to fight locusts three times a year, first by destroying the eggs, then the young, finally the adults, with the penalty of a destroyer laid upon him who should fail: so the impious man is most harmful both to others and to himself. Eleventhly, a locust because it corrupts fields, is a symbol of human corruption. Beautifully St. Chrysostom, homil. That no one is harmed except by himself: "Everything, he says, that is in things, has something which corrupts and is harmed: wool by the moth, flocks of sheep by the wolf, wine by its change to vinegar, the sweetness of honey by bitterness is corrupted, darnel harms crops, hail injures the vineyard, shrubs and plants are laid waste by locusts." Finally locusts, says Aristotle, give birth at the end of spring, and soon after giving birth they die; with worms being born around the neck at the time of birth, which strangle them: similarly brief is the span of man's life, and not rarely is he killed by his own offspring. So St. Gregory going into England met a locust, compared himself to it, and from this knew that he should remain in that place, and return to Rome. Of which more Ezech. cap. xxi, 21. Who stretcheth out the heavens as nothing. — For nothing in Hebrew is דק dac, that is, thin, by which Forerius understands a cloud; Vatablus, a curtain, or a very thin cloth. "Nothing" therefore here signifies something so very thin and light, that it seems almost to be nothing, which can be extended most easily, as is a curtain, a cloud, etc. For thus God extends the vast heavens most easily, so that under them as under a tent men might dwell. Whence the Septuagint translates, who stretcheth out the heavens as a vault, round namely and solid like a vault and arch. Can, thirdly, דק dac be translated thin and small dust, as Our [version] translates, vers. 15, that is to say, God so easily created and made the heavens, as if he were making the finest atom of dust. So St. Chrysostom, lib. De Incomprehensibili Dei natura.
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23. He who gives those who search out secrets as though they were not. — Thus he calls the Philosophers, who search into the secrets of nature, and wisdom and God; or rather the counselors and princes, as the Septuagint translates it (whence also Our Lord, in Habakkuk chapter i, 10, translates it as "tyrants"; in Proverbs chapter viii, 15, translates it as "makers of laws"), who search into the secrets of state and policy and government. For these are called in Hebrew רוזנים rozenim. For the latter hemistich explains the former in the Hebrew manner. Therefore it is the same thing to say "he who gives those who search out secrets as though they were not," as to say "the judges of the earth he hath made as nothing." For the Hebrews call princes judges, because the primary office of princes is to maintain justice among the citizens, and to judge the people, that is to vindicate them from the injuries of enemies. Hence Solomon prays to the Lord, III Kings, chapter iii, saying: "Thou wilt give thy servant an understanding heart, that he may judge thy people." Hence also the book is called Judges, that is, the avengers and princes of Israel. Isaiah therefore celebrates the power of God, in that He Himself can cast down kings and princes from their throne, infatuate them, destroy them, and reduce them as it were to nothing, and often does so. For "nothing" in Hebrew is תהו tohu, that is, empty, unadorned, unformed: for thus in Genesis i, the earth is said to have been empty and void, in Hebrew, tohu vabohu, before God adorned and decorated it with herbs, flowers and fruits. In like manner God can strip kings of all honor and beauty, and often does strip them. Whence explaining this he adds:
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24. And indeed they are not even planted, — that is to say: Although the princes of the earth may appear to be in it supreme, firm and powerful; yet their principality is like a tree, or a branch, which is neither sown nor planted in the earth, nor rooted; whence destitute of sap it withers, or is laid low by a light wind or whirlwind: thus also the glory of princes is fleeting and false, which the breath and command of the Lord soon casts down and scatters. Again Forerius gives this sense to it, that is to say: God often takes away kings and tyrants at the very beginning of their reign, and removes them from the midst, before they beget offspring, leaving no posterity: just as a trunk, which has not taken root in the earth, cannot produce flowers and fruit.
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25. And to whom have you likened me? — that is to say: Why have you made not only Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, etc., and shameful princes already corrupt, but also serpents and monsters into gods, and equaled them to me?
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26. Lift up your eyes on high. — "Who is there," says Cicero, "who, when he has lifted his eyes to heaven, does not perceive that God exists?" For the "heavens" and the stars "declare the glory of God." Again, the heavens existed before Jupiter and all the gods, created by the true God. Who created these? — that is, these heavens. In Hebrew, for "who created these" it is מי אלה mi elle, which the Cabalists read in reverse order by anagrammatism as אלהים elohim, as if responding, Elohim, that is, God the creator, "created these." Who brings forth their host in number. — He calls "host" the stars and celestial bodies. Whence the Septuagint translates it, their ornament. God brings forth these "in number," that is, numerously; for the stars are very many. Secondly, "in number," that is, in their order, in which each has its place and number, and keeps it constantly, so that this is first, that one second, another third, just as soldiers in battle constantly keep their order. For the strength of an army depends on order, and victory as much as beauty. It is a catachresis: for number is put for numerous arrangement, harmony, proportion and order. Thus musical number is called the harmony and concord of many voices and sounds. Such is also the array of camps (as is that of the stars) ordered. "God," says St. Augustine, Epistle 28 to St. Jerome, "brings forth and moves so many stars distinguished by stars, with such variety of motions, with such concord of sounds (he speaks according to the opinion of Pythagoras and the ancients, who believed that the heavens produce the most sweet concord by their motion); so that no creature can sufficiently admire it." For "who brings forth" in Hebrew it is המוציא motsi, which can be translated, rising, that is, causing to rise. Therefore the name of God as well as of Christ, Zechariah chapter vi, 12, is "the Rising One." Thus Forerius. And calls them all by name. — This phrase signifies three things: First, that God has intimate knowledge of the nature, power and efficacy of all the stars, so that he can call them by his own and most fitting name. It is a catachresis. Second, that God has care and providence of each individual star and created thing, so that he gives to each what is necessary, and enjoins upon each works and duties commensurate with and suited to its nature and powers, for example, to Lucifer that it indicate light, to Hesperus that it indicate evening; to the moon that it preside over night, to the sun that it preside over day; but he prescribes nothing to anyone beyond its capacity and strength. Third, that all the stars obey God in all things, so that when he calls them or commands anything to them, all immediately obey and come forth, so that not one remains that does not present itself to him; for this is what he says: Because of the multitude of his strength and power, and of his virtue, not one was left behind. — Some refer strength and power to the stars, as if to say: The virtue of the stars and their strength, as much as it is, obeys God, nor is there even one that fails in its order and duty, in which it has been established by God. But it should have been said thus "theirs"; now however he says "his," namely God's, as if to say: So great and mighty is the strength, power and virtue of God, moderating the heavens and stars, that there is not even one that does not in all things satisfy his ordinance and command. Beautifully Boethius, book I of the Consolation, addresses God thus: O Creator of the starry sphere, Who, fixed upon an eternal throne, Turn the swift heaven with rapid motion, And compel the stars to obey law!
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27. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: My way is hidden (that is, the course of my life, my status, my condition) from the Lord. — It is mimesis. For he imitates the voice of the Jews living epicureously, who, pressed by adversities, thought themselves neglected by God, that God had no care and providence for them, as if to say: Since God is so great, so powerful and wise, as even other nations confess; why do you, O Jacob, that is, you two tribes already afflicted by the Assyrians! and you, O Israel, that is, you ten tribes already led away into Assyria by the same! say: God does not care for our affairs, does not consider what great evils afflict us, what captivity presses us, does not see our sufferings, does not attend to them: "He walks about the hinges of heaven," he neglects ours, nor does he look upon us? Thus St. Cyril. And my judgment has passed away from God. — He repeats the same thing in other words, as if to say: Our judgment, that is, our cause, our right, and our justice, is not a matter of care to God, whether we live justly or unjustly, whether we are afflicted justly or unjustly. Up to now we have been held as the people of God, behold now we are oppressed by impious enemies and tyrants; God permits this to them, therefore he has no care for us. Note: In the word "passed away" there is hypallage: for judgment passes away because the judge passes by it and goes past it, as if to say: God passed by my cause, neglects it, does not wish to judge, whether the enemies deal with me justly or unjustly he does not attend to. These are the words of a people in captivity and affliction losing heart, and distrustful of God's providence, and complaining. Second, Sanchez says, "passed away," that is, went by and was hidden. For thus we commonly say: That matter escapes me, that is, is hidden from me. To these complaints the Prophet responds, and says:
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28. God eternal Lord. — In Hebrew, Jehovah is God of eternity, that is to say, God, and God's power and eternal wisdom are: therefore the same care and providence which He had of old, He now has of you and of all things. For since He is eternal, He does not grow weary in governing, does not fail, does not labor, does not grow old; but always equally fresh, vigorous, agile and expeditious He rules all things; especially since His power is as immense and unsearchable as His wisdom; wherefore no things, no counsels of men, no frauds, no secrets can be hidden from it. For God is Lord and Master not of time, not of an age, but of all eternity.
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29. Who gives power to the faint, — that is to say, Not only does God Himself not grow weary, but also to the weary He restores strength and courage. And to those who are not (who do not appear to be, who are so weak and feeble that they seem about to fall and perish into nothing, God gives) fortitude. — Again to those who are not He gives being, and at the same time strength, while He creates and brings them forth. From this verse the Hebrews took the formula for blessing God: "Blessed is He who gives strength to the faint, and to him who has no strength multiplies power;" which by abbreviation with the initial letters alone of Isaiah in Hebrew letters at the end of books they are accustomed to write in this manner: בנלכ יאעי.
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30. Young men shall faint. — He declares how much greater are the powers which God gives to His own than those which nature confers: Young men, he says, and youths vigorous and robust grow weary from labor, are broken by weakness and fall: but those who hope in the Lord, and expect strength from Him, even if they are languid, weary and feeble, shall be strengthened, and in an aged or youthful body shall nourish strength, and a spirit more than youthful; this is what he says:
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31. But they that hope in the Lord shall renew (in Hebrew יחליפו iachaliphu, that is, shall renew, shall restore, shall make whole: it is a metaphor from arms, which when broken or blunted are exchanged for new and whole ones: for this is what iachaliphu signifies) their strength, — both of soul and of body. To this St. Paul alludes, saying: "When I am weak, then am I powerful." For his weakness was compensated by the virtue of Christ. Again: "Although, he says, he that is outward in us is corrupted: yet he that is inward is renewed day by day;" and: "I can do all things in him who strengtheneth me." The sense of the Prophet therefore is, as if to say: In adversities, O Hebrews! do not lose heart, strengthen your souls in God, stand fixed in his providence, hope and implore his aid: for those who thus hope in the Lord, although weak, fallen and almost broken, shall receive from him their former strength. Again, as St. Gregory explains it, book XIX of the Morals, xvi: "They renew their strength, because they strive to be strong in spiritual work, who were formerly strong in the flesh." Anagogically, the Saints in heaven shall renew their strength, where the body, which here "is sown in weakness, shall rise in power," as the Apostle says in I Corinthians xv, 43, namely the weak shall rise strong, the sickly healthy, the earthly heavenly, the carnal spiritual. Wherefore the Blessed Dionysius the Carthusian, who left commentaries on the whole of Sacred Scripture and many other books, a man equally illustrious in contempt of self and in holiness and learning, foreseeing the time of his death, which befell him in the year of the Lord 1471, for a whole year before his death, chanted three hymns with tears and sighs. The first was: "Grant them eternal rest, O Lord;" by which he knew for certain that he would die in that year. The second: "Mary anointed the feet of Jesus;" by which he hoped to obtain forgiveness of sins from Christ. The third: "The Saints who hope in the Lord shall renew their strength;" by which he was confident that he would obtain with the Saints immortal strength, as the Chronicle of the Carthusian Peter Dorland has it, book VII, chapter xxiv. They shall take to them wings as eagles. — For shall take, in Hebrew it is יעלו iaalu, that is, shall cause to ascend. Whence Vatablus translates it, shall lift up wings, as if they had them before, but lowered and contracted by weariness. But the Septuagint translates it better and more significantly, πτεροφυήσουσιν ὡς ἀετοί, shall produce feathers like eagles, namely new ones, when in old age the old feathers fall out in them. This is what Our version signifies when it translates: "They shall take to them wings as eagles." See how much grace surpasses nature, namely how much the eagle surpasses other birds, especially in that when weak and growing old it renews its strength, feathers and youth, as if to say: Those who hope in the Lord, by the aid of grace received from him, shall so strongly and readily overcome labors, hardships and all adversities, and shall accomplish the way of the divine law not so much by walking and running as by flying, and shall strive toward heaven, as if they were eagles, nay rather Angels, to whom Scripture gives the wings of eagles, and this because Christ fills their hearts with strength. Thus Procopius, Theodoret, Cyril and St. Thomas, who by eagles understand not only eagles, but also winged Angels swift as eagles. Thus Plato gives to just men wings by which they may seek heaven. The Chaldean translates it, they shall run upon the wings of eagles. Which first, can be explained thus, as if to say: They shall be swifter than eagles. Second, as if to say: Just as an eagle carries its young on its wings and transfers them most swiftly: so God on the wings of his providence shall receive and carry the faithful who hope in him, so that they may fly most swiftly from captivity and from all adversities. Again the Saints assume, that is, renew, feathers, and putting off the old ones assume new ones like eagles. mini is emancipated, if even to the last breath he rules over his own. For just as I approve of a youth in whom there is something of the old man: so an old man in whom there is something of youth, which he who follows will be able to be old in body, but never in mind: and such the teacher shows Appius to have been, blind though he was. Symbolically therefore, eagles are the Saints. First, because they imitate the gifts and habits of eagles. The eagle's life and gifts are embraced in these verses by the Poet: It flies high, remains on rocks, wears down its beak, is king, Hunts, fasts, has a gem, the wheel of the sun Alone it tests its young, licks, renews its wings in a spring, Tawny, seeing its talons, fish and prey it clangs. Thus the Saints in mind ascend to the heavens: they dwell in the rock, that is Christ: their curved beak, that is the depravity of mind, anger, rapacity, they wear away against the rock, that is against the cross of Christ (Note: the beak wears away: for as the eagle grows old, its beak becomes so large and hooked that it cannot take food: whence Pliny, lib. X, cap. iii, says that the eagle perishes not from old age, but from hunger). Again, the Saints like eagles are kings of themselves and of the world, they hunt souls, they mortify the body with fastings, they have the gem of grace and charity: by the light of the Sun of Justice, that is Christ, they test their young, that is whether they are true believers and genuine. For pious parents do not care for offspring unless they themselves cultivate piety, and unless they wholly conform themselves to the precepts and will of the divine Sun, according to the counsel of the Wise Man, Eccles. xvi, 4: "Rejoice not in wicked children, etc., if there be not the fear of God in them." Moreover eagles, that is the faithful Saints, do not drink, do not become intoxicated, but lap, and drink soberly. If they grow old in vices, they renew themselves in the fountain of tears and penance. They are tawny, that is magnanimous, like eagles and lions: for these are properly tawny. They regard their talons, that is the baseness of their nature, that they may humble themselves. Furthermore the eagle while walking contracts its talons, lest it wear away their sharpness, by which Plutarch admonishes us, lest we dull the acuteness of our talent on base things, but expend it on arduous and excellent things. Finally the eagle foresees its prey; and fish, that is souls, snatching them from the devil, it cries out and exults. Secondly, as the eagle is of hot and dry temperament, and strong: so holy men are hot through zeal; through voluntary poverty, or even through sobriety and abstinence are dry, and hence constant, and strong in adversities. Thirdly, the eagle, as Aristotle, Aldrovandus and others testify, ordinarily lays only three eggs, of which the third, as if two were sufficient to preserve the species, it casts out of the nest: thus the Saints lay three eggs, namely works of right reason, and works of grace; the third egg, namely the work of desires and carnal pleasures, they cast away: whoever therefore is an eagle, does not attach to the earth the divine particle of breath. Indeed Aristotle from Musaeus, lib. VI Hist. anim. cap. vi, thus writes concerning the eagle: "It hatches two (offspring), produces three (eggs), rears one," which, says Aldrovandus, although for the most part true, nevertheless sometimes two young are seen to be fed by it, sometimes three, as Avicenna and others relate. Hence symbolically one young signifies that the eagle, that is the king, the kingdom ought to be left to one son, not to many: for monarchy is the best form of government, whence Homer, Iliad β, 204, and from him Aristotle, IV Polit. iv: Οὐκ ἀγαθὸν πολυκοιρανίη, εἷς κοίρανος ἔστω, εἷς βασιλεύς. It is not good for many to rule, let there be one Lord, one King; or, as the Latin Poet explained it: The rule of many is always much confusion, Many are the ruin of the Lord, let there be one King. Morally one young ought to be reared by us, the work of charity and of the Holy Spirit. For the second young, that is works merely morally good, and conformable to right reason, ought to be left to the Gentiles and Philosophers: the Christian ought to work from faith and grace. Fourthly, eagles cannot hatch their eggs unless they bring the Aetites stone into the nest. The reason is, that they themselves are so heated, that the eggs are nearly overcooked (for they become so hot as if they were boiling); wherefore it is necessary that the heat be tempered by the cooling of the Aetites, and its peculiar power which it possesses accelerate the birth. And since they bring only two small stones, namely male and female (as some wish), they also produce only two young. Thus Aldrovandus. So the Saints, that they may produce works of the Spirit, have need of the Aetites, that is prudence and discretion, by which their zeal may be tempered. Fifthly, the eagle is noble and lofty, a sign of an exalted and peaceful mind, despising all earthly things. Hence the Egyptians, that they might signify a despiser of insults, painted an eagle unmoved, which neither with wings nor with beak threatened anything evil, and beside it a crow which would provoke it, and trouble it with insults. The eagle therefore is a symbol of magnanimity, as may be seen in the emblem of Alciat, in which a noble eagle sitting upon the tomb of the most mighty Aristomenes is depicted with this epigraph: What cause moves you, bird of Saturn, great One, that you sit upon the lofty tomb of Aristomenes? I warn you, as much as I excel among birds in strength, so much Aristomenes among demigods. Let timid doves sit upon the tombs of the timid, we eagles give benign signs to the intrepid. Hence Claudius Paradinus also in his Symbolic Heroes, to show that difficult matters require the greatest industry, labor and diligence, paints an eagle sitting on the head of a stag between its horns, and shaking dust collected in its wings into his eyes, so that blinded at last it hurls him down from a cliff. The inscription of this symbol is: Ardua deturbans vis animosa quatit. Historically, St. Jerome describes the renewal of youth in the eagle thus: "Eagles, when they grow old, are burdened in their feathers and eyes. It seeks a fountain, and raises its wings, and gathers heat in itself: in this way the eyes are healed, it immerses itself in the fountain three times, and returns to youth. Whence in Psalm 102, it is said: My youth shall be renewed like the eagle's." Where St. Augustine writes that the eagle renews itself by striking its hooked beak, which has grown too much so that it cannot seize food, against a rock: "Then indeed it again approaches food, and all things are repaired: it is after old age like a young eagle, the vigor of all members returns, the brightness of feathers, the rudders of wings: it flies on high as before, there is in it a kind of resurrection." But Aldrovandus, in lib. I of his Ornithology, page 26, gives another mode of this renewal from Epicrates, Athenaeus, and Albert the Great: "They say," he writes, "that an old eagle at the time when the young are already grown and able to fly, if it should find a clear and broad fountain anywhere, rises straight above it to a great height up to the third region of the air: where, heated by the rays of the sun and warm air, so that it seems almost to be burned, suddenly lowering and drawing back its wings it plunges into a cold fountain, so that the external cold may increase the internal heat: then leaving the fountain it flies to its nest not far distant, and dissolves itself in sweat between the wings of the young, and thus with the old feathers it sheds old age, and puts on new ones; meanwhile while those grow, it is nourished by the prey of the young. To these things I have nothing to say, except that many things are marvels of nature. In two eagles indeed which were kept with us, I observed nothing of this sort; for they were tame, and changed like other birds of prey." Hence the proverb: "The old age of an eagle, the youth of a corydus;" concerning a vigorous and fresh old age which surpasses the lazy youth of some. For the eagle is a superior bird to the corydus even in full age. The Greek sage rightly said: That old age is more pleasing which is equal to youth: That youth is more serious which is similar to old age. And Cicero, in his book On Old Age: "Old age is honorable, if it defends itself, if it retains its right, if it does not— And Curtius Gonzaga has an emblem in which an eagle is depicted so that under a stormy and flashing sky, immune and untouched, it looks upon the sun, while on the other side it seems to be heading toward a mountain, with this motto: "Neither can it kill me, nor can it terrify me." It signifies a man who is not frightened by any adversities, so as to persevere less in his undertaken love and honest business. For the bird denotes man, the mountain virtue, the storm adversities. This is what Isaiah says here: "They shall change their strength, they shall take wings as eagles." Anagogically, Blessed are the eagles. First, because the eagle, which has the sharpest sight (whence it is called eagle, because it sees acutely, as many wish), signifies the high, arduous, and intent contemplation of the Blessed. For these, enjoying the divine vision, fix the eye of the mind on God, the true sun and source of all light. Second, the eagle is not touched by lightning, which nevertheless is a terror to all mortals: thus the Blessed do not fear damnation, nor hell, which is a terror to all here. Third, the Blessed are like the Angels of God, and the Cherubim, who, in Ezekiel chapter 1, verse 10, are compared to an eagle. For, as St. Dionysius says, in the Celestial Hierarchy, chapter 15: "The eagle signifies the royal dignity of Angels, and the movement tending to things above, and the swift flight, and the agility and vigilance necessary for seizing and restoring strength with food, and the course and supreme facility, and therefore that singular power of beholding and intending freely, directly, inclining the eye of light in no direction, in that most abundant and most lucid ray of divinity, which it sends forth from itself like the sun." All which things also befit the Blessed. Fourth, which Isaiah here properly regards, the wings of the eagle, being most swift, signify the gift of agility of the Blessed. For these in the resurrection will be most perfect, when the spiritual body through this gift will immediately be where it wishes to be, as St. Augustine says to Hesychius in epistle 79, and St. Jerome here. Through this gift with Christ, who is the first and chief eagle, they will fly into heaven. For, as it is said in Matthew chapter 24, verse 28: "Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together," that is, where Christ shall be, there also shall be the Blessed. Wherefore St. Hilary understands that passage of Psalm cxxxviii: "If I shall take my wings early in the morning," of Christ, who took up his wings in the resurrection, now with a body no longer weighed down. And further he says that these wings pertain to the transformation of earthly bodies into a spiritual nature. And afterwards he adds: "He recalls also elsewhere (Isaiah xl), saying, when he was treating of the unceasing eternity of spiritual things: They shall fly as eagles, about to take on the nature of flying to heaven in the transformation of the resurrection." Fifth, the eagle loves lofty things: Blessed are they in the empyrean heaven, in the most sublime glory and life. For on account of the sublimity of wisdom St. John is called an eagle, Apoc. cap. iv, 7. Sixth, "the eagle does not catch flies;" The Blessed do not concern themselves with earthly and vile things: "Do not suffer, therefore, O man! to hold the first place among jackdaws, if you can be an eagle:" do not seek here the first place among men, when by humbling yourself you can be numbered among the Blessed. Seventh, just as old eagles renew themselves and grow young: so the Saints in the resurrection shall grow young, and in place of a mortal body shall receive an immortal and glorious one, and with it shall be caught up like eagles to meet Christ in the air. For there shall be no labor, no weariness, no fatigue, no pain, no groaning, no infirmity, no old age, but rest, alacrity, vigor, joy, jubilation, health and perpetual youth. Thus St. Jerome, Haymo, Procopius, and St. Augustine, epist. 39 to Hesychius, and Hilary in that passage of Psalm cxxxviii: "If I shall take my wings early in the morning;" take this passage of Isaiah according to the letter concerning the future life and blessedness. But this sense is anagogical. For literally Isaiah speaks of the living, namely of the faithful, who in this life pressed by adversities hope in the Lord, and therefore are renewed like eagles, as I have said.
They shall run and not labour, they shall walk and not faint. In Hebrew ולא ייעפו lo iiaphu, that is, they shall not be wearied, the weary shall not fail, but shall proceed strenuously in continual walking. It seems that more is promised here to those running than to those walking in the way of virtue; for it is more not to labour, that is, not to feel labour, than not to be fatigued, and not to fail from fatigue. For those running are fervent, who by reason of their fervour in running do not feel labour, because they love it and desire it: "Where indeed love is, there is no labour, but savour," says St. Bernard. Those walking are less fervent, who therefore feel labour in works of virtue, but overcome it. Thus in natural things we see young men, alert and fervent, often in running and other labours, find them pleasant and delightful to themselves, not feeling labour, both because the delight which they draw forth drives away the sense of labour, and because with great spirit, force and vigour they undertake it. For this force and spirit sustains the weight of labour so easily that it scarcely feels it. For Aristotle teaches in the Physics that the moving force, if it be great and efficacious, more easily moves a weight otherwise great, than a small force and virtue moves a small weight. Thus a man more easily carries a burden of ten pounds than an infant carries a burden of one pound. Run therefore in the stadium of virtue, and thou shalt make greater progress in it, and shalt merit more, and shalt feel less labour. For this reason the Blessed Virgin, pregnant with the Spirit and Word of God: "Rising up... went into the hill country with haste..., and saluted Elizabeth," and breathed upon her, as also upon John, her fires and spirits, Luke cap. i, 39. Thus Christ, as a divine sun: "He hath rejoiced as a giant to run the way, his going out is from the end of heaven, and his circuit even to the end thereof: and there is none that can hide himself from his heat," Psalm xviii, 6. To those running therefore God breathes great grace and spirit, great courage and strength as wings, which blow away all sense of labour. Hence Paul ran, and urging to the race said: "So run that you may obtain, etc. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty," I Cor. cap. ix, 24. There is added also another cause, which Pimenius the Abbot gives in the Lives of the Fathers lib. VII, cap. xxxix: "Just as, he says, flies do not approach a heated pot, but if it be lukewarm, they settle on it and produce worms: so also demons flee from a monk heated by the fire of the divine spirit, but they mock and pursue a lukewarm one." Therefore the fervent do not feel labour or trouble, because all of this in the work of virtue comes from the temptation and resistance of the demon, of the flesh or of the world, which are all put to flight by fervour. Wherefore Ecclesiasticus wisely admonishes, cap. xxxi, vers. 37: "In all thy works be swift, and no infirmity shall come upon thee." Hence secondly, St. Gregory, lib. XIX Moral. cap. xvi, teaches from this place of Isaiah that the Saints often pursue and perfect a good work more fervently, which they began more lukewarmly. For explaining that passage of Job, cap. xxix: As the palm tree I shall multiply days: "The palm, he says, is wider at the top than it began to be from the root, because often the conversion of the elect accomplishes more in finishing than it proposes in beginning; and if it begins the first part more lukewarmly, it completes the end more fervently, namely always esteeming itself to be beginning, and therefore endures unfatigued in newness." He proves this by adding: "The Prophet, beholding this constancy of the just, says: They that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, etc. For they renew their strength, because they strive to be strong in spiritual work, who had formerly been strong in the flesh. But they assume wings as eagles, because with great swiftness they preach to the swift. They walk and do not faint, because they retain the swiftness of their understanding, so as to condescend to the slower. But in all the good things which they receive, the more willingly they accommodate to others, so much the more do they themselves endure unchanging in newness, and those who go forth thin in the root of beginning, grow strong in the strength of the summit of perfection." Thus Moschus relates in the Spiritual Meadow, cap. v, that a certain negligent Religious assumed great fervour at the end, and when asked the cause of such a change, said: "Now I am about to die." And after three days he died. Think daily, when thou risest: Perhaps I shall die today, and thou shalt be fervent all day, and shalt not feel labour. Note: The "assume wings as eagles" can be understood in two ways. First, for flying; for eagles, renewing their feathers and assuming new ones, fly with new swiftness, as if to say, The weary, hoping in God, shall assume new strength, so that with new alacrity they may fly to good works, as eagles. Second, for running: for thus the ostrich has feathers not for flying, but for running most swiftly. But the same meaning comes down to this; for to fly is properly the action of eagles, but of men to run, that is to say, Those who hope in God will be so swift in the way of virtue, that when they run in it, they will seem not so much to run as to fly; nor will they appear so much men as eagles. Whence the phrase "they shall take wings as eagles" is explained when it is added: "They shall run and not be weary," that is to say, For those who hope in God wings and the swiftness of eagles are prepared, by which they traverse immense spaces of places, works and virtues in perpetual and vigorous flight, or run with such swift pace that they seem not so much to walk on foot as to fly on wings. Whence the Chaldean translator renders it, they shall run upon the wings of eagles. Note secondly, that "they shall walk and not faint" is almost the same as what preceded, "they shall run and not be weary." For in Hebrew it is halach, that is, he went, he walked; for progress is attributed also to Angels, to lightning and to winds, which do not so much walk as run: thus it is attributed to the Cherubim, Ezekiel chapter 1, verses 9, 12 and 13, who nevertheless "went in the likeness of a flash of lightning," ibid., verse 14; for to go and to walk among the Hebrews signifies progress, whether it be made by walking step by step, or by running swiftly, or even by flying. Therefore in this place these three things, namely to fly, to run and to walk, signify almost the same; but to fly signifies impetuosity and ease, to run signifies swiftness, to walk signifies continuance and progress, namely the effect of flying and running, which is to advance one's step and position toward the goal and end of the journey. For it is difficult to continue running, but to continue walking is easy; whence in order to signify that the Saints continue this running, he adds that they walk, so that they do not faint; in Hebrew, they shall not be weary; the Septuagint, they shall not hunger (for hunger follows from lack of strength), but they shall overcome and transcend any weariness they may feel, having resumed the vigor and strength of spirit. Therefore the same Saint, having received from God the wings of grace, flies, runs and walks the way of virtue constantly until the end of life, indeed even until heaven, and thus in "they shall walk," the prayer does not diminish, but rather grows and is perfected, that is to say, They shall walk continually until they reach the goal, namely heaven. Note thirdly: Yet these three can be distinguished and adapted to three degrees of those who hope; whence from the Hebrew with Pagninus you may thus translate: Those who hope in the Lord shall change their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint; Vatablus, they shall lift up wings as eagles, that is, they shall fly. The first degree therefore of those who hope in God is of those who, burning with love of God, transcending all human things in mind, like eagles, indeed like Angels, fly forth to God in heaven, and say with the Apostle: "Our conversation is in heaven." Such were the Apostles, of whom Isaiah says in chapter 60, verse 8: "Who are these that fly as clouds?" Likewise those who live the contemplative life, such as the Essenes were, and now many Religious are. The second degree of those who hope in God is of those who burn in the active life, and burning they run, who therefore on account of their fervor do not feel labor, as I said a little before. The third degree is of those who in the same life do not indeed run ardently, but nevertheless walk constantly. You will say: Thus the prayer diminishes, and one descends from the highest degree to the lowest, namely from flying to walking.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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Haec est secunda pars principalis istius libri, in qua principaliter consolationem populi intendit per multa beneficia repromissa. Dividitur autem in duas. In prima inducit eos ad promissorum expectationem; in secunda exequitur divinorum beneficiorum provisionem, infra 45: Haec dicit Dominus Deus. In primo confortat eos per promittentis potestatem; in secunda per ipsius dilectionem, 41 cap: Taceant ad me insulae; in tertia per idolorum quae resistere credi possent, debilitatem, 44 cap: Et nunc audi Jacob serve meus. Circa primum tria facit. Primo inducit ad consolationem; secundo promittit consolatorem, ibi, Vox clamantis in deserto; in tertia ostendit Dei consolantis potestatem, ibi, Quis mensus est pugillo aquas? Circa primum tria. Primo inducit populum in consolationem: Consolamini, in spiritualibus, consolamini, in bonis temporalibus concessis. Eccli. 48: «Consolatus est lugentes in Sion usque «in sempiternum.» Secundo indicit prophetis et sacerdotibus consolationis annuntiationem: Loquimini ad cor, scilicet consolando; advocate, a tristitia, ab idolatria. Oseae 2: «Ducam eam in solitudinem, «et loquar ad cor ejus.» Tertio assignat rationem quantum ad culpae dimissionem, Quoniam completa: quantum ad poenarum finitionem, Suscript: loquitur secundum tempus post captivitatem. Jerem. 17: «Duplici contritione contre eos, Domine.»
