Isaiah 46

But Bel was also honored in other cities. For they say that Bel was the mythical figure Chronos among the godless Greeks, one who was reputedly cruel and bloodthirsty and loved to slaughter humans … whereas the God of the universe is not pleased with such terrible impieties and through one of the holy prophets he said to those who were accustomed to doing this, "You sacrifice humans, for you have run out of cattle." … The expression "cast down" is apt, since the prophet here speaks of a time near to his own. For we can read in the books of the Kings that when the former people carried the divine ark to the temple of Dagon, as those worshiping the idol went in, they saw Dagon fallen down in front of the ark.

The prophecy has described those things concerning the conversion of the nations and those concerning the elect of the seed of the sons of Israel, and it now turns once more to address the Jews and intends the complete destruction of idolatry … (following Symmachus, "their idols have become the prey of animals," that is, cast aside into total destitution). According to the literal sense, this has been fulfilled among us by these very deeds, while according to a spiritual understanding it concerns the heavy and burdensome and diabolic load of deceitful idolatry that used to lie on the souls of people.

"Bel" and "Nebo" are Babylonian idols. Bel is the statue that Nebuchadnezzar erected in the plain of Dura; its name derives from "Babel." Nebo was the teacher of the school for children in Mabbugh; since he was extremely stern toward the children, one of them, in order to please him, made a statue for him, and they worshiped it and so appeased his anger; and after this generation, people were seduced by that statue, and worshiped it and called it god.

Bel is broken, Nebo is crushed: their idols are made over to beasts and cattle, your burdens with heavy weight even to weariness. They have wasted away and are crushed together: they could not save the one who carried them, and their soul shall go into captivity. LXX: Bel has fallen, Dagon is crushed: their graven images are made into beasts and cattle; you carry them bound together like a burden for one who labors, and faints, and hungers, and has no strength besides, who will not be able to save from war: but they themselves have been led captive. After the calling of the nations, and the election of believers from Israel, he testifies that the idols have collapsed. Bel has fallen, has fallen, or is broken: whom the Greeks call Belus, the Latins Saturn. So great was his worship among the ancients that they sacrificed to him not only human victims, captives and mortals of low birth, but even their own children. Nebo, too, is itself an idol, which means prophecy and divination, which he signifies fell silent throughout the whole world after the truth of the Gospel. Or, according to the Seventy, Dagon, which, however, is not found in the Hebrew. And it is the idol of Ascalon, of Gaza and of the other cities of the Philistines. And he passes from the particular to the general: Their idols are made over to beasts and cattle. Not that the idols of the Gentiles were exposed as prey to beasts and cattle: but that the religion of the nations consists in images of beasts and of brute animals, which above all in Egypt were consecrated to divine worship. Of which Virgil says (Aen. 8.698): Monsters of gods of every kind, and barking Anubis.

For most of their towns too have names from beasts and cattle: κυνῶν from dog, λέων from lion; θμοῦϊς, in the Egyptian tongue, from the he-goat; λύκων from wolf; to say nothing of the dreadful and horrible onion, and the noise of the puffed-up belly, which is the religion of Pelusium.

These idols, he says, which cannot save those who carry them, are nothing else but burdens for the priests, weighing them down even to weariness. And when captivity comes, they are the first to be led captive, for the value of the metals of which they are made, and they cannot set free their own soul, or that of those who carry them. Not that dumb idols, which are without sensation, have a soul and some sense of pain; but that soul and members are spoken of καταχρηστικῶς in things that are without sense and members. Otherwise, too, we read in Proverbs: In the hand of the tongue are death and life. Or else this must be said: that the heaviest burden among the nations was the error of idolatry, which weighed its worshipers down to the earth, and could not save them, and made their souls captives of the devil and of demons.

Having discussed the Deity, displayed the believers and confounded the unbelievers, the prophetic text also predicts the destruction of the idols. Some copies carry "Dagon." That was an idol of the Allophyles [foreigners]. As for Bel, some claim that he was Kronos. Then [Isaiah] generalizes: "Their graven images are gone to the wild beasts and the cattle." For they did not only manufacture anthropomorphic idols but also idols resembling wild beasts and cattle. The Egyptians, in particular, worshiped representations of monkeys, of dogs, of lions, of farm animals and of crocodiles, whereas the Akaronites even had an image of a fly, and some others worshiped figures of bats. These are the practices that the beginning of the prophetic text has already denounced. He predicts the destruction of all these idols.

