The reign of the just one: the vanity of idols.
God pleading against idolaters, sheweth his powre and goodnes by his benefites bestowed vpon the Iewes; 17. With promise of perpetual protection. 21. Wheras their vaine idols can no way profite them.
1Let the islands keep silence before me, and the nations take new strength: let them come near, and then speak, let us come near to judgment together.Si tacciano le isole dinanzi a me, e le genti si riconfortino; si accostino, e allora parlino, andiamo insieme in giudizio.LET the ilands hold their peace before me, and the Gentiles change their strength: let them come neere, and then speake, let vs approche to iudgement together.Taceant ad me insulæ, / et gentes mutent fortitudinem: / accedant, et tunc loquantur; / simul ad judicium propinquemus. 2Who hath raised up the just one from the east, hath called him to follow him? he shall give the nations in his sight, and he shall rule over kings: he shall give them as the dust to his sword, as stubble driven by the wind, to his bow.Chi suscitò dall'oriente il giusto, e chiamollo perchè lo seguisse? Egli umiliò nel cospetto di lui le nazioni, e lo fe' superiore ai regi, divenuti come polvere dinanzi alla sua spada, e come stoppia traportata dal vento dinanzi all'arco di lui.Who hath raysed the iust from the East, hath called him that he should folow him? he shal geue the Gentiles in his sight, and he shal obteyne kinges: he shal geue them as it were dust to his sword, as stubble taken violently with with the winde, to his bow.Quis suscitavit ab oriente Justum, / vocavit eum ut sequeretur se ? / Dabit in conspectu ejus gentes, / et reges obtinebit: / dabit quasi pulverem gladio ejus, / sicut stipulam vento raptam arcui ejus. 3He shall pursue them, he shall pass in peace, no path shall appear after his feet.Ei li incalzò, andò avanti senza disastro, orma non si vide de' piedi di lui.He shal pursew them, he shal passe in peace, there shal no path appeare after his feete.Persequetur eos, transibit in pace: / semita in pedibus ejus non apparebit. 4Who hath wrought and done these things, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, I am the first and the last.Chi tali cose operò, e condusse a fine? Chi fin da principio tutte ordinò le generazioni? Io il Signore, il primo, e l'ultimo son io.Who hath wrought and done these thinges, calling the generations from the begynning? I the Lord, the first and the last I am.Quis hæc operatus est, et fecit, / vocans generationes ab exordio ? / Ego Dominus: / primus et novissimus ego sum. 5The islands saw it, and feared, the ends of the earth were astonished, they drew near, and came.Le isole videro, e n'ebber timore: le più rimote genti rimasero stupefatte, e si ravvicinarono, e si unirono.The ilands haue seene, and haue bene afrayd, the ends of the earth haue beene astonied, they haue approched, and come neere.Viderunt insulæ, et timuerunt; / extrema terræ obstupuerunt: / appropinquaverunt, et accesserunt.
6Every one shall help his neighbour, and shall say to his brother: Be of good courage.Ciascheduno spalleggerà il suo vicino, e al suo fratello dirà: Fatti animo.Euerie one shal helpe his neighbour, and shal say to his brother: Be strong.Unusquisque proximo suo auxiliabitur, / et fratri suo dicet: Confortare. 7The coppersmith striking with the hammer encouraged him that forged at that time, saying: It is ready for soldering: and he strengthened it with nails, that it should not be moved.Il bronzista, che lavora al martello, faceva coraggio a quello, che lavorava allora senza incudine, dicendo: La saldatura è buona: e assicura con chiovi la statua, perchè non sia smossa.The coppersmith striking with the hammer encouraged him that forged at that time, saying: It is good for sodering: and he strengthened it with nailes, that it should not be moued.Confortavit faber ærarius / percutiens malleo / eum, qui cudebat tunc temporis, / dicens: Glutino bonum est; / et confortavit eum clavis, ut non moveretur. 8But thou Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend:Ma tu, o Israele, mio servo, tu Giacobbe eletto da me, stirpe di Abramo amico mio;And thou Israel my seruant, Iocob whom I haue chosen, the seede of Abraham my frend:Et tu, Israël, serve meus, / Jacob quem elegi, / semen Abraham amici mei: 9In whom I have taken thee from the ends of the earth, and from the remote parts thereof have called thee, and said to thee: Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee, and have not cast thee away.Tu, cui io trassi dagli estremi confini della terra, e dalla rimota patria di lui ti chiamai, e ti dissi: Servo mio se' tu, io ti ho eletto, e non ti ho rigettato.in whom I haue taken thee from the ends of the earth, and from the fat parts therof haue called thee, and sayd to thee; Thou art my seruant, I haue chosen thee, and haue not cast thee away.in quo apprehendi te ab extremis terræ, / et a longinquis ejus vocavi te, / et dixi tibi: Servus meus es tu: / elegi te, et non abjeci te. 10Fear not, for I am with thee: turn not aside, for I am thy God: I have strengthened thee, and have helped thee, and the right hand of my just one hath upheld thee.Non aver paura; perocché io son teco: non torcer di strada; perocché io sono il tuo Dio: ti ho fortificato, e ti ho aiutato, e la destra del giusto mio ti sostenne.Feare not, because I am with thee: decline not, because I am thy God: I haue strengthened thee, and haue holpen thee, and the right hand of my iust one hath susteyned thee.Ne timeas, quia ego tecum sum; / ne declines, quia ego Deus tuus: / confortavi te, et auxiliatus sum tibi, / et suscepit te dextera Justi mei.
11Behold all that fight against thee shall be confounded and ashamed, they shall be as nothing, and the men shall perish that strive against thee.Ecco che saranno confusi, e svergognati quelli, che a te fanno guerra: saran come se non fossero, e periranno quei, che a te contraddicono.Behold al that fight against thee shal be confounded and ashamed, they shal be as if they were not, and the men shal perish that gaynesay thee.Ecce confundentur et erubescent / omnes qui pugnant adversum te; / erunt quasi non sint, et peribunt / viri qui contradicunt tibi. 12Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find the men that resist thee: they shall be as nothing: and as a thing consumed the men that war against thee.Cercherai di loro, e non li troverai questi uomini ribelli a te: saranno come se non fossero, e come distruzione gli uomini, che combattono contro di te;Thou shalt seeke them, and shalt not find, the men thy rebelles: they shal be as if they were not: and as consumption the men that warre agaynst thee.Quæres eos, et non invenies, / viros rebelles tuos; / erunt quasi non sint, et veluti consumptio / homines bellantes adversum te. 13For I am the Lord thy God, who take thee by the hand, and say to thee: Fear not, I have helped thee.Perocché io sono il Signore Dio tuo, che te prendo per mano, e ti dico: Non temere, io sono tuo soccorso.Because I am the Lord thy God taking thy hand, and saying to thee: Feare not, I haue holpen thee.Quia ego Dominus Deus tuus, / apprehendens manum tuam, / dicensque tibi: Ne timeas: / ego adjuvi te. 14Fear not, thou worm of Jacob, you that are dead of Israel: I have helped thee, saith the Lord: and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel.Vermicciuolo come sei, non temere, o Giacobbe, né voi, o morti d'Israele: io son tuo aiuto, dice il Signore; e tuo Redentore è il Santo d'Israele.Feare not thou worme of Iacob, ye that are dead of Israel: I haue holpen thee, sayth our Lord: and thy redemer the holie one of Israel.Noli timere, vermis Jacob, / qui mortui estis ex Israël: / ego auxiliatus sum tibi, dicit Dominus, / et redemptor tuus Sanctus Israël. 15I have made thee as a new thrashing wain, with teeth like a saw: thou shalt thrash the mountains, and break them in pieces: and shalt make the hills as chaff.Io ti farò diventare come un carro nuovo da tribbiare i grani, armato di denti di ferro: tu tribbierai, e pesterai i monti, e ridurrai in polvere le colline.I haue made thee as a new threshing wayne, hauing teeth like a saw: thou shalt thresh the mountaynes, and breake them in peeces: and shalt make the litle hilles as dust.Ego posui te quasi plaustrum triturans novum, / habens rostra serrantia; / triturabis montes, et comminues, / et colles quasi pulverem pones.
16Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, in the Holy One of Israel thou shalt be joyful.Tu le scuoterai, e 'l vento le porterà, e il turbine le spergerà: e tu esulterai nel Signore, ti rallegrerai nel Santo d'Israele.Thou shalt fanne them, and the wind shal take them away, and the whirle wind shal disperse them: and thou shal reioyce in the Lord, in the holie one of Israel thou shalt be ioyful.Ventilabis eos, et ventus tollet, / et turbo disperget eos; / et tu exsultabis in Domino, / in Sancto Israël lætaberis. 17The needy and the poor seek for waters, and there are none: their tongue hath been dry with thirst. I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.I poveri, e i mendichi cercano acqua, e acqua non è: secca è per la sete la loro lingua: io Signore li esaudirò, io Dio d'Israele non li lascerò in abbandono.The needie and the poore seeke for waters, and there are none: their tongue hath bene drie with thirst. I the Lord wil heare them, I the God of Israel wil not forsake them.Egeni et pauperes / quærunt aquas, et non sunt; / lingua eorum siti aruit. / Ego Dominus exaudiam eos, / Deus Israël, non derelinquam eos. 18I will open rivers in the high hills, and fountains in the midst of the plains: I will turn the desert into pools of waters, and the impassable land into streams of waters.Io scaturir farò ne' più alti colli de' fiumi, e delle sorgive in mezzo a' campi: il deserto cangerò in istagni di acque, e la secca terra disabitata cangerò in rivi di acque.I wil open riuers in the high hilles, and fountaynes in the middes of plaine fildes: I wil make the desert into pooles of waters, and the land not passable into riuers of waters.Aperiam in supinis collibus flumina, / et in medio camporum fontes: / ponam desertum in stagna aquarum, / et terram inviam in rivos aquarum. 19I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, and the thorn, and the myrtle, and the olive tree: I will set in the desert the fir tree, the elm, and the box tree together:Nella solitudine farò venire il cedro, il setim, e il mirto, e la pianta di ulivo: e nel deserto porrò insieme l'abete, l'olmo, e il bussolo:I wil geue into the wildernes the cedar, and the thorne, and the myrlte and the oliue tree: I wil set in the desert the firretree, the elme, and the box tree together.Dabo in solitudinem cedrum, / et spinam, et myrtum, et lignum olivæ; / ponam in deserto abietem, / ulmum, et buxum simul:
20That they may see and know, and consider, and understand together that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.Affinchè tutti insieme veggano, e sappiano, e ripensino, e intendano, che la mano del Signore ha fatta tal cosa, e il Santo d'Israele la ha creata.That they may see, and know, and recount, and vnderstand together that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the holie one of Israel hath created it.ut videant, et sciant, / et recogitent, et intelligant pariter, / quia manus Domini fecit hoc, / et Sanctus Israël creavit illud. 21Bring your cause near, saith the Lord: bring hither, if you have any thing to allege, saith the King of Jacob.Date fuora la vostra difesa, dice il Signore: proponete se qualche cosa avete di forte, dice il Re di Giacobbe.Make your iudgement approche, sayth the Lord: bring hither, if perhaps you haue any thing, sayd the king of Iacob.Prope facite judicium vestrum, / dicit Dominus; / Afferte, si quid forte habetis, / dicit rex Jacob. 22Let them come, and tell us all things that are to come: tell us the former things what they were: and we will set our heart upon them and shall know the latter end of them, and tell us the things that are to come.Vengano, e annunzino a noi tutte le cose, che sono per avvenire: narrate le cose precedenti, che furon; e noi intenderemo, e sapremo quelle, che verran lor dietro; annunziate le cose future.Let them come, and tel vs what thinges so euer are to come: tel the former thinges what they haue bene: and we wil set our hart, and shal know the later ends of them, and tel vs the thinges that are to come.Accedant, et nuntient nobis / quæcumque ventura sunt; / priora quæ fuerunt, nuntiate, / et ponemus cor nostrum, / et sciemus novissima eorum; / et quæ ventura sunt, indicate nobis. 23Shew the things that are to come hereafter, and we shall know that ye are gods. Do ye also good or evil, if you can: and let us speak, and see together.Annunziate le cose, che verranno in futuro, e conosceremo, che voi siete dii: fate eziandio del bene, o del male, se pur il potete: e parliamo, e discorriamola insieme.Shew what thinges are to come hereafter, and we shal know that ye are goddes. Doe ye also good or euil, if you can: and let vs speake, and see together.Annuntiate quæ ventura sunt in futurum, / et sciemus quia dii estis vos; / bene quoque aut male, si potestis, facite, / et loquamur et videamus simul. 24Behold, you are of nothing, and your work of that which hath no being: he that hath chosen you is an abomination.Ma voi siete dal nulla, e il vostro essere viene da ciò, che non è: abbominazione è colui, che a voi rendo culto.Behold, you are of nothing, and your worke of that which is not: he is abomination that hath chosen you.Ecce vos estis ex nihilo, / et opus vestrum ex eo quod non est: / abominatio est qui elegit vos.
25I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come from the rising of the sun: he shall call upon my name, and he shall make princes to be as dirt, and as the potter treading clay.Lo chiamai dal settentrione, e venne dall'oriente: egli invocò il nome mio, e calpestò i principi come fango, e come il vasaio pesta la molle terra.I haue raysed vp from the North, and he shal come from the rising of the sunne: he shal cal vpon my name, and shal bring the magistrates as myre, and as the plasterer treading claie.Suscitavi ab aquilone, et veniet ab ortu solis: / vocabit nomen meum, / et adducet magistratus quasi lutum, / et velut plastes conculcans humum. 26Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know: and from time of old, that we may say: Thou art just. There is none that sheweth, nor that foretelleth, nor that heareth your words.Chi tali cose ha predette fin da principio, affinchè noi lo conosciamo: e sino da tempi antichi, affinchè diciamo: Sta per te la giustizia? Ma non è chi profetizzi, né chi predica, né v'ha chi vi senta parlare.Who hath shewed from the beginning, that we may know: and from the beginning that we may say: Art thou iust? There is neyther that sheweth, nor telleth before, nor heareth your wordes.Quis annuntiavit ab exordio ut sciamus, / et a principio ut dicamus: Justus es ? / Non est neque annuntians, neque prædicens, / neque audiens sermones vestros. 27The first shall say to Sion: Behold they are here, and to Jerusalem I will give an evangelist.Il primo dirà a Sionne: Ecco che quegli son qui: e darò a Gerusalemme un apportator di lieta novella.The first shal say to Sion: Loe I am present, and to Ierusalem I wil geue an euangelist.Primus ad Sion dicet: Ecce adsunt, / et Jerusalem evangelistam dabo. 28And I saw, and there was no one even among them to consult, or who, when I asked, could answer a word.E osservai, e non era alcuno neppur tra questi, che fosse capace di consiglio, e interrogato rispondesse parola.And I saw, and neither of these was there any that would consult, and being asked would answer a word.Et vidi, / et non erat neque ex istis quisquam / qui iniret consilium, / et interrogatus responderet verbum. 29Behold they are all in the wrong, and their works are vain: their idols are wind and vanity.Tutti adunque sono iniqui, e vane sono le opere loro: e i lor simolacri son vento, e inanitàBehold al are vniust, and their workes vayne: their idols are wind and vanitie.Ecce omnes injusti, / et vana opera eorum; / ventus et inane simulacra eorum.
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Just one. Septuagint, "justice." Christ, (Eusebius; St. Jerome) Abraham, (Chaldean; Grotius) or Cyrus, whose conquests were effects of God's providence, ver. 10., and Isaias 45.
Kings. Cyrus liberated Persia, conquered Babylon and all Asia.
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Feet. His march and victories shall be so rapid, like those of Alexander the Great, Daniel 8:5.
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Beginning. Disposing all things, as the conquests of Cyrus, announced so long before by name, evince.
Last. Alpha and Omega, Apocalypse 1:8., and 22:13.
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Calmet
Islands. People of Asia Minor, Genesis 10:5. (Calmet)
Xenophon B. i
The Babylonians made a league with the most potent king Croesus, to oppose the young conqueror. (Xenophon B. i.)
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Haydock
Moved. Thus the nations conspire against Cyrus (Calmet) and the Messias. (Haydock)
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Upheld thee. Cyrus shall gain the victory, and give thee liberty.