Sed contra. Nahum 1: «Non surgent duplex «tribulatio.»
Et dicendum, quod duplicitas dicuntur quantum ad poenam corporis et animae, sicut et culpa in utrisque est.
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Vox clamantis in deserto. Hic promittit consolatorem: et circa hoc tria facit. Primo praemittit praeparationem; secundo ostendit prophetiae firmitatem, ibi, Vox dicentis, Clama; tertio praenuntiat consolatorem venientem, ibi, Super montem excelsus ascende tu. Circa primum tria. Primo inducit praeparationem: Vox clamantis in deserto, scilicet Joannis Baptistae: haec erit, Parate, per conversionem a malo, in solitudine, vitiourum.
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Amos 4: «Praeparare in occursum Dei tui.» Secundo praedicit expletionem, Omnis vallis, sequens metaphorum in valle, quae si est montuosa, facit laborem: unde dicitur, Vallis exaltabitur, ut adaequetur montibus, et totum fiat planum: si est distorta facit errorem; et quantum ad hoc dicit, Erunt prava: si est lapidosa, facit pedum dolorem; et quantum ad hoc dicit, Aspera in vias plana; per quod significatur quod pusillanimitas vertetur in securitatem, superbia in humilitatem, nequitia in rectitudinem, crudelitas in mansuetudinem.
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Jerem. 31: «Dirige cor tuum in viam rectam, in qua ambulasti.» Tertio ostendit praeparationis utilitatem, Et revelabitur gloria Domini, idest filius. Jerem. 53: «Curabo eos, et revelabo eis deprecationem «pacis.» Videbit; idest, omnibus visibilem se praebet. Vel loquitur de die judicii. Apocal. 1: «Videbit eum omnis oculus.» Quidam sic exponunt. Vor, Dei, clamantis, haec est, Praepare in deserto, idest in terra Juda olim deserta, viam Domini, scilicet ad veniendum ad templum, vel in deserto quod est inter Babylonem et Judam. Omnis vallis. Per hoc ostenduntur omnia impedimenta removeri, ut libere populus revertatur. Gloria, in destructione Chaldaeorum, per quam gloriosus apparebit.
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Vox dicentis, Clama. In parte ista ostendit prophetiae firmitatem, per comparationem ad hominum fragilitatem: unde Dominus primo indicit clamorem, qui significat expressam et planam annuntiationem. Clama. Infra 58: «Clama, ne cesses; «quasi tuba exalta vocem tuam.» Secundo indicit culpandum humanam fragilitatem, interrogante propheta: Et dixi, Quid clamabo? timens ne contra populum suum aliquid clamare praecipiatur; et Domino respondente, Omnis caro. Jacobi 1: «Exortus est sol cum ardore et arefecit senum.» Tertio ostendit divini verbi firmitatem, Vere. Luc. 21: «Caelum et terra transibunt, verba autem mea «non transibunt.» Super montem excelsus ascendet tu. Hic praedicet consolatorem venientem; et circa hoc tria facit. Primo Dominus indicit prophetiae annuntiationem; in secunda determinat adventus promissionem, ibi, Ecce Dominus Deus in fortitudine veniet. Circa primum determinat, quis, cui, et qualiter annuntiat. Quis, qui habet officium, Qui evangelizas. Rom. 10: «Quomodo praedicabunt, «nisi mittantur?» Modum designat per tria. Primo per loci altitudinem, ut bona nuntians de longe audiat, {Super montem, mystice Christum, vel caelestem conversationem et contemplationem.
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Supra 2: «Venite, ascendamus ad montem Domini.» Infra 42: «De vertice montium clamabunt.» Secundo per vocis clamorem, Exalta in fortitudine, ut multi audiant, plane et constanter praedicando. Infra 58: «Clama, ne cesses, quasi tuba exalta «vocem tuam.» Tertio per cordis securitatem, Exulta, noli timere. Jer. 1: «Ne timeas a facie «eorum, quia ego tecum sum.» Cui sit annuntiandum determinat quantum ad tria: quantum ad regni provinciam, Hic civitatibus; quantum ad provinciae metropolim, Qui evangelizas Jerusalem; quantum ad civitatis rectores, Sion, ubi templum et domus regia. Infra 41: «Primus ad Sion «dicet: Ecce adsum, et Jerusalem evangelistam «dabo.» Act. 15: «Vobis oportebat praedicari «verbum Dei; sed quia repellitis illud, ecce con«vertimur ad gentes.» Ecce Deus vester. Hic ponit adventus Dei promissionem, Ecce, in promptu, Deus noster, veniet. Supra 55: «Deus noster «ipse veniet et salvabit nos.» Ecce Dominus Deus in fortitudine veniet. Hic ostendit venientis conditionem: et primo ostendit quod veniet fortis ad bellandum, In fortitudine. Brachium, fortitudo in die judicii. Vel in primo adventu in potestate miraeulorum, vel in destructione Babylonis.
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Job 51: «Si habes brachium sicut Deus.» Secundo quod veniet justus ad remunerandum, Ecce merces ejus cum eo, et opus illius coram illo, quia in facultate voluntatis. Sap. 5: « Justi autem in perpetuum vivent, et apud Dominum est merces eorum. » Tertio ostendit quod veniet prius ad consolandum, Sicut pastor.
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Ad pascendum esurientes, Gregem suum pascet. Ezech. 54: « In pascuis uberrimus pascam eas. » Jerem. 5: « Dabo vobis pastores qui pascant vos. » Ad congregandum dissentientes, in brachio. Joan. 10: « Alias oves habeo quae non sunt ex hoc ovili, et illas oportet me adducere; et fiet unum ovile et unus pastor. » Ad portandum deficientes, In sinu. Luc. 15: « Cum invenerit eam, allevat super humeros suos gaudens. » Quis mensus est pugillo aquas? Hic ostendit divinam potestatem: et primo astruit eam contra idolatrarum errores, qui divinae potentiae derogabant, creaturam creatori aequando. Rom. 1: « Servierunt creaturae potius quam creatori. » Secundo contra desperationem Judaeorum, qui divinae potentiae derogabant diffidendo, ibi, Levate in excelsum oculos vestros. Circa primum duo facit. Primo ostendit Dei potestatem; secundo excludit errorem, ibi, Cui ergo similem fecistis Deum? Circa primum tria. Primo ostendit divinam potentiam, simul et sapientiam in commensuratione facili, et creatione omnium rerum: facit enim omnia in numero, quantum ad multitudinem productorum; in mensura, quantum ad determinationem sub proprio esse, in pondere, quantum ad inclinationem in finem.
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Sapien. 2: Pugillo, idest facilitier, sicut quae pugilo, qui est manus clausa, mensurantur: palmo, idest facilitier, qui est manus extensa: Quis appendit tribus digitis molem terrae? Job 26: « Qui extendit aquilonem super vacuum, et appendif terram super nihilum: » quia nullo exteriori fulcitur: alias esset quies terrae violenta. Super aquas, quantum ad situm, quia aquis circumdatur. Psalm. 105: « Super stabilitatem suam, » quantum ad propriam causam quietis, quae est natura propria: Tribus digitis, idest facilitier: vel tribus proprietatibus, gravitatis, siccitatis et immobilitatis, Libravit, libratos fecit proprio pondere.
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Secundo ostendit sufficientiam potentiae, quia non indiget adjuvante: Quis adjuvit, contra philosophos ponentes, mediantibus primis creatis, ultima creata esse: quia non indiget consilio: Aut quis consiliarius, ut sibi daret consilium; cum quo, ut ab ipso peteret; instruxit eum; formam operis; semitam justitiae; naturalis, quam omnibus rebus praefixit, ut nulla res suae naturae metas excederet; scientiam, de cognitione rerum creatarum et universalium et particularium, contra philosophos; viam prudentiae, quantum ad mundi gubernationem. Job 26: « Cujus adjutor es? Numquid imbecillis?
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Et sustenta brachium ejus qui non est fortis? » Tertio ostendit ipsius excellentiam: quia excedit omnem gentium multitudinem: Ecce gentes quasi stilla, parva gutta, situlae, cadens de situla, quae secundum nos est vas aquaticum sitientibus aptum, quae pro nihilo reputatur, momentum quod inter brachia staterae est, quod de facili inter utrumque inclinatur. Job 26: « Cum vix parvam scintillam sermonis ejus audiverimus, quis poterit nitrum magnitudinis illius sustinere? » Ostendit etiam quod excedit omnem condignum honorem,
et praecipue quantum ad oblationem. Et Libanus, idest ligna Libani, quibus abundat, quia nemorosus est, et animalia, quibus abundat, quia pasculosus.
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Mich. 6: « Quid dignum offeram Domino? » Ostendit etiam quod excedit omnem creaturae perfectionem: et naturalem, quia esse ipsorum respectu Dei est non esse: dicit enim Dionysius in lib. de Divinis Nominibus, cap. 12, quod « quantam participantia excedunt non participantia, et quantum participationes participantia, tantum qui est principium participantium, excedit et participationes et participantia. » Omnes gentes: et quantum ad perfectiones superadditas, quae quodammodo sunt implentes, Et quasi nihilum. Jerem. 4: « Aspexi terram, et ecce vacua erat et nihil. » Cui ergo similem fecistis Deum? Hic excludit errorem: et primo irridet errorem quantum ad operantis intentionem, quia volent Deum facere. Ergo ex quo Deus potens est: cui similem? loquitur secundum errorem illorum qui ipsas similitudines deos putabant.
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Aut quam imaginem? quantum ad illos qui putabant ea deos quorum sunt similitudines, ut solem vel lunam.
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Exod. 15: « Quis similis tui in fortibus, Domine, quis similis tui, magnificus in sanctitate, terribilis atque laudabilis, et faciens mirabilia? » Et quantum ad stultam operationem, quia in vili materia nobilissimam formam inducere volent: Numquid sculptile?
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Sapien. 14: « Incommutabile nomen Dei, lignis et lapidibus imposuerunt. » Secundo convincit errorem: et primo ex lege naturali dictante: Numquid non sciétis, naturali ratione, idola non esse deos? et lege scripta prohibente: Numquid non annuntiatum est vobis? Roman. 10: « Numquid non audierunt? Et quidem in omnem terram exivit sonus eorum, et in fines orbis terrae verba eorum. » Convincit etiam ex consideratione creaturarum terrestrium, quantum ad creationem: Numquid non intellexistis fundamenta terrae, ab ipso esse fundata? idest illud terrae quod est juxta centrum.
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Proverb. 8: « Quando appendebat fundamenta terrae. » Et quantum ad creatorem, Qui sedet super gyrum terrae, quia sphaerica, sicut gubernans, et habitatores ejus sunt quasi locustae, respectu magnitudinis terrae, vel ipsius. Ex creatione etiam creaturarum caelestium: Qui extendit, quantum ad caeli magnitudinem, velut nihilum, quantum ad substantiae subtilitatem; sicut tabernaculum, sibimet: in quo primo virtus ejus relucet inter corporalia, quantum ad virtutem. Vel quasi in habitazione Angelorum et sanctorum, quantum ad dignitatem. Vel etiam totius creaturae inferioris, quantum ad ipsorum claritate. Jerem. 51: « Praeparat orbem sapientia. » Convincit tertio cos quantum ad magnorum subjugationem, ponens ipsorum destructionem qui sunt magni.
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Vel secundum scientiam, Qui dat secretorum scrutatores, scilicet philosophos. Vel secundum potentiam, Judices, idest principes. Ps. 63: « Defecerunt scrutantes, idest scrutinio. » Et ostendit destructionis facilitatem per similitudinem herbae, vel arboris, quae non habet radices firmas.
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Et quidem Job 15: « Contra folium quod vento rapitur ostendis potentiam tuam, et stipulam siccarn persequeris. » Tertio ponit conclusionem, Et cui assimilastis?
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Psalm. 88: « Quis in nubibus aequabitur Domino, « similis erit Deo in filiis Dei? » Levate in excelsum oculos vestros. Hic astrictim idem contra desperantes: et primo astrictim divinam majestatem ex rerum creatione: Quis creavit? scilicet caelestia. Ps. 148: « Ipse dixit, et facta sunt; ipse mandavit, et creata sunt. » Ex scientiae perfectione: Qui educit, ad implendam suam voluntatem, in numero, determinato sua scientia, militia eorum, scilicet caelorum, stellas vel Angelos, ex nomine, idest unicuique propriam naturam, unde nominari possit determinans. Psalm. 146: « Qui numerat multitudinem stellarum, et omnibus eis nomina vocat. » Ex dominii plenitudine: Fortitudinis, ad impugnandum, roboris, ad resistendum, virtutis, ad operandum: defuit, ab ejus domino. Job 25: « Numquid est numerus milium ejus? » Secundo excludit errorem.
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Et ponit errorem: Quare dicis… Abscondita? non videt quae mala patior, alias defenderet me. Judicium, idest potestas judicandi, quam olim habuit. Eccl. 16: « Ne dicas, A Deo abscondar. » Secundo ponit erroris reprobationem: et primo reprobationis confirmationem ex lege: Numquid necsis, lege naturali, aut non audisti, ex lege scripta, haec quae sequuntur?
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Secundo ponit reprobationem, primo ostendens Dei magnitudinem ex his quae in se habet, scilicet dominii aeternitatem, Deus sempiternus. Exod. 15: « Dominus regnabit in aeternum, et ultra. » Potentiam indeficientem, Nec deficiet, ut omnia non possit, neque laborabit ut difficulter. Daniel. 7: « Potestas ejus potestas aeterna quae non aufereetur, et regnum ejus quod non corrumptetur. » Scientiae incomprehensibilitatem, Neque est investigatio.
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Roman. 11: « O altitudo divitiarum sapientiae et scientiae Dei, quam incomprehensibilia sunt judicia ejus, et investigabiles viae ejus! » Secundo per magna quae in aliis facit: et primo in illis quos confortat, pristinam debilitatem, Qui dat lasso, quantum ad illum qui prius fortis fuerat et defecit; et his qui non sunt, quantum ad eos qui non fuerunt fortes.