Here he foretells the destruction of the enemies holding them captive, namely, the Babylonians, as to two things in which they gloried: first, as to the destruction of their idols; second, as to the ending of their kingdom, below: come down, sit in the dust (Isa 47:1). The first of these is divided into two. In the first, he foretells the destruction of the idols of Babylon as to the breaking of their statues: Bel is broken: I will throw down your altars (Ezek 6:4); and as to the carrying away of their metal, because the Persians carried off their gold and silver with them in vain, he sets out the disadvantage of weariness on the part of those who carried them off: upon beasts and cattle, namely, horses and camels, on which they carried off heavy metals: they must be carried to be removed (Jer 10:5); or their worshippers, who are beasts, adoring the images of beasts: there you shall serve strange gods (Jer 16:13).

Sin makes us weary, because of the anxiety in devising it: for they sleep not, except they have done evil (Prov 4:16); because of the labor in carrying it out: we wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity (Wis 5:7); because of the shame in reflecting on it: what fruit therefore had you then in those things of which you are now ashamed? (Rom 6:21); because of the frustration in expecting it: the expectation of the just is joy: but the hope of the wicked shall perish (Prov 10:28).

Here [Isaiah] argues that the idols are weak since they will be carried into slavery as the cargo of elephants and even the burden of mules. And the people who carry them will bow low to put them on their shoulders. How can someone bearing God be weak like that? But these burdens are not God. Otherwise how could they be carried off as slaves of war? How would the ones carrying such things worship them? Others say that this burden is like the solemn procession of the demons that priests carry out when they bear statues on their shoulders and process through the streets bearing their burdens.These words also remind Israel of their enemies who led them off: just as their enemies fell down and worshiped these idols who spoke in riddles contrary to reason, so also the demons were a heavy and oppressive burden to the souls [of Israel] whenever these demons enslaved them in ungodliness as they took them prisoner and bound them with the ropes of their [own] sins.

By the same token, [Isaiah] says, as all the other burdens that are unable to walk but have to be carried, the idols, by reason of their inanimate nature, constrain their porters to toil. Their impotence is so great that they cannot even—as people do in war time—take flight.

He sets out the lack of aid on the part of the idols: they are consumed, that is, they fail, namely, the idols, him that carried them, namely, the beasts, or the men worshipping them: that which is made, together with him that made it, shall suffer torments (Wis 14:10); he sets out also the disgrace of captivity: and their souls, namely, the idols', metaphorically: that is, their divinity; or the gentiles', for they loved their idols like their own souls: for itself also is carried into Assyria, a present to the avenging king (Hos 10:6).

We hear the voice of the Holy Spirit with wonder when it tells us in many passages of Scripture that the Word of God, in an ineffable motion of love, has given human nature the names of "sister," "daughter," "bride." For example, the words in Isaiah, "Listen to me, Israel my people, the race of Abraham my friend, you whom I carry in my womb." … Our mind is set aflame with desire to obtain the love that burns between the Word of God and the soul, so that it can know the measure of love and give love to God in return.

After your apostasies I will still continue to call you to repentance, since you are my creation. I created you; therefore I sustain you. I promise I will make atonement for your sins, if you change.

