Isaiah 25

The "wonders" of Isaiah were the promises to the Gentiles, and not to Israel, of anointing with sweet-smelling oil and myrrh. They naturally received the name of Christian from this anointing. In addition he promises the "wine of joy" to the Gentiles, using a shadow to allude to the sacrament of the new covenant of Christ, which is now openly celebrated among the Gentiles.

But others, both better and more correctly, understand it as said in the person of the prophet, giving thanks to the Father for the passion of the Lord Savior, because he has done wonders and has fulfilled his ancient designs in truth, when those standing at the right hand will hear: Come, blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matt 25:34). Understanding this, Paul too said: As he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and spotless (Eph 1:4); and, desiring that what he prophesies should come to pass, he adds the Hebrew word AMEN (אמן), for which the Seventy translated so be it. And the Lord in the Gospel often uses this word: Amen, amen, that is, truly, truly I say to you (John 6:54).

O Lord, you are my God: I will exalt you, I will confess to your name, for you have done wonders, ancient faithful designs: amen. For you have made the city a heap, the strong city a ruin, the house of strangers, so that it is no city, and will never be built for ever. Because of this a strong people will praise you, the city of mighty nations will fear you. For you have become strength to the poor, strength to the needy in his tribulation, a hope from the whirlwind, a shade from the heat: for the spirit of the mighty is like a whirlwind driving against a wall. Like heat in thirst, you will bring low the tumult of strangers; and as with scorching heat under a cloud, you will make the offshoot of the strong wither. LXX: O Lord my God, I will glorify you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, an ancient true counsel, so be it. For you have made cities a heap, strong cities, that their foundations might fall. The cities of the impious will not be built for ever. Therefore the people of the poor will bless you, and the cities of men who suffer iniquity will bless you. For you have been a helper to every lowly city, and a protection to those who are sad because of want; you will deliver them from most wicked men: a shade of the thirsty, and the spirit of men who suffer iniquity, like faint-hearted men thirsting in Zion, from the impious men to whom you have delivered us. The exposition of this place is twofold. The Jews think it is the voice of the saints and of the believing people, when God has done against the whole world the things said above, and the prophecies of all the prophets have been fulfilled; and the overthrown city they interpret as Rome, which is to be utterly destroyed; and the strong people, which praises the Lord, and to which the Lord has become strength in its tribulation and distress, they refer to Israel, which has been freed from the persecution of the nations as from most burning heat and thirst.

584. O Lord, you are my God. Here thanksgiving is set out;

and first, for the exaltation of the people;

second, for their justification: in that day (ch. 26);

third, for paternal correction: in that day (ch. 27).

The first of these is divided into two parts.

In the first, the thanksgiving is set out: I will exalt you, I will proclaim you loudly before others, and confess your name, giving thanks within myself: I will confess you, O Lord, in my whole heart (Ps 9:2[1]).

585. Second, the matter of the thanksgiving is set out: for you have done.

And first, in general, as to the greatness of his deeds: wonderful things: who doth great things, and unsearchable things (Job 5:9); as to his fulfillment of promises: faithful: reward them that patiently wait for you, that your prophets may be found faithful (Sir 36:18[21]); amen, that is, truly.

592. Note on the words, confess your name (Isa 25:1), that confession is manifold:

first, of humility: confess therefore your sins one to another (Jas 5:16);

second, of truth: with the heart, we believe unto justice: but, with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation (Rom 10:10);

third, of praise: confess to the Lord on the harp (Ps 32[33]:2);

fourth, of thanksgiving, above: I will confess to you, O Lord, for you were angry with me: your wrath is turned away, and you have comforted me (Isa 12:1).

593. Note also on the word, amen (Isa 25:1), that amen is Hebrew, and when it is used as a verb, it means "so be it," and all the people shall say: amen (Deut 27:15); when it is used as an adverb, it means "truly," amen, amen, I say to you (John 6:26); when it is used as a noun, it means "truth," these things says the amen (Rev 3:14). When it is Greek, it means "without defect," from a, which means "without," and men, which means "defect": who is God blessed for ever. Amen (Rom 9:5).

