Isaiah 48

He calls them the house of Jacob as not being worthy of the name of their forefather. Rather, "those called by the name Israel" are not really Israel, and those bearing that name are not called such here. And he adds, "and coming forth from the water of Judah." For they had nothing of the worthiness of the patriarchal soul, although they were descended from his fluid and bodily seed. For they were children only in the physical and carnal sense and not true children of the soul. But "Judah through the water" means the "kingly race" from David's line that in the days of the prophets remained in Jerusalem. They were those who, being not truly worthy of these names, used "Jacob" and "Israel" and "Judah" falsely; for they were those who praised the name of the Lord and made mention of the God of Israel with only their lips and mouth.… For they did "not" take their oaths "in truth" if they were [at the same time] consulting oracles. But they even thought they were being loyal to the city which was dedicated to God when, in fact, they were resisting God and performing this hypocrisy.

Hear these things, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth from the waters of Judah: who swore in the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, not in truth nor in righteousness. For they are called after the holy city: and upon the Lord of Israel they are established: the Lord of hosts is his name. These things I foretold would come upon the Chaldeans and Babylonians, and what I have spoken through my Prophets must be fulfilled in deed. But you, house of Jacob, and you who are called by the name of Israel, and who have come forth from the water of Judah, and the rest that follows, hear more attentively what I am about to say. And it is to be noted that he by no means calls them Jacob, but the house of Jacob; nor Israel, since they are falsely called by this name, not having the work of the name. And from the waters, he says, of Judah you have come forth, σεμνοτερῶς calling it waters in place of seed, so as to show that they are by no means sons of the virtues of the Patriarchs, but of their flesh. And rightly he called them the waters of Judah, because that tribe alone was still then remaining in the land of Judea; and at that time the royal seed of David was being preserved. Who, he says, swore in the name of the Lord, not that you might honor the Lord; but that, having taken up his name, you might do him wrong, while you want him to be the witness of your lie, and you rest in the holy city, and lean upon the Lord of Israel; so that you may boast that you are inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem, and have the privilege of the Lord Sabaoth, while you take up the empty names of Jacob, of Israel and of the holy city, and of the almighty God.

884. Hear these things, O house of Jacob. Here he promises the liberation of the people. And this is divided into two parts:

in the first, he promises liberation;

in the second, he describes the order of liberation, below: give ear, you islands (Isa 49:1).

The first is divided into two.

In the first, he stirs up attention, recalling three things in which they gloried, namely, the dignity of their race, because they come from holy fathers: out of the waters, that is, the seed, of Judah, against which it is said in Matthew 3:9: and think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham for our father; the privilege of divine knowledge: you who swear, invoking his name, remember, as to knowledge of him, but not in truth, of heart, nor in justice, of works, above: this people with their lips glorify me, but their heart is far from me (Isa 29:13). The cult of holy religion: the holy city, namely, Jerusalem, in which was the cult of sacrifices; they are called Jerusalemites: God did not choose the people for the place's sake, but the place for the people's sake (2 Macc 5:19).

It is not in human nature to know things that are to come. I am the God who foretells them even now and who did so throughout former times. In addition, the predictions that previously came through the mouths of my other prophets as declarative of many things to come were reported by and complied with by those prophesying, to whom the events seemed to fit the words of the other prophets.

The former things I declared from of old, and they went forth from my mouth, and I made them heard: suddenly I worked, and they came to pass. For I knew that you are hard, and your neck is a sinew of iron, and your brow is bronze. I foretold it to you from of old: before they came, I made it known to you, lest perhaps you should say: My idols have done these things, and my graven images and my molten images have commanded them. What you have heard, see it all: but you have not declared it. I have made you hear new things from that time: and things kept in store which you do not know: they are created now, and not from of old: and before the day, and you did not hear them, lest perhaps you should say: Behold, I knew them. You have neither heard, nor known, nor from of old was your ear opened: for I know that you will deal very treacherously, and I have called you a transgressor from the womb. For my name's sake I will put my fury far off: and with my praise I will bridle you, lest you perish. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver: I have chosen you in the furnace of poverty. For my own sake, for my own sake I will do it, that I be not blasphemed: and my glory I will not give to another. LXX: The former things I declared still: and they went forth from my mouth: and it was made heard: suddenly I did them, and they came to pass, I know that you are hard: and your neck is a sinew of iron, and your brow is bronze: and I declared it to you long ago, before they came upon you. I made it heard to you: lest perhaps you should say that idols have done it for me, that graven and molten images have commanded me. You have heard all things, and you have not known: but I have made you hear new things, those which are now to be. And you did not say, They are being done now, and not long ago: and not in former days. Do not say either, I knew them: you neither know, nor understand, nor from the beginning did I open your ears. For I know that you will deal very treacherously: and you will be called wicked even from the womb. For my name's sake I will show you my fury: and I will bring my glorious things upon you, that I may not kill you. Behold, I have sold you, not for silver: but I have rescued you from the furnace of poverty: for my own sake I will do it, because my name is profaned: and my glory I will not give to another. I foretell to you that the Babylonians are to be overcome by the Medes and Persians, and I will suddenly do what I have threatened, lest, when the things foretold have come, you should think they happened either by the nod of the gods you worship or by chance. Nor do I boast of knowledge of the future, but I speak because of your unbelief, you whose heart I knew from the beginning to be unbelieving, and your neck of iron, and your brow of bronze.

