Isaiah 16

Send forth the Lamb, the ruler of the earth, from the rock of the desert to the mountain of the daughter of Zion. What we are interpreting is not history but prophecy. And every prophecy is wrapped in enigmas, and with abrupt sentences passes, while speaking of one thing, to another: lest, if Scripture kept to order, it should be not prophecy but narrative. And the sense is: O Moab, upon whom the lion is about to rage, and from whom not even a remnant will be able to be saved, have this consolation: from you will go forth the spotless Lamb who takes away the sins of the world, who will rule over the whole world. From the rock of the desert, that is, from Ruth, who, widowed by the death of her husband, bore Obed by Boaz, and from Obed came Jesse, and from Jesse David, and from David Christ. And the mountain of the daughter of Zion we shall interpret either as the city of Jerusalem itself, or, according to the sacred understanding, as the Church, which is set upon the summit of the virtues.

Send forth the lamb, the ruler of the earth, from the rock of the desert, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion. And as a bird fleeing, and as young ones flying from the nest, so will the daughters of Moab be at the crossing of the Arnon. Enter into counsel, call a council: make your shadow like night at midday: hide those who flee, and do not betray the wanderers. My fugitives will dwell with you; Moab, be their hiding place from the face of the destroyer. For the dust is at an end, the wretch is consumed; he has failed who trampled the earth. And a throne will be prepared in mercy, and one will sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment, and swiftly rendering what is just. What we have translated from the Hebrew, send forth the lamb, the ruler of the earth, can be read thus: send forth the lamb to the ruler of the earth, in the sense, namely, that the lamb itself is not the ruler of the earth, as we interpreted according to the history, but that the lamb is to be sacrificed to the ruler of the earth. This lamb, then, which either is itself the ruler of the earth or is sacrificed to the ruler of the earth, is of the nation of the Moabites, and of those who have fled from Moab and have deserved to have the lion as their prince. And it signifies Ruth, from whom Christ was begotten (Matt 1:5), whom he calls the rock of the desert, because according to the precept of God the Moabites and Ammonites do not enter the Church of God even to the tenth generation and forever (Deut 23).

Here he describes the condition of their punishment, and he sets out two conditions: first, equity on the part of the one who judges; second, deception on the part of the one who suffers the punishment: and it shall come to pass, when it is seen (Isa 16:12). Now equity of punishment is disposed from the preceding fault, and therefore it orders the fault. And he sets out a double fault: first, against the contempt of the benefit they were promised; second, against the contempt of wholesome counsel they were given: take counsel (Isa 16:3).

Concerning the first, he does two things. In the first, he promises the benefit of Christ to be born from their people, that they might receive some comfort. For Ruth the Moabitess married Booz, by whom she conceived Obed the father of Jesse, the father of David, from whom Christ was born, as it is said in Ruth 4:17. And therefore, he says: O Lord, the Father, the lamb, Christ (John 1:29); from the rock of the desert, from Ruth the gentile, whose people were of stone, worshipping gods of stone, and because of this, deserted by God; to the mount, Jerusalem, in which Christ was killed and rose again, or the Church; the ruler: to him that sits on the throne (Rev 4:9).

Others wish, though it is tortured, to explain this literally of the tribute of lambs, which the king of Moab took from the king of Israel, as it says in 2 Kings 3:4, which the prophet foretells will be restored to the king of Jerusalem: the ruler, as a sign of its lord; from Petra of the desert, the place in which sheep are raised.

Note that Christ is called a lamb first, because of the purity of his life: it shall be a lamb without blemish, a male, of one year (Exod 12:5); second, because of the meekness of his death, below: as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth (Isa 53:7); third, because of his expiation of sin: behold the Lamb of God. Behold him who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

Note that the Blessed Virgin is called a rock first, because of the firmness of grace: as everlasting foundations upon a solid rock (Sir 26:24); second, because of the coolness of continence, below: as the shadow of a rock that stands out in a desert land (Isa 32:2); third, because of the fruit of her womb: the rock poured me out rivers of oil (Job 29:6). And note that this rock alone was of the desert, because she was before all others, as to the first: you are all fair, O my love (Song 4:7); second, because she was first, as to the second: we will run to the odor of your ointments (Song 1:3); she was a virgin, as to the third, above: behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son (Isa 7:14).