And why he praises and confesses to the name of the Lord, and what these wonders are, and the ancient designs which he showed true in deed, follows: For you have made the city a heap, the strong city a ruin, the house of strangers, so that it is no city, and will never be built for ever. The once strong city is understood as Jerusalem, which has become the house of strangers; of whom the Savior says in the psalm: Strange children have lied to me, strange children have grown old and have limped in their paths (Ps 17 [18]:46). This city, when it has been destroyed, will never be built for ever, so that the dreams of a thousand-year kingdom and of a golden and jeweled Jerusalem may be laid to rest.

Second, in particular: for you have reduced;

and first, works which pertain to the suppression of the wicked;

second, which pertain to the exaltation of the good: and the Lord of hosts shall make (Isa 25:6).

586. Concerning the first, he does three things:

first, he threatens the scourge of punishment;

second, he sets out the fruit of punishment: therefore shall a strong people praise you (Isa 25:3);

third, the manner of punishment, where it says, as heat in thirst (Isa 25:5).

Therefore, he first says, you have reduced the city, Jerusalem, to a heap; the house of strangers, to God, namely, the Jews; to be no more built up for ever, for it was not afterwards built in the same place, above: behold Damascus shall cease to be a city (Isa 17:1); Zion shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a heap of stones (Mic 3:12); you are brought to nothing (Ezek 27:36). Or, this refers to Babylon, or some other city of the gentiles who were opposed to them.

Israel was called to the knowledge of God through the tutoring of the law and was richly endowed with the things of God. It was delivered [from Egypt] and inherited the Promised Land. Although there were many other peoples living in other parts of the world, all were alien to spiritual matters and heavenly things. They had not tasted the gifts that come from God. They were, as it were, naked and unclothed, enjoying neither divine protection nor shelter from on high, nor the spiritual wealth that comes from virtue nor other things worthy of praise or admiration.When Christ appeared, destroying the arrogance of the devil, he led the nations to God the Father, and they basked in the splendor of the true light and shared in his glory. Enjoying the splendor of the way of life according to the gospel, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to the God and Father for these gifts. Thus the text says, you have carried out a "faithful plan formed of old," O Lord, recapitulating all things in Christ and enlightening those in darkness, destroying the mighty powers of this age. That is, like "fortified cities the impoverished people will bless you" and whole cities will "glorify you." Having become a "help to all" and "protection" to those whose ancestral traditions were impoverished, you have saved them from wicked people.

And when Jerusalem has been destroyed for its impiety, a strong people will praise the Lord. And who the strong people is, the following verse shows: The city of mighty nations will fear you. While those blaspheme, the people of the nations will fear you. For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 9:10). And a strong people will praise you, and the city of mighty nations will fear you, that is, the Church gathered from the nations.

587. Therefore shall a strong people praise you. Here he sets out the fruit of punishment in the subjection of men to God.

And first, he sets out two signs of subjection:

praise, a strong people shall praise you, strong, as much as they are subject to you, or a gentile people strong in passions;

fear, every city shall fear you, below: the strength of the Gentiles shall come to you (Isa 60:5).

For you have become strength to the poor, to your Christ, of whom we read also in the Psalms: Blessed is he who understands concerning the needy and the poor (Ps 40 [41]:1). And in Zechariah, according to the Hebrew truth, the poor man, that is, EBION (אביון), is described as sitting upon the colt of an ass (Zech 9). Strength to the needy, in the tribulation of his passion, a hope from the whirlwind of the cross, and a shade from the heat, when he said: Father, into your hands I commend my spirit (Luke 23:46). For as when the wind is dashed against a wall and passes by, so the whirlwind of the blaspheming Jews could not harm him.

Second, he assigns the reason,

which he sets out first: because you have been a strength to the poor, who has little, even if it is sufficient for him, to the needy, who is in need: the Lord is my refuge: and my God the help of my hope (Ps 93[94]:22).

