Isaiah 19

Hear, for the flesh of the Lord was a shadow: Behold, the Lord sits upon a light cloud, and will come to Egypt. And David says: Protect me under the shadow of your wings. Therefore, he became a shadow emptied for us, whom the sun of iniquity had burned. We saw him in the shadow when faith first advanced. But now he illuminates the whole world: and yet we still see him through the shadow of his body, which is the Church, not yet face to face; for the eyes of the body are unable to receive the brightness of divinity. This shadow also protects the entire world every day. Therefore, the conclusion is beneficial; For God has concluded all in unbelief, that he may have mercy upon all.

It is relevant to recall that holy Isaiah uttered a particular prophecy concerning Egypt: "And the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt within them" and the rest.In the same class with these prophets were those who rejoiced because they knew he had come whom they had been expecting. Such were Simeon and Anna, who recognized Jesus when he was born, and Elizabeth, who, in the Spirit, realized that he had been conceived, and Peter, who, by revelation of the Father, affirmed, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God."

The psalmist spoke of this solemnity [when he said], "God has ascended with a shout of jubilation, and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet." He ascended with a shout of jubilation, since he sought heaven as the disciples rejoiced in the glory of his being lifted up. He ascended with the sound of the trumpet, since he went up to the throne of his heavenly kingdom as the angels heralded his return to judge the living and the dead.How God, who is present always and everywhere and does not change from place to place, ascended, the same [inspired writer] declares elsewhere, saying, "He who makes a cloud his stairway and walks upon the wings of the winds." He calls the substance of human weakness with which "the sun of righteousness" clothed himself, that [the sight of him] might be borne by human beings, a cloud. Hence Isaiah says, "Behold, the Lord will ascend upon a swift cloud and will enter Egypt, and the idols of Egypt will be shaken before his face." The Lord ascended upon a swift cloud so that when he entered Egypt he might overturn its idols when "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." He took upon himself a body immune from all stains of iniquity and entered the world in it, so that he might destroy the cult of idolatry and make clear the true light of divinity to the shadowy and dark hearts of the Gentiles. He who is not enclosed in a place willed to go from place to place by means of this cloud, his human nature; in it he who always remains invisible in his divinity willed to suffer mockery, scourging and death; by means of it he who fills the heavens in the power of his divinity ascended into heaven, crowned with the power of his resurrection.

Such brief downpours are rightly compared with the shallow, inflated boasting of secular teaching which often seems to pour forth an endless, deep river of eloquence and broad learning but soon dries up entirely, as though it had never existed at all, where the sun of justice and the summer of evangelical radiance shine. The Lord himself laments this state of affairs through the prophet: "They abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug for themselves broken cisterns which cannot hold water." Isaiah also says, "Behold, the Lord will ascend upon a light cloud and will come to Egypt," and again, "The water of the sea will dry up and the river will be desolate and arid." "A well of living waters," he said, "which flows from Lebanon," that is, from the church, whose life is both clear and deep. For Lebanon, which means "clarity," fills its camps with saving streams of wisdom for its subjects, as though they were an audience, like the Lord promises in the Gospel: "Whoever believes in me, as Scripture teaches, 'rivers of living water will flow from his heart.' " Explaining this, the Gospel adds, "He said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him would receive."

The blessed Virgin, being purely human, was unable to receive bodily all the plenitude of divinity. But the power of the Most High overshadowed her, that is, her body received the incorporeal light of divinity. The prophet comments on this beautifully: "Behold, the Lord will ascend upon on a light cloud and will come to Egypt," which is to say, Behold, the coeternal Word of God the Father, the light from light who was born before the ages, will receive at the end of the age a flesh and soul not burdened with any sin, and he will enter the world from a virginal womb, like a bridegroom from his chamber. Therefore, what will be born will be called holy, the Son of God. In distinction from our holiness, Jesus alone is said to be born holy.

But if the entire world is divided against itself with respect to faith in Christ, each home contains both infidels and believers. A good war is waged, therefore, to disrupt an evil peace. Isaiah also announced prophetically under the figure of Egypt: "Behold, the Lord will ascend upon a light cloud and will come to Egypt, and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence and the hearts of the Egyptians will melt within them, and I will cause Egyptians to attack Egyptians." Clearly this refers to a struggle between proponents of the faith and its enemies.

Isaiah had said: The Lord is riding on a swift cloud on His way to Egypt; the idols of Egypt tremble before Him. This came about in Christ. Never was any prophet or philosopher found who could do away with idolatry: yet that is what Christ did through His apostles all over the earth.

But Isaiah announced the Lord's future trip to Egypt some time ago when he said, "Behold, the Lord will be seated upon a light cloud and will come to Egypt." By this saying, the mystery of the Lord's incarnation is clearly shown. For because the Lord himself, "dawning from on high," is called "the sun of justice," it is not without merit that he was foretold to be coming "upon a light cloud," that is, in a holy body which no sin was able to weigh down. It was under the veil of this corporeal cloud that he concealed the light of his majesty.

To make himself visible, the "sun of justice" assumed a human body like a cloud, according to which it was said, "Behold, the Lord will come upon a light cloud." What is the cloud upon which the Lord, the sun of justice, was predicted to arrive if not the cloud of the human body, through which the appearance of his divine radiance was shielded? But just as the sun is less visible to us when covered by a cloud, even though its nature remains unchanged, so also the Son of God did not cease to retain the glory of his divinity when he covered his radiance with the cloud of a human body. The Gospel said that "his face shone like the sun and his clothing was made as white as snow" to show the power of his divine radiance, through which even his clothing was made white like snow. "And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared and spoke with them," it continues. The Lord had already promised the glory of this vision long ago to the same Moses, saying, "You will see my back [posteriora mea]." He used "posterior" here to indicate that he would reveal himself to Moses at a posterior time, after his assumption of the body. "But Peter responded and said to him, 'Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you like, let's pitch three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.' "

This prophecy says that the one who is begotten after the God and Lord of all things, meaning the Word of God, will come into Egypt, and not undercover or invisibly or without a body but riding on a light cloud, or better "on thick light." This is the meaning of the Hebrew word. Let the Hebrew children tell us when after the time of Isaiah the Lord visited Egypt, and which Lord it was. The God over all is one. Let them tell us how he is said to ride on "thick light" and to come to any particular place on the earth. Let them interpret "thick light" and explain why the Lord is not said to visit Egypt without it. Let them also say when the prophecy that the Egyptian idols made with hands would be shaken and Egyptians would fight Egyptians by the coming of the Lord is to have been fulfilled.

Now one can consider that the prophecy has not been fulfilled if the following are true: if the Egyptians in our own time cannot be seen to have abandoned the gods of their fathers and calling on the God of the prophets; throughout every town and city in the country of Egypt there are not altars built to the God that previously only the Hebrews acknowledged; the idols have not been shaken.… How can we deny that the prophecies of ages past have been fulfilled? They promised beforehand that the Lord would not come to Egypt in an incorporeal manner but on a light cloud, or better "on a thick light," which is the meaning of the Hebrew word. This figuratively speaks of his incarnation. The prophecy continues by calling him a human being who is the Savior, saying, "And he shall send to them a man who is a savior." The Hebrew here is, "And he shall send to them a savior who will save them." This clear demonstration leads me to conclude that there is no doubt of the time of the promise of the appearing of the Lord.

I suppose that the reason why it is foretold that the Lord would come to Egypt is this: The Egyptians are said to have been the first to practice the errors of polytheism.… And Holy Scripture witnesses that they were the enemies of God's people from the very beginning, for it is written that their ancient king confessed that he did not know the Lord, when he said, "I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go." So, then, it is because Scripture wishes to show the great marvel of the divine power of Christ that it foretells his going to Egypt, in predicting that the Egyptians will undergo an extraordinary conversion, when it goes on to say, "And the Egyptians shall know the Lord, who before knew him not, and shall pray to the Lord," and so on.… Here it is predicted of Egypt and its people that they will not acknowledge idols any more but will acknowledge the Lord revealed by the Jewish prophets. Now if we cannot see this actually fulfilled before our eyes, we must not say that the Lord's coming to Egypt has taken place. But if beyond all need of argument the truth is shown by facts and reveals clearly to the most unobservant the Egyptians rescued from hereditary superstition, and followers of the God of the prophets who foretold that this would take place, serving him only and greeting every form of death for their duty to him, to what else can we attribute it but to the Lord coming to Egypt, as the prophecy before us predicted?

Under Egypt he meant the world, and under things made with hands its idolatry, and under the shaking its subversion and dissolution. And the Lord, the Word, he represented as upon a light cloud, referring to that most pure tabernacle, in which setting up His throne, our Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to shake error.

Appreciate what that means: The Lord comes, the Lord and Savior, into the Egypt in which we live; the Lord comes into the land of darkness where Pharaoh is. But he does not come save riding on a swift cloud. Now what is this swift cloud? I think it is holy Mary with child of no human seed. This swift cloud has come into the world and brought with it the Creator of the world. What does Isaiah say? "The Lord will enter into Egypt upon a swift cloud; and the idols of Egypt shall be shattered." The Lord has come, and the false gods of Egypt tremble violently, crash together and are destroyed.

We must think of that swift cloud as befitting either the body of the Savior, because his body was light, not weighted down by any sin; or certainly holy Mary, who was heavy with child by no human seed. Behold the Lord has entered the Egypt of this world on a swift cloud, the Virgin.

