Commentary on Isaiah 7 part 2/2

For it was on this account that he did not simply form a man and dwell in him, but he also endured conception, and that of nine months, and birth-pangs, and swaddling-clothes, and the nourishment of earliest infancy, that through all these things he might stop the mouths of those who attempt to deny the economy.

Foreseeing these things from on high, then, the prophet speaks not of the birth-pangs and the wondrous birth alone, but also of the nourishment in earliest infancy, that in the swaddling-clothes themselves—differing in nothing from the rest of men, nor having anything strange in this respect.

For neither were all things in him altered, nor were all things common.

For to be born of a woman is common, but to be born of a virgin is greater than accords with us.

And to be nourished again by the common law of nature, this too is common to the many;

but that that temple should become impassable to wickedness, and should not even come to the trial of wickedness, this is strange and paradoxical and belonging to him alone.

Wherefore indeed he has set down both that and this.

«For it was not after the trial of evil that he stood aloof from evil,» he says, «but from the very first and from his earliest beginnings he displayed every virtue.»

«Which of you convicts me of sin?» And, «The ruler of this world comes, and in me he has nothing.»

And this very prophet, going on further, says that «He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.»

This, then, is what he says here also: that before he knew or chose evil, from that age untried in evil, from the very beginnings, he would display virtue and would have nothing in common with wickedness.

«Because before the child knows good or evil, he refuses wickedness, so as to choose the good.»

Again with the same words he hints at the same thought, and dwells upon the saying.

For since what had been said was exceedingly lofty, he confirms it by the continuity of the narrative.

For that which he indicated above, saying:

«Before he knows or chooses evil,» this he hinted at as he went on, saying:

«Before the child knows;»

and he uses an explanation again, saying:

«Good or evil, he refuses wickedness, so as to choose the good.»

For this alone was his distinctive excellence.

Wherefore Paul also continually turns it over, and John too, having seen him, proclaimed this, saying:

«Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.»

And he who takes away the sins of others was much more himself without sin.

And Paul, as I said before, continually cries this aloud.

For since he was about to die, lest anyone of the unbelievers should suppose that he was paying the penalty of his own sins, he continually brings his sinlessness into the midst, that he may show his death to be the ransom of our sin.

«Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.»

«For in that he died, he died to sin.»

«Nor did he die even that death as one liable,» he says, «according to the account of sin, but on behalf of the common transgression of all.»

If, then, in this respect he was not liable in the former case, it has been demonstrated superabundantly that he will die no more.

«And the land which you fear shall be left forsaken from before the face of the two kings.»

That which the prophet continually does, this he has done here also.

After the prophecy he brings the discourse over to the history.

This we plainly demonstrated when we treated of the Seraphim, which he has done here also.

For having spoken of the good things that were to come upon the inhabited world, he thereupon turns the discourse to the king.

What is «shall be left forsaken»? It shall be untouched, it shall be free, it shall suffer nothing unpleasant, it shall not undergo the things of war.

«And the land which you fear»—concerning which you are afraid, concerning which you tremble—«shall be left forsaken from before the face of the two kings,» both the Damascene and the Israelite.

Then, lest by the prophecy of good things he should become more slothful, nor grow more slack because of the peace, he again braces up his soul, saying:

«But the Lord shall bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon your father's house, days which have not yet come, from the day that he took away

Ephraim from Judah—the king of the Assyrians.»

For by these things he signifies the onslaught of the barbarians, by which they tore up the city from its very roots, and taking them captive, departed.

And he foretells these things, not that they may come to pass, but that, becoming more sober through fear, they may ward off the threat.

But since neither by the good things—which they enjoyed beyond their desert—did they become better (that they enjoyed them beyond their desert, the disposition of the king and his surpassing unbelief made plain), nor were they changed by the threat of fearful things, but harshly resisted both the one and the other remedy of their benefit, he thereupon applies a deeper incision, cutting out the gangrene and excising those who were incurably sick.

«From the day that he took away Ephraim from Judah—the king of the Assyrians»? The barbarians came upon them, about to snatch them all away;

but leaving Judah and the two tribes, they turned against Israel.

