The name of a child that is to be born: many evils shall come upon the Jews for their sins.
Vnder the figure of a new name, Christs birth of a virgin is againe prophecied. 4. but first the kingdomes of Syria, and Israel shal be destroyed: and Iuda sore afflicted: 8. yet conserued with losse of manie. 16. which is a mysterie hidden from the Iowes. 21. Great euils hang ouer them, that depart from the law.
1And the Lord said to me: Take thee a great book, and write in it with a man’s pen. Take away the spoils with speed, quickly take the prey.E IL Signore dissemi: Prenditi un libro grande, e in esso scrivi a chiare note: Affrettati a torre le spoglie: fa presto a predare.AND our Lord sayd to me: Take thee a great booke, & write in it with the pen of man. Take away the spoiles spedely, quickly take prayes.Et dixit Dominus ad me: Sume tibi librum grandem, et scribe in eo stylo hominis: Velociter spolia detrahe, cito prædare. 2And I took unto me faithful witnesses, Urias the priest, and Zacharias the son of Barachias.E mi presi testimoni fedeli, Uria sacerdote, e Zacharia figliuolo di Barachia:And I tooke to me faithful witnesses, Vrias the priest, & Zacharias the sonne of Barachias.Et adhibui mihi testes fideles, Uriam sacerdotem, et Zachariam, filium Barachiæ: 3And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. And the Lord said to me: Call his name, Hasten to take away the spoils: Make hast to take away the prey.E mi accostai alla profetessa, ed ella concepì, e partorì un figliuolo. E il Signore mi disse: Pongli questo nome: Affrettati a tor le spoglie, fa presto a predare.And I went to the prophetesse, and she conceiued, and bare a sonne. And our Lord sayd to me: Cal his name, Hasten to take away the spoiles: make hast to take prayes.et accessi ad prophetissam, et concepit, et peperit filium. Et dixit Dominus ad me: Voca nomen ejus: Accelera spolia detrahere; Festina prædari: 4For before the child know to call his father and his mother, the strength of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of the Assyrians.Perocché primachè sappia il bambino chiamar per nome suo padre, e sua madre, sarò tolta la possanza di Damasco, e le spoglie di Samaria dal re degli Assiri.For before the childe know to cal his father and his mother, the strength of Damascus shal be taken away, and the spoiles of Samaria before the king of the Assirians.quia antequam sciat puer vocare patrem suum et matrem suam, auferetur fortitudo Damasci, et spolia Samariæ, coram rege Assyriorum. 5And the Lord spoke to me again, saying:E di nuovo il Signore parlommi, dicendo;And our Lord added yet to speake vnto me, saying:Et adjecit Dominus loqui ad me adhuc, dicens: 6Forasmuch as this people hath cast away the waters of Siloe, that go with silence, and hath rather taken Rasin, and the son of Romelia:Perchè questo popolo ha avuto in fastidio le acque del Siloe, che scorrono placidamente, ed ha più inclinazione per Rasin, e pel figliuolo di Romelia;For that this people hath cast away the waters of Siloé, that runne with silence, and rather taken Rasin, and the sonne of Romelia:Pro eo quod abjecit populus iste / aquas Siloë, quæ vadunt cum silentio, / et assumpsit magis Rasin, / et filium Romeliæ:
7Therefore behold the Lord will bring upon them the waters of the river strong and many, the king of the Assyrians, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and shall overflow all his banks.Per questo ecco, che il Signore condurrà sopra di loro le acque del fiume impetuose, e abbondanti (il re della Siria, e tutta la potenza di lui); e saliranno sopra tutti i loro rivi, e scorreranno sopra tutte le ripe,for this cause behold our Lord wil bring vpon them the waters of the riuer strong and manie, the king of the Assirians, and al his glorie: and he wil ascend ouer al their riuers, and wil flowe ouer al their bankes.propter hoc ecce Dominus adducet super eos / aquas fluminis fortes et multas, / regem Assyriorum, et omnem gloriam ejus, / et ascendet super omnes rivos ejus, / et fluet super universas ripas ejus; 8And shall pass through Juda, overflowing, and going over shall reach even to the neck. And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy, land, O Emmanuel.E correranno pel paese di Giuda, e passando inonderanno, e arriveranno fino al collo. Ed ei coll'ampiezza delle sue ale empierò l'estensione della terra tua, o Emmanuele.And wil goe through Iuda, ouerflowing, and passing through shal come euen to the necke. And the stretching out of his winges shal fil the bredth of thy land ô Emmanuel.et ibit per Judam, inundans, et transiens: / usque ad collum veniet. / Et erit extensio alarum ejus / implens latitudinem terræ tuæ, o Emmanuel ! 9Gather yourselves together, O ye people, and be overcome, and give ear, all ye lands afar off: strengthen yourselves, and be overcome, gird yourselves, and be overcome.Raunatevi, o popoli, e siate vinti: e voi terre rimote ascoltate tutte quante: prendete ardimento, e siate vinti, mettetevi in ordine, e siate vinti:Gather ye together ô peoples, and be ouercome, and heare al ye landes far of: Take courege, and be ouercome, gird yourselues, & be ouercome.Congregamini, populi, et vincimini; / et audite, universæ procul terræ: / confortamini, et vincimini; / accingite vos, et vincimini. 10Take counsel together, and it shall be defeated: speak a word, and it shall not be done: because God is with us.Fate de' disegni, e saran dissipati: comandate, e non sarà fatto nulla: perchè il Signore (è) con noi.Take counsel and it shal be defeated: speake a word, and it shal not be done: because God is with vs.Inite consilium, et dissipabitur; / loquimini verbum, et non fiet: / quia nobiscum Deus.
11For thus saith the Lord to me: As he hath taught me, with a strong arm, that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying:Imperocché queste cose disse a me il Signore: Quando con mano forte mi corresse, perchè non seguissi gli andamenti di questo popolo, dicendo:For thus sayth our Lord to me: As in a strong arme he hath taught me, that I should not walke in the way of this people, saying:Hæc enim ait Dominus ad me: Sicut in manu forti erudivit me, / ne irem in via populi hujus, dicens: 12Say ye not: A conspiracy: for all that this people speaketh, is a conspiracy: neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.Non istate a dire, Cospirazione; perocché questo popolo non d'altro parla, che di cospirazione. Ma non temete il suo timore, e non vi sbigottite.Say not: Conspiracie: for al thinges that this people speaketh, is conspiracie: and feare ye not their feare, neither dread ye.Non dicatis: Conjuratio; / omnia enim quæ loquitur populus iste, conjuratio est: / et timorem ejus ne timeatis, neque paveatis. 13Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself: and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.Il Signor degli eserciti, lui glorificate: egli sia il vostro timore, e il vostro terrore.The Lord of hostes him sanctifie ye: be he your dread, and he your terrour.Dominum exercituum ipsum sanctificate; / ipse pavor vester, et ipse terror vester: 14And he shall be a sanctification to you. But for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence to the two houses of Israel, for a snare and a ruin to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.Ed ei sarà per voi santificazione. Ma pietra d'inciampo, e pietra di scandalo per le due case d'Israele; e lacciuolo, e rovina per gli abitatori di Gerusalemme.And he shal be a sanctification to you. But for a stone of offence, and for a rocke of scandal to the two houses of Israel, for a snare and a ruine to the inhabitants of Ierusalem.et erit vobis in sanctificationem; / in lapidem autem offensionis, et in petram scandali, / duabus domibus Israël; / in laqueum et in ruinam habitantibus Jerusalem. 15And very many of them shall stumble and fall, and shall be broken in pieces, and shall be snared, and taken.E moltissimi di loro inciamperanno, e caderanno, e s'infrangeranno, e saranno illaqueati, e saranno presi.And verie manie of them shal stumble and fal, and shal be broken in peeces, and shal be snared, and taken.Et offendent ex eis plurimi, / et cadent, et conterentur, / et irretientur, et capientur. 16Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.Ripiega la testimonianza, sigilla la legge pe' miei discepoli.Binde the testimonie, seale the law in my disciples.Liga testimonium, / signa legem in discipulis meis.
17And I will wait for the Lord, who hath hid his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.Or io aspetterò il Signore, il quale ha ascosa la sua faccia alla casa di Giacobbe, e mi affiderò a lui.And I wil expect our Lord, who hath hid his face from the house of Iacob, and I wil wayte for him.Et exspectabo Dominum qui abscondit faciem suam / a domo Jacob, et præstolabor eum. 18Behold I and my children, whom the Lord hath given me for a sign, and for a wonder in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwelleth in mount Sion.Eccomi io, e i miei figliuoli dati a me dal Signore in segno, e portento ad Israele per parte del Signore degli eserciti, che abita nel monte di Sion.Behold I and my children, whom our Lord hath geuen me for a signe, and for a wonder in Israel from the Lord of hostes, which dwelleth in mount Sion.Ecce ego et pueri mei quos dedit mihi Dominus / in signum, et in portentum Israël / a Domino exercituum, / qui habitat in monte Sion: 19And when they shall say to you: Seek of pythons, and of diviners, who mutter in their enchantments: should not the people seek of their God, for the living of the dead?Or quando diranno a voi: Interrogate i pithoni, e gl'indovini, i quali stridono ne' loro incantesimi (rispondete): Non ricorrerà egli il popolo al suo Dio? (ricorrerà egli) a' morti pe' vivi?And when they shal say to you: Aske of Pythones, and of diuiners, which whisper in their inchantments: shal not the people aske vision of their God, for the liuing of the dead?et cum dixerint ad vos: / Quærite a pythonibus / et a divinis qui strident in incantationibus suis: / numquid non populus a Deo suo requiret, / pro vivis a mortuis ? 20To the law rather, and to the testimony. And if they speak not according to this word, they shall not have the morning light.Alla legge piuttosto, ed all'arca. Che se ei non parleranno conformemente a questa parola, non nascerà per essi la luce del giorno.To the law rather, and to the testimonie. And if they speake not according to this word, they shal not haue the morning light.ad legem magis et ad testimonium. / Quod si non dixerint juxta verbum hoc, / non erit eis matutina lux. 21And they shall pass by it, they shall fall, and be hungry: and when they shall be hungry, they will be angry, and curse their king, and their God, and look upwards.E (la luce) passerà da loro, ed eglino cadran per terra, e patiranno la fame, e infuneranno, e malediranno il re loro, e il Dio loro, e alzeran gli occhi in su.And he shal passe by it, shal fal, and be hungrie: and when he shal be hungrie, he wil be angrie, and curse his king, and his God, and wil looke vpwards.Et transibit per eam, corruet, et esuriet; / et cum esurierit, irascetur. / Et maledicet regi suo, et Deo suo, / et suscipiet sursum,
22And they shall look to the earth, and behold trouble and darkness, weakness and distress, and a mist following them, and they cannot fly away from their distress.E mireranno la terra, ed ecco tribolazione, e tenebre, e scompaginamento, ed angustia, e caligine, che gli perseguita, e non potranno sottrarsi a volo dalla loro afflizione.And he wil looke to the earth, and behold tribulation and darknes, dissolution and distresse, and mist persecuting, and he can not flie away from his distresse.et ad terram intuebitur; / et ecce tribulatio et tenebræ, / dissolutio et angustia, / et caligo persequens, / et non poterit avolare de angustia sua.
8:1
Worthington
Book. This mystery would require a large explanation. (Worthington)
Haydock
Pen. Literally, "style." (Haydock)
Calmet
Write intelligibly. Here all is plain. (Calmet)
Haydock
Take. Protestants, "concerning Mahershalalchashbaz." Marginal note, "in making speed to the spoil, he hasteneth the prey." (Haydock)
Calmet
Chashbaz, the son of Isaias, was a sign that Syria and Israel should soon be rendered desolate; and in a more elevated sense, he shewed that Christ should overturn the powers of hell. (Calmet)
Worthington
The virgin's son [Jesus Christ] took the prey from the devil, who before possessed almost all the world. (Worthington)
Calmet
Urias. Probably the high priest, who afterwards weakly complied with the king's idolatrous order, 4 Kings 16:10. (Calmet)
Haydock
Yet at this time, he was a credible witness. (Haydock)
Calmet
Zacharias. A person to us unknown. (Calmet)
8:3
Prophetess. The blessed Virgin [Mary], (St. Chrysostom, etc.) or to his wife. He gives his son a different name from Emmanuel, (chap. 7:14.) that they might not be confounded.
Haydock
Hasten. Hebrew Mahershalalchashbaz, ver. 1. (Haydock)
8:4
8:6
Calmet
Silence. Being willing to receive Tabeel, instead of their lawful prince. Achaz was then terrified, and chose to become tributary, rather than to lose his crown. Herein both offended God, in whom they ought to have trusted; and the auxiliary king looked upon himself as master of the country, 2 Paralipomenon 28:20. (Calmet)
Worthington
Israel had joined with the Syrian; but was reduced to the state of captivity, while Jerusalem was preserved. (Worthington)
8:7
Haydock
River. Euphrates, (Calmet) with the overflowing of which the Assyrian is compared. (Haydock)
8:8
Wings. Or troops.
Calmet
Emmanuel. Christ was born in the country, and Lord of it: though it might be said to belong to the son of Isaias, as being his figure. (Calmet)
8:9
Overcome. The defeat of Sennacherib, of the Idumeans, etc., under Ezechias, is intimated, 4 Kings 18:8., and 19:35.
8:10
God. Hebrew, "Emmanuel." We have a pledge of God's protection.
8:12
Calmet
Conspiracy. In despair, they wish to submit to the enemy, ver. 6. Isaias exhorts them to have recourse rather to the Lord. (Calmet)
8:14
Calmet
Two. The wicked of both kingdoms, (Haydock) who choose to revolt from God. Many of Israel were led into captivity, and the territory of Juda was laid waste. (Calmet)
8:16
Disciples. Let some faithful witnesses keep this prophecy, (Haydock) that when it is verified, all may be convinced.
8:17
Calmet
Jacob. Having resolved on their ruin. (Calmet)
8:18
Haydock
I and my two children. Isaias 7:3., and 8:4. (Haydock)
Calmet
The actions of some were prophetical, Isaias 20:2., and Osee 12:10. (Calmet)
Calmet
God announces what will happen, by the names of my children, (Haydock) and by their age, as well as by my mouth. (Calmet)
8:19
Seek of pythons. That is, people pretending to tell future things by a prophesying spirit.
Challoner
Should not the people seek of their God, for the living of the dead? Here is signified, that it is to God we should pray to be directed, and not to seek of the dead, (that is, of fortune-tellers dead in sin) for the health of the living. (Challoner)
Haydock
Mutter. Literally, "use a shrill note," strident. (Haydock)
So Horace, (1 Sat. viii.) says: Umbrae cum sagana resonarent triste et acutum.
Should. Make this reply: Should, etc.
8:20
Calmet
Law. Sealed, (ver. 16.) or to the law of Moses, Ecclesiasticus 34:28. (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint, "why do they consult the dead concerning the living? For he gave the law to assist us." (Haydock)
Calmet
Light. They shall die or be miserable. (Calmet)
8:21
Haydock
By it. The word of God. (Haydock)
Calmet
God. Elohim means also princes or idols. (Calmet)
Worthington
Whether they seek God unwillingly, or the aid of men, (ver. 22.) they shall perish. (Worthington)
8:19
Seek of pythons.... That is, people pretending to tell future things by a prophesying spirit.—Ibid. Should not the people seek of their God, for the living of the dead?.... Here is signified, that it is to God we should pray to be directed, and not to seek of the dead, (that is, of fortune-tellers dead in sin,) for the health of the living.
8:1
The mysterie here prophocied is of so great importance, as would require a very great booke for ful explication therof.
8:3
Christ the Sonne of God and virgins child quickly taketh the pray from the diuel, who before possessed almost al the world.
8:6
The prophet speaketh of the tenne tribes, vvhich ioyned forces with the king of Syria against Ierusalem, but them selues vvere first brought into captiuity by the Assyrians, God protecting Ierusalem for that time, and long after.
8:14
8:21
VVheter they seke to God in their extreme distresse, not sincerely, but exacted,
8:22
or seke worldlie helpe, they shal not escape miserie.
8:1
St Methodius † AD 311 The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity 5.4
… “My tongue is a pen,” an organ of wisdom; for the Word of the Spirit writes by it in clearest letters, from the depth and power of the Scriptures, even the Lord, the swift Writer of the ages, that He quickly and swiftly registers and fulfils the counsel of the Father, hearing the words, “quickly spoil, swiftly plunder.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.4
… wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God.” The devil looks not for unbelievers, for those who are without, whose flesh the Assyrian king roasted in the furnace. It is the church of Christ that he “makes haste to spoil.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.38
… the Lord is with thee,” she was terror-stricken and unable to reply, for she had never been saluted by a man before. But, on learning who he was, she spoke, and one who had been afraid of a man conversed fearlessly with an angel. Now you, too, may be the Lord’s mother. “Take thee a great roll and write in it with a man’s pen Maher-shalal-hash-baz.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 66.10
… This young child, this mere boy, who is fed on butter and honey, and who is reared among curdled mountains, quickly grows up to manhood, speedily spoils all
8:3
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 3.16.4
… For He was already despoiling men, by removing their ignorance, conferring upon them His own knowledge, and scattering abroad those who recognised Him, as Esaias says: “Call His name, Quickly spoil, Rapidly divide.”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.33.11
… Again, there are those who say, “He is a man, and who shall know him?” and, “I came unto the prophetess, and she bare a son, and His name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God;”
Novatian † AD 258 A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity 28
… And thus, although Christ had not been born as yet in the times of Isaiah the prophet, he said, “For unto us a child is born;” and although Mary had not yet been approached, he said, “And I approached unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son.”
St Peter of Alexandria † AD 311 The Canonical Epistle, with the Commentaries of Theodore Balsamon and John Zonaras 13
… as it is written, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz: for before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 5
But if Jews are obstinate, we will ask the, when was the child called, “Make speed to the spoil, hasten the prey?” Why, they could not say. How is it then that the prophet said, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz?”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 19
… 17 .) Why then doth He this? To show that it was He who gave the old covenant, that it was He who altered names, who called Abram “Abraham,” and Sarai “Sarah,” and Jacob “Israel.” To many he assigned names even from their birth, as to Isaac, and Samson, and to those in Isaiah and Hosea (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.38
… But, on learning who he was, she spoke, and one who had been afraid of a man conversed fearlessly with an angel. Now you, too, may be the Lord’s mother. “Take thee a great roll and write in it with a man’s pen Maher-shalal-hash-baz.” And when you have gone to the prophetess, and have conceived in the womb, and have brought forth a son,
8:4
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 43
… And the land shall be forsaken, which thou shalt with difficulty endure in consequence of the presence of its two kings. But God shall bring on thee, and on thy people, and on the house of thy father, days which have not yet come upon thee since the day in which Ephraim took away from Judah the king of Assyria.’
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 66
… And the land shall be forsaken, which thou shalt with difficulty endure in consequence of the presence of its two kings. But God shall bring on thee, and on thy people, and on the house of thy father, days which have not yet come upon thee since the day in which Ephraim took away from Judah the king of Assyria.’ ”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 3.16.4
… “For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, Father or mother, He shall receive the power of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria, against the king of the Assyrians;”
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 9
… Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and ye shall call his name Emmanuel” (which is, interpreted, “God with us” ): “butter and honey shall he eat;” : “since, ere the child learn to call father or mother, he shall receive the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria, in opposition to the king of the Assyrians.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 3.12
And challenge us first, as is your wont, to consider Isaiah’s description of Christ, while you contend that in no point does it suit. For, to begin with, you say that Isaiah’s Christ will have to be called Emmanuel; then, that He takes the riches of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria against the king of Assyria.
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 3.13
… of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria, and the king of Assyria, as if they portended that the Creator’s Christ was a warrior, not attending to the promise contained in the passage, “For before the Child shall have knowledge to cry, My father and My mother, He shall take away the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria before the king of Assyria.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.18
… With what arms? In what conflicts? From the devastation of what country? From the overthrow of what city? What women, what children, what princes did the Conqueror throw into chains? For when by David Christ is sung as “girded with His sword upon His thigh,” or by Isaiah as “taking away the spoils of Samaria and the power of Damascus,”
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 20
… so that we have prophecies about the Lord Himself even, which are clearer than the day. For it was not figuratively that the Virgin conceived in her womb; nor in a trope did she bear Emmanuel, that is, Jesus, God with us. Even granting that He was figuratively to take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria,
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis 2.6.4
… and that the prophet might show more clearly that no sense of sin had ever entered into Him, he says, “Before the boy could have knowledge to call upon father or mother, He turned away from wickedness.”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 On the Incarnation of the Word 32
… “How lovely are thy habitations O Jacob, thy tabernacles O Israel, as shadowing gardens, and as parks by the rivers, and as tabernacles which the Lord hath fixed, as cedars by the waters. A man shall come forth out of his seed, and shall be Lord over many peoples.” And again, Esaias: “Before
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 On the Incarnation of the Word 35
But what king that ever was, before he had strength to call father or mother, reigned and gained triumphs over his enemies
8:6
St Hippolytus † AD 235 Treatise on Christ and Antichrist 57
… “Forasmuch as the people refuseth to drink the water of Siloam that goeth softly, but chooseth to have Rasin and Romeliah’s son as king over you: therefore, lo, the Lord bringeth up upon you the water of the river, strong and full, even the king of Assyria.”
8:8
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 9
… “Now,” say they, “that (Christ) of yours, who is come, neither was called by that name, nor engaged in warfare.” But we, on the contrary, have thought they ought to be admonished to recall to mind the context of this passage as well. For subjoined is withal the interpretation of Emmanuel—“God with us”
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis iv.1.5
… For a virgin conceived, and bare Emmanuel, which, when interpreted, signifies, “God with us: know it, O nations, and be overcome.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis iv.1-2.5
… for the Virgin bore, and was pregnant, and brought forth a son, and His name is Emmanuel, which is, “God with us;” and as the same prophet says, the prediction has been fulfilled, “God (is) with us; know it, O nations, and be overcome; ye who are strong, be vanquished:”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 31.2
… in respect of His being God, this was hidden from the ungodly, and it required godly men to discover it. Moreover, they said this, “When Christ comes, no man knoweth whence He is,” because that which was spoken by Isaiah produced this opinion in them, viz. “And His generation, who shall tell?”
8:9
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret 1.7
… Wholly bent upon establishing these plantations of tares, they shrink from the scrutiny of the intelligent, avoid the observant, and attack the preachers of godliness. But we do not believe that these atheists can ever thus overcome the Deity. For though they ‘ gird themselves ’ they ‘ shall be broken in pieces, ’ according to the solemn prophecy of Isaiah
8:14
St Barnabas † AD 61 The Epistle of Barnabas 6
… let him draw near to the servant of the Lord.” “Woe unto you, for ye shall all wax old, like a garment, and the moth shall eat you up.” And again the prophet says, “Since as a mighty stone He is laid for crushing, behold I cast down for the foundations of Zion a stone, precious, elect, a corner-stone, honourable.” Next, what says He? “And he who shall trust
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 3.18.3
3. But who is it that has had fellowship with us in the matter of food? Whether is it he who is conceived of by them as the Christ above, who extended himself through Horos, and imparted a form to their mother; or is it He who is from the Virgin, Emmanuel, who did eat butter and honey,
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 14
… and there was not in Him attractiveness or glory. And we saw Him, and He had not attractiveness or grace; but His mien was unhonoured, deficient in comparison of the sons of men,” “a man set in the plague, and knowing how to bear infirmity:” to wit as having been set by the Father “for a stone of offence,”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 3.7
… “He is like a tender plant, like a root out of a thirsty ground; He hath no form nor comeliness; and we beheld Him, and He was without beauty: His form was disfigured;” “marred more than the sons of men; a man stricken with sorrows, and knowing how to bear our infirmity;” “placed by the Father as a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence;”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.13
… But why Peter ? If it was because of the vigour of his faith, there were many solid materials which might lend a name from their strength. Was it because Christ was both a rock and a stone? For we read of His being placed “for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.35
… This is the Lord’s doing.” Now it would be idle, if we believed that God had predicted the humiliation, or even the glory, of any Christ at all, that He could have signed His prophecy for any but Him whom He had foretold under the figure of a stone , and a rock , and a mountain .
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.5
… The very “stumbling-block” which he declares Christ to be “to the Jews,” points unmistakeably to the Creator’s prophecy respecting Him, when by Isaiah He says: “Behold I lay in Sion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 41
… or, if you shrink from imputing servitude to Him, there is no doubt of the rank in which you must place the object of your search. But you are dissatisfied with the syllables, and you stumble at the word, and it is to you a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence;
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 164
… a future event, that flood was a type both of baptism to believers and of destruction to unbelievers, as in that figure in which, not by a transaction but by words, two things are predicted concerning Christ, when He is represented in Scripture as a stone which was destined to be both to unbelievers a stone of stumbling, and to believers a foundation-stone.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 23.5
… Of this same Son of David he speaks as being conceived and born of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Ghost. He also applies to this the declaration of the prophet, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which is being interpreted, God with us."
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 1.10
In Isaiah: “Then shall they be manifest who seal the law, that they may not learn; and he shall say, I wait upon the Lord, who turneth away His face from the house of Jacob, and I shall trust in Him.”
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Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 8.15
… For when He shall come and bring it, He shall come down like rain and snow, and through Him all that is sown shall spring up and bear righteous fruit, and the word shall return to His sender; but not in vain shall His going have been, but thus shall He say in the presence of His sender:— Behold, I and the children that the Lord has given Me.
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 1.6
… in a place of grass, there hath He made me rest; He hath fed me beside the waters of comfort, He hath converted my soul :—that Angels also may share your joy, and Christ Himself the great High Priest, having accepted your resolve, may present you all to the Father, saying, Behold, I and the children whom God hath given Me
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 14
… He is here present in the midst of us, listening to what is said of Him, and beholding thine inward thoughts, and trying the reins and hearts ;—who also is now ready to present those who are coming to baptism, and all of you, in the Holy Ghost to the Father, and to say, Behold, I and the children whom God hath given Me
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 12.1
… “For behold,” He says, “I and the children whom God hath given Me
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Instructions to Catechumens 2.2
… for ye are my friends;” and Paul again, “I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ;” and again, “That he might be the first-born among many brethren;” and we become not his brethren only, but also his children, “For behold,” he says, “I and the children which God has given me”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 20
Moral. Let us then be very thoughtful both for our wives, and children, and servants; knowing that we shall thus be establishing for ourselves an easy government, and shall have our accounts with them gentle and lenient, and say, “Behold I, and the children which God hath given me.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 4
This indeed he brings forward naturally. But this ( ver. 13 ) “I will put my trust in Him” ( 2 Sam. xxii. 3 ), what does it mean? For what follows this is also [introduced] naturally. “Behold, I and the children which God hath given Me.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.41
… The one will rejoice in having borne, the other will exult in having taught you. Then truly will the Lord ride upon his ass, and thus enter the heavenly Jerusalem. Then the little ones (of whom, in Isaiah, the Saviour says: “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me”
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.46
… the many, able to corrupt the word of truth, and mix the wine, which maketh glad the heart of man, with water, mix, that is, our doctrine with what is common and cheap, and debased, and stale, and tasteless, in order to turn the adulteration to our profit, and accommodate ourselves to those who meet us, and curry favor with everyone, becoming ventriloquists
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 32
… Or will you seek it again in lower regions and in your own surroundings? It is very shameful, and not only shameful, but very foolish, to take from things below a guess at things above, and from a fluctuating nature at the things that are unchanging, and as Isaiah says, to seek the Living among the dead.
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 133.5
… However, when it is carefully sifted and considered, it can deceive nobody. For while they acknowledge the grace of God, they tell us that our acts do not depend upon His help. Rather, they understand by the grace of God free will and the commandments of the Law. They quote Isaiah’s words: “God hath given the law to aid men,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 22.9
… Still less can it be compared to that inaccessible light from which all kinds of light are derived. Nor is this light inaccessible to all; for "blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all;" but the wicked shall not see light, as is said in Isaiah.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius 2
… “I certainly used the words, but not in the sense in which they understand them. I did not say that a man is unable to sin who has acquired a knowledge of the law; but that he is by the knowledge of the law assisted towards not sinning, even as it is written, ‘He hath given them a law for help’”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius 62
… while yet without hesitation condemning the heresy itself. They approved indeed of his answer to the objections, that “a man is assisted by a knowledge of the law, towards not sinning; even as it is written, ‘He hath given them a law for a help;’”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 8.23
… the severe restrictions of the law of Moses were added as the executor and vindicator of this (earlier law) and to use the expressions of Scripture, as its helper, that through fear of immediate punishment men might be kept from altogether losing the good of natural knowledge, according to the word of the prophet who says “He gave the law to help them:”
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.56
… and further make themselves happy, and confuse the way of your feet, or mockers ruling over you, or children in authority, immature in mind, not even having bread and clothing enough to be rulers over any; or prophets teaching lies, or rebellious princes, deserving to share the reproach of their elders for the straitness of the famine,
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1. TAKE FOR YOURSELF A LARGE BOOK. — God commands Isaiah to write upon a large parchment rolled into a cylinder (for such were the books of the ancients: hence elsewhere they are called a volume) these five words in large letters: "Quickly strip away the spoils, hasten to plunder," and this, WITH THE WRITING OF A MAN, — that is, with a pen or stylus, and consequently with characters and letters in use among men, that is, openly and clearly, so that it may be read and understood by all. Whence the Chaldean renders it, clear writing; and this first, so that this writing may be a public testimony of this prophecy and promise, by which it, if found false, may be convicted of falsehood; but if found true, as it shall certainly be found, so that it may obtain authority, fame and veneration among all. Secondly, so that it may be transcribed to future ages, indeed to eternity. All these things were done not in reality, but by vision, as shall presently be evident: which vision nevertheless was to be set forth publicly to all, and to be consigned to posterity through Isaiah in this book and chapter: and this was signified symbolically by the writing of a man and the witnesses adduced, etc. QUICKLY STRIP AWAY THE SPOILS, HASTEN TO PLUNDER. — Isaiah shall hear the cause and mystery of this writing explained in verses 3 and 4; for in verse 3 he saw this to be the name of the child about to be born, and this for the reason which we shall hear in verse 4.