Behold, the Lord has entered the Egypt of this world on a soft cloud, the Virgin. "He led them with a cloud by day." Beautifully said, by day, for the cloud was never in darkness but always in light. "And all night with a glow of fire." "For you darkness itself is not dark, and night shines as the day." "And all night with a glow of fire." "The Lord our God is a consuming fire." A consuming fire. The psalmist did not say what the fire is consuming; he left that to our intelligence.

"The Lord is riding on a swift cloud on his way to Egypt." Appreciate what that means: the Lord comes, the Lord and Savior, into the Egypt in which we live; the Lord comes into the land of darkness where Pharaoh is. But he does not come save riding on a swift cloud. Now what is this swift cloud? I think it is holy Mary with child of no human seed. This swift cloud has come into the world and brought with it the Creator of the world. What does Isaiah say? "The Lord will enter into Egypt upon a swift cloud; and the idols of Egypt shall be shattered." The Lord has come, and the false gods of Egypt tremble violently, crash together and are destroyed. This is the cloud that in Alexandria destroyed Sarapis; no general did it, no mortal man, but this cloud that came into Alexandria.

The burden of Egypt. Behold, the Lord will ascend upon a light cloud, and will enter Egypt, and the images of Egypt will be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt will waste away in its midst. It is the custom of the Scriptures to append plain things to obscure ones, and to bring out in open speech what they had first said in enigmas. Hence in the present place too, because he had threatened Egypt: Woe to the land that overshadows with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, and the rest that the prophetic discourse wove together, he now makes the understanding plainer, and speaks with threats to Egypt itself: that not through angels but the Lord himself comes upon a light cloud, that is, a swift one, and enters Egypt, and the idols of Egypt tremble, and the heart of the strong wastes away, and the prophecy of Ezekiel is fulfilled: I will destroy the images, and I will make the idols cease from Memphis (Ezek 30:13). Some refer this whole prophecy to the times of the Savior, when he entered upon a light cloud, that is, the human body which he had taken from the Virgin, weighed down by no seed of human intercourse; or that he was carried by a light cloud, that is, by the virginal body, and at his entry all the demons trembled, and then came the first ruin of the idols, unable to bear the presence of the Lord.

The burden of Egypt. Symmachus and Theodotion: The taking up of Egypt. LXX: The vision of Egypt. Where in the Hebrew is written MASSA MESRAIM (משא מצרים), which we have translated The burden or weight of Egypt, for which Aquila rendered ἄρμα Αἰγύπτου, we may say that because the prophet takes up and carries the yoke of the Lord, he proved worthy to behold, or to bear, the prophecy of Egypt. Hence I marvel that the Seventy, both in Babylon translated Vision for Weight, and in Philistia and Moab and Damascus Word, and now in Egypt Vision, when in the Hebrew in all these places what is set down is not Word and Vision but MASSA (משא), that is, Burden and weight. And as for Symmachus and Theodotion always translating λῆμμα, that is, a taking up, we ought to know that the prophet received spiritual grace from the Lord to know the mysteries of Egypt, or to behold them with the eyes of the mind, as the Seventy translated. But this Egypt is not the one the Jews suppose, as Josephus thought, who relates in the books of the Antiquities that the priest Onias fulfilled the oracle of Isaiah by building in the district of Heliopolis, which the Egyptians call a νομὸν, a temple after the likeness of the Temple of God, and an altar. For suppose we grant that these things were said of Onias and the altar he built in Egypt: what will be the five cities in Egypt that speak the Canaanite tongue, of which one according to the Seventy is called ἀσεδὲκ, and according to the other translators the city ARS or ARES, or the city of the sun? And who will be this savior who was sent to the Egyptians to save them, so that the Egyptians might know the Lord? When did they worship him with sacrifices and gifts, and pay their vows? When did the Lord strike Egypt and heal it? At what time shall we be able to show it happened that there was a way from Egypt to the Assyrians, and that the Assyrians entered Egypt, and the Egyptians the Assyrians, and that the Egyptians served Assur? When was Israel the third in Egypt, and among the Assyrians as a blessing in the midst of the earth, so that the Lord should say: Blessed is my people of Egypt, and the work of my hands the Assyrian? It is plain that these things do not belong to that Egypt which the Jews suppose. And so this place which we inhabit, and the world which lies in the evil one, we may call Egypt, especially because MESRAIM (מצרים), which is called Egypt, means ἐκθλίβουσα, that is, afflicting, or reducing to straits. Yet we must know that many things of the Burden, or Vision, of Egypt belong to the province of Egypt, which is inhabited and seen to this day. But both in this and in other places of the Scriptures very many things are set down which could not stand according to the history, so that by the necessity of the matter we are compelled to seek a higher understanding.

Behold, the Lord shall go up upon a light cloud, and shall enter into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. And I will make the Egyptians clash against the Egyptians, and a man shall fight against his brother, and a man against his friend, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. And the spirit of Egypt shall be broken in its bowels, and I will cast down its counsel; and they shall consult their idols and their diviners, and those with familiar spirits, and the soothsayers. And I will deliver Egypt into the hands of cruel lords, and a strong king shall rule over them, says the Lord God of hosts. Most of the prophecy of Egypt, which Isaiah took up or saw, I touched upon in the historical explanation; so now, according to tropology, only the chief points are to be gathered. The Lord went up upon a light cloud, the body of the holy Virgin Mary, which was weighed down by no burden of human seed; or certainly his own body, which was conceived of the Holy Spirit. And he entered into the Egypt of this world, and at once all the idols of Egypt were moved, so that divinations and the whole fraud of idolatry, which held possession of a deceived world, felt itself broken; so much so that the magi from the East, taught by the demons, or understanding from the prophecy of Balaam (Num 24) that the Son of God was born who would destroy all the power of their art, came to Bethlehem, and, the star showing the way, worshipped the child (Matt 2).

And in Isaiah we read that the Lord came into Egypt on a light cloud. Egypt is taken as the world, into which the Lord is recorded to have descended in the flesh, which, brought forth from a virginal womb, was weighed down by no weight of human seed and of sins.

What then? He Himself speaks nothing, nor Moses, nor Elias, but He that is greater than all, and more worthy of belief, the Father, uttereth a voice out of the cloud. Wherefore out of the cloud? Thus doth God ever appear. "For a cloud and darkness are round about Him;" and, "He sitteth on a light cloud;" and again, "Who maketh clouds His chariot;" and, "A cloud received Him out of their sight;" and, "As the Son of Man coming in the clouds." In order then that they might believe that the voice proceeds from God, it comes from thence. And the cloud was bright.

That it was Jesus himself [at the ascension] they knew from the fact that he had been conversing with them (for had they seen only from a distance, they could not have recognized him by sight), but that he is taken up into heaven the angels themselves inform them. Observe how it is ordered, that not all is done by the Spirit, but the eyes also do their part. But why did "a cloud receive him"? This too was a sure sign that he went up to heaven. Not fire, as in the case of Elijah, nor fiery chariot, but "a cloud received him"; which was a symbol of heaven, as the prophet says, "Who makes the clouds his chariot"; it is of the Father himself that this is said. Therefore he says, "on a cloud"; in the symbol, he would say, of the divine power, for no other power is seen to appear on a cloud. For hear again what another prophet says: "The Lord sits upon a light cloud."

Consider also, in the vision of Egypt, Isaiah saying: "behold the Lord sits upon a light cloud, and he will come into Egypt", whether he means this Egypt which is commonly understood, or the whole world. For according to John himself, the place "in which their Lord was crucified" "is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt", whether the whole world or Judea is called Sodom and Egypt. But he who upon a light cloud will come into Egypt, will first make his ascent into Judea (for it is according to reason that, when he comes again, it should first happen there). But it is called "Sodom" "where their Lord was crucified", just as also once it was said to that people and their princes: "hear the word of the Lord, princes of Sodom; attend to the law of God, people of Gomorrah".

Egypt is sometimes understood to mean the whole world in [Isaiah], because of superstition and malediction.

Therefore all the human qualities of the Lord Christ, hunger, I mean, and thirst and weariness, sleep, fear, sweat, prayer, and ignorance, and the like, we affirm to belong to our nature which God the Word assumed and united to himself in effecting our salvation. But the restitution of motion to the maimed, the resurrection of the dead, the supply of loaves and all the other miracles we believe to be works of the divine power. In this sense I say that the same Lord Christ both suffers and destroys suffering; suffers, that is, as touching the visible, and destroys suffering as touching the ineffably indwelling Godhead. This is proved beyond question by the narrative of the holy Evangelists, from whom we learn that when lying in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes, he was announced by a star, worshiped by magi and hymned by angels. Thus we reverently discern that the swaddling bands and the lack of a bed and all the poverty belonged to the manhood; while the journey of the magi and the guiding of the star and the company of the angels proclaim the Godhead of the unseen. In like manner he makes his escape into Egypt and avoids the fury of Herod by flight, for he was man; but as the prophet says, "He shakes the idols of Egypt," for he was by nature God.

The burden of Egypt. In this part, he threatens the destruction of the Egyptians, describing the manner and the order. And this is divided into three parts: in the first, the preparation of the punishment is described; in the second, the destruction itself: and I will deliver Egypt (Isa 19:4); in the third, the attainment of advantage, where it says, in that day there shall be five cities (Isa 19:18).

The preparation of the punishment is described as to four things.