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Roman. 4: « Vocat ea quae non sunt tamquam ea quae sunt. » 1 Cor. 1: « Quae infirma mundi sunt elegit Deus ut confundat fortia. » Secundo ostendit fortitudinis magnitudinem per comparationem ad fortitudinem naturalem, quam ostendit in aliis deficientem: Deficient pueri, qui sunt in statu proficienti, juvenes qui videntur robusti. 1 Reg. 2: « Non in fortitudine sua roborabitur vir. » Secundo roboris a Deo dati indeficientem agilitatem: Qui autem sperant in Domino mutabunt fortitudinem, scilicet naturalem in divinam, ut non fatigentur ascensu, assument pennas, ut eant veloci cursu. Prov. 23: « Facient sibi pennas sicut aquilae. » Current, ut etiam continuo incessu, ambulabunt. Supra 5: « Non est deficiens neque laborans. »
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Nota super illo verbo, Assument pennas ut aquilae, quia sancti comparantur aquilis primo propter volatus altitudinem. Job 59: « Numquid ad praecipitum tuum elevabitur aquila, et in arduis ponet nidum suum? » In quo eminentia contemplationis. Supra 53: « Regem in decore suo videbunt. » Secundo propter odoris subtilitatem. Luc. 16: « Ubi fuerit corpus, illic congregabuntur et aquilae. » In quo fervor dilectionis. Cant. 1: « Curremus in odorem unguentorum tuorum. » Tertio propter loci sublimitatem. Prov. 3: « Trias sunt mihi difficillima, et quartum penitus ignoro. Viam aquilae in caelo. » In quo studium caelestis conversationis. Phil. 5: « Nostra autem conversatio in caelis est. » Quarto propter motus velocitatem. Thren. 4: « Velociores fuerunt percutores nostri aquilis caeli. » In quo promptitudo bonae operationis. Prov. 22: « Vidisti hominem velocem in operibus suis? » Quinto propter renovationem. Psalm. 102: « Renovabitur sicut aquilae juventus tua. » In quo studium emendationis et profectus. 2 Cor. 4: « Licet is qui foris est vetus homo corrumpatur, is qui intus est renovatur de die in diem. » Sexto propter membrorum pulchritudinem. Ezech. 17: « Aquila grandis magnarum alarum, longo membrorum ductu, plena plumis et varietate, venit ad Libanum. » In quo decor virtutum. Cant. 4: « Tota pulchra es, amica mea, et macula non est in te. » Septimo propter filiorum solicitudinem. Deut. 52: « Sicut aquila provocans ad volandum pullos suos, et super eos volitans. » In quo sollicitudo sanctorum. 1 Cor. 11: « Quis infirmatur, et ego non infirmor? Quis scandalizatur, et ego non uror? »
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v. 4 « Consolamini, consolamini, popule meus, dicit Deus vester » | —hebr. consolamini, consolamini populum meum, ita UXX, Syrus, Chald. et ipse S. Hier. notat : « iuxta interpretes ceteros iubentur alii, ut populum Dei consolentur » ; ; eomipellatide scil. prophetae, uti Chald. bene habet. Ii enim sunt os Dei; proinde Deum foederis fidelem custodem populum suum non in exsilio derelinquere ex Dei mandato annun: tiare iubentur. Atque haec annuntiatio pro ipsis iam aequalibus Isaiae maximae erat utilitatis. Ea enim consolatione proposita denuo ostenditur tempus calamitatis inservire, ut populus efficiatur purus et ab omni flagitiorum contagione quasi a scoria emundetur (cf. 1, 25). Quemadmodum igitur Isaias pro tempore calamitatis assyriacae sedulo ac repetito docuit, quem in finemillae tribulationes a Deo immitterentur et qua mente a piis subeundae essent (cf. cap. 8-12. 28 et seq.), ita nunc ostenso exsilio babylonico iisdem vestigiis insistens et divinae provi. dentiae consilia pandens egregie explicat ct sublimiori modo pertractat, qualem salutem Deus sit largiturus et qua animorum habitudine populum oporteat divinae se committere dispositioni. Unde id etiam consequitur, ut qui tamquam vere Israelitae de iniquitate in populo praevalente lugerent (cf. Ez. 9, 4), hac promissione ostensa et eo rerum exitu animos erigant et multiplices populi afflictiones illustri spe confortati facilius ferant. Cernunt enim in hac ipsa voce consolamini repetita, quantopere Deo cordi sit, ut lugentes in. Sion ad spem meliorem et veram animorum laetitiam revocentur; etiam in populo meo Deus fidelis et amans suorum depingitur. Deum velle ut haec consolatio amplissimo quodam modo omnibus afferatur et in qua re illa consistat explicatur
b) Oblivione Dei iuducta est ruina 17, 9-11.
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v. 2 « loquimini ad cor Ierusalem et advocate eam, quoniam completa est. malitia, eius, dimissa est iniquitas illius, suscepit de manu Domini duplicia pro omnibus peccatis suis »; — « ad cor loqui idioma Scripturarum est; qui enim moerenti loquitur et blandiens consolator est, ad cor loqui dicitur » (S. Hier.) ; cf. Gen. 34, 3; 50, 21. Iud. 19, 3. Ruth 2, 13. 2 Reg. 19, 8. 2 Par. 30, 22; 32, 6. Os. 2, 14; ubique ea locutione consolatio et confortatio suavissimis verbis et amore tenerrimo impensa exprimitur; quare phrasin hebr. S. Hier. etiam vertit : tristem delinire blanditiis (Gen. 34, 3), blande ac leniter loqui (Gen. 50, 21), blandiri (Iud. 19, 3). Altera voce clamate ad. eam (hebr.) nuntium hunc faustissimum per- /ferre iubentur praeconio forti et constanti, ut auribus etiam invitis ingeratur neque ullo modo ignorari possit vel dissimulari. Nuntius ipse - qualis sit tribus continetur sententiis, « tria quae hic ei nuntiare iubet sunt quibus illa consolationem accipere et moestitiam deponere posset » (For.) : primum est, supplicium et poenam iam esse exactam et praeteriisse; malitia enim pro labore et molestia accipi debet, uti ex N23 et tamib)os:g apud LXX patet et plerique rite explicant (cf. Osor. Malv. Sanct. Sa, Lap. Mar. Men. Tir.) et in noto illo habetur : sufficit diei malitia sua (Matth. 6, 34). Hebr. explica militiam, tempus scil. certaminis et laboris, molestiarum quoque et dolorum (cf. Iob 7, 1; 14, 14. Dan. 10, 1) et servitutis durae !; finem igitur tribulationum esse ob oculos habendum, quem Deus suo utique tempore sit adducturus, sed ad quem quasi ad terminum semper oculi et animi piorum intenti esse debeant, ut in rerum angustiis verbum Dei sit lucerna pedibus eorum (cf. Ps. 119, 105). Alterum maiorem etiam praebet consolationis materiam : dimissa, hebr. expiata est iniquitas eius ; peccata quibus miseriae illae et supplicia debita provenerunt satisfactione et solutione praestita expiatà et deleta sunt. Proinde fons ille fecundus omnium malorum obturatus est; beneficium a Deo praestitum est illo: priore multo insignius; non solum enim dura illa conditio militiae ac servitutis cessavit, sed etiam Deus expiatione peccatoram facta veniam concessit, sibi esse satisfactum ostendit. Unde hisce iam monet propheta de indole spirituali illius liberationis et rationem consolationis potiorem in eo collocat, quod peccata sint expiata; ergo monet, si cui emolumentum theocratiae cordi sit, in id esse potissimum incumbendum, ut iniquitas, omnium malorum radix, tollatur. Tertium demum duobus antecedentibus, durae conditioni servitutis. ablatae et peccatorum ponderi sordibusque abstersis, dona addit et ornamenta praeclara : duplicia i. e. abundantia munera accepit, Deus benignissimus non peccata attendit commissa; sed hic quoque valet : ubi abundavit peccatum, ibi superabundavit gratia. Hebr. im omnibus peccatis suis explica : quamvis multis peccatis essent obnoxii ; ergo beneficia illa gratuito dari sine ullo hominum merito asseritur. Hisce argumentum indicari oraculorum subsequentiam, iam censuit Malv. : « propositionis pars est proleptica universe evangelii beneficia praenuntians duobus primis versibus ». Speciali autem modo tribus hisce sententiis tres partes subsequentes describi non immerito asseruit Hahn (Der Prophet Jesaia, erkl. von Drechsler 3. parte). Atque revera in prima parte praecipua ratione liberatio ex exsilio per Cyrum concedenda et quae illam comitantur vel etiam illa liberatione praefigurantur, sublimior quaedam liberatio et malorum servitutisque cessatio describuntur; in altera autem parte servus Domini qui pro peccatis satisfactionem praestat et eius expiationis emolumenta egregie proponuntur; in tertia demum parte de abundanti Dei in suos beneficentia amplissimus texitur sermo et duplicia populo reddi diserte asseritur (cf. 61, D). Quae quam merito dicantur, ipsa explicatione magis probabitur. Cur autem sermo fiat de lerusalem, eo declaratur quia lerusalem centrum est theocratiae; unde hoc loco in v. 2 urbs haec, sedes regis theocratici, in qua templum quoque Domini consistit, pro populo theocratico v. 4 ponitur; ergo quae ad Ierusalem dicuntur, populo Dei dicuntur; utroque nomine regnum Dei hisce in terris constitutum designatur (cf. 9. 9. Mich. 1, 3; 4, 2. Ioel 2, 32. Zach. 12, 2. 4 et quae ad hos locos notavi). tate. Ab hac acceptione e recentioribus aeg. discedit.statuens notionem : delectari, frui i. e. fruiti sunt iniquitate sua, ita ut ironice dicatur : fructus iniquitatum perceperunt, satis superque gustarunt. Sed ironia huic loco minime convenit. Gravior est controversia de tertia sententia, utrum scil. de poenis duplicibus an de muneribus et beneficiis duplicibus intelligi debeat. Priorem acceptionem multi tuentur : populum duplices poenas accepisse a Domino pro peccatis ; sermonem esse hyperbolicum, Deum eo loquendi modo affectum ostendere tenerrimum erga afflictos, loqui quasi blandientis in modum et se ipsum reprehendentis quod tam dure cum populo dilecto egerit; ita.S. Hier. Cyr. For. vel generatim poenas magnas atque diuturnas duplices vocari volunt (cf. Sanct. Calm. Loch, Troch. Rohl. Kn. Sein. Del. Naeg. Or.). Verum alia acceptio omnino est. praeferenda ; eam sequuntur Pint. Vat. Mar. Sa, Est. Clarius, Sasb. Lap. Ges. Hitz. Ewald, Hahn; eius mentionem faciunt Osor. Mald. Malv. Men. Tir. et eam fere alteri praeferunt. Idque iure. Nam. de poena quam sustinuerunt iam bis in antecedenlibus membris erat sermo ; cur ergo iterum in tertio? Sane, nisi adsit ratio. omnino cogens, talis tautologia non erit statuenda. Atqui minime adest. Verba enim per se de donis et beneficiis accipi possunt. Et multo convenientius ita accipiuntur. Nam in membro priore miseria commemorata est duri laboris et stationis quasi molestissimae quae transierit, in altero expiatio iniquitatis tamquam causa consolationis affertur, ergo iam ratio redditur sublimior et culpam à Deo esse dimissam, proinde reconciliationem cum Deo esse factam Deique amicitiam restitutam indicatur. Unde duobus istis membris ablata esse dicuntur mala, malum exsilii, malum morale. [am ipsa gradatione optime consequitur malis ablatis bona esse concessa et ex reconciliatione cum Deo facta sponte quasi sua profluere munera copiosa. Immo duplicia, uti ad poenam designandam vix apte dicuntur — Deus enim ultra modum iustum non punit — ita optime ct maxime vere ac proprie appellantur duplicia beneficia illa insignia quibus Deus populum suum redemptione expiatum et reeonciliatum cumulat. Adde quod duplicia bona esse restituta, in tertia parte explicite dicitur (601, 7); cur ergo eiusdem partis argumentum et quasi inscriptionem hisce verbis comprehensam aliter intelligeremus ? Et si lobus dura sua statione peracta poenisque solutis duplicia accepit a Domino, et si Zacharias duplicia annuntiat iis iri redditum qui ad Sionem reversi fuerint ex terra. aliena (Zach. 9, 12), an dubitabimus in priore quasi typum et exemplar huius promissionis, in altero hanc ipsam promissionem imitatione expressam agnoscere? Minime autem obstat quod Del. vult tempus pevf.. suscepit nnpo, cum iungatur cum duobus verbis revera tempus praeteritum exprimenübus, non posse accipi pro futuro; nam tria liaec verba eodem prorsus modo se habent; designant tempus futurum, si ipsam rerum impletionem spectas ; exprimunt tempus praeteritum, si revelationem prophetae factam consideres. Sicuti enim consilio divino iam statutum est, ut demum exsilium solvatur, culpa expietur, ita res haec menti prophetae sistitur ut aliquid in se conclusum et a Deo decretum. Opus illud Dei quod propheta acie mentis vidit, id eo modo quo vidit annuntiat i. e. tamquam tale quod in idea et mente Dei iam exsistat, et proinde fria illa verba eodem modo expli- cabis de eodem temporis: ordine. Aut quomodo distingues? Num cum Isaias loquitur, statio illa molesta iam est dimissa? Minime; ergo in re tempus spectatur futurum ; ergo nihil obstat quominus suscepit in re explices de futuro. Si spectas rem menti prophetae impressam, iam tria illa aeque menti eius obversari tamquam in Dei consiliis decreta mecum fateberis. — Demum duplicia aliqui explicant de duplici, urbis lerusalem destructione facta a Babyloniis et Romanis (cf. apud S. Hier. Euseb. Mald. Est.). Ubi in vulg. legimus completa est malitia, in hebr. N2Y habetur, quae vox genoralim in vulg. militia exprimitur (vel officium ministerii, "exercitus .ete.). Unde suspicio esse potest, num malitia in vulg. non errori scribarum debeatur. Qui ex hebr. vertunt, militiam adoptant (cf. Santes Pagninus, Glarius, Malv. For. Mar. etc.) neque desunt qui in vulg. milinam legi volunt; « militia enim legendum in nostro et non malitia, consentiunt eruditi quique » contendit Malv.; alii contendunt nonnullos codices correctiores revera praebere müliíia; ità Pint. Sanct. Sasb. Est.; at Lucas brugensis notat : « nos ex nostris exemplaribus nullum quod militia legat invenimus ; tantum in uno Cardinalis Bessarionis quondam malitia in militia mutatum atque in margine (reete est militia) seriptum observavimus ». Calm. quidem asserit latinos codices bene multos legere militia; at num vere id asseratur, vehementer dubito, cum Lucas brugensis aliter prorsus loquatur ; potius suspicor Cabm. ipsum nullum vidisse codicem sed referre solum ea quae Pint. aliique dixerant. Quid S. Hier. posuerit, erui nequit, cum illius membri nullam explicationem proferat. Apud. Haim.'in glossa ordin. apud S. Thom. Lyranwum legitur solum malitia. Posset ' quidem cum Luca brugensi suspicio moveri, num non scribarum audacia, quibus militia ad membrum parallelum iniquitas haud videretur consonare, mutatio facia sit in malitia propler ea quae sequuntur; at res non est cerla. Vere enim monet idem Lueas : quid si septuaginta duos interpretes secutus malitiam pro afflictione posuit ? Atque cum LXX praebeant «azsívocis, facile fieri polest ut. malitia in. vulg. sit et exsistat ex vetere interpretatione, sicuti alia quoque ex prisca illa versione variis in locis ab ipso S. Hier. retenta sunt. Ex altera parte apud SS. Ambrosium textus noster legitur : quoniam repleta est humiliatio eius, et alio loco : quia repleta est deiectio eius (cf. Sabatier, Bibl. sacr. lat. vers. antiq. II p. 578) et S. Hier. verba graeca verlil : quia repleta est humilitas eius. Unde ex hisce nihil habetur subsidii pro malilia. Ceterum sive militia, sive malitia legi oportet ex regulis pro vulg. et eius lectione primaria statuendis, sensus idem esse debebit ; nam malitiam de afflictione esse intelligendam iure censent ffaimo , qui malitiam afflictionem persecutionis interpretatur, et Sanct. Mald. Sa, Mar. Lap. Men. Tir. Troch., alii tamen, uti Sasb. Est. Gord. Loch, exponunt : ablata malitia est facla remissione peccatorum, vel remissio peccatorum facta est et status peccati ablatus. Cum tria haec argumentum in se concludant oraculorum subsequentium, quis sit verus ac proprius harum enuntiationum sensus, ex omnium demum explicatione per se patebit. Nihilominus iam hoc loco et statim a limine bene considerandus est modus quo propheta de. futura liberatione loquitur. Pro ea quoque illud advertendum est quod in antecedentibus jam aderat, cum propheta temporis conditionem post calamitatem assyriacam delinearet. Eam enim ita descripsit, ut simul cum modica. illa rerum instauratione ampliorem ac sublimiorem portenderet atque delinearet. Vide quae notata sunt ad 29, 23 seq. 32, 1; 35, 1. Simili ratione propheta liberationem ex exsilio ita menti suae exhibitam cernit, ut in ea minime sistatur, verum ea omnia simul aliqua ratione exprimantur atque repraesententur ad quae liberatio ex exsilio secundum divina consilia erat praeparatio quaedam et primus quasi gressus et quae illam altiore ac sublimiore modo consecuta sunt. Unde cum ea intime iungitur liberatio messianica; ad hanc enim salutem messianicam omnia tendunt; hane propheta nobis iam exhibuit post calamitatem assyriacam (cf. 11, 1 seq.), hanc igitur post exsilium primarium occupare locum iure exspectamus, idque eo potiore quia apud. alios quoque prophetas promissioni de exsilii solutione intime adnecti cernimus descriptionem salutis messianicae (cf. Os. 2, 18. Mich. 4, seq. Am. 9, 11). Describit igitur propheta éZnstaurationem theocratiae, sed eam non enarrat historice per temporum intervalla neque quomodo per suos quasi gradus et incrementa ad suam perfectionem perventura sit, sed norma generali ideam instaurationis quam menti divinitus impressam accepit verbis exponit. Unde fit, ut quae in rerum ordine paulatim in opus deducuntur vel ex parvis initiis longo annorum cursu ad perfectionem adolescunt, quasi simul adessent et uno partu effunderentur, saepius describantur. Cum autem Deus opera sua quo maiora sunt et sublimiora eo magis soleat similitudine quadam et exemplis praeformare hominumque animos ad illa praeparare, efficitur, ut instauratio theocratiae initium capiat a minoribus, quae similitudine quadam cum iis conveniant quae postmodum in perfecta instauratione messianica perficiuntur. Verum quia propheta non rerum cursum tempore et perfectione distinctum ac separatum, sed normam illam et ideam in qua cuncta unitate quadam comprehenduntur, oraculis suis plerumque describit, consequens est, ut non tam initia instaurationis exhibeat, verum ipsam instaurationem absolutam et perfectam, aliis verbis, ut ea quae tempore inter se dissita sunt, sed propter divinae providentiae consilia arete inter se connectuntur, uno quasi conspectu intime inter se coniuneta exhibeat. Ceterum vide quae de simili modo rem declarandi propheticam notavi ad Os. 11, 11. Soph. 3, 20. Zach. 2, 4; 10, 10 (Comment. in Proph. min. I. p. 130. II p. 168. 241. 341). Haec visio ac dictio complectens multa etiam ita solet explicari, ut una eademque res dicatur et historice fieri in reditu ex Babylone et. typice aliquid in Ecclesia Christi gerendum portendere et declarare. Eam explicandi normam tangit Sanct. cum statuat mediam quandam viam esse ingrediendam et neque iis assentiendum qui omnia de sola Ecclesia per evangelium fundata explicent, neque iis qui omnia de republica ab exsilio restituta intelligant, sed id esse tenendum quasi medium inter duo illa extrema : neque omnino excludi ab hoc oraculo Hierosolymam neque praecipuo ac primo ut aiunt instituto seu intentione de illa exponendum esse vaticinium. Idem indicat Sasb. cum dicat, utramque liberationem (babylonicam scil. et messianicam) ita quandoque miscere prophetam, ut nescias quo respiciat. ARc. — Praemittitur generalis quaedam liberationis descriptio : Dominus ipse scil. populum suum vult reducere; quare iam via ei paranda est; gloriose suam ostendet maiestatem, neque quisquam opus Dei potérit impedire. Iste nuntius de opere quo Deus et fortitudinem suam et amorem in populum tenerrimum ostendit perferendus est in Sion (40, 3-11). Hisce praemissis ut operi liberationis fides concilietur, ostenditur Dei potentia et sapientia ex opere creationis, ex quo tanta eius elucet maiestas, ut nihil prorsus inveniri possit quo cultus eo dignus offeratur (40, 12-17). Cum Deus igitur talis tantusque sit, consequitur quam impium sit et stultum eum qui multiplici modo se manifestat derelinquere et idolis adhaerere ; cum talis Deus populum velit liberare, consequitur omnem pusillanimitatem ac diffidentiam quam longissime esse abiiciendam; ipse enim est potentissimus et sua potentia roborat speramtes in se (40, 18-31). l Primo igitur vates exponit doctrinam de Dei potentia et sapientia creatione manifestata; dein pro necessitate et utilitate aequalium duo colligit applicatione facta ad idololatras et ad eos qui ob miseram populi | conditionem quam cernunt de gloriosa instauratione theocratiae diffi-' dunt. Illos arguit, hos consolatur et erigit, et ita utrisque veram fidem: Dei annuntiat simul praeclare ostendens, quomodo ex operibus Dei naturalibus et supernaturalibus hominum animi sint erudiendi et quomodo prophetae etiam vaticinia de rebus futuris ad aequalium utilitatem et institutionem redigant. Aderant tempore Isaiae idololatrae, ade-- rant pii iique timidi, diffidentes, oppressi; utrisque consulit, utrosque. erudit verus theocratiae custos. Reditum ad theocratiae instaurationem Michaeas, aequalis Isaiae, ita. describit : « ascendet pandens iter ante eos, perrumpunt et transeunt per portam et ingrediuntur in ea et transibit rex eorum coram eis et Dominus in capite eorum » (Mich. 2, 13 hebr.). Eodem schemate ac forma utitur Isaias : Dominum nobis ostendit qui ipse agminis ductor sit; quare ut reditus adeo sollemnis annuntietur et praeparetur, iam fertur mandatum, ut Domino via paretur qua populum reducat
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v. 3 « Voz clamantis in deserto : parate viam Domini, rectas facite in solitudine semitas Dei nostri »| — cf. Ps. 61, 5 : iter facite ei qui ascendit super occasum, Dominus nomen illi. Ostenditur quaenam futura sit illa vox seu clamor qui bene sperare iubet populum illum quem Deus consolari vult... ac si ' dicat : videre iam videor clamantem praeconem et viam ad reditum et libertatem aperiri coeptam (Sanct.). Per viam deserti populus ex Aegypto servatus olim in terram promissam ad fundandam theocratiam tetendit ; exsilium in sermone propheticoalterum est desertum, quo populus denuo ad reditum in terram promissam praeparatur et eruditur (cf. Os. 2, 14. Ez. 90, 38), quare liberatio ex exsilio et reditus ad instaurandam theocratiam optime eo proponitur schemate. Neque abest a moribus orientalium, ut nuntii praemittantur qui regi proficiscenti viam parent (cf. uslin. Mist. 2, 10. Arrian. Alex. 4, 30). Alii propter parallelismum (et accentus mas.) iungunt : vox clamantis : in deserto parate etc. (ita iam apud Sanct. Malv. Mald. in Matth. 3, 3) neque exinde alius oritur sensus; nam ibi adhortatio fieri censenda est, ubi opus exigitur, ergo hoc loco in deserto. Quomodo haec cum: antecedentibus cohaereant, explicat For. : « quasi interrogaretur propheta, undenam sciret tempus adesse quo statio dimittenda esset, unde etiam sciret Deo iam satisfactum respondet se audire vocem cuiusdam viri in deserto vocantis ad se ac dicentis : parate viam Domini ». Atque reditum illum revera fieri per desertum vel saltem ita apud prophetam describi, elucet ex 41, 48; 48, 20; 52, 11; 55, 12; 51, 14; 62, 10. Hac autem admonitione facta id populo iam hoc loco inculcatur quod toties apud Isaiam in hac altera parte inveniemus et quod in priore parte tanta quoque cum facundia commendavit (cf. 8, 16 seq. 26, 20; 28, 23), populum se debere praeparare ad salutem a Domino accipiendam, removenda esse obstacula, auferenda impedimenta. Quaenam illa sint, variis orationibus propheta declarabit. Quam necessaria sit eiusmodi praeparatio et quam sedulo sit instituenda, ex schemate adoptato ulterius oculis subiicit
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v. 4 « omnis vallis exaltabitur et omnis mons et. collis humiliabitur et erunt. prava in directa et aspera. in vias planas » ! — hebr. in altero. membro :. et locus acclivis in. planitiem et salebrosa (iuga montium saxosa?) in vallem; omnia ergo sedulo removenda quibus iter impeditur vel difficile redditur; futura explica, ut For. monet, pro imperativis, ut sint haec veluti explicatio superiorum, quo pacto viae sint parandae, ut semita adsit plana ac facilis. Haec vero omnia in id tendunt, ut. gloria Domini omnibus reddatur conspicua et omnes intelligant esse opus Domini praeclarum
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v. 9 « et revelabitur gloria Domini et videbit omnis caro pariter, quod os Domini locutum est » ; — en, quomodo vates statim ab ipsa praeparatione properet ad ultimum terminum, ad quem cuncta Dei opera natura sua tendunt et in quo absolvuntur, ad gloriae Dei manifestationem ; cernit iam id quod in visione inaugurali tamquam omnium operum divinorum exitum et fastigium didicerat : plena est omnis terra gloria eius (6, 3) ; unde addit omnis caro videbit ; ea scil. manifestatio gloriae iam non uti olim in liberatione ex Aegypto ad unius populi ' salutem fiet, sed omnis caro, omnes mortáles pariter, totum genus humanum hac gloria illustrabitur eiusque splendore perfruetur. Quemadmodum enim in liberatione ex Aegypto gloria Domini, i. e. nebula illa e cuius medio emicabat ignis et vox Domini audiebatur, dux erat populi eique in salutem, in interitum autem hostibus persequentibus (Ex. 14, 90 ; 40, 36 etc.), ita in hac liberatione Deus gloriam suam cunctis reddit conspicuam omnesque hac gloria protectionem ac salutem uti Israelitae quondam nancisci poterunt. Fit igitur quod vates simili modo iam 4,B5 vaticinatus est. Additur confirmatio quia os... apud Isaiam obvia (4, 90 ; 21, 171; 22, 25). Cum in subsequentibus duplex describatur liberatio, prior per Cyrum concedenda, altera per Messiam altior'ac sublimior efficienda, verba haec introductoria aliqua ratione ad utramque referenda sunt, Verum uti ex v. B et tanta loquendi amplitudine colligendum est, vates ita sublimem illam ac perfectam liberationem ob oculos habet, ut prior illa sit solum tenue quoddam initium ac primus veluti gradus ad alterius fastigium. Et sane si sermo infertur de omni carne quae videbit gloriam Dei sese manifestantem, iam arctos veteris legis limites relinquere et ad: tempus me$sianicum mentem oculosque convertere iubemur. Atque revera in Messia demum gloria Domini revelata est, in eo vera illa schechina, nubes illa lucida, Dei praesentis et in populo inhabitantis symbolum, apparuit et sedem fixit inter populum et per eum salus offertur omni carni et per eum denique Dominus quam maxime proprie ad noslocutus est. Quare si unquam, tum ànte Messiam vox illa debuit audiri « parate viam Domini » etaudita est. vox clamantis in deserto Deoque placuit verba haec prophetica ad literam implere in praecursore Domini (cf. Matth. 3, 3. Marc. 1, 3. 4. Luc. 3, 4. Ioan. 1, 23). Unde cum Domino via paranda sit, qua ad nos veniat animosque plane occupet, ut eius gloria in nobis quoque reluceat, symbolica v. 4 explicatio obvia est illamque passim tradunt ; v. g. S. Jier.: « ut rectas faciamus vias et semitas in cordibus nostris Deo impleamurque virtutibus et incinemur humilitate ; prava mutemus in recta, aspera vertamus in mollia et sic gloriam Domini et salutare Dei videre mereamur» vel: « qui superbiae montem in corde gerit, tumorem hunc deprimat ; qui vallem pusillanimitatis et acediae in se continet, eam impleat, elevet et adaequet per magnanimitatem et fiduciam in Deum; qui asperis est moribus, ad suavitatem et modestiam se componat » (Lap.). Alii in verbis istis ea potius cernunt expressa, quae per Messiam facta sunt; olim enim vitam eximiam et virtutis semitam parum fuisse tritam, iam omnibus apertam (S. Cyr.) vel Messiam incredulos in imum depressisse, cultum daemonum qui in montibus exercebatur sustulisse (Theod.) vel humiles ab eo esse exaltatos, superbos depressos, iniustos ad iustitiam reductos, insolentiam mutatam in mansuetudinem (Pint. sim. Sasb. aliique). raliter exponenda esse de Iudaeis e captivitate babylonica reductis Tir. quoque uegat; attamen concedit alludi magna ex parte ad liberationem illam, cum haec illius per Christum: figura et typus fuerit. Sed si alluditur, illa significatio a-seusu literali separari nequit. Magna annuntiata sunt : Israel populus ex abiectione et humiliatione erigenduüs et splendore gloriae Dei cingendus erit; quomodo haec fient ? quomodo hostium potestas qui theocratiam infestantes depresserunt frangetur? quomodo populus ex istis sordibus et vinculis emerget ? quomodo montium iuga et vallium profunditates et viarum asperitates et anfractus complanari ac dirigi possunt ? En, dubiis istis animi pulsari: possunt promissionum magnitudine cum populi misera conditione comparata. Dubia egregie solvuntur ostensa omnium hominum fragilitate et potentia divina
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v. 6 « voz dicentis : clama ! et dixi : quid clamabo ? omnis caro fenum et omnis gloria eius quasi flos agri ;
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v. 1 exsiccatum est fenwm et: cecidit flos, quia. spiritus Domini sufflavit in eo ; vere fenum est populus