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2. AND I TOOK TO ME WITNESSES, — namely the scriptures, or rather access to the prophetess, of which the following speaks, and this so that through authentic witnesses I might write down and seal all these things for future ages. These witnesses too were not truly taken, but were presented to Isaiah through a vision, as I shall show in verse 3. URIAH THE PRIEST, AND ZACHARIAS THE SON OF BARACHIAS. — These were grave men and beyond all exception, indeed they appear to have been Prophets, to whom the same thing was revealed that is revealed here to Isaiah, and who likewise prophesied concerning Christ. Whence through a vision they were shown here to Isaiah, as also the following things: just as in the transfiguration of Christ the witnesses were Moses and Elias, so that it might be signified that the Law and the Prophets attest to Christ, and in him are terminated. Thus St. Cyril and Basil. For Uriah, as a priest, was a teacher of the law like Moses; Zacharias was a Prophet like Elias. Who this Uriah was, as also Zacharias, is uncertain. Some wish this Zacharias to be he who is the last among the minor Prophets: for both were the son of Barachias, and he, equally as this one, the birth of the Messiah and the redemption of men, although long after Isaiah (namely after two hundred years, for he prophesied after the Babylonian captivity was ended), predicted with exultation, concerning which more presently. St. Jerome, however, thinks this Zacharias to be that priest who with others under Hezekiah purified the house of God polluted by Ahaz, II Paralipomenon xxix, 13. There was a third Zacharias son of Jehoiada, but he had been dead for a hundred years, slain by Joash the king, who was the grandfather of Ozias. Finally, he could have been another unknown to us, yet known and famous in the time of Isaiah, who had a father named Barachias, equally as that last of the Prophets. Furthermore, this Uriah seems to some to have been the High Priest, at that time indeed a faithful man, who nevertheless after this prophecy, namely after Damascus was conquered by the Assyrians, through fear of King Ahaz, at his command erected an altar to idols after the manner of the Damascenes and Gentiles, IV Kings xvi. But how could God have called and taken such a one, so light, timid and inconstant, for such great things, as a faithful witness, who was so unfaithful to God, and so easily turned away from the faith of God to idols? Others perhaps more probably think this Uriah to be that Prophet who lived long after Isaiah in the time of Jeremiah, and predicted many evils about to befall the two tribes, and therefore was slain by King Joakim, as Jeremiah testifies, cap. xxvi, vers. 20. The same think Zacharias son of Barachias, the other witness of Isaiah, to be Zacharias who is the last among the minor Prophets, concerning whom I spoke a little before. For since these witnesses were presented to Isaiah through a vision, it is not surprising if not yet born, but about to be born, they are cited: for to God all things that are to come are present. And God did this first, so that Isaiah through this vaticination might prophesy the future prophecy of Uriah and Zacharias, and these in turn through their oracles might confirm the prophecy of Isaiah already past. Secondly, because this prophecy of Isaiah comprises two things chiefly, namely the calamities impending upon the Jews, which Uriah predicted abundantly, and the future liberation through the coming and birth of the Messiah, whom Zacharias sang joyfully, cap. II, vers. 10: "Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Sion," and cap. ix, vers. 9: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion." This is the opinion of St. Chrysostom, Procopius, the Chaldean, R. Akiba in Galatinus, lib. VII, cap. xvi. him the Grandiloquent. Fifth, because he prophesies concerning Christ and Christians in such a manner that he does not appear to be foretelling future things, but rather weaving a history of things past, as St. Jerome says, so that whoever reads Isaiah thinks himself to be conversing in the Gospel. Wherefore in the Gospels and throughout the entire New Testament Isaiah alone is cited and heard more frequently than all the other prophets joined together. For the Gospel is so interspersed and irradiated with the testimonies of Isaiah as with stars, that whoever wishes to expound it must at the same time interpret Isaiah; and whoever interprets this must at the same time expound the Gospel. For we read in Scripture that he foretold a virgin bearing a child, Christ conceived, born, sought out and adored by the Magi, fleeing into Egypt, teaching, preaching, working miracles, suffering, dying, rising again, coming to judgment, judging and triumphing; yet we behold these things not so much described in Scripture as expressed in a living image; so that this prophecy is deservedly called and inscribed a Vision in preference to the rest. Certainly Isaiah depicts the little Emmanuel born to us, and his sorrows, torments and sufferings so graphically and pathetically, that the passion of Jesus Christ can be read and pointed out as much according to Isaiah as according to Matthew or Mark. Wherefore Isaiah is full of spirit, not only prophetic, but also Christian and Apostolic, and his prophecy is not merely prophecy, but also Gospel. Sixth, because he not only foresaw and foretold those things which came to pass shortly after, nor only those things which were to happen in the last ages of Christ, but also those things which were to occur in the time of Antichrist at the end of the world; for this is what is meant by what is said in Ecclesiasticus xlviii, 27: "By a great spirit he saw the last things, and comforted the mourners in Sion unto eternity." Seventh, because he was a worker of wonders, and confirmed his oracles by miracles: for by his prayers he called down an angel, who slew in the army of Sennacherib in one night 185,000 Assyrians. Again, he brought back the sun, and its shadow on the dial of Ahaz, and by this sign restored health to King Hezekiah, and added fifteen years to his life, Isaiah xxxvi and following. Eighth, because he prophesied for many years, namely under Uzziah, who reigned 52 years; under Jotham, who reigned 16; under Ahaz, who reigned 16; under Hezekiah, who reigned 29; and he extended into the reign of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah. Now suppose he began to prophesy in the 17th year of Uzziah, as Eusebius relates in his Chronicle, there will remain from the reign of Uzziah 36 years. To these add 16 of Jotham, 16 of Ahaz, and 29 of Hezekiah, and you will have 96 years during which Isaiah prophesied. Wherefore, if we say that he, like Christ and John the Baptist, did not begin to prophesy before the thirtieth year of his age, according to the custom of the Hebrews; it will follow that he lived to a very advanced age, even to the 126th year of his life, and beyond: for Manasseh slew him, and that not immediately at the beginning of his reign (for he himself began to reign as a boy in the 12th year of his age); but when he had already become older and more wicked. Ninth, because Isaiah was not only a Prophet and Evangelist, but also an Apostle, as Cyril and Chrysostom say— 3. AND I WENT IN UNTO THE PROPHETESS, AND SHE CONCEIVED. — The Rabbis, whom Richard of St. Victor follow (lib. I De Emmanuele, cap. viii), St. Thomas, St. Chrysostom, Sixtus Senensis, Vatablus, Isidorus Clarius, Forerius and Montanus, understand this prophetess to be the wife of Isaiah, unto whom Isaiah went in knowing her, and she conceived and bore a son, to whom Isaiah the father imposed the name: "Make haste to spoil, hasten to take the prey;" so that this son by his name might portend to the Jews that Syria and Samaria would soon be spoiled and exposed to the prey of the Assyrians, as Isaiah predicted in the preceding chapter, verse 16. Whence he adds concerning him: "For before the child shall know to call his father and mother, the strength of Damascus shall be taken away, and the spoils of Samaria," that is to say, Before this child shall be three or four years old so as to be able to speak and call father and mother, the Assyrians shall spoil Syria and Samaria. That this happened thus is proved by the fact that this prophecy appears to have been uttered at the beginning of the reign of Ahaz, who began to reign in the seventeenth year of Pekah king of Israel: but Pekah reigned only twenty years, and at the end of the reign of Pekah Tiglath-pileser king of the Assyrians laid waste many cities of Samaria and transferred their inhabitants to Assyria, IV Kings xv, 29. Therefore Samaria began to be laid waste when this son of Isaiah had not yet completed three years. For Ahaz reigned with Pekah only three years. Moreover, they assert that this son of Isaiah was a type of Christ our Emmanuel, who quickly spoiled the kingdom of the devil: and therefore the mother of this son is called a Prophetess, both because she was the wife of the Prophet Isaiah, just as formerly the wife of a bishop was called a bishop's wife; of a presbyter, a presbyter's wife; of a deacon, a deaconess, which indeed had been his wife before his ordination: for after the ordination of a bishop, presbyter and deacon, they ought to abstain from a wife and live as celibates according to the Canons; and because this wife was pious and devoted to prayer, and perhaps taken from the assembly of virgins who served God in the temple, just as from the same Joseph the Blessed Mary received a spouse; and because perhaps she truly possessed the prophetic spirit; and finally because she was a type of the Blessed Virgin, who was truly a prophetess. This interpretation is favored by what Isaiah says, verse 18: "Behold I and my children, whom God hath given me, for a sign and a wonder in Israel:" for both Shear-jashub and this other son of Isaiah by his name "Make haste to spoil, hasten to take the prey," was a portent and prophesied the destruction of Israel. St. Gregory relates, in book II of the Dialogues, chapter xxxv, concerning St. Benedict, that he was so elevated in mind to God during prayer that he saw the whole world beneath him as if it were a small globe gathered in the rays of the sun. To one asking how this could happen, he responds and assigns the cause and manner, saying: "Because to one who sees God, all creation is narrow," and the mind of St. Benedict, dilated in God, saw the world beneath him as if it were a small globe. In a similar manner our Prophets were so elevated in spirit to God that they perceived even distant things as if placed before them, and therefore their prophecy is called Vision, and they themselves are called Seers, as the book of Addo the Seer, that is, the Prophet; and Saul to Samuel: "Where is the house of the Seer?" to whom Samuel: "I am a seer," that is, a Prophet, I Kings ix, 18. God communicated this foreknowledge to the Prophets, but especially to Isaiah. For Isaiah proposes those things which he predicts so distinctly and clearly that whoever reads them might think he perceives them as present rather than hopes for them as future. Thus Thales, when asked, "How far does truth differ from falsehood?" answered: "As far as the eyes from the ears." The wise man perceived that those things are of undoubted faith which are perceived by the eyes of men, not those which are heard by the ears. Third, the Prophets often take these three things for the same thing, namely, "vision, word, burden," that is, for prophecy, concerning which see chapter xiii, 1. See Canon I. Fourth, he says "vision," not mine, but Isaiah's: not so much from modesty as from historical accuracy, namely so that in following centuries it might be known that this is the book of Isaiah, not of another: for this reason writers prefix their name to the books which they publish. Sons of Amos. — This Amos is different from the Amos who is the third among the minor Prophets, as I said in the Proem. The Hebrews consider both to have been Prophets; for they hand down this rule: whenever in the title of the Prophets the father of the Prophet, or grandfather, or great-grandfather is named, it signifies that each of them was a Prophet; but this rule seems doubtful and false to the learned, concerning which matter I shall treat elsewhere. Whom he saw (that is, heard from God) over Judah and Jerusalem. — The Septuagint, whom he saw against Judah and Jerusalem. For the Hebrew אל al means both over and against: here you would better translate "over." For Isaiah announces not only adversities but also joyful things to Judah. Under "Judah" understand also the tribe of Benjamin: for in the schism of the ten tribes under Jeroboam, this tribe adhered with Judah to Rehoboam and to the house of David, that is to say, This book of Isaiah contains both prosperous and adverse things, which he himself foresaw in spirit in the days of Oziah, Jotham, Achaz and Hezekiah, which were to befall the posterity of Judah and Benjamin, and especially the inhabitants of Jerusalem, partly under those very kings, partly after them. For "in the days of Oziah" is to be referred to "saw," as is evident: for although Isaiah, chapter xiii and following, prophesies also against the Babylonians, Medes, Syrians, Egyptians, etc., nevertheless he prophesies chiefly and most commonly to the Jews. Whence he inscribes his prophecy to them.
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But St. Jerome, Cyril, Basil and the Chaldean here, R. Haccados in Galatinus, book VII, chapter xviii; Procopius, Rupert, St. Augustine, book XVII On the City of God, final chapter; Epiphanius, heresy 78; Eusebius, book VII Demonstration, chapter II, Ambrose in chapter I of Luke, at verses 41 and 44, and many other ancient and modern writers equally reject this sense as crude and Jewish, indeed spurious and obscene, as well as Calvinian, and explain this passage concerning the conception of the Virgin and the birth of Emmanuel. First, because from the Virgin and Emmanuel as he began in the preceding chapter, so he continues to treat in this chapter and the following. Second, because in verse 8, he calls this child Emmanuel: for he says: "And the extension of his wings shall be, filling the breadth of thy land, O Emmanuel!" Which words cannot apply to the son of Isaiah. Third, this child is the same as the child in the preceding chapter, verses 13 and 16; for what he says there: "Because before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good, the land shall be forsaken, which thou abhorrest before the face of the two kings;" here he says of the same child in almost the same words, verse 4: "Because before the child shall know to call his father and his mother, the strength of Damascus shall be taken away, and the spoils of Samaria, before the king of the Assyrians." But that child of whom in the preceding chapter cannot be understood as the son of Isaiah (who was not yet born then, indeed Isaiah had not yet made any mention of him; for in this chapter he is said to be about to be conceived), but Emmanuel or Christ, as is evident from what immediately precedes: "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel;" therefore in this chapter too no other child can be understood than Emmanuel. Fourth, because the Septuagint, verse 4, says that this child shall despoil Samaria. For what we have, "the strength of Damascus shall be taken away, and the spoils of Samaria;" they translate, he shall take the strength of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria; which can properly apply to Christ alone, to the son of Isaiah only improperly, in this way, he shall take, that is, he shall portend to be taken. Fifth, because the preceding explanation does not sufficiently cohere with the words of the Prophet, and with history. For the kingdom of Samaria was overthrown in the sixth year of Hezekiah, when this son of Isaiah already knew well how to call his father and mother: for he was then easily sixteen years old: the contrary of which Isaiah asserts here. Some respond that the kingdom of Samaria was indeed overthrown then, but the Assyrians began to plunder it long before, which Isaiah here only predicts. But against this, Isaiah predicts not only plundering, but also the destruction of the kingdom; for in chapter vii, verse 8, he expressly says: "Yet sixty-five years, and Ephraim shall cease to be a people." Calvin objects secondly (who denies that the penetration of bodies—so that two are in the same place—is possible to God; and therefore denies that the Virgin remaining a virgin gave birth, just as he denies that Christ after the resurrection entered to the disciples with closed doors) that it is not proved that the Blessed Virgin remaining a virgin conceived and bore Christ, because these words: "Behold a virgin shall conceive," can be taken in the divided sense, not the composite, that is to say, She who was before a virgin, she after intercourse, not a virgin, but corrupted conceived. But St. Matthew clearly refutes this invention, chapter 1, verses 20 and 23, where, to remove all doubt, he says: "That which is conceived in her (not from Joseph the man, but) is of the Holy Ghost." Therefore the Virgin remaining a virgin conceived from the Holy Ghost. Then he adds: "Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son; and they shall call his name Emmanuel." All the Fathers refute the same, and the whole Church, which thus takes these words of Isaiah and Matthew in the composite sense, and therefore firmly believes that the Blessed Virgin was a virgin both in childbirth and after childbirth, as before childbirth. Our Father Canisius cites this, book II Mariale, chapters XIV and XV. And what, I ask, would be this sign, which a vir- The mountain prepared, the house of the Lord. — The Hebrew מכון nachon signifies not only prepared, erected, directed, but also founded, fortified, instructed, made firm and established; so that no forces, indeed not even the gates of hell can prevail against it. Thus also elsewhere often to prepare is taken for to make firm, as in Proverbs viii. 27: "When he prepared, that is, founded, the heavens, I was present." Psalm xxiii, verse 2: "Upon the rivers he prepared, that is, made firm, it," namely the earth. You will ask: Who is this mountain? Some, indeed the Jews, answer that it is Sion, which, they say, under the Messiah will be placed upon Mount Carmel and Thabor, and will be raised upward for three leagues. But these are their customary lamentations. See Galatinus, lib. V, cap. III. Secondly, some Catholics understand by the mountain the glory of Sion, which namely it received when Christ was presented in the temple, taught in the twelfth year, performed many miracles, and finally sent the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles from heaven. But this sense is symbolic. Thirdly, St. Cyprian, or whoever is the author of the book On Sinai and Sion, say that this mountain is the cross of Christ. Again St. Gregory, lib. I in I Kings, says that this mountain is the blessed Virgin: for her sanctity shone forth above all the Saints and Angels, and stood out like a mountain. For she "raised the summit of her merits above all the choirs of Angels even to the throne of divinity," says St. Gregory in lib. I Kings, cap. 1, at the beginning. But these too are symbolic and mystical. Fourthly, St. Jerome, Basil, Rupert, and many others of the ancients hold that this mountain is Christ. For he is the mountain in the height of mountains, that is, of the Apostles and Prophets, whom his doctrine and grace surpasses and excels. This sense coheres with the following: for Christ is the head of the Church; whence Christ and the Church are reckoned as one thing, according to the rules of Tyconius in St. Augustine. Whatever therefore is said of the Church is said also of Christ: and conversely. Fifthly, and most fittingly, Cyril here, and Eusebius, lib. II Demonstr. cap. xxxii, Athanasius, at the beginning of his epistle to Epictetus, understand by the mountain the Church; for this is the house of the Lord most high, and most conspicuous, just as if it were situated on a mountain. It is 27. Sion shall be redeemed in judgment. — That is to say, Israel shall be freed from Babylon through Cyrus after just satisfaction, namely the penalty of seventy years of captivity endured: for that is called judgment here, because by the just judgment of God it was inflicted upon them. Hence the Septuagint translates: Her captivity shall be saved with judgment. Whence then Esdras, Nehemias and other just judges and princes "shall bring back," and shall govern "her in justice," as I explained in the preceding verse. Otherwise Sanchez, "in judgment," he says, that is, not rashly, but with selection; because namely those shall be brought back who shall be fearing God, as Tobias says, cap. ult., verse 7, and whose spirit God raised up, as it is said in I Esdras 1, 1. Secondly, more fully and truly this was accomplished through Christ (to whom the Prophet flies here as is customary, according to Can. vi and xii) who "in judgment," that is, from strict justice, redeemed Sion, that is, the Church of Jews and Gentiles, which began in Sion and Jerusalem. Where note: This redemption of Christ, although it was a work of supreme clemency and mercy, is nevertheless called here "judgment and justice." First, because Christ from justice, having paid the ransom, namely the price of his blood, redeemed us. Secondly, because the demon, as a tyrant, unjustly held the Jews and other men captive, although sinners, driving them at his will to every crime; whence justly by Christ he was deprived of this tyranny. Thirdly, because although the demon received from God the power of a torturer over sinners, to kill them with present and eternal death, nevertheless he did not receive power over Christ, who is just and the Son of God. Whence because he abused this power of his, when he contrived to have him killed through the Jews, hence justly he merited to be deprived of it altogether: Christ also by his death, so iniquitous and unworthy, merited this same thing; and this is what Christ says in John cap. xii, verse 31: "Now is the judgment of the world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out." Thus St. Jerome and Rupert. Fourthly, because Christ gives and infuses justice to the Church and to sinners, while he redeems them from sin and justifies them. Anagogically Christ will most perfectly redeem Sion, that is, the Church, from all evil both of guilt and of punishment in the last resurrection, and this on account of the merit of the penance and patience of Sion in this life. 1. And the Lord said unto me: Take thee a great book, and write in it with the pen of a man: Make haste to the spoils, quickly plunder. 2. And I took unto me faithful witnesses, Urias the priest, and Zacharias the son of Barachias: 3. and I went in unto the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. And the Lord said unto me: Call his name, Make haste to the spoils: Hasten to plunder. 4. For before the child shall know to call his father and his mother, the strength of Damascus shall be taken away, and the spoils of Samaria, before the king of the Assyrians. 5. And the Lord added to speak unto me yet, saying: 6. Because this people hath rejected the waters of Siloe, that go softly, and hath rather taken Rasin, and the son of Romelia: 7. therefore behold the Lord will bring upon them the strong and many waters of the river, the king of the Assyrians, and all his glory: and he shall go up upon all his streams, and shall flow over all his banks, 8. and shall pass through Juda, overflowing and going over until he come to the neck. And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Emmanuel! 9. Gather yourselves together, O ye people, and be overcome, and hear, all ye far countries: gird yourselves, and be overcome, arm yourselves, and be overcome: 10. Take counsel together, and it shall be defeated: speak a word, and it shall not stand: because God is with us. 11. For thus saith the Lord unto me: With a strong hand he hath instructed me, that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying: 12. Say ye not, A conspiracy; for all that this people shall say, is a conspiracy: and fear not their fear, neither be ye troubled. 13. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself: let him be your fear, and let him be your dread, 14. And he shall be unto you for sanctification. But for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence to the two houses of Israel; for a snare and a ruin to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15. And many of them shall stumble, and fall, and shall be broken in pieces, and shall be snared, and taken. 16. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. 17. And I will wait for the Lord, who hath hid his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. 18. Behold I and my children, whom God hath given me for signs, and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwelleth in mount Sion. 19. And when they shall say unto you: Seek ye from them that have familiar spirits, and from the wizards, that chirp in their incantations. Should not a people seek from their God, for the living from the dead? 20. To the law rather, and to the testimony. And if they speak not according to this word, there shall be no morning light for them. 21. And he shall pass through it, he shall fall, and shall be hungry: and when he shall be hungry, he shall be angry, and shall curse his king, and his God, and shall look upward. 22. And shall look to the earth, and behold trouble and darkness, dissolution and anguish, and darkness pursuing, and he shall not be able to fly away from his anguish. (2) The prophet, freed from the consciousness of his unworthiness, now felt himself most ready to serve so great a king along with the other ministers, the Seraphs. When therefore he heard the Lord asking whom He would have as a minister for some great province, now made bolder, he offers himself willingly. "Who will go for us," that is, for us, to execute our commands, as Kimchi explains, who moreover observes that the plural "for us" is used because God is represented as speaking with the Seraphs and taking counsel with them concerning this matter. Michael considers this unworthy of God. But since in this vision God is presented as a king, and all His images are drawn from the royal court, Jehovah can be described not inappropriately as a king questioning His counselors from His throne concerning whom He would send to the Jews to carry His commands to them. I prefer, however, to understand "for us" as a simple plural of majesty, which God uses when speaking of Himself. Cf. Gesenius's Lehrgeb., pp. 663, 799. Jerome: "In place of what both we and all other interpreters have translated as 'for us,' which in Hebrew is called lanu, I know not what the Septuagint meant to put, 'to this people,' which is not at all in the Hebrew (it appears the Greek interpreter's eye wandered to the following verse, where 'to this people' is read). But when it is said from God's person 'for us,' it should be understood in that sense in which we also read in Genesis (I, 26): Let us make man to our image and likeness, so that it may indicate the mystery of the Trinity. For when in the Gospel (John X, 30) we read the Lord saying: I and the Father are one, and we refer 'one' to nature, 'are' to the diversity of persons. Thus when the Lord commands, the Trinity commands. For this reason, however, the Lord does not say whom He commands to go, but proposes to those listening an option, so that the will may obtain its reward. And the Prophet does not promise to go by temerity and arrogance of his own conscience, but by confidence, because his lips have been purified, and his iniquity taken away, and his sin cleansed." The Chaldean: And who will go to teach? Nor did the Syriac express 'for us.' Since there were those who from this verse would conclude that this song was the first of all that Isaiah produced, Kimchi in the Preface to his Commentary on our Prophet strives to refute this opinion with this observation: "From that chapter VI, 8, Whom shall I send? it is clear that there existed Isaiah and others, besides himself, as prophets; and truly Amos then lived, Zechariah, who understood the vision of God, and Hosea, son of Beeri. He says: Whom shall I send? namely, one who knows how to reprove this people: for I have sent to him prophets, and they have profited nothing; Isaiah answered: Behold I, send me! as if to say: Lo! I still exist; if I have still profited nothing, perhaps I shall profit in the future." Which sense is inferred merely from arbitrary choice. (Rosenmüller.) 17. I WILL WAIT FOR THE LORD,—that is to say, Although the Lord may seem to have forgotten His people, and to have hidden and turned His face from them; yet I will not cast away hope, but will wait for Him, even if He delays: because the Lord will have mercy on His people, and therefore already some, but in the time of Christ many more, shall be converted from it; for to that people I and my children are given for a sign and a wonder, as follows. AND I WILL LOOK FOR HIM.—The Septuagint and from them St. Paul, Hebrews II, 13, translate it, and I trusting in Him, that is to say, I am confident that God will now deliver His people from enemies; and more so that in the time of Christ through Christ He will convert some of the Jews, namely the Apostles, who then shall convert the remnants of the Jews and all nations, and thus shall plunder and despoil the whole kingdom of Syria and Samaria, that is, of infidelity and likewise of the devil. First, our Sanchez thus explains it, that is to say, I will wait and hope in God; for my children bid me to hope, who by their name portend salvation: just as by his name he portends the salvation of the Gentiles, and the dereliction of the Jews while offspring, Hosea chapter I; and thus they were a wonder to Israel: for one son of mine, namely Shear-jashub, by his name signifies the remnants of the people to be converted; the other, whose name is "Hasten to the spoil, make speed to the prey," signifies that Judea is soon to be delivered from the two kings Rezin and Pekah. But allegorically Isaiah, that is Christ, hopes for the faith and salvation of the world, whose children, that is the Apostles, became a wonder to the world. For two of His primary sons are, namely Simon, whom He called Peter on account of the strength and firmness of faith; and James and John brothers, whom He called Boanerges, that is sons of thunder, because by their preaching they would strike down and convert Jews and Gentiles. But concerning this sense I have spoken at verse 3. Leo Castrius refutes this with many arguments. Much less can this passage be understood of Hosea, the last king of Israel: because he had already been killed, and the kingdom of Israel had been overthrown, not by the Moabites, but by the Assyrians. Third, some Hebrews and Forerius translate "lamb" as "ram," and by ram they understand either war machines, which are called rams on account of their similarity to rams, or strong leaders and soldiers like rams, as if the Prophet were speaking by irony and mockery: O Moabites! prepare rams, leaders and soldiers to attack Zion, who may rule the holy land and subject it to yourselves; but you will do this in vain, nay rather you will pay the penalty for your arrogance. But I say with St. Jerome, Hugh, Lyran, Adam, Vatablus and others, that by "lamb" here is understood Christ, who was born from Ruth the Moabite. For when Isaiah prophesied concerning the destruction of Moab, and saw the nation about to perish, he grieved. Whence on the other hand, seeing that Christ was about to be born from Ruth the Moabite, he flies to him in his manner (whence the Plantin Bible encloses this verse in parentheses), and consoles himself and the Moabites by his nativity, and thence immediately returns to the narrative he had begun, and to the burdens of Moab: See Can. IV, q. d. Send, O Lord! or, as it is in Hebrew, שלחו scilchu, that is, send, and rain, namely, O heavens! or you, O Father! O Son! O Holy Spirit! not those mute lambs and tribute-bearing lambs of the Moabites, but the lamb who is lord of the earth, that is Christ, who as the Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world, and rules over the whole Church and world: send, I say, him from the city of Petra in the desert, which is in Moab, namely from Ruth the Moabite, who, born in this city, long ago departed from it to the Jews. Wherefore what Vatablus thus expounds: O Lord! do not destroy the Moabites, so that at length the Messiah may be born, should be understood thus, namely so that the Messiah may be born, who may save his own kinsmen, namely the Moabites. For he himself will be born from Ruth, who long ago by God's counsel passed from Moab to the Jews, so that namely Christ might descend from her, who would bring salvation to the Moabites. For otherwise, even if all the Moabites had been destroyed, still Christ would have descended from David and Ruth; inasmuch as she had long before this calamity been joined to the Jewish people. For Boaz from Ruth begat Obed, Obed begat Jesse, Jesse begat David, from whom Christ was born. virgins consecrated to God; but also properly, because she foretold future things, as in her hymn Magnificat she foretold this: "All generations shall call me blessed:" which we also see fulfilled and verified everywhere even today. Second, she was a prophetess, because she bore the greatest prophet of the world, namely Christ. Third, because in her was accomplished that great sacrament of piety, namely that a virgin should conceive and bear to us Emmanuel, as I said in the preceding chapter; for he alludes to this. For to prophesy in Scripture sometimes signifies to work miracles, as I said in the Proem. But the greatest miracle and portent was the Word made flesh in the Virgin. The Blessed Virgin therefore prophesied, when she conceived and bore to us God, and clothed him in her flesh and embodied him. The sense therefore is: In the vision shown to me appeared the august prophetess the Blessed Virgin Mary, and it was indicated to me that I should approach her; for she would explain to me what it was that I had heard verse 1: "Write, Quickly strip away the spoils, speedily plunder." Reverently therefore I approached her, greeted her, and saw her by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit conceive and bear Emmanuel, to whom I was commanded to give that name which I had heard verse 1: "Quickly strip away the spoils, speedily plunder;" and in him I saw and understood my vision completed and explained. That all these things may be better connected and understood, note that all these things did not happen in reality, but were presented to Isaiah by imagination and vision. Thus as in chapter vi, Isaiah by mental vision saw God on the throne, and Seraphim acclaiming to him "Holy," and one of them with a burning coal touching his lips: so also here he saw not corporally, but mentally a great book, in which it seemed to him that he wrote with the style of a man, "Quickly strip away the spoils," and mentally he called upon Uriah and Zechariah as witnesses of his writing: and when Isaiah did not understand what this writing meant, God indicated to him that he should approach a certain venerable matron and prophetess, whom he presented to his imagination. It seemed to him therefore that Isaiah approached her, and saw that she conceived and bore a son, to whom he was commanded to impose that name which he was ordered to write in the book, namely: "Hasten to strip away the spoils: Make haste to plunder." Soon he learns the cause and mystery hidden in this name, when he hears: "Because before the boy knows," etc. Symbolically, St. Jerome and Origen understand by the prophetess the Holy Spirit; for רוח ruach, that is, spirit, is of the feminine gender in Hebrew. For Christ was conceived and born of the Holy Spirit. She is called Prophetess, because the Prophets drew from Him and conceived their prophecies from Him, according to that: "Come ye to him, and you shall be enlightened." This sense is somewhat harsh; for the Holy Spirit did not conceive and bear Christ, which Isaiah here asserts of the prophetess. More plainly Eusebius, lib. VII Demonstr. Evangel., cap. II, thinks these words can be attributed to the Holy Spirit, as if to say: I, the Holy Spirit, shall come to the virgin, and shall overshadow her and make her fruitful, so that she may bear the Messiah. To this Epiphanius agrees, hæresi 30, which is that of the Ebionites, who understand this of the approach and entrance of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin, so that he might announce to her the conception and birth of the Messiah from the Holy Spirit.