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Calmet
Dead. Though you were in the grave, I could protect you. Captivity is often represented under this idea. (Calmet)
Worthington
You who are despised, fear not, since Christ will protect and reward you. (Worthington)
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Calmet
Chaff. Cambyses perished on the mountains of Judea, (Haydock) and the Machabees gained many victories over the Syrians, Micheas 4:13., and Ezechiel xxxix. (Calmet)
Houbigant
They are here meant, as their exploits resembled those of Cyrus. (Houbigant)
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Calmet
Waters. The captives shall be refreshed in the deserts, Isaias 35:6., and 43:20. (Calmet)
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St. Jerome
The thorn. In Hebrew, the shitta or setim, a tree resembling the whitethorn. (Challoner) (St. Jerome)
Calmet
A fragrant shade shall speedily rise up, Baruch 5:6. (Calmet)
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Thing. Add "strong," forte, (Haydock) any good proof of idolatry.
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Calmet
Good. The prescience and power of God prove his divinity. Can idols produce any thing similar? (Calmet)
Worthington
None can tell what will happen, unless God reveal it. (Worthington)
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Work. All that you can do or promise. Hebrew, "your work is worse than a viper."
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Eusebius † AD 339
Sun. Cyrus had a Persian for his father, and a Mede for his mother; thus uniting both nations, (Calmet) so that he was styled a mule by an ancient oracle. (Eusebius, praep. 9:41.)
Calmet
These countries lay to the north-east of Judea. (Calmet)
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Just, or "the just one," (Haydock) that we may recognise Cyrus at once.
Calmet
Your words. He addresses the idols. You cannot dive into futurity. (Calmet)
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Menochius
1:Isaias, (Menochius) or God, (Haydock) pronounces sentence against the speechless idols. (Menochius)
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The thorn.... In Hebrew, the shitta, or setim, a tree resembling the white thorn.
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Gods expostulation with Ilandes, & other Gentiles liuing in idolatrie, which implieth a prophecie of their conuersion to Christ, perteyneth amongst others ••ry particularly to our great Brit〈…〉 the grea〈…〉 & most renowmed I•an• of Europe. See D. Bristo••. Mot. 11.
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Concordance Apoc. 1. & 22.
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You that are as abiectes contemned, & as dead men in the world, feare not, because Christ hath care to protect, & to reward you.
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Only God, and those to whom he reueleth, can tel thinges to come, and therfore idols can not foreshew what shal be, neither could tel before hand thinges that are already come to passe.
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Tertullian † AD 220 Against Hermogenes 6
… He is God, to be sure. God shall also attest the same; but He has also sworn sometimes by Himself, that there is no other God like Him. Hermogenes, however, will make Him a liar. For Matter will be such a God as He—being unmade, unborn, without beginning, and without end. God will say, “I am the first!”
Tertullian † AD 220 Against Praxeas 19
… Inasmuch, then, as the heaven was prepared when Wisdom was present in the Word, and since all things were made by the Word, it is quite correct to say that even the Son stretched out the heaven alone, because He alone ministered to the Father’s work. It must also be He who says, “I am the First, and to all futurity I AM.”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 29
… And what utterances are these? These: God—The Word—He That Was In The Beginning and With The Beginning, and The Beginning. “In the Beginning was The Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” and “With Thee is the Beginning,” and “He who calleth her The Beginning from generations.”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 32
… and you are slain by your own principle, the names you rely on being overthrown, and therewith the wall of refuge in which you trusted. Is it not evident that they are due to passages which imply them, though the words do not actually occur? What are these passages?—I am the first, and I am the last,
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 5.1
… since the great Isaiah thus speaks of the Divine nature with reference to these doctrines, in his exalted utterance,—who speaks in the person of the Deity, “I am the first, and hereafter am I, and no God was before Me, and no God shall be after Me
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Pope St Clement I † AD 99 The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 10
… so shall thy seed be. And Abram believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” On account of his faith and hospitality, a son was given him in his old age; and in the exercise of obedience, he offered him as a sacrifice to God on one of the mountains which He showed him.
St Ignatius of Antioch † AD 108 Epistle to the Magnesians: Shorter and Longer Versions 10
… For where there is Christianity there cannot be Judaism. For Christ is one, in whom every nation that believes, and every tongue that confesses, is gathered unto God. And those that were of a stony heart have become the children of Abraham, the friend of God;
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 2
… In short, before the Law of Moses, written in stone-tables, I contend that there was a law unwritten, which was habitually understood naturally, and by the fathers was habitually kept. For whence was Noah “found righteous,” if in his case the righteousness of a natural law had not preceded? Whence was Abraham accounted “a friend of God,”
St Hippolytus † AD 235 The Refutation of All Heresies 5.3
… fear not; even though thou passest through rivers, they shall not drown thee; even though thou passest through fire, it shall not scorch thee.”
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 17.11
… And so did He call children as He said:— Strange children shall hearken unto Me. And He has made us brothers unto Himself, He said:— I will declare Thy name unto My brethren. And we have become friends unto Him, as He said to His disciples:— I have called you friends, even as His Father called Abraham My friend .
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 30
… For she had three hundred and eighteen homeborn servants, at a time when to have two servants even was to be wealthy. And why do I mention the three hundred and eighteen servants? She had become possessed of the whole world in her seed and in the promises, she had the “friend of God” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 79.1
… His wealth need not stand in the way of the rich man, if he makes a good use of it; and poverty can be no recommendation to the poor if in the midst of squalor and want he fails to keep clear of wrong doing. Proofs of these things are not wanting either in scriptural times or our own; for Abraham, in spite of his immense wealth, was “the friend of God”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 1
Orth. —So when we hear the prophet saying, “But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend,”
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St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 2.15
… For to none other than to God does it belong to implant courage in the fearful, saying to the faint-hearted, “Fear not, for I am with thee, be not dismayed
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Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 5.20
… For the judgment came upon Antiochus, a judgment from heaven; and he became sick with a grievous and evil sickness, and on account of the smell of him as he rotted, no man could approach him, for worms were crawling and falling from him and eating his flesh because he oppressed the worm Jacob .
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 2.5
… I will establish in the land of drought the cedar-tree and the box-tree, and the myrtle and the cypress, and the elm and the poplar, that they may see and acknowledge, and know and believe together, that the Hand of the Lord hath done these things, and the Holy One of Israel hath shown them.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 Against Hermogenes 34
… “And the stars too shall fall from heaven, even as a fig-tree casteth her green figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” “The mountains shall melt like wax at the presence of the Lord;” that is, “when He riseth to shake terribly the earth.” “But I will dry up the pools;” and “they shall seek water, and they shall find none.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 3.5
… and also hear of “a land flowing with milk and honey,” but not as if you were to suppose that you would ever gather Samian cakes from the ground; nor does God, forsooth, offer His services as a water-bailiff or a farmer when He says, “I will open rivers in a land; I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the box-tree.”
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Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis iv.section24
… knowing then, that by none of these could either the beginning or the end be discovered, says, “Tell the former things which have been, and we know that ye are gods; or announce what are the last things, and then we shall see that ye are gods.”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 39.5
… Where the horrible and dark spectres of Hecate, and the underground puerilities and sorceries of Trophonius, or the babblings of the Dodonæan Oak, or the trickeries of the Delphian tripod, or the prophetic draught of Castalia, which could prophesy anything, except their own being brought to silence?
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 32
… Because even in the old covenant the matter has this order. For example, when Isaiah was discoursing with the Jews, and exhibiting a demonstration of the power of God, and bringing forward the evidence of the worthlessness of the demons, he stated this also as the greater evidence of his divinity, his foretelling things to come. (
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1. LET THEM BE SILENT. — Theodotion, let them change and be silent. "Let them be silent" therefore, that is, let them hear me silently: it is a metalepsis. For he does not impose complete silence on the Gentiles, since he provokes them and wishes to contend with them judicially, but he demands that they listen silently to him as he sets forth the arguments of his cause and divinity. Then, if they have anything, let them freely respond. For this is what he means when he says, "let them change strength," that is, let them strengthen themselves in mind, in powers, and in arguments, so that they may dispute with me; let them refute me boldly, strongly and courageously, and establish their cause if they can. "Let them approach" therefore, and when they have heard me "then let them speak. Let us draw near together to judgment." Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, Procopius, Theodoret. It is a hysterologia, or inverted order of words; for in plain order he would have said: Let the Gentiles change strength, let them approach, let us draw near together to judgment, let them listen to me silently, then let them speak. Thus Forerius. For "let them be silent" Symmachus translated, "plow" (for the Hebrew חרש charas also signifies this) to me, O islands, that is, as Procopius says, serve me, O islands, as a plowman serves his master. The Septuagint, reading חדש chadas instead of חרש charas, that is, renewed, built, translate ἐγκαινίζεσθε, that is, celebrate the dedication, or, as the Nazianzen, in his oration on the new Lord's day, the interpreter translated, "be renewed," as if to say: Renew the fallow ground of gentility by the plow of faith and the preaching of Christ. Again, renew your fallow ground, plow, sow in it new virtues and good works, and thus dedicate your heart as a new temple of God, and celebrate the dedication of this. In a similar way Jeremiah says in chapter IV, 3: "Break up your fallow ground, and sow not upon thorns." Third, the Hebrew charas can be translated, "build and construct yourselves for me, O islands," namely so that you may be to me a spiritual house. ISLANDS. — He calls islanders by "islands," that is, remote nations, situated across the sea from the Jews, such as the Greeks, Italians, Spaniards, etc.
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2. WHO HATH RAISED UP THE JUST ONE FROM THE EAST? — First, Hugo, Adam and Pagninus understand by "the just one" Cyrus, who was the executor of divine justice and vengeance, overthrowing the tyrant Chaldeans and liberating the Hebrews from them, whom God called forth for this purpose from the East, that is from Persia. The words of Isaiah favor this exposition, by which he graphically describes his victories, as also in chapter XLV, where he expressly marks Cyrus in verse 1. For that chapter appears similar to this one and to be of the same subject matter. Second, St. Jerome, Cyril, Procopius, understand by "the just one" Christ, as if to say Christ was given by God to men as a certain sun of justice rising in the East. For just as the sun rising there illuminates and vivifies the world, so Christ, as Zacharias says, "hath visited" and illuminated "us, a rising from on high," namely from the rising of divine light; for God the Father caused him to rise upon us from there. Third and genuinely according to the letter, he calls Abraham "the just one," because he alone among the unfaithful and impious lived almost entirely faithful and just: hence he is called "just," Wisdom X, 5, just as Lot among the Sodomites is called "just," ibid., verse 6. Again Abraham is called just because he was as the father of faith and justice, propagating it among the Canaanites and in his posterity. Finally because he begot Christ the just one and the justifier of the world. Whence in Hebrew for "just one" צדק tsedec, that is justice: for God raised up this justice dead in the world through Abraham, and as it were built it up. God therefore called Abraham from the East, that is from Mesopotamia, which is east of Palestine, "that he should follow him;" for Abraham followed God calling him with blind obedience, "not knowing whither he went," Hebrews XI, 8. For "after him" in Hebrew is לרגלו leraglo, that is at his foot, as if to say God showed the way and as it were went before Abraham, and Abraham as a blind man stepping foot after foot followed his footsteps securely and faithfully. Thus the Chaldean Paraphrase, St. Thomas, Hugo, Lyra, Forerius, Sanchez and others. Vatable translated and explained it somewhat differently in this manner: Who stirred up justice from the East (that is the just Abraham)? proclaimed it at his foot, that is, Abraham preached justice in all the places through which he passed and in which he dwelt. Justice, he says, he calls the worship of the one God. For he too who does not give to others what is theirs is unjust; therefore also he who defrauds God of his honor—as if to say that glorious Patriarch Abraham conducted himself among you idolaters, yet idols did not make him noble, but God did: which when you knew, you nevertheless did not abandon idols, so as to follow Abraham the just one and blessed by God. Thus far Vatable. HE SHALL GIVE NATIONS BEFORE HIM. — "He shall give," that is he gave; for all these future things are to be expounded by the past tense, both because the past tense "he raised up" preceded, and those things which follow are joined to it by "and"; whence they are to be expounded in like manner and tense; and also because they will follow the past tense "Who hath wrought these things," etc. See Canon XIII. Thus the Chaldean Paraphrase, Forerius and Vatable, who aptly translated thus: He delivered, or was delivering before him the Nations, and made him rule with kings, so as to give them as dust to his sword, and as stubble to his bow. He pursued them, and escaped unharmed by a way which his feet had never before entered. He speaks first of the victory of Abraham, which he recounted as swift, easy and bloodless over Chedorlaomer and the three other kings, liberating his nephew Lot, Genesis chapter XIV, 15, as if to say Who made Abraham superior to these four proud kings in victory? Did the worship of idols accomplish this? Not at all; but I did: and therefore you worship me, not idols, and you will experience similar things. Second, he speaks of the victories which Abraham's posterity, namely Moses, Joshua and the Hebrews often miraculous against the Amalekites, Canaanites, Philistines and other Nations obtained. For what was given to Abraham's posterity is reckoned as given to Abraham. For thus the land of Canaan was promised to them not in themselves but in their posterity, Genesis chapter XIII, 15. See Canon XXXIV. HE SHALL GIVE THEM AS DUST TO HIS SWORD. — "Dust," namely "snatched by the wind," as follows; for this must be supplied here by zeugma, as if to say. How easily the wind snatches away and scatters dust and stubble, so easily did Abraham and the Hebrews slaughter their enemies.
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3. HE PASSED OVER IN PEACE. — Forerius and Vatablus translate it, peace shall pass over, or integrity, that is, Abraham with his men escaped from the battle whole and unharmed. For the Hebrews often put abstract nouns for concrete ones. Secondly, Our [translator], understanding bet, that is, in, which is frequent among the Hebrews, translates "he passed over in peace," that is, peacefully, wholly and happily, with none of his men lost. Thus peacefully the Hebrews, under the leadership of Joshua, occupied Chanaan, God fighting for them and striking down and putting to flight the Chanaanites. A FOOTPRINT IN HIS PATH SHALL NOT APPEAR. — First, it can be a hypallage, as if, with the words reversed, he should say: So swiftly did he pass through in attacking the kings, that his feet did not appear in the path, so that he left no trace of his footsteps in the path; for hypallage is familiar to the Hebrews. Secondly, properly, as if to say: God led Abraham and the Hebrews so sound, vigorous and whole, both through the desert and through Chanaan as victors, that no trace of the path and so great a journey appeared in their feet. For neither did their feet become calloused, nor were their shoes or garments consumed by age, just as if they had traveled no distance; this is what is meant by what is said in Deuteronomy XXIX, 5: "He brought you forty years through the desert: your garments are not worn out, nor are the shoes of your feet consumed by age;" and Deuteronomy chapter VIII, 4: "Thy foot hath not been worn away." Thus Sanchez. Otherwise Forerius and Vatablus translate it, namely: His feet had never before entered this way, as if to say: Abraham went by an unknown way, and waged an unaccustomed war, for he had never before engaged in battle: therefore this victory of his was the greater, and greater was God's favor and protection toward him. For under God as his leader he obtained the victory. Finally, St. Jerome, Cyril, and Theodoret, who understand these things of Christ, explain it as if to say: Christ shall pass over as victor so easily and swiftly, and shall subject his enemies and nations far and wide to his faith, that he shall seem not so much to have walked as to have flown, or, like the sun, in a moment to have pervaded and occupied all things with his light; for his victory is described in spiritual terms through arms and bodily deeds, because it alludes to the arms and victories either of Abraham or of Cyrus, who was also a type of Christ. Specially through feet, Procopius and St. Augustine, in Psalm XC: "Lest perhaps thou dash thy foot against a stone," understand the Apostles by whom Christ traversed the world, whom Saul wished to trample down: but in vain. For of these it is said, chapter LII, 7: "How beautiful are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings... of peace!" Christ therefore is a swift plunderer; whence he gave himself this name, chapter VIII, 3: "Make haste to take the spoils: Hasten to the prey." This sense is apt, but more allegorical than literal.