First, as to the disposition of the enemy: he will ascend, inspiring, upon a cloud, from which comes a storm, light, because of his agility and promptness: clouds and darkness are round about him (Ps 96[97]:2).

Second, as to the stupor of the gods that govern them: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved, because they were shattered by the Assyrians, or because they could not give an answer, or because they did not appear on that day: your idols shall be broken in pieces (Ezek 6:4); and of the men that govern them, the heart of Egypt, that is, the king and princes, from whom came all the vigor of Egypt, above: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad (Isa 1:5).

Note on the words, the Lord will ascend upon a cloud (Isa 19:1), that the cloud is manifold. First, the cloud of the flesh he assumed: where were you when I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in a mist as in swaddling bands? (Job 38:9); second, is the cloud of the virginal womb: behold a little cloud arose out of the sea (1 Kgs 18:44); third, is the cloud of the devout mind: his magnificence, and his power is in the clouds (Ps 67:35[68:34]); fourth, is the cloud of the judicial seat: clouds and darkness are round about him: justice and judgment are the establishment of his throne (Ps 96[97]:2).

Likewise, note that from the first cloud proceeds sacramental rain or the rain of sanctification: from the side of the Lord immediately there came out blood and water (John 19:34); from the second cloud proceeds the bread of consolation: a cloud overshadowed their camps and where water was before, dry land appeared (Wis 19:7); and below this: seeing your miracles and wonders: for they fed on their food like horses (Wis 19:8–9); from the third cloud proceeds the lightning of preaching: corn desires clouds, and the clouds spread their light (Job 37:11); from the fourth cloud proceeds the storm of damnation: behold he shall come up as a cloud (Num 5); his power is in the clouds (Ps 67:35[68:34]).

Likewise, note on the words, a light cloud (Isa 19:1), that the first cloud is called light because of eminence of dignity: lo, one like the Son of man came in the clouds of heaven (Dan 7:13); the second cloud is called light because of purity of virginity: behold a white cloud and upon the cloud one sitting like to the Son of man (Rev 14:14); the third cloud is called light because of swiftness of obedience, below: who are these, that fly as clouds? (Isa 60:8); the fourth cloud is called light because of ease of execution: by his greatness he has fixed the clouds, and the hailstones are broken (Sir 43:16).

Daughters of Tyre, daughters of the nations, from species to genus. Through Tyre, neighbor to the land of prophecy, the psalmist signifies all the people who would come to believe in Christ. Rightly, therefore, does he continue: "The wealthy of the earth will all seek your face." The Lord also threatens Assyria through the prophet Isaiah, saying, "I will destroy the Assyrian in my land, and I will crush him on my mountains"; "and the Lord will destroy Babylon, glorious and famous among the kingdoms, as he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah." It is possible that the Lord began to admonish only the city of Babylon at the beginning of Isaiah, but as he spoke against it, he crossed from species to genus and turned to address his word generally toward all the earth. Surely, if he were not speaking against the entire world, he would not have added later: "I will destroy the whole earth, and I will visit evil upon the world," and other such statements that pertain to the eradication of the corrupted world. Consequently, he also adds, "This is the decision that I have made concerning the whole earth and this is its hand extended over all the peoples." … He was addressing the entire world under the figure of Babylon, saying, "I will destroy the whole earth, and I will visit evil upon the world," along with similar declarations pertaining to the world's extermination. [But] he also turned his attention back toward Babylon, as though from genus to species, and made remarks that relate specifically to that city: "Behold, I am raising Media up against them." For during Balthasar's reign, Babylon was taken by Media. So also, the "oracle of Egypt" intends for Egypt to be understood as a personification of the entire world when it says, "And I will cause Egyptians to fight against Egyptians, kingdom against kingdom," since it is written that Egypt possessed only one kingdom, not many.The fifth rule of time is that the greater part can be implied through the lesser or the lesser through the greater. With regard to the three days of the Lord's burial, for instance, the whole is taken from the part, since he lay in the tomb neither for three full days nor for three full nights. And the part can be taken from the whole, for after the Lord had established that "the length of a man's life will be one hundred and twenty years," only one hundred years passed before the great flood. Also, whereas God predicted that the children of Israel would be slaves in Egypt for four hundred years and would then depart, they were not enslaved for four hundred years, since they had escaped slavery under Joseph's rule. Yet again, the whole is also here subjoined from the part, since they did not depart Egypt immediately after the four hundred years, as promised, but did so after four hundred and thirty years had transpired. Events that are still in the future but are narrated as though they have already occurred also belong to this rule of time. For example, "They pierced my hands and feet and counted all of my bones," and "they divided my clothing among themselves," and similar passages in which what has yet to occur is related as a historical event. Anything predicated of the future, however, is spoken from our perspective. But when the future is said to have happened, it must be understood from the perspective of God's eternity, since what is still in the future for us has already been accomplished according to God's predestination, for whom everything in the future has been accomplished. The sixth rule of time is that of recapitulation, which consists in Scripture returning to what it had already narrated. For instance, when it discussed the sons of the sons of Noah, Scripture said that they had their own language among their own people. Afterwards, however, as though subsequent in time, we read, "And all the earth was of one language, and everyone spoke with one voice." How, therefore, could the sons of Noah have had their own language if there were only one language for everyone, unless the narrative regressed in order to recapitulate what had already transpired?

And I will make Egyptians rush against Egyptians, and a man will fight against his brother, and a man against his friend, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. When the Lord has entered Egypt and destroys a most powerful nation by his presence, the first victory will be that Egyptians fall out with Egyptians and fight one another with rebellious hatred: which, it is clear, came about in the times of the Assyrians and of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, some sitting still and others resisting. And that he foretells these things of the Babylonian captivity, Jeremiah is witness, saying: Egypt is a choice and beautiful heifer; a goader will come to her from the North. And again: The daughter of Egypt has been put to shame, and delivered into the hand of the people of the North (Jer 46:20, 24). Ezekiel too, agreeing with equal authority of prophecy: And I will make the multitude of Egypt cease, he says, by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And again: I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and I will put my sword into his hand, and I will break the arms of Pharaoh. And they will know that I am the Lord, when I have put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he has stretched it out over the land of Egypt, and I will scatter Egypt among the nations (Ezek 30:10, 24ff.). But if we refer these things to the times of the Savior, let us take this example from the Gospel: Do not think that I have come to send peace upon the earth: I have not come to send peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his neighbor, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be those of his own household (Matt 10:34ff.). And again in another place: Two will be divided against three, and three against two: father against son, and mother against daughter, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law (Luke 12:52-53).

Then the whole heart of Egypt melted, and Egyptians rose against Egyptians, according to what the Lord says in the Gospel: Do not think that I have come to send peace upon the earth; I have not come to send peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law (Matt 10:34ff.). At that time this too was fulfilled: A man's enemies are those of his own household (Mic 7:6). And a man shall fight against his brother, and a man against his friend. For in one house they were divided, two against three and three against two, and father was divided against Son and son against father, city against city and kingdom against kingdom: those who did not believe against those who believed, or else those who believed, longing to save their neighbours.

Third, as to the dissension of those who resist, as to external contact: and I will set, as to strangers: the Egyptians to fight against the Egyptians; as to kindred, they shall fight brother against brother; as to acquaintances and friends: and friend against friend; as to different peoples, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

And the spirit of Egypt will be broken in its inward parts, and I will cast down its counsel: and they will consult their images and their diviners, and those with pythonic spirits, and the soothsayers. When sedition has arisen in Egypt, some desiring to serve the Babylonian, others unwilling to submit their necks to his yoke; or else some believing in Christ, and others resisting, the spirit of Egypt will be broken and torn apart, since not all wish the same things, and all their counsel will be brought to nothing. Then they will go to their images; and they will ask the diviners, and the soothsayers, and the seers, and those schooled in the magic arts, why these things have happened.

And the spirit of Egypt was broken in its bowels, so that they were no longer of one mind; but, separated against themselves by the spiritual sword, they came to know that all their counsel had been cast down; and nonetheless, remaining in their former error, those who had refused to receive the truth of the faith consulted their idols and their diviners, and those with familiar spirits, and the soothsayers.

He sets out the diversity of wills: the spirit, that is, the will, shall be broken, that is, divided, in the bowels thereof, that is, in the inhabitants of the land: every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate (Matt 12:25).

Fourth, as to the error of taking counsel from men: and I will cast down their counsel: he catches the wise in their craftiness, and disappoints the counsel of the wicked (Job 5:13); and from demons: and they shall consult, in vain, above: and when they shall say to you: seek of pythons, and of diviners, who mutter in their enchantments (Isa 8:19).

And I will deliver Egypt into the hand of cruel masters, and a mighty king will rule over them, says the Lord God of hosts. We follow a twofold understanding: either of the Chaldean times, when Egypt was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar; or of the Roman empire, when, after Antony and Cleopatra had been overcome, Augustus Caesar subjugated Egypt. That the Babylonians were cruel all Scripture testifies: they did not spare little ones, and wounded them with their darts, and had no pity on pregnant women. And that the Roman kingdom was most mighty the Scripture of Daniel also testifies (Dan 7), setting forth the fourth beast, which has teeth and claws of iron.