Note on the words, send forth, namely, you, Father, send the Son, first, as the sun sends a ray: the sun three times as much, burns the mountains (Sir 43:4); second, as a spring sends a stream: I, like a channel of a river (Sir 24:41); third, as a father sends a son: God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son (John 3:16).

Then, as for Job, that pattern of patience, what mysteries are there not contained in his discourses? Commencing in prose the book soon glides into verse and at the end once more reverts to prose. By the way in which it lays down propositions, assumes postulates, adduces proofs and draws inferences, it illustrates all the laws of logic. Single words occurring in the book are full of meaning. To say nothing of other topics, it prophesies the resurrection of humankind's bodies at once with more clearness and with more caution than anyone has yet shown. "I know," Job says, "that my redeemer lives, and that at the last day I shall rise again from the earth; and I shall be clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh shall I see God. Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another. This my hope is stored up in my own bosom." I will pass on to Joshua, son of Nun3—a type of the Lord in name as well as in deed—who crossed over Jordan, subdued hostile kingdoms, divided the land among the conquering people and who, in every city, village, mountain, river, hill-torrent and boundary which he dealt with, marked out the spiritual realms of the heavenly Jerusalem, that is, of the church. In the book of Judges every one of the popular leaders is a type. Ruth the Moabite fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah: "Send you a lamb, O Lord, as ruler of the land from the rock of the wilderness to the mount of the daughter of Zion." Under the figures of Eli's death and the slaying of Saul, Samuel shows the abolition of the old law. Again in Zadok and in David he bears witness to the mysteries of the new priesthood and of the new royalty. The third and fourth books of Kings called in Hebrew Malachim give the history of the kingdom of Judah from Solomon to Jeconiah, and of that of Israel from Jeroboam the son of Nebat to Hosea, who was carried away into Assyria. If you merely regard the narrative, the words are simple enough, but if you look beneath the surface at the hidden meaning of it, you find a description of the small numbers of the church and of the wars that the heretics wage against it. The twelve prophets whose writings are compressed within the narrow limits of a single volume have typical meanings far different from their literal ones. Hosea speaks many times of Ephraim, of Samaria, of Joseph, of Jezreel, of a wife of whoredoms and of children of whoredoms, of an adulteress shut up within the chamber of her husband, sitting for a long time in widowhood and in the garb of mourning, awaiting the time when her husband will return to her. Joel the son of Pethuel describes the land of the twelve tribes as spoiled and devastated by the palmerworm, the cankerworm, the locust and the blight. He predicts that after the overthrow of the former people the Holy Spirit shall be poured out upon God's servants and handmaids;8 the same spirit, that is, which was to be poured out in the upper chamber at Zion upon the 120 believers. These believers rising by gradual and regular gradations from one to fifteen form the steps to which there is a mystical allusion in the "psalms of degrees." Amos, although he is only "a herdsman" from the country, "a gatherer of sycamore fruit," cannot be explained in a few words.

And it will be: as a bird fleeing, and young ones flying away from the nest, so will the daughters of Moab be at the crossing of the Arnon. He returns to the order he had begun: When I have set, he says, a most savage lion upon those who flee from Moab, and upon the remnant of the land, to break their limbs and bones, then they will fly away in terror, and all the daughters, that is, the villages and cities of the province of Moab, will migrate at the crossing of the Arnon, which is the border of the Amorites and the Moabites. And by putting crossing here too, he signifies captivity.

But he who has fled from the desert of Moab (to return from the prophecy to the anagogy), and, despising falsehood, has stood on the mountain of truth, will be like a bird fleeing; and like young ones flying from the nest, lest they be devoured by the Moabite serpents. Thus, he says, will all the daughters, that is, the Moabite souls, be at the crossing of the Arnon, which means their illumination: when, having abandoned their errors, they have crossed over to the knowledge of the truth.

Second, the punishment of those who hold the promise in contempt is set out: and it shall come to pass, that as a bird fleeing away, whence they fled or were led captive, above: my hand has found the strength of the people as a nest (Isa 10:14).