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4. WHO HAS WROUGHT THESE THINGS, AND MADE THEM, CALLING THE GENERATIONS FROM THE BEGINNING? — Forerius places the mark of interrogation after "made?" as if he then answers; he makes these things, who calls the generations from the beginning. But the Roman Bible and others place this mark after "from the beginning." The sense therefore is, as if to say, Who made it so that the Hebrews, unarmed and fearful, should drive out so many nations from their regions, should obtain so many victories unharmed, and this through a continuous succession of generations from Abraham their father down to the present Hezekiah? Surely none other than God, who calls the generations from the beginning, who namely called and chose all the Hebrews born from Abraham hitherto into His people, and who, just as to Abraham, so also to his posterity, as long as they worshipped him and hoped in him, bestowed benefits. Note that "calling the generations," that is, creating, and, as the Chaldean paraphrase has it, ordering the perpetual course of generations, so that one continually succeeds another. It is a metalepsis. "Calling," that is, foreknowing, providing, and placing each one in its own order, so that He can distinctly designate and call forth each one, and in fact calls forth and produces each one in its own time, as if to say, Who is it that makes generations continually succeed one another in continuous series? For example, Who is it that made Abraham come in his time, then Isaac, soon Jacob, afterwards Moses, Joshua, David and the rest down to the present Isaiah and Hezekiah, and after Hezekiah will in like manner bring forth others and others, and finally Christ, as Cyril and Procopius say, whose generations likewise He will order, so that in His Church, first the Apostles, then the Martyrs, soon the Doctors, and others in succession one after another down to the end of the world in their order? Who, I say, ordered all these generations from Abraham, nay from Adam down to Hezekiah; and in like manner from him down to Christ, and the end of the world will order them, if not God, who, as St. Paul says, is "the King of ages," that is, the author, creator and moderator of ages, who by His providence disposes ages in a certain series, and the things that will be in any age? The reason for which is, because, as St. Dionysius says, On the Divine Names, chapter V, in God and around God all and every being, every existing being revolves and turns, as it were. For just as in a wheel the rim revolves around the axle, in a circle the circumference around the center, in the world the heavens around the earth: so all times and ages, past, present and future, revolve in a certain order around the eternity of God; for this is always stable, and the same is present to every time, and embraces and encompasses all time. This is what Boethius sings, book III of the Consolation: O Thou who governest the world by eternal reason, Sower of earth and heaven, who commandest time to flow from eternity, and remaining stable givest all things to move, Beginning, bearer, leader, path, end the same! I AM THE LORD, THE FIRST AND THE LAST, — as if to say, "I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the end," Apocalypse XXII, 13. "I myself am. Before me no God was formed, and after me there shall be none," Isaiah, chapter XLIII, 10, as if to say, I create, preserve, dispose all ages, because I am first and last, all ages go before me and follow me. I am He from whom all things are, into whom all things are, around whom all things are. The idols and gods of the Gentiles do not do this; for they are themselves made and carved by their makers: therefore they are younger than their makers, how then are they first and last? how could they order all ages, nay their own worship and worshippers from the beginning? The Septuagint translates, I am God first, and in those things that are to come I am, as if to say, I was, am, and shall be in every age, I am eternal. Thus also the Chaldean paraphrase referred this to the eternity of God. Thus Plato, book IV of the Laws, says that there is an ancient proverb concerning God, that He contains and embraces the beginning, middle and end of all things. Thus Theocritus in the Encomium of Ptolemy says: Among men let Ptolemy be called first, last and middle. The Hebrews have the word thus: I am the Lord first, and with the last I myself, understand, shall be, as if to say, I am first, because I created all things: and after the last things, and after the consummation of the age I shall be: I am last, I am eternal, without beginning and end. Thus Vatablus. And consequently I am alpha and omega, I am the sum of all things, I am the prow and stern of the universe, head and tail. All things proceed from me, as from a fountain, and all things are referred to the same, as to the harbor of happiness. Hence that saying of Virgil: "From thee it shall begin, to thee it shall end."
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5. THE ISLES SAW, AND FEARED, — that is to say, the remote nations, hearing of the victories not only of Abraham, but also of Moses in the passage of the Red Sea and in the desert, and of Joshua in Chanaan, and granted to other of their descendants, recognized the power of the God of the Hebrews, and being struck by Him feared Him, as is evident from Exodus XV, 15, and Joshua V, 1. Yet from ingrained custom they persisted in their idolatry, and persist in it forever, and exhort one another to defend it; and since they have nothing by which to defend their idols solidly, and to assert their divinity, so that they might appear to have some firmness, they compose their simulacrum, which is futile and will fall, from strong material, and cover it with plates, and connect and solidify it with nails. Those who refer this to Christ explain it thus: The nations saw the glory and miracles of Christ, and through them came to Christ, and yielded to the Evangelical preaching and the victory of the word of God. Thus St. Cyril, Jerome, Procopius, Haymo, Adam, and St. Augustine, lib. De Unit. Eccles. cap. VI. But because it follows: "Each one, etc., shall say to his brother: Be strong," namely so that you make an idol; hence you better understand this of the Gentiles, who, stirred up by the fame of Christ and the Gospel, rose up for their paganism against Christ, as almost all the Emperors did in the first three hundred years of the Church until Constantine. BE STRONG. — It is the voice of idolaters wishing to defend their idols against God, their divinity and power shown in so many victories and miracles, strongly, and to that end and their firm and elegant fabrication, mutually encouraging one another, so that strenuously and strongly all together might persist in fabricating and establishing the idol. It is evident from what follows. In like manner after Christ and against Christ, idolaters did, as is evident Acts XIX, 27, in the craftsmen of Diana. Thus Lyra, Arias, Forerius and Vatablus.
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7. THE SMITH STRENGTHENED, — that is to say, one smith, a worker in brass who uses a hammer and anvil, that is a hammerer, strengthened another smith, his companion or assistant, who likewise was hammering the same idol (for as certain idols were cast from melted metal, certain were joined together, so also certain were hammered with a hammer upon an anvil), exhorting him, so that together they might proceed animously and eagerly in fabricating and fashioning the idol; and that they might unite its parts with glue, saying by way of praising and exhorting: "With glue," that is from glue (for this is Hebrew לדבק laddebec) "it is good;"; the Septuagint, good is the solidification; in Greek σύμβλημα, that is a joint or conflation: Symmachus, Aquila and Theodotion, εἰς κόλλαν, that is for conglutination it is good. Come then, let us use this glue, and join the parts of the idol most excellently; and finally the idol thus fashioned he fixed to the wall with nails, so that it might be firm and immobile. The sum is, that is to say, the smith strengthened the smith, the hammerer encouraged the hammerer to defend and fabricate idols.
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8. AND THOU, ISRAEL, MY SERVANT. — The vanity of idols having been shown to the Gentiles, that they can afford no aid and help to their worshippers, God turns Himself to the Israelites, His worshippers, and confirms them in His worship, faith and hope, promising that He will be their God and protector, as He was of Abraham. Allegorically, by Israel, he understands the spiritual, namely Christians, who imitate the ancestral faith of Abraham and Israel, that is Jacob; to them indeed he gradually rises, nay these things are understood literally by St. Cyril, Jerome, Theodoret, Pope Eusebius, epist. I, Decretal, and St. Augustine, lib. De Unit. Eccles. cap. VII. See Canon. VIII and XXII, that is to say, I have seized Christians not only in Judea, but everywhere among the most distant nations, and through all adversities, hardships, enemies and dangers I have kept them safe, protected them and as it were led them by the hand, as my friends, to whom I show the greatest love, affection and paternal care. Concerning which affection and care of God toward His faithful the Prophet speaks through the six following chapters, by which he wonderfully consoles the Apostles and us faithful, and raises us in hope against all afflictions, temptations and martyrdoms, and encourages us to freely preach the word of God in them. Thus the Fathers already cited.
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9. IN WHOM I HAVE SEIZED. — The Septuagint, the Chaldean, Vatablus, Forerius, and others more clearly translate, whom (namely Israel) I have seized. But the sense is the same, nay more significant, if you translate with Our text, "in whom," namely in Abraham, that is to say, When I called Abraham from the extremities of the earth, that is from remote Chaldea, in him I called his sons at the same time, and I seized his whole posterity.
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10. AND MY RIGHT HAND OF JUSTICE HAS HELD YOU. — In Hebrew, of my justice, that is to say, I have held you with my right hand, just and faithful; for with that same faithfulness with which I held and protected Abraham, with the same I have held and protected his descendants, as I promised to Abraham. Thus the Septuagint, the Chaldean paraphrase, Vatablus and Forerius. But the word justice can be taken for the just one, as it is taken in verse 2, and the sense comes to the same thing. Wherefore by the just one Lyra understands Moses, Hugo Cyrus, St. Jerome, Haymo and others Christ, more genuinely according to the letter St. Thomas and others understand Abraham; for he has been the subject from verse 2 up to this point. Yet in such a way that through Abraham it rises and tends toward Christ. For the Prophets are accustomed, rising gradually from the type to the antitype, from the shadow to the truth, finally to embrace both in the literal sense, as here he embraces both. See Canon V. Concerning both therefore I shall explain these and the following things according to the letter with Forerius, that is to say, With that right hand with which I held Abraham, and much more Christ, with the same I have held their sons and descendants, who were contained in them, as in their parents and in their loins. Where therefore Abraham, and likewise Christ, stretched forth his right hand to God, that is, embraced the knowledge of God and faith, and committed himself and his own to His aid, grace and guidance; in that right hand God embraced his whole family. Thus Forerius, Sanchez and others. I AM WITH YOU: DO NOT DECLINE. — The Septuagint translates, for I am with you: I do not deceive.
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11. BEHOLD THEY SHALL BE CONFOUNDED, — God protecting His own and fighting for them. These therefore are the things which God hurls against the enemies of His faithful: shame, ignominy, destruction, and complete consumption and abolition, as He abolished Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the Red Sea, the Canaanites in the promised land.
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AND AS IT WERE A CONSUMPTION (as it were that which is consumed and destroyed, they shall be) MEN WARRING (thus it must be read with the Romans and Hebrews, not of a man warring, as some read) AGAINST YOU.
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13. TAKING HOLD OF YOUR HAND. — That is, encouraging you, helping you, strengthening you so that you may overcome your enemies and all things contrary to you; for this is accustomed to be done among men by the right hand being grasped, which is therefore a symbol of honor and covenant and friendship. Thus Vatablus and Forerius.
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14. FEAR NOT, WORM (Vatablus, little worm) OF JACOB. — Historically and typically the Jews afflicted by the Assyrians, and shortly after to be laid waste by Nebuchadnezzar, say St. Thomas, Hugo, Lyra, Vatablus and Forerius: but antitypically the Apostles and Christians (indeed St. Jerome, Haymo and Adam understand these according to the letter), he calls a little worm, for example an earthworm or a shipworm that gnaws wood, both on account of their fewness and on account of their contempt and humility. For they are like Christ, who says: "I am a worm, and not a man." Again: "As a worm penetrates the earth, so the word of the Apostles penetrates the cities of the Gentiles, and has entered hearts that were formerly most hardened," says St. Jerome; whence it follows: "You who are dead from Israel," that is to say, You who are afflicted and despised (whence the Septuagint translates: Little Israel; Forerius, Tiny Israel), exiles and banished, so that you are held as it were for dead, indeed you are punished with death by tyrants. Thus in Job XXV, 6, it is said: "How much more man is rottenness, and the son of man a worm." And Isaiah properly refers to this, namely to the earthworm, for example, which is accustomed to be trampled and trodden under foot. For this denotes a vile, weak, afflicted and trampled man. And in II Kings XXIII, 8, Jesbaam, or he who sits in the chair, first among the mighty men of David, is called "the most tender little worm of wood." To this Christ alluded, Luke XII, 32, saying: "Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom;" and Paul, I Corinthians IV, 9: "For I think that God hath set forth us Apostles last, as it were appointed to death." By a similar figure Ezekiel, chapter XXXVII, 14, calls the Jews captive in Babylon "dry bones," and "the dead dwelling in sepulchres."
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15. I HAVE MADE THEE AS A NEW SHARP THRESHING INSTRUMENT HAVING TEETH, — as if to say: Thou seemest, nay thou art a worm and a corpse; but I will lift thee up and strengthen thee, so that, just as threshing sledges armed with toothed and saw-like wheels or threshing boards crush and thresh the grain, that is, shake out the kernels (as was done in Palestine, and is still done in some regions): so also shalt thou thresh mountains and hills, that is, kings and tyrants; for the Israelites in type subdued them, but the Apostles in truth subjected them to themselves by the word of God under their feet, "Destroying every height that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God," II Corinthians, chapter X, 5; for the Apostles either crushed the most powerful and exalted enemies like mountains, as demons; or subdued them by breaking their pride, and converting them to Christ, as infidels, whom they made most humble, and as it were dust under the feet and precepts of fishermen. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril and Theodoret.
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17. THE NEEDY AND THE POOR SEEK WATERS, AND THERE ARE NONE. — Historically and typically God provided these very things to the Hebrews in the desert and elsewhere; for the desert was not a desert to them in their need, but as it were a paradise of delights: waters did not fail them, nor bread from heaven, and in place of shady trees the pillar of cloud overshadowed their camp; nay, when fountains burst forth in more than one place like rivers, which satisfied the thirst of all the Hebrew camps, who would doubt that cedar, myrtle, olive and the other trees which the Prophet names here grew there over so many years' span, says Forerius. But if this seem to anyone new, uncertain and difficult, let him with Sanchez take these things figuratively, so that it signifies only the sum of happiness, as if to say: God will embrace the Hebrews after the slaughter of Sennacherib, after their return from Babylon so gently and softly, as if He were to produce rivers, cedar, myrtle and other fruitful and fragrant trees in a parched desert, just as He gave their fathers in the desert most abundant waters from the rock, which Moses struck with his rod on the hill of Horeb, Exodus XVII, 6. Nay, even literally after the thirst and want which the Hebrews suffered in Babylon, when they returned thence, God gave them abundant rain, as is evident from Zechariah, chapter X, 1; and this because they hoped in God, not in idols. But antitypically and spiritually, these things apply far more truly to the Apostles and disciples of Christ; for God turned for them that harsh and dreadful kind of Christian and Apostolic life into heavenly delights, and changed their sadness into joy and heavenly consolations. This is what Christ had promised them, that "rivers of living water" would flow from the belly of those believing in Him, and which they themselves, having experienced it, profess, when they say: "In all things we suffer tribulation, but are not distressed; we are straitened, but are not destitute; we suffer persecution, but are not forsaken: we are cast down, but we perish not;" II Corinthians, chapter IV, 8, and chapter VI, 9: "As dying, and behold we live; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as needy, yet enriching many; as having nothing, and possessing all things." Again, "the needy and the poor," as if to say: Wretched sinners and captives of the devil sought refreshment and liberation for their souls; but they found it not, neither in the law of Moses, nor among the Philosophers; but I will provide this for them through Christ. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Cyril and Procopius.
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18. I WILL OPEN IN THE SLOPING (thus it should be read with the Romans, not in the highest) HILLS. — "Sloping," that is, steep and mountainous. Whence Horace, book I of the Odes: "Whether for me," he says, "cold Praeneste, or Tibur sloping." For Tibur was a city situated on the ascent of a hill, which we daily behold from Rome, and whose ruins even now, nay the neighboring city, and new Tibur we see. Whence the Septuagint translates, in mountains; the Hebrew word שפי sephi means a precipice, as if to say: I will make it so that in places made arid, barren, precipitous and impassable by sin, grace and the gifts of the Holy Spirit will abound. Thus Procopius, St. Jerome, Cyril and Basil, in that passage of Psalm XXVIII: "The voice of the Lord shaking the desert." He alludes to rivers which are wont to arise from mountains, as we see the Rhine, the Meuse, the Inn and others arise in the Alps.
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19. I WILL GIVE IN THE WILDERNESS CEDAR, — that is to say, I will make it so that the Gentiles, hitherto uncultivated, being cultivated by Apostolic preaching, may bring forth the most beautiful and likewise most fruitful trees of virtues. Thus St. Cyril, Procopius, Theodoret and St. Jerome, who says: "The hand of the Lord has perfected it, so that in the aridity of the Gentiles there might be found streams of virtues, and in a land once desert and full of salt, cedar, cypress, and other trees might be born: whose sublimity and summit hastening to heavenly things the olive wood would illuminate, which is the nourishment of light and the rest of those laboring." We also behold this fulfilled even today in Japan, Brazil, China and other provinces of the Indies with great joy of heart. So also St. Gregory, homily 20 in the Gospel: "Cedars," he says, "are those whose hearts are so solidified in eternal love that the same corruption of earthly love corrupts them in no way. Thorns are those who prick the hearts of hearers, and thus pierce the mind with the pain of compunction. Myrtles are those who temper the tribulation of neighbors through compassion. Olives are the merciful. Firs are those who, placed in earthly bodies, contemplate heavenly things. Elms, which support vines, are secular men who sustain holy men full of spiritual gifts by their generosity. Boxwoods, which although from the weakness of age they are not able to bear good works, nevertheless following the credulity of faithful parents, hold the faith of perpetual greenness." AND THORN. — In Hebrew it is שטים setim, which is a tree in the desert fragrant and incorruptible, surpassing all trees both in brightness and in strength; as to appearance similar to white thorn: whence Our Lord calls it "thorn"; from which the ark and the tabernacle and its vessels were made. Thus St. Jerome. See what is said at Exodus XXV, 10. ELM. — The elm is useful both for other things and for marrying vines. In Hebrew it is תדהר tidhar, which some translate as pine, thus called from the brightness which it emits if kindled. For the root זהר zahar means to shine. Whence from the Hebrew tidhar Forerius derives the Latin tæda. For the letter zain is worth ds, whence it is often exchanged with daleth or d, as happens throughout the whole conjugation of Hitpael. BOXWOOD. — Boxwood in Hebrew is called תאשור theasur from happiness, because it is always green and luxuriates in leaves. Thus Forerius.