Hear me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who are carried from my womb, who are borne from my matrix. Even to old age I myself, and even to gray hairs I will carry you: I have made, and I will bear: I will carry, and I will save. To whom have you likened me, and made me equal, and compared me, and made me like? You who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh silver on the scales, hiring a goldsmith to make a god: and they fall down and worship. They carry it on their shoulders, bearing it and setting it in its place, and it will stand, and will not move from its place. But when they cry to it, it will not hear: it will not save them from tribulation. LXX: Hear me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of Israel, who are carried from the womb, and are instructed from a little child even to old age. I am, and until you grow old I am: I sustain you: I have made, and I will carry: I will take you up, and I will save you. To whom have you likened me? See, consider, you who err and lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver on the scales, and hire a goldsmith: they have made the works of their hands, and bowing down they have worshiped: they carry it on their shoulders, and go. But if they set it in its place, it stays, and will not move: and whoever cries to it, it will not hear him, and will not deliver him from evils. He by no means calls him Jacob, nor Israel, which itself, we explained above, is said in reproach of the people when it is without the addition of servant, and child, and chosen: but, much more meanly, house of Jacob, and remnant of Israel, because of the nearness of flesh and blood, and as it were the dregs of the remnant of Israel. And he teaches them that they were carried by God out of Egypt like children and sucklings, as it were from a mother's womb and the matrix of one with child. Not that the ineffable and incomprehensible majesty of God has either a womb or a matrix, or feet and hands and the other members of the body; but that we may learn God's affection through our own words. Otherwise, in Psalm 109 (110) too, this same thing is sung in the person of God. For in the place where the Seventy translated, from the womb before the morning star I begot you, the Hebrew has written MEREHEM מרחם, which means from the matrix. But in the present passage it is written not only from the womb and from the matrix, that is, MEBETEN מבטן and MEREHEM מרחם, but MENNI מני, a preposition which signifies from my womb, or from my matrix. And the sense is: I who begot you from infancy, and bore you in my womb and matrix, will myself protect you even to old age, not mine but yours; so as to teach them that they are to be saved by the divine mercy. For the Creator of all spares his creature, and the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep (John 10). But he who is a hireling, whose own the sheep are not, flees when he sees the wolf. Since, then, I made and begot children, I will bear them and I myself will carry them.

According to the Seventy, who said: Who are carried from the womb, and are instructed from infancy even to old age, this signifies that they meditate on the law of God day and night in vain, having no knowledge of God, but venerating images of men and beasts: so much so that they need prophetic rebuke, through which God speaks to them: To whom have you likened me, and made me equal? and the rest: that they lavished gold and silver, and, hiring a sculptor, made idols, and worshiped the works of their own hands, which are carried on shoulders, and, fixed and set firm, cannot move themselves, nor profit those by whom they are worshiped. We pass quickly over what is plain, so that by the mercy of Christ we may unlock what is closed.

Second, he calls the Jews back to worship of him, the idols having been abandoned: hearken unto me. And first, he calls them back to worship of him; second, he promises the benefit of liberation to those who turn back to him: who show from the beginning (Isa 46:10). Concerning the first, he does three things. First, he shows them his love from his affectionate carrying of them: borne up by my womb, that is, in my mercy I have carried you so affectionately, in the desert and in the other places where you sinned against me, as a mother carries her child: what, O the beloved of my womb? (Prov 31:2); out of whose womb came the ice? (Job 38:29); upholding all things by the word of his power (Heb 1:3).

O Lord our God, under the shadow of your wings let us hope; defend us and support us. You will bear us up when we are little, and even down to our gray hairs you will carry us. For our stability, when it is in you, is stability indeed; but when it is in ourselves, then it is all unstable. Our good lives forever with you, and when we turn from you with aversion, we fall into our own perversion. Let us now, O Lord, return that we be not overturned, because with you our good lives without blemish—for our good is you yourself.

Woe to the audacious soul that hoped that by forsaking you it would find some better thing! It tossed and turned, on back and side and belly, but the bed is hard, and you alone give rest. Yet you are near. You deliver us from our wretched wanderings and establish us in your way. You comfort us and say, "Run, I will carry you. I will lead you home, and I will set you free."

But since their heart was not responsive to his promptings, he predicted the evils to come so that they would be gradually troubled by these terrors and would cease their irregular and foul way of life.

From the continuation of his carrying them: even to your old age, that is, to the end of the world: unto old age and grey hairs (Ps 71:18); from the reason for his carrying them: I have made you, it is fitting that he who made you should preserve you: he spread his wings, and has taken him and carried him on his shoulders (Deut 32:11).

Second, he shows the worthlessness of the idols, showing the foolishness of those who serve idols, both as to intention, for they wish to make something equal to God: to whom have you likened me, above (Isa 40:25) has the same thing.