What he says, then, is this:

From that day, on which the ten tribes shall draw over to themselves the barbarian army, having severed it from you, and by the excess of their own sin shall summon it against their very selves and be carried away—from that day one must henceforth stand in dread and fear.

For advancing along their way, they will come against you also, unless you change your ways.

And he says: from that day he will bring them.

For the others were not captured at the same moment the Israelites were carried off, but a short interval of time elapsed between.

What he says, then, is this: that by the decree he would from that time forth have brought on those days;

but God waited and was long-suffering, even though the desert of their sins from that time forth was demanding punishment;

which he is wont to do in many places—when the appointed day has arrived, to delay and to draw back;

which is both the greatest token of his love for mankind, and the clearest proof of the ingratitude of those who are unwilling to make due use of his long-suffering.

This, then, he here also says: that from that time came the threat, from that time the sentence, from that time the God-sent wrath—so that by bringing the punishment to the very doors, he might rouse them to repentance and make them better, and after the capture of those others might set them in anxiety, lest, because some were carried off while others escaped, they should on this account grow more careless.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall hiss for the flies which shall rule over part of the river of Egypt.

You see how I was not speaking in vain, that wishing to increase the fear, he brandishes the threat from that day.

Indeed the following words make this plain, in which he heightens the fear by his speech—both by making known to them the armies which were most terrifying to them, and by declaring the ease of the assault, which shook them exceedingly, and by disclosing the density of the host, which above all things astounded their mind;

and all these things he hinted at through what follows.

And it shall come to pass in that day, he says, that the Lord shall hiss for the flies.

Here he called the Egyptians flies, on account of their shamelessness and impudence, and because, continually being beaten off, they continually came on again and did not allow even a little breathing-space, but often caused them countless troubles—just as flies settle upon wounds, so these perpetually alighted upon their calamities.

These, then, God will bring, he says.

But he did not say 'he will bring,' but 'he will hiss,' displaying the ease of their coming up, and the irresistible nature of God's power, and that it suffices for him only to give the nod, and all things follow.

And fittingly he begins the threat first from these, of whom they had already received experience through their deeds.

And for the bee which is in the land of the Assyrians.

The Syriac and the Hebrew, as they say, do not read 'bees,' but 'wasps.'

For since they had not much experience of them, by the image of the wasp he cast them into great anxiety, disclosing through this creature their vehemence, their striking power, their capacity to retaliate, the bitterness of their wounds, the swiftness of their coming, and how hard they are to guard against.

And they shall come and all shall rest in the ravines of the land, and in the holes of the rocks, and in the caves, and in every cleft, and in every tree.

…of the nations, and the exceeding swiftness of the campaign; and next he tells also of the multitude.

They shall rest—not as those coming into a hostile land, but as those luxuriating in their own; not as those needing toil and labor, but as those about to meet with a manifest victory and to seize a spoil made ready for them.

They shall come and shall rest—which belongs to those who have conquered and set up a trophy, and after much sweat and slaughter take their rest.

And they shall not rest in the plains only;

but since the multitude was boundless and the land not able to receive the number of their bodies, both the ravines and the rocks and the mountains and the wooded glens and all things shall be covered with the barbarian bodies.

And indeed, even if they were not vehement, nor thus impetuous, the multitude alone would have sufficed to strike them with dismay;

but when both are present—so great a multitude and so mighty a power, and the hardest thing of all, the wrath of God commanding as general—what hope of salvation is left? And the phrase 'in every cleft and in every tree' is spoken hyperbolically.

For surely they were not going to rest upon the trees, but at once, as I said, he both hinted at the excess and kept to the metaphor of the wasps.

In that day the Lord shall shave with the razor that is drunken.

Having increased the fear from the armies, he again intensifies it, raising the discourse up to heaven, showing that it is not certain barbarian Egyptians and Persians, but God who is warring against the Jews.

By 'razor' he here means his unbearable wrath, which no one shall be able to withstand, coming on with ease and consuming.