Most of our writers, to touch briefly on a few things according to the Seventy Translators, hold that the coming of Christ is prophesied: that he comes suddenly, unhoped for, and shows his presence to a most hard people, whose ears God never opened, because its heart had grown fat, and it heard heavily with its ears. And that, as soon as the Lord was poured forth from the virginal womb, it was called transgressor and wicked, seeking to kill him. And as for what he joins: For my name's sake I will show you my fury, and my glorious things I will bring upon you, he draws on the sense of the Apostle, or rather the apostle Paul (Rom 1) takes his testimony from this passage, that the wrath of God is revealed to terrify those who sin, and afterwards glory is offered to those who have turned: Behold, he says, I have sold you, not for money, but I have sold you in your sins, and I have rescued you from the furnace of poverty. For which reason Solomon too (Prov 30) does not wish to have riches or poverty, but asks only for necessaries, lest either by the former his heart be lifted up into pride, or in the latter he be compelled to do what he does not wish and, pressed by want, to blaspheme God. Hence the Apostle too says: Having food and clothing, he says, let us be content with these (1 Tim 6:8).

The adversities that have come on you were announced by me well beforehand, in order that you would be frightened by threats and driven to repentance, so that you may steer clear of the dreadful events. But since you failed to believe my words, I will now proceed to demonstrate their truth by my actions. For you see what is added, "I acted suddenly, and the events came to pass."

885. Second, he promises liberation: the former things of old. And concerning this, he does three things:

first, he shows the majesty of God who promises it;

second, he shows the prosperity of Cyrus who executes it: assemble yourselves together, all you, etc.;

third, he promises liberation: come near unto me (Isa 48:16).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he shows the majesty of God from the foretelling of future things;

second, from the creation of things: hearken to me, O Jacob (Isa 48:12).

886. Concerning the first, he does three things.

First, he assigns the reason for the foretelling of certain future things, setting out the foretelling itself: the former things, which, namely, have already passed, of old, when they were still to come, suddenly, in regard to others, by whom they were not foretold: he declares the things that are past, and the things that are to come (Sir 42:19).

These words would not be of any help to you if you had not been already warned. Nevertheless, dwelling in my loving-kindness, I still bear witness and distinguish you from those assembled in Babylon and the Chaldeans about to attack you. Open your eyes! As you see the foretold destruction taking hold when the warriors come from Babylon, you will know with understanding that God has told you these things would happen and you can call on his help when the predicted end strikes. These things are available to you from my words.

Perchance he will say to me, who am not reformed even by blows, "I know that you are obstinate and your neck is an iron sinew, the heedless is heedless, and the lawless person acts lawlessly, and for nothing comes correction from heaven and the scourges." The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed, as I once reprimanded you by the mouth of Jeremiah: "The founder melted the silver in vain; your wickednesses are not melted away." … May it not be that I should ever, among other chastisements, be thus approached by him who is good, and yet by my own contrariness continue to walk against his goodness. This causes God to walk against me in fury.

Instructed by this passage, the divine Stephen in his turn says to the Jews, "You stiff-necked, uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your ancestors did, so do you." And also through the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah, the God of the universe has declared to them, "You have had the appearance of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed." It is this shamelessness that [Isaiah] likewise alludes to by [the phrase] "brazen forehead." The forehead of a brass statue does not blush. Similarly, you no longer blush when you commit evil or when you are confronted or chastised.… In this way he has described with greater clarity their spirit of disobedience. For they voluntarily refused to listen, because they did not even desire to hear the words of God.