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21. BRING FORTH YOUR JUDGMENT, — that is to say, I have hitherto set forth the arguments of my divinity: you, O Gentiles! if you have anything for your idols, now bring it forth. Thus St. Jerome and Cyril. IF PERHAPS ANYTHING: — if perhaps you have some strong and solid argument for the divinity of your idols, bring it forth. For "perhaps" here is a noun, not an adverb; for the Hebrews call עצמות atsamot, that is bones, the arguments and strong confirmations which anyone brings forth for himself and his cause in judgment: for these in a cause and oration are what bones and sinews are in a body. Whence the Septuagint translates, "bring into the midst your strong things"; τὰ ἰσχυρά, your strengths and firmaments. THE KING OF JACOB SAID. — He purposely calls God the king of Jacob, so that he might rebuke the gods of the Gentiles, which although they received worship as if they were gods, are nevertheless neither ruled by them nor defended by them, as the Israelites are by their God.
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22. THE FORMER THINGS THAT WERE ANNOUNCED: AND WE WILL SET OUR HEART, AND WE SHALL KNOW THE LATTER THINGS THEREOF. — The word "thereof" does not refer to idols, but to "the former things": for in the Hebrew the gender is feminine in both places. God here compels the very idols themselves, and disputes with them, as if to say: O idols! O stones! O wooden images! O logs! If you are gods, show forth your divine omniscience, or at least knowledge of former and past things, announce the beginnings of things, the principles of the world and of Divinity. Tell what God from the beginning and from eternity has done, thought, decreed; then "we will set our heart," that is, we shall understand, and "we shall know" that you also know "the latter things thereof," that is, those things which after those former things already mentioned shall follow and come to pass; hence we shall recognize that there is in you something prescient and divine. Thus Origen, book IV of the Peri Archon, chapter II. This sense is plain and easy. For although demons, who sometimes speak through idols, know the beginnings of the world (for they saw them, being created together with heaven and earth), nevertheless they do not know the beginnings of Divinity. Again, the Prophet speaks to the wooden and stone idols themselves, which by themselves, and ordinarily, are mute and senseless equally: for it rarely happens that a demon speaks through them. Secondly, Sanchez thus explains it, as if to say: Announce, O nations! those things which your gods have predicted, and "we will set our heart," that is, we shall consider and weigh "the latter things," that is, the successes and outcomes thereof, and from the outcome we shall judge whether they have spoken truly. He brings forth another sense, as if to say: Consider the former things of the idols, and you will see the latter things, namely that just as they were made from nothing, so also they shall return to nothing, and that just as they were fabricated from earth, so also they shall return to earth. Thirdly, Forerius thus expounds it, as if to say: From the things which God wrought miraculously with Abraham and our other patriarchs, it is permitted to conjecture what end those things shall also have, as from shadows the truths, as I have explained, verses 8 and 14, namely that God, as He was present to Abraham, so also shall He be present to his posterity. In like manner, if you, O Gentiles! announce to us any things of former and past times, which your gods have divinely wrought, we shall be able to gather their latter things, that is, their end and divine outcome also. This sense aptly responds to those things which above, verse 2, he recounted concerning the benevolence of God toward Abraham and his posterity; and verses 9 and following of the next chapter, where he concludes this disputation with the idols. Finally, St. Cyril and Theodoret take "the former things" and "the latter things" of the idols, as if to say: Tell, O idols! O gods of the nations! your former things, that is, your origin and beginning, how, when, and by whom you were fashioned; predict also your latter things, namely, what shall happen to you, whether and when you shall be demolished. But you cannot do this; therefore you are ignorant, not gods. Yet thus it should have been said: "We know your latter things"; but now he says, "thereof": which cannot refer to idols, as I have shown.
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23. ANNOUNCE WHAT THINGS ARE TO COME IN THE FUTURE, AND WE SHALL KNOW THAT YOU ARE GODS. — He demands another sign of the divinity and omniscience of idols, namely foreknowledge and prediction of future things. "For the testimony of Divinity is the truth of divination," says Tertullian, Apology, cap. XX. Therefore, the human soul does not possess the power of divining and prophesying, as many have thought, whom I have cited and refuted in Canon XXI on the Minor Prophets. Hence from this place Theologians teach that God, just as He alone is by Himself the knower of hearts, or conscious of thoughts and free wills, which the mind conceals within itself and neither utters nor reveals: so alone can He certainly foreknow future contingent and free things. For properly only contingent things are those which are free, or depend upon someone's freedom: for those things which are merely natural are determined, and therefore happen necessarily; whence they are not contingent: wherefore by him who sees and penetrates the whole series of natural causes, they can certainly be predicted, such as eclipses, comets, winds, floods, pestilences, etc. But free things, because they depend upon the choice of will, are indeterminate; hence they cannot be foreseen and predicted, except by God, who penetrates and comprehends the minds and wills of men and Angels, and knows and foresees most certainly what each will, given any circumstances whatsoever, shall freely will, choose or do. The reason therefore why God foreknows and foresees all future things is His infinite acuteness and cognitive power, His infinite intellect, His infinite light, which sees and penetrates all truth wherever it may be. For God is as it were a certain sun seeing all things, illuminating all things. Just as therefore the lynx-eyed standing on a mountain see very far; for they have the keenest sight: so God from the highest mountain and watchtower of His eternity, sees all things which in this valley of the world are done and shall be done throughout all times. Again, just as he who stands at the axis of a wheel sees all its spokes and their entire rotation: so God in eternity, as it were standing at the axis, sees the whole course of all ages. For all things past, present and future revolve around the eternity of God. Add that this world, and all time and all things which are in it, or are done in it, are as it were a small globe, nay a point, in respect to God and His immensity and omniscience. It can therefore easily be foreseen by God all that is in it: for if that which is in a small chamber is entirely perceived most easily by a man who stands in the middle of it, much more is that which is done in the whole world beheld by God. You will say: Even demons have often predicted future things. I answer: They did this not from certain knowledge, but from conjectures, and therefore this was not certain divination, but only probable conjecture. For demons are keen, and subtle and sagacious in conjecturing. The modes by which they do this are recounted by St. Augustine, in the book On Divination of Demons. Wherefore in this conjecture they often erred, or mixed false things with true ones; hence also they often answered ambiguously, so that their oracles could be received in either direction: whence Apollo was called Loxias, that is, the oblique one. Such was his response to King Pyrrhus, by whom he was consulted, whether he would be able to overcome the Romans or not: I say that you, son of Aeacus, can overcome the Romans. And to Croesus: "Croesus having crossed the Halys shall lose great kingdoms." For to lose means both to lose and to lay waste. Thus St. Jerome and Cicero, lib. II On Divination. Furthermore, that the demon in his conjecture was false and deceived many can be taught by many examples. Take a few. The example of King Achab is illustrious, to whom, when all the false prophets and diviners predicted victory against the Syrians, Micheas alone predicted the contrary, namely slaughter and death, which truly befell him. See the history III Kings, last cap. Similar was the vaticination of Hananiah, who promised the Jews liberation from the siege of the Chaldeans and victory: for Jeremiah predicted the contrary, and that truly, and therefore he also by the command of God threatened Hananiah with death, Jer. XXVIII, 16. When the mother of Ferdinand of Flanders consulted soothsayers about his fortune, she received this oracle from them: "The king shall fall in battle, shall be trampled by the feet of men and horses, and shall not be buried; but Ferdinand shall be received most joyfully by the Parisians." But the contrary happened. For in the war against Philip, king of the French, Ferdinand was captured and led to Paris and shut up in prison, in the year of Christ 1214. Thus Robert Gaguin, lib. VI History of the French. I reviewed a similar example of Merovaeus in chapter VIII, at the end. Cato the Elder used to say, "he marveled that one soothsayer could look upon another soothsayer without laughing," because he perceived that this entire kind of divination was a fraud by which deception was practiced upon the people. For impostors are accustomed to laugh among themselves at the stupidity of the multitude. Finally, forcefully and elegantly St. Cyprian, On the Vanity of Idols: "These," he says, "spirits (demons) lurk beneath consecrated statues and images. These inspire the breasts of prophets with their breath, animate the fibers of entrails, govern the flights of birds, direct lots, produce oracles, always mixing falsehoods with truths. For they both are deceived and deceive, they disturb life, disquiet sleep, creeping even into bodies they secretly terrify minds, distort limbs, break health, provoke diseases, so that they may compel worship of themselves, so that, fattened by the odor of altars and the burning of cattle, having relaxed what they had bound, they may seem to have healed. This is the remedy from them, when their injury ceases: nor is their concern anything other than to turn men away from God, and to overturn them from the understanding of true religion to their own superstition; since they themselves are penal, to seek for themselves companions for punishment, whom they have made partakers in their crime through error. Yet these, when adjured by us through the true God, immediately yield and confess, and are forced to depart from the bodies they possessed. You would see them beaten by our voice and the operation of hidden majesty with scourges, tormented by fire, extended by the increase of spreading punishment, wailing, groaning, beseeching." WHETHER WELL OR BADLY, IF YOU CAN, DO IT. — He demands another argument of divinity from the idols, namely benefit toward their worshippers and vengeance toward their contemners, as God showed himself to have done to Abraham and his posterity in verse 2. Thus Gideon, Judges chapter VI, verse 32, says: "If Baal is a god, let him avenge himself upon him who has broken down his altar." Baruch greatly emphasizes this powerlessness of idols in chapter VI, verses 52 and following.
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24. BEHOLD, YOU ARE FROM NOTHING, AND YOUR WORK FROM THAT WHICH IS NOT. — With the idols rendered silent, God presses his case against them, and as it were a victor insults the vanquished, as if to say: Why do I labor? Why do I seek arguments? You are stupid and mute, without tongue, without mind, without strength, indeed you are nothing, so far are you from being able to do well or ill to anyone. Moreover, from nothing, and consequently nothing are idols, whether you consider their matter: for this, with other things, was created by God from nothing; or their form, namely divinity, as if to say: Divinity is not your form, O idols! but a mask affixed; you are fictitious gods; you have your origin not from any truth, but from the vain, foolish and sacrilegious imagination and flattery of certain men: you therefore have nothing of true divinity; all your things are full of deceptions and lies; you lie that you are gods. In this sense the Apostle said: "We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one," I Corinthians VIII, 4. Note: For what Our text renders, from that which is not, in Hebrew it is מאפע meapha, which St. Jerome, the Chaldean paraphrase, and Vatablus render, from nothing, or "from that which is not"; Forerius and Forsterus render it, before a hissing sound, from the root פעה paa, that is, it hissed, as if to say: Your works are vain and utterly nothing, and have less weight than some hissing sound. Note secondly: "Work" here can be taken in two ways. First, passively, "your work," namely, that by which you idols have been made, as if to say: Your making, that is you yourselves, which are the work and fabrication of foolish men, are from that which is not, that is from nothing. For the same thing seems to be, "behold you are from nothing," which, "your work from that which is not," namely, as if to say: You are from nothing, and therefore nothing. For the latter hemistich, in the Hebrew manner, explains the former. In a similar way in the last verse, when it says: "Vain are their works," it is the same as what follows: "Wind and empty simulacra of them." Secondly, "your work," actively, which namely you make and accomplish, as if to say: Your works are from nothing, that is they are nothing, they are null, because you can accomplish nothing, nothing well or ill to do, as the preceding verse says. The former sense seems more plain and genuine from the Hebrew phrase: the latter however follows from the former, and completes it: for what is nothing can accomplish nothing, can bring no aid. ABOMINATION (that is, abominable) IS HE WHO CHOSE YOU, — who worships you. This is what Hosea chapter IX, verse 10 says: "They became abominable, as those things which they loved."
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25. I HAVE RAISED UP ONE FROM THE NORTH, AND HE SHALL COME FROM THE RISING OF THE SUN. — St. Thomas, Lyra, Vatable and Hugo understand these words of Cyrus: for God raised him up as the pillar of the Hebrews from Persia, which is partly to the north of Judaea and partly to the east. But more truly Forerius and Sanchez understand these words of Abraham. For this is a recapitulation and conclusion of the foregoing words, as if to say: Therefore the world ought to worship me, because I have done the things which I have recounted in the preceding passages, and which you have heard, namely I called Abraham from the East, that is from Chaldaea, and from the North, that is from Mesopotamia: concerning whom, since he was a worshipper of my name, and worshipped me alone as God, and since he himself, and through his mighty kings descendants, conquered and trampled down as clay, no one can doubt that he did this by my power. Symbolically, understand these words of Christ, as if to say: I have raised up, that is I shall raise up, Christ, who by his coming shall warm the North, that is the cold nations, and who shall trample down magistrates, that is all the proud princes of the world, and shall subject them to himself as clay to the potter, so that he may make from them some vessels unto honor, and some unto dishonor. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, Procopius, Theodoret. SHALL CALL MY NAME. — In two ways: first, as if to say: He shall worship and invoke my name; second, as if to say: He shall be called by my name, that is my servant and worshipper: "shall be called," that is he was called, is called, shall be called, according to Canon XIII. SHALL BRING DOWN (Forerius, shall invade) MAGISTRATES, — in Hebrew סגנים seganim, that is magnates, princes and kings, just as the potter, that is the potter, invades and subdues clay.
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26. WHO HATH DECLARED? — as if to say: Who among you, O idols! foresaw and foretold the order of these things? so that in this disputation and judgment we may pronounce sentence in his favor and say: "Thou art just," that is thy cause is just; justice is on thy side, thou art held and worshipped as a just God. Others say "just," that is "thou art God." For justice is proper to God; hence his title is: "The Just One of Israel." Others say "just," that is "thou art a true Prophet," because thou didst foretell these things. NOR HEARING THE WORDS OF YOU, — O idols! as if to say: You are mute stones and wood; therefore there is no witness who can say that he heard anything from you and learned from you concerning the future.
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27. THE FIRST SHALL SAY TO SION: BEHOLD THEY ARE HERE (so it should be read with the Romans and Hebrews, not I am here), as if to say: Not idols, but the first of all God, that is I myself (for there is frequent enallage of person among the Hebrews) shall say to Sion: Behold they are here (who foretell the future to thee): and to Jerusalem I will give an evangelist, — that is a joyful message, namely Isaiah and other Prophets, who like Evangelists shall announce to her the things that are to come, especially concerning Christ and the Gospel of Christ, salvation and kingdom; for this is what he said in chapter XL, verse 9: "Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Sion." Again, "behold they are here," that is, the successors of the Prophets, the Apostles and Evangelists, shall soon be present, who shall announce, nay point out with their finger, the good things to come under Christ and through Christ. For they shall cast out demons and idols, and shall be preachers of the Gospel to Jerusalem, nay to the whole world, to call it into the way of truth, as the Septuagint has it; for this is what Christ commands them, Luke, last chapter, verse 46: "It behoved Christ to suffer, etc., and that penance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Thus St. Jerome and Theodoret. Here Isaiah hints that when Christ comes, all the oracles of demons shall cease and be silent. For then, and thereafter, all were manifestly silent, as appears from histories. Whence Plutarch wrote a book On the Defect of Oracles.