For just as the hairs of the body could not bear the edge of the razor, but yield at once and give way;

so also the affairs of the Jews could never withstand that God-sent wrath, he says.

By a drunken razor, then, he indicates to us the wrath of God that is at its peak, that is filled full, the sentence that is completely brimming.

And 'beyond the river of the king of the Assyrians' means the region beyond the Euphrates;

which was Judea and all Palestine, to those returning from Persia.

All these things, then, he will utterly destroy, he says, root and branch.

By 'head and hairs and beard and feet' he means the entire region, under the parable of the body, embracing in his discourse all their land—as also at the beginning he was saying:

Every head is turned to pain, and every heart to grief.

From the feet to the head there is no soundness in it;

not speaking about a single man, but comparing the entire region to one body.

This very thing, then, he here also says: that the whole land shall undergo a grievous punishment.

And the one thing he showed through the razor, the other through the image of the body, making clear that, more grievously than any razor, the decree borne from God will consume both the men and the produce of the land, and will leave it bare and desolate.

Then he indicates this desolation by means of another image.

And he does this so that the fear may remain at its height throughout the whole, and the anxiety may not fade away with the length of the discourse.

And to those who do not attend, what is said seems to be the announcement of certain good things;

but those who examine it accurately know that it is the proof of an intensified desolation.

For what does he say? And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall rear a heifer of the herd and two sheep.

And it shall be, that from their yielding abundance of milk he shall eat butter; for butter and honey shall everyone eat who is left upon the land.

These things indicate, as I said before, a great desolation.

For the land which bears wheat and barley, being made desolate of men, shall furnish abundant pasture to the sheep—and so abundant that, on account of the plenty of such a table, even two sheep and a single heifer suffice to provide fountains of milk to their owner.

So that the plentifulness of the good cheer of the irrational beasts is the greatest token of the desolation of men.

And the honey too hints at this;

for bees are wont to make their haunt in desolate places, both where they may enjoy much pasture and where there is no one to trouble them.

And that you may learn that he is hinting at an intensified desolation, the following words make it plain.

…in that day, where there may be a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels, they shall become waste land and thorns.

With arrow and bow shall men enter there, because all the land shall be waste ground and thorns.

This too is a sign of great misfortune, when not the mountains and wooded glens, but the very deep-soiled land that enjoys much cultivation bears thorns.

For not without reason has he set down the price of the vines, but in order that he might display both the nature of the land and the great diligence of the husbandmen.

But nevertheless, those lands so flourishing, he says, and enjoying the hands of husbandmen, he will overturn into such desolation that they bear thorns instead of vines, and afford so great a fear to those entering that no one dares to enter naked and unarmed.

And this he says, showing the desolation of the place and the great haunting there of wild beasts.

Having therefore shaken their mind and worked upon them thoroughly with fear, he again relaxes it a little, mingling in the good things and the change for the better, so that from both sides they might learn the strength of God.

But on the fearful things he dwells, while having spoken the good things at once he passes on.

Why ever so? Because at that time they especially needed this rebuke of the remedy;

wherefore, having applied it lavishly so as to grant them a little breathing-space and by this means again to call them back to virtue, he also mingles in the good things, saying:

Every mountain that is plowed shall be plowed.

For just as in the wrath of God even the deep-soiled land shall be desolate, so also in the reconciliation again even the rugged land shall display the qualities of rich soil, receiving the plow and the seed.

And when these things come to pass, all that flows from them shall follow also: peace, freedom from danger, confidence, and the absence of fear, just as before.

For fear, he says, shall by no means come upon that place.

And it shall be, from the dry ground and from the thornbush, a pasture for the sheep and a trodden path for the ox.

And by these words again he hints at abundance, just as he also says as he proceeds further on:

Blessed is he who sows beside every water, where the ox and the ass tread.

For just as, when he wishes to portray a desolation, he brings the Sirens and the Onocentaurs into the midst of his discourse,

so, when he wishes to portray peace and security, he everywhere shows us the tame and domesticated animals appearing, those that join with us in the labors of farming; and by these he indicates what proceeds from them, namely agriculture and the rest of their service.