And when they had done this, the Lord delivered them into the hand of cruel lords, according to that saying of the Apostle: Whom I have delivered to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme (1 Tim 1:20), so that, oppressed by that hardest servitude, they may return to the most merciful Lord. And fittingly he calls the demons cruel lords, for nothing is crueller than they. The strong king also, who is their lord, is plainly understood as the devil, whom the Lord in the Gospel too calls the strong man; and when he is bound and overpowered, the vessels of his house and the spoil are plundered.

And I will deliver Egypt. Here he describes the destruction itself; and first, as to the slavery of the people; second, as to the desolation of the land: and the water of the sea shall be dried up (Isa 19:5); third, as to the stupidity of their wise men: the princes of Tanis are become fools (Isa 19:11).

Into the hand of cruel masters: the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, and the Romans: you shall serve your enemy (Deut 28:48).

And the water shall dry up from the sea, and the river shall be laid waste and dried up, and the rivers shall fail; the streams of the embankments shall be diminished and dried up. The reed and the rush shall wither; the bed of the stream shall be laid bare from its source, and every watered sowing shall be dried up; it shall wither and shall not be. And the fishers shall mourn, and all who cast a hook into the river shall lament, and those who spread a net upon the face of the water, and they shall wither away. And those who work flax shall be confounded, plaiting and weaving fine things, and its watered places shall be drooping, all who made pools to catch fish. Foolish are the princes of Tanis; the wise counsellors of Pharaoh have given foolish counsel. When the strong king, the harsh one, has ruled in Egypt, all the learning and beauty of worldly eloquence shall dry up, and the devil himself, the source of all the rivers, from whom all lies spring, shall be laid waste, so that the other rivers and streams, which used to be filled from the turbid waters of the Nile, shall fail. The reed and the rush too shall wither from excessive drought. For rush the Seventy translated papyrus, from which paper is made, adding of their own green achi, which is not found in the Hebrew. And when I asked learned men what this word signified, I heard that the Egyptians in their own tongue call by this name everything green that grows in a marsh. Now the reed, according to tropology, is empty speech, having nothing solid in itself; and the papyrus is that which seems indeed to have pith and is not empty, and yet is fragile and quickly withers.

And the water will dry up from the sea, and the river will be desolated and dried up, and the streams will fail; the channels of the embankments will be diminished and dried up. The reed and the rush will wither, the bed of the stream will be laid bare from its source, and every watered sowing will be dried up, will wither, and will be no more. It is natural that, when captivity has come through the wrath of God, pestilence should follow upon his indignation, and all the elements together should rage against those who have offended God. Hence it is written in another Prophet (Jer 12) that both the birds in the air and the fish in the waters fail, so that all things are withdrawn from human use. This we say if we choose to take it simply of a drought of the river Nile and its streams. But if by metaphor: in the river we understand the kingdom, and in the streams its leaders; and in the greenery, the rush and the papyrus the whole abundance of Egypt, so that through these things the riches of Egypt are described, in which Egypt is most fertile. Let us read Ezekiel, where King Pharaoh is described as a great dragon dwelling in the rivers, and he says: The river is mine, and I made myself. And he hears: I will put a bridle in your jaws, and I will make the fish of your rivers stick to your scales, and I will draw you out of the midst of your rivers, and all your fish will cling to your scales, and I will cast you into the desert (Ezek 29:3-4). At the coming of Christ, however, all these things are to be understood τροπικῶς, in keeping with what we read above: The Lord will make the sea of Egypt desert. And again: The Lord will lay his hand upon the violent river of Egypt, and will strike it in seven valleys, so that one may pass over it with shod feet: namely, that all the error of the Egyptian waters, and the evil arts by which they deluded the peoples subject to them, are dried up at the coming of Christ. And as for his saying: The water will dry up from the sea, we can also take it historically: that what is signified is not the great sea, but Lake Mareotis, because Scripture calls all gatherings of waters seas. These things can also be understood as said hyperbolically. And what follows: The bed of the stream will be laid bare from its source, describes the stream and the source drying up together.

The destruction of the land he designates by the drought of the waters in which Egypt is well-endowed and rich; because the wrath of God goes before so that their waters are dried up and their animals die; or he speaks hyperbolically, as if to say: so great will be the tribulation that it will seem even to dry up the waters.

Therefore, he sets out three things. First, the manner of the drought, the water of the sea shall be dried up: that is, shall be diminished, and the river, the Nile.

And the rivers, other rivers: I will make the channels of the rivers dry (Ezek 30:12).

Second, he sets out the sign of the drought: the reed and the bulrush, which are raised in the water, below: shall rise up the verdure of the reed and the bulrush (Isa 35:7).

All the streams too, once the head of the streams has dried up, shall be dried up, and whatever was formerly watered by the Egyptian waters shall be dried up and shall not be; so that the fishers of Egypt shall mourn, who are utterly opposed to the fishers of the Lord, and those shall lament who used to cast a hook into the river and spread a net upon the face of the water. Those who deceive people one at a time cast a hook into the turbid waters; but those who deceive many at once, speaking publicly in the synagogues of Satan and leading away whole flocks of the peoples, cast a net upon the Egyptian waters.

Third, he sets out the ruin from the drought, shall be laid bare: first, the ruin of agriculture, from its fountain, that is, from its beginning, or this to the end: he has turned rivers into a wilderness: and the sources of waters into dry ground (Ps 106[107]:33).

And the fishermen will mourn, and all who cast a hook into the river will lament, and those who spread a net upon the face of the water will waste away. And those who work flax will be confounded, plaiting and weaving fine things: and its watered places will be withered: all who made pools for catching fish. Take this too in two ways: that when Egypt has been laid waste and the whole province dried up with drought, the fishermen mourn, and those who used to cast a hook into the river lament, and those who worked nets and dragnets and wove little vessels of various kinds out of rush, that is, the princes and those of royal stock, and the rulers; and that at the coming of Christ all the fishermen of a perverse kind, who, contrary to the apostolic discipline, caught men for perdition, and with a foolish wisdom wove nets and dragnets in which to ensnare the lost, were confounded, and that there is no such fisherman, or a rare one, in the land of Egypt. We see this fulfilled in fact, in that the trophies of the Churches are rising, and throughout Egypt the idols have fallen.

Second, the ruin of fishers: the fishers also shall mourn: I will cast you forth into the desert, and all the fish of your river (Ezek 29:5).

Those too shall be confounded who used to work flax to make the vestments of the priests, plaiting it and weaving fine things, which belongs properly to the art of the dialecticians. For fine things the Seventy translated byssus, which itself also is woven into the vestments of the priests.

Third, the ruin of various craftsmen, they shall be confounded that wrought in flax, which is raised in wet places. Flaccid, that is, parched, pools, fish ponds.

And what follows, And its watered places shall be drooping, all who made pools to catch fish, signifies that all the snares of the fishers of Egypt shall be destroyed and perish. Where we, following the sense, have translated pools made to catch fish, both in the Hebrew and in all the translators souls are set in place of fish, so that we may be drawn from the history to tropology: namely, that these fishers who made pools and pits made them for this purpose, to ensnare souls in them. It should be noted that for pools the Seventy translated ζύθον, which is a kind of drink made from grain and water, and is commonly called sabaium in the provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia, in the heathen and barbarian speech. The Egyptians use this most of all, so that they give those who drink not pure waters but turbid ones, like dregs mixed in; so that by a drink of this kind is shown the teaching of heretical depravity.

And the Father says to him: Return to me, calling him from the earth to heaven, whom he had sent for our salvation. Therefore, raising up his only-begotten Son, he frustrated the plan of the slanderers. Hence, Isaiah also says: The futile plan of your spirit. And the one who had been accusing and directing arrows like a hunter, has disarmed everything: he has crushed the power of those who relied on their own strength and not on God.

Then the princes of Tanis shall be foolish, which means a lowly command. For all the heretics teach a lowliness contrary to loftiness, and drag men down to the underworld, and are princes of a lowly and abject command. The counsellors too of Pharaoh, who is the king of Egypt, and is rightly rendered scatterer and divided, and separated into various parts, shall be convicted of having given foolish counsel, when the Lord destroys the wisdom of the wise and rejects the understanding of the prudent (1 Cor 1).

How do you say to Pharaoh: I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? Where now are your wise men? Let them tell you, and declare what the Lord of hosts has purposed concerning Egypt. The princes of Tanis have become fools, the princes of Memphis have withered; they have deceived Egypt, the corner of its peoples. The Lord has mingled in its midst a spirit of giddiness, and they have made Egypt err in all its work, as a drunken man errs and vomits. And there shall be no work for Egypt which may make the head and the tail, bending and curbing. The heretics are accustomed to say to their king, or Pharaoh: We are sons of the wise, who handed down the Apostolic teaching to us from the beginning; we are sons of ancient kings, who are called the kings of the philosophers, and we have the knowledge of the Scriptures joined to worldly wisdom.

The princes of Tanis are foolish; the wise counselors of Pharaoh have given foolish counsel: how will you say to Pharaoh: I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? Where now are your wise men? Let them announce to you and show what the Lord of hosts has purposed concerning Egypt. The princes of Tanis have become fools, the princes of Memphis have withered: they have deceived Egypt, the corner of its peoples. That Tanis was the metropolis of Egypt the Psalmist also declares, because Moses worked there the many signs which are described in Exodus: He set his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the plain of Tanis (Ps 77 [78]:43). That Memphis too was given over to the magic arts, the traces of its old error show to the present time. And this is briefly indicated: that when the Babylonian devastation came, all the counsels of the Magi and of those who promised knowledge of the future were convicted of folly; and that at the coming of Christ all were brought to nothing, since the seers of Egypt could find no counsel how to suppress the Christian doctrine. It is an idiom of the Scriptures to put corner for kingdom, because it holds the peoples together, and is, as it were, the strongest part of the whole house. Hence Christ too, who holds together the walls of the two peoples, is called the corner stone (Eph 2). And his adding: How will you say to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings, signifies that the Egyptians feign heroes and gods as the founders of their race: Horus, and Isis, and Osiris, and Typhon.