8:4
CALL HIS NAME, HASTEN TO STRIP THE SPOILS.—"Call," that is, preach that such shall be this child, so that by right he can be called thus; for indeed this name was not imposed on Christ in fact, but another, namely Jesus. See Can. XXXVII and XXIX. Note: Isaiah is commanded to call Christ by two names which signify the same thing, namely first: "Hasten to strip the spoils;" secondly: "Make haste to prey," so that a certain and great swiftness of this preying may be signified, as if to say: Thou child, O Christ! shalt be the swiftest plunderer, thou most speedily shalt strip from him us, who were the spoils of the devil, and shalt turn and pervade the world like lightning, as Apelles painted Alexander the Great holding lightning in his hand, because he himself most speedily, namely in six years, subjugated the world, and became a monarch, as if to say: Christ shall speedily plunder and prey upon the kingdom of the devil, when ascending on high he shall lead captivity captive, likewise the kingdom of Damascus and Samaria, as follows. This is what Paul says of Christ: "Despoiling the principalities and powers, he hath exposed them confidently in open shew, triumphing over them in himself," Coloss. II, 15. Such a plunderer and despoiler of the devil was Paul, of whom Jacob, Genesis xlix, 27: "Benjamin a ravenous wolf, in the morning he shall devour the prey, and in the evening he shall divide the spoils." Secondly, these two names intimate that Christ shall despoil of life and kingdom two kings, namely Rasin and Phacee, again Herod and Obodas; finally, that he shall do the same thing twice, the first time as it were in sign and prelude of the latter; for the slaughter of Rasin and Phacee was a sign of the slaughter of Herod and Obodas. 9. Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom. — In Hebrew it is, unless the Lord צבאות sabaoth, that is, of hosts: for sabaoth is a name, or rather an epithet of God, signifying God's power equipped with the greatest, most ready and unconquerable hosts of heavenly and earthly creatures, namely Angels, stars, lightnings, hail, thunders, bears, lions, wasps, and all creatures, against which no one can resist, as if to say: Why then do you, O Jews, dare to resist God of hosts? Anna, the mother of Samuel, is first read to have named and invoked God of hosts, I Kings i. See what is said concerning the ten names of God at Exodus vi, 3. Note: For seed in Hebrew it is שריד sarid, that is, a remnant, few remnants, as if to say: Unless God from that common and universal desolation by the enemy had preserved a few, as it were remnants and seed of the nation (as Noe was the seed of the human race) and made them survivors; we all Jews would have been utterly destroyed like Sodom: for so great was the impiety of Jerusalem as well as of Sodom, that Josephus, book VI of the Wars, chapter xvi, says: "I think, if the Romans had delayed coming against the guilty, either the city would have been devoured by a chasm of the earth, or perished by a flood, or suffered the fires of lightning and of Sodom: for it bore a far more impious generation than that one produced." Isaiah speaks literally both of those few Jews who survived the Babylonian captivity, and returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel and Jesus son of Josedec; and of the fewer who survived the Roman disaster through Titus. The Jews therefore, because they sinned equally, indeed more than the Sodomites, hence were punished more than they: this is what Jeremiah says in Lamentations iv, 6: "Greater has been made the iniquity (that is, the punishment of iniquity) of the daughter of my people than the sin (that is, the punishment of the sin) of Sodom." This sense corresponds to the Hebrew sarid, and is the plainest and simplest, and therefore the genuine one. Sanchez explains it somewhat differently, as if to say: On account of a few just men, such as Hosea, Amos, Joel, Jonah, Micah, who were the true seed of God, that is, holy men, God did not utterly destroy the city and nation of the Jews: just as He would not have destroyed Sodom, if ten just men had been found in it. Allegorically the Apostle, Romans ix, 29, transfers these words to Christ, as if to say: Unless God from the Jews a small remnant, namely the Blessed Virgin, the Apostles, and a few others believing in Christ, had selected and reserved, all Israel would have been rejected on account of infidelity, and would have perished like Sodom and Gomorrha. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, Rupert and Haymo. To this are added Origen and Oecumenius in Romans ix, who by "seed" understand Christ, or the doctrine of Christ. Thus also St. Basil and Hugh explain it, as if to say: Unless God from the Jews His seed, that is, Christ about to be born, had decreed, and therefore had preserved some Jews, from whom He would be born, in this destruction, all would have been destroyed. To Christ therefore the Jews owe it that they were not completely cut off. Thus Ovid said of Fabius Maximus in book I of the Epistles from Pontus, elegy 2: That you might be born, although three hundred fell, One day did not take away all the Fabii. As if to say: In so great a disaster of the Fabii brought about by Hannibal, God preserved one, from whom Fabius Maximus, the pillar of the Republic, would be born. Exact Chronologists note that these things concerning the Virgin about to bear Emmanuel, predicted by Isaiah, were in the year 3 of Ahaz, or at the beginning of the fourth year: but those things which this chapter viii predicts pertain chiefly to the year 4 of the reign of Ahaz, and began to be fulfilled in that year. For from IV Kings xvi, and II Paralipomenon xxviii, it is established that in this year 4 Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria transferred the Nephtalites and a great part of Samaria to the Assyrians: Pekah also was slain by Hosea, who seized the kingdom, and was the last king of Samaria, overthrown with his kingdom by Shalmaneser in the year 9 of his reign, which was the sixth of Hezekiah. Similarly Tiglath-pileser then took Damascus with Rezin slain, and transferred its inhabitants to Cyrene. For these things happened in the year 20 of Jotham, as it is said in IV Kings xv, 30, that is, from the year in which Jotham began to reign, year 20, which was the year 4 of Ahaz; for Jotham reigned only 16 years, and Ahaz immediately succeeded him. Thus the Hebrews in the Seder-Olam. Again, that Pekah was slain in the year 4 of Ahaz is evident from IV Kings xv, 27, where it is said that Pekah began to reign in the year 52 of Uzziah, and reigned 20 years. But in the year 52 of Uzziah, Jotham succeeded, who reigned 16 years: then Ahaz succeeded him, whose year 4 was the twentieth and last year of Pekah. Therefore Calvin errs shamefully when here at verse 16 he affirms that Pekah perished in the twelfth year of Ahaz, and that Hoshea then succeeded him: for from what has been said it is clear that these things happened eight years earlier, namely in the fourth year of Ahaz. See here how swiftly this prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled, namely in that same year, so that the name Emmanuel, who accomplished these things, was rightly called by him: "Make haste to the spoil, draw near to the prey," etc. Again this prophecy was fulfilled in Herod and Obodas king of Damascus, as I said at chapter vii, verse 16; for Emmanuel, already born, cast down these men from kingdom and life. Therefore the strength of Damascus and Syria are Herod and the Herodians, and the Jews and Gentiles pulling the same rope with Herod, and persecuting Christ and Christians. All these indeed Emmanuel either overthrew or subdued, and subjected to his faith, and thus he freed the Jews, that is the true faithful confessing God, from their servitude and tyranny. Therefore Isaiah here predicts five spoliations. First, that as an antitype of this liberation of Judea from Rasin and Pekah, and the spoiling of Samaria and Syria, Emmanuel newly born will free Judea and the Church from the tyranny of Herod and Obodas; and he will begin to spoil when he shall call the three Magi, formerly unbelievers, led by a star from Damascus, that is from the East, with their riches and treasures, from the spoils of Samaria, that is from idolatry, to which Samaria was especially devoted, to his cradle and manger, so that they might offer to him as their king and Lord gold, frankincense and myrrh, which they had previously offered to idols and the devil. Second, from Damascus and Samaria, that is from the kingdom of the devil, he will take away innocent children, to be slain by Herod in hatred of the newborn king, whom the little king himself will crown with the laurel of martyrdom in their cradles. Thus Irenaeus, book III, chapter xlviii. Third, this little one, still in his mother's arms, fleeing from Herod and entering Egypt, will break idols there: as tradition holds that he actually did, of which below at chapter xix, verse 1. And so from that time he will begin to drive out and dispel idolatry from it and from the world. Fourth, that this little one will bring the light of faith to shepherds, whom he will call through an Angel to the manger, likewise to Simeon, Anna and other elect ones, when he shall be presented in the temple. Finally, before he is born, he will drive out infidelity, sin and the demon from the hearts of many; through his grace and faith, as the one and only mediator, and he will cause all the Saints, both in the law of nature and in the Mosaic law, to overcome the devil through his merits foreseen, which God in his foreknowledge has already accepted and rewarded, giving therefore grace to all the just who preceded Christ. Thus St. Athanasius, in the book On the Incarnation of the Word, chapter I. You see therefore how this little one from the womb, indeed before the womb, began to spoil and plunder. That is, by two kings of his own, or on account of the crimes of two of his kings their land will be abandoned. Secondly, Vatablus refers these things to you abhor, as if to say, "By the face," that is, on account of two kings who think to besiege and destroy you, O Achaz! you abhor their land and kingdom. He speaks of the slaughter of Rasin and Phacee. For Rasin was killed by the Assyrians, Phacee by Osee the prefect and successor, as will be evident in chapter VIII. Secondly, in a new way (but properly to the time of Christ), the Reverend Father John Deckerius, a distinguished Chronologer as well as Theologian, and once my colleague at Louvain, understands by the king of Samaria Herod; by the king of Syria, Oboda: for under these kings Christ was born, and as an infant he deprived them of kingdom and life. For Herod died miserably, and lived scarcely fifteen months after Christ was born; Oboda died a few months before Herod, as Josephus testifies, book XVI, chapter XIX, and Strabo, book XVI of the Geography. Whence he significantly says: "The land will be abandoned by the face of kings," not of these, namely Rasin and Phacee, but "of his own" (or, as Symmachus, Aquila, Theodotion and the Chaldean render it, of his), namely of Herod and Oboda, whose type and predecessors were Phacee and Rasin. For these kings, and especially Herod, were enemies of the Jews, and attempted to extinguish the royal line of David and Achaz. Wherefore Herod, although he was also king of Judaea and Jerusalem, is nevertheless called king of Samaria both by Isaias and by Appian of Alexandria, book V of the Civil Wars, because he was a foreigner and a tyrant and enemy of the Jews, as appeared both in the infanticide of the Holy Innocents, and in that cruel decree by which, dying, he ordered the chief men of the Jews shut up in the circus to be killed, lest the Jews rejoice at his death, but be forced even unwillingly to weep over the slaughter of their own. The sense therefore is, as if to say, These kings, and especially Herod, strive to transfer the kingdom of Judaea from your, O Achaz! line to themselves, and to overthrow your descendants; but behold Emmanuel about to be born from you, while still an infant will quickly overthrow him, and destroy him with a wasting disease, and thus will restore the kingdom of Judaea to himself and your line, will increase and glorify it. Isaias therefore alludes to the infanticide of Herod, and asserts that Emmanuel as an infant will overcome and kill the infanticide Herod, by whom he was sought unto death. That this sense is also literal will be evident from chapter VIII, verse 4. 2. HE FENCED IT, AND GATHERED OUT THE STONES THEREOF, etc. — For stones are wont to be gathered and removed from stony ground, so that vines may be planted in it. Christ used this parable almost word for word, Matthew XXI, as Isaias predicted, verse 1. Both Isaias, as he himself explains, verse 7, and Christ understand by the vineyard the Church, or the Synagogue, as also the Psalmist, Psalm LXXIX, 9: "The vineyard," he says, "thou broughtest out of Egypt; thou didst cast out the nations" from Chanaan, and there "didst plant it." The hedge, the winepress, the tower, the removal of stones, etc., signify in general that God cultivated the Church in all things, and provided for it with all necessaries. But particularly and distinctly the hedge first was the wall of Jerusalem, says St. Jerome; secondly, and more aptly, the hedge was the law and precepts, which were given as a hedge to the people, so that they might protect them, and keep them in duty and piety. Thus the Author of the Imperfect Work, Theophylactus and Euthymius in Matthew XXI, and Irenaeus, book IV, chapter LXX. Again thirdly, the hedge was the custody of God and the Angels, say St. Ambrose, Jerome and Origen, who in homily 19 on John thus says: "The custody of God was the hedge of the vineyard, the tower the temple, the winepress the place of libations." This is what Zacharias says, chapter II: "Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls," that is, the Synagogue and Church; for "I will be to her," says the Lord, "a wall of fire round about." Thus it is said in Isaias XXVI, 1: "The city of our strength Sion, the Saviour shall be set in it as a wall and bulwark." Again Psalm XXXIII, 8: "The Angel of the Lord shall encamp (in Hebrew חנה chone, that is, shall pitch camp) round about them that fear him: and shall deliver them." Finally Zacharias IX: "I will encamp," he says, "about my house with them that march and return:" where in Hebrew it is חניתי chaniti, that is, "I will pitch camp about my house with the soldier passing by," namely through the Angels. Fourthly, H. Pintus understands by the hedge holy men, who are to the people as a wall before God, by whom removed the people are trampled, as when Lot went out, Sodom was consumed; when the Hebrews went out, Egypt perished. You ask secondly, what is the dignity, excellence and obscurity of the prophet Isaiah before the other Prophets? I answer: St. Jerome describes these things beautifully here, and they are evident from many considerations. First, because just as St. Paul was caught up to the third heaven, and there was made a teacher and Apostle sent to the Gentiles: so Isaiah saw God, and by Him was made a Prophet, as will be said in chapter vi; whence in Ecclesiasticus xlviii, verse 25, Isaiah is called "a great prophet, holy and faithful;" because what God had revealed to him, he announced with alacrity, freely, constantly and faithfully: testimony of his alacrity is in chapter vi, verse 8, where, God seeming to hesitate whom He would send to the hardened Jews, he himself, trusting and joyful, offers himself. Secondly, because he was consecrated a Prophet, kindled by a Seraph with a burning coal, and became as it were a Seraph and of the Seraphic order, chapter vi, verse 6. For he was destined by God for this purpose, that he might inflame the cold and frozen hearts of men with his burning discourse, life and charity, with the knowledge and love of God. Thirdly, because in Hebrew he is most eloquent, as St. Jerome testifies. Whence St. Thomas (or whoever is the Author) in the Prologue to Isaiah: Isaiah, he says, excels the other Prophets in three ways, namely in the most beautiful similitudes, in the expression of thought, in the elegance of words: because he was noble and eloquent. For the Holy Spirit is accustomed to adapt Himself to His instruments, so that in the urbane He appears urbane, in the rustic rustic, in the eloquent eloquent; just as a flute-player modulates subtly in subtle flutes, more coarsely in coarser ones, as our Anthony Fernandius says in the Prologue to the visions of Isaiah. Fourthly, because he had the most ample, most sublime and most clear prophetic light. For there is scarcely anything which pertains to the condition of the Hebrews and other Gentiles, and which has been predicted by the other Prophets, which you would not find much more clearly and weightily in Isaiah. "Isaiah," says Nazianzenus, Oration 3, at the beginning, "excels all the Prophets in the sublimity of his voice;" whence elsewhere Tropologically, Christ as an infant in His very birth began to overcome Damascus and Samaria, that is, the world's strength, wisdom and glory, and He subdued the world in the manger equally as on the cross, not by iron, but by wood; not by striking, but by suffering. For what else was the nativity of our new king and His coming into the world without arms, without forces, without servants, and without any warlike and royal apparatus, than the overthrow of the empty strength and ostentation of the world, in which it glories? He therefore conquered at that time these worldly powers by their contempt, and taught that true and Christian strength and victory do not consist in these things, but in pure religion and obedience to God, in strong patience, in the loftiness and constancy of a soul transcending all human things: for this is unconquerable and subdues all things. What else was it that Christ was born among straw and hay, and was laid by the Blessed Virgin in a manger, because there was no room for Him in the inn, than the most clear condemnation of human pomp, vanity and worldly wisdom? What else was it to be born abroad on a journey and in a stable, except to teach that this life is a way and an inn, not a permanent dwelling? What else was that profound humiliation of the Son of God, than a manifest refutation of the world's pride and boasting? What else was that supreme poverty of His, than a mockery of gold and silver which the world so admires and loves, of fleeting riches, inconstant and situated in ruin, and a derision to a lofty soul dwelling in heaven? In that abjection and want He wished to hide Himself, that supreme maker of all things, moderator of the heavens, and most invincible emperor of the whole universe, who by immense power constrains, holds, rules and governs all nature; so that by the very fact He might show that the foundation of Christian philosophy, of true religion, and equally of unconquerable strength, is situated in the contempt of human things, so that by desire of the heavenly fatherland we might pass from these vain and perishable goods to solid and ever-lasting ones; so that, as it were, enrolled as citizens in heaven and candidates for eternity, we might overcome and trample under foot all temporal things, both joyful and sorrowful, as exiles and momentary, and live not for this brief and exiled time, but for eternity. This is what St. Paul says, I Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 20: "God hath made foolish the wisdom of this world;" and verse 27: "The foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the strong; and the base things of the world, and the things that are contemptible, hath God chosen, and things that are not, that He might bring to nought things that are." Then therefore Christ by His poverty prostrated the riches and pomps of the world, by His humility the pride of the world, by His austerity the softness and delights of the world, by His hiddenness and darkness the empty glory of the world, by His infancy the boasting of the world, by His patience He overthrew and destroyed all the power of the world: and He brought it about that by the example of this leader so many thousands of Martyrs, Virgins, Religious and Saints with the same weapons most powerfully overcame and supplanted the same pomps, riches and forces of the world: nay more, He led and compelled all the kings and princes of the world through the Apostles and their successors to venerate and adore these His cradles, this His infancy and poverty. Just as therefore God reigned from the wood, so also the little Emmanuel reigned from the cradles. Note: Appropriately the kingdom of Damascus and Samaria represents and signifies the kingdom of sin and the devil. First, because these kingdoms were impious and faithless, and full of crimes. Second, because these kingdoms were hostile to the kingdom of Judah and David, or to the people and temple of God. Third, because they worshipped idols, and consequently the devil. Therefore their king was, nay God. Fourth, because Damascus, or, as it is said in Hebrew, דמשק Dammesec, is the same as דם סם dam sac, that is, a sack of blood, as I said at Genesis, chapter 15, verse 2; such indeed is the kingdom of the devil, who is bloodthirsty and a murderer from the beginning, and like a roaring lion goes about seeking whom he may devour. TO CALL FATHER. — For Christ called Joseph father, not only because the common people thought him to be the father of Christ, but also because he was truly the father of Christ in this sense, that Christ, being born to him in marriage with the Mother of God existing, legitimately, though by miracle, in a certain divine manner, and having been given to him by God as a son. Thus therefore Christ was truly the son of Joseph, and Joseph was truly the father of Christ. For just as the fruit born in my field, even if not sown by me, is nevertheless mine: so also Christ, born legitimately to Joseph in his spouse, is his son, and is as it were the fruit of the field, that is of his spouse, as I shall say in Luke II, 48. BEFORE THE KING OF THE ASSYRIANS, — that is before the presence, and before the power of the king of the Assyrians, that is by the king, or by the strength and forces of the king of the Assyrians. By a similar Hebraism it is said: The house was burned by the face of fire, by the force and activity of fire. Literally indeed Tiglath-pileser despoiled Syria and Samaria. Tropologically, Christ the infant at his very birth began to overcome Damascus and Samaria, that is the strength, wisdom and glory of the world, and he subdued in the manger equally as on the cross the world, not by iron, but by wood; not by striking, but by suffering. For what else was the nativity of our new king and his coming into the world without arms, without forces, without servants, and without any warlike and royal apparatus, than the overthrow of the empty strength and ostentation of the world, in which it glories? He therefore conquered at that time these strengths of the world by their contempt, and taught that true and Christian strength and victory do not consist in these things, but in pure religion of God and obedience, in strong patience, in the loftiness and constancy of the soul transcending all human things: for this is unconquerable and subdues all things. What else was it for Christ to be born among straw and hay, and to be laid by the Blessed Virgin in a manger, because there was no room for him in the inn, than the most clear condemnation of human pomp, vanity and worldly wisdom? What else was it to be born abroad on a journey and in a stable, than to teach that this life is a way and an inn, not a permanent dwelling? What else was that profound humiliation of the Son of God, than a clear refutation of the pride and boasting of the world? What else was that supreme poverty of his, than the mockery and derision of gold and silver which the world so admires and loves, of fleeting riches, inconstant and situated in ruin, and of the lofty soul dwelling in heaven? In that abjection and want he wished to hide himself, that supreme maker of all things, the moderator of the heavens, and the most invincible emperor of the whole universe, who by immense power constrains, holds, rules and governs all nature; so that by the thing itself he might show that the foundation of Christian philosophy, and of true religion, as well as of unconquerable strength, is situated in the contempt of human things, so that by desire of the heavenly homeland we might pass from these vain and fleeting goods to solid and ever-lasting ones; so that as it were enrolled as citizens in heaven and candidates for eternity, we might overcome and trample under foot all temporal things, both joyful and sorrowful, as exiles and momentary things, and live not for this brief and exiled time, but for eternity. This is what St. Paul says, I Corinthians cap. 1, vers. 20: "God hath made foolish the wisdom of this world;" and vers. 27: "The foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the strong; and the base things of the world, and the things that are contemptible, hath God chosen, and things that are not, that he might bring to nought things that are." Then therefore Christ by his poverty prostrated the riches and pomps of the world, by his humility the pride of the world, by his austerity the softness and delights of the world, by his hiding-places and darkness the empty glory of the world, by his infancy the boasting of the world, by his patience he overthrew and destroyed all the power of the world: and he effected that by the example of this leader so many thousands of Martyrs, Virgins, Religious and Saints by the same arms most strongly overcame and supplanted the same pomps, riches and forces of the world: nay more, he brought and compelled all the kings and princes of the world through the Apostles and their successors, to venerate and adore these his cradles, this his infancy and poverty. Just as therefore God reigned from the wood, so also the little Emmanuel reigned from the cradles.
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5. AND THE LORD ADDED TO SPEAK TO ME FURTHER, SAYING. — All these things pertain to the same prophecy, and were predicted at the same time; indeed also those things which are set forth in the following several chapters.
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6. BECAUSE THIS PEOPLE HATH REJECTED THE WATERS OF SILOE, WHICH GO SOFTLY. — Note first: Siloe is a fountain at the roots of Mount Sion, which does not flow continuously, but at uncertain hours and days, as St. Jerome says, it gushes forth with sound; then it is silent, that is, it hides itself under the earth, and is carried through channels into the pool of Siloe, whence through pipes it is derived with silence and gently into the royal gardens, and waters them: wherefore Siloe is said in Hebrew as it were Sent, John ix. Again Siloe is also called Geon, by which name the Nile is also called in Hebrew, from the root גיח goach, that is, to press upon the breast as it were, to flow in and flow out; because, just as the Nile by flowing and stagnating presses upon Egypt as it were, and covers it with mud and makes it fertile: so also Siloe or Geon presses upon the gardens and fields of Jerusalem, and makes them fertile. Near the waters of Siloe or Geon Solomon was anointed king, III Kings i, 45. Hence the waters of Siloe signify here the royal line and the scepter of David and Solomon. For the Prophets are wont to signify by rivers the adjacent provinces, as by the Nile they signify Egypt, by the Euphrates Babylon, by the Tigris Mesopotamia, by the Araxes Armenia. You will ask, who is this people that despised the waters of Siloe? St. Jerome, St. Thomas and others answer, that it is the ten tribes which separated themselves from Siloe and Judah. Better do St. Cyril, Procopius, Forerius and others judge it to be the two tribes, which when they saw themselves afflicted with so many disasters by Rasin and Phacee, many of them seeing the fewness of their own people, and despairing of the help of God promised by Isaiah, were meditating a defection from Achaz, and from the scepter of the family of David, which was like the waters of Siloe, small and gentle, and were thinking to subject themselves to Rasin and Phacee, and to receive as king the son of Tabeel, whom Rasin and Phacee were destining for them. Therefore Isaiah threatens to these the king of the Assyrians Sennacherib, whom he compares first to the Euphrates overflowing; for thus he himself by the multitude of his soldiers overwhelmed Judea; secondly, to a great eagle which by the spreading of its wings overshadows much land: for thus he himself by his wings and military forces occupied many regions, and subjected them to himself. Allegorically and especially, Siloe is Christ gentle, meek, and as a lamb led to death: for he himself was sent and emitted by the Father, from whom he proceeds in secret silence as God in the heavens, and as man through the Virgin on earth. Again Christ is Siloe, that is, a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life. This the Jews despised, and called upon Rasin, saying: We have no king but Caesar; therefore Assur, that is, Titus and the Romans will destroy them. Thus St. Cyril, Basil, and Eusebius, lib. VII Demonstr., cap. II. and in his aid promised by me you were unwilling to rest secure, imitating the silence of your fountain Siloam; therefore God will send upon you not the gentle and silent waters of Siloam, but the mighty and resounding waters of the Euphrates, that is, the Assyrians, who will inundate and destroy your region. Note here the quietness and silence of Christ, who, in order to lead us to silence both of mouth and of heart, was silent until the age of thirty, likewise during the time of his passion. For when he was accused as one worthy of death: "But Jesus held his peace," that he might fulfill that: "As a lamb before his shearer shall be dumb, and shall not open his mouth." Whence the Ladder of Divine Ascent says: "Jesus, silence was a matter of wonder and reverence to Pilate;" and St. Bernard, sermon 1 On the Epiphany: "O, he says, what humility, virtue of Christ, how much you confound the pride of our vanity! I know something small, or rather it seems to me that I know, and already I cannot be silent: impudently and imprudently thrusting myself forward and displaying myself, ready to speak, quick to teach, slow to listen. And Christ, when he was silent for so long a time, when he hid himself, did he, I ask, fear glory? not at all, but that he might teach us to be silent, and by being silent to flee ostentation." Rivers which flow placidly and silently are the deepest: thus hearts silent are of profound wisdom. "The highest rivers flow with the least sound," says Quintus Curtius. Similarly: "Strong men are keen in action, placid before it," says Aristotle, book III of the Ethics. And: "The army which is strongest in the very crisis is that which before the crisis was most modest," says Tacitus, book I of the Histories. For, as Livy says, book VII: "A breast full of the feelings and silent anger of the mind defers all ferocity to the crisis itself of the contest." Thus you will see "men born to war, great in deeds, rude in the contests of words and tongue," says the same author, book X. On the contrary, "the most cowardly, and those who will dare least in dangers, are excessive in words, and fierce in tongue," says Tacitus, book I; just as timid dogs bark vehemently, but scarcely bite. Wherefore rightly that old man among John Moschus in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter 156, when philosophers sought a word of edification, said: "Let the work of your philosophy always be to meditate on death, and accustom yourselves to silence and quiet." Hence also Arsenius heard from an Angel: "Arsenius, do you wish to be saved? Flee, be silent, be at rest." And Abba Pastor, book V, in the Lives, title xi, number 26: "Let the key of silence be a question," so that you do not open your mouth unless asked. Another, book VII, chapter 32, number 3, asking an old man: "How long should silence be kept, Father?" heard: "As long as you are asked. For in every place if you are silent, you will possess rest." I shall say more about the fruit of silence at chapter 30, verse 15. therefore heart and head, because just as the natural body receives animal spirits from the head and vital spirits from the heart, so the political body, namely the republic, receives its vigor and strength from the royal and priestly order, and when that languishes, it languishes and dies. Sanchez not unreasonably suspects Isaiah, when he says: "Every head is faint," to note and censure King Uzziah, who arrogantly claimed for himself the right of priesthood in burning incense, and was struck with leprosy on his head and forehead, and this perhaps at the same time when Isaiah spoke these things. Finally, he says "every" or all, that is many, the greater part, not all or the whole entirely. For the holy Church always remained, that is some assembly of the faithful, the pious and the saints, although small, and as Christ says, a little flock. Thus St. Augustine, in the book On the Unity of the Church, chapter IV. Delrio cites similar sayings of the Gentiles, adage 133. A wound, and a bruise, and a swelling sore, — on account of corruption and pus, namely: whence for swelling in Hebrew it is טריה teria, that is a sore full of corruption, purulent and putrid. Thus Pagninus, as if to say: The whole body of this people is so infected with vices and diseased that it appears to be nothing other than one continuous wound, ulcer, bruise and sore of sin. Others apply these specifically, so that "wound" is the inward sin of the heart, "bruise" is the outward sin of the mouth, "sore" is the public sin of deed. Others understand by "wound" open malice, by "bruise" hidden envy, by "swelling sore" the swelling of the soul and pride, as Sasbout says. Our Sanchez agrees with this: "In the wound," he says, "which is a division of continuity, and which gapes open as it were with an open mouth and cries out, is understood public sin; by the bruise, which is putrid fluid collected under the skin, hidden sin; by the swelling sore, long-standing sin," which already stinks and reeks. It is not bound up (the sore already mentioned), nor healed with medicine, nor soothed with oil. — as if to say: There was no one who would heal this sore of your sin. Secondly and truly, as if to say: You, obstinate in the disease of your sins, were unwilling to admit any hand of the physician and any cure; whence the Septuagint translates: There is no poultice to apply, as if to say: The lack of cure proceeds from your obstinacy, by which you reject all medicine: not from a lack of physician; because the Prophets, who as physicians of the soul exhort you to penance, are not lacking to you: but you despise their warnings. This will be said far more truly now of Christians, who have so many Sacraments, graces, and other means of salvation; and yet they neglect or reject them.