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28. AND I SAW, AND THERE WAS NOT EVEN ONE OF THESE, — namely among the prophets and worshippers of idols. These are the words of Isaiah, who seeing that neither idols nor Gentiles could respond to the arguments of God disputing with them, or consult about preparing a response, concludes:
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29. BEHOLD ALL THE UNJUST,—that is to say, the gods who are worshipped by foolish Gentiles, equally as the Gentiles themselves, are unjust, that is, they favor and support an unjust and iniquitous cause, fall on account of it, and are condemned; for τὸ unjust is opposed to what he said in verse 26: "Thou art just." Again they are unjust, because from their worshippers they extract gold and riches as if they were gods, promising aid which they do not provide: for their works are vain, that is, as follows, "wind and empty simulacra of them." See what is said in verse 24. Passing over them therefore, he proceeds in the following chapter to God and His admirable works, which he foresaw He would accomplish in the following ages, especially under Christ; yet so that he returns from time to time to idols and censures them. For "empty" in Hebrew is תהו tohu, that is, as Vatablus says, a formless thing; others say chaos, that is a confused and empty thing. See what is said in Genesis I, 2.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
41:1
Ille incipit eos confortare ad firmam expectationem ex Dei promittentis dilectione. Et dividitur in tres partes. In prima ostendit divinam dilectionem ex beneficiis quae patribus exhibuit; in secunda ex Filio quem eis promisit, 42 cap.: Ecce servus meus etc. in tertia consolationes quasi inter diversas angustias praedicit, 45 cap.: Et nunc haec dicit Dominus etc. Intendit autem per beneficia primo praestita, confirmationem Judaeorum et idolorum confutationem, qui talia suis cultoribus non exhibuerunt; et ideo dividitur prima pars in duas. In prima disceptat contra idolorum cultores; in secunda contra ipsa idola, ibi, Prope facite judicium vestrum. Prima in duas: primo enim per beneficia Judaeis praestita convincit adversarios; in secunda per eadem confortat Judaeos, ibi, Et tu Israel serve meus. Circa primum tria. Primo convocat gentes ad judicium, prosequens judicii ordinem, ut taentes audiant, et sic respondent. Mutent fortitudinem, idest confortent se quasi renovati in fortitudinem ad disceptandum mecum. Mich. 6.: Audient montes judicium Domini, et fortiora fundamenta terrae. Secundo narrat exhibitum beneficium, Quis vocavit? ubi narrat multitudinem beneficiorum quantum ed divinam electionem, ab oriente, scilicet Chaldaea, justum, Abraham. Genes. 12, Job 23.: Vestigia ejus secutus est pes meus. Jer. 15.: Sicut adhaeret lumbare ad lumbos viri, sic agglutinavi mihi domum Israel, Et quantum ad concessam potestatem, Habit in conspectu ejus, scilicet quando liberavit Lot, pugnans contra quatuor reges: Gen. 14. Ps. 1.: Non sic impii, non sic: sed tamquam pulvis quem projicit ventus a facie terrae.
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Quantum ad exequendi facilitatem, Transibit in pace, scilicet sine labore; semita in pedibus ejus non apparebit; sicut qui leviter incedit, quasi vestigium non derelinquit: vel quia in pedibus est signum viae, cum derelictum est.
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Supra 40.: «Current, et non laborabunt.» Quaerit auctorem: Quis haec operatus est, et quis, vocans, aeterna praescientia? Infra 49.: «Dominus ab initio vocavit me.» Et ponit responsionem. Ego Dominus. Apocal. 1.: «Ego sum alpha et omega, principium et finis.» Aliter ad litteram exponitur de Cyro, mystice de Christo. Tertio ponit quasi gentilium responsum, in quo per idola se defendere credebant. Et primo tangit eorum ad allegata mirabilia visa stuporem, Videbunt insulae. Psalm. 76.: «Viderunt te aquae, Deus; viderunt te aquae, et timuerunt.» Accesserunt, ad resistendum. Secundo ponit mutuam contortionem, Unusquisque.
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Job 40.: «Unus uni adhaerebit.» Tertio ponit idolorum fabricationem: Confortabit percutiens, ferrum malleo, qui cudebat, formabit figuram idoli; dicens, Glutino bonum est, ad consolidandum idolum: Sap. 15.: «In pariete ponens illud, et confirmans ferro, ne forte cadat.»
Nota super illo verbo, Transibit in pace, quia Christus transivit in pace. Primo in pace carnis ad spiritum, quam habuit. Job 5.: «Sciens quod pacem habeat habitaculum tuum.» Secundo in pace hominis ad proximum, quam docuit. Infra 52.: «Quam pulchri supra montes pedes annuntiantis et praedicantis pacem!» Tertio in pace mundi ad Dominum, quam fecit. Eph. 2.: «Faciens pacem, et reconcilians ambos in uno corpore Deo.»
Et tu Israel serve meus. In parte ista confortat Judaeos ex eisdem beneficiis: et primo ponitur praeteriti beneficii repetitio in electione patrum Jacob et Abraham, quibus ab aliis distincti sunt universaliter. Jacob.
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Psal. 10.: «Semen Abraham servi ejus, filii Jacob electi ejus.» Rom. 9.: «Ut secundum electionem propositum Dei maneret, non ex operibus, sed ex vocante dictum est ei, quia major serviet minori, sicut scriptum est: Jacob dilexi, Esau autem odio habui.» Secundo ponitur futurorum promissio: et primo quantum ad immunitatem malorum, excludens timorem: tum propter Dei praesentiam, De times: Jerem. 1.: «Ne times a facie eorum, quia ego tecum sum:» tum propter patrum justitiam, Suscepi te, quasi semen repropmissum, justi mei, Abraham. Vel suscepi te, defendendum, justi, Cyri.
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Ps. 90.: «In manibus portabunt te, ne for te offendas ad lapidem pedem tuum.» Et po nens etiam hostium amotionem quantum ad eorum confusionem, Ecce confundentur. Jer. 17.: «Confundantur qui me persequuntur, et non confundar ego.» Quantum ad destructionem, Erunt quasi non sint. Supra 50.: «Ad perdendas gentes in nihilum.» Et repARATIONIS impossibilitatem, Quaeres eos. Psalm. 55.: «Vidi impium superexaltatum:» et infra (ibidem): «Transivi, et ecce non erat.» Ostendens etiam destructionis rationem, Quia ego Dominus. Ps. 145.: «Emite manum tuam de alto, erue me de aquis multis, et « de manu filiorum alienorum. » Secundo quantum ad abundantiam bonorum: et primo contra servitutem, ponens ipsum servitutis jugum: Noli timere vermis; quasi dicat: Qui vel habers vel calcaris sicut vermis, et pro mortuo computaris. Psalm. 21: « Ego sicut vermis et non homo, opprobrium hominum et abjectio plebis. » Ponens etiam divinum auxilium.
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Infra 49: « Ego auxiliatus sum tui. » Ponens etiam exaltationis beneficium, quantum ad hostium subjugationem, Ego posui te. Supra 25: « Et triturabitur Moab sub eo, sicut teruntur paeleae in plaustro: » quod factum fuit tempore Machabaeorum. Et quantum ad eorum exaltationem, Et tu exultabis. Cant. 1: « Laetabitur et exultabit bimus in te. » Secundo contra paupertatem, ponens primo paupertatis incommodum, Egeni et pauperes.
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Supra 50: « Erunt super montes rivi fluentium aquarum. » Et in locis desertis, Ponam desertum, idest terram vestram primo desertam. Psalm. 106: « Posuit desertum in stagna aquarum. » Et quantum ad pulchritudinem arborum, Dabo in solitudinem. Tertio ponit beneficii fructum, Ut videant. Eccli. 56: « Ut cognoscant quoniam non est Deus nisi tu, ut enarrent magnalia tua. »
Nota super illo verbo, Suscepi te, quia Christus suscepit nos primo quasi victor captivum ad liberationem. Gen. 49: « Ad praedam, filii mi, a« scendisti, requiescens accubuisti ut leo, et quasi « leaena. » Secundo quasi medicus infirmum ad sanandum. Psalm. 102: « Qui propitiatur omni« bus iniquitatibus tuis, qui sanat omnes infirmitates tuas. » Tertio quasi advocatus ad reum excusandum. 1 Joan. 2: « Advocatum habemus « apud Patrem Jesum Christum. » Quarto quasi fortis ad debilem defendendum. Infra 65: « Ego « qui loquor justitiam, et propugnator sum ad « salvandum. » Quinto quasi sponsus, sponsam ad congaudendum. Oseae 2: « Sponsabo te mihi in « justitia et fide. »
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Prope facite judicium vestrum. Hic ponit disputationem contra ipsa idolata: et primo ponit disputationem; secundo sententiae determinationem, ibi, Et videamus simul. Circa primum duo facit. Primo disputat contra idola rationibus naturalibus; secundo per rationem a quodam particulari facto sumptam, ibi, Suscitavi ab aquilone. Circa primum tria. Primo convocat ad judicium, Prope, idest appropriquare ad me, ut simul judicemur: vos idola, vel idolatrae, afferte, idest allegate, si quid habetis, ut probetis vos Deo. Psalm. 81: « Deus stetit « in synagoga deorum, in medio autem deos di-
judicat. » Secundo ponit argumentum duplex.
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Unum sumptum ex divina scientia, quae plene omnia novit, praeterita et futura, quam idola non habent: Priora quae fuerunt.
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Eccl. 25: « Domino « enim Deo antequam crearentur, omnia sunt agnita. » Aliud est sumptum ex divina potentia, quae potest punire et bene facere: Bene quoque aut male, si potestis, facite.
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Baruch ult.: « Neque « boni, poterunt retribuere. » Tertio concludit eorum defectum quantum ad causam materialem, Ecce vos, idola, ex nihilo, ex materia creata; quantum ad formalem, Opus, idest artificialis forma, quae figurat in vobis divinitatem, quae non est; quantum ad efficientem, Abominatio, idest abominabilis, vos artifices, opus vestrum, scilicet idola, qui elegit, cultores. 1 Cor. 8: « Scimus quia idolum nihil est. » Jer. 10: « Confusus est omniss artifex. » Suscitavi ab aquilone. Hic sumit quoddam speciale factum. Ab aquilone, Chaldaeorum; ab oriente, Persam, qui subjugarerunt primo diversas terras et principes. Plastes, figulus, vel plasma, factura. Mystice per eum qui ab aquilone, gentilem populum; per eum qui ab oriente, Christum. Ps. 17: « Ut lutum platearum delebo eos. » Secundo ex hoc sub quaestione proponit argumentum, quod qui hoc potest dicere, est juste dicens Deus; et qui non, non.
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Quis annuntiavit? Infra 45: « Congregamini et audite. » Tertio excludit ab idolis divinitatis judicium: Non est annuntians, aliquis ex nobis diis, neque, aliquis cultorum, audiens, Ps. 115: « Oculos habent, et non videbunt; aures « habent, et non audient. » Quarto ostendit in vero Deo divinitatis signum. Primus, idest singularis Deus noster. Ecce adsum, in auxilium, evangelistam, annuntiantem futura. Daniel 2: « Vere Deus vester Deus deorum est. » Vel primus, primogenitus Dei filius.
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Eph. 4: « De« dit quosdam quidem Prophetas, quosdam autem « Apostolos, alios vero Evangelistas. » Et vidi, et non erat ex istis quisquam qui iniret consilium. Hic ex supra posita disputatione concludit sententiae determinationem: et per se patet.
Nota super illo verbo, Quis annuntiavit? quia movet ad annuntiandum et praedicandum, primo instinctus fidei. Psalm. 145: « Credidi, propter quod « locutus sum. » Secundo stimulus zeli. Jerem. 20: « Et factum est in corde meo verbum Domini, quasi ignis aestuans. » Tertio magnitudo praemii. Matth. 5: « Qui fecerit et docuerit, hic « magnus vocabitur in regno caelorum. »
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Anc. — Convocantur gentes ad disceptationem forensem, ut Deo testimonium dent de impletione vaticiuii. Ipse enim (uti praedixit) heroem - ab oriente excitat qui gentes et regna invictus sibi subiicit (41, 1-4). Gentes contremiscunt et ad idola confugiunt. Israel autem nullo modo habet quod.timeat; Deus enim antiquae electionis memor adversarios Israel plane deiiciet (41, 5-13), iisque deiectis reditum concedit felicissimum et bonorum abundantiam (41, 14-20). De hoc ergo vaticinio iudicent; ostendant num idola quidquam vaticinii quod impletum sit ediderint, Dominus vero in sui testimonium heroem illum afferre potest ; cum tale quid idola nunquam praestiterint nec praestare possint, demonstratum est ea esse prorsus inania (41, 21-29). Haec oratio arcte ad antecedentem coniungitur. Postquam enim liberatione et salute generatim annuntiata ostensum est Deo ad opus illud praestandum omnino inesse potentiam et voluntatem, ita ut omnes maxima fiducia illam liberationem debeant amplecti, iam vates ad id progreditur, ut per singula accuratius describat, quomodo labor sit finiendus, quomodo liberationem Deus efficere constituerit. Quia autem (40, 5) gloria Domini ita est revelanda, ut videat omnis caro pariter quod os Domini locutum est, Deus eam liberationem antea annuntiat, ut postquam facta sit, omnes numen divinum vaticinio illo edito atque eventu completo agnoscant et venerentur. Quem in finem forma disceptationis forensis vates orationem suam vestit. In omnium gentium consessu: Deus demonstrat se perfecisse quod annuntiaverat. Exposcit a gentibus, ut idolorum causam tueantur si possint, ut scil. eodem divinitatis argumento, vaticinio scil. edito atque eventu comprobate, numen divinum idolis inesse ostendant. Cum id non possint, Dominus autem id praestiterit (id quod omnes fateri coguntur), idola nihil esse reputari oportet. Quomodo vero liberatio sit efficienda, ita describitur, ut exsistat potentissimus quidam regnorum expugnator, cui resistere nemo valet, a quo gentes tremore corripiuntur, sed quem ne timeat Israel admonetur. Id ergo quod futurum sit annuntiatur, verum ea forma, ut simul declaretur, hac annuntiatione eventus futuri palam ac publice facta et nota Iahve argumentum edidisse invictum divinitatis. Unde simul elucet vaticinium hoc de heroe et de liberatione Israel debuisse esse editum et notum diu ante impletionem ; alias disceptatio talis forensis non potuit fingi. Si enim (quod Isaiae adversarii volunt) oracula haec tum demum funderentur cum iam impleri coepta essent, quid magis ridiculum magisque absurdum fingi posset, quam de re praesenti eousque tamen inaudita ad sollemnem consessum forensem gentes convocare iisque dicere : en quae iam fiunt et quae nune primum dico, haec tamquam olim dieta accipite indeque divinitatem discite Iahve! Num ergo vates mendacio censendus est probare numen divinum, ille dico qui adeo contra mendaces indignatur? num satiram scribere contra Dominum ? et probatiónem divinitatis risui exponere, cum id assereret quod non exstitisset?