It is said therefore to Moab himself, or to him who has escaped from Moab: Do nothing without counsel (Prov 13): and do not be carried about by every wind of doctrine, but follow him who is the Angel of great counsel (Eph 4): and call a council, so that out of the wandering and straying you may make a Church of God. And your shade and tabernacle, in which you formerly thought you were resting, which belonged to night and darkness, set it at midday, that is, in the brightest light, in which you ought to hide those fleeing from error, and no longer betray those who were formerly wanderers.

Take counsel, call a council: make your shade like night at midday, hide the fugitives, and do not betray the wanderers. My refugees will dwell with you: Moab, be their hiding place from the face of the devastator; for the dust is at an end, the wretched one is finished, he who trampled the land has failed. For wretched one in the Hebrew one reads SOD (סד), which can also be understood as devastator. And he speaks to Moab, that it should find counsel for its safety, and, gathering its elders, convene a council for its salvation. Do you wish, he says, to be saved and to merit the mercy of God? In the clear light and the open flight of my people, be like night and shade; take in the fugitives, and do not betray the wanderers. And why he said this he adds at once: My refugees will dwell with you. For when Jerusalem has been laid waste, and all Judea, which borders on the Moabites, my people will migrate to you. Be therefore their hiding place, and do not fear the onslaught of the devastator, because he will quickly pass like dust; and the despoiler of the whole land, who trampled it and subjected it under his feet, will perish as a breeze blows. Some wrongly interpret this place of the Antichrist, so as to suppose that at that time the saints will cross over to the Arabs because of their nearness to the city of Jerusalem, and that the Arabs are now commanded not to betray those who flee to them.

Here he ordains the punishment against their contempt of the counsel they were given. And this is divided into three: in the first, he sets out the counsel; in the second, their contempt of the counsel: we have heard of the pride of Moab (Isa 16:6); in the third, the punishment of those who hold it in contempt, where it says, therefore shall Moab howl (Isa 16:7).

Concerning the first, he sets out three things. First, he exhorts them to deliberation: take counsel, as if to say: deliberate over how you might be saved. The counsel is the question itself which is moved among those taking counsel; the council is the congregation of those taking counsel. Gather a council, as though having a strict counsel: there is safety where there is much counsel (Prov 11:14); do you everything with counsel, and you shall not repent when you have done (Sir 32:24).

Second, he sets out the contents of the counsel: make your shadow as the night, in which he exhorts them to two things. To receive the fleeing Jews, that they might prepare a hiding place: make your shadow as the night in the midday, that is, prepare yourself to hide them so that they will be hidden in the day as if in the night; or in the midday, in open persecution, that you might conceal them that flee; hide them, that hiding them, you might not reveal them that wander about.

For, O Moab, my fugitives who had forsaken me, who had gone out of the Church and, abandoning the teaching of the Holy Spirit, were following their own sense; or those who had dwelt with you, when the destroyer, the devil, begins to persecute them, do you, turned with your whole mind to the fear of the Lord, offer them hiding places: and know that after the coming of the Lamb, who arose from the rock of the desert as ruler of the whole earth and came to the mountain of the daughter of Zion, all the power of the devil, which is compared to dust, is at an end. And the wretch is consumed who made many wretched: and he has failed who trampled the whole earth, namely those who were earthly.

He also exhorts them to amicably sustain those they have received: my fugitives shall dwell with you, below: and a man shall be as when one is hid from the wind (Isa 32:2).

Third, he assigns the reason: for the dust is at an end. And first, as to the destruction of the enemy, lest they dismiss the Jews in the fear of them: the dust is at an end, the multitude of the army of Sennacherib; consumed, that is, killed by his sons, is the wretch, Sennacherib, below: he has failed (Isa 37:38), as to power (Isa 14).

According to Aquila, "his throne will be established in mercy," or according to Theodotion, "the throne will be established with mercy." Who will establish the throne? Or how is Christ born from the posterity of David? The throne will be established by the Moabites, according to the text; and Christ who is born from the tent (tabernacle) of David will sit upon the throne. By "the tent of David" the prophet means the church of God. David himself is called christ because from his posterity Christ is born according to flesh. Therefore, the tent (tabernacle) of David is the church, and the throne belongs to the head of the church. It refers to the humanity of Christ. Therefore, one should contemplate on the mystery of Christ revealed in the prophecy only in the Holy Spirit; and in such a cautious contemplation curiosity and speculation must be tamed.