And he sets out the reason for this, which is taken from their condition, which he sets out first: for I knew, from eternity; stubborn toward coming to your senses from evils; your neck, that is, the stiff-necked obstinacy of your own understanding; an iron sinew, which cannot be bent; your forehead as brass, because of your immodesty: you stiff-necked (Acts 7:51); for I know your obstinacy, and your most stiff neck (Deut 31:27); you had a harlot's forehead (Jer 3:3).

And then from this, he draws the reason: I foretold; as if to say: that you were prone to idolatry, I foretold, lest you ascribe my benefits to idols: I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread (Hos 2:5).

Behold, you have heard all the things that are to come, and yet you hide the truth in silence. Nor do I recount the past things by which my power has often been proved: how I led the people out of Egypt, drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea, handed over the land of promise, subjugated various nations to you. But I announce the new things that I am going to do against Babylon, so that the shameless lie of your mouth may be refuted, you who claim to know what you do not know.

He sets out also the manifestation of what was foretold: the things which you have heard, foretold to you by me, see, them fulfilled: as we have heard, so have we seen (Ps 48:8).

887. Second, he assigns the reason for the hiding of other future things, first setting out the hiding itself, as was said, I foretold certain future things, but other future things are kept, that is, in my foreknowledge, which you know not, because I have not revealed them to you.

Now, that is, in time, they are created, that is, brought into effect, and not of old, when I foreknew them, and before the day, of their fulfillment, when you heard them not, neither from me, nor from the idols: the Lord has hid it from me, and has not told me (2 Kgs 4:27). He also assigns the reason for this: lest you should say: behold I knew them, as if to say: therefore, I have not revealed them so that you may perceive your weakness and that of your gods, in that you cannot foreknow about future things, except what I reveal to you; I knew them, by my own skill.

In Symmachus's translation: "And you, though faithless to the covenant, were called from the womb," so that not through you but through my merciful love I foretold and showed to you the things that would come to destroy your enemies, hurrying to save you in every engagement with them.

For from the beginning you have been a transgressor of my commandments; and God called you a transgressor from the womb, when, set free from Egypt, you were, as it were, conceived in my womb, and brought up, and instructed. You longed for the ox's head of Egypt, saying: These are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

You have neither heard, from idols, neither was your ear opened, by me: man shall come to a deep heart (Ps 64:6-7). He also sets out their condition, from which this reason is drawn: for I know; from the womb, that is, from the time when I carried you through the desert as in the womb: I see that this people is stiff-necked (Exod 32:9), above: with the prevarication of transgressors (Isa 24:16).

It is a work that is necessary, and it is the fruit of admirable foresight to avoid these things that are announced and not to wait for the end of the unhappy times but to stand outside of all wrath and judgment.… "I have restrained my wrath for the sake of my name," and I will establish my glorious deeds over you lest you be destroyed.… We see in this the greatness of God's love; he mixes in with unhappy events glorious things lest they be totally destroyed.

Not for your merit, then, but by my mercy I have put off my fury, lest you should perish utterly, and for the praise of my name I will bridle you, so that, like a beast of burden and a horse in bridles, you may follow me against your will.

But we say that God brings fire on the world, not like a cook [pace Celsus] but like a God who is the benefactor of those who stand in need of the discipline of force. This is confirmed by the prophet Isaiah.… Now the Scripture is appropriately adapted to the multitudes of those who are to peruse it, because it speaks obscurely of things that are sad and gloomy, in order to terrify those who cannot by any other means be saved from the flood of their sins, although even then the attentive reader will clearly discover the end that is to be accomplished by these sad and painful punishments on those who endure them. It is sufficient, however, for the present to quote the words of Isaiah: "For my name's sake will I delay my anger, and my glory I will bring on you, that I may not destroy you."

888. Third, he excludes a certain objection: for my name's sake. For someone may ask: when they are so stubborn, why do you promise and do good things for them?

And he first sets out the response to this objection, recalling three benefits shown to them: for my name's sake, not because of your merits, I will remove my wrath far off, or I have removed it, freeing you from punishment: it is not for your sake that I will do this, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake (Ezek 36:22); and for my praise I will bridle you, that is, I have bound you to my ceremonies and praises, lest you perish offering sacrifices to idols: with bit and bridle bind fast their jaws (Ps 32:9).

