Isaiah 61

We have shown by the clear evidence of the Scripture that the apostles and prophets were appointed, the latter to prophesy, the former to preach the gospel, by the Holy Spirit in the same way as by the Father and the Son. Now we add what all will rightly wonder at and not be able to doubt, that the Spirit was on Christ; and that as he sent the Spirit, so the Spirit sent the Son of God. For the Son of God says, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has appointed me, he has sent me to preach the gospel." And having read this from the book of Isaiah, he says in the Gospel, "Today has this Scripture been fulfilled in your ears," that he might point out that it was said of himself.

Here is the one who says, "My teaching is not mine but his who sent me. If anyone wants to do his will, let him know about the teaching, whether it is from God or I am speaking by my own authority." For one is teaching from God, the other is human teaching. Thus, the Jews, when they asked whether his teaching was taken from people, saying, "How has he known these writings without learning them?" Jesus replied, "My teaching is not mine."

What is there to wonder at, what to disbelieve, if the Lord who gives the Spirit, is here said himself to be anointed with the Spirit, at a time when, necessity requiring it, he did not refuse in respect of his manhood to call himself inferior to the Spirit?

For the naming of Christ is the confession of the whole, shewing forth as it does the God who gave, the Son who received, and the Spirit who is, the unction. So we have learned from Peter, in the Acts, of "Jesus of Nazareth whom God anointed with the Holy Ghost;" and in Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me;" and the Psalmist, "Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows."

The spirit of the Lord is upon me—a passage which the Lord having read in the synagogue on the Sabbath said: Verily I say unto you, to-day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

He who said in the preceding words concerning those who would be called in faith: "I the Lord will gather them at the proper times," as the time was already present, in which he promised to gather them, and as one who had already become man, and had undergone the likeness to us, and had lowered himself to emptiness, "The Spirit of the Lord," he says, "is upon me," although being by nature God the Only-begotten is the Holy of holies, and he himself sanctifies all creation, since indeed he is begotten of a holy Father, and pours forth the Spirit from himself, and sends it into the powers above as his own, and moreover to those who have recognized his epiphany. How then was he sanctified? For being at once God and the same one man, he gives the Spirit divinely to creation, but he receives it from God the Father according to his humanity. This we say is the use. And he makes clear the cause of the incarnation. For having said that it was from the Father, he necessarily added, "Because of which he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to those in captivity, and to grant recovery of sight to the blind, and in addition to these to call also a day of recompense:" many at the same time are the manifest achievements of the incarnation of the Only-begotten. For in order that he might win the world under heaven, and bring those throughout the whole inhabited world to God the Father, having transformed all things to a better state, and as it were renewed the face of the earth, he took the form of a servant, although being Lord of all.

"The Spirit of the Lord God is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted," that is, God anointed him with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, after being incarnated and clothed with a human body, as is said, he has received the Spirit and has been anointed with the Spirit, because he has received the Spirit for us and has anointed us with it."The Spirit of the Lord is on me." That Spirit, which proceeds from the Father and is his essence, is in me, who am the Word and the Son of the Father, and through my incarnation I received the anointment of the economy of salvation.

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me." Clearly this happened to those who thought that the Christ of God was neither a mere man nor an unfleshed and unembodied Word who did not take on a mortal nature. Instead they say he is both God and human, God in that he is the only-begotten God who was in the bosom of the Father, and man … from the seed of David according to the flesh. Thus, God the Word, who through the prophecy has been called Lord, speaks out this prophecy that is preeminent among other promises: "I am the Lord, and in the right time I will draw them together." … Taking the chrism in the Holy Spirit, he, chosen from among all, appears as the only-begotten Christ of God. And the verse "he has sent me to proclaim good news to the poor," he fulfilled in that time when he "was preaching the kingdom of heaven" and explaining the beatitudes to the disciples by saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God." … And for those nations then imprisoned in their souls by the invisible and spiritual powers he preached release to his newly encouraged disciples.… Therefore, he preached release to the prisoners and to those suffering from blindness who were those enslaved by the error of polytheism, and he creates a year that is acceptable, through which he made all time his own year. And from the passing years of humanity he provides days of created light for those close to him. He never kept hidden the age that is to come after the perfecting of the present. For that age will be a time much on the Lord's mind, being an age and day of requiting. For he will grant a change of fortune or a year of favor to those struggling in the present life.