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v. 8 exsiccatum | est. fenum et cecidit flos ; verbum autem Domini nostri manet in aeternum » ! — audivit propheta annuntiationem in v. 3-8 factam, et fortasse secum miratur de tanta inter populi conditionem miseram et magnitudinem promissionum intercapedine. Iam admonetur ipse, ut nuntium quem audierit praedicet. Interrogat vates (et' dix, ita bene LXX et S. Hier.; textus mas. Syrus, Chald. et dixit) quasi stupefactus vel nesciens a quo annuntiationis exordium sit sumendum ; fit ei responsio : omnem humanam pompam et gloriam esse sicut fenum; sicut herba exarescit et flos repente decidit, . cum primum ventus acrior vel urens flaverit, ita omnem elationem facillime confringet Dominus ; nam coram ipso omnis hominum potentia coniuncta non est nisi fenum et stipula; uti haec exarescunt et cadunt, ita verbum Domini solum firmiter stat et consistit in aeternum. Tria continentur annuntianda : quam fragile, quam nihilum sit omnis caro, omnis potestas hominum ; dein omnem istam pompam revera iri contritum vel in Dei idea iam esse plane in nihilum redactam; demum solum stabile, fixum atque sempiternum esse Dei verbum, et proinde salutem a Deo promissam deiecta humana potentia et gloria certissime fore in opus deducendam eamque fore inconcussam, sempiternam. Proinde idem inculeatur quod 2, 11 etc. et deinceps saepius est propositum. Hisce ergo fiducia roboratur : emphatice et repetito quam caducum et fragile omne sit qucd humanum est effertur, quomodo iam plane conciderit ; huic opponitur Dei potentia, Dei verbum consistens in aeternum ; quis iam locus esse poterit diffidentiae, pusillanimitatis ? Hisce doctrina innuitur de indole spirituali instaurationis : nam omnis pompa abiicitur ; herba exaruit, flos decidit ; nihil ergo splendoris humani relictum vult Deus ; hisce salus Domini triumphans et victrix in sempiternum proclamatur. En tria argumenta fecundissima, quae uti'in priore parte vaticiniorum iam sunt proposita, ita in. subsequentibus multo uberius ac splendidius enarrabuntur. — Herba etc. saepe fragilitas declaratur ; cf. 1s. 297, 22; 31, 12. 4 Bes. 19, 26, Ps. 20,25 91,85 1041,12: 102. 18; 198, 6. Iob 8, 19; 14, 2. Eccli. 14, 18 etc. Sententiam esse generalem, iam elucet ex omni carne ; quare etiam populus v. 8 quae vox ex parallelismo substituitur eodem modo debet intelligi; notionem restringere (For. Hahn, Naeg.) ad populum Israel repugnat modo quam maxime generali loquendi quem hic cernimus usurpatum et quem in subsequentibus quoque saepe deprehendimus (cf. A41, 11; 42, 8; 4A, 9 ete.). Quaenam sit horum versuum propria hoc loco vis et quis cum antecedentibus nexus, varie explicant. Bene dicit S. Thom. ostendi in parte ista prophetiae firmitatem per comparationem ad hominum fragilitatem ; nexum eundem etiam statuunt Sanct. et Calm. ostendi scil. ingentium imperiorum vires ac maiestatem merum nihil Deo esse; grandia illa esse evertenda et iri eversum, ut salus Dei consistat; haec proin addi etiam ad firmam fiduciam creandam. Atque haec satis ad rem sunt. Alii alia deducunt ex comparationibus institutis ; ita S. Cyr. eos cernit ibi describi quibus liceat potiri salute Dei, qui scil. omnem gloriam humanam tamquam fenum existiment et proiiciant; alii fragilitatem hominis eo proponi volunt, ut pateat hominem suis viribus minime posse ad illam salutem aspirare, ut agnoscat quamvis ex nativitate naturali nil habeat quam quod sit fenum, fieri tamen posse ut perpetuo maneat et immortalitate beatus fiat, si salutem et verbum Domini amplectatur (Sasb.) ; sim. Pint. qui addit ea inter se oppositione quam maxime efferri misericordiam Dei splendidissimam et summam hominis miseriam (sim. Tir.), a qua re non longe abest Mar. qui in hisce versibus omnia esse caduca, solum Deum firmum ac stabilem praecipue doceri censet. Alii magis accedunt ad explicationem S. Cyr.; ita Gord. qui hanc meditationem proponi ait, quia si homo agnoscat quam nihil sit, via ad salutem illi complanetur; ita Lap. doceri ait viam ad Christum esse humilitatem ; « haec enim humilis meditatio omnia alta, prava et aspera complanat in anima nostra, omnia vitia tollit, omnes virtutes inserit omnemque gratiam Dei ad se allicit » ; Malv. versus hos ad poenitentiam referri ait. — Hisce patefit ad quam varia versus hi accommodentur ct quanta in eis pie meditantibus vena aperiatur. Verum talibus ipse nexus qui ex subsequentibus quoque suadetur non colligitur. Unde Sanct. quoque adnotat talia ad spiritualem sensum pertinere, v. g. quantum sit in humilitate momenti ad parandam Domino viam ete. — Mirum est aliquibus in mentem venisse carnem hic interpretari de ritibus et caerimoniis legalibus quae feno comparentur et quae inutilia esse Iudaeis sit annuntiandum (cf. For. Mald.). Neque minus mirum est quod HaAn censet, hisce v. 6-8 aliis verbis idem enuntiari quod v. 2 iniquitatem Israel benevole accipi a Domino (ita euim ille v. 2 explicat), quare etiam v. 7 populum solum de Israel intelligit. Cum igitur haec Dei promissio adeo egregia (v. 5) immutabilis sit. '.et aeterna, iam omni fiducia et maxima animi exsultatione est annuntianda ; unde
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v. 9 « super montem excelsum ascende tu, qui evangelizas Sion, exalta in fortitudine vocem tuam, qui evangelizas lerusalem, ezülta, noli timere ! dic civitatibus Iuda : ecce Deus vester » ! — postquam indictum est, ut via paretur Domino (v. 3. 4), et manifestatio gloriae Domini ostensa est invicta (v. 6-8), ipsi iam Sioni et Ierusalem nuntius afferendus est simul cum reliquis civitatibus Dominum venturum esse ad instaurationem theocratiae (cf. 44, 26 ; 54, 11 seq. 61, 4; 65, 8). Sion enim et Ierusalem i. e. arx regia et centrum theocratiae nobis proponuntur lugere de ruina reipublicae; cf. 49, 19 : dereliquit me Dominus et Dominus oblitus est mei, vel vide quomodo lugeat Ierusalem in lamentationibus Ieremiae, et merito luget, quia « gloria Domini » egressa est de templo et urbe (cf. Ez. 11, 22. 23). Iam lugenti affertur consolatio i. e. nuntius de reditu Domini, cuius gloria urbs illustranda est (cf. 60, 1seq.).. Iubetur nuntius altum ascendere montem, ut longe lateque annuntiatio audiatur; iubetur omni vocis contentione, palam, intrepide, summa cum alacritate eam perferre et testificari omnibus ; « non enim decet, inquit, qui evangelizant omnibus undique gloriam et salutem Dei timide et submisse id facere quasi qui latere studeant, sed tamquam in excelso positos et omnibus conspicuos et magna libertate tamquam in monte exsultantes clara voce quae aures penetret uti et quae sit metu libera » (S. Cyr.). Optime evangelizare laetum nuntium et omnis salutis argumentum declarat; *V2 LXX e)xpyeMtev ; unde evangelium pro nuntio prae omnibus salutifero, pro salute messianica (cf. Hebr. proprie admonetur evangelizatrixz Sion; vocem hanc multi ita. intelli: ligunt, ut Sion et Ierusalem iubeatur montem ascendere et laetam nuntium perferre ; ita Osor. Vat. Sasb. Mald. Mar. For. Rohl. Troch. Sein. Or. ; verum vox etiam ita concipi potest, ut sit nuntia Sionis, ut ii designentur qui Sioni nuntium afferunt. LXX praebent 6 eboyyeAtopevog Xióv ; Aq. ebepreAutap£vo Xubv et S. Hier. notat : « hebraicum et ceteri interpretes ponunt genere feminino, ut dicant quae evangelizas Sion... quod verbum iuxta Graecos ambiguum est ut possimus accipere vel eam quae nuntiat vel eam cui nuutiatur ». Hanc ultimam notionem, quam exprimunt LXX, S. Hier. Chald., sequendam esse censeo cum Sanct. Calm. Schegg, Ges. Kn. Halm aliisque. Nam Sionem admoneri, ut montem conscendat, satis mirum videtur; deinde apud Isaiam aliosque prophetas ipsa urbs exhibetur de ruina theocratiae lugere (cf. [s. 49, 14); alias ipsa admonetur, ut audiat nuntium (cf. 52, 4 et saepius); immo modo v. 2 prophetae iussi sunt, ut solentur lerusalem blando alloquio ; ergo vix credibile videtur, statim scenam ita mutari, ut subito Sion sit nuntia salutis. Porro si Sion mater tamquam nuntia consideraretur, potius diceretur : dic filiabus luda, cum urbes luda filiae metropolis soleant nominari; demum ubique lerusalem exhibetur tamquam accipiens nuntium (cf. 41, 27; 44, 26; 49, 18; 52, 7; 61, 1 ete). Est ergo evangelizatriz hebraismus, uti habitatrix, migratio, famulatus etc. dieitur ad designandos incolas, vel eos qui migrant, famulantur, etc. Quod Naeg. obiicit, vocem hane evangelizatrix alibi hae notione plurali non inveniri, inefficax est, cum de tali usu loquendi multis constet exemplis aliis, etsi in hae eadem voce aliud non reperiatur; neque obest numerus singularis in verbo ascende, exalta, dic, cum hie ad formam grammaticalem sit exactus, uti v. g. Gen. 31, 95. Is. 42, 6 (exsulta, lauda habitatrix Sion). Ier. 48, 19. Mich. 1, 11 ete. unde arbitrarie h. l. numerum postulat in verbis pluralem aeg. — Iam quid annuntiatione ecce Deus vester contineatur, pluribus declaratur
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v. 10 « ecce Dominus Deus in fortitudine veniet et brachium eius dominabitur ; ecce merces eius cum eo et opus illius coram illo » ! — bis effertur potentia Domini ; quis ergo de opere grandi dubitabit ? Brachium Domini symbolum est pro magnalibus; ita v. g. brachio eius magnalia in Aegypto, in liberatione ex Aegypto adscribuntur ; cf. Ex. 6, 6; 15, 16; Deut. 4, 34 ; 5, 19 etc. Is. 44, 19; 51, 5. 9; 62, 8 etc. Haec ergo mira et eximia Dei potentia dominabitur, potestatem et imperium exercet sibi (hebr.), suam causam aget, pro suo verbo ut illud stabiliat omnipotentiam suam ut pignus ponit. Hanc fortitudinem autem praeprimis ostendet in mercede piis danda, ergo in bonis eis afferendis et in retributione (hebr.) in vindicta contra hostes. Venit ergo ut omnium bonorum largitor, sed etiam ut vindex et ultor malorum, ergo in resurrectionem et ruinam ; ergo statim ab initio tempus adfore indicat aliis in salutem, in ruinam aliis. Ut enim suos bonis afficiat, necesse est ut hostes efficaciter compescat. Duplicem hunc effectum adventus Domini iam describit propheta 8, 21 et 9, 4 seq. 24, 6. 10 seq. 30, 23. 921 etc. eumque in subsequentibus frequenter tangit. Cum igitur effectus ille in resurrectionem et ruinam, oppositio inter bonos et malos, adeg frequenter apud Isaiam efferatur et verbum ipsum nbyP ad id aptum sit (cf. Is. 65, "1. Ps. 109, 20), ea explicatio est praeferenda, praesertim cum ita revera versibus istis integrum argumentum vaticiniorum subsequentium habeatur. Minus placet quod quibusdam visum est, utramque vocem pari accipere notione (Mald. Troch.) vel id quod Deus tamquam labore partum. et acquisitum affert esse ipsum populum ex captivitate redemptum (cf. For. Kn. Or.). Venit ergo in fortitudine bona largiens suis et quomodo omnipotentiam suam parcendo maxime et miserando manifestet, pulcherrime describitur
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v. 44 « sicut pastor gregem suum pascet; in. brachio suo congregabit agnos et in. sinu suo levabit, fetas ipse portabit » ; — ultimum in hebr. lactantes (placide) ducet ! ; en quali amore tenero omnium providet necessitatibus ! Tamquam pastor venit qui optima pascua gregi suo tribuet ; agniculos tenellos, re itinere fatigentur, brachio sublatos sinu suo et gremio fovet; alios sensim atque leniter aget; ipse ducit, ne aberrent. Rex dicitur pastor populi, pascere in sacris literis idem est quod regiam exercere potestatem (cf. 92 Reg. 5, 2; 7, 1). Quare Messias, uti est rex theocraticus, ita et pastor populi sui xaz' ££oyv; cf. Ier. 23, 4. Ez. 34, 13. Mich. 5, 4; 71. 14. Zach. 41, 7. Haec utique si fiunt, tunc finitus est labor. Quare versibus istis totius huius sectionis argumentum brevi cernimus propositum. Parate viam Domini verba sunt, quibus liberationem in visione iam cerni instantem asseritur. Haec autem liberatio ac redemptio, quia verbo Domini in aeternum manente promittitur, efficietur contranitente frustra quacumque potentia humana, efficietur ità ut omnis pompa humana cadat, efficietur ita, ut summa laetitia populus Dei afficiatur; est enim adventus Domini potentissimi largitoris bonorum et vindicis malorum qui suos tenerrima cura fovet. Quod in hae quasi introductione iam iunuit propheta, luculenter praestat in subsequentibus : animos oppressos ac deiectos erigit proposita Dei potentia qui gentium idolorumque pompam deiiciet et insolentiam franget et suo populo triumphum ac salutem concedet, .et quos ostensa Dei potentia erexit, eos declarata gloria et beatitate salutis de praesentis conditionis miseriis consolatur et ad egregiam spem et Dei benignissimi amorem provocat.
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v. 129 « Quis mensus est pugillo aquas et coelos palmo ponderavit ? quis appendit tribus digitis molem terrae et libravit in pondere montes et colles in.— statera » ? — hebr. quis comprehendit trientali pulverem terrae ? Dei potentiam ita ad captum omnium describit, ut ea quae nostram omnem cogitationem superant et ingentia nobis apparent, nullo negotio dicat a Deo nosci, ponderari ; « humanae consuetudinis verbis utitur atque mensuris, ut Dei potentiam per nostra verba discamus » (S. Hier.). Vastam ergo maris magnitudinem Deus vola metitur et immensa coelorum spatia palmo et terrae molem ingentem trientali complectitur ; id est Dei comparatione hae tantae moles perinde sunt atque illa quae manu conclusa sunt (Sanct. For.); quam ergo facile est Deo res cunctas creatas sustentare et regere, ut quaecumque promisit nullo negotio et rebus omnibus sibi ministrantibus exsequatur (Malv.). « Quoniam ex magnitudine et pulchritudine creaturarum proportione quadam opifex dignoscitur (Sap. 13, 5), iure ea quae penes nos maxima habentur collata eum Deo extenuat ad conditoris omnium nos notitiam evocans » (Euseb. sim. S. Cyr. Theod. Osor. Sasb. Lap. etc.). — Ad versionem suam notat S. Hier. pro tribus digitis in hebr. scriptum esse vu salis, quem Symmachus «gíze», Aquila «2ízouov ! verterit, se autem ut manifestius faceret in tres digitos vertisse. LXX praebent 3ezzt; hebr. nomen est mensurae, tertiae partis ephae? Praeter potentiam hanc maximam Deo etiam inest omnis sapientia, ita ut in rebus excogitandis vel opere exsequendis nihil ab ullo alio accipere possit
Quod propheta in v. 6 tetigerat, iam accuratius prosequitur. Ne scil. cernentes populi afflicti conditionem miseriamque et gentium potestatem triumphantem de annuntiata populi liberatione et gloria quasi ancipites dubiique haereant, sacer vates egregia descriptione et sublimi modo sermonem transfert ad Dei potentiam omnium mentibus oculisque exhibendam. Illam ut concludamus vult ex iis quae in mari, in coelo, in ipsa orbis terrarum mole nobis immensa videntur :
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v. 13 « quis adiuvit spiritum Domini aut quis consiliarius eius fuit et ostendit. illi ?