Behold, I have refined you, that is, I have tested you, as silver is smelted. Or, I wished to test you not in riches but in the furnace of poverty. From this it is shown that most men are tempted both by riches and by poverty, if they either badly abuse the former or by no means bear want with virtue.

It was not a need for money that caused me to deliver you to the Babylonians but the will to make you atone for your iniquity; nevertheless, I am going to make you a gift of freedom again. For Isaiah has called the bondage a "furnace of poverty." In a furnace the fire itself remains hidden, and only the smoke released from the furnace can be seen. Likewise, prisoners of war do not dare to lament openly, but in their hearts. For they are consumed by the flame of discouragement, and their groan rises like a kind of smoke.… Since the enemies thought they had triumphed, not only over you but even over me, and that it was my weakness that had allowed them to dominate you, I will liberate you from this bitter slavery to the extent that even those who do not know me will hear of my might.

I have refined you, wishing to cleanse you through trials, but not as silver, which is cleansed, but you were not corrected: the founder has melted in vain (Jer 6:29); I have chosen you, namely, cleansing you through poverty, punishing you by the plundering of your goods, Gregory: those whom the sickness of habits wounds, the medicine of poverty heals, and this by paternal correction.

894. Poverty confers

recognition of sins, if they are bound, etc.;

conservation of virtues: the poor man is glorified by his discipline and fear (Sir 10:33);

peace of heart: our poverty was sufficient for us (Tob 5:25);

fulfillment of desire: the Lord has heard the desire of the poor (Ps 10:17);

participation in divine sweetness: in your sweetness, O God, you have provided for the poor (Ps 68:10);

exaltation: he raises up the needy from the dust (1 Sam 2:8);

a heavenly inheritance: blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:3).

For my own sake, then, I will do it, lest my name be blasphemed among the nations, and they think that you were overcome not by my anger but by the help of their idols. And what he adds, my glory I will not give to another, signifies this: lest the idols be thought to have crushed the people of God. Or certainly, when he says, I will not give to another, he shows that he has already given it to another; for 'to another' is said to distinguish it from the former.

Second, he sets out the explanation of the response: for my own sake, that I may not be blasphemed, as though I were powerless to save the people I have chosen for myself; and I will not give my glory to another, lest, namely, idols be thought to be more powerful than I am, above: I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to graven things (Isa 42:8).

No one should suppose that there is another God, either before or afterwards. He said, "From age to age," just as Isaiah said, "I am the first and I am the last." And after God had brought forth Adam from within his thought, he fashioned him, and breathed into him of his Spirit and gave him the knowledge of discernment so that he might discern good from evil and might know that God made him.

Hear me, Jacob, and Israel, whom I call. I myself, I am the first, and I am the last. My hand also founded the earth, and my right hand measured the heavens: I called them, and they will stand together. Gather together, all of you, and hear: who among them has declared these things? The Lord has loved him: he will do his will in Babylon, and his arm upon the Chaldeans. I, I have spoken and called him: I have brought him, and his way is made straight. Draw near to me, and hear these things: not from the beginning have I spoken in secret: from the time before it came to be, there I was. And now the Lord God has sent me, and his spirit. LXX: Hear me, Jacob and Israel, whom I call. I am the first, and I am for ever: and my hand founded the earth, and my right hand made firm the heaven. I will call them, and they will stand together: and all will be gathered, and will hear: Who has announced these things to them? Loving you, I have done your will upon Babylon: to take away the seed of the Chaldeans. I have spoken and I have called. I have brought him and have made his way prosper. Bring them to me, and hear these things: Not from the beginning have I spoken in secret: when it was being done, there I was. And now the Lord God has sent me, and his spirit. To those to whom he had already said before: Hear these things, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth from the waters of Judah, he now speaks: Hear me, Jacob and Israel, whom I call. For many are called, and few chosen (Matt 22). Hence he names them not chosen, because they had not yet received the Savior; but called. I am, he says, α and ω, the first and the last, who live, and was dead (Rev 22); so that you may refer life to the first, and the last to him who died. Who emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and became obedient to the Father; he humbled himself even to death, even the death of the cross (Phil 2).

889. Hearken to me. Here he shows the divine majesty from the creation of things. I shall call them, placing on each its proper work, and they shall stand, ready to obey, above: who has poised with three fingers the bulk of the earth? (Isa 40:12).