The princes of Tanis are become fools. Here he sets out the stupidity of their men; and first, as to error in their counsels; second, as to fear in wars, where it says, in that day Egypt shall be like unto women (Isa 19:16).

Concerning the first, he does three things. First, he mocks the foolishness of their wise men as to deliberation: the princes, that is, the philosophers, of Tanis, where study flourished, are become fools: every man is become foolish by his knowledge (Jer 51:17); as to the promulgation of counsel: wise counselors; as to their commendation for themselves: how will you say to Pharaoh, that is, how will you be able to speak, when you know that you have counseled badly, because each of you is accustomed to speak to his own commendation, so that his counsel may be believed; I am the son of the wise, as if to say: I possess wisdom by inheritance; or the disciple of kings, who were philosophers in ancient times: there are with us also aged and ancient men, much elder than your fathers (Job 15:10).

These he now asks, or the very king of the heretics, where are his wise men who despised the simplicity of the Church; and he compels them to answer what the Lord Sabaoth has purposed concerning the Egypt of this world, and what he will do at the consummation.

Second, he mocks the confidence of the king: where now, and first, the question, below: there is none that can save you (Isa 47:15); second, the answer: fools have withered away, that is, have failed, as above.

The princes of Tanis, who held the lowly command of the heretics, are proved to be fools. All the princes of Memphis have withered, who were tainted with the boasting of eloquence and of the mouth. For Memphis means mouth or from the mouth, and μεταφορικῶς signifies speech. And what follows: They have deceived Egypt, the corner of its peoples, or according to the Seventy: they shall deceive Egypt by tribes, signifies that the kingdom of worldly wisdom is shown to be foolish, and the princes of the several doctrines, who are interpreted as the tribes, are convicted of having had foolish teachers.

Third, he mocks the laziness of the deceived people: they have deceived. First, he sets out the deception of the wise: they have deceived the angle, that is, the kingdom, in which many are joined together like walls in an angle, below: your wisdom, and, your knowledge, has deceived you (Isa 47:10).

The Lord has mingled in its midst a spirit of giddiness: and they have made Egypt err in all its work, as a drunken man errs and vomits: and Egypt will have no work to do, head and tail, bending and bridling. Let us speak first of the translation, and afterwards we shall discuss what is written. For spirit of giddiness one can also translate spirit of error. In what we have translated, bending and bridling, we can also say bent and wanton, so that we understand the old man and the boy. For we, while translating what is written in haste, misled by its ambiguity, rendered the Hebrew word AGMON (אגמון) as bridling, which Aquila translated more expressively στρεβλοῦντα, that is, one who does nothing rightly but everything perversely, so as to signify a boy. The sense, then, is: The princes of Tanis have become fools, and the wise counselors have given Pharaoh foolish counsel, and the princes of Memphis have withered, and they have deceived Egypt, the corner of the peoples, because the Lord has mingled in them a spirit of error and giddiness, so that they do not know what they are saying, and make Egypt err. And as a drunken man, vomiting, brings up what he had taken in, and does not know where he is, but lies out of his mind: so Egypt will have no work or counsel that has either a head or an end, or that suits either the old or the young, of whom the former, through excess of age, are foolish and rave, and the latter, through wantonness and infancy, do not know what they are doing. And whether you wish to take this of the Babylonian devastation or of the coming of Christ, both according to the letter and according to the spiritual understanding, it will hold together.

For the Lord has mingled for them a spirit of giddiness, or of errors, according to what is written: And as they did not see fit to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate mind (Rom 1:28). And as he who is holy can say with Isaiah, We shall make the spirit of your salvation upon the earth, so he who is a sinner will make a spirit of error, that is, a spirit of wickedness, according to what we read also in Jeremiah: Your own transgression shall reprove you, and your wickedness shall rebuke you (Jer 2:19). But if the heretic who does not receive the Old Testament is scandalized that the Lord is said to mingle a spirit of error or of giddiness, let him hear what is written in the Apostle, that is, in the New Testament: God delivered them up in the desires of their heart to uncleanness (Rom 1:24). And again: For this reason God delivered them up to passions of ignominy. And again: God delivered them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting. Now they are delivered up in the desires of their heart because they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of creeping things. This we read not only in the Epistle to the Romans, but also in that to the Thessalonians concerning Antichrist: Because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved, God shall send them the working of error, that they may believe a lie, and that all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in the lie (2 Thess 2:10); which I think the apostle Paul took from the present reading of Isaiah, in which he says: The Lord has mingled for them a spirit of error, and they have made Egypt err in all its works, as, he says, a drunken man errs and vomits, one who is drunk with vices. Of such drunkards Joel speaks: Woe to those who are drunk without wine. And not only drunk, but also vomiting the fury of dragons and the incurable fury of asps; so that, after they have vomited up wine of this kind, they may understand their drunkenness, and recognize that as long as they were drunk they had neither beginning nor end, that is, neither head nor tail, but were an animal maimed at both ends. For beginning and end, as both Symmachus and the Seventy translated, Theodotion, after his custom, set down the Hebrew words themselves, CHAPHPHE (כפה) and AGMON (אגמון), which Aquila translated bent and perverse: wishing old men to be understood by bent, and by perverse wanton boys, who do everything perversely; and hence the sense is that in Egypt not only head and tail are lacking, but also old men and boys, that is, both beginning and end.

Second, the permission of God: the Lord has mingled, often said metaphorically, the spirit of giddiness, that is, the spirit of error, like one who suffers giddiness: the Lord has given a lying spirit in the mouth of all your prophets (1 Kgs 22:23).

Third, the error of the people themselves: and they have caused Egypt to err. Head, namely, neither with respect to the beginning; tail, nor the end; that bends down, in respect to the old man; that holds back, in respect to the youth, who lacks restraint, or to the lascivious: but evil men and seducers shall grow worse and worse (2 Tim 3:13).

In that day Egypt shall be like women, and shall be amazed, and shall fear before the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he shall shake over it. And the land of Judah shall be a festival to Egypt; everyone who remembers it shall tremble before the counsel of the Lord of hosts, which he has purposed concerning it. At that time (for that, as we have often said, is what day signifies), when the Lord has mingled a spirit of error and giddiness, so that Egypt vomits up the wine of dragons and the incurable fury of asps, understanding its error and its former drunkenness, Egypt shall fear like a woman: not with the chance fear that is wont to befall men, whom Egypt does not love but strangles and kills, but with the fear of women, whom alone Pharaoh wishes to live. And it shall fear the shaking, or lifting up, of the hand of the Lord, by which punishments are signified, which he will shake and lift up to strike Egypt.

In that day Egypt will be like women, and they will be astonished and afraid before the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he will shake over it. And the land of Judah will be a festival to Egypt: everyone who remembers it will tremble before the counsel of the Lord of hosts, which he has devised against it. I think it better even to censure one's own error than, while blushing to confess one's inexperience, to persist in error. In what I translated, And the land of Judah will be a festival to Egypt, for festival one reads in the Hebrew AGGA (חגה), which can be interpreted both as festival (whence Haggai too is rendered festive) and as fear; this Aquila translated more expressively γύρωσιν, as when someone, afraid and trembling, casts his eyes about and dreads the approaching enemy. If, then, we choose to take it in a good sense, that the remembrance of Judah is a joy to Egypt, it is rightly called a festival. But if, as I judge, festival is turned into fear, let us understand dread or terror: that when Nebuchadnezzar has come, and all the hands of the brave men have been loosened like those of women, even the name of Judah is a terror to Egypt, because, in wishing to bring it help, it has suffered such great evils. Concerning our own times no one doubts that, in comparison with the Christians, all the heathen are like women, holding feeble opinions, and that whatever they say is turned into folly, while they are astonished at so great a conversion of the nation, and marvel at and understand the hand of the Lord; and whoever of the Gentiles remembers the Christian name confesses with fear the weakness of idolatry.

In that day. Here he threatens fear of the strong. And first, he places the fear itself, like unto women, feeble and weak: their strength has failed, and they are become as women (Jer 51:30).

Then the land of Judah, that is, the knowledge of the Scriptures, the Law and the Prophets, the Gospels and the epistles of the Apostles, shall be a festival to Egypt, if it comes to know them; or a fear, if by comparison with their teaching and truth it understands that it has held a lie. Everyone who remembers this land shall tremble with that trembling which leads to life: For the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Prov 9:10). And we can take this not only of the consummation of the world, but of the present time as well: that every heretic fears a churchman learned in heavenly teachings, and is terrified at the remembrance of him. And he shall fear and tremble at the counsel of the Lord, which he has purposed concerning the Egypt of this world. We run through each point briefly, so as to pass on to the rest.

Second, the reason for the fear, and the land of Judah shall be a terror to Egypt, namely, the memory of the evils which they did to them, turning them from the worship of God, for which they will know that the wrath of God has befallen them: now I remember the evils that I did in Jerusalem (1 Macc 6:12).