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v. 44 cum quo iniit consilium et instruxit eum et docuit eum semitam iustitae et erudivit ewm scientiam et viam prudentiae. ostendit illi »? — hebr. quis direxit spiritum Domini ? in mundi hae machina exstruenda nemo Deo normam vel regulam suppeditavit, ne consilium quidem dedit; idem vates alio modo declarat dicens : cum quo iniit consilium, qui eum instrueret et doceret eum viam iudicii i. e. quid in se sit rectum et iustum, ergo qui eum ideas rerum exemplares doceret; neque quis eum iuvit in ideis istis plene intelligendis neque ei adstitit auxiliator vel suasor in prudenti exsecutione, ut scil. quae rite mente concepta essent, etiam modo convenientissimo in opus deducerentur. Sedulo igitur per singula omnem modum qui excogitari possit ad aliquem artificem iuvandum removet et interrogationibus adeo distinctis quam maxime omnium animos excitare vult, ut per singula ratiocinantes sublimissimum sibi efforment conceptum de divina sapientia infinita, quam Deus habet ex se, cui deesse nihil, nihil accedere possit. « Quantam igitur utilitatem hinc auditoribus propheta comparat » (S. Cyr.) ? Ostendit igitur « Deum omnia scire et posse administrare ; neque enim alicuius consilii egetad comprehendendam animo describendamque solertia universi fabricam neque ad exsequenda opera quae concepta iam animo descriptaque fuerant » (Sanct.). Neque mirum est neminem posse Deo quidquam largiri scientiae, nam ipse adeo est sublimis et perfectus, ut comparatione eius reliqua omnia quasi nihil reputentur ; id explicatur et de genere humano universo et de orbe terraveum v.' 15 « ecce gentes quasi stilla situlae et quasi momentum staterae. reputatae sunt; ecce insulae quasi pulvis exiguus » | — quid interest, utrum in situla sit una gutta plus vel minus? quis in hoc inquiret ? ecce tam parum omnes gentes Deo aliquid conferre possunt, tam parum immo interest Dei maiestate spectata, utrum exsistant necne; « quomodo si de situla stilla modica fluat, a portante negligitur, iia universa gentium multitudo pro nihilo ducitur » (S. Hier.) ; « nam quid est stilla una decidens esitula» (S. Cyr.)? « Ut autem in aquarum liquidorumque mensuris minima est stilla seu gutta, Sic etiam in ponderibus minimum est momentum ; hoc tamen loco aliquid levius etiam sonat hebr. pm?, quod significat pulvisculum ita levem, ut etiamsi in stateram seu bilancem incidat quantumvis illa solertissime librata sit, non tamen eam vel minimum in alteram partem inclinet » (Sanct. sim. Osor. Vat. For. Mar.) ; cf. Sap. 41, 28 : « quoniam tamquam momentum staterae, sic est ante te orbis terrarum et tamquam gutta roris antelucani quae descendit in terram ». Ultimum membrum hebr. vertunt : insulae, quasi pulvis (qui) sustollitur. (cf. Sanct. For. Malv. IV Net. Rohl. Kn. Del.) vel : insulas levat (proiicit, tollit) sicut pulverem (cf. Mald. Mar. Calm. Naeg. Hahn, Or.) ; 8" et insulae sunt et orae maritimae et regiones omnes ad quas per mare transmissio est (Sanct.) et hoc loco fortasse totus orbis oceano circumdatus. Cur quidam h. l. non regionem ipsam terraeque molem, sed incolas velint intelligi, non perspicitur. Efficacius Dei praestantia et magnificentia menti proponitur, si universa creatura, et quae intelligentia praedita sit et quae ea carens ingenti mole extenditur, in comparationem advocata prorsus dicitur evanescere. Ergo nulla est ratio, cur quidam (Ros. Troch.) sensum obvium relinquant. LXX praebent : quasi saliva reputabuntur. Sym. et Theod. ipsum hebr. doc (p) re- ferente S. Hier. posuerunt ; alterum affert FE ield. qz Aenvóv dxon'rcoucty ; Áq. Aexxov fc) ouevoy transtulit ; addit S. Hier. : « aiunt Hebraei hoc verbo signitieari tenuissimum pulverem qui vento raptante saepe in oculos mittitur et sentitur potins quam videtur ; minutissima ergo frusta pulveris et pene invisibilia hoc verbo appellantur, quas forsitan Democritus cum Epicuro suo atomos vocat ». Chald. habet : ecce insulae quasi minutum (palea, favilla ?) quod volat. Explicant 55e" vel imperf. niph. a 5*5 i. e. ow, vel imperf. qal a 55: cf. 9 Sam. 94, 129; ler. 91, 8 ; inde versio alia et alia, quae tamen sensum vix mutat. Versiones tamen veterum priori aeceptioni caleulum adiiciunt ; etiam Syrus : insulae ut pulvisculus proiieientur. Ceterum haec explicatio etiam melius parallelismo et sensui congruit, dummodo vertas : sicut pulvisculus qui levatur ; nam de ipsa actione Dei (insulas portat Hitz., ponderat Ewald ; levat vel eradicare potest, si vult Umbreit, Drechsl.) hoc loco non est sermo, sed solum pro qua re (comparatione Dei) habeantur. Tanta Dei maiestate descripta apte subsequitur « quod excedit quoque omnem condignum honorem » (S. TAom.), quod cultus ei condignus a nullo potest exhiberi ; unde comparatione sumpta a sacrificiis quotidianis vates admirabundus exclamat
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v. 16 « et Libanus non sufficiel ad succendendum et animalia eius non sufficient ad holocaustum » ; — « ait ergo Libanum qui aromate abundat lignoque suaviter olenti non satis esse ad suffimentum et animalia quae illo in monte spatioso et ubere magno pascuntur numero ad holocausta non sufficere » (Sanct.). Quale sacrificium : Libanus nobilissimus ligna pretiosa et feras omnes ad holocaustum unum mittere inducitur, idque longe abesse asseritur a Dei dignitate ; quid iam unius ovis erit oblatio ? Ita confunditur praesumptio pharisaica (cf. 1, 11 seq.); cf. Mich. 6, 6. Cur autem eum non possimus ut par est colere (Mald.) ratio affertur ex divina magnificenlia, in cuius comparatione reliqua omnia in summa versantur inanitate (Osor.), v. V1 « omnes gentes quasi non sint, sic sunt coram eo et quasi nihilum et inane. reputatae sunt, ei » ; — animata et inanimata, quae sensu, intelligentia pollent et quae iis destituta ingenti mole praestant, omnia perlustravit propheta, ut ex iis animos nostros qui e rebus sensibilibus notiones hauriunt sublimi Dei notione imbuat. Deus est esse infinitum, ita ut reliqua omnia ei comparatasint nihil, inane, vacuum (cf. hebr.), quia inter Deum et creaturas intercapedo interiacet "infinita et esse ab alio eo ipso dependentiam, fragilitatem, contingentiam dicit neque ulla ratione cum esse « se, cum ente necessario componi potest aut ei aequiparari. — Hebr. pew2 explicant nonnulli per comparationem: prae nihilo, minus sunt quam nihilum (cf. Mar. For. Malv. III. Eichhorn, Umbreit, Naeg. ); atid nimis videtur subtile dictum. Unde melius T2 exponunt alii de origine vel similitudine : tamquam ex nihilo, ad nihilum pertinens, nihilo pares reputantur (RoAl. Net. Kn. Hahn, Sein. Del.), vel sensu partitivo (Or.).
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v. 18 «Cui ergo similem ' fecistis Deum, aut quam imaginem ponetis ei » ? —hebr. potius facitis vel facietis i. e. facere potestis ; qui scil. fieri potest, ut nihil iam sublime ac dignum de Deo sentientes divinam hane maiestatem idolorum imagine repraesentari censeant ibique numen divinum quasi concludi vel exhiberi ? « stulti facti sunt et mutaverunt gloriam incorruptibilis Dei in similitudinem imaginis corruptibilis hominis » (Rom. 1, 23). Si enim res omnes quasi nihil sunt coram eo, quomodo tantae maiestatis exemplar et vis in re vilissima, in idolo residere censeri potest, et « si ex gutta situlae nemo possit oceani vastos ac profundos sinus effingere, si ex tenui pulvisculo altissimorum montium, immo totius terrae molem attollere nequeat, quomodo e re tantula divinae et immensae naturae imago conflabitur » (Sanct.) ? Quam insani sint, idololatrae, ironice perstringit et ad oculos demonstrat stultam operationem describens, qua, ut ait S. Thom., in vili materia nobilissimam formam inducere volebant
Ex Dei sublimitate descripta iam colligit propheta quae pro aequalibus suis utilia et necessaria sunt eamque doctrinam ad mores emendandos etanimos erigendos applicat. Nunquam enim propheta sui temporis aequaliumque obliviscitur, sed ex Dei doctrina consiliisque quibus abundantissima ad erudiendos animos seges continetur vivendi normam regulamque deducit. Iam quid [saias in populo cernit ? Uti ex priore parte didicimus, invehitur in idololatras (cf. 2, 8. 18. 20.)et vitia idololatriae sociata, erigere et vera fiducia fideque imbuere studet animos debilés et diffidentes (cf. 8, 1'1 seq. 10, 24; 12, 2; 14, 4). Idem utrumque egregie praestat hoc loco. Unde primo divina altitudine ad oculum demonstrata summam stupiditatem indignatus perstringit, qua nihil altum ac sublime illi de Deo concipiunt:
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INDEX Oraculum in Aethiopiam 18, 1-'I 4) Classicum Domini 18, 4-3 . ; b) Gloria Domini in elade Assyriorum 18, 4-7. 4) Punitio Aegyptiorum 19, 1-10. b) Poenas dabuut superbiae 19, 41-17. c) Demum populo Dei accensebuntur 49, 48a5.
v. 19 « numquid sculptile conflavit faber? aut aurifex auro figuravit illud et laminis argenteis argentarius?
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v. 90 forte ligmum et. imputribile elegit; artifex sapiens quaerit quomodo statuat simulacrum quod non moveatur » ; — in hebr. sententia non per interrogationem, sed per affirmationem effertur; numquid explica nonne, cum in vulg. numquid particula usurpétur interrogationis (cf. Kaulen, Handb. z. Vulg. p. 197); ut For. bene notat, S. Hier. n in »o2n ut particulam interrogationis interpretatus est. Hebr. verte : simulacrum fundit faber ferrarius et conftans auro illud obducit i.-e..deauravit extendens aurum desuper (Mald.) vel laminis aureis obducit, uti fiebat in simulacris vel ex ligno vel ex vili metallo factis; et ut firmiter statuatur idolum ac teneri possit ne cadat catenas argenteas conflat (cf. Malv. IV et recentiores). Ita qui dives est. Alio modo pauper idolum sibi facit. Id in v. 20; hebr. qui pauper est quoad oblationem elegit lignum | quod. non putrescit (ita Kn. Del. Naeg. Or. Troch.) vel ut alii vertunt pauper in oblationem eligit (cf. Mald. Mar. Malv. For. Rohl. Net. Hahn, Sein.); debet scil. idolum protegere ne pereat vel curare ut diu maneat; proinde elegit lignum quod non facile putrescit, dein sapientem artificem quaerit sibi, ut paret simulacrum quod non moveatur (hebr.). Quam ridicula sedulitate ipse pauper idolum faciendum curat eique prospicit ut stare queat, cavetque ne cadat et laedatur deus! Deridet igitur, ut S. Cyr. ait, idolorum effictionem, « quasi sit fabri peritiae. hominibus istis errore seductis deum fabricari pro mensura et modulo cognitionis suae ex animi eorum sententia, ut ita securo ac tuto muniatur praesidio ne moveatur, neve cum ceciderit confringatur ». S. Hier. scribit : « in hebr. dicitur amuschan (qoum qued genus ligni est imputribile, quo vel maxime idola fiunt ». De paupere quoad oblationem veteres versiones nihil habent. LXX eorum in loco verborum praebent époíopx xxsovsüauotv ab1óv; Syrus ea verba plane omittit; Chald. eorum loco habet : orpum succidit. Vocem eam tamen communiter eadem notione accipiunt qua po? pauper, ergo ad pauperiem redactus ; id quod non tam ex hebr. quam ex arabico depromptum est. Vocem mama S. FR non videtur legisse ; dicit munus (Prov. 29, 4), oblationem (cf. Ex. 25, 2, 3; 35, 5. 21. Num. 15, 19 ete.). 'Cum veleres tam diversa habeant, textus mas. integritas h. I. in dubium vocari potest eliam propter inusitatum illud pual verbi Teo in notione pauperis. Ab irrisione subito sacra quadam indignatione transit ad. increpationem, « ut pudefaciat et corrigat errantes, et peccatum in hoc declarat inexcusabile, cum dieit » (S. Cyr.)