And despite my exhortation you delayed in expelling such blasphemy and ungodliness, daring to compare me with those who lack being and in no way have my divinity. You esteemed me as equal to soulless wood that you shaped. You added gold and silver from contributions and made a statue from human hands, and you were not ashamed to worship it. These idols were not able to walk, let alone move, but they needed to be carried on your shoulders or dragged around by others. They are unable to hear prayers or to save.

[Isaiah] has clearly mocked the impotence of the idols. And since he had made mention of their creation from a piece of wood in a preceding passage, but gold and silver are more precious material than wood, and many people on account of the material treated the gods of gold and of silver with the greater regard, he considers it necessary to give this instruction concerning them: people collect gold and silver. They hire a goldsmith, weigh the statue he has fashioned and treat it as a god. Yet it moves with the feet of others, but if they are lacking, it stands still. Moreover, it brings no help to its worshipers. After this refutation, [Isaiah] introduces an exhortation.

And as to their service, for they employed craftsmen to make gods from gold, because they are like misers who store up gold for ages: you that contribute gold: the works of the hand of the workman (Jer 10:3).

He also shows the worthlessness of the works, namely, the idols themselves, for they can neither be moved or stand by themselves: they bear him: you shall see in Babylon gods of gold, and of silver, and of stone, and of wood borne upon shoulders (Bar 6:3); and he shows their uselessness: yea, when they shall cry also unto him, he shall not hear: for life he prays to that which is dead, and for help calls upon that which is unprofitable (Wis 13:18).

Behold, there he is, wherever truth is known. He is within the inmost heart, yet the heart has wandered from him. Return to your heart, O you sinners, and hold fast to him who made you. Stand with him, and you shall stand firmly. Rest in him, and you shall be at rest.

"Go back, therefore, to the heart," and if you are believers, you will find Christ there. He himself is speaking to you there. Yes, here am I, shouting my head off—but he, in silence, is doing more teaching. I am speaking by the sound of these words; he is speaking inwardly by the awe you feel in your thoughts.

"Return, you transgressors, to the heart." Return to the heart! Why do you go away from yourselves and perish from yourselves?… You go astray by wandering about. Return. Where? To the Lord. It is quickly done! First, return to your heart. You are wandering away. You are an exile from yourself. You do not know yourself. You ask by whom you were made!… Just return to your heart! See there what perhaps you perceive about God, because the image of God is there. In the inner person Christ dwells. In the inner person you are renewed according to the image of God.

"Return, you transgressors, to the heart." As I have already said, what the Lord repeatedly asks of us is not found in distant lands. He sends us within, into our own hearts. For he has placed within us that which he wants, in which consists the perfection of charity in the will and goodness of the soul.

Remember this, and be grounded, and return, transgressors, to heart. Recall the former age, for I am God, and there is no God beyond, nor is there any like me. Declaring from the start the last things, and from the beginning things not yet done, saying: My counsel shall stand, and all my will shall be done. Calling a bird from the East, and from a far land the man of my will; and I have spoken, and I will bring it about; I have created, and I will do it. LXX: Remember these things, and groan: repent, you who err. Return in heart, and remember the former things from of old; for I am God, and there is no other besides me. I who declare beforehand the last things before they happen and are fulfilled, and I have said, all my will shall stand, and all that I have planned I will do. I who call a bird from the East, and from a far land, those concerning whom I have planned: I have spoken, and I have brought it about: I have created and I have done it. Because I myself begot you, I myself carried you, and from infancy even to old age you are saved not by your merit but by my compassion: forsake the idols you have made, and return to the worship of the one God. Repent, groan for the error that held you; nay, be grounded, lest the sudden whirlwind of idolatry overturn you again: and return to heart, that is, to your mind, you who, venerating images, dashed yourselves like madmen against wood and stones.

Third, he concludes the calling back: remember this, what I have said of my love and the worthlessness of idols.