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7. THE STRONG WATERS OF THE RIVER (the waters of the Euphrates, that is the forces of the Assyrians. Whence explaining further he adds): THE KING OF THE ASSYRIANS, — because Ahaz, oppressed by Rezin and Pekah, neglecting the help of God and the prophecies of Isaiah, was thinking of imploring the help of the Assyrians; hence God threatens that the same shall be a scourge and devastator to him, indeed he predicts it with certainty. AND IT SHALL RISE UP (the Euphrates river already mentioned) OVER ALL ITS STREAMS, — its own, as if to say: The waters of the Euphrates, that is the forces of the Assyrians, shall inundate and occupy not only Babylon, Mesopotamia, Assyria, and other regions adjacent to the Euphrates and its streams (which it has various ones according to the testimony of Herodotus), but from there as it were overflowing shall inundate and overwhelm Judea. This happened through Sennacherib, who in the time of Hezekiah the son of Ahaz devastated a great part of Judea: for concerning Nebuchadnezzar, who was far later, the Prophet will speak at length afterwards. Sixthly, because it is fitting for the Ethiopians to have woe of the cymbal of wings, that is bees and flies with their wings, that is forces, cymbaling, that is making a sound like a cymbal. Just as therefore he compared the Assyrians to bees and flies, chapter VII, verse 18: so also here he compares the Ethiopians to the same: first, on account of their blackness; secondly, on account of their frequency, which even now is innumerable; thirdly, on account of their multitude and noise; likewise on account of their vain boasting in their forces and arms; for they buzzed like bees and flies, which besides the buzzing and the sound of wings, have no strength; whence fifthly, it is signified here that in arms they are unwarlike and weak. Seventhly, because the same fittingness can be adapted to the Ethiopians as to the Egyptians, indeed some things with greater propriety, such as that: "After whom there is no other." Thus Pineda in Solomon the forerunner, book IV, chapter XIV, verse 3, Sanchez and Forerius expound these things concerning the Ethiopians. Moreover, Ethiopia after Egypt, to which it is adjacent, was devastated first by Sennacherib, as I shall show chapter XX, 1. Then by Nebuchadnezzar, as Zephaniah teaches, chapter II, 12, when he says: "And you, Ethiopians, shall be slain by my sword;" and Megasthenes in Josephus, book I Against Apion. Here it is more a matter of the first devastation, which will be clear chapter XX. Finally, the Arabic Alexandrian version clearly teaches this, which has it thus: Woe to the land whose borders are shady, the extremities by which it is enclosed, in which the journey is prolonged, namely the land of Ethiopia, concerning which the children of Israel thought that they would be protected!
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8. IT SHALL REACH EVEN TO THE NECK. — The head of Judah was Jerusalem, the neck were the cities near to it, all of which the Assyrians and Sennacherib occupied; Jerusalem alone, although besieged, nevertheless escaped by God's protection, and was not captured by them, as is evident below, cap. xxx, and IV Kings xviii. Secondly, and more simply: "It shall reach even to the neck" is a proverb signifying that Judah would be in the utmost danger of its head and life, that is, of its kingdom and destruction: for unless God by an Angel had struck down 185,000 Assyrians, Jerusalem and Judah would have been overthrown by them. It is a metaphor from waters inundating and swelling, so that they grow up to the neck of men: for if they should rise a little beyond, they will overwhelm the heads and submerge the men: thus if the siege and assault of the Assyrians had increased a little more, Jerusalem would have been captured and overwhelmed by them. Thus Sanchez. 1. The vision of Isaias the son of Amos, which he saw over Juda and Jerusalem in the days of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz and Ezechias, kings of Juda. 2. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have nourished and brought up children, and they have despised me. 3. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood. 4. Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children: they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards. 5. Why should you be struck anymore, adding sin upon sin? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad. 6. From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil. 7. Your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your country strangers devour before your face, and it shall be desolate as when a land is wasted by enemies. 8. And the daughter of Sion shall be left as a cottage in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a city that is laid waste. 9. Except the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we should be as Sodoma, and we should be like Gomorrha. 10. Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodoma, give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha. 11. To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victims, saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck goats. 12. When you come to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in my courts? 13. Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination to me. The new moons, and the sabbaths, and other festivals I will not abide, your assemblies are wicked: 14. Your new moons and your solemnities my soul hateth: they are become a trouble to me, I am weary of bearing them. 15. And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood. 16. Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from my eyes: cease to do perversely, 17. learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow. 18. And come, and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be as wool. 19. If you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land. 20. But if you will not hear me, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. 21. How is the faithful city become a harlot? it was full of judgment, justice lodged in it, but now murderers. 22. Thy silver is turned into dross: thy wine is mixed with water. 23. Thy princes are faithless, companions of thieves: they all love bribes, they run after rewards. They judge not for the fatherless: and the widow's cause cometh not in unto them. 24. Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: Ah! I will comfort myself over my adversaries, and I will be revenged of my enemies. 25. And I will turn my hand to thee, and I will burn out thy dross even to the lees, and I will take away all thy tin. 26. And I will restore thy judges AND THE STRETCHING OUT OF HIS WINGS SHALL FILL THE BREADTH OF THY LAND, O EMMANUEL! — Sennacherib is called an eagle, his wings are military forces: these would fill the land of Emmanuel, that is, Judea, in which Emmanuel born was to reign, and reigneth in the house of Jacob and David forever. Note: When he says, "O Emmanuel!" it is an admiring apostrophe to the boy about to be born of the prophetess and virgin, as if to say: When thou, O Emmanuel! art our leader and guardian, and art most strong and most mighty, how is it that thou sufferest such great desolation to be brought upon us by the Assyrians, nay upon thy land?
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9. GATHER YOURSELVES TOGETHER, O PEOPLE, AND YOU SHALL BE BEATEN. — Isaiah, who from the mirror foreseeing the strength and multitude of the Assyrian enemies, was already as if terrified, at the name of Emmanuel recovers his spirit and courage, and by sarcasm insults the enemies; the enemies, I say, both those then present, Rasin and Phacee, and those shortly to come under Ezechias, namely Sennacherib and the Assyrians, concerning whom he treated in verses 7 and 8, as if to say: Go, Syrians, Samaritans, Assyrians, fight against Jerusalem, prepare arms and machines, do whatever you can: you will accomplish nothing, but you shall be beaten and slain by the Angel, because Emmanuel (thus it is in the Hebrew), that is, because God is with us; Emmanuel is our leader and protector, is all our hope and the cause of our victory. The same ought to be thought and said to the faithful, when rumors of war and tribulations press upon them.
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11. AS IN A STRONG HAND HE HATH TAUGHT ME, THAT I SHOULD NOT WALK IN THE WAY OF THIS PEOPLE, — that is to say, God by His admirable and terrible inspiration and prophecy, by which He promises us aid while He threatens destruction to the Assyrians, as it were with a strong hand hath taught me, that is, corrected me, and as it were with a hand laid upon me hath restrained and compelled me, Isaiah, lest I should follow the way and counsel of the despairing people, who wish to defect from their king Achaz to the enemies Rasin and Phacee; nay, He hath taught me and commanded me that I should persuade the same to others, and should say to them: "Say not, Conspiracy," that is, do not conspire with the enemy against your king. The same must be done and said by strong men when the fear of war or sedition threatens, or a private conspiracy in some college or congregation. Or: "Say not, Conspiracy," that is, do not continually speak, as you are wont, of the conspiracy of Rasin and Phacee against Jerusalem: for at that time all their discourse was this: There is a conspiracy against us, the Syrians and Samaritans have conspired against Judea. Thus Sanchez. 12. FEAR HIM (namely the hostile army of the Syrians, or Rasin, of whom verse 6) FEAR NOT, — but: 13. SANCTIFY THE LORD OF HOSTS HIMSELF. — That is, worship and glorify Him as pious, faithful and holy, who stands by His promises and helps His own: you shall do this by hoping in Him, by committing yourselves and yours to Him, by pleasing Him through good works, by fearing Him, revering Him, by obeying His law and will in all things: for He is the Lord of Hosts, the Angels fight for Him, the ether fights, the winds fight, all creatures fight, by which He shall most easily slay the Syrians and all your enemies as if they were fleas. He rebukes king Achaz; who, following the kings of Israel, abandoning God, had recourse to idols and the Assyrians. Morally, learn here that God is sanctified through hope: for His goodness, power and faithfulness are honored if we trust in Him, who alone mortifies and vivifies, leads down to the infernal regions and brings back. To this St. Peter alludes, epistle I, chapter iii, when he says: "But the fear of them be not upon you, and be not troubled: but sanctify the Lord Christ." Truly Seneca: "The best soul (such as is one hoping in God) is the most beautiful worship of God." 26. And I will restore thy judges as they were before, and thy counsellors as in the beginning. — The former judges of the Hebrews were good: Moses, Joshua, Gideon, and others in the books of Judges; and after them David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat, etc. God indeed restored such judges after the Babylonian captivity, when He gave them Ezra, Nehemiah, Jesus the son of Josedech, the Maccabees, etc. Thus St. Jerome, Chrysostom, Haymo, Hugh, Sanchez. Again and more, after the Roman captivity, of which that Babylonian was a forerunner and type, in the time of Christ God restored to the Jews in place of the impious Scribes and Pharisees pious and holy Apostles and other Princes of the Church, who surpassed those former judges both in wisdom, in diligence, and in facility and success of teaching and ruling. The Apostles indeed are understood in this way by St. Jerome, Cyril, Hugh, Haymo, Dionysius, and Forerius, whence it follows: After this thou shalt be called the city of the just. — The Septuagint and Hebrew: city of justice, so that namely just princes, Ezra, Nehemiah and others may dwell in Jerusalem, and may rule and judge it justly, and so that justice and the just God may rule in it: for those princes shall rule the people according to the just laws of God prescribed and sanctioned by Him. He alludes to the ancient king of the Solymites, who from his probity was called Melchizedek, that is, king of justice. Secondly, and more truly, "thou shalt be called the city of the just," namely of Christ, when He shall be born and shall teach and sanctify thee; especially when at Pentecost He shall send the Holy Spirit upon thee. Thus St. Jerome. For Christ is called by antonomasia in Scripture the Just and the Holy of Holies, and thus justifying and sanctifying all: whence He made it so that the Apostles and their successors should rule the Church, not for their own advantage or glory, but looking to the one most just and most holy will and glory of Christ the Lord in governing it. A faithful city, — namely to God, persisting in faith in Him alone, in His worship and obedience: this therefore pertains to the observance of the first table of the Decalogue: as the city of justice pertains to the second, as I said verse 21. For the Church was faithful to God, because she constantly kept the conjugal faith given to God, whereas the Synagogue often violated it, and as it were an adulteress again and again turned aside to idols. or him and his panniers by carrying. For "ox," in Hebrew it is שור schor, in Chaldean תור tor, (for the Chaldeans change shin into tau): whence the Latin taurus. Hence Francis Forerius by schor understands a breeding bull, which leads the herds as a leader, and is fierce and impatient of the yoke, as if to say. Though this bull is fierce, he recognizes his master, and brings back the herd of cattle which he led into the enclosures of his master. But Israel does not recognize me, the Lord its master; indeed, my flocks, namely my people, it leads away from me to idols. Yet the Hebrew word schor signifies not only a bull, but any domesticated and tame ox, and Isaiah appears to speak more of this. Do you wish for a rare example of a wild beast recognizing and repaying a benefit to a man? Take what Gellius narrates from Appian, an eyewitness, in book V, chapter xiv, in his own words, which I have abbreviated to avoid prolixity. At Rome in the circus a combat of men with beasts was being given: there was among others a vast and terrible lion: "A Dacian, slave of a man of consular rank, had been introduced among many foreigners for a combat with beasts. This slave was named Androdus (or rather Androcles, as Aelian writes). When that lion saw him from afar, suddenly, he says, as if in amazement, it stood still: and then slowly and gently, as if recognizing him, it approached the man. Then it moved its tail, in the manner and fashion of fawning dogs, gently and kindly; and it joined itself to the man's body, and licked his legs and hands, now almost lifeless with fear, gently with its tongue. Androdus, amid such fierce beast's caresses, recovered his lost courage; and gradually he turned his eyes to look upon the lion. Then, as if by mutual recognition made, you would have seen, he says, the man and the lion joyful and congratulating each other. By this thing so admirable, he says, the greatest clamors of the people were stirred up; and Androdus was summoned by Caesar, and the reason was sought why that most fierce of lions had spared this one man, and Androdus recounted an admirable thing: I fled, he said, my cruel master, and came to a cave, where I found a lion showing its foot and seeking help: there I drew out a huge thorn from its foot, expressed the discharge, dried the wound: it, relieved in its foot, lay down and rested in my hands. And from that day for three whole years both I and the lion lived in the same cave and with the same food. For whatever beasts it hunted, it brought the choicest parts to the cave for me, which I, not having a supply of fire, dried in the midday sun. But when, he said, I grew weary of that wild life, I left the lion to go hunting, and having traveled nearly three days' journey, I was seen by soldiers, seized, and brought to my master from Africa to Rome. He immediately had me condemned to capital punishment and given to the beasts. But I understand, he said, that this lion too was then captured when separated from me, and now repays me the favor of my benefit and medicine." This Appian reports Androdus said; and all these things were written and circulated on a tablet and declared to the people: and therefore, with all requesting it, Androdus was released and freed from punishment: and the lion was given to him by the votes of the people. Afterwards, he says, we saw Androdus and the lion bound with a thin rope, going around the whole city through the shops, Androdus being given money, the lion being strewn with flowers, and almost everyone everywhere meeting them saying: "This is the lion, the guest of a man; this is the man, the physician of the lion." A brute and fierce lion recognizes a benefit, spares him, caresses him and serves him: and rational man does not recognize his Creator, does not obey him, does not serve him, to whom he owes his soul? No less rare and wonderful is what Democritus writes, and from him Lilius Giraldus, in the book On the Ungrateful, that a dragon saved Thoas in Arcadia: Thoas, he says, had reared a dragon as a boy, which when it had grown up, fearing the dragon's nature and size, he took it into solitude: departing thence, when he fell into the ambush of robbers, he cried out; hearing whose voice the dragon, and recognizing it to be that of his rearer Thoas, ran up immediately, and snatched him from the hands of the robbers. He narrates something similar there from Demetrius the natural philosopher concerning a panther, which is a most ferocious animal: for when its cubs had fallen into a pit, and it alone was not sufficient to draw them out from there, it remained there so long, until seeing a man passing by, it gently drew him by its claws through his garment, and by gesture and signs indicating the fall of its cubs, and requesting his help, with his assistance it drew the cubs out of the pit. Wherefore the panther, rejoicing and grateful, accompanied the man through the pathless ways of forests and groves with its cubs, until it brought him back to the road and safety. But all this is surpassed by what Phylarchus relates concerning the asp. The asp, he says, reared by an Egyptian man, had given birth to him in the house of a guest, it happened that one of the cubs killed the guest's son with a venomous bite. The asp was then by chance absent from the house: returning, considering it unjust that the guest's son was killed by a cub; in the presence of the guest, lest it appear ungrateful, indeed in order to punish the ungrateful one, it killed its own murderous cub. HE HIMSELF (shall be) YOUR FEAR. — That is, the object of your fear, namely whom you should fear, that is, revere and religiously worship. "God demands to be feared as a lord, honored as a father, loved as a bridegroom," says St. Bernard, sermon 83 in the Canticles. Thus Jacob "swore by the fear of his father Isaac," that is, by God whom Isaac feared and worshipped, Genesis xxxi, 53. Hence some derive Θεός, that is, God, from δέος, that is, fear; for Fear first made gods in the world. AND HE HIMSELF (shall be) YOUR TERROR, — both passively, whom namely you should fear as a terrible avenger; and actively, who namely makes you terrible to your enemies. Whence the Chaldean translator renders it, he himself shall be your strength, and this is what the Hebrew מעריץ maarits signifies.
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14. AND HE SHALL BE TO YOU FOR A SANCTIFICATION, — as if to say, God will sanctify those of you who believe and hope in Him and will set you apart for Himself, and as holy ones, faithful to Him and set apart, will protect you from every assault of enemies, and will be to you as it were a sanctuary and asylum, as can be translated from the Hebrew, and as Vatablus translates it. BUT FOR A STONE OF STUMBLING, AND FOR A ROCK OF SCANDAL (shall He be) TO THE TWO HOUSES OF ISRAEL. — He calls the two houses or families the two kingdoms of Israel, one of two tribes, the other of ten tribes, namely Judah and Samaria. Here the Prophet turns to the impious and unbelieving, such as many were in Judah and Samaria, as if to say, Just as God will bring sanctification, protection and salvation to the pious in Judah, as I have already promised: so conversely to the impious and to the Jews turned to idols, especially the inhabitants of Jerusalem, He will bring stumbling, ruin and disaster. Again He will be to them as it were a stone of stumbling and of scandal; for seeing themselves captured and laid waste they will be scandalized, and will say: Our God is not as strong as we thought; for He Himself was not able to deliver us from our enemies. Allegorically, St. Paul explains these things concerning Christ, who was to the Jews a stone of stumbling and a rock of scandal, Romans ix, 32. See the things said there. 28. And He shall crush (namely God, see Canon xvii) the wicked, and sinners together: and they that have forsaken the Lord, shall be consumed. — Here the Prophet flies back from the time of Christ to the punishment of himself and his own; therefore connect these things with verse 24: "I will be avenged of my enemies." Secondly, however, these things can also be referred to the time of Christ, as if to say, God will redeem Sion, that is, the faithful and pious of Sion, who will believe in Christ and obey Him; but the other sons of Sion according to the flesh, namely the Jews, who will not wish to believe in Christ and obey Him, He will "crush" as wicked or sinners (for it is more to be wicked than to be a sinner), and therefore not so much as sons but as spurious, indeed as enemies of Sion. See Canon vii. He will crush, I say, them partly in this life through Titus and Vespasian, partly in judgment both particular and universal, condemning them to hell: for then all "who have forsaken the Lord," that is, God and Christ, "shall be consumed." And they that have forsaken the Lord, shall be consumed — by poverty and the hardships of captivity in Babylon: for just as out of so many thousands of Hebrews who went forth from Egypt, on account of their murmuring few, namely Joshua and Caleb, entered the promised land, so also few from Babylon will return to Judea. Thus Sanchez. 29. For they shall be confounded by the idols. — Castalion wickedly translates it, "by the gods," so as to charge the invocation of the Saints. "They shall therefore be confounded by the idols," that is, on account of the idols (thus is a or ab taken for on account of, Jeremiah xxii, 22; Hosea vii, 16.); because namely they will see their idols, which they worshipped, and in which they hoped, are unable to free themselves or them from this plague of God. These words properly pertain to the time of the Babylonian captivity, not to the Roman time in the time of Christ, because then the Jews did not worship idols; but at the end of the world under Antichrist they will again worship them. Whence then again they will be confounded in them, when their leader Antichrist with his followers will be struck down, and thrust down to the depths. And you shall be ashamed in the gardens which you had chosen, — in which you wickedly and shamelessly worshipped idols, especially the obscene Belphegor or Priapus. See II Paralipomenon xv, 16. Under "gardens" understand also groves consecrated to idols. There is an enallage of person: for it passes from the third to the second, signifying that this plague is not remote, but imminent, and will befall those to whom he speaks. See Canon xvi. 30. When you shall be as an oak with failing leaves, — which once flourishing now in winter or old age losing its leaves withers, dries up, dies: so it will be with you: you sinned in gardens, as gardens you will wither and be punished. And as a garden without water, — which without moisture dries up and becomes foul, and produces nothing green, so also you will waste away with hunger and hardships in body: but in soul destitute of the water of grace you will live without fruit of good works, not an angelic life, not a human life, but a brutal life, but a diabolical life, but an infernal life. The Jews were laid waste by the Egyptians, Ammonites, Moabites, Philistines, Midianites and Syrians in the time of Amaziah, and by the Assyrians in the time of Ahaz and Hezekiah. But because this first prophecy (as it is set down here) seems to have been made by Isaiah under King Uzziah, when the affairs of the Jews were flourishing, and because what follows are future tenses—"it shall be desolate, it shall be forsaken," etc.—we may better say that in the Hebrew these are not past tenses, but participles; which can be explained both by the future and by the past or present. What therefore our translator says: "Your land is desolate," supply "will be"; "your cities are burned," supply "will be"; "strangers devour your region," in Hebrew, "devouring," supply "will be," that is, "will devour": or the Interpreter put participles (which in Hebrew are present) for futures: "desolate," that is, "will certainly be desolate": "burned," that is, "will certainly be burned": "devour," that is, "will certainly devour," namely the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar, says Basil, and much more the Romans under Titus and Vespasian: for these left not one stone upon another in Jerusalem. Thus Cyril, Jerome, Haymo and others, and this will be more evident in verse 9. Note here: Isaiah and the Prophets, although they speak to the Jews present in their own age, nevertheless extend themselves in the prophetic spirit and speak also to the future, who were to share in the crimes of their fathers, and consequently in their punishment, especially in the time of Christ. Whence the ancients everywhere (one may see them in Leo Castrius) take all these things said by Isaiah to the people of his own age, as also said to the Jews in the time of Christ: for He was the Holy One of Israel, whom they blasphemed, and therefore by Titus they were cut off and desolated.
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that is, the edict, as if to say: I, God, have commanded you, O Isaiah! verse 1, that this volume be unfolded, and the mysteries be clearly set forth to the people (as Isaiah has done hitherto): now I command it to be bound, that is, folded up and sealed, that is, closed, because I see that the ignorant multitude will not understand it, so that it may be preserved for my disciples, who will explain it, read it and understand it. For a prophecy is said to be closed and sealed when it is obscure, and to be explained after many ages, when it shall come to pass late and slowly. Secondly, Adamus thinks that "testimony" and "law" are the names given to this prophecy, by which God through Isaiah revealed to the Jews and testified His will, and that there is a metaphor in the word "bind," taken from those who, fearing to forget something, bind something on their hand or fingers, by which they may be reminded of the thing and recall it to memory, as if to say: Although the common people neglect these prophecies of yours, you nevertheless consign them, write them down and gather them together, because at least my children, that is, the disciples who believe in me, especially the Apostles in the time of Christ, will understand them and observe them; for Christ will deliver and open to them the key of Holy Scripture. This sense is very plain and fitting: for תב in disciples, in Hebrew idiom is the same as "in" or "to disciples," or "for disciples." Whence also Vatablus thus expounds it, as if to say: "Bind," that is, cover with wrappings this prophecy concerning Christ coming, when you shall have placed it before the eyes of my disciples, and those whom I shall teach through you and others, and thus cover it, so that it cannot be understood by others. It is a metaphor taken from merchants, who pack up their goods, which they afterwards bind together with cloth and cover. Thirdly, Ribera in the Hebrew thus explains it, as if to say: The evangelical law shall be closed and sealed to the Jews in the disciples, that is, through my disciples, who will transfer it from the Jews to the Gentiles. Whence the Septuagint translates: "Then shall they be manifest who seal the law," that is, to whom the law is sealed and closed, so that they may not learn. 9. AND MAN BOWED HIMSELF DOWN (to idols), AND THE MAN WAS BROUGHT LOW,—namely the chief and prince, as if to say: Both the great and the common people worship idols by bowing down before them. These things pertain to the times not of Christ, but of Isaiah. For already from one thing to another the Prophet flies, now he mixes both together, according to Canon IV. For St. Jerome notes that the Jews after their return from Babylon never, and consequently not in the time of Christ, willingly and by common consent worshipped idols, and this Tobias predicted, cap. ult., verse 8; and therefore that it actually happened is testified by the Jerusalem Talmud in Galatinus, lib. IV, XXIII, and by R. Samuel Marochianus, a Jew converted to Christianity, in his book On the Coming of the Messiah, cap. I, who from this concludes that not idolatry, as formerly, but the slaying of Christ is the cause of the ruin and desolation which the Jews suffer everywhere to this day. Calvin twists these things against the worship of the images of the Saints. For he thinks that here every sign of reverence is condemned, which is shown to works of hands, that is, to statues and images. But he errs and deceives as an impostor. For idols alone are condemned here, not images: because not these, but those are the gods of the Gentiles made by their hands. For he says: "The land is full of idols." For idols are works of the hands of men, not only materially, but also formally; because they have received not only the sculpture or painting of matter, but also the form, namely the name and divinity of God, from men, since of themselves and in truth they are nothing, as the Apostle says, I Cor. chapter VIII, verse 4. To bow down to these, therefore, that is, to adore them with latria, is wicked.