And a throne will be prepared in mercy, and he will sit upon it in truth, in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment, and swiftly rendering what is just. The Hebrews interpret this place thus: When the Assyrian has been put to flight, Hezekiah, a righteous man, will reign over Judah and will hold the throne of David, judging in truth the people of God subject to him. Others understand it of Christ: when the dust of the Antichrist is at an end, and the devastator who trampled the whole earth has been taken away, Christ the king will come, who will sit in the tabernacle of David, and in the day of judgment will render to all according to their works. Nor is there any doubt that this passage prophesies of Christ. But we can understand the same thing of his first coming, and show it in the tabernacle of the Church: that throughout the whole land of Moab the trophies of the Churches as they rise bear witness to the dominion of Christ.

And when he has been consumed and brought to nothing and has utterly failed, a throne and an everlasting kingdom will be prepared. First in mercy (for we are all (Rom 3) under sin, and need the grace of God); and he will sit in the tabernacle of David, which had fallen and has been raised up, who after mercy will judge, and seek righteousness, and render to each according to his works. Let us consider from the beginning of the Burden, or of the word, of Moab, in which it is said: By night Ar of Moab has been laid waste, and the rest up to this place; and we shall see how by steps and in the order of penance Israelites are made from Moabites, and flee like birds and fly away like young ones from the nest, so as to cross over by the Arnon and dwell on the mountain of the daughter of Zion: and, all the power of the devil or of the Antichrist having been crushed, Christ reigns in them and sets his throne among those who have been saved by mercy and righteousness. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son (John 5).

Second, as to the restoration of the Jews, that they might do it freely; as to the preparation of the kingdom: a throne, of the kings of the Judah, shall be prepared in mercy, the mercy of God, or of a merciful king; as to the power of the king: one shall sit, as if to say, he shall reign restfully; as to the equity of his judgments: in truth; judging, as to the pronouncing of sentences; seeking, as to the examination of cases; rendering, as to the execution of sentences. And this can be explained as referring to Ezechias or as referring to Christ, above: he shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom (Isa 9:7).

We have heard of the pride of Moab: he is exceedingly proud. His pride and his arrogance and his indignation are more than his strength. Therefore Moab will howl to Moab, all of him will howl: to those who rejoice over the wall of baked brick, speak of his wounds: for the suburbs of Heshbon are deserted, the vineyard of Sibmah. LXX: We have heard of the insolence of Moab: he is exceedingly insolent: his pride and his insolence and his fury are not like your divination: not so will Moab howl: for in Moab all will howl: but for the inhabitants of Deseth you will meditate, and you will not be confounded: the plains of Heshbon will mourn the vineyard of Sibmah. In how many obscurities this passage is wrapped according to the Seventy translators is evident from the fact that it can scarcely be read. Let us speak, therefore, according to the Hebrew. It is the custom of the Scriptures, after they have relieved the despair of the human mind with glad tidings, to deter again by threats the negligent and those unwilling to do penance, lest the goodness of God harden our heart. Of this let us set down only one example. In the hundred and forty-fourth psalm we read: The Lord is sweet to all, and his compassions are over all his works (Ps 144 [145]:9). And a little after: The Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are dashed down. The eyes of all hope in you, O Lord, and you give them their food in due season. And when he had said first, The Lord keeps all who love him, lest he make the hearer negligent, he added: And all sinners he will destroy. Since, then, he prophesied that when the Antichrist and his parent the devil, who trampled the whole earth, have been consumed, a throne is to be prepared in mercy, and he who is to sit in the tabernacle of David, the prophet speaks in the person of the saints who have been saved from Moab and have learned his pride by their own experience: We have heard of the pride of Moab, or the insolence, as the Seventy translated. For which of the heretics is not proud? who, despising the simplicity of the Church, regards the men of the Church as brute animals, and is lifted up by such a swelling of pride and insolence that he arms his mouth against the Creator himself, disparaging his prophets as though on the authority of the testimony of the Gospel, in which the Savior says: All who came before me were thieves and robbers (John 10:8): so much so that he even calls Moses, the servant of God, a murderer, and disparages Joshua the son of Nun as a bloodthirsty man, who was of such holiness that at the command of his word the sun and moon stood still: and calls David, of whose seed Christ was born (Matt 1), a murderer and an adulterer, not regarding his penance and his meekness, by which the clemency of God is obtained. But although he is proud and arrogant, and exults in his fury, yet he dares more than his strength allows.