Like one body has five senses and five movements by which all of its works are performed, so also are five different personas typified in this Canticle, each through the image of a spouse, not counting the "sixty queens" and "eighty concubines" and "adolescents without number," or "daughters," and "the only child of her mother," who calls herself a "wall," and she who "has no breasts."These five personas, I believe, denote five languages. Hebrew, the first of all languages, was the language of those from among whom the church was first assembled at the coming of Christ and to whom the first Gospel was addressed in Hebrew through the apostle Matthew. Greek is the language of those collaborators of the apostles, the Evangelists Mark and Luke, who are shown to be the first after the Hebrews to have gone on their missions. Egyptian, with which Mark the disciple of the apostles was not unfamiliar, is the tongue of those to whom he was sent as a teacher; the example he left them flowers still today with holy piety. Latin, which the ancients called Auxonian after King Auxonius, is the language of the one who has Peter, prince of the apostles, as its teacher and patron; decorated with the jewels of his doctrine, it is united by participation in Christ. It is to it, we believe, that it was said, "How beautiful are your feet in sandals, daughter of the prince!" Fifthly, Assyrian, also called Syriac, is the tongue of the country to which the nation of ten tribes, the kingdom of Ephraim, was led away captive. By proclaiming the merit of its religion through this tongue, the people were made one body. Assyrian, then, represents the nation which was led by the Word of God "out of the wilderness" where Christ was not honored and out of the thorny conduct of humanity, to be settled in the delightful garden of sanctity. After or apart from these languages, all the others under heaven, once converted to Christ, will be grafted into them like a limb onto a body. For everyone who believes in one omnipotent God and confesses one Redeemer, Christ, the Son of God, and receives the one Holy Spirit who proceeds from both, together constitutes the one body of the church, which is unified, as we have said, as though by the five senses. And it was prophesied quite clearly in mystery through the prophet Isaiah, I believe, that these five languages would become one language rejoicing in the praises of its one Creator by holding firm to the one faith. The coming of such a time was predicted when he said, "There will be in that day," the day when the Lord will break the chains of his people, "five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan, one of which will be called the city of the sun." We know that "Egypt" means "obscurity" or "darkness," which characterized the entire world before the incarnation of Christ, as blessed John the Evangelist taught when he said, "The light shone in the darkness, and the darkness has not overtaken it." Zechariah also taught that Christ came "to illuminate those who were sitting in darkness and the shadow of death." And the Savior himself declared, "I am the light of the world." "Canaan," on the other hand, means "glowing chalice." Who else are we able to understand as a glowing chalice except the Holy Spirit, who, after the ascension of the Lord, was first sent by the Father and the Son to the apostles while their faith was still cold? Of him it is said in the Acts of the Apostles that "he rested upon each one like a flame." He filled those who spoke the one praise of the one God in the tongue of every nation, such that they appeared intoxicated to the unaware. Having received from this chalice, the five prophesied cities now speak the marvels of the omnipotent God with one mouth or one tongue, "that our Lord Jesus Christ," as Paul, teacher of the Gentiles, shows, "is to the glory of God the Father," and that "no one can say that Jesus Christ is Lord except in the Holy Spirit." The name "city of the sun" designates the one Hebrew language itself, whose kingdom is seated in Jerusalem. There is the throne, there is the temple, the holy place of worship, and there is the kingdom of Judah, whence came Christ, the Sun of Justice. It is from Jerusalem, which was previously called Heliopolis, meaning "city of the sun," that light is shed throughout the entire, darkened body of the world. From it, a healing balm is applied to every member of the church. And it was of this sun that the prophet predicted, "For you who fear the Lord, the sun of justice will rise, and healing is in its rays; and you will leap like young bulls in the middle of the herd, and you will trample your enemies until they become like the dust under your feet."

The servant is "faithful in very little" who does not defile the word of God but speaks as though he were speaking from God and with God in Christ. For whatever gifts we receive at present are very little and very poor in comparison with those of the future, since "now we know only partially and prophesy only partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away." The ten cities are souls coming to the grace of the gospel through the word of the law. And because he must be glorified, the one who will invest the money of the word worthily for God is placed over them. Hence one successful investor addressed the cities over whom he presided, that is, the souls whose governance he had accepted, asking, "What is our hope or joy or crown of glory? Is it not you before the Lord Jesus?"20"And another came, saying, 'Lord, your mina has made five minas.' " This servant is representative of those who were sent to evangelize the uncircumcised. The Lord had given him one mina for preaching, which means one and the same faith which is also believed by the circumcised. He made five minas because people who had previously been enslaved to their bodily senses he converted to the grace of evangelical faith. "And he said to him, 'You will be over five cities,' " that is, you will shine greatly and on high with the faith and conversion of those souls whom you imbued. Isaiah also spoke mystically about this: "In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt who speak the language of Canaan." The five cities in the land of Egypt are the five senses of the body we use in this world, namely, vision, hearing, taste, smell and touch. He who looks at a woman with concupiscence, he who shuts his ears not to hear the poor, he who gets drunk with wine, which is dissipation, he who delights in crowning himself with fresh roses, whose hands are covered with blood and whose right hand is filled with bribes, represents the five cities that speak the language of Egypt, that is, that perform the works of darkness with all of their senses, for Egypt sings of the darkness. But he who blocks his ears not to hear of blood and closes his eyes not to see evil, he who tastes and sees how sweet is the Lord, who castigates his body and makes it his slave, who is able to say with the apostle "we are the fragrance of Christ to God," represents the cities of those who speak the altered language of Canaan. And the one who delivered them from darkness by his teaching is rightly rewarded with the leadership of five cities because he is being honored not only for his own progress but also for that of those whom he called to the light.

It is fitting that there be a father of fathers, whom we call the Pope, who yet, because of his humility, has four patriarchs: those of Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Antioch. And of these Isaias says: "There shall be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Chanaan and swearing by the Lord of hosts." But Rome is universal, wherefore "one shall be called 'City of the Sun.'" For while the other four sees have full authority over the neighboring churches, yet, like the sun, Rome in its universality has the fullness of power over them all.

In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan, and swearing by the Lord of hosts: one will be called the city of the sun. For city of the sun the Seventy, meaning I know not what, translated asedec, which one of our writers interprets as city of righteousness; and, led astray by error, because according to the Hebrew ARES (חרס) is written, he thinks it means earth, which is written with other letters. Symmachus, then, translated better: one will be called the city of the sun; for ARES, an ambiguous word, means both potsherd and sun, because both are parched and dry. Onias, not understanding this place, built a temple in Egypt in the town of Ἡλιοπόλεως. Read the Histories of Josephus (Josephus, book 12, chapter 9). Others would have Ares, that is, ὄστρακον, that is, potsherd, understood as the city of Ostracine, and the other cities near Rhinocorura and Casium, which, it is clear, speak to this day in Egypt the Canaanite tongue, that is, Syriac; and they think that Syrians and Arabs from the neighborhood were transported into that land by Nebuchadnezzar. Further, those who expound the prophecy of the coming of Christ and of the Roman empire take the five cities either as the law of the Lord, which was first translated in Alexandria, or as the five orders of the Church: bishops, presbyters, deacons, the faithful, catechumens; or certainly as the spiritual understanding of the law, of which the Apostle too says: I would speak five words in the Churches with my understanding, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue (1 Cor 14); and they take it that one of the five cities is called the city of the sun, namely of righteousness, in whose wings is healing.

In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the Canaanite tongue, and swearing by the Lord of hosts: one shall be called the city of the sun. The hand of the Lord lifted up or shaken over Egypt is of great profit, so that the land of Judah becomes a fear to it, and everyone who remembers it trembles. At that time five cities in the land of Egypt shall speak the tongue of Canaan, which most of our writers understand as the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. When we look on a woman to lust after her, our sight speaks the Egyptian tongue. When we hear a judgment of blood, though the Lord says, You shall not receive a vain report (Exod 23:1, LXX), our hearing speaks the Egyptian tongue. When, according to the prophet, we live in delights, and lie upon beds of ivory, and are anointed with the chief ointments, our smell speaks the Egyptian tongue. When our belly is our god (Phil 3), our taste speaks the Egyptian tongue. If we do not hear what the Apostle says, It is good for a man not to touch a woman (1 Cor 7), but on the contrary are joined to a harlot, our touch speaks the Egyptian tongue. But if, on the contrary, we lift up our eyes and see that the fields are already white for harvest, and are no longer bent toward the earth, but, like the woman in the Gospel who for eighteen years could not look up at heaven (Luke 13), lift up our eyes and say, To you have I lifted up my eyes, who dwell in the heavens (Ps 122 [123]:1), our eye and sight speaks the Canaanite tongue. If we circumcise our ears and hear the Lord saying, He who has ears to hear, let him hear (Luke 8:8), our hearing speaks the Canaanite tongue. Whoever can say to the bridegroom, We run after you in the fragrance of your ointments (Song 1:3), and, We are the good fragrance of Christ in every place (2 Cor 2:15), his smell speaks the Canaanite tongue. Taste too is taken in a good sense, of him who eats the bread that comes down from heaven, the living bread and not the dead, and who hears that saying, Taste and see how sweet the Lord is (Ps 33 [34]:9): at once it speaks the Canaanite tongue. And there is a spiritual touch also, of which the apostle John says, Our hands have handled of the Word of life (1 John 1:1); and he has it who touches Jesus by faith, so that the Savior can say of him, Someone has touched me, for I know that power has gone out from me (Luke 8:46). We have learned how great the good things are which the uplifted hand of the Lord bestows; let us ask why the five cities of Egypt speak not the Hebrew tongue but the Canaanite tongue. To this we shall try to answer thus. Hebrew sounds περάτην, that is, one who passes over, who passes from place to place. Therefore we too, though we be saints, as long as we are in Egypt and live in the darkness of this world, cannot speak the Hebrew tongue, but the Canaanite tongue, which is midway between the Egyptian and the Hebrew, and for the most part borders on the Hebrew. Canaan means as it were a moving, or as it were answering. When, therefore, we withdraw from Egypt and wish to go out from the power of Pharaoh, so that our land and our confession are fearsome to Egypt, then we are moved and as it were answer to the will of the Lord; and yet, because we are still in the present world, we cannot yet speak the Hebrew tongue. And what follows, five cities swear by the Lord of hosts, signifies that even while placed here we call to mind not demons but almighty God. Of these five cities, the names of the other four being passed over in silence, one is called the city of the sun, which seems to me to refer to sight. For as a city needs the sun and the moon in order to be seen, so we need the sun of righteousness in order that our eyes may be enlightened.