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1. Woe to them that make wicked laws: and when they write, write injustice: 2. to oppress the poor in judgment, and do violence to the cause of the humble of my people: that widows might be your prey, and that you might rob the fatherless. 3. What will you do in the day of visitation, and of calamity coming from afar? to whom will you flee for help? and where will you leave your glory, 4. that you be not bowed down under the bond, and fall with the slain? For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. 5. Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, and the staff in their hand is my indignation. 6. I will send him to a deceitful nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take away the spoils, and to rob the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. 7. But he shall not think so, and his heart shall not esteem it so: but it shall be in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few. 8. For he shall say: 9. Are not my princes altogether kings? Is not Charcamis as Calno? and Arphad as Damascus? 10. As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, so also the graven things thereof of Jerusalem, and of Samaria. 11. Shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her graven things? 12. And it shall come to pass that when the Lord shall have performed all his works in mount Sion and in Jerusalem, I will visit upon the fruit of the proud heart of the king of Assyria, and upon the glory of the haughtiness of his eyes. 13. For he hath said: By the strength of my own hand I have done it, and by my own wisdom I have understood it: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have taken their treasures, and like a mighty man I have brought down them that sat on high. 14. And my hand hath found the strength of the people as a nest: and as eggs that are left, so have I gathered all things: and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or made the least noise. 15. Shall the axe boast itself against him that cutteth with it? or shall the saw exalt itself against him by whom it is drawn? as if a rod should lift up him that is not wood, and a staff exalt itself, which is but wood. 16. Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, shall send leanness among his fatness: and instead of his glory shall be kindled a burning like the burning of fire. 17. And the light of Israel shall be as a fire, and the Holy One thereof as a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day. 18. And the glory of his forest, and of his beautiful hill, shall be consumed both soul and body: and it shall be as the fainting of a standard-bearer. 19. And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be so few in number, that a child may write them. 20. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and they that shall escape of the house of Jacob, shall no more be stayed upon him that striketh them: but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21. The remnant shall be converted, the remnant, I say, of Jacob to the mighty God. 22. For if thy people, O Israel, shall be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall be converted: the consumption abridged shall overflow with justice. 23. For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, and an abridgment in the midst of all the earth. 24. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts: O my people that dwellest in Sion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall strike thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee in the way of Egypt. 25. For yet a little while, and the indignation shall cease, and my anger shall be upon their wickedness. 26. And the Lord of hosts shall raise up a scourge against him, according to the stroke of Madian in the rock of Oreb, and his rod shall be over the sea, and he shall lift it up in the way of Egypt. 27. And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall putrefy at the presence of the oil. 28. He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Magron: at Machmas he shall lay up his carriages. 29. They have gone over in haste, Gaba is our lodging: Rama was afraid, the city of Saul fled. 30. Cry out with thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: hearken, O Laisa, poor Anathoth. 31. Medemena is removed: the inhabitants of Gabim are gathered together. 32. Yet there is one day, and thou shalt stand in Nobe: he shall shake his hand against the mountain of the daughter of Sion, the hill of Jerusalem. 33. Behold the Lord, the God of hosts, shall break the vessels in terror, and the tall in stature shall be hewn down, and the high shall be brought low. 34. And the thickets of the forest shall be cut down with iron: and Libanus with his high ones shall fall. HE SHALL BE CORRUPTED, AND SHALL HUNGER, AND SHALL BE ANGRY, AND SHALL CURSE HIS KING AND HIS GOD (namely not light, as is evident, but that, namely Judaea; for thus the Hebrews often change the subject, and leave it to be changed and understood by the reader from the circumstances: and again), HE SHALL LOOK UPWARD. 22. AND TO THE EARTH, etc., — that is to say, Whether he look upward to heaven or downward to earth, he shall find and behold nothing but tribulation, darkness, sadness, and misery, the dissolution of the strength of body and mind, and straits pressing upon him from all sides, which he shall not be able to escape: for upward he shall see heaven closed and God angry and raging, downward he shall see the earth everywhere occupied by enemies. Thus Sanchez. Otherwise Forerius, "and he shall pass," namely, says he, each of the impious Jews, "through it," namely the law of God, not caring for it and transgressing it: whence he shall be corrupted, shall hunger, etc. But the former sense is more plain and connected. The Prophet speaks of the devastation of Judaea by Sennacherib and by Nebuchadnezzar: for then most fully did these evils befall the Jews. Morally, note here the punishment of those who consult the divine. For God wills to be consulted, not the devil; the law and Holy Scripture, not the oracles of magicians. Thus Meroveus, son of Chilperic king of the Franks, desiring the kingdom from his father and stepmother, spoke of many crimes: on a certain day he invited Gregory Bishop of Tours to a banquet, asking for some instruction of the soul. Gregory opening the book of Proverbs, fell upon that chapter xxx, verse 17: "Let the eye that mocketh his father, etc., be plucked out by the ravens of the torrent." Meroveus then consulted a pythoness in the year of Christ 580, who answered that Chilperic would die that year, and Meroveus alone, his brothers excluded, would succeed to his entire kingdom. And when he himself was relating these things, Gregory Bishop of Tours rebuked him, saying that these things ought to be sought from God; for the demon is a liar. Meroveus therefore went to the tomb of St. Martin, and placed in it three books, namely the Psalter, the Books of Kings, and the Gospels, and keeping vigil all night asked that St. Martin would show him what would befall him concerning the kingdom; after three days of fasting, vigils and prayers he approaches the tomb, and unrolls the book which was the Books of Kings; and the first verse of the page which he opened was this: "Because you have forsaken the Lord your God, and have walked after strange gods, and have not done right in his sight, therefore the Lord your God hath delivered you into the hands of your enemies," II Paralipomenon vii; and the verse of the Psalter found was this: "But for their crafts thou hast set them in sorrows: thou hast cast them down whilst they were lifted up. How are they brought to desolation? they have suddenly ceased to be: their iniquities have destroyed them," Psalm lxxii. And in the Gospels this was found: "You know that after two days the Passover shall be, and the Son of Man shall be delivered up to be crucified." Confused and weeping, he departed from these responses. With reason, for these things befell him; for in that same year Meroveus, pressed by enemies, lest he fall into their hands, died by voluntary death through the arts of Fredegund, as Gregory of Tours relates, lib. V of the History of the Franks, cap. xiv and xviii. Secondly therefore and more truly, Isaiah speaks in the person of Christ, as a type, the mouth and voice of Christ, that is to say, Just as I Isaiah and my disciples and followers, namely other Prophets, such as Ezekiel, cap. xxiv, 24, Zechariah, cap. III, 8, and others, because we despise riches and honors, and preach to a hard and carnal people things so wonderful and repugnant to their desires and customs, hence we are held as portents, and are mocked as fools: so also Christ, of whom I am the precursor and figure, with his children, that is the Apostles, on account of the novelty of his doctrine, life and miracles, shall appear to the proud Jews and Philosophers to be a portent, a spectacle and a mockery: yet through those things many prudent and pious Jews shall be moved to compunction and converted, and shall desire themselves also to become children, that is disciples, of Christ: for Paul explains these things concerning Christ, Hebrews II, 13. Thus Origen, Basil, Cyril and the ancients everywhere. Morally Clement of Alexandria, lib. I of the Paedagogus, throughout cap. v, beautifully shows in what manner all Christians, in imitation of Christ, of whom Isaiah says, cap. ix, verse 6: "A little child is born to us," ought to be and be called children, on account of the innocence of mind and morals, first; secondly, simplicity and candor; thirdly, facility and tenderness; fourthly, humility. Aptly Haymo on that passage of Matthew cap. XVIII: Unless you be converted, and become as little children, etc. "As a little child," says he, "does not lust after a woman, does not desire the wealth of others, when injured does not injure, does not think one thing and speak another, and when angry does not hold grudges forever: so also you, unless you have such innocence in your mind,
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FOR A SIGN, AND FOR A WONDER TO ISRAEL. — That which is customary does not produce passion, say the Philosophers, especially among men hardened in their inveterate habit of sinning: God therefore caused Isaiah and the Prophets, departing from the common custom of preaching, to assume a new, unusual and prodigious manner of speaking, acting and living, and to become a wonder to Israel and the world, so that by this means they might stir up the astonished and hardened minds of men, strike them sharply, soften them and bend them. Thus God did when He made Isaiah a wonder, when He showed him His throne, His glory and the Seraphim, and sent one of them, who with a coal burned and purified his lips, and said: "Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy;" and when in chapter vii he predicted: "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel." Secondly, Isaiah was a "wonder" when, clothed in sackcloth as in a hair shirt upon his naked flesh like a Capuchin, in the habit of penance, to move the people to compunction, he preached continually. Again, when he himself a noble man and of royal stock Jeremiah sanctified and consecrated in the womb as a Prophet: "Before," says God, in chapter i, "I formed thee in the bowels of thy mother, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and made thee a prophet unto the nations, etc., that thou mayest root up, and pull down, and waste, and destroy, and mayest build, and plant. I have set thee this day over the nations and over kingdoms." Was it not a wonder when the Lord said to him: "What seest thou, Jeremiah?" and he answered: "I see," he said, "a rod watching," namely the eye of God, His power and vengeance watching, and threatening hard blows to the impious Jews. And again: "What seest thou? I see," he said, "a seething pot, and the face thereof toward the north. From the north shall evil break forth," etc. Was not he himself a wonder of continence, virginity, zeal, mercy, groaning like a dove, and lamenting continually the sins and scourges of the people? but truly he was a wonder of patience, when for 44 years prophesying and preaching, he was despised, mocked, harassed and beaten by the princes and Jews, and bore all these things with equal fortitude and gentleness, when he heard: "Let us put wood in his bread, and cut him off from the land of the living;" when thrust into prison a third time, laden with fetters, living on the bread of sorrow and the water of sadness, and finally in Egypt by his own Jews, as a reward for his prophecy and charity, buried under stones he died a martyr. Such a wonder of abstinence and wisdom and governance was Daniel, who, educated in the royal court among the royal youths, abstained from royal food and wine. covered with human filth, and scarcely obtained by prayer that dung of oxen be placed over it for him to eat. But a wonder of wonders was Christ, whose name is Wonderful, God, Mighty, Counsellor, Prince of Peace, Father of the world to come, Angel of great counsel. Was not His life and doctrine a wonder to the world, when He said: "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst. Blessed are they that suffer persecution." The world commands to hate enemies, to pursue vengeance for reputation and honor; it says: If anyone strikes thee, strike back: if anyone gives thee a blow on the cheek, give two in return. But Christ decrees: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Overcome evil with good." For the noblest vengeance is to overcome thy enemy with benefits, to subject him to thyself, and to compel him to love thee in return. Again: "If anyone," He says, "strike thee on thy right cheek, offer him the other also." The world commands to seek high things and to pursue honors. But Christ says: "He that exalteth himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted." Is not this a paradox? The way to exaltation is, if thou goest in the opposite direction, if thou descendest, if thou humblest thyself: yet this is the truest philosophy, the surest way to sublimity, because humility alone exalts. Children of Adam, do you wish to be great, to be gods? You will be, if you wish. You err in the way: you enter upon the way of pride, the way of ambition, the way of ostentation. You err completely; the way is contrary; descend, be wide, love to be unknown, submit thyself: Resist no one, not even the least, in any way; let it please thee to yield rather than to overcome. Thus shalt thou be exalted, thus shalt thou climb to the stars. Was not the life of Christ a portent of humility, a portent of charity, a portent of poverty, a portent of the cross and austerity? The King of kings, the Lord of lords, whose are the heavens and the earth, was born in a stable, lived always in lodging, died on a gibbet: "I am," He says, "a worm, and not a man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people." He was laid in a manger, "because there was no room for Him in the inn. The foxes," He says, "have holes, and the birds of the air have nests: but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head." He lived in hunger and want, for forty days and nights He fasted without food and drink, He lived on alms, and sometimes begged, saying: "But I am a beggar and poor." Was not the portent of the cross great? In perpetual labors, journeys, persecutions He was occupied in life; in death He was flayed, scourged, crowned, stretched out like a robber He fell. And yet He subdued the whole world not by the sword, but by wood; not by the spear, but by the cross: "I," He says, "if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself." To this standard thou art called, O Christian! under the cross thou dost serve as a soldier. It is shameful for delicate limbs to live under a thorny head. It is shameful, where the emperor labors, grows cold, hungers, for the soldier to be sluggish, to grow soft, to indulge. Christ cries out: "See that your hearts be not overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness." I have led a most abstemious life, nay a most poor life for thirty-four years: wilt thou abound in wine and delights? I on the cross in my final agony with most burning thirst, when even to robbers wines are given, was given gall and vinegar to drink, that I might expiate thy gluttony, remove it, abolish it: wilt thou indulge it? wilt thou stuff thyself with wine? Behold thy leader, behold, act according to the example which He showed thee on the mountain. It was a portent of love: being born I gave myself to thee as a companion, at table I gave myself as food, dying I gave myself as a price, reigning I give myself as a reward. For thee I was born, for thee I labored, for thee I preached, for thee I was crucified. I gave myself wholly to thee, give thyself wholly to me: enlarge thy heart; drive out the coldness of torpor and self-love. Give, consecrate to me thy labors, thy life, thy studies, thy body, thy sweat, thy blood, thy life and thy soul. Thus far have I loved thee; return like for like: nay, return one for a thousand, one point for the infinite. For what art thou to Christ, except as a point to immense and infinite majesty? Behold I and the children whom God hath given me: My Apostles were a portent to the world. Hear Paul: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world. Let no man be troublesome to me: for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in my body. For Christ I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ." Therefore, Paul, are riches, dignities, delights, knowledge dung? Are all things without Christ, compared to Christ, dung? They are altogether. Again, for Christ, he says, "I have been beaten with rods three times, once I was stoned, five times I received forty stripes save one: in the night and in the day I have been in the deep of the sea, in perils, in persecutions, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." For Christ "I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway." Then, Paul, dost thou fear to be damned, to be reprobate? Thou chastenest thy body worn out by so many labors; we idle and sluggish follow the desires of the flesh, and shall we be secure concerning our salvation? Were not the Apostles a portent? who say: "Even unto this hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and are unstable," as wanderers and exiles we wander in uncertain dwellings; "and we labor, working with our own hands: we are reviled, and we bless: we suffer persecution, and we endure it: we are blasphemed, and we entreat: we are made as the refuse of this world, the offscouring of all things even until now," ὡς περικαθάρματα, as sweepings, shavings, filth collected by sweeping the whole world, περιψήματα, as expiations and purifications of the world we are made. "For I think that God hath set forth us Apostles last, as it were appointed to death, because we are made a spectacle to the world, and to Angels, and to" St. Paula of Rome was a portent; she, sprung from royal blood, the most noble of the Romans, leaving behind her parents, children, a very large family, wealth and provinces, sailed to Jerusalem, so that in Bethlehem at the manger of the Lord she might live a Christian life, indeed a Religious life in humility, poverty, devotion and love of Christ. She built five monasteries there; St. Jerome presided over the men, she herself over the virgins. She was first in psalms, first in obedience, first in humility, first in fasts. Thus she distributed all things to the poor and the saints, so that, as she had wished, dying she did not have a linen cloth in which to be buried, but her daughter Eustochium had to provide it: she had so despoiled herself that she might be buried with Christ in another's tomb. Behold a portent, behold a new and unaccustomed epitaph: offspring of the Gracchi, renowned progeny of Agamemnon, who followed the Poverty of Christ and the fields of Bethlehem. Such a portent was St. Paul the first Hermit, who from the age of fifteen until one hundred and thirteen lived in a cave, saw no man, spoke to no one, but to God, but to Angels. Water was his drink, his food half a loaf, which daily a raven brought him from heaven. When Anthony came to him: "Sixty years," he said, "it is since daily I receive half a loaf from the raven; now that you have come, it brings a whole one: the Lord has doubled the rations for his soldiers, truly merciful, truly compassionate." And soon after, Anthony departing saw the soul of Paul borne to heaven by Angels among the choirs of Saints and Prophets. Such a marvel of the world was St. Anthony, who lived solitary until the age of one hundred and five in supreme abstinence and rigor, and continually fought with monsters and legions of demons, and triumphed. Such also was St. Romuald, who from the age of twenty until one hundred and twenty lived an angelic life in wondrous austerity, tears and holiness. Such were also those Saints, "who went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, needy, distressed, afflicted: of whom the world was not worthy; wandering in deserts, in mountains, and in caves, and in the holes of the earth." Why? because they looked unto the reward. They continually thought upon this: "The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us. For that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory." Do you wish portents of nobles and youths? Alexius, most noble of the Romans, after his wedding was celebrated, tears himself away from the very banquet and assembly of nobles, parents, and bride: he changes his garment, and as a beggar wanders throughout the whole world. At Edessa in the temple of the Blessed Virgin at the gate with beggars he asks for alms, he hides there for seventeen years: he is revealed by the Blessed Virgin who he was: he flees, returns to Rome, presents himself in the sight of his parent, is admitted as a beggar: he sees daily his parents, his bride lamenting: Where is my Alexius? for those seventeen years he lies like a dog under the steps, is mocked, beaten by servants; he dies with this note in his hands: I am Alexius your son, your bridegroom. Who would have known Alexius, except through these heroic concealments, through flight from honors and delights? Alexius was, is, and shall be more glorious in his cave than Augustus in his imperial throne. Do you wish portents of folly, or rather of unheard-of wisdom? Simeon surnamed Salus, that is, fool, among the people of Leontius, so affected the name and reputation of folly, that he made himself a mockery of the world. He ran through the streets as if mad and senseless: by boys as if insane he was pelted with mud and filth: he did and performed the most foolish things in the sight of men. Why? so that he might fulfill this: "We are fools for Christ's sake. For that which is foolish to God is wiser than men." These fools condemn the wisdom of the world, condemn vanity, despise riches, honors, pomp, ambition and whatever the world admires: they look upon heavenly things, earthly and perishable things "they laugh at all with unmoved brow." Such a portent was St. Francis, who, clothed as it were in a fool's hood and cloak, made foolish the wisdom of this world; so great a lover of poverty as others are of riches. So great was his contempt for himself, that he commanded his followers to reproach him: Thou rustic, thou idiot, thou sinner, thou glutton, thou hypocrite; to whom he himself: "May God bless you, O sons," said he, "because you speak the truth; it is fitting that the son of Peter Bernardoni should hear such things." Why? That he might teach his own and all mortals to suppress arrogance, to root out the inborn desire for praise and glory, to implant and impress upon the mind the intimate humiliation of Christ and contempt for oneself; as if to say: If you wish to be mad, be wisely mad with me; if to become foolish, behold I set forth the standard; if to rave, rave piously with me. Do not excuse yourself, do not be ashamed, do not be alone, behold me and mine, so many thousands of foolishly wise ones, who go before you. And that I may conclude, receive the portent of the ages, Simeon Stylites, who, as Theodoret, an eyewitness, and a spiritual son of Simeon (inasmuch as Simeon obtained him for his mother through his prayers) relates, being a shepherd of sheep and entering the temple, heard the Evangelical voice, which pronounces blessed those who weep, mourn, and are pure in heart; wretched those who laugh and are filled. Immediately he begs God to lead him to this way of perfect piety and religion, he withdraws among ascetics and monks: soon he spends whole weeks fasting: he girds his loins with a most harsh rope, so that that entire part of his body would become ulcerated: in labors and penances constant and eager to the point of amazement. He fasts the entire Lent without food. He ascends a column, a chain binds his foot: his foot rots to the ankles: he stands continually night and day; in winter and summer, in rain and frost, in snow and hail, in heat and the burning of the sun. He watches and prays the whole night, equally as in the morning until the ninth hour. Thence he receives from all over the world those flowing to him in crowds, heals them, teaches them, settles disputes, and returns to prayer toward evening. Thus he lived eighty years, and died when he had passed the hundredth year of his age. Persians, Armenians, Gauls, Ethiopians, Britons, Dukes, Princes and Queens flocked to him in troops, that they might see an earthly angel, obtain miracles, seek whatever spiritual charisms. Let us also paint ourselves for eternity, let us live for eternity, and therefore let us make ourselves a portent of constancy and fortitude, so that we may be as it were adamants: by no companions, by no shame, by no mockings let us turn away from the fear and piety of God; but let us design in our mind great, rare and heroic deeds of virtue, and actually accomplish them. Let us be a portent of humility, piety, sobriety, so that as it were Angels we may live soberly, justly and piously in this age, so that walking in holiness and justice before God, we may serve Him all the days of our life. Let us be a portent of charity and zeal, inflamed with heavenly fire (of which Christ says in Luke XII, 49: "I am come to cast fire on the earth, and what will I but that it be kindled?") let us breathe fire, let us have a fiery mind, fiery tongues, so that with Apostolic spirit we may kindle both companions and cities and the whole world with divine love. Thus shall we be with Christ and all the Saints a portent of time, a portent of eternity, a portent of labors and virtues, a portent finally of glory and eternal joys. May God give us many Isaiahs, may He give Christs, may He give Apostles, may He give doctors, may He give preachers, who may be portents of the world, so that worldly men may be struck in their hearts by the rare example of life and fiery voices, may be converted, and may be led to heaven. Amen.
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19. SEEK YE FROM THEM THAT HAVE FAMILIAR SPIRITS, AND FROM THE WIZARDS, THAT CHIRP, etc. — Pythons are called divining spirits, which, insinuating themselves into human bodies, produce prophecies: likewise also the men themselves who have such spirits and familiar demons, or who are seized or possessed by them. Thus the Pythia was called the priestess of Apollo at Delphi, who gave oracles to those consulting her; so named ἀπὸ τοῦ πυνθάνεσθαι, that is from the custom of consulting and questioning. The Septuagint translates it ἐγγαστριμύθους, that is ventriloquists, because they often spoke through the breast or belly of a man: whence in Hebrew they are called אובות aboth, that is skins or bottles: because through the belly as through a skin they often gave forth obscure, shrill, gaping, confused, ambiguous and perplexed voices: the manner in which the demon did this is explained by the Scholiast of Aristophanes in the Plutus. For this reason they are said to chirp, or, as it is in Hebrew, to mutter and whisper. Add to this, these enthusiasts often, driven by the demon as if by furies, or as if frenzied, chirped and foamed. Again, the demon with chirping and violence forced a constrained voice through their mouth or belly. Finally, those very ones invoking the demon and seeking divination from it, recited a magical incantation muttering and whispering. It was otherwise with the oracles which the demon gave forth through idols: for it gave them forth through the mouth, or at the mouth of the idol, forming a clear voice, as if it itself were the soul, or the indweller and inhabitant of the idol. Wherefore also the makers of idols gave to the idol a gaping and huge mouth, of which kind I have seen many here in the Vatican palace, which gape so wide that it is possible to throw an entire egg into it. Now the sense is, as if to say, Since in these straits of affairs, in which, O Jews! you are pressed by Rasin and Phacee, certain political and impious men persuade you to inquire from pythons, diviners and magicians concerning the future outcome of this siege; it is right and bold to answer what I here teach and suggest, namely: Is there not a God in Israel, from whom the people should seek a vision, that is an oracle concerning the future outcome; should they consult dead idols for the safety of the living, or ask prophecy and foreknowledge of future things from condemned demons? Impiously therefore Marlorat twists this against the invocation of the Saints. For these, although they are dead, yet live to God and enjoy Him.
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20. TO THE LAW RATHER, AND TO THE TESTIMONY, — that is to say, Rather to the law and to the ark and the mercy seat must recourse be had: there we shall hear the true oracle. For the law will teach us what we ought to do, what we ought to avoid, both at other times and in time of war, namely that we ought to consult not a demon, but God dwelling in the mercy seat. Note: The ark is called the testimony, because it contained the law or the tables of the Decalogue, which were the testimony of the divine will: for they testified to the Jews what God wished to be done by them. Secondly, the impious consulted the dead. First, because they often evoked the shades and spirits of the dead, and inquired of them concerning the future, as the pythonissa did for Saul, I Kings xxviii. Whence this magic is called necromancy, that is divination from the dead. Secondly, because they consulted demons, who are dead with eternal death, that is they are damned, and continually suffer pains and the extreme agony, such as the dying undergo here, they suffer: whence all both demons and damned men are said to dwell in the region of the shadow of death. Thirdly, because they sometimes consulted idols, which are dead, that is empty. he complains, saying: Thy princes are faithless, companions of thieves, all love gifts, they follow rewards. Someone will say: I indeed seek nothing, but if anything is offered freely, I do not refuse to accept it. Behold, here are not noted those who seek gifts, but those who merely love them. Who also are not undeservedly called companions of thieves (for in Italian a thief is called furbo as if from furo): because while they accept stolen gifts, they also fear being caught by their fellow ministers and associates as if in the crime of theft. And it should be noted that it is said, They follow rewards; because although they furnish aid to the munificent, which is requested, nevertheless they do not escape the stains of guilt; because while they receive the retaliation of their benefit, they lose the fruit of eternal reward. Concerning whom he also says shortly after: Alas! I will comfort myself over my enemies, and will be avenged of my enemies. He adds the cause: For having accepted gifts, if we wish to do anything against the giver, immediately our words soften in our mouth; the sharpness of speech is blunted, the tongue is hindered by a certain blushing of shame. For the mind, conscious of the gift received, weakens the vigor of judicial censure, restrains the freedom of eloquence. For although the rectitude of judgment is not wholly taken away, yet the authority of judging is weakened. According to the Prophet therefore (Isaiah cap. xxxiii), let us shake our hands from every gift, and preserve for ourselves the genuine freedom of harming or helping; so that we may not litigate under the servitude of money, but serve in the freedom of justice. Note: For "faithless" in Hebrew it is סוררים sorerim, from the root סור, that is he declined, withdrew, was perverse and rebellious. Whence Aquila translated, withdrawing; Pagninus, declining; Pintus, perverse; the Septuagint and St. Jerome, in the Commentary, disobedient: for obedience is not only of subjects, but also of a good prince. For as the people obeys the prince, so he ought to obey the laws of God. The prince presides over the people, the law over the prince. Hence, Deuteronomy xvii, 18, God commands that the king have the law with him, and read it all the days of his life. Whence IV Kings xi, 12, it is said of Jehoiada the high priest: "And he brought out the king's son (the boy Joash) and put upon him the diadem and the testimony; and they made him king." By "testimony" the law is understood, which was given to the king together with the royal crown, so that he might govern according to it. The Gentiles felt the same. Bias, when asked "who was truly a prince?" answered: "He who first subjects himself to the law." Pindar says: "The law is the queen of all mortals." The reason is, because, since justice is the end of the law, it cannot be that the law being despised the prince does not despise justice; which being done, there follows a seditious and turbulent state of the commonwealth, and from this its ruin and destruction. Rightly therefore did Justinian say: "It is a worthy utterance for a prince to profess himself subject to the laws." But that flatterer spoke wrongly to Alexander the Great, groaning because when drunk he had killed his friend Clitus, saying that justice is painted BUT IF THEY SAY NOT ACCORDING TO THIS WORD (if the Jews answer otherwise than I here teach and command, and think that the oracle concerning the future outcome of the Syrian war ought to be sought from diviners and magicians, not from God), THERE SHALL NOT BE TO THEM A MORNING LIGHT, — that is truth, but they shall dwell in darkness of errors and false oracles. Secondly, "light," that is joy and prosperity, that is to say, They shall have nothing bright, that is happy, pleasant and prosperous, but all things inauspicious, sad and adverse. 21. AND IT SHALL PASS (namely this morning light) THROUGH IT, — namely through the house of Jacob, of which verse 17, that is Judea, that is to say, If you believe the diviners, the light of truth and happiness shall pass and depart from Judea, both at the time of Sennacherib and at the time of Christ: for then the light of the Gospel shall pass from the Jews to the Gentiles, say St. Jerome and St. Thomas. Thus therefore darkness of ignorance, infidelity and sins shall occupy Judea; whence he adds in the following chapter, verse 2: "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light." But what Judea suffered when she preferred pythonessess to God, darkness to light, magicians to Isaiah, he adds saying:
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For "will fill" in Hebrew is הריחו haricho; which first, Vatablus translates, the spirit of the fear of the Lord will make him smell, that is, the spirit of the Lord will give to Christ sagacity and keen judgment, so that he may be able to perceive immediately whether men fear God or not, just as if he perceived this, not by sight, nor by hearing, but by smell alone. Whence follows: "He shall not judge according to the sight of his eyes." Thus St. Hilarion, St. Mary of Oignies, and other Saints from smell alone knew whether someone was in the grace of God or not; for when sinners approached they perceived a wonderful stench. Second, others translate, the spirit of the fear of the Lord will make him fragrant, according to that in the Canticles: "In the odor of thy ointments we will run;" and that of Isaac concerning Jacob, Gen. XXVII: "Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed." Third, Sanchez translates, the spirit will make Christ smell the fear of the Lord, that is, will make the spirit so that Christ in every work and place may emit from himself the odor of the fear of the Lord. Fourth, Forerius translates, his breathing will be in the fear of the Lord, as if to say, the spirit of the Lord will make the breathing, that is, all the life and action of Christ, to be in the fear of the Lord: the fear of the Lord will be the breath, the exhalation, the life and the soul of Christ. Fifth, you would translate most excellently, The spirit of the Lord will make him [Christ] breathe the fear of the Lord; because it will make Christ exhale and breathe nothing but the fear of God, religion and piety with heart, mouth, eyes, hands and his whole body: just as roses and lilies everywhere emit and exhale the fragrance of odors. Thus the Apostle says: "We are the good odor of Christ." standing before Jupiter, because whatever Jupiter or a king commands is just. Finally, St. Bernard adapts this fittingly to our first parents, sermon 1 On the Advent: "Your princes," he says, "are unfaithful, or, as another translation has it, disobedient, companions of thieves. Indeed our princes Adam and Eve, the beginnings of our offspring, were disobedient and companions of thieves: they who attempted to steal by the serpent's, indeed the devil's through the serpent's, counsel what belongs to the Son of God. Nor does the father dissimulate the injury to his son, but immediately inflicts vengeance upon man himself, and lays his hand heavily upon us. For we all sinned in Adam, and in him we received the sentence of condemnation." The cause of the widow does not come before them. — Because they do not expect gifts or favors from poor widows, hence they do not undertake to defend or judge their causes, but always postpone them to the richer; or, if they are forced to judge a cause, they adjudicate it not to them, but to the adverse party, because it is rich or friendly. Note here and in verse 17, how much care God has for widows and orphans, and commands that their right be restored to them, and punishes those who oppress them. Theophilus the Emperor was illustrious in this regard; for, as Cedrenus and Zonaras relate, vol. III, in his Life: A certain duke had despoiled a soldier of a distinguished horse; this soldier fell in battle, the duke gave this horse to the Emperor Theophilus: the wife of the slain soldier, seeing the Emperor Theophilus riding by the temple of Blachernae in his customary manner on her husband's horse, rushed forward with swift course, seized the bridle of the horse, crying out that it was hers and no other's; and that the Emperor himself had been the cause of her husband's death. The Emperor, terrified, ordered her to wait while he himself returned to the palace, and upon his return immediately summoned her to him, and inquired more carefully into the whole matter. When she had recounted it to him from beginning to end, that duke too was immediately brought forward, and the woman was hidden by the Emperor's order, and the duke was sharply questioned about the horse. When he asserted it was his own, and not obtained by theft, the woman was produced from behind the curtain, the guilty party in the act of violence. When he saw her, he was struck with terror, and stood silent for some time, and then, coming to himself, threw himself at the feet of the Emperor weeping, and confessed his sin. Therefore the Emperor assigned his property to the widow and her children by right of inheritance; and him, stripped of his dignity, he condemned to perpetual exile. In the same place Zonaras relates of the same: a woman came to Theophilus and accused Petronas, the brother of the Empress, of building a house so high in her neighborhood that it obstructed her windows. Petronas was summoned by the emperor, and when asked what the woman said, he said she was talking nonsense. Then the emperor said: "Beware lest she appeal to me again on the same matter, which will not be good for you;" and he ordered the woman to go to Petronas, and, unless the damage was repaired to her, to return to him. When she did this, and obtained nothing from Petronas, in desperation she appealed to the Emperor again: he immediately ordered certain senators to see whether the damage was being made good to the woman. They went at once, ascertained the damage, and reported it to the Emperor: who went to the forum, and standing in a certain place there, ordered Petronas to be stripped of his garments and beaten on his back and chest, and what he had built to the detriment of the woman to be destroyed, and the materials and the ground itself to be given to the woman. When the people desired St. Martin for Bishop, a certain man named Defensor with his followers objected, saying he was simple and of little learning; but "Nevertheless on account of their deceits thou hast set them in slippery places: thou hast cast them down while they were being lifted up. How are they brought to desolation? they have suddenly failed: they have perished on account of their iniquities," Psalm 72. But in the Gospels this was found: "You know that after two days the Passover will be, and the Son of Man shall be delivered up to be crucified." Confused by these responses and weeping, he departed. Deservedly, for these things befell him; for in that same year Meroveus, pressed by enemies, lest he fall into their hands, perished by voluntary death through the arts of Fredegundis, as Gregory of Tours relates, lib. V Hist. of the Franks, cap. XIV and XVIII. Thus St. Antony, St. Francis and others sought the state of life, namely to serve God religiously in poverty and in the following of Christ, from the reading or inspection of Holy Scripture. Finally, Gregory of Tours, lib. II Hist. of the Franks, cap. xxxvii, relates that Clovis, moving his camp against Alaric, sent his men to the church of St. Martin, that they might seek from there an omen of victory or defeat. As they entered the church, the first cantor began: "Thou hast girded me (O Lord) with strength for battle; thou hast subdued my assailants beneath me. And thou hast given me the backs of my enemies, and those that hated me thou hast destroyed," Psalm 17. Wherefore he went forward boldly with the Pictavi under the guidance of the stag, and there he conquered Alaric with the aid of St. Hilary: "For a fiery beacon, going forth from the basilica of St. Hilary, appeared to him as if coming upon him from above."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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1. Hic praedicit destructionem decem tribuum, inquantum pertinent ad eorum poenam, quae facta est per Assyrios. Primo per Teglatphalasar, regnante Phace, captivantem duas tribus et dimidiam, quae erat trans Jordanem, et plurimos de tribu Zabulon et Nephtali: 4 Reg. 15: postmodum per Salmanasar in captivitatem reducentem residuos: 4 Reg. 18. Hujus autem tribulationis etiam duae tribus fuerunt participes, quia a Teglatphalasar afflicti sunt, ut dicitur 2 Paral. 28, et a Senacherib, sicut dicitur infra 56. Non tamen omnio subjungatae. Et dividitur in partes duas. In prima praedicit tribulationem; in secunda modum ipsius et ordinem, cap. 9: Primo tempore alleviata est terra Zabulon, et terra Nephtali. Hoc autem capitulum dividitur in tres partes. In prima comminatur decem tribubus Assyriorum destructionem; in secunda praedicit in hoc duarum tribuum afflictionem, ibi, Et ibit per Judam inundans, et transiens usque ad collum veniet; in tertia confortat eos for futuram liberationem, ibi, Congregamini populi. Circa primum duo facit. Primo ponit paenae praefigurationem; in secunda, signi expressionem, ibi, Quia antequam sciat puer vocare patrem suum. Hoc autem signum, Judaei ad litteram exponunt de filio Isaiæ, per cujus nomen Dominus significare volebat decem tribuum destructionem. Et secundum hoc, signum tripliciter confirmat. Primo scripto: secundo, testimonio, ibi, Et adhibui mihi testes fideles; tertio. ipso facto, ibi, Et accessit ad prophetissam. Circa primum tria ponit: scilicet in quo scribendum, Librum grandem. Ad litteram enim, grandem, ad significandum magnitudinem tribulationis Jer. 56: «Tolle volumen libri, et scribes in eo omnia quae locutus sum tibi adversus Israel et Judam.» Secundo quo scribendum, Stilo hominis, idest plane, ut intelligi possit, et ut scriptum maneat. Habac. 2: «Scribe visum, et explica cum super tabulas, ut percurret qui legit eum.» Tertio quid scribendum, nomen scilicet vastiati, significans futuram destructionem in brevi. Velociter spolia detrahe, cito praedare. Haec verba possunt esse Domini ad prophetam; et sic sumuntur materialiter: vel ad hostes; et sic significative. Infra 10: «Et contra populum furoris mei mandabo illi ut auferat spolia, et dividat praedam.» Et adhibui. Hic confirmatur signum testimonio.