We have heard of the pride of Moab, he is exceedingly proud: his pride, and his arrogance, and his indignation are greater than his strength. Therefore Moab will howl to Moab, all of it will howl: to those who rejoice over the walls of baked brick, tell of its wounds. Again he returns to the present, and accuses Moab of pride, because it was lifted up far more than its strength warranted; and because of this pride Moab will howl to Moab, that is, the people to the city, or the metropolis to the province, and the whole land will resound with howling over the walls of baked brick, of which Jeremiah too says: Therefore I will wail over Moab, and to all Moab I will cry out, to the men of the earthen wall, lamenting (Jer 48:31). And by these things he shows both the power of its former prosperity and the wounds of its sudden overthrow.

Here he sets out contempt of counsel proceeding from their pride. Hence he describes their pride as to three things: first, as to its being made commonly known: we have heard, as if it were public; as to its quantity: he is exceeding proud; as to its exceeding their dignity: his pride, by which he extolls himself as to the gifts he possesses, and his arrogancy, by which he pretends to have gifts that he does not possess, and his indignation, by which he presumptuously proposes vengeance, is more than his strength.

Therefore Moab will howl to Moab, that is, one to another: namely, all the varieties of the heretics and of worldly wisdom will bellow against one another when they are in torments (1 Kgs 6). For this reason, to those who have walls not built of squared stones, of which the Temple was built, and so polished that hammer and axe were not heard in the house of God, O you teachers of the Church, or you who have been saved from the error of Moab, announce their wounds, with which they have been wounded by the darts of the heretics. For all their thoughts, which is what Heshbon signifies, do not belong to the dwelling of the Lord's city, of which it is written: The rush of the river makes glad the city of God (Ps 45 [46]:5); but they are suburbs, so that they may be believed to belong to the city of the Lord: and these suburbs are deserted by the protection of God, or burnt by the divine fire, especially the vineyard of Sibmah, which means lifting up height, because it raises itself on high and tries to build the tower of its pride up to heaven. And what is set down in the Seventy, for the inhabitants of Deseth, is not found in the Hebrew; but in its place is read ARES (חרש), which signifies potsherd, or baked brick.

Here he sets out the punishment of those who hold the counsel in contempt. And first, the weeping of those to be punished: shall Moab howl to Moab, that is, to each other, about which enough is said above (ch. 15). Second, he describes the manner of punishment: to them that rejoice; and he sets out three things. First, the announcement of the punishment is proclaimed by prophets or messengers: them that rejoice, they glory and trust in the fortifications of their brick walls: if the watchman see the sword coming (Ezek 33:6).

For the suburbs of Heshbon are deserted: the vine of Sibmah. Between Heshbon and Sibmah there are scarcely five hundred paces; and by the metaphor of the vine he signifies the devastation of the whole province.

The lords of the nations have cut down its shoots. He keeps the metaphor he had begun, showing that the kings of the nations who had laid Moab waste ravaged all its hamlets and fortresses.

They have reached as far as Jazer: they have wandered in the desert: its offshoots have been left behind: they have crossed the sea. Understand the shoots and offshoots as its people and its fugitives; and the crossing of the sea as the captivity into Babylon, about which we shall read later: The burden of the desert of the sea.