Now the hand and the right arm is what God the Father calls his Son. And we often find him so called throughout Scripture. The divine Moses said, "Your right hand has been glorified in might, your right hand has shattered the enemies," and David the blessed said, "May your hand be strengthened, may your right arm be lifted up."

"My right hand spread out the heavens," that is, I have flung out the heavens with my power and fixed them on high and spread out. [These words are said] in analogy with one who takes some clay and puts it on the wall or the roof of a house, where it sticks.

My hand founded the earth. Hence in Proverbs too he says: God by his wisdom founded the earth, and his right hand measured (Prov 3:19), or made firm the heavens, or the heaven, as the Seventy translated. And he calls the heavens, that they may obey his command and tell forth his glory. But if the heavens obey the will of the Lord and run in their order, why does earth and ashes glory (Sir 10), and not know its own frailty?

He is the Lord's right hand, indeed his two hands, by which he worked and constructed the universe.

Gather together, all of you, and hear: either heavens, or the whole creation, or the whole multitude of Israel. What are the things they are bidden to hear? That the Lord has loved him: there is no doubt that he means Cyrus and Darius, who did the will of the Lord against Babylon, and exercised his arm upon the Chaldeans. And he himself spoke and called him by his name, and brought him, and his way was made straight, so that none dared to resist his might.

But according to Symmachus, who translated: Who has announced these things to him? whom the Lord has loved, who does his will in Babylon: and according to the Seventy, to take away the seed of the Chaldeans, it is referred to the person of the Lord: who is truly beloved by the Father, and who did all the will of the Father, and who overthrew in Babylon, that is, in the confusion of this world, all the seed of the Chaldeans, who are interpreted as demons. He himself spoke, and heard the Son, and brought him, who says to believers: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened (Matt 11:28).

890. Assemble yourselves. Here he foretells Cyrus's prosperity.

And first, he shows the hiding of this fact from others: who among them, namely, the idols, as if to say: none of them, above: who has declared from the beginning? (Isa 41:26).

Second, he foretells his prosperity: the Lord has loved him, namely, Cyrus, advancing him into kingship; he will do his pleasure in Babylon, capturing it; and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans, that is, killing them by my power: and truly doing you shall do, and prevailing you shall prevail (1 Sam 26:25).

Third, he assigns the reason for his prosperity from divine help: I, even I; his way is made right, not absolutely, but so that he might destroy Babylon; otherwise, it cannot be explained of Cyrus, but only of Christ, as Jerome says, for Cyrus was an idolater: and he led them into the right way (Ps 107:7).

Now it is Jesus Christ who is speaking here as the "Lord God"; yet this would not have been obvious if he had not added the final words, "And now the Lord God has sent me and his Spirit." These words were spoken by Christ in his "form" as a "servant." He used a verb in the past tense to indicate a future event.

Moreover, He could not be sent by the Father without the Holy Spirit, not only because the Father, when He sent Him, that is, when He made Him of a woman, is certainly understood not to have so made Him without His own Spirit; but also because it is most plainly and expressly said in the Gospel in answer to the Virgin Mary, when she asked of the angel, "How shall this be?" "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee." And Matthew says, "She was found with child of the Holy Ghost." Although, too, in the prophet Isaiah, Christ Himself is understood to say of His own future advent, "And now the Lord God and His Spirit hath sent me."

Those who look toward the Savior do not attribute grace for salvation to other gods but to him. For it is said about him that he was moved by love, that is, he was most loving and kind to them in that he was prepared to go all the way to the very end, to the uprooting of the seed of the Chaldeans, that is, those who fought against them and perpetrated all sorts of inhuman acts.… I am spurred by love for you that I will do what is your pleasure in the land of the Babylonians, so that the seed of the Chaldeans will be removed. For [Isaiah] speaks here about Cyrus.

"From the time this plague came to be" in all my people, "I have been there." In order that the words he had spoken may not be despised by the sorcerers, the text shows that they do not belong to the prophet as such, but to the Lord and his Spirit, who sent the prophet to preach to them. Indeed, the prophet clearly said as if from the person of the Lord, "I am in all my people, and my right hand extends to the heavens."