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Testes fideles. Deut. 19: «In ore duorum rum vel trium stet omne verbum.» Et accessi ad prophetissam. Hic confirmatur facto: quia aliquando prophetae annuntiabant futurum verbo. ali quando autem ipso facto, sicut infra 20: Vade, et solve saccum de lumbis tuis, et calceamenta tua tolle de pedibus tuis: et fecit sic, vadens nudus, et disscalceatus. Unde intelligitur ad litteram quod accessit ad uxorem suam.
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Unde duo ponuntur: primo pueri generatio, Et accessi; secundo generati vocatio, Voca nomen ejus Accelera, quasi festina ad faciendum, Detrahe spolia, ut supra. Vel secundum aliam litteram, primo (ver. scilicet) Accelera, spolia detrahe. Et hoc est melius, quia secundum hoc, non est plus quam fuerit in scripto.
Contra hoc quidam multipliciter objiciunt, quod non possit ad litteram intelligi. Primo, quia cum pauca sint quae scribi praecipiuntur, non oportebat librum esse grandem. Secundo, quia non est probabile quod propheta honestus homo testes adduxerit quando accessit ad uxorem suam. Tertio, quia Urias fecit altare idolorum ad similitudinem altaris Damasci in templo Domini: unde non fuit fidelis testis. Quarto, quia Zacharias non erat tunc vivus, quia Zacharias filius Joadae fuerat longe ante interfectus a Joas rege Juda: 2 Paralip. 24. Alius dicitur Zacharias qui fuit unus de duodecim prophetis, et fuit longe post, in reditu populi de captivitate, sicut patet Zach. 1 et per totum: ergo non potuit eum adhibere in testem. Et praeterea remanet similis objectio sicut primo, quia ipse puer fuit ante mortem Phace: ergo, ut supra probatum est, habebat in captione Samariae ad minus 19 annos: ergo falsum est quod dicitur: Antequam sciat vocare patrem et matrem suam. Et ideo volunt quod intelligatur tantum de Christo, sicut et primum signum; ut per librum grandem significetur sacra Scriptura, de qua habetur Baruch 4: « Hic est liber mandatorum Dei, et lex quae est in aeternum. » Per stilum hominis, modus prophetiae, ut non omnibus usquequaque pateat, sed tantum rationalibilibus, qui ex figuris possunt significata concipere. Oseae 12: « Ego visionem multiplicavi eis, et in manibus prophetarum assimilatus sum. » Velociter spolia detrahe, nomen Christi, idest circumlocutio nominis, quod est Jesus salvator, per hoc quod detraxit spolia, idest peccatores, a potestate diaboli, et praedatus est infernum: de quo infra 35: Ideo disperitam ei plurimos, et fortium dividet spolia. Per Uriam, qui interpretatur lux Domini, significatur lex, Prov. 6: « Quia mandatum lucerna est, et lex lux. » Per Zachariam, qui interpretatur memoria Domini, filium Barachiae, qui interpretatur benedictio Domini, significatur prophetia: quia prophetiae per benedictionem divini muneris, cognitionem divinam acceperunt. Et hi, scilicet lex et prophetæ, sunt testes incarnationis Christi. Luc. ult.: « Necesse est impleri omnia quae scripta sunt in lege Moysi et prophetis et psalmis de me. » Prophetissa autem, beata Virgo est, quae prophetavit dicens: « Magnificat anima mea Dominum: » Luc. 1: ad quam accessit per prophetiam intelligentiam, et per fidem. Vel prophetissa dicitur Spiritus sanctus, qui est principium omnis prophetiae. 2 Pet. 1: « Non enim voluntate humana allata est aliquando prophetia; sed Spiritu sancto inspirati locuti sunt sancti Dei homines. » Apud Hebraeos enim est femini generis, scilicet, Ruab et secundum hoc concepit, idest concipere fecit. » Quod enim « in ea natum est, de Spiritu sancto est: » Matth. 1: Voca nomen ejus, scilicet Jesus, idest praenuntia nomen ejus, sicut supra. Haec autem expositio non est tantae auctoritatis, sicut superior, quae fuit supra 7, de alio signo, quia magis extorta est, et ex Scripturis non habet auctoritatem, sicut illa Matth. 1. Nam quidam dicunt non esse inconvenientis, si hoc intelligatur ad litteram; ita tamen quod puer iste sit figura Christi: sicut etiam supra dictum est in quadam Glossa, 7 cap. super illud: Ecce virgo concipiet, et pariet filium.
Unde potest responderi ad objectiones prius factas. Et dicendum ad primum, quod liber fuit grandis, non ad necessitatem scripturae, sed ad significandum magnitudinem tribulationis. Ad secundum dicendum, quod potest intelligi, quod testes fuerunt adhibiti ad scripturam, sicut fit in privilegiis; et non ad accessum ad uxorem. Et etiam si ad hoc fuissent adducti, non esset magis contra honestatem, ut videtur, quam factum de fornicatione. Oseae 1, quod tamen ad litteram plures exponunt. Ad tertium dicendum, quod dicitur fidelis propter auctoritatem sacerdotii et non propter bonitatem vitae; vel quia fide dignus habebatur a rege. Ad quartum dicendum, quod iste Zacharias neuter illorum fuit. Consuetum enim erat apud Hebraeos, sicut etiam apud multos, quod pueros imponantur nomina de cognatione illa: sicut
dicitur Luc. 1 de Joanne: « Quia nemo est in cognatione tua qui vocetur hoc nomine. » Et sic iste potuit esse de progenie illius, qui prius interfecus fuerat: vel etiam consuetudo est apud Hebraeos, ut dicit Hieronymus, quod frequenter untantur propriis pro communibus; sicut Hostia, quae est civitas munita, utuntur frequenter pro qualibet civitate munita. Et sic, quia ille Zacharias fuit fidelis propheta, et in magna fama populi, vocatur iste, qui forte similiter erat fide dignus populo loci illius. Ad quintum dicendum, quod non est similis objectio: quia quod supra dictum est, oportet intelligere de destructione solum, propter hoc quod dixit (cap. 7). Derelinquetur. Sed hoc potest intelligi de persecutione facta per Teglatphalasar, qui destruxit Damascum, 2 Reg. 16, et spoliavit regnum Samariae, 4 Reg. 13.
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Unde signanter dicit: Auferetur fortitudo Damasci, et spolia Samariae. Et hoc fuit satis de propinquo.
Notandum super illo verbo, Librum grandem, quod sacra pagina dicitur liber primo grandis quantum ad grande contentum. Prov. 8: « Audite me, quoniam de rebus magnis locutura sum, et aperient labia mea, ut recta praedicent. » Secundo signatur quantum ad visum. Infra 29: Et erit vobis visio omnium, sicut verba libro signati. Tertio involutus propter multiplicem sensum. Ezech. 2: « Et vidi, et ecce manus missa ad me, in qua erat involutus liber. » Quarto amarus propter laboris studium. Apocalyp. 10: « Et accepi librum de manu Angeli, et devoravi eum, et erat in ore meo tamquam mel dulce, et cum devorassem eum, amaricatus est venter meus. » Proverb. 8: « Qui mane vigilaverint ad me, invenient me. » Quinto dulcis quantum ad affectum. Ezech. 5: « Comede volumen illud: et comedì illud, et factum est in ore meo quasi mel dulce. » Sexto volans quantum ad intellectum. Zach. 5: « Vidi, et ecce volumen volans. » Job 59: « Numquid ad praeceptum tuum elevabitur aquila, et in arduis ponet nidum suum? » Septimo vivificans quantum ad fructum. Eccli. 24: « Haec omnia liber vitae, et testamentum Altissimi, et agnitio veritatis. » Proverb. 8: « Qui me invenerit, inveniet vitam. »
2. Hic ponitur signi expositio; et secundum litteralem expositionem jam patet; secundum aliam vero, Antequam sciat, scientia creata, patrem, putativum Joseph, vel Deum, auferetur fortitudo Damascus, et spolia Samariae. Secundum haec potest etiam referri ad captivitatem Samariae, Et adjecit. Hic describitur ipsum destructionis factum: et circa hoc tria facit. Primo ponit puniendorum culpam; secundo puniendium potentiam, ibi, Ecce adducet Dominus super eos aquas fluminis fortes et multas; tertio ponit ipsam poenam, ibi, Et ascendet super omnes. Dicit ergo primo, Et adjecit. Primo signum datum, Aquas Siloe. Siloe est quidam fons qui nascitur ad pedes montis Sion, cujus aquae per horas ebulliunt, et plane vadunt: unde significant reges Judæa, qui quandoque boni et potentes, quandoque mali et imbecilles fuerunt, et tamen legitime et quiete regnaverunt comparatione regum Israel, qui omnes eogebant populum ad idola.
Sed videtur quod hoc non sit eius imputandum pro culpa, quia hoc Domini voluntate factum est, sicut dicitur 5 Regum 12: « A me factum est verbum hoc. »
Et dicendum, quod Dominus juste voluit quod reges Juda paterentur hoc damnum, propter culpam Salomonis, de quo 5 Regum 11. Sed illi male et propter superbiam cordis hoc fecerunt, quia nobilant dare consueta tributa, sicut legitur 5 Regum 12. Vel aliter, Abjicit populus iste, idest contempturit, et persecuti sunt, sequentes malitiam duorum regum.
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Et haec videtur esse intentio, per id quod sequitur, Et assumpsit magis Rasin, et filium Romelia; propter hoc ecce Dominus adducet super eos aquas fluminis fortes. Hic describitur hostium potentia. Et primo ponitur metaphora quantum ad quatuor: scilicet quantum ad divinum auxilium, Ecce Dominus adducet; quantum ad impetum, Aquas fluminis; quantum ad robur, Fortes; quantum ad numerum, Et multas. Secundo exponit metaphoram: Regem Assyriorum, et omnem gloriam ejus, idest exercitum ejus. Jerem. 6: «Ecce populus veniet de terra aquilonis, et gens magna consurguet.» Glossa dicit, quod intelligentia de Senacherib.
Sed contra: quia ipse non vastavit Samariam, sed Salmanasar, sicut dicitur 4 Regum 17.
Ad hoc dicunt quidam, quod idem dicitur Salmanasar et Senacherib. Sed patet hoc esse falsum per id quod dicitur Tob. 1, quod mortuo Salmanasar, regnavit Senacherib filius ejus pro eo. Et ideo dicendum, quod regnante Salmanasar jam sene, filius ejus erat in exercitu; et ideo idem exercitus est utriusque. Unde loquitur de tota illa vastatione quae facta est per illos reges Assyriorum, quasi de uno persecutore, propter unitatem regni, Et ascendit. Hic ponit ipsam poenam, et servat metaphoram, quia aquae abundantes altiores sunt.
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Unde dicit: Ascendet super omnes rivos, idest principes, et super ripas, idest terras. Ezech. 58: «Ascendit indignatio mea in furore meo, et in zelo meo.» Et ibit per Judam. Hic tribulationem ponit redundantem in duas tribus. Et primo ponit tribulationis redundantiam: Et ibit, scilicet aquarum impetus, per Judam, idest per terram Judaeae, inundans: servat metaphoram: quando enim abundant aquae, emittunt undas extra alveum suum in agros vicinos. Et dicit, ibit, quia non habebunt perfectum dominium.
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Jer. 47: «Ecce aquae descendent ab aquilone, et erunt quasi torrens inundans, et operient terram et plenitudinem ejus, urbes, et habitatores ejus.» Secundo persecutionis abundantiam: Et transiens usque ad columnam veniet: loquitur metaphoricè, quasi diceret: In tanta abundantia redundabunt quod si aliquis vellet aquas transire, venirent sibi usque ad collum, et fere submergeretur in eis; in quo significatur quod fuerint prope captivitatem, sicut infra 56 Ezech. penultimo: «Et ecce aquae redundantes a latere dextro.» Tertio exercitus copiam: Et erit extensio alarum ejus, idest principum ejus, implens, prae multitudine, latitudinem terrae tuae, idest Judaeae, o Emmanuel, Christe qui de ea nasci venisti. Misit enim principes suos Senacherib ad capiendam Jerusalem; infra 56. De his aliis Ezech. 17: «Aquila grandis magnarum alarum, longo membrorum ductu, plena plumis et varietate, venit ad Libanum, et tulit medullam cedri, et
summitatem frondium ejus; et transportavit eam in terram Chanaan, in urbe negotiatorum posuit illam.»
3. Quia dixerat, quod persecutio Assyriorum aliquo modo redundaret in duas tribus: hic confortat eos, quia illa persecutione non sunt finaliter captivandi, nec etiam a decem tribubus et Syris subjugandi. Et dividitur in partes duas. In prima ponit divinam confrontationem; in secunda removet divinorum communicationem, ibi, Et cum dixerint ad vos, Quaerite a pythonibus, et a divinis etc. Circa primum duo ponit. Primo ponit irrisionem; secundo hostis instructionem, ibi, Haec enim ait Dominus. Circa primum duo facit. Primo ponitur irrisio vel insultatio; secundo irrisionis ratio, ibi, Quia nobiscum Deus. Irridet autem pugnantium exercitum, sapientum consilium, et dominorum praeciptum. His enim tribus bella prosperantur. Exercitus autem tribus invalescit: scilicet multitudine; et quantum ad hoc dicit: O populi Syriae et Samariae congregamini, ut sitis multi, et vincimini, Domino contra vos pugnante per quoscumque suos ministros. Et non solum vos, sed audite hoc idem universae terrae. Et est sarcasmus, idest quaedam species tropi, quae dicitur esse quaedam plena odio atque hostilis irrisio. Joel. 5: «Erumpite et venite omnes gentes de circuitu, et congregamini: ibi occumbere faciet Dominus robustos tuos.» Secundo invalescit in pugnantium fortitudine corporis et animi: et quantum ad hoc dicit, Confortamini. Joel. 5: «Infirmus dicit, quia fortis ego sum.» Tertio invalescit in munitione armorum. Accingite vos; quod pertinet proprie ad gladios, sed inde transmittitur ad omnia arma. 1 Mach. 5: «Accingimini, et estote filii potentes, et estote parati mane ut pugnetis adversus nationes has, quae convenerunt disperdere nos et sancta nostra.» Quantum ad consilium: initie consilium et dissipation. Job 3: «Qui comprehendit sapientes in astutia eorum, et consilia pravorum dissipat.» Proverb. 24: «Non est sapientia, non est prudentia, non est consilium contra Dominum.» Quantum ad praecipetum dominorum de iis quae post consilium eliguntur: Loquimini verbum, et non fiet. Supra 7: Ponamus regem in medio ejus. Regem enim quem eligebant annuntiabant plebi, ut dicit Hieronymus.
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Rationem ponit, interpretando nomen Emmanuel, Quia nobiscum Deus. Rom. 8: «Si Deus pro nobis, quis contra nos?» Jer. 15: «Et bel-labunt adversum te, et non praevalebunt: quia ego tecum sum, ut salvem te, et eruam te: dicit Dominus.» Haec enim ait Dominus ad me. Hic ponitur populi instructio: et primo docet quid non timendum, secundo quid timendum, ibi, Dominus exercituum ipsum sanctificat. Prima dividitur in duas partes: scilicet in doctrinae probationem, et in ipsius traditionem, ibi, Non di-alis, Conjurgatio. Probant autem non esse timendos hostes, dupliciter. Primo per Domini praeciptum: unde dicit, Ita vincemini, o hostes, Enim, idest quia, ha-c, quae dicta sunt, ait Dominus ad me; et ideo ne timeatis.
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Num. 25: «Non est Deus quasi homo ut mentiatur, nec ut filius hominis ut mutetur.» Secundo suo exemplo ait: Dicit Dominus ad me, dicens ad vos quae sequentur ad erudidendun vos, Sicut eruditit me, idest ne imitaretur eos in malitia sua; et hoc in manu forti, idest in tribulatione. Vel non solum docens quid faciendum, sed etiam dans gratiam virtutis ad complendum. Thren. 1: « De excelso misit ignem in ossibus meis, et erudivit me. » Ne dicatis, Conjuratio. Hic ponitur ipsa doctrina. Primo prohibet timoris verbum: Non dicatis, Conjuratio, duarum gentium, quasi, nobis timenda est: Omnia enim quae loquimur populus iste, conjuratio est, contra me. Unde si me sociant vobis in conjuratione, sentient me vobis socium in defensione. Exod. 16: « Non contra nos est murmur vestrum, sed contra tra Deum. » Infra 50: Stenus simul. Quis est adversarius meus? Accedat ad me.
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Secundo prohibet passionis motum: Et timorem ejus ne timueritis. Timor et pavor differunt secundum magnis et minus: timor enim facit motum cordis secundum systolem, sed pavor quasi immobilitat cor. Psalm. 26: « Si consistent adversum me castra, non timebit cor meum. » Dominum exercituum ipsum sanctificate. Hie instruit eos quomodo timendus sit: et primo ponit legem; secundo legis abscensionem, ibi, Signa legem in discipulis meis. Circa primum tria facit. Primo ponit legis praeciptum; secundo obedientium fructum, ibi, Et erit vobis in sanctificationem; tertio poenam rebellionis, ibi, In lapidem autem offensionis.
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Praeceptum autem est ut Deus honoretur: Sanctificate Dominum exercituum, in vobis ipsis, et in sanctitate serviatise: Ipse paror vester, inquantum dominus. Ps. 111: « Beatus vir qui timet Dominum: » ipse ter-ror, inquantum ultor. Matth. 10: « Nolite timere eos qui occidunt corpus, animam autem non possunt occidere; sed potius timete eum qui potest animam et corpus in gehennam perdere. » Hoc exponit Petrus de Christo (1 Pet. 3): « Timorem autem eorum ne timueritis et non conturbemini. » Etiam videtur intentio prophetae propter ea quae sequuntur.
Nota super illo verbo, Sicut in manu ferri eru-divit me, quod est manus divina triplex. Primo est manus divinae potentiae; ‘et haec est triplex. Primo creantis. Job 10: « Manus tuae fecerunt me et plasmaverunt me: » secundo continens: Psalm. 94: « In manu tua, Domine, omnes fines terrae; tertio protegentis: » infra 49: In umbra manus suae protexit me. Secunda manus est manus justitiae; et ista erit triplex. Prima tangentes ad probandum. Job 19: « Manus Domini tetigit me: » secunda flagellantis, ad purgandum. 2 Mach. 6: « Nam si in praesenti tempore a suppliciis homi-num eripiar; sed manus Omnipotentis nec vivus, nec defunctus effugiam: » tertia opprimentis ad condemnandum. Hebr. 10: « Horrendum est incidere in manus Dei viventis. » Tertia manus est manus misericordiae: et ista est triplex. Prima sanitatis. Job 5: « Ipse vulnera, et medetur: percutit, et manus ejus sanabunt; » secunda pa-scentis: Psalm. 94: « Populus ejus, et oves pasuae ejus; » tertia coronantis. Sap. 5: « Accipient regnum decoris et diadema speciei de manu Domini. »
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Et erit vobis in sanctificationem. Hie ponit obedientium fructum in sanctificationem: Sanctos faciam vos. Lev. 22: « Ego Dominus, qui sanctifico. » In lapidem.
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Ponit rebellium in pedien-tium poenam, sub metaphora viatorum: et primo ponit occasionem; secundo poenae perceptionem, ibi, Et offendent ex eis plurimi. Occasionem autem ponit primo quantum ad populum; secundo quantum ad principes, ibi, In laqueum et in ruinam habitantibus Jerusalem. Primum ponit sub metaphora lapidis existentis in via, qui dupliciter impedit viatorem: scilicet per pedis lacsionem, et per casus occasionem: et similiter Christus fuit incredulis ex Judaeis occasio laesionis et casus, non ex culpa sua, sed illorum. Dicit ergo: Erat duabus domibus Israel, idest infidelibus de decem et duabus tribubus, vel scribis et pharisaeis, in lapidem offensionis, quantum ad lacsuram. Roman. 9: « Offenderunt enim in lapidem offensionis. » Et in petram scandali, in qua pes impingit ad casum. Scandalum grace, latine pedis impactio 1 Cor. 1: « Nos autem praedicamus Christum crucifixum, Judaeis quidem scandalum, gentibus autem stultitiam. » Et quia principes magis Christo restiterunt, ideo quantum ad eos aggravat. Et erit habitantibus Jerusalem, quae erat urbs principum, in laqueum, sicut animalia capiuntur laqueo; et hoc est gravius quam offensio. Infra 24: « Qui se explicuerit de fovea, incidet in laqueum. » Et in ruinam, quod est magis quam casus simplex. Luc. 2: « Ecce hic positus est in ruinam. » Et quia occasiones quandoque aliquis devitat, et non incurrit; ideo hoc removet, et ostendit poenae perceptionem, et dicit, Et offendent, contra id quod dixit, Offensionis, per infidelitatem; contra scandalum vero cadent, a dignitate regni. Matth. 8: « Filii autem regni ejicientur in tenebras exteriores. » Conterentur, quantum ad ruinam poenae, famis et gladii. Matth. 21: « Qui ceciderit super lapidem istum, confringetur. » Super quem vero ceciderit, conteret eum. » Quantum ad laqueum dicit, Irretientur, funibus peccatorum, et perplexitatum, quae quia non rumpentur, capientur, a Romanis. Prov. 5: « Funibus peccatorum suorum constringitur. » Liga testimonium, idest involve prophetiam de Christo obscuritate, ne videant Judaei, quia indigni sunt. Signa legem. Signare duo significat.
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Quandoque claudere sub sigillo; et sie dicit: Signa legem, veterem sub figuris, In discipulis meis, idest quo-usque discipuli mei aperiant praedicando per mundum. Dan. 12: « Claude sermones, et signa librum usque ad tempus statutum. » Vel in discipulis meis, absconde. Quandoque significat expressionem figurae. Psalm. 4: « Signatum est super nos lumen vultus tui, Domine. » Et sie signa in anima discipul’s meis. Secundo absconditu expectationem, Expectabo.
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Michaeae 7: « Ego autem ad Dominum aspiciam: expectabo Dominum salvatorem meum. » Expectati representationem, Ecce ego, scilicet Christus, et pueri mei, Apostoli, quos dedit mihi Dominus: Joan. 17: « Tui erant, et mihi eos dedisti; » in signum, idest ut faciant signa, et in portentum, nimirum quod sua magnitudine portendit; et hoc fiet a Domino qui habitat, per cultum, vel per fidem, in Sion, Ecclesia. Zach. 5: « Audi, Jesu sacerdos magne, tu et amici × ci tui, qui habitant coram te, quia portentes sunt. » Quidam exponeunt hoc de Isaia. Et pueri, prophetae, secundum hoc. Infra 20: Sicut ambulavit servus meus Isaias nudus et discaleatus, trium annorum signum et portentum erit super Aegyptum et super Aethiopiam. Quidam de filiis Isaiae, Et pueri.
4. Hic removet divinorum communicationem: et circa hoc tria facit. Primo ponitur falsa communicatio: Et cum dixerint, hostes vestri: Quaerite a pythonibus, qui vobis praedicunt mala, et nobis bona. Python flebraice os abysii. Et dicit Hieronymus, quod dicuntur ab Apolline pythio, quia hoc genus artis magicae invenit, per quod videntur mortui suscitari, et de futuris aliqua praedicere: sicut legitur 1 Reg. 28. Rabanus dicit, quod est nomen maligni spiritus. Item Hieronymus dicit, quod dicitur Python qui habet diabolum in ventre. Et a divinis, quia sibi actum Dei vindicant in praedictione futurorum, et praecipue quantum ad cultum falsorum deorum. Qui strident, quasi insani. 3 Reg. 18: « Clamabant voce magna, et incidebant se • juxta ritum suum cultris et lanceolis, donec perforarentur sanguine. » Deut. 18: « Non sit • maleficus, nec incantator, nec qui pythones consulat, nec divinos, et quaerat a mortuis veritatem. Omnia enim haec abominatur Dominus. » Secundo docetur responsio.
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Numquid non populus a Domino suo requiret visionem pro vivis ac mortuis? Vel vivis et mortuis, idest loco deorum veterorum, qui sunt simulatus hominum et mortuorum et vivorum. Vel quaerimus visionem pro vivis et mortuis, sicut et vos, scilicet a diis vestris, qui sunt similes mortuis. Ad legem magis, quae prohibet talia, vel quae docet quod est expectandum testimonium, Scripturae. Tertio ponit inobedientium comminationem: Quod si non dixerint. Et facit tria. Primo comminator poenam; secundo
in poena impatientiam; ibi, Et cum esurierit; tertio desperationis tristitiam, Et suspiciet.
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Dicit ergo primo: Quod si non dixerint juxta hoc verbum, respondentes scilicet, faciemus quod non erit eis matutina lux, idest Christus tenebras pellens. Joan. 1: « Erat lux vera, quae illuminat omne hominem venientem in hunc mundum. » Et transibit per eam, congregationem, ad alios, non manens in eis: infra 58: Ecce adsum: quia misericors sum Dominus Deus tuus: et corruet in damnationem, et esuriet verbum Dei. Amos 8: « Ecce ego mittam famem in terram, non famem panis, nec sitim aquae; sed audiendi verbum Dei. » Vel lux consolationis: Et corruet, in damnationem: supra 5: « Ruit Jerusalem, et Juda concidit: et esuriet, pane; et cum esurierit, per impatientiam quantum ad iram cordis irascetur. Psalm. 58: « Si non fuerint saturati, murmurabunt. » Quantum ad blasphemiam oris, Et maledicet. Apoc. 16: « Et blasphemaverunt Deum caeli prae doloribus et vulneribus; et non egerunt poenitentiam ex operibus suis. » Et suspiciet sursum.
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Hic ponit desperationis tristitiam: et primo expectationem auxilii: Suscipiet sursum, de caelo quaerens auxilium, et ad terram intuebitur, ad auxilium de terra. Supra 5: Aspiciet in terra, et ecce tenebrae tribulationis. Secundo imminetia periculi: Et ecce tribulatio, praevsa, et tenebrae, quantum ad consilium resistendi; dissolutio, contra confrontationem; et angustia, quantum ad perplexitatem; et caligo persequens, quantum ad persecutionem. Tertio liberationis impossibilitatem ad similitudinem avis captae.