In that day. Here the consequence or the consolation is set out, namely their conversion. And first, the threefold sign of their conversion; the first of which is an oath: swearing, below: he shall swear by God, amen: because the former distresses are forgotten (Isa 65:16); the city of the sun, Heliopolis, the language of Chanaan, which is close to the language of the Jews, so that even in language they will agree with the people of God; for some Syrians, who kept their own language, were transplanted in these cities by Nabuchodonosor.

The prophet Isaiah says this about Egypt: "In that day there will be an altar of the Lord in the land of the Egyptians and an inscription to the Lord at its border. It will be a sign forever to the Lord in the land of the Egyptians, for they will cry to the Lord against their assailants, and the Lord will send them a savior who will be determined to save them. And the Lord will be known to the Egyptians, and they will fear the Lord in that day and make sacrifices to him and promise vows to him and fulfill them. And the Lord will strike the Egyptians with plagues and heal them by his mercy, and they will turn to the Lord, and he will listen to them and heal them." What do they [i.e., members of the Donatist sect] say to this? Why do they not share with the church what was foretold of the Egyptians? Or, if Egypt signifies the world by prophetic prefiguration, why are they not in communion with the church of the world? Consequently, they search the Scriptures and, against so many sure and clear witnesses through which the church of Christ is shown to be diffused throughout the entire world, they offer just one witness in an attempt to demonstrate that the church of Christ perished from all other peoples and remained only in Africa, as though from another beginning, not from Jerusalem but from Carthage, where they first elevated one bishop against another.

[Daniel 11:13-14] "And the king of the North shall return and shall prepare a much greater multitude than before, and in the end of times and years he shall come in haste with a large army and great resources. And in those times many shall rise up against the king of the South." This indicates that Antiochus the Great, who despised the worthlessness of Ptolemy Philopator (for he had fallen desperately in love with a lute-player named Agathoclea and also her brother, retaining Agatho-cles himself as his concubine and afterwards appointing him as general of Egypt), assembled a huge army from the upper regions of Babylon. And since Ptolemy Philopator was now dead, Antiochus broke his treaty and set his army in motion against Philopator's four-year-old son, who was called Epiphanes. For so great was the dissoluteness and arrogancy of Agathoclea, that those provinces which had previously been subjected to Egypt rose up in rebellion, and even Egypt itself was troubled with seditions. Moreover Philip, King of Macedon, and Antiochus the Great made peace with each other and engaged in a common struggle against Agathocles and Ptolemy Eprphanes, on the understanding that each of them should annex to his own dominion those cities of Ptolemy which lay nearest to them. And so this is what is referred to in this passage, which says that many shall rise up against the king of the South, that is, Ptolemy Epiphanes, who was then a mere child.

"Moreover the children of the transgressors of thy people shall lift themselves up, that they may fulfil the vision, and then fall to ruin (Vulgate: and they shall fall to ruin)." During the conflict between Antiochus the Great and the generals of Ptolemy, Judaea, which lay between them, was rent into contrary factions, the one group favoring Antiochus, and the other favoring Ptolemy. Finally the high priest, Onias, fled to Egypt, taking a large number of Jews along with him, and was given by Ptolemy an honorable reception. He then received the region known as Heliopolis, and by a grant of the king, he erected a temple in Egypt like the temple of the Jews, and it remained standing up until the reign of Vespasian, over a period of two hundred and fifty years. But then the city itself, which was known as the City of Onias, was destroyed to the very ground because of the war which the Jews had subsequently waged against the Romans. There is consequently no trace of either city or temple now remaining. But as we were saying, countless multitudes of Jews fled to Egypt on the occasion of Onias's pontificate, and the land was filled with a large number from Cyrene as well. For Onias affirmed that he was fulfilling the prophecy written by Isaiah: "There shall be an altar of the Lord in Egypt, and the name of the Lord shall be found in their territories" (Isaiah 19:19). And so this is the matter referred to in this passage: "The sons of the transgressors of thy people," who forsook the law of the Lord and wished to offer blood-sacrifices to God in another place than what He had commanded. They would be lifted up in pride and would boast that they were fulfilling the vision, that is, the thing which the Lord had enjoined. But they shall fall to ruin, for both temple and city shall be afterwards destroyed. And while Antiochus held Judaea, a leader of the Ptolemaic party called Scopas Aetholus was sent against Antiochus, and after a bold campaign he took Judaea and took the aristocrats of Ptolemy's party back to Egypt with him on his return.

In that day there will be an altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and an inscription to the Lord at its border. And it will be for a sign and for a testimony to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. For they will cry to the Lord because of the oppressor, and he will send them a Savior and a defender to free them. And the Lord will be known by Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day, and will worship him with victims and gifts, and will vow vows to the Lord and pay them. From this place to the end of the Egyptian Vision, or Burden, both the Jews and our writers would have it understood of the coming of Christ; but they put off their hopes into the future, while we hold them as already accomplished. Take day for time: although Josephus maintains that these things were done under Onias, who, fleeing into Egypt with a very great crowd of Jews, built a temple and an altar, and with vain rashness tried to fulfill the prophecy of Christ. But one altar is spoken of in the way that there is one faith, and one baptism, and one Church. And an inscription to the Lord at its border: there is no doubt that this signifies the Gospel and the writings of the Apostles. For just as above, according to the tropological understanding, the land of Judah, fearful or festal to Egypt, is understood as the Old Testament, so too the inscription at the borders of Egypt is shown to be the history of the Gospels.

In that day there shall be an altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar of the Lord at its border. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. For they shall cry to the Lord because of the oppressor, and he shall send them a Savior and a defender to deliver them; and the Lord shall be known by Egypt. In sequence to what he had said above, In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the Canaanite tongue, and swearing by the Lord of hosts, there now follows: There shall be an altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, which Onias, according to Josephus (Antiquities, book 13, ch. 6), misunderstanding it, tried to fulfil. And the title of the Lord containing his passion, on which was written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin letters, Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews (John 19), for a sign of the Cross, and for a witness to all the nations, which are now called Egypt. And when persecution has grown at the hands of those who afflict the Christian name, then they shall cry in their hearts: Abba, Father (Rom 8). And the Lord of hosts shall send a Savior, that is, Jesus, and a Judge, or defender, to deliver them, so that, delivered, they may know the Lord, and themselves be known by the Lord; and where sin abounded, grace may abound the more (Rom 5). Now one altar of Egypt, that is, of this world, is spoken of, so that we may know that all the altars which are raised up against the altar of the Church are not the Lord's. In the book of the Historical Explanation we said that, up to the end of the vision of Egypt, since the prophecy was manifest, all things are to be referred to Christ.

The second sign is a sacred building: an altar of the Lord; and a monument, for they worshipped many gods, as it says in Acts 17. Some say that this was fulfilled in the time of the Maccabees, when many Jews were fleeing into Egypt, and Onias, wishing to fulfill this prophecy, built an altar against the precept of the law. Which is against Deuteronomy 12: you shall not build an altar to me; and which is denounced in Daniel 11:14, and the children of prevaricators of your people shall lift up themselves to fulfill the vision, and they shall fall; hence it is clear that this can only be understood of the building of altars for Christian worship.

He said, I do not have a man; that is, because through a man is death, and through a man is the resurrection of the dead. He could not descend, he could not be saved, who did not believe that our Lord Jesus had taken flesh from the Virgin. But this one who was waiting for the mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, expecting him of whom it was said: And the Lord will send a man to save them; he said: I do not have a man; and therefore he deserved to come to health, because he believed in the one who was coming.

Next he adds: And it will be for a sign and for a testimony, namely of the Lord's passion. Then those who have believed, when Egyptians rush against Egyptians, and a man fights against his brother, and city battles against city, when the time of persecution has broken upon them, will implore the mercy of the Lord, and at once the Savior will come, that is, Jesus, for that is what it means in our language.

He was called "Christ" from the anointing. Then, that the same one was a human being Jeremiah shows, saying, "And he is man, and who has known him?" And Isaiah, "And the Lord shall send them a man, who shall save them, and judging them he will heal them."