Second, he sets out a similitude: a hope, of defense, from the whirlwind, because of the violence of the persecutor; a shadow, of consolation, from the heat, because of the affliction of persecution, below: a man shall be as when one is hid from the wind, and hides himself from a storm (Isa 32:2).

Third, he sets out the explanation: the spirit, that is, the indignation and pride, above: as whirlwinds come from Africa, it comes from the desert from a terrible land (Isa 21:1).

Perhaps this is what the prophet is referring to, that is, those in Israel who were thirsting for the coming of the Savior. They desired to see the Savior and Redeemer of all. One such person was the righteous Simeon. When he took the infant Jesus in his arms, he said, "Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for mine eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel."

And to use another comparison: as an offshoot is scorched by most grievous heat and droops, so you will make the tumult and clamor of the strangers, that is, of those who have become strangers to you, wither and perish. According to the Seventy translators, I could not find in this place, I do not say the sense, but the order and sequence of the words. And for that place where we have translated, like heat in thirst, for which in the Hebrew is written BASAION (בציון), which among them means pathless place or thirst: why they turned pathless place and in thirst into in Zion, the error is plain, from the likeness of the words SAION and SION (Both ציון), since it is marked with the same letters.

588. As heat in thirst. Here he sets out the manner of punishment as to affliction: as heat in thirst, afflicts, the tumult, the proud clamor, of strangers; as to barrenness: and as with heat under a burning cloud, united by the south wind, by which fruit of the vine is sometimes destroyed because of its excessive heat: for the sun rose with a burning heat and parched the grass: and the flower thereof fell off (Jas 1:11).

Having said that the Lord will reign in Zion and Jerusalem, Isaiah leads us to the mystical meaning of the passage. Thus Zion is interpreted as a high place that is good for surveillance, and Jerusalem is the vision of the world. In fact, the church of Christ combines both: it is high and visible from everywhere, and is, so to speak, located on the mountain. The church may be understood as high also in another way: there is nothing low in it, it is far removed from all the mundane things, as it is written, "I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" Equally elevated are its orthodox and divine doctrines; thus the doctrine about God or about the holy and consubstantial Trinity is true, pure and without guile. "The Lord of hosts will make for all people," not just for the Israelites elected for the sake of their patriarchs but for all the people of the world. What will he make? "A feast of wines on the lees; they will drink joy, they will drink wine. They will be anointed with myrrh on the mountain." This joy, of course, means the joy of hope, of the hope rooted in Christ, because we will reign with him, and with him we will enjoy every spiritual joy and pleasure that surpasses mind and understanding. By "wine" he points to the mystical sacrament, that of the bloodless sacrifice, which we celebrate in the holy churches.

Having been counted worthy of this holy chrism, you are called Christians, verifying the name also by your new birth. For before you were deemed worthy of this grace, you had properly no right to this title but were advancing on your way toward being Christians.Moreover, you shall know that in the old Scripture there lies the symbol of this chrism. For at the time Moses imparted to his brother the command of God and made him high priest, he anointed him after bathing him in water. And Aaron was called Christ or anointed, evidently from the typical anointing. So also the high priest, in advancing Solomon to the kingdom, anointed him after he had bathed in Gihon. To them, however, these things happened in a figure, but to you not in a figure but in truth; because you were truly anointed by the Holy Spirit. Christ is the beginning of your salvation. He is truly the first fruit, and you are what follow. If the first fruit is holy, obviously its holiness will pass to the remainder also. Keep this teaching unspotted, for it shall teach you all things, if it abide in you.… For this holy thing is a spiritual safeguard of the body and salvation of the soul. Of this the blessed Isaiah prophesying of old time said, "On this mountain shall the Lord make for all nations a feast; they shall drink wine, they shall drink gladness, they shall anoint themselves with ointment."