But afterward [the Spirit] came on him as he was baptized … and Jesus returned to Galilee. Considering all those things, we remember and acknowledge the Holy Spirit, who is one like the Father and the Son, without measure, and one who fills every creature and does the works that only God does, since one such cannot be sent from place to place since he is one who, we are taught, is immeasurable by nature.

For Christ did not at that time descend upon Jesus, neither was Christ one and Jesus another: but the Word of God-who is the Saviour of all, and the ruler of heaven and earth, who is Jesus, as I have already pointed out, who did also take upon Him flesh, and was anointed by the Spirit from the Father-was made Jesus Christ, as Esaias also says, "There shall come forth a rod from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise from his root; and the Spirit of God shall rest upon Him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the spirit of the fear of God, shall fill Him. He shall not judge according to glory, nor reprove after the manner of speech; but He shall dispense judgment to the humble man, and reprove the haughty ones of the earth." And again Esaias, pointing out beforehand His unction, and the reason why he was anointed, does himself say, "The Spirit of God is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me: He hath sent Me to preach the Gospel to the lowly, to heal the broken up in heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and sight to the blind; to announce the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance; to comfort all that mourn." For inasmuch as the Word of God was man from the root of Jesse, and son of Abraham, in this respect did the Spirit of God rest upon Him, and anoint Him to preach the Gospel to the lowly. But inasmuch as He was God, He did not judge according to glory, nor reprove after the manner of speech. For "He needed not that any should testify to Him of man, for He Himself knew what was in man." For He called all men that mourn; and granting forgiveness to those who had been led into captivity by their sins, He loosed them from their chains, of whom Solomon says, "Every one shall be holden with the cords of his own sins." Therefore did the Spirit of God descend upon Him, [the Spirit] of Him who had promised by the prophets that He would anoint Him, so that we, receiving from the abundance of His unction, might be saved. Such, then, [is the witness] of Matthew.

...the Son of God having been made the Son of man, as the very name itself doth declare. For in the name of Christ is implied, He that anoints, He that is anointed, and the unction itself with which He is anointed. And it is the Father who anoints, but the Son who is anointed by the Spirit, who is the unction, as the Word declares by Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me," -pointing out both the anointing Father, the anointed Son, and the unction, which is the Spirit.

Do not fall into despair because of stumblings. I do not mean that you should not feel contrition for [your sins], but that you should not think them incurable. For it is more expedient to be bruised than dead. There is, indeed, a Healer for the person who has stumbled, even He Who on the Cross asked that mercy be shown to His crucifiers, He Who pardoned His murderers while He hung on the Cross. … For a brief moment of mourning He pardoned Simon, who had denied Him.… Christ came in behalf of sinners, to heal the broken of heart and to bandage their wounds. "The Spirit of the Lord," He says, "is upon Me, to preach good tidings to the poor." … And the Apostle says in his epistle, "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners."

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me," etc. These words are manifestly said with regard to Zerubbabel but actually with regard to our Lord, as he has testified by himself. "Today," he said, "that Scripture has been fulfilled at your ears."