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Et non poterit avolare de angustia sua. E contrario est de justis. Psalm. 125: « Laqueus contritus est, et nos liberati sumus. »
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v. 14 « Et dizit Dominus ad me: sume tibi librum grandem et scribe in eo stilo hominis : velociter spolia detrahe, cito praedare » ; — hebr. sume tibi tabulam grandem, qua re hominum attentio excitetur, in eaque scribere iubetur stilo hominis ; ponitur instrumentum pro re instrumento efficienda ; scriptio autem fieri debet « characteribus quos quilibet possit videre ac legere » (Mald.) vel « stilo claro » (Mar. sim. Thon. Pint. For. Malv. Men. Tir. etiam. Chald. quoque) vel literis grandibus (Calm.), ut facile omnes possint legere !, vel modo communi et noto, vulgari, non eo qui solis eruditis sit familiaris (RoAI. Troch.). At nihil notum est apud Hebraeos exstitisse ut apud Aegyptios scriptionem Aeraticam quam vocant et solis doctioribus perviam et aliam demoticam vulgaremque ; posset tamen de scribendi compendiis vel de artificiosiore genere formandi lileras cogitari. Tabulae inscribere iubetur vates maher schalal chasch baz i. e. festinans praeda velox rapina i. e. festinanter erit praedatio, velociter eveniet spoliatio. Verba haec ominosa post 1, 16 iam facile eo sensu accipi possunt, ut declarent, qua ratione derelinquenda sit atque vastanda terra duorum regum domui David infestorum. Res demum aperte proponitur v. 4. In textu hebr. legitur "235 etc. Quid sibi velit 5 varie explicant. Alii enim acci- claretur, sed quid futurum sit simpliciter enuntietur. Quare exempla illa 5 dedicationis vel inscriptionis parum ad rem sunt et frustra a Kn. Naeg. aliisque afferuntur. Neque 5 ita intelligi potest, ut ad 4a coniungatur et cum eo sensum fundat. Obstat enim versus 3, quo luce clarius patet nomen vel sententiam esse Maher schalal, minime vero Lemaher schalal. Quare nihil aliud restat nisi ut 5 signum accipiamus accusativi, uti fere x9 adhibetur, quo id quod scribendum sit vestiatur et introducatur : inscribe tabulae hoc verbum, hoe nomen ; esse 5 quoque accusativi notam videin exemplo 11, 9 et res est non adeo inusitata neque ad solum aramaismum ableganda ; cf. Ion. £, 6. Ier. 40, 2. Lament. 4, 5. Iob 5, 2 et saepius in Ps. et Chron. vide Ges. Thes. p. 730. Ita locum nostrum iam explicuit Vitringa, ita Drechsl. et aliqui lexicographi v. g. Mühlau et. Volck. Restat quaestio, quomodo *v2 sit accipiendum. Alii enim infinitivum piel explicant, alii adiectivum verbale. Analogia quae in altero membro habetur omnino suadetur, ut adiectivum accipiatur, prout invenilur Soph. 1, 14; est enim in altero membro vn quam formam explica participium ; itàà utrumque membrum perfecto parallelismo constat; talis autem in eiusmodi sententia exspectatur et altera voce praeda, rapina indicatur. S. Hier. LXX (ad v. 3), Chald. expliearunt imperativum ; id bene quadrat ad *v2, sed vn deberet legi w*n. Quo inscriptionis tempus, origo, auctoritas magis constet et plurium comprobatione roboretur, ad maximam quandam praedictionis certitudinem gignendam testes adhibentur
Supra 7, 14 Emmanuelis conceptus ac partus in signum datus est. Huic signo aptissime adnectitur vel opponitur aliud, quod in quantum est simile et tempori mox futuro implendum illi priori pro tempore praesenti adiungitur et plus valet ad mentes hominum percellendas ; in quantum vero ab illo priore recedit, illud ratione insiguiori declarat quam maxime esse singulare, eximium, divinum. Porro eo ipso quod priori aliud adiungitur idque quam maxime explicite tempori praesenti conseritur, satis manifestatur prius illud ad tempus remotum pertinere. Quare duo haec signa inter se diligenter comparanda sunt. Quando alterum hoc datum sit, non dicitur. At ex ipso nexu, ex re, ex temporis in v. 4 determinatione facile colligitur datum esse mox post signum Emmanuelis. Prius illud primo ac per se datur domui David (7, 13) — inde ad domus David sobolem praeclarissimam et omnium promissionum fastigium, ad alterum scil. regem David (cf. Os. 3, 5) ascendit — hoc alterum datur plebi ; quare ita datur, ut et publice innotescat et ipsa sua praeparatione oculos mentesque omnium in exspectatum rei eventum convertat. Praesto est enim Deus fidelis populo suo eumque tempore quoque castigationis per prophetam edocet. Unde
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v. 2 « et adhibui mihi testes fideles, Uriam sacerdotem et Zachariam filium Barachiae» ; — hebr. forma exhortatoria : age accersam mihi vel attestari mihi faciam duos testes fidos, ita ut oratio Dei continuetur. Prophetam id praestitisse quod Deus iniunxerit, cum per se liqueat, non explicite narratur. Utrum Urias ille testis adhibeatur qui postmodum idololatriae Achaz regis connivebat (4 Reg. 16, 10), an alius sit, erit in incerto relinquendum ; neque quis fuerit Zacharias, exploratum est. Id unum certum est viros praecipuos testes advocari, et si uti Urias ex ordine sacerdotali adhibebatur, ita Zachariam in ordine civili dignitate valuisse et auctoritate existimaveris, vix a vero aberraveris. LXX habent tiezopáz pot xoí220ov ; eodem modo imperativum exprimunt. Syrus et Chald. ; legebant ergo 51 pro N. Cum in hebr. sit forma cohortativa, quae cum vav cünseculivo non occurrit nisi apud Danielem, Esdram et Nehemiam (cf. Naeg.), textus hebr. aliter intelligi nequit quam ut Deus sermonem continuet ; idem aperte indicatur per *, pro quo aliqui rescribendum censeat *, ut tempus praeteritum in verbo exprimatur (v. g. Eichhorn, Kn. Dred.). Verum cum aliud exemplum ex Isaiae tempore ostendi nequeat formam cohortativam etiam pro praeterito usurpari, coniectura illa melius relinquetur. Utrum S. Hier. eandem legerit formam, an solum 4yN*, decerni nequit. — Alii volunt orationem fieri indirectam : et ut mihi adhiberem, dixit, scil. Dominus (Ges. Rohl.). Hisce repetita post cp. 1 continetur adhortatio, ut relicta fiducia in Assyriis ponenda ad unum Deum confugiant, qui praesentem suam opem populo suo demonstrare non cessat. Ad quid inscriptio valeat, mox etiam clarius determinatur ; subdit enim propheta
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v. 3 « et access? ad. prophetissum et concepit et peperit filium; et dizit Dominus ad me : voca nomen, eius : Accelera spolia detrahere, festina praedari,
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v. 4 quia antequam sciat puer vocare patrem suum et matrem suam, auferetur fortitudo Damasci et spolia Samariae coram rege Assyriorum » ; — prophetam iussum esse a Domino filium generare, elucet ex nexu cum versu 1 et colligitur ex impositione nominis quam Dominus mandat et qua quid illa nominis inscriptione voluerit manifestat ; idemque elucet ex v. 18 quo vates filios sibi a Domino datos in signum et in portentum Israel profitetur et insuper omnino suadetur similitudineilla quae cum Osee intercedit, cuius liberi Domino iubente procreati pariter insigniuntur nominibus futuram populi sortem adumbrantibus ( vide ad Os. 4, 4. 6. 9). Tale autem mandatum et modus quo describitur hoc loco post 1, 14 maximi est momenti. Agitur enim utroque loco de conceptu et partu filii; sed quanta est in re simili dissimilitudo? Ibi nulla mentio patris, solum virgo appellatur concipiens ac pariens; hic actus coniugalis verbo proprio designatur : accessi ad 2^. cf. Gen. 20, 4. Lev. 18, 6. 14. 19. Deut. 22, 14. Ez. 18, 6, et insuper aetatis tenerae determinatio ita fit, ut denuo patris nomen explicite inferatur non sine emphasi vocare patrem swwm. Unde non solum diversa filii appellatione, sed etiam quam maxime diversa ortus conditione et ipso narrationis discrimine efficaciter omnium oculis obiicitur de alio atque alio conceptu, partu, filio institui sermonem. Et si (quod dubitari prorsus nequit) hoc nostro loco conceptus describitur partusque ex naturae ordine institutus, altero loco conceptus exhibetur ipsa locutionis diversitate recedens a ratione communi. Brevi intervallo duo loci adeo et similes et simul dissimiles inter se opponuntur eo certe fine, ut ea diversitate de diverso quoque eventu et de diverso rerum ordine admoneamur vel inviti. Vocatur prophetissa uxor Isaiae; sed vix eo solum sensu, quia sit uxor prophetae, quamvis multi interpretum ea acceptione contenti sint (cf. Vat. For. Mald. Sa, Malv. Mar. Clarius, Est. Calm. Ges. Ros. Drechsl. Troch.); nam viri munus fale et officium ita ad uxorem "wansferri probabile non est neque tale habetur in reginae appellatione exemplum ; accedit quod alias prophetissa nomen est eius quae spiritu prophetico sit correpta (cf. Ex. 45, 90. Iud. 4, 4. 4 Reg. 22, 14); quare uxorem lsaiae vere prophetissam fuisse probabilius est, uti iam censet S. Chrys. et Sanct. Tir. et ex recentioribus Fürst, Kn. Naeg. Temporis spatium assignatur breve satis quia soni illi abi, immi ( papa, mamma) et facilius et citius ab infantibus proferuntur, et antequam ad plenum rationis usum pervenerint. Hoc oraculum plane.est distinctum, quia per quos duo illi reges sint puniendi effertur. Eventus narratur 4 Reg. 15, 29 pro Israel et 16, 9 pro Syria ; opes scil. Damasci et spolia Samariae ferentur coram rege Assur (hebr.); de iisdem eventibus narrant quoque inscriptiones cuneiformes, de quibus vide v. g. Vigourouz, la Bible et les déc. mod. IV p. 109 etc. et Schrader, Keilinschriften u. A. T. ad 2 Reg. 15, 29 et 16, 9; Civiltà cattolica XI. 3 p. 419 seq. (vide Prolegg. p. 4). ; Uti igitur Sehear jaschub nomen est propheticum filii Isaiae declarans: ultimam populi electi sortem, ita Maher schalal chasch baz epocham omine signat proxime futuram, et cum Achaz liberationis signum recusasset, Deus liberalitate divina piis signum exhiberi vult duplex, universale et magnificum alterum quod simul intimam pandat rationem modumque salutis, alterum particulare et humanum, quod pignus sit solius liberationis instantis et castigationis hostium. 1ta scil. in duobus filiorum nominibus ipsum Isaiae nomen (i. e. salus Iahve) pro temporum conditione explicatur et coetui fidelium viva proponuntur pignora miserationis opisque divinae. Neque alienum est ab usu nomina indi. quibus integra contineatur sententia; cf. 4 Par. 3, 20 Jaschub chesed i. e. redibit misericordia; 928, 4 Romamthi ezeri. e. exaltavi auxilium ;. Esdr. 8, 4 Eljeho enaj i. e. ad Deum oculi mei etc. Verba narrationis plana sunt et obvia quam maxime : loquitur propheta de se, rem enuntiat uxoriam actumque coniugalem et conceptum partumque filii, nominis impositionem, prima pueruli balbutientis verba, et antequam ea pronuntientur, id fore asseverat quod mox revera factum esse monumenta tum sacra tum profana testantur. Quae dum ita sint, iure miraberis quod tamen non pàuci etiam hoc oraculum idem esse censuerint cum illo praecedente 7, 14 atque de conceptu partuque virgineo et de Messia exposuerint. Sed coacte summopere. Secundum eos enim Isaias mente et visione prophetica accessit vel ad Spiritum sanetum quem prophetissam vocari volunt, quia n Hebraeis est feni- nini generis (cf. S. Hier. Haimo) vel ad Virginem matrem Messiae (Sasb. Pint. Lap.) et vidit conceptum ac partum virgineum ; vel quod graecis aliquibus placet (Euseb. S. Cyr.) ipse Deus loquitur et se in Virginem supervenisse dicit. Nomen quod spoliorum detractionem dicit Messiae imponunt qui daemoni spolia abstulerit, et v. 4 exponunt auferri spolia Damasci non solum antequam Messias sciat loqui verum etiam antequam nascatur, sed auferri virtute pueri naseituri, vel generatim auferri atque destrui mundi fortitudinem ac sapientiam. Praeter eos quos modo citavi partum virgineum et Emmanuelem hoc loco deprehendunt Theod. Basil. Procop. Osor. Men. Gord. : Sed iure iam S. Thom. eam explicationem vocat « magis extortam et in Seripturis non habere auctoritatem », et bene.iam S. Ephr. quid discriminis sit monet inter oraculum utrumque ratione habita et partus et signi ; ibi enim virginis declarari partum, hie prophetissae ; Emmanuelem pacem allaturum, filium vero [saiae bellum portendere. Nihilominus etiam apud Syros alia interpretatio praevaluisse videtur ; scribit enim Barh. ad h. 1. : « aliqui corporaliter (literaliter) id intelligunt, ac si propheta sociatus sit uxori ; interpretes nostri spiritualiter id accipiunt scil. virtutem eius qui loquebatur in eo obumbrasse virginem quae conceperit et pepererit » ; et ad v. 4 : « omnia haec verba. nisi spiritualiter de gentibus quae in Dominum crediderint non corroborantur; ubinam est Isaiae filius quem peperit ei prophetissa uxor eius qui haec fecerit » ? — Uxorem Isaiae prophetissam fuisse Gregorius njss. agnoscere videtur, cum hunc nostrum locum comparet cum Os. 1, 3 etc. (praef. in Cantic. M. 44, 151). Explanationem de filio Isaiae ornnino sequitur S. Chrys. eamque etiam multi interpretum antiquorum rite amplectuntur (ita S. Thom. — et quos Lap. recenset : Richardus Victor. Sixtus senensis, Arias — Vat. Clarius, Mald. Malv. Pagninus, For. Sa, Est. Mar. Tir. Sanct.) et recentiores omnes. Cur olim de hac interpretatione dubitatum fuerit et alia selecta, ex eo quoque declaratur, quia versio graeca X/lezot «7,» 8ovauty v. 4 ita fuit intellecta quasi ipse puer diceretur auferre spolia et potestatem inimicorum, id quod de uno Emmanuele dici posse arbitrati sunt. Textum graecum tamen aliter quoque posse explicari S. Chrys. ostendit scribens : « non quod puer possit aciem instruere hostesque profligare, sed quod aetas illa sive tempus illud elapsum antequam puer loqui possit, omnia tradat hostibus ».
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v. 5 « Etadiecit Dominus loqui ad me adhuc dicens :
Dixerat vates spolia Samariae ablatum iri. Iam causa redditur ex theocratiae divinitus institutae contemptu quo populus peccavit, praecipuelsrael; sed quia Iuda quoque a ratione theocratica descivit, id quod in Achaz rege cumprimis manifestum apparet, etiam populus iudaicus uti erat sceleris socius, ita poenae eiusdem erit particeps. Deus enim, ut ait S. Chrys. h.1l., pro more suo non solum poenas praedicit, sed causas affert, ut sic auditores erudiat; et quaenam est causa belli? « ingratus civitatem incolentium animus ». Unde
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v. 6 pro eo quod abiecit populus iste aquas Siloe quae vadunt. cwm silentio, et. assumpsit magis Rasin et filium Romeliae, v. i propter hoc ecce Dominus adducet super. eos aquas fhuninis fortes et multas, regem. Assyriorum et omnem gloriam eius, et ascendet super omnes rivos eius et fluet. super universas ripas eius »; — hebr. pro eo quod contempsit populus iste... et propter gaudium cum Rasin (cf. For. Malv. Mald. Mar.) i. e. regnum theocraticum despiciunt et cum extraneis et usurpatoribus maxima exsultatione foedera iungunt, eorum societate et opibus summopere gaudent. Quosnam vates proxime reprehendat, varie explicant. Alii enim Iudaeos intelligunt, qui. despecta theocratia exteris faverint (cf. Theod. Cyr. Euseb. Procop. Sanct. Pint. For. Mald. Lap. Sa, Men. Tir. Calm. Kn. Bred.), alii Iudaeos et Israelitas (Mar. Del. Troch.), alii Israelitas solos (Ephr. Hier. Sasb. Gord. Rohl. Naeg.). Ulümum videtur esse praeferendum. Cum enim Israelitae foedus inierint cum Rasin, rege Syriae, et cum ipsi Phacee usurpatori et occisori regis praecedentis (4 Reg. 13, 28) obedirent, tripudium illud cum Rasin et. filio Romeliae apte omnino Israelitarum conditionem describit; sed quomodo ad Iudaeos referatur, difficile est dictu. Nam fuisse multos in aula Achaz regis et in populo qui a partibus stetissent duorum illorum regum nequit probari, sed potius 7, 2 excluditur. Bene autem Israelitae quoque reprehenduntur, quod theocratiam divinitus institutam stinpemque David electam repudiaverint. Illud enim schisma malorum plurimorum causa et origo et fomentum erat; illo recedebant a foedere Dei. Cur spreverint pactum Domini, inipsa metaphora fontis Siloe ratio assignatur, cuius aquae vadunt cum silentio; ita enim theocratiae indoles adumbratur, quae aliena sit oportet a fastu et tumultu gentilium, a pompa et superbia mundana et in humili obedientia et spe divina non dominationem amplam affectet. neque gentium mores et instituta aemuletur, verum in Dei cultu et voluntate acquiescens a gentibus semota regnum Dei spirituale praeparet et quasi praeformet. Talis theocratiae symbolum fons Siloe proponitur imagine aeque apta quam iucunda. Fluit enim in valle inter collem Sion et Moriam interiecta, flait ut S. Hier. loquitur, « ad radices montis Sion » et « in. radicibus montis Moria » (ad Matth. 10, 28; M. 296, 66). Quare et sedem arcemque regis theocratici et templum Dei veri regis Iuda in memoriam revocat et cum sit rivulus parvus quidem sed aquarum praestantia pretiosissimus !, illam in se depingit humilitatem, tranquillitatem, abundantiam bonorum spiritualium, quam Deus regno theocratico inesse voluit. Hllud in Deo silentium populus noluit; quare ad gentes gentiumque mores defluxit. Porro cum regnum theocraticum, utpote regnum Domini in populo electo constitutum, esset simul praeparatio ad regnum messianicum, cum insuper in domo David vaticinia messianica ita essent collocata, ut thronus David esset firmiter constitutus in sempiternum (2 Reg. 1, 14) et ex stirpe David esset proditurus Dominator in Israel /2 Reg. 23, 3; vide ad Mich. 5, 2), facilis adesse cernitur nexus, quo cum Euseb. S. Cyr. Basil. Hier. in fonte Siloe ad radices Sionis et Moriae fluente agnoscamus adumbratum ipsum regnum messianicum, cuius utique fidem renuntiarunt, quicumque a theocratia desciverunt. Ipsum fontis nomen ScAiloach, missus, àzss-2*- £v; (Ioan. 9, 1) illum iis referre videtur qui vere sit missus a Deo et qui credentibus fiat fons aquae salientis in vitam aeternam. Uti in aquis Siloe quae vadunt cum silentio Dei operandi et gubernandi modus a strepitu mundano alienus repraesentatur, ita fluvius babylonieus maximo cum tumultu in omnem late regionem effusus, omnia inundationibus obruens, devastans, sepeliens, imago est regni mundani Deoque oppositi, in quo perturbatio, crudelitas, oppressio longe lateque dominantur. Israel domo David relicta secutus et pro viribus aemulatus est regnum mundanum ; unde (in quo quis peccavit, in eo etiam punietur) per regnum idem experiri debebit quam sit amarum reliquisse Dominum. Flumen est Euphrates, cuius nomen assyriacum Puratu (inde hebr. 773) etiam flumen zz 35271» dicit (cf. Delitzsch, Wo lag das Paradies? p. 169. 170). In aquarum inundantium imagine exprimi ait S. Thom. hostium impetum, robur, numerum, Et primo quidem regnum obruetur israeliticum (cf. v. 4). Verum regnum quoque iudaicum eatenus a theocratia recessit, quatenus ope Domini spreta rex maiorque populi pars a rege Assur auxilium efflagitabant. Cum enim Dei mandato vide ut sileas (1, 4) obedire detrectarent, ipsi quoque pro sua parte contempserunt et repudiarunt aquas Siloe quae vadunt cum silentio ; quare iusta poena unde salutem sperabant, inde calamitates miseriasque experientur. Inundatione qua Israel obruetur, etiam Iuda operietur :
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v. 8 « et ibit per Iudam, inundans et transiens usque ad. collum veniet » ; — cf. 1, 41; quanta futura sit miseria, usque ad collum optime declaratur i. e. fere submergetur Iuda (S. TÀhom.), interitui proximum erit regnum. Metaphora eo est aptior, quia in inundatione assyriaca per Sennacherib facta tota regio iudaica omnesque urbes captae sint una urbe Ierusalem excepta, quam ideo h. l. collo designari multi existimant (cf. S. Ephr. Chald. Malv. Mald. Pint. Mar. Sa, Rohl.). Ita fiet, ut ipsa hereditas Domini inundatione hostili operiatur : « et erit extensio alarum eius implens latitudinem terrae tuae, o Emmanuel » ; — copiae Assyriorum longe lateque grassabuntur. Verum cum manus intulerint hereditati Domini, victores manere non possunt ; ipsa hac victoria suam cladem certissime moliuntur. Hanc spem inconcussam magna animi exsultatione iam nunc vates enuntiat terram Iuda quam Assyrii oppresserint vocans terram Emmanuel ipsumque Emmanuelem magna cum emphasi alloquens. Est scil. haec appellatio sollemnis quaedam obsecratio et obtestatio, ut qui vere sit Dominus ac rex terrae ipse exsurgat ad suam terram vindicandam : ecce, non nostra regio vastatur, tua agitur gloria, tua possessio a sacrilegis pessumdatur ! Hac appellatione emphatica terra tua, o Emmanuel, quis sit. Emmanuel, indubie declaratur. Quis enim non statim sentiet talem allocutionem nullo pacto fieri posse ad infantem vel Isaiae vel regis in cunis vagientem ? Quam maxime ridicula esset talis emphasis et plane intolerabilis etiam apud mediocrem poetam modernum, nedum apud antiquum, nedum apud Isaiam ! Qui igitur Emmanuelem filiolum esse volunt Isaiae ab eius uxore iuvene modoin lucem editum, videant quam inepte loquentem faciant prophetam ; et quo demum iure dici potest terra Iuda terra filii Isaiae ? qua locutione quid arrogantius, quid magis a more hebraico alienum, immo quid magis impium et fere blasphemum fingi potest? Est enim et constanter appellatur terra Iuda terra Jahve :
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v. 9 « eongregamini populi, et vincimini, et audite universae proeul terrae ! confortamini et vincimini, accingite vos et vincimini !
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v. 10 inite consilium et dissipabitur, loquimini verbum et non fiet, quia nobiscum Deus » ! — hebr. verte : fremite populi et prosternimini i. e. licet maximum furorem et fremitum edant, tamen funditus proterentur ; et talem sortem annuntiari iubet vates omnibus, ita ut nuntius ad extremos terrae fines perveniat. Dein in hebr. bis idem membrum repetitur : accingimini et prosternimini, ita ut ter triumphalis illa exclamatio prosternimini audiatur. Ter monentur, ut furorem suum et arma optima colligant et ter miseranda prostratio denuntiatur. Dein v. 10 gradatione oratoria ad furorem et arma, ad duo haec potentissima addere iubentur consilium, ut scil. collatis consiliis omnem humanae intelligentiae ac prudentiae vim exserant et quae sapientissime excogitaverint editis mandatis et decretis ad exsecutionem omni studio et conatu adducant (1. e. loquimini verbum) — at incassum sunt omnia.! Triumphantis in morem sapientissimis consiliis vates opponit vo- 'cem peremptoriam : dissipabitur, firmissimis populorum decretis : non consistet. Omnia igitur quae in humanis subsidiis inveniri possunt, omnia quae animi impetus et irae furor subministrat vim addens optimis armorum generibus, omnia quae humana sapientia excogitare et firma praecipiendi severitas et constantia mandare potest, hic a vate sollemni modo in unum colliguntur, eo autem effectu et fine, ut magna cum irrisione ruina et strages iis denuntietur. Et cur talis prostratio ? quis eius auctor et sponsor ? Nervose et maximo pondere epinicion hoc in hebr. concluditur : quia Emmanuel ! En quam paucis verbis quantus paean ! Omnium temporum fata hisce concluduntur. Simulatque Achaz rex impius non a Deo, sed a rege Assur opem efflagitat, vates, theocratiae cu- Sstos ac interpres, normam Dei promulgat qua omnem potentiam et fastum deiicere. statuit, ut unum Emmanuelis regnum et una eius maiestas et gloria consistat. Quare non Assur solum, verum omoes nationes longinquae terrae auscultare iubentur. Iam si talis omnium nationum et virium humanarum prostratio est efficienda, quia Emmanuel, quis iste Eramanuel censendus erit? Quid magis a tanta dicendi sollemnitate et dignitate alienum quam filiolum fingere vel Isaiae vel impii regis Achaz? Ipse propheta apertissime nos docet. Iam 2, 12 et seq. omnem fastum humanum deiiciendum esse dixerat, ut demum « germen Domini sit in magnificentia et gloria » (4, 2), et quae hic v. 9. 10 proponuntur, per singulas nationes cap. 13-24 ita pertractantur, ut omnium prostrationem et humiliationem ad unum Messiae regnum stabiliendum inservituram esse vates ostendat. Quare hie paucis verbis uberrimum indicat argumentum, quo et singulorum vitae sortes et totius generis humani fata reguntur et quod Daniel simi- .li modo proponit : « in diebus autem regnorum illorum suscitabit Dominus coeli regnum quod in aeternum non dissipabitur... comminuet autem et consumet universa regna haec et ipsum stabit in aeternum » (Dan. 2, 44). In ipsa sermonis conformatione et « virulenta irrisio » (Pint. Sasb.) cernitur conatuum hostilium maximaque victoriae fiducia — « repetitio est hominis secure lacessentis » Mald. — et summa animi laetitia de tot ac tantis regni Dei triumphis. In quam rem bene advertit S. Cyr. : « exsilit prae gaudio animus prophetae, utpote qui plane Christi mysterium agnovit », et S. Chrys. : « quia res annuntiabat humanam naturam superantes, ut fide dignum sermonem exhibeat, ad dignitatem praeclare operantis frequenter confugit dicens.: quia nobiscum Deus et quia ipse omnia haec machinamenta dissipabit ». Hebr. *73 varie concipitur. Iam S. Hier. scribit : « pro congregamini sive infirma- mini et confringimini, ut interpretati sunt alii, LXX posuerunt scitote ; verbum enim .hebraieum rou propter res literae et daleth similitudinem intellexerunt dou (1y3) ». Uti S. Hier. ita Chald. quoque notionem expressit consociate vos ; acceperunt ergo verbum ny^ in pual (cf. hithpael Prov. 22, 24; praeterea Prov. 13, 20 ; 28, 1) ; sed accentus mas. in penulüma formam in qal esse intellectam docet. Unde plerique vertunt : fremite vel irascimini (cf. Rohl. Net. Dred. Del. Kn. Ges. — et iam apud -Malv.) à verbo yy*, quod verbum, tamen frequentius modo impersonali adhibetur malum est. Unde alii vertunt confringite (Vat. Drechsl. Naeg.), uti verbum usurpatum cernitur Ps. 2, 9. Iob 34, 24. Ier. 11, 16; 15, 12 ete. Alii formam referunt ad ym vociferamini vel tumultuamini ; id quod longius abest. Iam quid erit seligendum ? Magnam quidem videtur habere oppositionem et vim illud : confringite alios, tamen mox scil. vos ipsi confringemini; at si reliqua membra huius « virulentae irrisionis » spectaveris, in iis iam non indicatur, quid mali aliis inferant, verum quid ipsi per se praestent, ut se tueantur et excidio imminenti resistant. Ita sane accingite vos, consilium capite, loquimini verbum. Ergo simili modo primum membrum expli care valde erit consultum. Ad id autem per se aptum est congregamini; sed cum forma mas. obstet (nisi cum Itos. yy? accipere volueris eadem notione cum ny; id quod tamen nimis arbitrarie fieri videtur), non aliud restat quam explicatio quam supra dedi. — Syrus habet contremiscile. Affert Theod. : « clarius tres (reliqui) interpretati sunt hune locum : cvvaüpoícón:e » ; videtur intelligere interpretationem Aq. Sym. Theod. (c£. M. 16, 1664).