After the passion of the Lord, then, when he has freed him from thirst and heat and whirlwind, the Lord will make, not at all for the people of the Jews, but for all nations, on Mount Zion a fat feast, burnt offerings full of marrow, and the wine of a vintage refined from the lees, so that he may cast down and cause to be swallowed up the face of death and of the bond by which all peoples were bound; and he will break the net of death, and the web that had caught all nations. And according to the Apostle, death will be swallowed up for ever (1 Cor 15). And the Lord will take away the tear from every face, when, death being overcome, the kingdom of Christ has come, and the reproach of the human race, which had been made to the image of the Creator, has escaped the slavery of the devil and of death. Nor is it surprising if according to Symmachus death is called a ruler, since the blessed Apostle said: Death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned, in the likeness of the transgression of Adam (Rom 5:14). The Ruler of all peoples, or the face of darkness upon all peoples, and the web that was woven over all nations, some wish to be understood as the Antichrist, who is to be consumed on the Mount of Olives, as we also said on the last vision of Daniel. According to the Seventy, a feast of gladness is prepared for all nations on Mount Zion, in which they will drink the wine which the Lord promised that he would drink with his saints in the kingdom of his Father (Matt 26 and Luke 22); and they will be anointed with ointment, so that, reborn in Christ, they may be made a new people; whence it is said: Deliver all these things to the nations, which Israel once celebrated in type and image. For this is the counsel of the Lord, that all things should be transferred to the nations, because death has been swallowed up (1 Cor 15), and every tear wiped away, and the reproach of the whole earth blotted out, as the rule of Christ succeeds.

They will not hunger because they will feed upon living bread, for he said, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven." Neither will they thirst, because they will drink from a cup so splendid as to enact in them the truth he spoke: "Whoever believes in me will never thirst"; and again: "Whoever drinks from the water I give him will receive in himself a fountain of water springing up to eternal life." Neither will the sun strike them, nor will they be burned by the deadly fire of its heat. God made a similar promise to his church through Isaiah, saying that he would be "a shelter from the storm, a shade from the heat." Here he declares the purity of his sacraments to thrive in his own and that none of them will be oppressed by the heat of temptation. "For the Lamb in the midst of the throne governs them." Previously it had said that the Lamb seated on the throne received the scroll, but now it says that the Lamb in the midst of the throne governs them. It does so to teach that there is one throne for the Father and for the Son, since the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father, that is, in the midst of the church, which the one, whole, triune God inhabits through faith.

589. And the Lord of hosts shall make. Here he sets out those things that pertain to the exaltation of the good, and this is threefold.

First, as to abundance of honor, which he describes under a metaphor of a feast which is prepared from fat animals and clarified wine; in this mountain, for it was there that Christ suffered, from which all good things come forth to us, or because it is there that he will judge, as it says in Matthew 22:4: behold, I have prepared my dinner: my beeves and fatlings are killed.

594. Note on the words, a feast of fat things (Isa 25:6), that the feast is threefold.

First, the family feast of the Church militant, in which he sets out three things:

first, the bitterness of suffering: you shall eat it with wild lettuce (Exod 12:8); as often as you shall eat this bread and drink the chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord, until he come (1 Cor 11:26);

second, the sweetness of love: you gave them bread from heaven, bread from heaven, prepared without labor; having in it all that is delicious, and the sweetness of every taste (Wis 16:20);

third, fatness, as to its effect: you have fattened my head with oil (Ps 22[23]:5).

595. Second is the private feast of the soul, in which he sets out three things:

first, the wine of love: your breasts are better than wine (Song 1:1);

second, the honey of contemplation: how sweet are your words to my palate! More than honey to my mouth (Ps 118[119]:103);

third, the milk of purification unto growth toward perfection: endowed with reason, desire the milk without guile (1 Pet 2:2).

596. Third is the solemn feast of the heavenly court, in which he sets out three things:

first, wine unto drunkenness: eat, O friends, and drink, and be inebriated, my dearly beloved (Song 5:1);

second, honey unto satiety: I shall be satisfied when your glory shall appear (Ps 16[17]:15);

third, milk unto perfection of body and soul: your eyes as doves upon brooks of waters, which are washed with milk (Song 5:12).