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the meek, to heal the broken in heart, and to preach indulgence to the captives, and opening to those who are shut in; and to proclaim a year of favor to the Lord, and a day of vengeance to our God; to comfort all who mourn; to appoint for those who mourn in Zion, and to give them a crown instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, a mantle of praise instead of a spirit of sorrow. LXX: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken in heart, to preach remission to the captives and sight to the blind, to call an acceptable year to the Lord, and a day of retribution, to comfort all who mourn, to give to those who mourn in Zion, to give them glory instead of ashes, the anointing of gladness to those who mourn, a garment of glory instead of a spirit of sorrow. He who said above, I the Lord will gather them in time, or, according to the Hebrew, I the Lord will do this suddenly in its time, says next, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me: not that the Lord God has a Lord God, but that, according to the dispensation of the flesh he assumed, he speaks the things that are lowly. To him the Psalmist had already said: You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of exultation above your fellows (Ps 44 [45]:8). For when fellows are named, understand the nature of the flesh, since God has no fellows of his substance. And because the anointing was spiritual, and by no means of a human body, as it was among the priests of the Jews, he is therefore said to have been anointed above his fellows, that is, the other saints. His anointing was fulfilled at the time when he was baptized in the Jordan, and the Holy Spirit came down upon him in the form of a dove and remained on him (John 1). Of him this same Prophet also said: A rod will come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower will rise up from its root, and the spirit of God will rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and godliness (Isa 11:1, 2). Hence the Savior too, after he was baptized in the Jordan, when he had come to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, entered their synagogue on the sabbath day, according to custom; and when he had stood up to read, the book of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and on opening it he found written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach the gospel to the poor, to preach remission to the captives and sight to the blind, to set the broken at liberty, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Then he rolled up the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on him, and he began to say to them: Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears; and all bore witness to him, and marveled at the words of grace that came forth from his mouth. If, then, the prophecy was fulfilled at that time, how do some refer what is said here to the times of the consummation? Unless perhaps we can say this: that what was then fulfilled in part is to be fulfilled more fully when the whole people of God will be righteous. For now we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect has come, the things that are in part will be done away (1 Cor 13). He was anointed, then, with the Holy Spirit to bring good news to the poor, or the meek, saying to them in the Gospel: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:3). And: Blessed are the gentle, for they shall possess the land (ibid., 4). And he was sent to heal those who are broken in heart (Luke 4), and who say: A broken and humbled heart God does not despise (Ps 50 [51]:19). Or, according to Symmachus and Theodotion, to bind up the wounds of sinners, to preach remission to the captives, sight to the blind, or opening to those who are shut in, which Symmachus translated more plainly, release to those in chains. Of whom, or rather to whom, it is said above: Behold, I have set you as a light of the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to lead out the bound from their chains, and from the prison house those who sit in darkness (Isa 42:6, 7).

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. [Isaiah 61:1-2] And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Let us therefore contemplate what those things are which he spoke in the prophet and afterward sounds forth about himself in the synagogue. "He sent me", it says, "to evangelize the poor". The "poor" signifies the nations; for these were "poor", possessing nothing at all, not God, not the law, not the prophets, not justice and the remaining virtues. For which cause God sent him to announce to the poor: "to preach release to the captives". Captives we were, whom for so many years Satan had bound, holding us captive and subject to himself. Jesus came "to preach release to the captives and to the blind, that they might see"; for indeed by the word and preaching of his teaching the blind see. Let the preaching therefore be understood ἀπὸ κοινοῦ (in common), not only over the captives, but also over the blind. "To send forth the broken into liberty". What was ever so broken and crushed as man, who was released and healed by Jesus? "To preach the acceptable year of the Lord". According to the simple understanding they say that the Savior preached the Gospel in Judea for one year, and that this is what is said: "to preach the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of retribution", unless perhaps the divine word signifies something of a mystery in the preaching of the year of the Lord. For there are to be other days, not such as we now discern in the world, and other months, and a different order of the Kalends. Just therefore as those are other, so also the year of the Lord to come is pleasing. But all these things have been foretold, that after sight from blindness, after liberty from chains, after health from diverse wounds, we may come to the "acceptable year of the Lord".

After completing these predictions, Isaiah now turns the prophecy to Christ the Master, who in the present life has given these things to the church and has promised the commonwealth to come.… We do not need many examples to explain the meaning of this prophecy. For the Master himself has made it clear to us. For, entering the synagogue he took the book, unrolled it … and he was anointed by the All-Holy Spirit, not as God but as man. For we have often made this manifest already in our other writings.…Isaiah calls "poor" those who have lost heavenly riches, "broken-hearted" those who have corrupted their reason, "blind" those who do not know God and who worship creation, "prisoner" those brought into the enemy's camp and who have lost their original freedom.… Christ did not only give to us the forgiveness of sins and free us from the tyranny of the devil and reveal to us the divine light, but he also announced the future existence and warned of the righteous judgment. For I think that "the year of grace" means his first coming and "day of recompense" the day of judgment. To console all who mourn with the hope of the resurrection, he has tempered the despair of death.… "Perfume of joy," which Theodotion and Symmachus translate by "oil of gladness," refers to the mystical anointing through which those made worthy receive the cloak of glory; for "cloak" must be understood as spiritual clothing.… As the blessed David says, "This is the generation that seeks the Lord." The three interpreters, instead of "the generations of justice," have "the strong ones of justice, a plantation of the Lord for his glory." In this way, the finest generals of godliness, as they roam the globe, remove impiety, and they plant in the desert the first plantations of the Lord.

1073. The spirit of the Lord is upon me. Here he promises joy to the people. And this is divided into two parts:

in the first, he promises joy;

in the second, the people receive the promise and give thanks, where it says, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord (Isa 61:10).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he accepts the office of announcing joy;

second, he foretells the reason or the matter of this joy: and they shall be called (Isa 61:3).