The lords of the nations have cut down its branches: they have reached as far as Jazer. They have wandered in the desert: its shoots have been left: they have crossed the sea. For this I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vineyard of Sibmah: I will drench you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh: for upon your vintage and upon your harvest the voice of the treaders has burst in. And gladness and exultation will be taken away from Carmel: and in the vineyards he will not exult nor shout for joy: he who was accustomed to tread will not tread wine in the press: I have taken away the voice of the treaders. The suburbs of Heshbon, of which we spoke above, are deserted, and the vineyard of Sibmah, which can be interpreted not only as lifting up height but also as some conversion: because in the region of Moab it seems in some part to wish to be converted to the service of the Lord. Of this vineyard of Sibmah, therefore, the lords of the nations, the Apostles and apostolic men, have utterly cut off the branches and shoots, lest from some heresies other heresies should be born and an infinite multitude of the straying should come to be. And they not only cut off the shoots of Sibmah, but reached as far as Jazer, which means their strength: that is, to all the strongest doctrines of the heretics, built by the art of dialectic, in which they seemed to have the strength of their error; and their sword raged so far that at last they wandered in the wilderness and had no one to slay. And though they cut off its branches, yet, through the fault of the most evil root, some shoots remained. But the lords of the nations crossed the sea, that is, the temptations of this world, of which we read in the psalm: I came into the depth of the sea, and the tempest swallowed me (Ps 68 [69]:3); and in another place: Those who go down to the sea in ships, doing business in many waters: they have seen the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep (Ps 106 [107]:23). These, then, crossed the sea, so as to behold the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep of temptations, while they are delivered from them.

Second, the description of the punishment is set out as to the destruction of lands: Hesebon, a city in whose territory wheat abounded; Sabama, a neighboring city, in which wine abounded. As to the strength of their enemies: the lords of the nations, that is, of Assyria or Chaldea, ruling over many nations; the branches, that is, the shoots which are on the top of a vine, which metaphorically signify princes and distinguished persons; destroying, even to Jazer—which is on the farthest border—as to the affliction of men, the lords of the nations have wandered: they wandered in a wilderness, in a place without water (Ps 107:4); the baseness of those who remain: the branches thereof, which remain on the vine when the shoots have been cut off, without fruit or beauty: leave the stump of its roots in the earth (Dan 4:12); the removal of the captives: they are gone over the, Moabitic, sea, led captive into Babylon. Or the sea, that is, the Euphrates, according to Hebrew usage: they shall sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far off (Joel 3:8); or this is interpreted as the Assyrians going over the sea and coming to destroy.

Therefore I will lament with the weeping of Jazer, the vine of Sibmah: I will drench you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh. This is the voice of the Prophet lamenting, and attesting the greatness of the devastation by the greatness of his tears, and weeping for the vine of Jazer and of Sibmah, and for Heshbon and Elealeh, cities once most strong, cut down as the Assyrian pruned them.

For upon your vintage and upon your harvest the voice of the treaders has burst in. Understand the treaders of the grapes, gathering in the joy of the vintage, as the armies of the enemies; and that in the very season of joy the season of captivity has come.

And so the prophetic word laments the strength of the heretics, that is, Jazer, and the vineyard of Sibmah, which exalts itself against the knowledge of God. And I will drench you with my tears, Heshbon, namely their thoughts, and Elealeh, by which they climb to the heights. And why does he lament Jazer and the vineyard of Sibmah, and drench Heshbon and Elealeh with his tears? So that, while he himself weeps, he may teach them also to weep. For, he says, upon your vintage and upon your harvest the voice of the treaders has burst in. For the vineyard of the Moabites, because of the nearness of the place, is such as is the vineyard of the Sodomites too, of which it is said: For their vine is of the vineyard of the Sodomites, and their shoot of Gomorrah (Deut 32:31). And in Psalm 77 (78) we read of the Egyptian vine which God struck with hail. The harvests of Moab too grow in the valleys which are called Rephaim: and its false vintage is of the vineyard of which it is said above: The lords of the nations have cut down its branches. For these crush the most bitter grapes and tread them with their feet, lest the poisons of the dragon be pressed out of them and all who drink be killed.

Third, the compassion of the prophet is set out. And first, his compassion is set out: over this, namely the misfortune of Moab, I will lament with the weeping of Jazer, that is, weeping over that city of Moab, and similarly also the vineyard of Sabama, and Eleale.

And joy and exultation will be taken away from Carmel. It is an idiom of the Scriptures always to liken Carmel, a rich and wooded mountain which overlooks Ptolemais and on which Elijah prayed, to fertility and abundance; and by this it signifies that all joy and fertility are to be taken away from cities once most fruitful.

And in the vineyards he will not exult, nor shout for joy. What is understood is the former vintager, that is, the husbandman of the province of Moabitis. Accordingly he immediately added:

He who used to tread will not tread wine in the press: I have taken away the voice of the treaders. By no means will the joyful vintager sing the vintage shout at the vintage; but everywhere hostile devastation and the clamor of the victors will arise.