Hence he summons them to draw near and hear, and, as the Lord foretells it, to know that the king of the Persians and Medes will come, to overthrow Babylon and destroy the Chaldeans. And to announce these things, the Prophet says that he has been sent by the Lord and by his spirit. This is according to the Hebrews and their opinion.

And hear these things which from the beginning I have spoken in secret, that is, through the riddles and mysteries of the Prophets, which had been unknown to all past generations. When all things were being made by the Father, he himself was with him, who rejoiced with him, who even now says: I, who was always with the Father, and in the Father, and was never without the Father, even now speak (John 14): and according to the frailty of the flesh I assumed, I say that the Lord God has sent me, and his spirit: and in one short verse the mystery of the Trinity is shown to us.

Did the Father and the Holy Spirit send Jesus, or did the Father send both Christ and the Spirit? The latter is correct. For, because the Savior was sent, afterwards the Holy Spirit was sent also, that the prediction of the prophet might be fulfilled.

According to Isaiah the Lord has sent Christ and his Spirit.… It is also possible there to allege of the Spirit that sent the Christ that he does not excel him in nature but that the Savior was made to seek greater lowliness because of the plan of the incarnation.

Since you have not believed the gloomy predictions, believe, then, at least in the prophecies of encouragement. For I do not prophesy falsely in dark, inaccessible places after the manner of the [oracles of] idols. But I know these things clearly before their occurrence since I am present to the events themselves and see each one. "And now the Lord has sent me as well as his Spirit." It is the prophet who made this declaration. He says, "I do not speak on my own authority but because the God of the universe and the holiest Spirit has sent me." Now [the text] demonstrates here that there is another person besides God, the person of the Spirit, so as to refute the Jews and the mad ravings of Sabellius. For [Isaiah] said, "The Lord sent me as well as his Spirit." For Sabellius often taught the one deity of God.… He must also teach about the particular characteristics of the persons, sometimes that of the Son and that of the Father, sometimes that of the Father and that of the Holy Spirit.

891. Come near unto me. Here he promises liberation. And concerning this, he does three things.

First, he stirs up attention, setting out divine authority: I have not spoken in secret, but all the people saw the voices (Exod 20:18), from the beginning of the law given, from the time, past, before it was done, what I foretell, I was there, present to those future things, remaining through the same "now" of eternity in the whole succession of time; or in the person of the Son: I was there, namely, in the Father according to his divinity: when he balanced the foundations of the earth (Prov 8:28); he sets out the truth of the prophet, who was sent by God: and now me, Isaiah; or me, Christ made man, the Lord God, the Father, has sent, and his Spirit; thus the three persons are designated, below: the spirit of the Lord is upon me (Isa 61:1).

The authority of the one commanding ought to move us to observe the commandments of God. He is of great authority, because by His wondrous wisdom He governs us. Whence Isaiah says: "I am the Lord, teaching you profitable things, governing you in the way in which you walk. Would that you had heeded my commandments! Your peace would have been as a river."

He says, "I AM your God." This "I AM" means "I am the beginning." He explained all this to the all-wise Moses saying "I am the one who is." For he as Lord is truly the God of everything. Those things that are brought into being by him are said to be "beings" also and to share in the source of being.… Again he works in them a steadfast thinking and a well-established mind that they can see God to be truly existing in nature. To these he reveals his glory so that they are not carried away by deceitful voices.

Thus says the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, who teach you profitable things, who guide you in the way in which you walk. Would that you had heeded my commandments; your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the whirlpools of the sea. And your seed would have been like the sand, and the offspring of your womb like its pebbles: they would not have perished, and his name would not have been worn away from before my face. Since he has promised Israel things to come, he gives the reasons why he afflicted them before: if they avoid these, they will by no means suffer the like. If, he says, you had heeded my commandments, as the Seventy translated: or certainly, with the feeling of one who wishes, would that you had heeded my commandments: if you had done them, your peace would have been like rivers, and your righteousness like the whirlpools of the sea: signifying abundance and plenty of all things.

892. Second, where it says, thus says the Lord, he sets out the reason for their captivity, showing on the part of God, ready help: that teach, against their ignorance, and that govern you in the way, of works, against the weakness of their working: I will give you understanding, and I will instruct you in this way, in which you shall go (Ps 32:8).