41:2
v. 2 « quis suscitavit ab oriente iustum, vocavit. eum. ut sequeretur se ? dabit in. conspectu eius gentes et reges obtinebit ; dabit quasi pulverem gladio eius, sicut stipulam vento raptam arcui eius » ; — hebr. verti potest : quis suscitavit ab oriente iustitiam (rectum, ius), (quis) vocat eum post se? Iustitia appellatur status ille recti iurisque quem Deus adesse vult. Dicitur ergo Deum ab oriente talem excitasse virum, qui illam induceret rerum conditionem quam Deus secundum iuris normam consistere vult. Hunc vocavit ad pedem suum (hebr.), ut scil. quasi Dei vestigia premens munus a Deo commissum perficeret. Hoc munus vocatur nomine generali iustitia, quo nomine illud designatur quodex norma divina singulis divinitus. attribuitur, proinde divinae providentiae consilium et opus. Qui ad hoc efficiendum divinitus eligitur, ex consequenti fustus potest, appellari. Et ita heros ille ?ustus appellatur in vulg., quia fuit minister iustitiae Dei adversus gentes et simul minister bonitatis erga populum Dei (cf. Est. Pagninus, Sasb.), simili modo Nabuchodonosor vocatur servus Domini quia Dei vindictam in Tyrios exercet et Medi appellantur sanctificati quia ad ultionem capiendam a Domino mittuntur (cf. 13, 3. Ier. 27, 6; 43, 10. Ez. 29, 28). Illi tradit Deus gentes eique subiicit (conterit hebr.) reges; et tanta quidem facilitate omnes expugnabit, quasi pulvis et stipula gladio et arcu impugnarentur, vel ut hebr. ab aliis intelligitur, gladio et arcu eius hostes in pulverem et stipulam rediguntur. Proinde victor describitur, cui nihil resistere possit, qui summa quadam celeritate regna et gentes suo subiiciai sceptro. Textus hebr. varie et iungitur et concipitur. Veteres versiones p7Y referunt ad primum membrum tamquam obieetum et verbum wp notione vocandi accipiunt. Haec duo retinenda esse videntur, quamvis recentiores plerumque discedant. Saepe enim vertunt : quis sucitavit ab oriente eum cui iustitia se obviam fert ad'gressus suos i. e. iustitia eum comitatur ubicumque incesserit (cf. RoAl. Kn. Sein. Del. Or.) ; explicant ergo w»p uti np; alii tamen magis veterum premunt vestigia : quis suscitavit rectum (ius), quis invitat eum post se (Naeg.), vel quis vocat id (ius) ad pedes eius ? Alii interrogationes poni volunt etiam in subsequentibus : quis dat? quis subiicit? Neque tamen in ea re opus est a veterum aceceplione recedere, quae praestat quia in subseq. quoque herois facinora per modum enuntiationis proponuntur et quia postquam heros ille eiusque munus prima interrogatione est propositus, aplius videtur reliqua per modum descripionis et enarrationis efferri. Accentus mas. p3y referunt ad alterum membrum. Sensus non mutatur; attamen necessario requiri videtur, ut in causae expositione statim indicetur, quid vel quis demum suscitatus sit ab oriente. Deinde uti vox Np magis nolionem vocandi iam per se innuit, ita h. l. in ea signifi catione eo magis erit retinenda, quia in parallelismo suscitare et vocare bene inter se congruunt, non autem suscitare et occurrere. Unde immerito hoc loco a veterum interpretatione receditur. — Alii vertunt : reddidit similes pulveri gladio eius, similes slipulae impulsae areui eius (Malv. III. Del.) i. e. eos qui similes sunt pulveri tradit gladio eius ; at si iam sunt similes pulveri, cur demum gladio traduntur? ad quid? vel quale facinus heroicum, eos qui similes sunt stipulae demum vincere ? Neque hebr. 32y2 etc. commode ita verti polest. Vix probari potest quod alii volunt : dat sicut pulverem gladium eius i. e. adeo celeriter gladius eius aget vel gladium hosti- Jem coram eo disperget sicut pulverem (cf. Ges. Hitz. Ewald, Umbreit, Sein. Cheyne, Or.); nam hac imagine non celeritas exprimitur, neque gladii et arcus apte dieuntur dispergi sicut pulvis; dein satis durum est eius intelligere de gentibus el regibus. LXX legisse videntur 2 pro 2 ; habent enim 66e: si; yzv «X; uxyaípas ajzov. Maior quaedam adessel conemnilas et vis orationis, si hebr. vertere liceret ita ut T" et DETY sensu conditionato sententiam subsequentem vestirent : si impelu irruerit (cf. 1» in proelium descendere, se proripere Iud. 5, 13), in pulverem rediget gladium eorum... si eos persequitur, transit etc. Ipse autem heros, uti comparationibus iam innuitur, ita victor exsistet, ut sine periculo vel fatigatione bellicas illas expeditiones subeat
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v. 8 « persequetur eos, transibit in pace, semita in pedibus eius non apparebit »; —à. e. « viae laborem non sentiet nec aliquam irbecillitatis humanae lassitudinem » (S. Hier.), sim. Sanct. Sasb. Lap. Tir. cf. Deut. 8, 4; 29, 5. Tanta gaudet incolumitate, ut dum hostes persequitur, ipse in pace incedere et ubique transire dici possit. Atque in eo victoriarum cursu vias ingreditur antea plane sibi ignotas, quas pes eius antea non calcabat (ita ex hebr.). Ergo Deus miro modo eum ducere et incognitas regiones ei aperire dicitur. Hebr. verti potest : ingreditur in pace semitam qua pedibus suis non venire solebat vel non venerat (ef. Mald. Mar. Malv. For. Vat. Troch. Kn. Del.); alii : eam viam quam homines non ineunt, ergo per viam plane insolitam (Rohl. qui Cyrum per Euphratem urbem Babylonem ingressum esse monet), vel per vias aliis hominibus ignotas (Beck). Naeg. : non passus releget in eadem via, non redibit eadem via, ita ut Yv53i sit in vestigiis suis (cf. Ex. 11, 8. Iud. 4, 10; 8, 5. 1 Sam. 25, 27. 2 Sam. 15, 17 etc.): erit ergo sensus; non redibit opere non completo, ab inceptis non desistet, nunquam retro cedet. Sed vix verbum sà3a eodem modo adhiberi poterit quo 23«2 (ef. Del.). LXX omittunt Nu N5; habent : transibit in pace via pedum eius; at reliquae versiones ea verba tuentur. — Verba quoque vulg. varie accipiuntur : per loca ignota ibit, ubi nulla erat semita (Mald.), vel tam velociter ut non tam ambulasse quam volasse videatur (Sa, Mem.), vel repente irruit nullo signo sui adventus (Mar.), vel nullum itineris vestigium relinquet (Calm.). Demum Net. : viam pedibus non ingreditur, quia reges Persarum curru vehi solebant; verum in tam sollemni oraculo id efferre quod omnibus nobilibus commune est, scil. non omne iter pedibus confici, quis sibi persuadebit ? Cum igitur talis tantusque sit heros ille, iure quaeritur
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v. 4 « quis haec operatus est et fecit ? vocans generationes ab exordio; ego Dominus primus et novissimus ego sum »! — hebr. ego lIahve primus et cum movissimis ego idem ; talia is perfecit, « qui est auctor cunctorum . et moderator, qui ab initio universa creavit et universorum providentiam habet » (For. sim. Mald. Tir. Rohl. Troch.) et qui uti est omnium generationum auctor atque effector, ita tum etiam erit idem ipse, quando ultimae in temporum serie generationes exsistent, qui igitur sempiternus est atque immutabilis ; quare his verbis ipsum nomen /aAve qui est declaratur. Sensum eundem cum hebr. etiam prodit versio graeca xpücog xa eig «à Exepyópeya &Yo ely:, quae verba explicat S. Cyr. : « primus igitur et solus et sine principio Deus, universorum opifex, nec alio modo erit per infinita saecula sequentia; ipse enim est et solus ». Deus ergo, ut est primus, sine initio, ita quoque sine fine (Mar.) ; quod alii explicant, Deum dici a nullo pendere, cum post ipsum nemo futurus sit, sicati ut primus a se est et non ab alio (Sanct.), vel eum esse causam finalem rerum omnium, ad quem tamquam ad ultimum finem suum et felicitatis portum omnia devolvantur (cf. Pint. Sa, Malv. Tir. Lap. Osor.)inipsis verbis directe non exprimitur, at ex doctrina proposita de Deo omnium rerum fonte facili fluit conclusione et in ipsa notione Iahve eius qu? est necessario continetur. Quis ille heros sit, de quo sermo est h. l., minime potest esse dubium, si ea quae vates postmodum de Cyro refert, ob oculos habentur. Ea enim quae nunc generalibus quibusdam lineamentis adumbrantur, postea magis magisque expoliuntur, determinantur. Quod enim saepius iam advertimus, solet Isaias si de re magni momenti sermo prolixior est faciendus, eam prius obiter et generali quodam modo innuere et delineare et quasi germen quoddam spargere quod in ia cd sua capiat incrementa et plene demum explicetur (cf. supra cap. "i. 8. 9. 11 de Emmanuele). Idem habes hoc loco. Ea quae 41, 2-4 Vice Dat ;postea accuratius evoluta et.explicata de Cyro dicuntur : cf. 45, 1-6. 13. 46, 11; quibus locis confer quoque 41, 25. Cyri ergo victoriae praedicuntur et ad Deum auctorem referuntur ; eodem modo Cyrus dicit in edicto quod refert Esdras (1, 2): « haee dicit Cyrus rex Persarum : omnia regna terrae dedit mihi Dominus Deus coeli ». Quare recentiores iure merito h. l. de Cyro fieri vaticinium agnoscunt ; ita Castalio, Pagninus, Sasb. Est. Calm. Net. Loch, Rohl. Troch.; ita interpretes protestante$ et generatim quantum scio omnes recentiores, si unum exceperis G. K. Mayer (die messianischen Prophezieen des Jesaias p. 189. 196). ita legitur in Gatakeri manuscriptis, ità exponit Calvinus, Musculus, Munsterus, Grotius, Iunius, Piscator ete » (Synopsis criticorum adornata a Matth. Polo, II. p. 389), quibus e Vitringa addendi sunt : « plerique recentiores (Brentius, Oecolampadius, Tremellius), quorum longa series est, inter quos Belgae quoque nostri..... quid? Cocceius hic in oculis habet Paulum apostolum, qui armatus verbo iustitiae ivit ad insulas » (cf. Vitringa, Comment. in libr. proph. Ies. II p. 393). Haec de Abraham expositio iam tempore S. Hier. apud nonnullos Hebraeorum (ut ipse testatur) invaluerat, et « est fere apud Hebraeos interpretatio canonica quam fuleiunt, ut Aben Ezra ait pamompn ot dgyator, eosque secuti larehius, uterque Kimchius, Abarbanel excepto tamen Aben Ezra qui hie de Cyro cogitat » (Vitringa l. c.). Verum luce clarius est de Abraham non esse sermonem. Nullibi enim eius a Chaldaea adductio, victoriae eius vel opera sunt praedicta, ita ut ex. vaticiniis olim datis et postea impletis ea posset institui disceptatio, quae hoc capite agitur. Mitto verba illa de victoriis regumque subiectione etc. ad Abraham non convenire, nec quidquam effici ab interpretibus si nos ad Gen. 14 amandant vel cum S. Thom. Sanct. Tir. Gord. totam Abrahami posteritatem intelligunt ; nam neque eorum facinora sunt praedicta, neque tales sunt victoriae, quibus gentes non maiores et regna multo maiora devicta vel erecta opponere possent. Ad quid ergo eiusmodi disceptatio? vel quo iure gentes supponuntur eursum vitae Abraham nosse, ita ut Deus ex iam notis suae potentiae operibus illam posset inire argumentandi rationem ? Vides quomodo haec interpretatio omni ex parte impingat, ita ut admiratio animum subeat, quomodo a tot viris probabilis, immo certa haberi potuerit. Malv. v. g. scribere non dubitat : « haud satis apte alii Cyrum regem Persarum accipiunt »; Pint. notat ad v. 3 : « haec et quae sequuntur possunt convenire Abrahamo, qui de gentibus et regibus triumphavit; possunt etiam intelligi de Cyro... ego tamen existimo esse ad Christum referenda »; Sanct. hane de Abraham interpretationem magis consentaneam invenit toti capiti atque etiam sequentibus, hane vocat Lap. genuinam ad literam; ete.
Primo praeparatur scena ad disceptationem forensem, qua ipsis gentibus iudicum munere fungentibus (cf. v. 21 seq.) causa est diiudicanda inter Iahve et idola, utri scil. numen divinum veraque vita insit. Quem in finem gentes omnes ut accedant audiantque invitantur v. 4 « Taceant ad. me insulae et gentes mutent fortitudinem; accedant et tunc loquantur, simul ad iudicium properemus »! — tacere ad me i. e. silentium mihi praestent et me audiant, ad me silentes attendant (cf. Mald. Mar.); est constructio quam grammatici vocant praegnantem, cum uni verbo adscribitur constructio alterius quod non exprimitur, sed subauditur (Malv. For.) ; insulae, gentes i. e. quicumque vel in ultimis recessibus reconduntur, qui in regionibus maritimis vel in vastis terrarum spatiis inveniuntur, ergo totius orbis incolae invitantur; insulis enim et terra continenti orbis describitur universus et talem in duo membra divisionem saepe a lege exigi parallelismi versuum notum est. Iubentur mutare fortitudinem (cf. 40, 31) i. e. parent se ac muniant ad disceptandum, vires assumant et spiritus audaces et liberos et deorum suorum causam quanta poterunt contentione disceptent (Mald. Sanct. For.). Quanti momenti sit talis disceptatio et quantopere Deus velit eam institui, ex repetita exhortatione comparet qua ad iudicium i. e. ad disceptationem iudicialem compellantur. Illa aequa ratione instituetur; loquantur, rem suam exponant, causam defendant libere ; non talis eis negabitur opportunitas; arment ergo se consiliis et argumentis (cf. v. 21 Sasb.). Cum ea igitur fingatur disceptatio, eo ipso iudicium naturale et rationis lumen veritati cognoscendae par esse asseritur in ipsis quoque gentilibus. Iam ponitur causa i. e. eventus ille ex quo praedicto Domini potentia et divinitas colligi debet;
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v. 5 « Viderunt insulae et timuerunt, extrema. terrae obstupuerunt, appropinquaverunt et accesserunt » ; — cum enim Cyrus agmina ducens Medorum et Persarum celeri cursu urbes et provincias subiugaret et demum Babylonem ipsam mundi quasi dominam expugnaret, eius terrorem longe lateque sparsum esse per se constat; simul cum urbe principali Babylone totum regnum i. e. orbis totus coniremiscit et obstupescit de tanta ruina imperio potentissimo illata ; quae enim per rerum temporumque intervalla gerebantur, sacer vates uno conspectu exhibet. Post primum de victoriis Cyri nuntium et timorem, gentes consiliis initis et foederibus conclusis resistere cursumque victoris impedire conantur. Eum ita cohibere student, ut sese ad opem ferendam excitent et omni conatu et contentione idola sibi faciant a quibus auxilium sperent et efflagitent. Ita sacer vates heroem a Deo vocatum et robore instructum et idola inania a quibus nihil contra Dei consilia fieri potest, apta inter se oppositione illustrat. Praeterea denuo aequalibus suis idololatris exemplo demonstrat, quam stupidum sit idola colere ;
Cum talis heros arma sua victricia gentibus infert, omnes terrore concutiuntur
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v. 6 « unusquisque proximo suo auxiliabitur et fratri suo dicet : confortare ! v. "1 conforlavit faber aerarius percutiens malleo eum qui cudebat tunc temporis dicens : glutino bonum est; et. confortavit eum clavis, ut non moveretur » ; — sedulitatem ridiculam depingit in idolis tatelaribus faciendis ; inter se mutuo exhortantur et animos addunt ; hebr. v. "| et confortat (ad opus gnaviter perficiendum eum exstimulat et animum addere at alacritatem studet) faber ferrarius | conflantem, levigans malleo (confortat) eum qui incudem tundit, dicens de ferrumine : bonum est, et firmat illud (scil. idolum) clavis ne moveatur (cf. Mar. For. Malv. XII et recentiores). Artifices idolorum inter se excitant et laudant : qui simulacrum facit eum excitat qui illud laminis obducit: aureis vel argenteis, et qui malleo omnia levigat eum qui incudem tundit ad opus peragendum exhortatur, ut scil. fiant rite et suo tempore adsint bracteae et clavi quibus simulacrum (catenulis) firmetur, ne vacillet aut cadat. Laudatur ferrumen i. e. laminae et bracteae firmiter et bene et pulchre simulacro ex viliore metallo vel ligno facto obducuntur, bene compinguntur, optime haerent. Significatio non est, quasi tum demum idola fabricari coepissent vel antiquis idolis relictis nova sibi tutelaria confecissent (id quod JVaeg. obiicit), sed scena hac exprimitur, gentes confugisse ad idola, et simul id eo modo exprimitur, quo statim stupiditas idololatriae oculis manifesto obiiciatur. Ceterum plane est ad rem neque a moribus gentium alienum, ut instante periculo plura sibi effingant idola quibus numen tutelare inesse credebatur. Atque Cyrum terrorem gentibus intulisse et victoriis suis multarumque gentium subiectione extrema terrae i. e. regiones longinquas sui admiratione et stupore complevisse, ex regni eius amplitudine facile colligitur; ipse enim omnes regiones quas antea Medi, Lydii, Babylonii sibi subiecerant, suo subdidit sceptro ; immo ulterius progressus occidentem versus lones et Lycios et Phoenices, septemtrionem versus Cadusios, Sacos, Chorasmios et quotquot a Sogdiana usque ad Iaxartem habitabant suo regno addidit (cf. M. Duncker, Geschichte des Alterth. II p. 9UT. G. Rawlinson, The five great monarchies III p. 369). Ex. more prophetico opus per multos annos paulatim completum una adumbratione integrum exhibetur. Sed cum gentes contremiscunt, nuntius mittitur ad Israel consolatione plenus et maximum spirans Dei amorem, quo mediis in gentium angustiis et terroribus animos induere laetos et ad optimam spem se erigere iubentur