Moreover, this same Isaiah foretells that while those who were engaged in the study of the law from childhood to old age did not believe, to the Gentiles every mystery should be transferred. His words are, "And the Lord of hosts shall make a feast on this mountain for all nations." … This was the counsel of the Almighty respecting all the nations.

And the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples on this mountain a feast of fat things, a feast of the vintage: of fat things full of marrow, of a vintage refined from the lees. And he will cast down on this mountain the face of the bond that was bound upon all peoples, and the web that he wove over all nations. And he will cast down death for ever, and the Lord God will take away the tear from every face, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth: for the Lord has spoken. LXX: And the Lord Sabaoth will make for all nations upon this mountain: they will drink gladness, they will drink wine. They will be anointed with ointment on this mountain. Deliver all these things to the nations, for this counsel is upon all nations: death, prevailing, has devoured. And again: The Lord God has taken away every tear from every face, and the reproach of his people he has taken away from all the earth. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. For what we have rendered, the face of the bond that was bound upon all peoples, Aquila translated, the face of darkness upon all peoples. And whereas Aquila said darkness twice, Theodotion named darkness once, the rest alike. For this Symmachus translated, the face of the Ruler who rules over all peoples. And what the Seventy meant to say for this place, Deliver all these things to the nations, is plain to the reader: that they set down not the words of Scripture but their own sense, because all the mysteries of the Law and of the Temple were to be transferred to the Churches of the nations.

590. Second, as to the removal of evils: and he shall destroy, as to the punishment of death, which he calls a bond, inasmuch as we are bound to it from sin, and a web inasmuch as it is a just sentence woven by God: death is swallowed up in victory (1 Cor 15:54); O death, I will be your death; O hell, I will be your bite (Hos 13:14). The sadness of sorrow: and the Lord God shall wipe away tears from every face: God shall wipe away all tears from the eyes of the saints (Rev 21:4); the ignominy of confusion, and the reproach, above: take away our reproach (Isa 4:1). Some refer this to the judgment carried out in the death of Holofernes, who came against all nations; and similarly concerning the feast.

But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. [Isaiah 25:8] O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

In the Old Testament the jaw of death is bitter, since it is said, "Strong death is all devouring." In the New Testament the jaw of death is sweet, for it has swallowed death, as the apostle says: "Death is swallowed up in victory! O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"

Stricken by the indecency of this act [the golden calf], Moses broke the tablets and shattered the head of the calf and beat it to powder in order to destroy all traces of impiety. The first tablets were broken so that the second ones might be repaired whereon, through the teaching of the gospel, faithlessness, now utterly destroyed, vanished. Thus Moses shattered that Egyptian pride and by the authority of the eternal law checked that loftiness overreaching itself. Therefore David says, "And the Lord will break the cedars of Lebanon, and shatter them like the calf of Lebanon. Thus the people swallowed all faithlessness and pride, so that impiety and haughtiness might not swallow them. For it is better that each person be master of his flesh and its vices, that it may not be said of him that all-powerful death has devoured him, but rather, "death is swallowed up in victory!"

The apostle said, "With the mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin," not by giving my members over to committing iniquities but only by feeling lust, without however giving a hand to unlawful lust. So when he said, "With the mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin," he went on to add, "There is therefore no condemnation now for those who are in Christ Jesus." For those who are in the flesh there is condemnation; for those who are in Christ Jesus no condemnation. In case you should assume this is going to be the case after becoming a Christian, that is why he added "now."What you must look forward to afterward is not even to have any lust in you which you have to contend with, which you have to combat, which you must not consent to, which you have to curb and tame; look forward to its simply not being there afterward. I mean to say, if what is now contending with us from its base in this mortal body is going to be there afterward, the taunt "Where, death, is your striving?" will be untrue. So let us be quite clear about what it is going to be like afterward. Then, you see, will come about the word that is written: "Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, death, is your striving? Where, death, is your sting? For the sting of death is sin; but the power of sin, the law." Because desire was increased, not extinguished, by being forbidden. The law gave sin power by simply commanding through the letter without assisting through the spirit.