That he was both God and man was declared before by the prophets. That he was God, Isaiah thus declares, "They shall fall down before you, they shall make supplication to you, since God is in you, and we knew it not, even the God of Israel. They shall be ashamed and confounded, all of them who oppose themselves to you, and shall go unto confusion." … Likewise that he was man … Isaiah also thus speaks, "and the Lord shall send them a man who shall save them, and with judgment shall he heal them."

The third sign is that they call on the help of God, they shall cry to the Lord; a Savior, Jesus: he shall cry to me, and I will hear him (Ps 90[91]:15).

And the Lord will be known by the Egyptians, and they will know him, whether the persecutors who have been overcome, or the believers set free by his present help. And they will worship him with victims and gifts, and will vow vows to the Lord and pay them. Let the Jews answer: It is commanded in the Law that no altar be made except in the one place which the Lord God has chosen, and that victims be sacrificed only by priests of the Levitical race (Deut 26). Behold, Isaiah teaches openly that the Egyptians know the Lord and worship him, and offer victims and gifts, and vow vows and pay them. If the Egyptians have a priesthood, the testimony of Paul is fulfilled in them as well, who says: When the priesthood is changed, there must of necessity be a change of the law (Heb 7:12).

And the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall worship him with sacrifices and gifts, and they shall vow vows to the Lord and pay them. And the Lord shall strike Egypt with a plague, and shall heal it; and they shall return to the Lord, and he shall be appeased toward them, and shall heal them. After the Egyptians have come to know the Lord, they shall worship him with spiritual sacrifices and gifts; and they shall vow vows to the Lord and pay them, and shall say with David: A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit (Ps 50 [51]:19), and: The lifting up of my hands is an evening sacrifice (Ps 140 [141]:2); when, believing in the Nazarene, they themselves have become Nazirites, drinking neither wine nor strong drink (John 19), nor the vinegar which was offered to the Lord to drink, nor whatever is made from the grape of Sodom. And when they have paid their vows with Abel, and God has had regard to them, the elder brother Cain, that is, the people of the Circumcision, will envy, and will shed Christian blood, which shall cry out to the Lord (Gen 4); and therefore he shall go out from the face of God, saying of the Savior: Crucify, crucify him (Luke 23:21), and: We have no king but Caesar (John 19:15). He who is holy in body and spirit offers a vow and pays it to the Lord. Zacchaeus too offered a vow, who promised half of his substance to the poor (Luke 19).

Second, he sets out the manner of their conversion. And first, as to the undertaking of faith: and the Lord shall be known: all shall know me from the least of them even to the greatest, says the Lord (Jer 31:34); second, as to the offering of sacrifices and vows: and they shall worship: in every place there is offered to my name a clean oblation (Mal 1:11).

And the Lord will strike Egypt with a blow, and will heal it: and they will turn to the Lord, and he will be appeased toward them, and will heal them. For whom the Lord loves he rebukes, and he chastises every son whom he receives. Persecution serves not for the denial of believers, but for their proving and their crown.

It is asked: if a savior and defender was sent to the Egyptians to deliver them from their straits, how is it now said, The Lord shall strike Egypt with a plague? But let us consider what follows: And he shall heal it. For whom the Lord loves he chastens (Heb 12). And the Savior himself in Psalm 68 (69) says to the Father: For they have persecuted him whom you struck, and they have added to the pain of my wounds (Ps 68 [69]:27). If, then, he did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us, that by his bruise and wounds we might be healed (Rom 8), the Lord delivered up the martyrs too to suffering, but he will heal them again in the resurrection, so that by their wounds the faith of believers may be confirmed. Hence it is said also to Job: Do you think that I spoke to you otherwise than that you might appear righteous? For he himself causes pain and restores to former health; and he visits his servants with the rod, so as not to take away his mercy from them. Hence the daughters and daughters-in-law who have sinned greatly, and have spread their feet to everyone who passed by, are not visited or chastened, for the Lord says: I will not visit your daughters when they commit fornication, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery (Hos 4:14). The Lord, then, strikes the Egyptians, not with fire, not with the sword, but with the rod. For what son is there whom his father does not train? So that, after they have been healed, they may return to the Lord, and he may be appeased toward them, and heal them once more. For we always need the mercy of God, and there is no end to his clemency.

Third, as to the remission of sins: and the Lord shall strike, first, through many punishments, and shall heal from sin: he wounds, and cures: he strikes, and his hands shall heal (Job 5:18).

In that day there will be a road from Egypt to the Assyrians, and the Assyrian will enter Egypt, and the Egyptian the Assyrians: and the Egyptians will serve Assyria. Before the coming of Christ each nation had its own king, and no one could go from one nation to another; but in the Roman empire all things have been made one. Let the learned reader turn over the ancient histories, and he will find that the whole region from the Euphrates to the Tigris, and all between, belonged to the Assyrians. Those, therefore, whom the ancients called Assyrians we now call Syrians, naming the whole from the part. And when it is said: The Egyptians will serve the Syrians, it is to be taken either thus: that Roman legions furnished with Syrian soldiers guard Egypt; or that the two nations trade with each other, and the cities of Syria receive the abundance of Egypt, just as, conversely, Egypt is watered with the goods of Palestine and Phoenicia. Some of our writers wrongly refer these things to the thousand years, and in the Jewish manner declare that they will come to pass at the consummation of the world, when the Antichrist, coming from the Assyrians, has taken possession of Egypt and Ethiopia.

In that day there shall be a way from Egypt to the Assyrians, and the Assyrian shall enter into Egypt, and the Egyptian into the Assyrians; and the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrians. As we have shown that the other things which go before befell the Egyptians in a good sense, namely, five cities in their land speaking the Canaanite tongue and swearing by the Lord, and the altar of the Lord set in the midst of the land of Egypt, and the pillar, and the witness, and the sign, and the savior who should deliver them; and that the Lord should be known by the Egyptians, and they themselves should know him; and that they should offer sacrifices and gifts, and pay their vows, and, being struck, be healed, and return to the Lord, and he be appeased toward them, and they be healed again: so this too which follows, that the Egyptians serve the Assyrians, is to be taken in a good sense. For the Apostle too serves believers, that he may gain them (1 Cor 9). And Esau is made subject to his brother Jacob (Gen 33), that he may become a sharer in his blessings. Therefore those from the nations who are saved first, and have the altar of the Lord within them, will by their service save those who persist in hardness; and by mingling and fellowship with them they will themselves go to the Assyrians, in order to lead the Assyrians to Egypt, and so that afterwards they may be able to reach the people of Israel. For this reason, I think, the believing wife too serves the unbelieving husband, so that little by little she may draw him from Egypt and from the Assyrians to Judea.

Third, he sets out the threefold effect of their conversion, namely, peace: in that day there shall be a way, which could not exist before because of the various kingdoms, which, when the Lord was born, were joined under the Romans; they shall serve, each other in trade; or because Syrian soldiers were in the Roman legions that guarded Egypt, above: nation shall not lift up sword against nation (Isa 2:4).

In that day Israel will be the third with the Egyptian and the Assyrian, a blessing in the midst of the earth, which the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying: Blessed is my people of Egypt, and the work of my hands to the Assyrian: but my inheritance is Israel. By no means will Israel be crushed in the middle between Egypt and the Assyrian, now with the Antiochi and Demetrii dragging the kingdom of Judah to themselves, now with the Ptolemies claiming its possession for themselves; but it too, established under the Roman empire, and through this under the empire of Christ, will be of the same condition as Egypt and the Assyrians, and will be blessed in all the earth. For out of Zion will go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

In that day Israel shall be the third to the Egyptian and the Assyrian, a blessing in the midst of the earth, which the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying: Blessed is my people of Egypt, and the work of my hands the Assyrian; but my inheritance is Israel. Israel shall be the third in Egypt and among the Assyrians, that he may mingle the whole lump with the leaven of his blessing, and that those who formerly were at hostile variance with one another may be joined together by this clasp of blessing; and that Egypt may be the people of God, and the Assyrian the work of his hands, but Israel his inheritance. The Egyptian is blessed by the Lord, because he is blessed through fellowship with Israel. And the Assyrian is the work of his hands, because in him he has shown his clemency. But Israel alone can say: The Lord is my portion (Lam 3:24), he who beholds God with the mind, and is called his inheritance.

Second, he promises the second effect, the truth of faith: in that day shall Israel be the third to the Egyptian and the Assyrian, at the same time and equally serving the Romans, and in unity of faith: there shall be one fold and one shepherd (John 10:16); there is no distinction of the Jew and the Greek (Rom 10:12).

Then it will be said by the Lord: Blessed is my people of Egypt: when, led not by Moses but by Christ the Lord, countless thousands of men have filled the deserts and, with Pharaoh drowned, have said in the desert: Let us sing to the Lord, for he has been gloriously magnified: horse and rider he has cast into the sea (Exod 15:1). Then also the work of the hands of the Lord will be among the Assyrians; for these nations above all, Egypt and Mesopotamia, flourish with swarms of monks, and vie with one another in equal piety. And the inheritance of Christ is Israel, that is, the places of his nativity, and of his cross, and of his resurrection and ascension, to which men flock from the whole world.

Third, he sets out the third effect, namely, divine blessing: it, namely, Israel, shall be a blessing, for, through the apostles, the whole world received the blessing of God; Israel is my inheritance, for it was there that he was born and fulfilled the mysteries of our salvation: he has blessed the house of Israel (Ps 113:20[115:12]).