1074. Concerning the first, he does two things.

First, the gift of prophecy is treated: the spirit of the Lord is upon me, Isaiah, because the Lord has anointed me, filling me with the gift of prophecy: for prophecy came not by the will of man at any time: but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet 1:21). Or, this concerns Christ, about whom it says above: the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him (Isa 11:2), and in Psalm 44:8[45:7], God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows. This day is fulfilled this scripture in your ears (Luke 4:21).

1075. Second, the action of the prophet or Christ is treated, which is twofold:

to foretell rewards to the good, to preach to the meek: with meekness receive the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls (Jas 1:21);

and to bring remedy to the suffering, as to those who are dejected with pusillanimity: to heal the contrite of heart, by consoling them, or forgiving their sins, if this is referred to Christ: who heals the broken of heart, and binds up their bruises (Ps 146[147]:3); and as to those who were held in captivity, to whom he announces the benefit of liberation: and to preach a release to the captives, literal captives; or those captive under the devil and their own errors, above: that you might say to them that are bound: come forth (Isa 49:9).

1079. Note on the words, the Lord has anointed me (Isa 61:1), that God the Father anointed Christ,

first, with the oil of priestly dignity, as a priest to offer sacrifices: he anointed him with holy oil (Sir 45:18[15]);

second, with the oil of royal power, as a king to govern: I anointed you king (2 Sam 12:7) and prince of my people;

third, the oil of immense strength, as a boxer to fight: how was the shield of the valiant cast away, the shield of Saul as though he had not been anointed with oil? (2 Sam 1:21);

fourth, the oil of eminent gladness, as a liberal man to have mercy: glad is the man that shows mercy and lends (Ps 111[112]:5); God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows (Ps 44:8).

1080. Likewise, the devout servant anoints Christ:

first, with the tears of compunction: anoint your head, and wash your face (Matt 6:17);

second, with the ointment of devotion: but she with ointment has anointed my feet (Luke 7:46);

third, with the oil of pure intention: at all times let your garments be white, and let not oil depart from your head (Eccl 9:8);

fourth, with the oil of praise and thanksgiving: Jacob arising in the morning, took the stone . . . and set it up for a title, pouring oil upon the top of it (Gen 28:18).

WHY HAVE THE DEEDS AND SAYINGS OF THE LORD BEEN ARRANGED IN WRITING IN FOUR BOOKS BY FOUR AUTHORS? — It was fitting that the acceptable year of the Lord, as the prophet says (Isa. 61:2), should be contained in four books as if in four seasons. For just as the year unfolds in four seasons, in such a way that they need one another, so too the deeds and sayings of the Lord have been set forth in four books, in such a way that each one needs the others; yet together they form perfect fullness. And as to why they were ordered by four writers, this was the reason: because the names of the seasons are different, so also the titles of the Gospels should be different. And if anything in their wording seems contrary, yet in meaning they do not differ, thanks to an interpretation suitably adapted to the matter: just as the seasons, although they clearly differ in name, in climate, and in the course of the stars, yet do not differ in the effects of the things they bring forth.

"Acceptable" is that year in which we were received, when we took kinship with him, having our sins washed away through holy baptism and becoming partakers of the divine nature through the sharing of the Holy Spirit. Or "acceptable" is the year in which he revealed his glory through the divine miracle attesting the message. We received the time for salvation gladly … the day of reckoning is none other than the time of his dwelling among us in which the reckoning has been given by him to those believing in him through the promise in hope.… For the Savior himself said, "Now is the judgment of this world, now is the prince of the world cast out." The time of reckoning, then, is in this manner, when Christ illuminated the world.

By the acceptable year and the day of retribution understand the whole time of his preaching, during which he lived in the flesh. This the apostle Paul too interprets of the first coming of the Savior, saying: Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor 6:2). Of this we spoke more fully above (cf. Isa 60). But if retribution is taken not in the rewards of the good but in the punishments of sinners, in accordance with its being called the day of vengeance, it must be understood of the Jewish people, upon whom, after his passion, the wrath of God came at once.

And he comforted all who mourn, saying: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted (Matt 5:5), so that he might appoint for those who mourn in Zion, and give them glory and a crown instead of ashes. Among these was the apostle Paul too, who mourned for Zion and said: For I have sorrow and continual grief (Rom 9:2); and again: I could wish that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites (ibid., 3). And therefore those who mourned and lamented received the oil of joy instead of ashes, seeing that very many of the Jews had believed and were receiving a most pure robe instead of the garment of mourning.