For eternal rest lies before those who have struggled through the present life observant of the laws, a rest not given in payment for a debt owed for their works but provided as a grace of the munificent God for those who have hoped in him. Then, before he describes the good things there, telling in detail the escape from the troubles of the world, he gives thanks for them to the liberator of souls, who has delivered him from the varied and inexorable slavery of the passions. But what are these good things?"For he has delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from falling." God describes the future rest by a comparison with things here. Here, he says, the sorrows of death have compassed me, but there he has delivered my soul from death. Here the eyes pour forth tears because of trouble, but there, no longer is there a tear to darken the eyes of those who are rejoicing in the contemplation of the beauty of the glory of God. "For God has wiped away every tear from every face."

It is appropriate and necessary that at the time the "mystery" is handed over, the "resurrection of the dead" is included. For at the time we make the confession of faith at holy baptism, we say that we expect the resurrection of the flesh. And so we believe. Death overcame our forefather Adam on account of his transgression and like a fierce wild animal it pounced on him and carried him off amid lamentation and loud wailing. Men wept and grieved because death ruled over all the earth. But all this came to an end with Christ. Striking down death, he rose up on the third day and became the way by which human nature would rid itself of corruption. He became the first born of the dead, and the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.We who come afterward will certainly follow the first fruits. He turned suffering into joy, and we cast off our sackcloth. We put on the joy given by God so that we can rejoice and say, "Where is your victory O death?" Therefore every tear is taken away. For believing that Christ will surely raise the dead, we do not weep over them, nor are we overwhelmed by inconsolable grief like those who have no hope. Death itself is a "reproach of the people" for it had its beginning among us through sin. Corruption entered in on account of sin, and death's power ruled on earth.

And since the holy Virgin brought forth as man God united personally to flesh, we say that she is the mother of God. [This is] not because the nature of the Word had a beginning of existence from the flesh, for "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"; he is the Creator of the ages, coeternal with the Father and Creator of all things. As we have stated before, having united humanity to himself personally he even endured birth in the flesh from the womb. He did not require because of his own nature as God a birth in time and in the last stages of the world. He was born in order that he might bless the very beginning of our existence and in order that, because a woman bore him when he was united to the flesh, the curse against the whole race might be stopped. The curse was sending our bodies from the earth to death, and by him abolishing the saying, "in pain shall you bring forth children," the words of the prophet might be shown to be true, "strong death has swallowed them up," and again "God has taken away every tear from every face."

Now the laws of love summoned him even as far as death and the dead themselves, so that he might summon the souls of those who were long time dead. And so because he cared for the salvation of all for ages past and that "he might bring to nothing him that has the power of death," as Scripture teaches, here again he underwent the dispensation in his mingled natures: as man, he left his body to the usual burial, while as God he departed from it. For he cried with a loud cry, and said to the Father, "I commend my spirit," and departed from the body free, in no way waiting for death, who was lagging as it were in fear to come to him. No, rather, he pursued him from behind and drove him on, trodden under his feet and fleeing, and he burst the eternal gates of his dark realms and made a road of return back again to life for the dead there bound with the bonds of death. Thus too, his own body was raised up, and many bodies of the sleeping saints arose and came together with him into the holy and real city of heaven, as rightly is said by the holy words: "Death has prevailed and swallowed people up; but again the Lord God has taken away every tear from every face." And the Savior of the universe, our Lord, the Christ of God, called Victor, is represented in the prophetic predictions as reviling death and releasing the souls that are bound there, by whom he raises the hymn of victory.