895. The words of God are profitable

for the illumination of the intellect: the commandment is a lamp (Prov 6:23);

for the delight of the affections: how sweet are your words to my palate (Ps 119:103);

for the kindling of love: there came in my heart as a burning fire (Jer 20:9); the word of the Lord inflamed him (Ps 105:19);

for the uprightness of works: direct me in your truth (Ps 25:5);

for the obtainment of glory: keep the law (Prov 3:21);

for the instruction of others: all divine doctrine (2 Tim 3:16).

Set before yourself any river. It springs from its fountain but is of one nature, of one brightness and beauty. And you assert rightly that the Holy Spirit is of one substance, brightness and glory with the Son of God and with God the Father. I will sum up everything in the oneness of the qualities without any dispute over degrees of greatness. For in this point also Scripture has provided for us. For the Son of God says, "Whoever shall drink of the water that I will give him, it shall become in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life." This well is clearly the grace of the Spirit, a stream proceeding from the living Fountain. The Holy Spirit, then, is also the fountain of eternal life.You observe, then, from his words that the unity of the divine greatness is pointed out and that Christ cannot be denied to be a fountain even by heretics, since the Spirit, too, is called a fountain. The Spirit is called a river, too, just as the Father said, "Behold, I come down on you like a river of peace, and like a stream overflowing the glory of the Gentiles." And who can doubt that the Son of God is the river of life from whom the streams of eternal life flowed forth?

This water is good, then. I mean here the grace of the Spirit. Who will give this Fountain to my heart? Let it spring up in me, let that which gives eternal life flow on me. Let that Fountain overflow on us and not flow away. For Wisdom says, "Drink water out of your own vessels and from the fountains of your own wells, and let your waters flow abroad in your streets." How shall I keep this water so that it does not seep out or glide away? How shall I preserve my vessel, lest any crack of sin penetrating it should let the water of eternal life exude? Teach us, Lord Jesus, teach us as you taught your apostles, saying, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on the earth, where rust and moth destroy and where thieves break through and steal."8Our rust is wantonness, our rust is lust, our rust is luxury, which dim the keen vision of the mind with the filth of vices. Again, our moth is Arius, our moth is Photinus, who rend the holy vesture of the church with their impiety, and desiring to separate the indivisible unity of the divine power, gnaw the precious veil of faith with sacrilegious tooth. The water is spillled if Arius has imprinted his tooth, it flows away if Photinus has planted his sting in anyone's vessel.… If you seek Jesus, forsake the broken cisterns, for Christ did not make it his custom to sit by a pool but by a well. There that Samaritan woman found him, she who believed, she who wished to draw water. Although you ought to have come in early morning, nevertheless if you come later, even at the sixth hour, you will find Jesus wearied with his journey. He is weary, but it is because of you, because he has long looked for you, your unbelief has long wearied him. Yet he is not offended if you only come now. He asks to drink who is about to give. But he drinks not the water of a stream flowing by, but your salvation. He drinks your good dispositions. He drinks the cup, that is, the passion that atoned for your sins, that you, drinking of his sacred blood, might quench the thirst of this world.

The authority of the one commanding ought to move us to observe the commandments of God. He is of great authority, because by His wondrous wisdom He governs us. Whence Isaiah says: "I am the Lord, teaching you profitable things, governing you in the way in which you walk. Would that you had heeded my commandments! Your peace would have been as a river."

He also shows the harm from the fault of the Jews: O that you had hearkened to my commandments, keeping them; as a river, abounding, as the waves, the same: if my people had heard me: if Israel had walked in my ways: I should soon have humbled their enemies, and laid my hand on them that troubled them (Ps 81:13-14).

And as for what follows: and your seed would have been like the sand, and the offspring of your womb like its pebbles: it seems indeed to hold good in the people of the Jews, who to this present day sprout sons and grandsons like little worms; but how is this to be taken as a promise, when they have neither peace nor righteousness? For either he is angry with them, or appeased. If angry, how is his seed multiplied daily? If appeased, how are they in servitude, and do not possess peace and righteousness? From this it is plain that he now speaks of the Apostolic seed, of which we also read above (cf. Isa 1): Unless the Lord Sabaoth had left us a seed, we should have been like Sodom. Since this is by no means seen fulfilled at that time, it is fulfilled in the coming of Christ: and the seed of Israel remains before his face.

"I am the Lord your God. I have shown how to find my way so that you may benefit by traveling on that way." … But since the Jews did not desire to pay attention to these commandments, by reason of their attachment to a fleshly manner of thinking, they viewed having many children as a sign of blessing.… Nevertheless, although you have despised my laws, I will consider you worthy of consideration and, once again, you will be called "my people."