And the time of liberation: to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, as to the liberation of the Jews, and the day of vengeance, as to the Chaldeans; or the time of grace, in which he takes vengeance upon the devil, curbing his power: now is the judgment of the world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out (John 12:31); you shall bless the crown of the year of your goodness (Ps 64:12[65:11]); for the time is come (Ps 101:14[102:13]).

1076. And as to those who are consumed with sadness, to whom he announces joy: to comfort all that mourn, in general.

And in her they will be called the mighty ones of righteousness, the planting of the Lord for glorifying. And they will build the places deserted from of old, and raise up the ancient ruins, and restore the cities deserted and scattered from generation to generation. And strangers will stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of foreigners will be your farmers and vinedressers. LXX: And they will be called generations of righteousness, the planting of the Lord for glory. And they will build the everlasting desert places; those that had formerly been made desolate will be raised up, and they will renew the deserted cities, desolate for generations; and foreigners will come and feed your sheep, and ploughmen and vinedressers of other nations. After both the Apostles and apostolic men have received, instead of ashes and a spirit of sorrow, the oil of joy and the mantle, or, according to the Seventy, the robe of glory and praise, then they will be called generations of righteousness, the glorious planting of the Lord; or, according to the Hebrew ELE (אילי), with both syllables lengthened, mighty ones, and of the righteousness of God, or the planting of the Lord for glorifying; so that, when they have been glorified, or have themselves glorified the Lord, they may build the cities deserted from of old, and raise up the ancient ruins, both of the people of the Jews and of all the nations.

To appoint to the mourners of Zion, in particular: with a great spirit he saw the things that are to come to pass at last, and comforted the mourners in Zion (Sir 48:27); and the sign of joy, when the signs of sadness are turned to signs of gladness, and this is and to give them a crown for ashes, above: in that day the Lord shall be a crown of glory (Isa 28:5).

1077. And they shall be called. Here he foretells the matter of their joy. And first, as to the restoration of buildings, setting out the condition of the rebuilders: and they shall be called in it, namely, Jerusalem, by the command and permission of Cyrus, the mighty ones of justice, constant in doing justice, not shaken by the threats of their adversaries; or this can refer to the apostles: as the rose planted by the brooks of waters (Sir 39:17[13]).

For the Savior cultivates us through the holy people of faith. And these are called God's coworkers.… And the gladness will be everlasting; for we do not expect the reward to be in things of this age but in exceeding hope and life without limit for those who are noble concerning thought and speech.

This is said to the holy apostles, "Do not be distressed when you are persecuted, tortured and disgraced among all and endure death of a thousand vanities. For through your sufferings the nations will gain salvation, and they will have a portion among those rejoicing."

And the restoration of buildings, and they shall build, these same men, or the apostles, above: and the places that have been desolate for ages shall be built in you (Isa 58:12).

They will have not only the skill of building and restoring cities, but they will also be the best of shepherds, so that, the old shepherds being driven away, to whom God had said through Ezekiel, O shepherds of Israel, do shepherds feed themselves, and not rather the sheep (Ezek 34:2)?, they may hear with the apostle Peter: Feed my sheep (John 21:17). And in a wonderful manner they will pass from masons and shepherds to farmers, that is, to ploughmen and vinedressers, so that they may say with the Apostle: We are God's building, God's husbandry (1 Cor 3:9). Thus the Savior asks the scribes and Pharisees, the vinedressers and farmers of the Jews, what he will do to the wicked vinedressers and farmers; and when they answered, He will destroy the wicked wickedly, and give the vineyard to other farmers (Matt 21:41), he went on: The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation producing its fruits (ibid., 43). The matter needs no interpretation. For how few of the princes of the churches are from the Jews, and not from foreigners and men of outside nations! Formerly serving idols, and strangers to the testament of God and aliens from his promises, having no hope and without God in the world, they now preside over the churches, and with the plough of faith they tame the hard and formerly untamed hearts of the Gentiles to bear fruit, so that they may multiply the seed of the Lord's doctrine with an abundance of good works.