You recognize the one who gives you joy to drink and wine in addition, anointing those in spiritual Zion with myrrh. You recognize that he is true God and Son of God by nature, and although he appeared in the form of a servant, by becoming man he became the source of salvation and life for all, being in all things like those on earth though without sin. The prophet indicates that they are all but pointing [to Christ] with their finger when they say, "Behold our God in whom we have hoped, and we will rejoice in our salvation." I think that this text applies especially to the Israelites who were nurtured in the words of Moses and were not ignorant of the predictions of the holy prophets. They waited for the time of the coming of the Savior and Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, as I have already said, Zechariah the father of John [the Baptizer] when he prophesied in the Spirit said of Christ, "He has raised up a horn of salvation." And Simeon when he took the holy child in his arms said, "Behold, my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared before the face of all people." Recognize then what had been announced of old, the one who is the hope of all, the Savior and Redeemer, they said, according to Isaiah, "Behold our God."They confess that God will give rest on this mountain. And it seems to me that mountain here refers to the church, for it is there that one finds rest. For we heard the words of Christ: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

And they will say in that day: Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord, we have waited patiently for him; we will exult and be glad in his salvation. For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain; and Moab will be threshed under him as straw is crushed in the wagon. And he will stretch out his hands under him, as a swimmer stretches them out to swim, and his glory will be brought low with the dashing of his hands. And the fortifications of your lofty walls will fall, and will be brought low and pulled down to the ground, even to the dust. When death has been swallowed up for ever, the people of God which has been freed from the hand of death will say to the Lord: Behold, this is our God, whom the unbelieving thought only a man; and we have waited for him, that is, we have believed his words, that he will fulfill his promises, and he will save us. Therefore, snatched by his help from the jaws of death, we will exult and be glad in him; and his hand and his power will rest on this mountain, of which we read above: When the Lord of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and has been glorified in the sight of his elders (Isa 24:23). And Moab, which means from the father, will be crushed as straw is wont to be crushed by the wagon. He speaks according to the custom of Palestine and of many provinces of the East, which, for lack of meadows and hay, prepare straw for the feeding of animals. Now there are iron-shod carts, with wheels turning in the middle in the manner of saws, which crush the stubble and break it up into straw. As, then, straw is crushed by iron-shod wagons, so Moab will be crushed under him, whether under the power of God or in himself, so that nothing whole remains in him.

And he sets out the thanksgiving, and they shall say, we have endured for him, patiently waiting: you that fear the Lord, endure for his mercy (Sir 2:7). And he sets out the reason: for the hand of the Lord, with which nothing evil can exist: this is my rest for ever and ever (Ps 131[132]:14).

591. Third, as to the oppression of their enemies, namely, the Moabites, who were most hostile to them because of dreams.

And first, he sets out their affliction: threshed: they have threshed Galaad with iron wains (Amos 1:3).

So the prophetic discourse, although it weaves its prophecy generally about the consummation of the world, yet, so as not to seem to neglect present things entirely, names Moab, which was an enemy of Israel, so much so that it made them commit fornication with the Midianites and be consecrated to the idol Baal-peor, which means Priapus; against which Jeremiah speaks: Chemosh will go forth into captivity, his priests and his princes together (Jer 48:7); and again: Moab will be confounded in Chemosh, as the house of Israel was confounded in Bethel (ibid., 13), and other things like these. And from one idol and the demon who presided over this idol, he indicates that all the adverse powers are to be brought low and led down into Tartarus, and crushed like dust. But if this is how it will be, where is the repentance of the devil?

And as one who swims is wont to stretch out his whole body, so he will be dashed from his power to the ground, and in falling will make a noise.

591. Third, as to the oppression of their enemies, namely, the Moabites, who were most hostile to them because of dreams.

And first, he sets out their affliction: threshed: they have threshed Galaad with iron wains (Amos 1:3); second, their complete subjection: he shall stretch forth his hands, as though prostrate and seeking mercy or help, below: they shall come (49). And the destruction of their fortifications: and the bulwarks, which are mentioned above (Isa 16:7).

And all the fortifications of his lofty men, or of his walls, as is contained in the Hebrew, will fall and be brought low, and will be pulled down to the ground, broken to the dust.

And the destruction of their fortifications: and the bulwarks, which are mentioned above (Isa 16:7).