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v. 8 « et tu Israel serve meus, Iacob quem elegi, semen Abraham amici mei,
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v. 9 in quoapprehendi te ab extremis terrae et a longinquis eius. vocavi te et dixi tibi : servus meus es tu, elegi te et non -abieci te,
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v. 40 ne timeas quia ego tecum. sum, ne declines quia ego Deus tuus ; confortavi le et auriliatus sum. tibi et suscepit te. dextera iusti mei » ; — hebr. in ultimo membro sustento te dextera iustitiae meae ; ad fiduciam populi quam maxime excitandam et ad suum amorem declarandum summammque fidelitatem demonstrandam Deus primo non sine verborum ambitu — ad consolandum enim verbis nori est parcendum — in v. 8 et 9 titulos enumerat quibus Israeli ius competit protectionis. Titulos hos agnoscit Deus et fideli recordatione se eos servare profitetur ; sunt autem primo ipsa patriarcharum nomina quibus populum compellat is qui seipsum quoque nominat Deum Abraham, '[saac et. Iacob : hoc nomen mihi estin aeternum et hoc memoriale meum in generationem et generationem (Ex. 3, 13). Ipsa haee. nomina quibus populus insignitus est testantur foedus cum patribus initum firmum ratumque consistere. Dein servus Dei, qua talis peculiari ratio-. ne ad dominium Dei et eius quasi familiam pertinet Deique opus et gloriam promovere debet; porro effertur electio qua populus de cunctis gentibus electus est in peculium Dei, in regnum sacerdotale (Ex. 19, 3. 6) ; hanc autem electionem, utpote opus suum Deus non permittet, evacuari et frustrari ; demum filii sunt. Abraham quem Deus ut amicum diligit, ergo ut amico quoque promissa data servat. Fides igitur et pietas Abraham adeo valet apud Deum ut eius memor posteros quoque favore complectatur ; nam Deus cum Abraham vocaret ab extremis terrae et e regionibus longinquis i. e. ex Ur Chaldaeorum, eum elegit et vocavit, ut pater fieret populi magni (Gen. 15, 13) ; ergo in ipso etiam vocavit et elegit populum idque, quia Dei dona sunt sine poenitentia, constanti quadam ratione et ex gratia : non abieci te. Tales igitur cum titali sint quibus populus ornatus certam sibi protectionem exspectare debet, iam in v. 10 maxima amoris exhibitione consolatio affertur, ne timeat, dum omnes contremiscant, ne anxie circumspectet (cf. hebr. For. Malv. V), dum reliqui ope destituantur ; et quam seria et efficax sit voluntas Dei, assertionibus quinque quia tecum sum, quia ego Deus tuus, confortavi te.. etc. comprobatur ; dextera iustitiae Dei est magna Dei potentia qua éustitiam, illam rerum conditionem quam promisit et quae sanctitati Dei et consiliis eius respondet, in opus deducere constituit ; hac igitur potentia et hac voluntate fulcit, sustentat populum ; proinde quam maxime apta sunt verba haec ad spem et fiduciam gignendam. Textus vulg. statim nominat ?ustum i. é. eum qui ex providentia Dei electus est, ut iustitiam illam in terris efficiat vel saltem partem aliquam illius operis divini praestet. Et tamquam eius protectionis pignus et testimonium certum praedicitur interitus hostium
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v. 11 « ecce confundentur et erubescent omnes qui pugnant adversum te; erunt. quasi non. sint et. peribunt. viri qui contradicunt tibi »; — hebr. ignominia afficientur omnes inflammati in te, contra te; qui populum Dei odio habent, in eum furore agitantur, confusione et, opprobrio obruentur, ergo cum ignominia ab oppugnatione desistere cogentur; illi qui sunt viri litis tuae (hebr.) cum Israel contendunt, ei adversantur cum tumultu et strepitu, tamquam nihil interibant. Declaratur et praeformatur illad : non praevalebunt adversum te. Israel est opus Dei et frustra quis sese opponit consiliis Dei. Verum cum adversarii sint adeo potentes, repetita asseveratione opus est, ut contra spem clades illorum et interitus reddatur probabilis. Unde
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v. 12. « quaeres eos et non invenies viros rebelles tuos; erunt. quasi non sint. et veluti consumptio homines bellantes adversum te » ; — populus ipse non poterit non mirari de repentino adversariorum interitu; adhuc hostes quaerent, circumspicient, ab eorum impugnationibus sibi fortiter cavendum esse, subsidia in eos conquirenda esse censebunt ; verum en, isti iam evanuerunt, interierunt! Confirmabitur ergo illud quod dictum erat ad Abraham : maledicam maledicentibus tibi (Gen. 12, 3), et a contrario commendatur alterum : benedicam benedicentibus tibi. Ratio autem et causa sufficiens in Deo eiusque voluntate efficaci continetur
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v. 13 « quia ego Dominus Deus tuus apprehendens manum tuam dicensque tibi : ne timeas, ego adiuvi te »; — « exprimit humano more gestum eius qui alteri auxilium et operam suam pollicetur; solet hoc fieri apprehensa dextera, quod symbolum erat foederis et amicitiae » (For. sim. Mald.). Tali vero Dei protectione fruitur populus, quia, uti in v. 8 9 indicatur, foedere sempiterno est electus; haec electio in Abraham facta est electio qua populus praeparatur ad "Messiam recipiendum ; Abraham enim electus est, ut in eo benedicantur omnes gentes. Unde quae hoc loco de invicta populi conditione et de ruina adversariorum dicuntur, iure praecipuo valent de regno messianico. Ea autem beneficia sicut ipsam electionem uni deberi gratiae Dei liberalissime concessae exprimitur iam v. 9 elegi te et-non abieci i. e. elegi te, quamvis in ea fueris conditione, ut potuerim te abiicere ; non me piguit te eligere (cf. Ez. 16, 4-6), quamvis in te nihil esset quo electionem promereris.
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v. 14 « Noli timere vermis Iacob qui mortui estis ex Israel ; ego auziliatus sum tibi, dicit Dominus. et redemptor tuus Sanctus Israel »; — populus oppressus insolentia gentium, e sedibus suis eiectus, regno spoliatus, inter gentes dispersus (cf. 39, 6) et abiectus et contemptui habitus et pedibus quasi conculcatus appellatur vermis; in tam miseram conditionem est redactus ; quomodo ista componitur cum electione sublimi? Miseros facit populos peccatum! Eodem sensu dicuntur mortui, vel ex textu mas. ! cuicalculum adiiciunt LXX et Syrus, viri, pauci scil. numero. Deus se vocat redemptorem goel, qui qua talis est quasi cognatus populi cui munus incumbit et officium redimendi pauperem cognatum et vindictam pro eo capiendi (cf. Num. 35, 12. 49. Deut. 19, 6); hoc nomine vocatur Deus qui populum redemit ex Aegypto ( Ex. 6, 6) et ex Babylone Is. 43, 1 ; cf. Iob 19, 25. Quomodo rite mortui vocari possint, explicatum habes apud Ezechielem (271, 12 ete.) qui Israel cernit ut ossa arida, Deus autem promittit se aperturum tumulos et educturam eos de sepulcris (cf. Sanct.). Id Deus efficiet ut Sanctus Israel (cf. 6, 3) qui pro sua gloria et pro populo suo sancto zelum suum manifestat (9, 6 ; 10, 171). Et qua ratione Sanctus Israel populi vindex futurus sit, declaratur
Consolantis est verbis non parcere et quo quis magis est afflictus et a spe salutis longius abesse videtur, eo magis opus est asseveratione auxilii repetita. Unde
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v. 48 « ego posui te quasi. plaustrum triturans novum habens rostra serrantia ; triturabis montes el comminues et colles quasi pulverem pones;
d) Eligitur pius domus regiae minister 22, 90-95. Oraculum in Tyrum 93, 1-18.
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v. 46 ventilabis eos et ventus tollet et turbo disperget eos, et tu exsultabis in. Domino, in Sancto Israel laetaberis »; — en, ad quantum roboris vermiculus ope Deo excitabitur! Hebr. posui te tribulum acutum, novum, habens duas acies, quod igitur instrumentum quam maxime aptum est ad conterenda et comminuenda omnia; quare ne potentissima quidem regna ei resistere poterunt ; facili negotio ea comminuet sive maiora (montes) sive minora (colles) ; cf. Mich. 4, 13. Comparatio haec eo magis est obvia quia ratione simili in hostes quandoque estanimadversum ; cf. Iud. 8, 7. 2 Reg. 12, 31. 4 Reg. 13, '1. Prov. 20, 26 (hebr.). Am. 1, 3; praeterea videIs. 21, 10. Ier. 51, 33. Et quasi non sufficeret montes et colles redigere in pulverem eosque comminuere, frusta ista minuta etiam ventilatione excutiuntur, ut tamquam gluma vento dissipentur penitus. Tam inanes demum evadent conatus hostiles et adeo in nihilum redigentur quaecumque' iis effecta esse videbantur. Quam diversa est sors populi Dei; ipse laetus triumphabit, in Domino gloriabitur; in Sancto Israel ei perennis adest fons et ratio exsultationis. Sortem igitar impiorum ac fidelium eadem oppositione vates effert, ut iam saepius; cf. cap. 34. 35. En, quomodo verbum Dei manebit in aeternui! Hostes theocratiae penitus interibunt, theocratia autem florebit civesque eius in Deo summo bono deliciis affluent. Hisce proin norma statuitur generalis et ad quem tandem exitum electio a Deo facta sit perventura, indicatur. Pro rerum temporumque mensura quam providentiae divinae singulis praefigere placuerit haec norma in unaquaque theocratiae epocha valebit; hic autem eius quasi summa colligitur et proponitur ad animos edocendos et erigendos, ut quo maior sit miseria vermis lacob, eo magnificentior audiatur consolatio. Idem cernitur in ' subsequentibus. Ne animis cadant! Deus adest potens qui summae miseriae ereptos summa donabit beatitate; ad hunc enim terminum tendit electio (v. 8. 9); quare eadem oppositione, qua v. 14. 13, etiam consolationis materia effertur v. 4'1 « egeni et pauperes quaerunt aquas et non sunt; lingua eorum siti aruit. Ego Dominus exaudiam eos, Deus Israel non derelinquam eos »; — miseria populi, militia illa (40, 9) schemate proponitur hominum aquae penuria maxime laborantium ; quaerunt aquas, sed frustra; i. e. suis conatibus e miseria emergere vel ei remedium afferre nequeunt, sed vires solum inani labore consumunt. Quare cum emphasi Dominus unum se opitulatorem fidelem qui non deerit profitetur. Et quia calamitas in aquae penuria et siti adumbrat& est, consequens est, salutem depingi ita, ut in via quam populus est ingressurus adsint laetissima aquarum fluenta
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v. 18 « aperiam in supinis collibus flumina et in medio camporum fontes; ponam desertum in stagna aquarum et terram inviam in rivos aquarum »; — populum in exsilio babylonico siti laborasse et aquae penuria fuisse afflictum, iam e regionis indole et natura prorsus est improbabile; uti ergo v. 171 sitis mago est miseriae, ita quae v. 18 dicuntur eadem ratione sed in oppositum 'erunt intelligenda. Abundantiam consolationis depingit ita, ut non solum in collibus et campis aquae inveniantur, ubi eas inveniri et adesse (im vallibus hebr.) pronum est, verum etiam in deserto et in regione arida et tanta quidem copia, ut haec dicantur esse in rivos aquarum. Proinde dici nequit, vatem reditum e Babylone talibus miraculis exornare voluisse; sed id solum ex v. 17 colligitur, Deum abundantissime populi sui calamitatibus remedia esse allaturum. Utique alludit ipsis verbis ad Ex. 11, 1; sed eo sensu, ut « ex eo quod iam effecit tacite probet quid facturus sit si res postulaverit » (Mald.); cf. ad 30, 25. Ad summae felicitatis descriptionem et amplificationem pergit in eadem proverbii specie (Sanct.) addens ad aquarum copiam quod ex ea quasi progignitur summum arborum variarum ornamentum
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v. 19 « dabo in. solitudinem cedrum et spinam et myrtum et. lignum, olivae; ponam in deserto abietem, ulmum et buxum simul » ; — solitudo in campum florentissimum mutata et desertum in regionem arboribus consitam imago est mutatae in melius conditionis populi, uti 32, 15. 16. Quae antea in v. 10. 13. 16 dicebantur, hie alia ratione proponuntur. Consolatur enim populum Deus ultimum ostendens salutis fastigium ad quod illum. est adducturus et ad quod natura sua electio olim facta dirigitur. Ne ergo timeat, sicuti gentes tremunt exsistente heroe illo ; sed cur Israeli non timendum sit, explicat ex altissima causa, quia scil. populus propter sublimem illam vocationem non potest conculcari; spondet se populum velle tueri, idque probat Deus ostenso summo beatitatis cul- .mine ad quod populum vult adducere. Alia est quaestio, utrum haec statim heroe illo exsistente futura sint eodem ambitu, an solum peculiare auxilium pro illo tempore promittatur, huius autem auxilii promissio certa solum explicetur ac fundetur ex copia et perfectione salutis ad quam alio tempore (scil. messianico) populum vult evehere. Ex aliis quae a propheta in hae serie adhuc proponuntur, hoc ultimum colligitur. Nam summa salutis perfectio, uti videbimus, non ad hunc heroem (41, 9 seq.), sed ad alium refertur; de qua re postea. Proinde argumentatio et promissio quae hoc loco fit similis est ei 8, 9 : vincimini quia Emmanuel : nemo praevalebit ita in Israel ut eum perdat, quia ex eo populo Messias est venturus. Hac igitur consolatione se erigat Israel; simul autem contemplatione salutis abundantissimae quam Dominus daturus est (quando? id ad rei cardinem non pertinet) se ad amorem Dei benignissimi excitent et laeta spe afflictos animos erigant. Unde simul elucet qua utilitate eiusmodi descriptiones et amplificationes iam fuerint aequalibus prophetae — eadem scil. sicut nobis coelestis beatitudinis contemplatio et conceptus inde animus alacer, fortis, spe laetus et Dei amore et beneficentia laude imbutus. Vi verborum ii qui tempore exsilii cernent, heroem illum magna perpetrantem et gentes subiugantem hac consolatione confortantur : ne timeas, Israel, tibi enim maxima quaeque a Deo praeparata sunt. Ita accipiunt pignus pro liberatione; sed quando maxima illa in opus deduci oporteat, nullo modo indicatur. Modus ergo consolandi omnino idem est quam vidimus 9, 6; 11, 1; 30, 95; 39, 1; 35, 1. 1886) vocem explicandam censet vel de iunipero sabina vel de iunipero excelsa ; explicationem de platano omnino reiicit neque eam fuleiri posse auctoritate Saadiac, qui vocem non de platano, sed de tectona robusta vel grandi exposuerit (p. 245); locos porro affert ex talmude, ex quibus apparet Gopher, tidhar, kithros (cypressum, cedrum) promiscue adhiberi. Inde autem pátei propriam nominis vim talmudistis fuisse ignotam. Dubia quoque est notio vocis MWÜND; vulg habet h. l. buxum, sed 60, 13 pinum. Chald. explicat pynaóx quam vocem de buxo vel ebeno interpretantur (cf. Levy, Chald. Woerterb. I p. 71) ; alii explicant scherbin, quae sit cedri species conorum parvitate ramisque in altum tendentibus agnoscenda (cf. Ges. Thes. p. 164). Aq. et Theod. retinuerunt voces hebr. 022zxo xxt 0xxcoóp (0xxp Theod. cf. Field, Hexapl. ad h. 1.); Sym. vertit zs23éav zai &)£ov. — De variis aliorum coniecturis satis fuse agunt For. Malv. Ges. in commentario ad h. l. Del. At in re incerta diutius immorari non libet. É Haec autem rerum mutatio et salus concessa ad id quoque tendit, ut hominibus manus Dei, divina eius administratio rerum ac providentia et zelus quem habet populi sui manifestetur
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v. 20 « ut videant et sciant et recogitent et intelligant pariter, quia manus Domini fecit hoc et Sanctus Israel creavit illud » ; — i. e. rerum eventus tanta claritate ut divinitus facti ostendentur, ut nullo modo possint ignorari ; omnes sensus externi .et interni vivide percellentur ; quod oculis clare offertur, menti, cordi (hebr.) et intelligentiae imprimetur, ita ut opus Domini et specialis eius pro Israel gubernandi ratio non possit eos latere. Copia verborum quasi necessitas illa describitur qua opus Dei tamquam potenti numine factum se omnium oculis et mentibus ingerat; « videbunt, cogitabunt, aperte cognoscent haec tam dissimilia ac varia ex Dei Israel consilio atque potentia fuisse peracta » (Sanct.). Cum talia ergo cognosci possint, immo debeant, aptissime sermo redit ad initium capitis et ad scenam illam et disceptationem forensem (cf. ad 41, 1).