1078. Second, as to the keeping of their possessions: and strangers shall stand. This could be fulfilled literally, as some foreigners were employed in these menial services, like the Gabaonites: so let them live, as to serve the whole multitude (Josh 9:21); or mystically: the gentile preachers, flocks: the simple believers of the Church, and these keep and cultivate the Church herself by their merits and teaching.

But you will be called the priests of the Lord; it will be said to you, ministers of our God. You will eat the strength of the nations, and you will pride yourselves in their glory. Instead of your double confusion and shame they will praise their portion; therefore in their land they will possess double things; everlasting gladness will be theirs; for I am the Lord who loves judgment, and hates robbery in burnt offering. LXX: But you will be called the priests of the Lord, ministers of our God. You will eat the strength of the nations, and in their riches you will be admirable. Thus they will possess the land a second time, and everlasting joy will be upon their head. For I am the Lord who love righteousness and hate robberies from iniquity. The builders of the deserted cities and the shepherds of the flocks, who are themselves the ploughmen and vinedressers, that is, the sons of foreigners, are themselves also the priests of God, to whom the Prophet now says: But you will be called the priests of the Lord, and it will be said to you, ministers of our God: there is no doubt that he means the princes of the churches. Or certainly it is to be understood of the Apostles, so that the order is: When masons, shepherds, ploughmen and vinedressers from the nations have been set over the churches, you, of whom it was said, A remnant will be saved (Rom 9:27), and, Unless the Lord Sabaoth had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom, and should have been like Gomorrah (Isa 1:9), will be called priests and ministers of God, such as the sons of David also were, of whom Scripture says: And the sons of David were priests of God (2 Sam 8:18). These will eat the strength of the nations, and in their riches they will be admirable. For the crown of fathers is the glory of their children, and the progress of the people is the feast of the priests (Prov 17). Of riches of this kind Paul wrote to the Corinthians: I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ that in everything you have been made rich in him, in all speech and in all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ has been confirmed in you, so that you lack nothing in any grace (1 Cor 1:4ff.). The strength of the nations is the triumph of the Martyrs, and we are proud in their glory, not with that pride which lies in vice, which God resists, that he may give grace to the humble, but with that which is taken for power and glory (Jas 4). Hence Moses too had a horned face (Exod 34), who could say: In you we shall toss our enemies with the horn (Ps 43 [44]:6). And for the pride of glory Aquila translated καὶ ἐν δόξῃ αὐτῶν πορφύρᾳ ἐνδύσεσθαι, that is, you will be clothed in purple, to show the badge of royal splendor.

1081. But you shall be called the priests. Here he foretells the matter of joy as to the glory of men. And concerning this, he does three things.

First, he shows the perfection of their glory, because they are glorious in spiritual things: priests, as living a holy life worthy of priesthood, as 2 Kings 8:18 says of the sons of David: how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints (Wis 5:5); they are glorious, too, in temporal things: you shall eat the strength of the Gentiles, that is, you shall be refreshed and sustained by the strength of the Persians and Medes; you shall pride yourselves, you shall be exalted, above: when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to you, the strength of the Gentiles shall come to you (Isa 60:5). Mystically: the apostles are priests, as the teachers of the gentiles, and they delighted in the strength of the martyrs.

About this twin glory it is written, "they will possess double in their own land." This is written concerning the souls of the saints, for single white cloaks are given to them, and it is said that they might have rest a short time until the number of their colleagues and brothers is filled up. So they take now single cloaks, but they will have double cloaks on the day of judgment; for the first is in the way of souls only, but later they will rejoice in the glory of souls and bodies together.

And what follows, Instead of double confusion and instead of shame they will praise their portion, which is not found in the Seventy, I think should be explained thus: Because you had a double confusion, both over the people of the Jews, which had departed from God, and over the nations, which served idols, you will see them, converted to the fear of God, praising their portion: without doubt the Lord, of whom the holy man also spoke: My portion is the Lord (Ps 72 [73]:26). No one can say this except one who has no other portion. Because, then, you had over them a double confusion and the shame of their sin, over which they themselves did not blush, therefore in their land, that is, in the land of the gentle and of the living, they will possess double things, since they will have believed both in the things present and in the things to come. And they will have everlasting gladness. For which we read in the Seventy, thus they will possess the land a second time. And everlasting joy will be upon their head, so that those who had possessed the land within the very narrow borders of Judea afterwards possess the whole world. Of this land the Father speaks to the Savior: Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession (Ps 2:8).