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v. 41 « Haec enim ait Dominus ad. me, sicut in manu forti erudivit me, ne irem in via populi huius, dicens :
Quale sit divinae providentiae consilium in rerum iudaicarum administratione, propheta in antecedentibus expressit. Quibus iam vera continetur piorum eruditio et consolatio. Restat, ut doctrina haec quo magis animi moveantur, quasi per singula ad eventus singulos exhortatione et commonitione applicetur. Ita enim pios manuducere et quae in universum de tota gubernandi ratione Dei dicta sunt ad singula quaeque traducere, muneris est prophetici. Unde bene nexum adstruit S. Thom. : « hic ponitur populi instructio : et primo docet quid non timendum, secundo quid timendum sit ». Quod ut propheta praestet, divina allocutione se edoctum et excitatum profitetur, qua simul nova continetur praecedentis oraculi confirmatio et explicatio; unde v. 41 *» quia;
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v. 12 non dicatis : coniuratio; omnia enim quae loquitur populus iste coniuratio est, et timorem eius ne timeatis neque paveatis » | — hebr. sic enim locutus est Dominus ad me in fortitudine manus i. e. in fortitudine prophetiae (Chald.), in valida ac vehementi prophetia quae vim magnam et efficacitatem prae se ferret (Malv.) ; manus quippe Dei fieri dicitur super prophetam, quando peculiari Dei influxu et inspiratione ad agendum loquendumve se sentit impulsum (cf. Ez. 1, 3; 3, 14. 22; 8, 1; 33, 99; 91, 1; 40,1 etc); proinde fortitudo manus indicat, quanta cum severitate et emphasi id ei fuerit a Deo inculeatum et sub quam vehementi interminatione 'ei et discipulis eius interdicatur, ne eandem cum populo sentiendi agendique rationem sequantur. Unde Deus dicitur eum erudire, coercere. Quae sit via populi huius, ingenti illo terrore 1, 2 et foedere declaratur quod Achaz rex cum Assyriis opis implorandae causa inire desiderat. Haec via insuper in v. 12 determinatur : ne vocetis coniurationem omne quod iste populus appellat coniurationem (hebr.). Admonentur ergo, ne de rerum conditione causisque eo modo iudicent, quo populus. Hic enim oculis minime ad rerum omnium moderatorem sublatis in rebus afflictis et in periculis belli et in angustiis nihil aliud cerhit nisi conzurationem duorum regum Syriae et Israel eorumque odium et inimicitias ; solum scil. de causis humanis loquuntur, solliciti sunt, ab iis solum sibi esse timendum et cavendum existimant; ad Deum primam causam et vindicem peccatorum animos oculosve non attollunt. Aliter propheta et discipuli eius. Illis ob oculos versari debet norma theocratica, ut abiecta consideratione mere humana Dei manum providentiamque agnoscant. Hanc autem produnt s. literae : Dominus coepit mittere in Iudam Rasin et Phacee (4 Reg. 15, 31); tradidit eum Dominus Deus in manu regis Syriae (2 Par. 28, 5) ; humiliaverat enim Dominus Iudam propter Achaz, adduxitque contra ipsum Theglathphalnasar (l. c. 28, 19.) Exsistit ergo propheta praeco ordinis rerum altioris ad quem relicta vulgi sententia animos oporteat elevare. Quodsi verum de rebus iudicium ex norma divina efformatum mentibus insederit, facile quoque a timore vulgi animos liberos servabunt; unde alterum hoc apte secundo loco infertur : timorem eius ne timeatis. Qui enim res ita considerant, uti luce fidei divinae collustrantur et in consiliis divinis apparent, illi, animos gerent timore humano et anxietate vulgi longe superiores, ab eiusmodi curis alienos. Verum quid revera timendum sit, magno verborum pondere declaratur
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v. 13 « Dominum exercituum ipsum sanctificate ; ipse pavor vester et ipse terror vester » ! — in titulo Domini exercituum ratio exprimitur amplissima, cur non duorum regum coniuratio sit pertimescenda, sed Domini maiestas violata. Hanc sanctificare iubentur i. e. agnoscere et profiteri sanctam, inviolabilem ; proinde eius voluntati obsequi, eius castigationes mente humili subire, eius honorem vita et moribus exprimere ac tueri, eius promissis firmissima spe et fiducia adhaerere. Si hac fide et spe animati sunt, iam non ab hominibus formidabunt ; unus ille qui solus est potens ac terribilis, erit eorum pavor ; eum seil. ne offendant, ne provocent, ne inimicum vel adversarium habeant, totis viribus contendent. Hic demum timor « expellit omnes timores et animos sollicitudine liberat atque excelsos et invictos efficit. Nunquam enim pavebit quem Dei metus atque religio numinis illius obstrinxerit. Non igitur reges mortales et interituros inanesque hominum minas, sed sempiternum coeli dominatorem metuite, si vultis statum vestrum esse firmissimo praesidio tectum ipsiusque Dei praesenti ope stabilitum » (Osor.). populus iste vocat sanctum, iam suspicati sunt Secker, Lowth et e recentioribus de Lagarde, cui consentiunt Bickell (Zeitschrift f. kath. Theol. Inusbr. 1883 p. 148) et Bred. ; praecipue insistit de Lagarde (Semitiea I p. 15) parallelismo qui cernitur inter 19 b et 13 b et qui eadem ratione habetur inter 12 a et 13 a, si ibi sanctum legitur. Haec ratio speciosa satis est. Ergo continetur admonitio ne superstitiosa populi religione teneantur, sed Deum sancta religione colant ; quid populus sanctum vocet, affertur exemplum in v. 19. Sed veteres interpretes certe non legerunt wp; LXX praebent ex)npov ; Sym. &vcvagots. Non piget h. 1. paucis adscribere, quomodo S. Thom. in nota ad h. l. manum Domini explicet locutionisque in s. literis usum ad certa quaedam capita revocet. Habetur enim in ea nota specimen et cognitionis s. Scripturae et interpretationis per divisionem ac subdivisionem incedentis : « nota super illo verbo sicut in manu forti erudivit me, quod est manus divina triplex. Primo est manus divinae potentiae ; et haec est triplex : primo creantis : Iob 10, 8 manus tuae fecerunt me et plasmaverunt me ; secundo continentis : Ps. 94, 4 in manu tua, Domine, omnes fines terrae ; tertio protegentis : infra 49 in umbra manus suae protexit me. Secunda manus est manus iustitiae; et ista erit triplex : prima tangentis ad probandum : Iob 19, 214 manus Domini tetigit me; secunda flagellantis ad purgandum : 2 Mach. 6, 26 nam si in praesenti tempore a suppliciis hominum eripiar, sed manum Omnipotentis nec vivus nec defuncfus effugiam ; tertia opprimentis ad condemnandum : Hebr. 10, 31 horrendum est incidere in manus Dei viventis. Tertia manus est manus misericordiae ; et ista est triplex : prima sanantis : Iob 5, 18 ipse vulnerat et medetur ; percutit et manus eius sanabunt ; secunda pascentis: Ps. 94, 7 populus eius et oves manus eius ; tertia coronantis : Sap. 5, 27 accipient regnum decoris et diadema speciei de manu Domini ». Nostrum autem locum erudivit me in manu forti ita exponit : erudivit me in tribulatione, vel non solum docens quid faciendum, sed etiam dans gratiam virtutis ad complendum. Quodsi ita abiectis rationibus humanis Deo fideliter adhaeserint in eoque omnem collocaverint spem et fiduciam, fructum obedientium (S. Thom.) percipient
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14, 9 ; eam vocat Dominus terram meam 14, 95, hereditatem meam 41, 6 ; et eodem modo apud alios prophetas et in libris historicis ; cf. Os. 9, 3. Ier. 2, 15 12, 14; 16, 18. 1 Bes. 26, 19. 2 Reg. 14, 16, Ps. 18, 1; 93, 5. Sed si Emmanuel idem est, qui 9, 6. 7 appellatur a propheta, quam aptissime et e re ipsa fluit haec obsecratio. In Iuda enim propter regnum Dei, propter thronum David sempiternum, propter Messiam certissima Spes est reposita victoriae gloriosae de omnibus inimicis reportandae ; talem spem omnibus notam ea apostrophe propheta enuntiat. Atque quantopere hoc verum sit, statim etiam clarius demonstratur. Nomine scil. Emmanuelis prolato sacer vates maxima quadam exsulta- * ione abreptus iam animo cernit omnem potestatem, sapientiam, fortitudinem mundanam egregie devictam atque prostratam, unum vero Emmanuelem gloriosum de omnibus populis triumphatorem. En, quales animi sensus, quam excelsos et magnificos una Emmanuelis vox pepererit et ad qualem spem, audaciam, certissimam fiduciam eius erexerit animum ! Nam v. 14 « eterit vobis in sanctificationem » ; —hebr. in sanctuarium i.e. inlocum sacrum actutum inrefugium ac protectionem ; includitenim notio templi protectionem et sacrum quoddam asylum (cf. 3 Reg: 14, 50; 2, 28; Vat. Mald. Malv. II. Mar. Rohl. Troch.), sed simul significationem pacis ac gratiae ac cum Deo familiaritatis exhibet ; unde non immerito alii explicant : vos sibi segregabit ac sanctificabit et tamquam sibi consecratos peculiari ratione favore suo complectetur (cf. Sa, Lap. Tir.). In piis igitur splendida illa Ps. 90 promissa implebuntur.. Verum vae incredulis. Cum insigni pondere illud denuo ingeminat vates « nisi credideritis, non permanebitis » ; erit enim Dominus aut in resurrectionem aut in ruinam (Pint.) secundum normam : cum sancto sanctus eris et cum perverso perverteris (Ps. 17, 26). Iam has minas hancque ruinam per singula ad terrorem prosequitur : « in lapidem autem offensionis et in. petram scandali duabus domibus Israel, in. laqueum et in ruinam habitantibus Ierusalem ;
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v. 48 et offendent ex eis plurimi et cadent et conterentur et. irretientur et capientur » ; — dum pii tuto ac beate commorantur in Dei adiutorio et quasi inviolabili sanctuario conclusi, incredulis rerum difficultates erunt sicuti lapides quibus in via offenduntur et impingunt, sicuti petra qua conteruntur, sicut laqueus ! quo illaqueati cadunt et capiuntur, brevi tamquam ruinae et exitii causa. Immo quod gravius sonat, ipse Dominus sese ut ruinae causam exhibebit, quia cum eius fidem et promissa repulerint, vindictam eius et iram necessario incurrunt. Dicendi quadam ubertate et copia imaginum ruinam ingruere multiplicem, ineluetabilem vates declarat ; quod si unum calamitatis genus evaserint, eo certius alio involventur. Et tali ruinae obviam eunt duae domus Israel; heu quam degeneres ab illa fidei constantia qua patriarcha hoc gloriae nomen sibi olim meritus est (cf. ad Os. 12, 4)! obviam eunt habitantes Jerusalem, theocratiae centrum et Dei Regis sedem peculiarem (cf. ad Soph. 3, 5), ubi tamen continuo oracula prophetarum divinae potentiae et gratiae documenta celebrabant. Indicat igitur vates incredulos ipso rerum cursu confundi et perire et talem esse providentiam divinam, ut demum vera salus non consistat nisi piis, talem rerum exitum, ut iustae punitioni impii implicentur. Maior populi pars erit manebitque incredula (cf. 6, 9. 10). At reliquiae salvabuntur. Pro his iam sermo texitur. Iubet scil. Deus vatem testimonia haec divina fideliter tradere piis custodienda et alte animis imprimenda: v.46 «liga testimonium, signa. legem in discipulis meis » ! — cum in antecedentibus Dominus loquatur et alter loquens, vates scil. solum in subsequenti clare designetur, etiam hic cum plerisque vox Dei ad prophetam agnosci debet. Accedit quod si essent verba ea precantis in morem a propheta Deo dicta, uti volunt Vitringa, Drechsl. Naeg.,' merito exspectares, immo exigeres honorificam Domini compellationem, qua simul precationi et pondus et veneratio adiungeretur. Ligari debet ne quasi dissipatum pereat vel amittatur ; proinde iubetur verba divina sedulo tradere et diligenter asservanda et meditanda commendare iis qui Domino se dociles (cf. hebr.) et dicto audientes praebent ; obsignari id quoque dicitur quod fideliter custoditur, ut sigillo apposito etiam in futura tempora tamquam genuinum Domini verbum agnoscatur et probari possit. Uti 8, 2 testes sibi adhibere iubetur editi ante eventum valicinii, ita hic rerum futurarum documenta et lineamenta ut piis tradat quasi sigillodivino obsignata praecipitur. Sunt enim haec plerisque clausa et abscondita ; at pii ea animis condunt et impletione facta divinis vaticiniis testimonium perhibent ; interea iis utuntur tamquam lucerna in loco caliginoso (cf. Lap. Mar. Tir. Men.). Haec porro obsignatio normam dicit divinitus ita stabilitam, quae ab omni conditione absoluta opere certissime complebitur ; quandoque enim minae ita proponuntur, ut tamen conditio aliqua subintelligatur oporteat (cf. quae notavi ad Ioel 2, 1. 19 ; 3, 10. Hab. 2, 3), ubi igitur eventus non absolute praedicitur. Aliter nostro loco; ad quod vide quae dixi ad Zach. 1, 14. Simile obsignationis mandatum recole causasque perpende similes Dan. 8, 26 ; 12, 4. 9, et a contrario Apoc. 22, 10. Hoc mandato accepto vates tamquam optimus fidei pietatisque magister discipulis exemplo praeit atque in se ipso delineat quibus sensibus tempore calamitatis ingruentis ex Dei norma pios animari oporteat
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v. 177 « et exspectabo Dominum qui abscondit faciem | suam a domo lacob et praestolabor eum » ; — i. e. in miseriis oportet agnosci Domini percutientis manum, qui merito iratus populo suo ab eo favorem ac protectionem peculiarem pro aliquo tempore subtraxerit ; vultus enim Domini vellumen vultus dicit gratiam eius, benevolentiam, amorem ; unde avertere faciem, abscondere eic. eius gratiae ac subsidii defectum significat. Proinde denuo monet propheta, ut rerum eventus variosque casus non ex hostium potentia, malitia, cupiditatibus dimetiantur, sed norma divina adhibita diiudicent. Atque tum in ipsa hac norma firmissimum continetur solatium, quo animos ad patientiam, spem, fiduciam erigant atque confortent. Domo enim Iacob commemorata quasi sua sponte memoriae mentibusque obiiciuntur promissiones patriarchis datae quae nequeant evacuari, « quia dilexit patres tuos et elegit semen eorum post eos » (Deut. 4, 31). Unde ea iam ratione permoti sensus induant oportet quos propheta describit dicens exspectabo Dominum, praestolabor i. e. sensus fiduciae firmissimae et spei laetae, quae fundatur in lahve, in eo qui est, qui immutabilis in se (Mal. 3, 6) promissa sua demum in opus deducat et ipso nomine suo Iahve certissimum dederit impletionis pignus (vide ad Os. 12, 5. Ioel 9, 32). Similem animi habitum in simili rerum conditione lege depictum Mich. 7, 7. Atque quantopere valeant etiamnum rationes ex domo Iacob et nomine lahve petitae ad animos patientia et spe informandos, propheta ex praesentibus favoris divini pignoribus luculenter docet, ita quoque simul cum orationis progressu eas suggerens rationes quibus vehementius animos commoveri atque plane convinci sit necesse. Vult enim Deus, ut « ubi ceteri impegerunt et divini vultus aversationem passi sunt, inde illi suos animos magis tranquillos reddant et ad meliora procliviores » (S. Cyr.); valet scil. hic quoque : qui habet, dabitur ei et abundabit. Unde ad priora addit vates:
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v. 18 « ecce ego et pueri mei quos dedit mihi Dominus in signum et in portentum Israel a Domino exercituum, qui habitat in monte Sion » ! — ipse propheta munere suo prophetico et nomine « salus Iahve » puerique eius nominum. quoque symbolis : Schear jaschub (reliquiae revertentur) Maher schalal cbasch baz (accelera spolia detrahere, festina praedari; cf. 8, 3) divina adumbrant consilia et pro tempore ingruente et pro generationum futurarum serie: longissima. Dati sunt ei filii ut sint signa et. portenta in Israel (hebr.) i. e. qui res futuras suis nominibus iam describant et earundem pignora quasi ac vadimonia praestent tamquam. viva quaedam ac spirantia oracula et documenta certissima. De vocibus n262*» nix vide 20, 3 : Isaias captivorum habitu opprobrioso incedens signum esse debet ac portentum super Aegyptum et Aethiopiam ad sortem illorum praefieurandam ; item Ez. 12, 6. 11; 24, 24. 2/1 actione symbolica repetitis vicibus in portentum esse debet rerum futurarum (cf. Zach. 3, 8). Quare vim elffati bene complectitur For. : « summam omnium quae dixit et omnium fere quae dicturus est illis nominibus comprehendit ». Atque talia concedens pignora edensque oracula Dominus sese probat et manifestat Aabitantem in monte Sion, qui Deus foederis fidelis:in medio populo suo habitat neque ab infideli et contumaci re-. cedit, sed.quae Sioni promisit (cf. 2, 2 seq. 4, 6 etc.) opere complebit. Proinde in ipso titulo habitantis in Sion valida offertur ratio fiduciae augendae. — De typica horum verborum ratione vide Hebr. 2, 13 et Sanct. For. Lap. neque desunt ex antiquis qui propter Hebr. l. c. totum locum immediate et unice de Christo explicent (cf. Euseb. S. Cyr. Basil. Pint.) pueros intelligentes de fidelibus discipulis. Iam doctrinam propositam vates ad casum applicat particularem ostendens, quomodo fidem et spem palam coram contribulibus profiteri debeant. Duin enim tempora volvuntur tenebricosa et calamitatibus plena, homines a Deo alieni rabida agitantur superstitione et omni quo possunt modo et malorum remedia exquirere et sortem futuram investigare conantur. Et in quantum talis superstitio veterum quoque animos occupaverit, multiplicia illa divinationis atque magiae genera satis superque docent (cf. Deut. 18, 9 seq. — Scholz, Goetzendienst p. 'í0 seq.). Unde vates suos contra pericula praemunit ne communi quasi vertigine et ipsi corripiantur
8:19
v. 19 « et cum dixerint ad vos : quaerite a pythonibus et a divinis qui strident in incantationibus suis; numquid non populus a Deo suo requiret ? pro vivis a mortuis » ? — hebr. quaerite a necromantibus et divinis (proprie gnostis — cf. Malv. For.) qui pipiunt et mussitant, ad irrisionem praestigiatorum et incantatorum, qui murmuribus et miris editis sonis admirationem superstitiosorum provocare student, haec descriptio a vate addita esse videtur. Duo plebi superstitiosae consideranda proponuntur : populum a Deo suo consilium et auxilium efflagitare debere et quam stultum sit a mortuis expetere opem pro vivis. Prius eo magis valet quia ex communi gentium opinione deus nationalis quam maxime suae gentis bonum atque emolumentum promovet cuius quippe gloria, felicitas, splendor in ipsius dei commendationem praeprimis redundare censetur (cf. Iud. 41, 24. Am. 1, 15. Hab. 4, 16. Nah. 4, 14. Zach. 2, 8). Quare ipsis idololatris stultum videri debet, quod Israelitae suo Deo neglecto et contempto ad aliena et extranea subsidia deflectunt. Alterum quantae sit stupiditatis effert opem exspectare ab iis qui ipsi vita et vigore vitali privati reramque omnium terrestrium ignari tamquam umbraein scheol degunt. Cuius responsionis vis ut percipiatur, in memoriam revoca quomodo de mortuorum in scheol commoratione sermo fiat apud antiquos; cf. Eccl. 9, 10 : « quodcumque facere potest manus tua, instanter operare, quia nec opus nec ratio nec sapientia nec scientia erunt apud inferos », Iob 414, 21 : « sive nobiles fuerint filii eius, sive ignobiles, non intelliget » (cf. Ps. 6, 6; 29, 10 ; 81, 11; 113, 47. Is. 38, 41). cromantia intelliguntur. Insuper ipsa nàà& commemoratio necromantiam clare designat. Mulier enim illa quae a Saule consulitur, ut a Samuele mortuo responsum exquirat, possedisse 33N perhibetur 1 Reg. 98, 77 (cf. de Hummelauer ad h. 1.). Dicitur 23x et de spjritu fatidico vel daemone qui in eiusmodi praestigiatoribus inesse credebatur (cf. Lev. 20, 97) et de ipso hariolo qui incantationibus suis carminibusque magicis manes vel mortuos evocare posse censebatur (vide Scholz l. c. p. 90 seq.). S. Hier. anazi" nia vertit vel magos et hariolos (Lev. 19, 31; 20, 6. 4 Reg. 98,3. 9) vel magos et incantatores (9 Par. 33, 6) vel pythones et haruspices (& Reg. 91, 6) vel pythones et hariolos (4 Reg. 93, 24) vel pythones et divinos (Deut. 18, 11 cf. Lev. 20, 27). LXX plerumque DANN vertunt éryaezpuaudüoug ventriloquos ; quae ventriloquorum ars sane quam maxime ad eam fraudem contulit et « ne minimum quidem dubium superesset, astuti homines populum docebant magum videre quidem manes a se evocatos sed nihil audire ; illum vero in cuius gratiam anima reducatur audire quidem sed nihil videre » (Ges. Thes. p. 35). Quantae sit stupiditatis in arte divinatoria praesidium quaerere, duabus quaestionibus indicaverat vates v. 19. Iam quid reiecta et spreta magia agendum sit, ita directe proponit, ut in hac doctrina unam salutis contineri normam quam distinctissime efferat
8:20
v. 20 «ad legem magis et ad testimonium! quod. si non dixerint iuxta verbum hoc, non erit eis matutina lux» ;— quasi belli ducis in morem brevi formula et tessera imperium enuntiat (cf. Iud. 7, 18), in doctrina scil. a Deodata et in eius de rebus futuris testimonio (v. 16) iam omnia concludi quibus opussit in rerum perturbatione et in calamitatibus ingruentibus, ibi contineri lumen, consolationem, fortitudinem; vaticinia sane intelliguntur iam proposita, cumprimis quae a cap. 71 et deinceps sunt edita. Valet 'enim pro rebus afflictis quam maxime : lucerna pedibus meis verbum tuum et lumen semitis meis; tribulatio et angustia invenerunt me,mandata tua meditatio mea est (Ps. 118, 105. 143). Sed «si non credideritis, non permanebitis » vel «non est pax impiis» (Is. 48, 22; 51, 21)! Unde iis qui non adlegem et testimonium confugerint neque ea moribus et vita expresserint, nullam fore melioris fortunae spem, nullam felicitatis lucem minatur. lam noctem miseriarum et densissimas tenebras quas nullus lucis radius pellet vates v. 21. 22 describit, dum 9, 1-1 cum quanto splendore et quanta beatitate credentibus sit lux matutina oboritura, egregie prosequitur. pronomen supplent demonstralivum : ii sunt quibus non erit aurora (cf. RoAL.). Alii sententiam ex sequentibus supplent eum in modum unam efficientes phrasin : si non secundum hoc ii loquuntur quibus nonzest aurora, transibunt ete. (cf. Net. Diest. Naeg.). Sed haec coniunctio iam propterea est repudianda, quia illi quibus nulla estspes non possunt censeri velle amplecti illam tesseram ; si enim vellent amplecti, iam eo ipso cessarent esse inter eos quibus nulla est aurora. Unde a fortiore patet nullo pacto verti posse quod volunt de Wette, Hits. Ewald, Drechsl. : profecto, ita loquuntur quibus non est aurora. Nam apertissime pugnat cum vaticiniis datis, ut ii ad legem dicantur mentes animosque applicare, quibus nihilominus nulla sit melioris fortunae spes. Quam primum enim normam divinam amplecti vellent, iam iis quoque aurora i. e. salus et felicitas esset speranda. Alii Nb-DN concipiunt tamquam interrogationis particulam anne, numne : annon ita loqui debent quibus non est aurora (Kn. Del.)? Explicatio posset admitti, si non esse auroram solummodo miseriam et atllictionem, tenebras significaret ; sed plus innuitur, adesse noctem quam nulla aurora, dies nullus excipiet, proinde adesse iis et instare castigationem ex qua emergere iam non possint, pro eis iam nihil fore levaminis, lucis, sed noctem perpetuam et afflictionem nullo modo levandam. — Alii ita iungunt : annon forte ita loquentur ? quia ei non est aurora, transit etc. ; ergo ? in apodosi ? — LXX et Syrus non auroram, sed donum efferunt ; proinde legisse videntur non *rmj, sed m2. — S. Hier. versionem. suam explicationem « iuxta Hebraeos » faetam esse asserit : « unde si vultis nosse quae dubia sunt, magis vos legi et testimoniis tradite Scripturarum. Quodsi noluerit vestra congregatio verbum Domini quaerere, non habebit lucem veritatis, sed versabitur in errore tenebrisque ; lux pertransibit eam, hoc est, congregalionem vestram, et corruelis » ete. Quid legis Dei contemptoribus futurum sit et qualis sit rerum conditio iis quibus non sit aurora, vates exhibet
8:21
v. 21 « et transibit per eam, corruet et. esuriet, et cum esurierit, irascetur et maledicet regi suo et Deo suo et suspiciet sursum, v.29 et ad terram intuebitur, et ecce tribulatio et tenebrae, dissolutio et angustia et caligo persequens, et non poterit avolare de angustia sua»; — «hic ponit desperationis tristitiam » ut bene advertit S. Thom.; is enim cui non est aurora vagus ac profugus discurret per terram (ita eam explicant referentes ad terram v. 99 ! ; cf. Mald. Sanct. Mar. Malv. Men. Troch.), impingit et corruit; accedit rerum omnium penuria, qua ad furorem exacerbatus diraset maledictiones iacit in cuncta quaecumque hominibus sacra sunt; humana et divina diris devovet. Quocumque tandem oculos dirigat, sive ad coelum eos attollat sivead terram demittat, nullibi lucis radius apparet, ubique tribulalio et tenebrae, oppressio, afflictio, angustia ; brevi caligo quae eum undiqua involvat eumque continuo persequatur nec effugere sinat; quare 1. Ita hebr. 5x quoque explicant Ges. Ros. Kn. Del. Bred.; sed ad indolem linguae potius nulla iam ex abysso miseriarum emersio. Ita sane optime delineatur desperatio e£ malorum cumulus sine levamine futurus. Talem miseriarum abyssum vates incredulis ostendit et hoc modo tesseram suam declarat : « nisi credideritis non permanebitis ». Ipsa descriptio solito longior et per singula incedens et verborum quadam ubertate vocumque similium accumulatione conspicua ad horrorem incutiendum plane facta est et ad magnitudinem miseriae delineandam ex aequo conformata. Hebr. verte : et. transibit (vagabitur) ea in conditione miseriis pressus et esuriet, et erit cum esurierit, excandescet et maledicet . ... et ecce angustia et Lenebrae, obtenebratio angoris et caligo late extensa, vel ut aliis placet : in caliginem late propulsus (est talis) — quae locutio tamen aequo durior et a concinnitate cum membris antecedentibus remotior est. Reliqua in hebr. commodius ad sequentia trahuntur. a dicendi genere Isaiae alienum, ut quaestio ponatur et responsio detur, ut descriptio brevibus membris concisa, immo verbis abrupte proiectis incedat, iure miraberis, cum ubique adverti possit, quanta varietate, quantis motibus, quanto impetu et qua rerum copia et quam apt& ad describendum selectione verborum utatur [saias ; porro quis unquam dixerit eius dicendi genus a brevibus nervosisque sententiis esse alienum ? Lege 14, 8. 16 seq. 91, 5 ; 22, 13 ete. — Ceterum quod sciam nemo criticorum usque ad Scholz hune locum Isaiae esse abiudicandum censuit.
8:1
… of God who fills him with the Holy Spirit (Hos. 9, 7; Mic. 3, 8; Ezek. 2, 2; 3, 12; 8, 13; 11, 5, 24; Zech. 7, 12; II Sam. 23, 2; Eccl. 39, 8; 48, 27; II Esdr. 14, 21, 25, 40-44); who orders him to speak or to write (Ex. 17, 14; 34, 27; Deut. 31, 19; Is. 8, 1; 30, 8; Hab. 2, 2; Dan. 8, 26; 12, 4; Ezek. 24, 2; in a special way Jer. 36) and to set forth only what God wills (Deut. 18, 15-22; Jer. 23, 16; 20, 7-9, 15, 19; 14, 14; Ezek. 13, …
8:2
Barachias (Heb. Berekhjāh[ā] = "blessed by Jahweh")
… 15:23), one of the four chiefs of Ephraim who had the prisoners of Judah released by Pekah (v.) and accompanied them as far as Jericho (2 Chron. 28:12-15), the father of the builder Meshullam (Neh. 3:4, 30), the father of Zechariah taken as a witness by Isa. 8:2, the father of the prophet Zechariah (Zech. 1:7).
Isaias (HEB. JĒŠA-JĀH[Ā] "SALVATION [IS] YAHWEH", SEPTUAGINT 'HESAIAU)
… Son of Amoz (not to be confused with the prophet of the same name), he was born in all probability in Jerusalem, which was the theater of his activity (Is. 7:3 ff.; 8:2; 22:15 ff.; 37:2 ff.). …
Urias (« My Light is Jahweh »?)
Other U.s named in the Bible: a priest of the time of Ahaz (Is. 8:2; II Kings 16:10-16); a courageous prophet contemporary with Jeremiah (Jer. 26:20-23); one or two priests of the time of Ezra (Ezra 8:33; Neh. 8:4).
Zacharias (Heb. Zēhharjâh « Yahweh has remembered »)
… The name also occurs in Ezra 8:3, 11; 10:26; Neh. 11:4; Is. 8:2; I Macc. 5:18, 56. Angelo Penna
8:3
Isaias (HEB. JĒŠA-JĀH[Ā] "SALVATION [IS] YAHWEH", SEPTUAGINT 'HESAIAU)
… By this date Isaiah must already have been married (cf. ibid. 7:3), to a woman whose name is not known, who is called a "prophetess" (ibid. 8:3), because of the religious vision that Isaiah had of his marriage, not expressed in so explicit a manner as in Hosea (v.), but nonetheless evident in the symbolic names of the children …
8:4
… Lk. 1, 32); b) he will be born in Bethlehem: Mic. 5, 1 = Mt. 2, 6; c) of a Virgin: Is. 7, 14 b = Mt. 1, 23; cf. Mic. 5, 2 (the pearl of the messianic prophecies; the sign offered to Ahaz is the son of Is. 7, 3, 16 [Sē'ār jātiūb], like the other son in Is. 8, 4; "before he reaches the age of discretion, that is, within a few months, the lands of the two feared kings will be devastated"; vv. 21 f. announce the prosperity and abundance [also …
8:6
… time of Solomon; in the time of Ahaz a channel was built along the flanks of the hill almost at ground level, with various sections open for the irrigation of the royal gardens; it led the water from the G. into the lower pool, today Birket el-hamra (Is. 8:6). This channel, which could also serve besiegers, was blocked up by Hezekiah (2 Chron. 32:30), who had a deep tunnel excavated which, passing underground through the hill of Ophel, …
Rasin (Heb. Rēṣīn; Septuagint Pāṇḍaṣ; Assyrian Rasūṇṇ)
… Ahaz, harshly defeated by R. and by Pekah (II Chron. 28:5-15), was besieged in the capital; the aim was to remove the Davidic dynasty and place on the throne a certain Tabeel, a supporter of the policy of Damascus (the Syro-Ephraimite war, 735-734; Isa. 7:1-9; 8:6; 9:11). The Edomites (II Kings 16:6 instead of 'Aram; Rēṣīn is considered a gloss) and the Philistines took advantage of this to attack Judah: the former retook Elath, the latter six …
8:7
… Sometimes it symbolizes Babylonian power (cf. Jer. 2, 18; 13, 4 ff.; Is. 8, 7; 27, 12). Often the E. is recalled in boundary delimitations. …
8:8
The M. will have the divine nature: he will be called (the name expresses the nature) "wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace" (Is. 8, 8; 9, 5); he will have knowledge of hidden thoughts: "he will not judge by what his eyes see and will not give sentence by what his ears hear"; he will have divine power: "he will strike …
8:10
… The expression in fact, quite frequent in Sacred Scripture to signify a glorious and formidable task that God, in extraordinary circumstances, entrusts, with the assurance of his help and the implicit prophecy of a happy outcome (cf. Is. 8:10 and Rom. 8:31), to a person chosen by him, as to the Patriarchs and the leaders of Israel (cf. Gen. 15:1; 26:24; Ex. 3:12; Deut. 31:23; Judg. 6:12, 16; 1 Sam. 10:7), denotes the singular …
8:16
… Among the prophets the t. (usually in the singular) is moral and spiritual "teaching" (Am. 2, 4); "the t. of our God" encompasses the norms of morality in which true service of God consists (Is. 1, 10; 5, 24; 8, 16, 20; 30, 9). The prophet is called môrah ("teacher"), of the same root as t. (Is. 9, 14; 30, 20). In Jer. 6, 19; 9, 13; etc., t. designates both the preaching of the prophets …
8:18
… When Solomon had the Ark transferred from its temporary dwelling on the S. into the Temple he built on the hill of Moriah (II Par. 3:1 and 5:2), this hill was in the poetic language of the Psalms and the Prophets called S. (Ps. 73:2; Is. 8:18; 10:12; Jer. 31:13; Joel 3:17); indeed the glorious name was used, symbolically, for the whole city of Jerusalem (Is. 29:9;
8:23
… The name Gálíl ("circle," "district"), originally reserved for the mountainous country of Naphtali, was gradually extended to the country of Chabul (1 Kings 9:11), to the district of Zebulun and to the whole territory near the lake of Gennesaret (Isa. 8:23). Inhabited for the most part by pagans, it was called gálíl hag-gójim "Galilee of the Gentiles" (Isa. 9:1; 1 Macc. 5:14; Matt. 4:16).
… It was important in the period of the Judges (v.), when together with Zebulun (Judg. 4:6; 5:18; cf. Is. 8:23; Ps. 68:28) it carried out the enterprise led morally by Deborah and militarily by the Naphtalite Barak (v.) against Jabin and Sisera (Judg. 4), and exalted in the famous song (Judg. …
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.