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v. 21 « mumquid. non scitis? numquid non audistis? numquid. non anmnuntiatum est vobis ab initio, numquid non intellexistis fundamenta terrae »? — quot enim modis iis Dei maiestas et gloria est patefacta? habent rationem, qua Deus potest ex operibus cognosci (ita membro primo et ultimo) ; habent multiplicem in re cultus divini eruditionem (membrum secundum et tertium), idque ab initio i. e. ab eo tempore quo gens israelitica est formata, est ergo institutio quae uti longissima generationum serie quasi per hereditatem est transmissa, ita eo altiores et firmiores apud gentem radices egisse iure censeri potest. At omnia frustra erant. Hebr. nonne:scietis, nonné audietis? vel explica de tempore praesenti vel : annon scire, audire vultis? Ab initio enim, ut S. Hier. exponit, naturali lege vos docui et postea per Moysen scripta lege testatus sum. Neque omittenda est multiplex illa institutio quae patriarchis divinitus est facta. Fundamenta terrae intelligere idem dicit quod scire a quo demum terra fundata sit ; proinde ad opus creationis amandantur, ad « fundationem seu constructionem, quam statim ex principio Geneseos doceri potuerunt » (Sanct. sim. Mald. Mar. Men. et recentiores). Interrogationibus repetitis stupidos quoque excitat, ut rem secum perpendant, praesertim cum e tot fontibus eis vera offeratur cognitio. Iam increpatione facta et fontibus verae cognitionis ostensis ad animos in veri Dei amorem et cultum rapiendos magnifice proponit Dei sublimitatem, potentiam, scientiam, ut qui reprehensione pudefacti sint . de idolis inanibus sublimem hauriant Dei notionem. Sermo in hebr. modo concitato per participia incedit;
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v. 22 « qui sedet super gyrum lerrae et. habitatores eius sunt quasi locustae ; qui extendit velut nihilum coelos et expandit eos sicut tabernaculum ad. inhabitandum »; — thronum suum habet in altissimis collocatum; et quomodo homines coram eo reputantur? « multi quidem sed exigui et infirmissimi » (Mald.), « qui interra sunt et quorum imperio terrena subsunt omnia, locustis sordidis pusillisque bestiolis neque maiores neque meliores apparent comparatione illius praestantis aeternaeque naturae quae super gyrum terrae sublimis consedit » (Sanct.). Huic solio excelso accommodatur potentia : coelos immensos tanta facilitate extendens (hebr.) est veluti nihilum (cf. p* veluti cortinam tenuem, Mar. Malv. Mald. et recentiores) « et tantam eorum latitudinem quasi tabernaculum et papilionem extendit desuper » (S. Hier.). Dixerat enim : fiat expansio in medio aquarum (Gen. 1, 6) et factum est ita (For.). Summam exercet in altis potentiam — testes sunt coeli immensi — summam quoque exercet in terris ; eos enim qui in terris potentissimi ha: bentur quasi nihil e sede deturbat et ad nihilum redigit atque exstinguit
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v. 93 « qui dat secretorum scrutatores quasi non sint ; iudices terrae velut inane fecit » ; — hebr. dans principes in nihilum ; S. Hier. in commentario utrumque affert : « ipse pro qualitate temporum principes constituit sive ' secretorum scrutatores ut sint quasi non sint... quantos reges et graeca et barbara et romana narrat historia ? ubi est Xerxis innumerabilis ille exercitus ? ubi israelitica in eremo multitudo? ubi regum incredibilis potentia? quid de veteribus loquar ? praesentia exempla nos docent quam subito et quam stirpitus evellantur nutu divino, declaratur
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v. 24 « et quidem neque plantatus neque satus neque radicatus in terra truncus eorum ; repente flavit in eos et aruerunt, et turbo quasi stipulam auferet €0$ » ; — i. e. perinde sunt ac si nunquam plantati et seminati essent, ita scil. funditus exstirpantur (Osor. Pint. Mald.), neque ulla manet radix trunci eorum qua spes sobolis adsit. Vel ut cum aliqua hyperbole alii vertunt : necdum plantati sunt necdum sati et quasi vento urenti iam a Deo exitio devoventur (cf. For. Malv. Lap.). Potentia Dei depingitur : flat in eos ; minimus eius nutus sufficit, ut omnis vigor eorum et vita penitus arescat et ipsi dissipentur et penitus evanescant sicut turbine stipula facillime dispellitur in omnem ventum quam colligere iam nemo poterit. Ex ea consideratione iufertur idem quod v. 18 meditandum proponitur
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v. 98 « et cui assimilastis me et adaequastis? dicit. Sanctus » ; — hebr. cui me assimilatis, ut similis sim ; quod exemplum, quae species numen meum referet (Osor.)? Hanc conclusionem redargutionis (Malv.) consequitur altera maiestatis divinae explicatio, qua ad pusillanimes consolandos sermo dirigitur. Quare interrogatio haec etiam concipi potest quasi reprehendens diffidentes. Nam ii quoque a vera Dei notione deficiunt et ad eos erigendos et ad diffidentiam arguendam optime appellatur Sanctus, qui scil. uti ipse Sanctus est, ita quoque normam suam in populo suo valere quam maxime vult, qui ergo ut populus e misera conditione eripiatur et gloria illa exornetur quae sanctum populum decet omnino vult (cf. 6, 3; 10, 17) ; adest enim in sanctitate Dei pignus certissimum pro salute concedenda et gloriae Dei manifestatione ; unde seraphim trisagion cantantes adiungunt ut sanctitatis effectum : plena est omnis terra gloria eius. Quare ut ad sublimem et magnificam Dei notionem animos elevent et maxima fiducia promissiones Dei in opus iri deductum sibi persuadeant, iubet eos oculos attollere et considerare coeli candorem, siderum pulchritudinem, orbium aequabiles et definitos cursus et tanti operis elegantiam et concinnitatem (Osor.) ut ex tali aspectu ad creatoris potentiam concludentes sublimem de Deo concipiant notionem
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v. 26 « levate in excelsum oculos vestros et videte: quis creavit haec ! qui educit in numero militiam eorum et omnes ey nomine vocat, prae multitudine fortitudinis et roboris virtutisque eius, neque unum. reliquum fuit » ; — vere coeli enarrant gloriam Dei (Ps. 48, 1)! speciosissima enim coeli facies et ratus atque perpetuus astrorum ordo (Sanct.) magna semper hominum animos affecit admiratione ; sidera Deus quasi exercitum suum splendidum educit summus eorum imperator, sicut dux milites ; educit in numero, certas numeratasque educit stellas, innumerabilem illam multitudinem ipse numero comprehendit (Osor. Mald. Mar.) et singulas nomine vocat, unamquamque perfecte novit, sicut paterfamilias suos domesticos et familiares nomine vocat (Sasb.), omniaque quae ad eas pertinent quam clarissime perspecta habet eique sidera promptissime obediunt (Pint. Sanct.). Innumerabilem illam multitudinem — numera stellas, si potes, dicit ad Abraham Deus Gen. 15, 5 cf. Ps. 146, 4 — ipse ita perfectissime per singula cognoscit, quia est amplissimus robore, prae amplitudine virium et prout est fortis robore (hebr.), eisque ut talis imperat neque ulla deest, deficit, omnes se sistunt ad obediendum paratissimae. Praeclare describitur administratio Dei, quae ut est universalis ita ad singula quaeque providentissime extenditur propter infinitam Dei potentiam qua et maxima et minima complectitur ac penetrat (cf. Osor.). Cum igitur Deus talis tantusque sit, quid est quod prae pusillanimitate timent ac diffidunt (cf. For.) ? ita
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v. 291 « quare dicis Iacob et loqueris Israel : abscondita est via mea a Domino et a Deo meo iudicium meum transivit » ? — i. e. miseriis oppressi queruntur quasi Deus viam illam qua incedunt, conditionem miseram minime cordi haberet nihilque : curaret, perinde ac si miser ille status ei plane esset ignotus ; queruntur quod Deus ipsis non ius restituat, illam scil. rerum conditionem felicem, illam instaurationem, cuius ius propterDei promissa habent ; bene Mald. : « non respicit, non curat vitam meam ; non suscipit defendendam causam meam », eam iudicare negligit et contemnit (Lap. Men.). Verba sunt animos despondentium. Atque quomodo tales fundant querelas, facile intelligitur, si ex una parte potentiam et splendorem regnorum gentium, ex altera parte oppressionem, miseriam, exsilium stirpis electae consideraverimus, cui tamen tam splendida promissa data fuerant. At quam immerito haereant diffidentes et queruli, Deus iam ipsa compellatione Jacob indicat qua ut heredes patriarcharum qui in eorum promissa et iura introierint agnoscuntur, idemque nomine Israel, qua appellatione simul iis in memoriam revocat, quanta cum fide, constantia, patientia patriarcha olim divinam sibi promeritus sit benedictionem (cf. ad Os. 19, 14). Ergo hac compellatione eorum ius asseritur, sed simul fides et patientia commendatur. Utraque appellatione integrum alloquitur populum, etiam eos qui iam in exsilio detinentur assyriaco ; nulli enim spes salutis negatur, omnium causam Deus pro sua fidelitate tuetur, dummodo ipsi sibi non desint. rogationibus declarat, quasi prima doctrinae de Deo elementa nescirent. Perpendant ergo Dominum esse Deum aeternum, ergo verbum quoque eius aeternum est e& immutabile, nam « Dominus non est Deus ad tempus sed aeternitatis i. e. qui non mutatur » (Mald.) ; considerent ei qui sit creator omnium vires non posse deesse ad promissa sua exsequenda, et quia creator sit, eum etiam omnium curam gerere; amat enim omnia quae creavit (cf. Sap. 2, 13. 14; 11, 27) et nisi amasset, non creasset; et tertio demum id quoque bene mente pertractent, Dei sapientiam a nobis non posse comprehendi. Si ergo tempus salutis concedendae nondum adest, vel si Deus tardare videtur eiusque providentia et administratio rerum a nobis non satis concipitur, non Deus sed noster exiguus cognoscendi modus tot limitibus cireumscriptus est incusandus. Tria haec efficacissima sunt, quibus rationes diffidentiae et nimis anxiae sollicitudines dispellantur. Huic ergo Deo totis viribus adhaereant : « mihi adhaerere Deo bonum est et ponere in Deo spem meam » (Ps. 2, 28); in eo quaerant robur et consolationem, si iniuria temporum opprimuntur ; in eo invenient quoque nam ipse est
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v. 29 « qui dat lasso virtutem et his qui non sunt fortitudinem et robur multiplicat », — hebr. et quibus non sunt vires robur abunde suppeditat (Malv. Mald.); si vero talis est, ipse certe non deficiet neque laborabit, nec ei deest potentia; immo ipse unicus est omnis fortitudinis fons ex quo abunde hauriunt qui in ipso confidunt
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v. 30 « deficient pueri et laborabunt et iuvenes in infirmitate cadent;
40:31
v. 31 qui autem, sperant in, Domino mutabunt. fortitudinem, assument pennas sicut aquilae, current et non laborabunt, ambulabunt et non deficient » ; — qui spem in Deo collocant viribus donantur quae omne robur a natura insitum longe superant. Ad hoc declarandum vates prius exhibet adolescentes in ipso aetatis flore fatigari, languescere, iuvenes viribus fractos concidere saepe antequam ad propositam laboribus metam pervenerint, ergo qui natura fortes sint ac validi, medio in cursu intercipi; at alia est sors eorum qui in Deo spem ponunt ; ii Znnovant fortitudinem, novum robur accipient, maiores in dies vires coligent (Osor. Mald. Malv. Sanct.) ; immo attollent pennas ut aquilae ; ergo non debiles et fatigati humi repunt, non languide incedunt, sed cursu ac volatu citato altissima petent, sublimes efferentur (Osor.). Atque ut iubilus iste ac carmen spei triumphale quadam dicendi ubertate absolvatur (quam ubertatem ab animo laeto et laudante non abesse notum est), et affirmatione et negatione quantum valeat spes per vitae cursum effertur : current minimeque deficient, longissime progredientur neque debilitantur (Osor.) ; ita Simul adest egregia oppositio ad v. 30 et depingitur quid natura non valeat, quid vero efficiat gratia Dei. Clausula est elegans, ad animos amore et desiderio fiduciae tamquam administrae tantorum bonorum imbuendos aptissima et sua dicendi forma et pulchritudine ipsam doctrinam insinuans atque commendans. Verba illa assument pennas LXX reddunt xz:002vf50vatv; id quod S. Cyr. explicat : renovabuntur sicut aquilae (Xvaxxtwto05covtot); ita etiam S. Hier. interpretatur « erebro diximus aquilarum senectutem revirescere mutatione pennarum et solas esse quae iubar solis aspiciant » ipse et S. Cyr. aliique allegant illud Ps. 102, 5: renovabitur ut aquilae iuventus tua. Eodem modo explieant Chald. : renovabuntur iuventute sua sicut germen quod egreditur, Sanct. Pint. Sasb. Sa, Mar. Lap. Mem. Tir. Calm. Eichhorn, Ewald, Beck, Sein. Naeg. aliique (quos recenset Kn.). Neque haec interpretatio censenda est aliena ab usu vocis non; usurpatur enim notione obducendi, superinducendi ; ita Am. 8, 10 inducam saccum super omne dorsum, Ez. 31, 6 carnem inducere super ossa ; cf. 1 Reg. 10, 17. 2 Sam. 1, 24. 2 Par. 3, 5. 14, quibus in locis fere ad notionem induendi accedit ; iam induere pennas ad innovationem illam quam proxime accedit. Sed si vox ?3N consideratur qua non plumae designantur, sed penna maior, durior ac crassior (Schwungfeder), alia explicatio apud recentiores communissima erit praeferenda ; attollent pennam vel alas ;ita Vat. Net. Rohl. Troch. Ges. Hitz. Kn. Hahn, Del. aliique. — Priori tamen favet Syrus, qui verbum nbyn reddit per aphel verbi Ny* notione germinare, progerminare facere, producere, generare (ef. Bernstein, Lex. chrest. Kirsch. p. 216) quod verbum v. g. legitur Hebr. 6, 7 generans herbam. Demum Or. simplieiler vertit : ascendent alis ut aquilae.
40:3
A fitting preparation precedes his mission: the prophecies of Is. 40:3 and of Mal. 3:1, the intervention of the angel Gabriel, the prodigies of his sanctification in his mother's womb, of his birth and of the imposition of the name, the visit of the …
40:5
INCARNATION (Σάρκωσις). - A term with a Semitic flavor, derived from the Johannine expression (John 1:14: καὶ ὁ Λόγος σάρξ ἐγένετο), in which the word σάρξ (caro) simply means human nature, according to biblical usage (cf. Gen. 6:12; Isa. 40:5; Rom. 3:20), which continues in tradition from the first century onward. …
40:6
… new man of righteousness (ibid. 7:5-25). The first, called the "body of sin, of death" (ibid. 6:6; 7:24), which tends toward moral and physical disintegration, is usually called "flesh" in the pejorative sense that already appears in Gen. 6:3, 12 (cf. Is. 40:6; Eccl. 14:18; I Cor. 1:20) and that was widespread among the Stoics. …
40:7
Sometimes the Bible deals in a practical manner with the problem of God's existence and resolves it with the principle of causality (Heb. 11:3; Rom. 1:20; Wis. 13:1-15:19; Ps. 18:2; Job 12:7 ff.; Jer. 10:11; Is. 37:16; 40:7). Usually the demonstration is based on the cosmological argument. …
40:11
… resplendent the revelation and the self-giving to men of the God of the Old Testament, who had revealed and promised himself as a source of living water (Jer. 2, 13; Ps. 35 [36], 10); as light (Is. 60, 20; Ps. 26 [27], 1); as Shepherd of the people (Is. 40, 11; Ps. 22 [23], 1-4).
… The smallest lamb is called taleh (I Sam. 7, 9; Is. 40, 11), Gr. ἀρήν. …
Primacy of Saint Peter and of the Roman Pontiff
Jer. 23:3; 31:10; Is. 40:11; 49:9-10; Ez. 34:7-24; 37:23-25; Zach. 11:7-9) and Jesus himself had presented himself as the true shepherd (Mt. 18:12; Lk. 15:4; Jn. 16:11-16). By entrusting his flock ("my lambs, …
40:17
One may answer that the mystery of the Incarnation would always remain the same incomprehensible abyss of humiliation and of self-giving, even if the Word had become incarnate for an immense multitude of men, because "all the nations are before Him as if they were not" (Is. 40, 17). What makes the mystery of humiliation and of love great is not the greater or lesser number of men who drew or draw or will draw fruit from it, but the fact in itself of a God who …
40:19
… forth, while there is often polemic against pagan idolatry, especially in the more recent books (Wis. 14:13 ff.), but also in more ancient texts, particularly in the Letter of Jeremiah and in frequent very energetic affirmations of the great prophets (Is. 40:19, 20; 44:13-19; Jer. 10:3 ff.; Ez. 6:4, 5; 14:6 ff.; Dan. 3:12 ff.). …
… reduced to powder, which he scattered on the water and gave the children of Israel to drink (ibid. 32, 20). This indicates that the qualifier "of gold" is to be understood in the sense that the expression has in other cases: of wood with metal plating (Is. 40, 19, 20; 44, 10-17; cf. Dan. 2, 33; 14, 6).
40:26
It is the plural of ṣābhā', which means "army," but in the construct state with ḥaṭ-ōmājim it can also mean "stars" (cf. Isa. 34:4; 40:26; 45:12 etc.) or "angels" (cf. 1 Kings 22:19; 2 Chron. 18:18). In the plural it often retains its ordinary meaning. …
40:27
The name J. (in the manuscripts of 'Ajn Feshah discovered in 1947, in which the "plena" spelling Ja'āqābh is constant) indicates, especially in the prophetic and poetic literature, the entire people (Gen. 49, 7), in parallelism with "Israel" (cf. Num. 23, 10, 21; 24, 5; Is. 2, 5; 40, 27; Jer. 2, 4, etc.). …
40:31
… Incarnate Word: (Phil. 3:21) whence « tunc fulgebunt iusti sicut sol in regno Patris mei » (Mt. 13:43; cf. Wis. 3:7; Dan. 12:3); c) agility (δῶσις), whereby the bodies, freed from natural heaviness, will be able to move rapidly from one point to another (cf. Is. 40:31; St. Augustine, Serm., 242, 3: PL 38, 1140): this will come about through the complete subjection of the body to the soul not as form but as mover (Sum. …
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.