The gladness and exultation of the heretics, in which they had formerly been accustomed to rejoice, will also be taken away: so that, after they have done penance, they may deserve to hear: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted (Matt 5:5). And what he added, from Carmel, signifies this: not that the heretics truly have Carmel, that is, the knowledge of the spiritual circumcision, but that they falsely boast of having it. And when the vineyards have been cut down, and gladness and exultation taken away from the knowledge falsely so called, then there will be none of the former treaders to tread the grapes which he had trodden before: and their voice will be struck dumb in eternal silence.

Second, the reason for his compassion is set out as to attack their enemies: the treaders, that is, of the ravaging Assyrians. And as to the taking away of the joy that they had from abundance of grain: from Carmel, that is, from fertility—for Carmel is not in Moab, but the Jews use proper nouns for appellatives; and the joy that they had in abundance of wine: in the vineyards (cf. Jer 48:33).

Therefore my belly will sound for Moab like a harp, and my inmost parts for the wall of baked brick. Lest anyone should think the Prophet's lament a sign of exultation, by which he rejoiced that the enemies of the people of Israel were captives, he says that it is out of affection, and out of the inmost grief of his heart, that he mourns the overthrow of a city once most mighty.

For this my belly will sound for Moab like a harp, and my inward parts for the wall of baked brick. And it will be, when it has appeared that Moab has labored on his high places, he will enter into his holy places to entreat, and he will not prevail. This is the word which the Lord spoke to Moab from that time. When the error of Moab has been destroyed, or rather its false gladness changed into mourning and tears, my belly, the prophet's, which is composed with musical art like a harp, and which, conceiving from the fear of God, has begotten many children, so that there is no string that does not give back its sound, will resound with the mourning of Moab doing penance: and all my inward parts for the wall of baked brick: for which Theodotion translated for the scattered wall. For all the defenses of the adversaries, in which they formerly trusted, will be destroyed and will fall. And these are the inward parts and the inner things of the prophet, of which David too spoke in the Psalm: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all my inner parts his holy name (Ps 102 [103]:1). For just as a harp does not give forth a tuneful and well-composed sound if even one string is broken, so the spiritual belly of the prophet, if one string of the virtues is lacking in it, will not be able to sound forth a sweet melody, nor to cry out with all its inward parts to the brick wall. It is also the opinion of the philosophers that the virtues cleave to one another; and of the Apostle James, that he who lacks one lacks all the virtues.

Moreover, according to the Seventy, who translated: The inner parts of the prophet, like a wall renewed by God, and that he is put to shame, that is, Moab, and enters to the altars and to the things that are made by hand, we can discuss it thus, saying that the inward parts of the prophet are always renewed and made stronger by God, so that the adversaries are confounded, and understand the things which have been fabricated by human hand to be empty and of no profit for salvation.

Third, the conclusion is inferred as from a proof: over this, misfortune, my bowels, that is, my senses, shall sound like a harp, making a sound for lamentation, or because the harp increases joy in the cheerful and sadness in the sad, or because of the harmony of the virtues of the prophet.

And it will come to pass, when it has become apparent that Moab has labored over its high places, it will enter its sanctuaries to pray, and it will not prevail. It is the last misery not to have help even in those whom it has always worshiped. Deserted, he says, by your own strength, and with all your defenders slain, you will go to the idols, you will venerate the shrines, and you will find no help in those upon whom the devastation will come together with you.

And when Moab has understood that he has labored in vain at the doctrines which he formerly thought lofty, he will enter into his holy places, not those which are holy of themselves, but those which in his error he thought holy, and he will not be able to find help. Or surely, having abandoned the error of falsehood, he will try to enter into the holy places of the Church, to make them his own, and to pray and entreat, but he will not prevail. For we cannot take hold of perfect virtue as soon as we wish.

Here he shows their frustration, concerning both the idols to which they sacrificed in high places and the idols to which they sacrificed in temples when they were in fear: where are their gods, in whom they trusted? (Deut 32:37).

In the mystery of prophetical revelation, Christ is symbolized by word, which people heard while they could see no one, as they said: "This is the word that the Lord spoke to Moab."