1082. And he assigns the reason for the perfection: for your double confusion, as if to say: you had confusion from lack of spiritual and temporal things; they shall praise, that is, your neighbors, seeing, their part, the recompense of double goods, made to them by God: I will render you double as I declare today (Zech 9:12). Mystically: the Church receives rewards in the goods of soul and body for the double confusion from the faithlessness of the gentiles and the Jews.

1083. Second, he touches on the duration of their glory: everlasting joy. This is true as long as they remained in justice, as Jeremiah 18:7–10 explains, above: everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness (Isa 35:10).

But it is one thing to show mercy for sins, another to sin for the sake of showing mercy, which cannot really be called mercy since it does not issue in sweet fruit, since it is embittered through the influence of a diseased root. For here the Lord rebukes such sacrifices through the prophet, saying, "I, the Lord, love justice and hate robbery with whole burnt offerings." … Such people also often withdraw from the poor what they give to God. But the Lord shows how strongly he disowns and censures such conduct.

This the Lord has granted, who loves the truth of judgment and hates robbery in burnt offering. For which the Seventy translated robbery from iniquity, as though there were some robbery that did not consist of iniquity. What he says, then, is this: God loves the poverty of the righteous more than the gifts of the rich, which come from robberies and iniquity.

And I will give their work in truth, and I will strike an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed will be known among the nations, and their offspring in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them, that these are the seed which the Lord has blessed. LXX: And I will give their labor to the righteous, and I will set an eternal testament with them. And their seed will be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples. Everyone who sees them will recognize them, that these are the seed blessed by God. God, who loves righteousness and judgment and detests violent burnt offerings (for whatever comes from robbery he reckons as the hire of a harlot and the price of a dog), will himself give the labor of those who will possess the land a second time, and whom he will have crowned with a double gladness, to the righteous, or, as is better in the Hebrew, in truth: so that it is no longer, as in the Law, the shadow of the truth, but the truth itself. And he will strike an everlasting covenant, not such as he had given to Moses, which has passed away, but the covenant of the Gospel, of which Christ speaks: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away (Matt 24:35).

"If you offer rightly, but do not reason rightly, have you not sinned?" For those offerings of fasts, which we extort without thought by violently wrenching our stomachs and fancy that we rightly offer to the Lord, he who "loves mercy and judgment" denounces, saying: "I the Lord love judgment, but I hate robbery in a burnt offering." Similarly, those also who take the main part of their offerings, that is, their offices and actions, to benefit the flesh for their own use, but leave the remains as a tiny portion for the Lord, are also condemned as fraudulent workers by the Divine Word, saying: "Cursed is the one who does the work of the Lord fraudulently."

And he assigns the reason: for I am the Lord. And this is the sense: because the Lord loves justice, he will grant to you that you will be just, that thus you may be pleasing to him, and he will make a covenant with you of everlasting joy; I hate robbery in a holocaust: he that offers sacrifice of the goods of the poor, is as one that sacrifices the son in the presence of his father (Sir 34:24); a perpetual covenant: and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah (Jer 31:31).

And then the apostolic seed will be known among the nations, and all future generations will receive the sowing of God's doctrine; by no means saying that in which the people of the circumcision formerly erred, saying: For what else does God seek but seed? Everyone who sees them will recognize at first sight that they are the seed which the Lord has blessed. For who would not recognize the people of God from their manner of life, their gentleness, continence, hospitality and all their virtues? And who, on the contrary, would not detest the bloody hands of Israel, against whom the Prophet prays, saying: Fill their faces with shame, O Lord (Ps 82 [83]:17)?

1084. Third, the divulging of their glory: and they shall know their seed among the Gentiles. This refers either to the Jews who were known for their religious worship, or to the spiritual seed of the apostles: and their children for their sakes remain for ever (Sir 44:13).

What is it that was said? "The two will be one flesh. This is a great sacrament, but I am speaking of Christ and the church." … So that you may realize that these are in some sense two persons and yet again are one by the union of marriage, he speaks as one in Isaiah: "He has bound a headband on me like a bridegroom and clothed me with an ornament like a bride." He called himself a bridegroom as the head, the bride as the body. So he speaks as one; let us hear him and let us also speak in him. May we be in his members, so that his voice can be ours also.