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v. 921 « Prope facite iudicium vestrum, dicit Dominus ; afferle si quid. forte habetis, dixit rex Iacob » ; — hebr. afferte fortia vestra i. e. praesidia, et argumenta rei vestrae (cf. For. Mald. Malv.) ; est igitur forte nomen, argumentum alicuius roboris; rez lacob dicitur Deus qui hoc loco se üt reges considerabantur (cf. quae notavi ad Am. 1, 15. Nah. 1, 14. Hab. 1, 16. Zach. 2, 8). Argumentum autem forte et validum quo probetur, utrum adsit numen divinum necne, constituitur in praedictione rerum futurarum quae a libera hominum voluntate potissimum dependeant ; sicut igitur rex Jacobse demonstravit Deum vivum annuntians victorias Cyri, terrorem gentium, Israelis salutem, ita simile quid praestent idola vel gentes ostendant, quando et ubinam idola talia exhibuerint ; v. 29 « accedant el. nuntient nobis quaecumque ventura sunt; priora quae fuerunt nuntiate, et ponemus cor nostrum et sciemus novissima eorum, et quae ventura sunt. indicate nobis »! — hebr. afferant (scil. causae praesidia et argumenta) et nuntient nobis quae eventura sint; cum actiones liberae futurae in nulla causa creata habeant sufficientem sui rationem antequam exsistant, illae certo praediei non possunt nisi ab intellectu divino; quare eiusmodi vaticinia certum praebent divinitatis testimonium ; augetur vis argumenti, si tota quaedam series talium eventuum praedicitur. Unde v. g. vaticinia illa quae Noe dedit vel quae patriarchis data sunt, cum multorum annorum, immo plurium saeculorum eventus brevi formula adumbrent, insignia exsistunt documenta quibus constet Deum lumine suo mentes illustrasse. Simile vaticinium modo editum est de heroe illo, de eius facinoribus, de terrore gentium et salute Iudaeorum ; unde postulatur, ut gentes similia de idolis probent et proferant. Annuntient ergo quae eventura sint ; vel edicant, quaenam olim ab iis fuerint praedicta 1. e. priora, quae illa ? nuntiate (hebr., ut consideratione adhibita diiudicari possit, num evenerint necne; « primum iubet ut antiqua repetant oracula expendantque an veros habuerint exitus ; nuntiate, inquit, quae praedixerunt dii vestri et novissima illorum i. e. successus considerabimus et ex eventu iudicabimus, an vera sint locuti » (Sanct.); cf. 43, 9. 18 ; 44, 1; 46, 9; A8, 9. Vel si talia non habent, nunc saltem edant oracula de futuro : vel ventura facite nos audire (hebr.). Postquam ergo prima annuntiatione generatim postulatum est, ut eventura praedicant, iis optio relinquitur, ut vel ostendant iam olim aliquid esse ab iis praedictum et eventu comprobatum, vel hic et nunc futura vaticinentur. nobis eventura, iam duobus magis declaratur, per ea scil. quae primum eventurà sint et per ea quae post longius demum tempus sint futura. Sed non credibile videtur n*3sx3 posse significare primum vel proxime ventura; priora ita simpliciter sine addito et in oppositione ad ventura non aliter accipi possunt nisi praeterita. Quare eam explicationem, quam Malv. Net. Hahn, Del. propugnant, non posse sustineri censeo. — Alii priora enarrationem esse volunt priorum facinorum deorum (For. Mar.) vel rerum initiorum vel eorum quae Deus ab initio fecerit, cogitaverit, decreverit (Mald. Lap. Men. Tir.), ita ut sensus sit gradatione quadam propositus : si neque futura praedicere, neque praeterita enarrare possunt, saltem quae iam veniunt (nx) quae vel mediocriter prudens vir praedicere aut annuntiare valet, nos percipere faciant (For.). Quae ab initio facta sunt, etiam S. Hier. Cyr. Theod. intelligunt. Cum idola et ii qui eorum partes sustinent taceant, denuo admonentur et iterum vates qualis insit vis probandi vaticiniis effert ; ex qua repetita adhortatione et irrisione gentium simul elucet, quantopere vates se verum edidisse vaticinium habeat certissimum
Causa est dicta. Dominus exposuit quid praedixerit et quid praedictione facta revera effectum sit. lam gentium est partes suscipere ac tueri idolorum et ostendere quid illa possint vel effecerint. Unde eodem modo quo 41, 4, postquam Dominum audierint, ut iam ipsae loquantur causamque instruant (« tunc loquantur ») graviter admonentur
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v. 23 « annuntiate quae ventura sunt in futurum "et sciemus quia dii estis vos ; bene quoque aut male si potestis facite, et. loquamur et. videamus simul »! — iam loquitur triumphantis in modum et ridet demum de idolis : utique futura annuntiare nimis est difficile, saltem aliquod signum edant, efficiant aliquid boni vel mali si ad bonum non suppetant vires (cf. Ier. 10, 5) ; ergo minimum exposcit. Si igitur provocatione excitati aliquid signi ediderint, tunc quid valeant diiudicari potest comparatione instituta inter Dei opera et eorum ; vel ex hebr. nter nos dispiciamus et inler nos videamus, vires inter nos conferre et diiudicare possumus, uter plus valeat efficere. Monent hic S. Hier. Sanct. aliique ab oraculis quidem varia esse praedicta, sed « hoc sciendum quod semper mendacium iunxerint veritati et sic sententias temperarint, ut seu boni seu mali quid accidisset utrumque posset intelligi ; ut est illud Pyrrhi regis Epirotarum : aio te, Aiacida, Romanos vincere posse, et Croesi : Croesus transgressus Ilalym maxima regna perdet » (S. Hier.); et addit Sanct. daemonem quidem ut est acuto ingenio et ad coniectandum acri divinare quid futurum sit, sed « quia multa interdum incurrunt quae daemonis coniecturas invertunt et turbant, saepe fallitur et mendax deprehenditur »; oracula generatim edita esse implexa atque ambigua, multis exemplis probat Theodoretus (sermo de oraculis, M. 83, 1060 seq.) ; «sed omnium optime expressit Cieero 2. libr. de divinitate, qui sic Apollinem alloquitur : sed iam ad te venio, o sancte Apollo... tuis enim oraculis Chrysippus totum volumen implevit, partim falsis, ut ego opinor, partim casu veris, ut fit in omni oratione saepissime, partim flexiloquis et obscuris, ut interpres egeat interprete et sors ipsa referenda sit ad sortes, partim ambiguis » (Sanet.). At frustra: fit admonitio ; ergo eo ipso quod certamen oblatum neinire quidem audent se victos esse neque posse quidquam in medio afferre profitentur ; ita
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v. 24 « ecce vos estis ex nihilo et opus vestrum ex eo quod non est ; abominatio est qui elegit vos » ! — « esse ex nihilo hoc loco est, esse ficticios deos neque ab aliqua veritate ortum habuisse, sed inani et stulta imaginatione hominum » (For.), unde quia agere sequitur esse, opera quoque eorum nihil sunt, omnino nihil exsistit quod dii effecerint. Quare qui tales sibi eligit deos tutelares, omni abominatione se dignum reddit, ita ut evadat abominatio coram Deo et hominibus ratione utentibus. Dii enim sunt ex mendacio et inanitate conflati (Osor.). S. Hier. alique opus intelligunt materiam ex qua facta sint idola ; sed 5y5 facta vel facinora vel actiones quas edunt ido!a significat. In hac igitur concertatione gentes nihil habent quod afferant ut idolis numen divinum vindicent. Cum pudore obmutescunt. Quare Deus triumphantis instar causam quam evicit denuo paucis colligit per modum epilogi, quo vis probandi magis percipiatur. Unde denuo de heroe illo A1, 2 seq. sermo fit
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v. 25 « suscitavi ab aquilone et veniet ab ortu solis, vocabit nomen meum et adducet magistratus quasi lutum et velut plastes conculcans humum » ; — de eodem de quo 41, 2 seq. fieri sermonem, certum est; venit enim ut ille ab oriente; facillime, ut ille, satrapes devincit et prosternit et eorum potentiam conculcat ac si figulus argillam conculcaret; eadem habes de Cyro 45, 4. 2. Dicitur suscitari ab aquilone, et recte quidem, nam Cyrus Astyage devicto caput et rex erat Medorum atque Persarum et ex veterum narratione cum familia regia Medorum cognatione coniunctus ; Media autem a Babylone septemtrionem versus, Persia orientem versus sita erat; ergo exiit revera ab aquilone et ab oriente, ut regiones usque ad mare aegaeum suo subiiceret imperio. Ipse quoque vocabit in nomine Iahve, eo sensu nomen lahve annuntiavit, quia « traduxit vocem in omni regno suo etiam per scripturam dicens : haec dicit Cyrus rex Persarum : omnia regna terrae dedit mihi Iahve Deus coeli et ipse praecepit mihi... » (Esdr. 1, 2).. Verba de se etiam significare possunt invocare nomen i. e. colere et. adorare; forte Cyrus, uti deos babylonios coluit, ita etiam Deo Iudaeorum aliquid honoris et adorationis exhibuit. Cyrum non posse consideraritamquam veri Dei cultorem, sed eum multiplici idololatriae indulsisse, monumentis apertissime constat (vide Vigourouz l. c. IV p. 519 et seq.). Id autem fore iam dudum antequam fieret erat annuntiatum. Id summa asseveratione et cum exsultatione qualis decet victorem causae proponitur
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v. 26 « quis annuntiavit ab exordio ut sciamus et a principio ut dicamus : iustus es ? non est neque annuntians neque praedicens neque audiens sermones vestros » | — hebr. quis annuntiavit ab exordio ? et agnoscamus, et a principio ? et dicamus : iustus 1. e. causam vicisti, ir hac concertatione superior evasisti. Quis annuntiaverit, clarum est ; ergo solum restat ut omnes argamentum hoc et factum agnoscant et Domini causam victricem profiteantur. Interrogantur ergo : quis annuntiavit ? et quidem ab exordio, a principio i. e. longe antequam fieret ; et si quis deus id sibi vindicare potest, numen eius se velle agnoscere eique causam et victoriam attribuere sollemniter protestatur. Verum ex diis nemo erat qui id edixerit ; nemo tale aliquid ab iis percepit. Ergo soli Domino oportet dici : ?ustus es i. e. pro eo est sententia ferenda, ille vietor prodiit ex iudicio palmamque retulit (Malv. For.). Atque ut rerum futurarum se praescium manifestet, iam clarius edicit unum quod continget per heroem illum
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v. 21 « primus ad. Sion dicet : ecce adsunt .et lerusalem. evangelistam dabo » ! — hebr. primus ad. Sion : ecce, ecce illa et pro Iérusalem laeta nuntiantem dabo i. e. Dominus tamquam primus Sioni annuntiat : ecce illa adsunt (cf. 40, 9. 10) ; nemo alius id praenuntiavit, primus ipse Dominus praedixit et cum fausto nuntio prophetas misit ad lerusalem (40, 1). Quae hoc loco innuit, postmodum 44, 26 clarius proferuntur et quid heros ille pro Ierusalem moliturus sit indicatur. Hic ex more Isaiae quasi primo quodam praeambulo obiter edicitur fore ut heros ille Sioni ea quae promissa sunt aliqua saltem ratione afferat et laetum pro Ierusalem nuntium mittat. « Nune vero videamus an aliquis eorum simili praedictione vim proprii numinis possit indicare et homines mentis compotes ad sui cultum perducere » (Osor.); sed nil tale praestant dii
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v. 98 « et vidi et non erat neque ez istis quisquam qui iniret consilium et interrogatus. vesponderet verbum » ; —i. e. cireumspexi in omnem partem, sed nemo aderat qui idolorum causam defenderet ; et ez istis (hebr.) diis, nullus aderat qui vel consilium daret de rebus futuris vel interroganti mihi responderet. Unde cum nihil edant neque ediderint ad numen suum probandum, iam necessario consequitur ex disceptatione instituta :
41:29
v. 29 « ecce omnes iniusti et vana opera eorum ; ventus et inane simulacra eorum » ! — iniusti (cf. v. 26) i. e. in hae iudicii forma plane causa cadunt ; hebr. ecce ii omnes-vanitas ; inania opera eorum; dii nihil sunt, nihil sunt opera eorum; totum esse, tota eorum natura et virtus consistit in simulacris, quae quod opem vel protectionem attinet nihil quoque sunt nisi halitus et vastitas vel ventus et desolatio (hebr.); si quid afferunt, vastitatem et' desolationem afferunt; talia scil. ex eorum cultu iudicio Dei iusto consequuntur cultores. — Hac disceptatione forensi vales id prophetice et symbolice describit quod ex decreto quoque Cyri (Esdr. 1, 2-4) colligitur : per Cyrum potentiam Domini fuisse manifestatam : « omnia regna terrae dedit mihi Dominus Deus coeli et ipse praecepit mihi, ut aedificarem ei domum in Ierusalem; quis estin vobis de universo populo eius... ascendat in Ierusalem... et omnes reliqui in cunctis locis ubicumque habitant adiuvent eum viri de loco suo argento et auro » etc. Atque in eo eventu quam maxime elucere numen divinum, quia diu ante erat praedictus, vates potissimum effert. Ergo fieri nequit, ut vaticinium hoc de heroe eo demum tempore editum fuerit, quo heros iam prodire in campum coeperat ; nam et in subsequentibus idem saepius inculcatur, ea oracula iam dudum esse edita et nota antequam implerentur ; cf. 44, 8; 45, 21; 46, 10. Quis ille sit quem Dominus suscitaverit ab aquilone et qui venturus sit ab ortu solis et qui satrapes quasi lutum sit conculcaturus, miro modo veteres interpretes variant. S. Ephr. Zorobabelem cum Iesu filio Iosedec et levitas intelligit; S. Hier. et Cyr. populum nationum; « suscitantur autem ab aquilone, ut credant in eum qui venerit ab ortu solis, de quo supra legimus : quis suscitavit ab oriente iustum sive iustitiam » (S. Hier.)? sim. S. Cyr. gentes ad Christi fidem vocatas hic cernit, Euseb. vero Christum hoc loco praedici affirmat. Haimo verba refert, uti fere solet, ex S. Hier.; S. Thom. eum qui ab aquilone intelligit « Chaldaeum, ab oriente Persam, qui subiugaverunt primo diversas terras et principes; nrystice per eum qui ab aquilone gentilem populum, per eum qui &b oriente Christum » ; sim. Tir. videt ibi praedictum et Nabuchodonosorem et Cyrum; Mald. vere et Malv. non ad certum aliquem referunt, sed generatim praedici volunt esse venturos undique qui idola comminuant. In paraphrasi chaldaica ita legitur : « adduco in manifesto regem potentem a vento aquilonis et veniet sicut egreditur sol in fortitudine sua ab oriente, roborabo eum nomine meo »; unde eo loco a Chald. iam non Abraham videtur intelligi. Abraham tamen etiam hie satius esse ut intelligatur For. Sanct. Lap. Men. censent. Alii tamen bene de Cyro explicant; ita Hugo, Lyranus, et Vat. (testibus Sanct. Lap.). Osor. Pint. Sa, Mar. Gord. Calm. et recentiores.
41:1
I. THE REVELATION. - In the Old Testament there are numerous texts that seem to refer to the Holy Spirit (Spirit of Yahweh, Spirit of God): for example, in Gen. 1:2; 41:38; Ex. 31:3; Num. 27:18, and more often in the prophetic books; Isaiah announces the outpouring of the Spirit upon the Messiah (Is. 41:1; 42:1 ff.; principally 11:1-2, a text that became classic for the enumeration of the gifts of the Holy Spirit) and upon all his people (Is. 32:15; 44 ff.), as later expressed in Ez. …
41:4
As for the concept, the Apocalypse seems directly linked to Is. 41:4; 44:6; 48:12, where God promises redemption by defining himself: "I am the first and the last" (words with which the Apocalypse explains the formula "A-Ω" in 21:8 and 22:13), as a …
41:19
In Hebrew the name is used in the plural šīṭṭim (šīṭṭāh only in Is. 41, 19); from the Egyptian šudt, later sonte, probably "thorn". …
41:22
… The admirable correspondence between the predictions of the prophets and their realization is, finally, the ultimate seal of divine inspiration (Isa. 41:22 ff.; 44:7 ff.; 44:26; 45:21; 46:10 ff.).
… (Deut. 18:9-22; Num. 23:23; cf. Am. 2:10 ff.; Ex. 7:25; Zach. 7:12; Neh. 9:30), giving them as an unmistakable sign of recognition, besides moral worth, fidelity to Jahweh and to his precepts, the charism of predicting the future (Deut. 18:22; Is. 41:22 ff.; 44:7 ff.; 46:10 ff.) and sometimes of working other miracles. …
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.