Man ought to return to the heart, as to the throne of a judge, that he might examine himself: I meditated in the night with my own heart: and I was exercised and I swept my spirit (Ps 77:6); as to the principle of life, that he might guard himself: with all watchfulness keep your heart, because life issues out from it (Prov 4:23); as to an audience hall of divine speech, that he might listen diligently: I will lead her into the wilderness: and I will speak to her heart (Hos 2:14); as to a treasury of divine words: your words have I hidden in my heart (Ps 119:11); as to the cenacle of divine peace and refreshment: he will speak peace unto his people (Ps 85:8).

Consider from the beginning of the world that there is no God besides me, and that no other could know things to come, except me, who announce through the Prophets what I am going to do: so that, when I have fulfilled what was foretold, I may prove my divinity by divination. For I now say that the mystery which in times past was unknown to all generations, or rather my counsel, will stand; so that, when you see it brought to pass, you may know no God but him who knew that these things would be, nay, commanded them to be done.

The former age, in which I gave you many benefits: I thought upon the days of old (Ps 77:5).

For he says "I am the one possessing knowledge of all, and whatever happens, I give notice of it beforehand." That which is announced, I execute … for what the holy God wills, who will thwart it? And who will avert his hand when it is raised?… We take the bird that is called from the east and from a far land to be the Babylonian, who scorched all the territory of the Jews, took Jerusalem and ruined the temple. They removed both ordinary flock and the leading birds among them and forced them into the region of the Persians. They also subjected them to a yoke of harsh imprisonment.…This work was done not by Israel's own hand, as if God would need a helper. For "it is I alone who save," guard and lead him on the right road, so that those who have made little progress in godliness will help the righteous ones and the humble. By these means, glory and honor are finally given to me alone, even from among wood and stones.

"Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." There cannot be a greater prayer than to desire that earthly things should deserve to equal heavenly ones. For what does it mean to say "your will be done on earth as it is in heaven," if not that human beings should be like angels and that, just as God's will is fulfilled by them in heaven, so also all those who are on earth should do not their own but his will? No one will really be able to say this but one who believes that God regulates all things that are seen, whether fortunate or unfortunate, for the sake of our well-being, and that he is more provident and careful with regard to the salvation and interests of those who are his own than we are for ourselves. And of course it is to be understood in this way—namely, that the will of God is the salvation of all, according to the text of blessed Paul: "Who desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth." Of this will the prophet Isaiah, speaking in the person of God the Father, also says, "All my will shall be done."

Here he promises liberation from captivity to those who are converted to him. And concerning this, he does two things. First, he promises liberation, setting out the power of him who announces it: who show the things that shall be at last, whatever is to come in the last times: he declares the things that are past, and the things that are to come (Sir 42:19); he also sets out the firmness of the announcement: saying: my counsel shall stand, it shall be fulfilled; my will, of good pleasure, his counsel continues like a fountain of life (Sir 21:16); he has done all things whatsoever he would (Ps 115:3).

"I call a bird of prey from the east." [Isaiah] either calls the Medes a "bird," who will destroy the Babylonians, or the Israelites, who, in the course of their return, destroyed the Arameans, the Greeks and the house of Gog.

Who other can this be than his Christ, who, it says, has been called from a distant land, that is, from the innermost part of Hades? All the things I have announced before him, I will bring into action through him.

I am he who calls a bird from the East: as the Hebrews think, Cyrus king of the Persians, or Darius prince of the Medes; and from a far land the man of my will, to fulfill all my will against Babylon and the Chaldeans. Or, as we prove to be true, the Lord Savior, of whom Balaam too prophesies: A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a man out of Israel (Num 24:17), whose name is the East (Zech 6), whom the Magi coming from the East worshiped. For he it is who speaks in the Psalms: O God, I have willed to do your will (Ps 39 [40]:9), of whom the Father spoke: and he proved his pledge by deed. In place of what we have rendered from the Hebrew, the man of my will, the Seventy put, those concerning whom I have planned. According to them, then, by the birds called from the East we can understand the ministries of the angels, which run to and fro through the whole world at the Lord's command; who are ministering spirits, and are sent for the salvation of believers. Of whom it is also sung in the psalm: You who make your angels spirits, and your ministers a burning fire (Ps 103 [104]:4).