This is the word which the Lord spoke to Moab from that time. From what time, do you suppose? Clearly from the time when Moab was created. And the Lord says: The Moabites and the Ammonites shall not enter into the Church of God (Deut 23:3). Or we may understand from that time as of ancient time: that these things were decreed long ago by the divine sentence; not that the foreknowledge of God brought about the cause of the devastation, but that the future devastation was known beforehand to the majesty of God.

And what he adds: This is the word which the Lord spoke to Moab from that time, let us know that an epilogue has been given back to the proem in which he had said, the word against Moab, or the burden, so that what he had begun there he has completed here. And from that time is to be understood as from when he began to speak to him, so that all that he said is one word of God, that is, one sentence.

Here is the epilogue. From that time, from the death of the king Achaz.

And now the Lord has spoken, saying: In three years, like the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab will be taken away, above all its great people, and it will be left small and slight, by no means many. This prophecy, as we said above, is directed against the Moabites after the death of Ahaz, in the reign of Hezekiah, under whom the ten tribes were led into captivity by Sennacherib king of the Assyrians. So, just as a hireling waits for the setting of the sun, and day and night looks for the end of his work so as to receive his fixed wage, so too after three years Moab will be destroyed when the Assyrian comes, and scarcely a few will be left in the land to inhabit the overthrown cities and to till the deserted fields. It can also be a prediction about the Babylonian captivity: that after Jerusalem had been taken and three years had passed, Moab was to be laid waste by the Chaldeans; or else that within the space of three years no rest was to be given them.

And now the Lord has spoken, saying: In three years, like the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab will be taken away over all his great people, and he will be left small and slight, by no means many. The three years in which the glory of Moab will be taken away over all his great people, or great riches, as the Seventy translated, are to be understood mystically. For just as the mercy of the Lord is in weights and measure, so torments and punishments too have their measure, so that after three years have passed, in which he will be left small and slight and by no means many, he may then cease to be without glory. And this is to be noted, that according to the prophecy of Ezekiel, when days are counted for years to Israel (Ezek 4), that is, to the ten tribes, which had sinned more grievously, three hundred and ninety years are reckoned in punishments, as it is contained in the Hebrew, not a hundred and ninety, as the common edition has: and to Judah, in which was the Temple of God, forty years. For he who is small deserves mercy: but the mighty will suffer torments mightily (Wis 6). And the servant who knows the will of his lord and does not do it will be beaten with many stripes (Luke 12). Moab, therefore, because he was an outsider and not of the people of God, but was converted after leaving his error, will be left small and slight and without glory, not for many years, but for three only. These are the years of which we read elsewhere too: Remember the days of the age (Isa 46), and again: I thought upon the days of old, and I had the eternal years in mind (Ps 76 [77]:6). For if Israel according to the flesh served the shadow and the patterns, and every solemnity of theirs was a type of things to come, why should not the years of the present time also prefigure the times to come? of which we read in another place too: What will you do in the days of the assembly, and in the days of the festival of the Lord? And what is joined to it, Like the years of a hireling (Hos 9:5), shows this: that false doctrine does everything for gain and profit. For every hireling, and he who is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, when he sees the wolf coming, flees, because he is a hireling and the sheep do not belong to him (John 10). For this reason I think that the stranger and the hireling do not eat of the holy things, nor are servants partakers of the holy things. For it is not for love of the Lord but for wages that they do all things, who devour the houses of widows and lead off flocks of their own, to be clothed with their wool and to milk their milk (Matt 23). What we have said of hireling doctrine, let us refer to the rest as well. If I give alms in order to be glorified by men, I have received my reward and am to be called a hireling. If I pretend to be chaste, and there is something else in my conscience, I have not the glory of a hireling but the punishments of a sinner. And in the comparison of two evils, it is a lighter evil to sin openly than to feign and counterfeit holiness. But in this too Moab has made progress: that he who formerly had many companions in his error is afterward reduced to a few; or he who formerly was great in the riches of sins is, after penance, small and poor in malice.

Here he shows the shortness of the time: in three years, which will be until their destruction and from the death of Achaz—in whose time was the vision of this second word—or in which your persecution or battle will last; the years of a hireling, for after these, the Lord will repay to you the wages for your sins; or those who seem great are hirelings and small to the Lord: the life of man upon earth is a warfare, and his days are like the days of a hireling (Job 7:1).