Now my beloved, our will ought to keep pace with the grace of God and not fall short; lest while our will remains idle, the grace given us should begin to depart, and the enemy finding us empty and naked, … as was the case with him spoken of in the Gospel, from whom the devil went out. … For the departure from virtue gives place for the entrance of the unclean spirit.

"Come forth out of Babylon." If we take the command of the prophet in a spiritual sense, it means that we should fly from the city of this world, from the fellowship of wicked angels and wicked [people], with the feet of that faith that works through love, and we should press onward unceasingly toward the living God.

Go forth from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans: declare it with a voice of exultation, make this heard, carry it to the end of the earth, and say: The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob. They did not thirst in the desert when he led them out; he brought forth water from the rock for them, and he split the rock, and the waters flowed. There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord. Those who understood the place above, where it is written: I, I have spoken, and called him: I have brought him, and his way is made straight, of Cyrus and Darius, refer these things too to his times, when the people went forth from Babylon, and fled from the Chaldeans, and was redeemed by the Lord its God.

But those who, more truly and more rightly, refer these things to the Savior's coming (cf. below, Isa 61:1), of which it is said: He has sent me to announce good news to the poor, to preach release to the captives (Luke 4:18, 19), understand it to be an exhortation of those who announce the Gospel of the Lord Savior himself, that we should go forth from Babylon, that is, from the confusion of this world, and flee the Chaldeans, of whom it has often been spoken. For the Lord redeemed his servant Jacob with his most precious blood, and led him through the desert of the world, and split water from the rock. Concerning which the Apostle too says: And the rock was Christ (1 Cor 10:4). And the divine word is split, and divided into many parts, so that what we cannot receive whole we may take in parts. And lest this preaching should be thought to be spoken to all the seed of Jacob, and not only to those who were to believe through the Apostles, there is added and joined: There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord: that is, to those who remained in their former error; who did not deserve to drink from the rock. Whose side, to speak in a new way, wounded by the lance, flowed with water and blood (John 19), consecrating for us baptism and martyrdom.

893. Third, where it says, come forth, he foretells their liberation. And concerning this, he does three things.

First, he proclaims to them their going forth from captivity, so certain of their liberation as if it were present: come forth: go out from her (Rev 18:4); and he enjoins that they should declare the benefit of God: declare: the voice of them that flee, and of them that have escaped out of the land of Babylon: to declare in Zion the revenge of the Lord our God (Jer 50:28).

This also that is said: They did not thirst in the desert when he led them out, he brought forth water from the rock for them; and he split the rock, and the waters flowed, although they cannot show it fulfilled according to the history (for under Zerubbabel and Ezra they did not come through a desert, nor did a split rock furnish them waters, as is related to have happened to those going out of Egypt), they nevertheless maintain was fulfilled hyperbolically, in the likeness of the former happiness, when they came into Judea through the desert of the nations, and were set free from captivity.

The three interpreters treat this as if it were something that had already occurred: "You made water flow for them from a rock; the waters broke the hard rock and flowed out." According to the Septuagint, the text alludes to the prophetic grace the Jews enjoyed drinking in divine draughts even while in Babylon from the prophets Daniel and Ezekiel. Because they found themselves in a desert of sorts as a result of the impiety of the Babylonians, they possessed a kind of rock in the prophecy that poured for them the drink of salvation. Further, even after the return from exile, it was Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi who presented to them these divine waters, while the admirable Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua, the son of Jozadek, wore their piety like a necklace. They offered divine teaching to them like water to the thirsty.

Second, he designates to the liberated the past benefit of consolation: they thirsted not, that is, the Lord will so provide for them in all things, as when they came forth from Egypt: he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out (Ps 78:20), Numbers 21:16.

No one found that this happened when they came out of Babylon and went into Judah. For this is said with reference to the economy of salvation so as to show that God, who was formerly able and is still now able, being of undiminished power, to perform similar miracles with great strength, now, as if calling out, proclaims a universal law, that "there is no peace for the wicked."

And so that we may know, they say, that it was prophesied not of Christ but of Cyrus, there is joined: There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord: and the sense is: Perfect happiness will not be except under Christ, which is reserved for the last time.

Third, he removes the comfort of peace from the wicked: there is no peace, below (Isa 57:21); what have you to do with peace? (2 Kgs 9:18).