All is easy for the God of the universe. Not only the beings endowed with reason but even those devoid of it submit to divine authority. In addition, by the term "bird" he has clearly shown the speed of Israel's return from exile.

And he sets out the order of liberation: who call a bird from the east, Cyrus, called a bird because of the swiftness of his victory; or Christ, above: who has raised up the just one from the east? (Isa 41:2).

Again we perceive the depth of God's loving kindness, in that God mixes with the evils also the wonders, so that they are not wiped out. For he has saved them from the hand of their enemies. When Israel fell into the marsh of judgment, God dragged them out.

See how he once again announces salvation to them and does not allow them to despair, lest they be overwhelmed by unrestrained sorrow and be moved too far away from the hope that they will be saved, if only they stop running. For having strayed, they were disconsolate. This described their situation accurately. For what else would they feel, they who worshiped the things they themselves had made, setting up trees and stones for worship and seeking salvation from them?

Hear me, you hard of heart, who are far from righteousness. I have brought my righteousness near: it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not delay: I will give salvation in Zion, and in Israel my glory. LXX: Hear me, you who have lost heart, who are far from righteousness. I have brought near my righteousness, and the salvation that is from me I will not make to tarry. I have given salvation in Zion, and to Israel glory. Those to whom he had said above: Hear me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, and again: Return, transgressors, to heart, even now he calls, according to the Hebrew, hard of heart because of their unbelief, and, according to the Seventy, men who have lost heart and mind. Following this, the most learned man Stephen the martyr, worthy of his name, says in the assembly of the Jews: Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in hearts and ears, you have always resisted the Holy Spirit, as your fathers did (Acts 7:51). These, then, are far from the righteousness of God, because they did not believe in it; which God, in his clemency, made to be near, and wishes by no means to tarry or to be far off in coming to the earth. For he has given Zion his salvation, and Israel his glory. Let this be said of the prophecy of things to come, and of the coming of the Lord Savior. But according to the history, salvation is given to Zion, and glory to Israel, because God made his righteousness to be near, so that he called a bird from the East, and from a far land the man of his will, to avenge the wrongs of Israel and of overthrown Jerusalem, and, with the Medes and Persians victorious, to destroy Babylon and the Chaldeans, as the following words of the Prophet testify.

The inner man possesses a heart. "Listen to Me, you who have lost heart!" Those to whom the prophet is speaking have a heart by the flesh: it cannot be lost. But when a man is careless about the cultivation of his intellectual being, then, on account of much idleness, the faculty of thought evaporates from him, he loses his heart, and it is precisely of such people that it is said: "Listen to Me, you who have lost heart!"

For though you are unworthy of salvation, since you have distanced yourself from righteousness because of your iniquity, I will procure salvation [for you] and will inflict just chastisement on the Babylonians. "I have given salvation in Zion to Israel for my glory." For thanks to the salvation of Israel, all will learn of my power and acknowledge that I am truly God.

Second, where it says, hear me, he promises the nearness of liberation, setting out first their unworthiness, lest it be ascribed to their merit: O you hardhearted, for acting rightly, who are far from justice, through the multitude of their sins: a hard heart shall fear evil at the last (Sir 3:26).

For God did not hate those whom he took out of Israel but intended salvation for them, just like the cutting and draining done by doctors. For all punishment was carried out for their advantage. He adds to the underlying form of the particular its significance for the human race. For the salvation through Cyrus is particular. That through Christ is universal. "I will not delay" is similar to "a little time it will come and will not delay." "Zion" we take to be the church, in which we receive his salvation in glory, thus being complete in the spiritual Israel; that is, we gain a mind that, seeing God, fulfills us as children according to the promises of Abraham.

Second, he foretells its nearness: I have brought near, I will bring, using the past tense for the future, my justice, concerning Babylon for you through Cyrus, or the justice of Christ, below: my salvation is near to come, and my justice to be revealed (Isa 56:1); third, he sets out the determination of the place: I will give salvation in Zion, and my glory, my benefits, from which I will appear glorious, or Christ, who is the glory of the Father: great shall be the glory of this last house (Hag 2:10).