Generously he lays his hands on them and in order to crown with many fine gifts those petitioning he says, "Everyone who sees them will recognize that they are a seed blessed by God" and adds, "And they will rejoice in the Lord." And he immediately gives them joy. Here the person of the church is introduced full of joy as it sounds forth, "May my soul rejoice in the Lord, for he has clothed me in a cloak of salvation and a tunic of rejoicing." The tunic of rejoicing means our Lord Jesus Christ. … They who have him like a garment gain not only salvation but also happiness and many joys. The Savior says, "The thief only comes to steal, but I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly." … Christ is, therefore, the tunic that is from heaven and from above, which if anyone takes he or she will be crowned with all beauty (spiritually understood) and with the distinction of good work—like a groom wearing a mitre or as a bride clothed in all beauty. For those in Christ, fortified for the spiritual mastering, are well-equipped and ready for every aspect of virtue. They are like brides on account of their fruitfulness, with the many-splendored beauty that comes from the brilliance of virtues. Thus spoke one of the holy prophets, highlighting those who made straight the well-led life, "For the fear of you, Lord, we have conceived in the womb and labored and brought forth the spirit of salvation that you have given throughout the world." Thus, the saints are compared with a bridegroom and bride on account of their fortitude and their fertility.… It shows that Christ shines out justice and gladness among the nations, just like flowers garland the earth.… For as the small and growing seed becomes a flower, just so was our Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed before the nations when it says also in the Song of Songs, "I am flower of the field, a lily of the valleys."

After these promises that the Son of God has made concerning his first advent, it is extremely fitting that the word here addresses the church of God as receiving good and blessed things in those in whom he labored. As if receiving the appropriate items to wear, she takes the fullness of those being saved and like a bride she is said to consist of one fine and fair body and to have clothed around her the beauty of her groom. She is a monument of light, flashing forth a body of divine resurrection that is called the body of the Savior. For it is no longer a body of death, as Paul confirms: "Who will save me from this body of death?" For this is salvation, to put a cloak of salvation on one's soul and a tunic of righteousness. For each one by his deeds that are done according to righteousness puts on his own fine apparel.… For she who is the bride of the Word receives seeds from him and returns splendid and fresh fruit.

Rejoicing I will rejoice in the Lord, and there has exulted my soul in my God: for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, and with the vesture of righteousness he has encompassed me, as a bridegroom adorned with a crown, and as a bride decked with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its shoot, and as a garden makes its seed spring up, so the Lord God will make righteousness and praise spring up before all the nations. LXX: With joy they will be glad in the Lord; let my soul exult in the Lord. For he has clothed me with the garment of salvation, and has put about me the tunic of gladness. As a bridegroom with a mitre, and as a bride he has adorned me with a woman's finery, and as the earth putting forth its flower, and as a garden makes its seeds spring up, so the Lord God brings forth righteousness and praise in the sight of all the nations. The beginning of the passage according to the Seventy, who said, With joy they will be glad in the Lord, is joined to the end of the preceding passage. But according to the Hebrews it is the opening of another section, in which the Church is brought in answering the words of Christ: Rejoicing I will rejoice in the Lord, and my soul will exult in my God: by no means in the fathers, as the Jews gloried, saying, We are the seed of Abraham, and have never been slaves to anyone (John 8:33), but in God, as Scripture says: Now the multitude of the believers had one heart and one soul (Acts 4:32). And she gives the reasons for her gladness: For he has clothed me with the garment of salvation, and with the vesture, or tunic, of righteousness and gladness, which in Hebrew is called MAIL (מעיל), he has adorned and encompassed me. For as many of us as have been baptized in Christ put on Christ, and have the tunic of righteousness, who has been made for us holiness, righteousness and redemption (Gal 1). And she sets forth a likeness of two companies in the Church, the perfect and the beginners (1 Cor 1). The perfect she compares to the beauty of the bridegroom; the beginners she likens to the adornment of the bride. Paul was perfect, who, like a bridegroom adorned with a crown and to be crowned, or, as Aquila translated, ἱερατευμένος στεφάνῳ, which in our language is bearing a crown as a priest, said by the authority of Christ speaking in him: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; for the rest, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness (2 Tim 4:7). And in another place: As many of us, then, as are perfect, let us be thus minded (Phil 3:15). But he was a beginner in comparison with fullness, when he spoke in the person of beginners: When I was a little child, I spoke as a little child, I understood as a little child, I thought as a little child (1 Cor 13:11). And again: We see in part and we know in part, until that which is perfect comes (ibid., 9). And therefore he is likened to the adornment of the bride, who is adorned with a woman's finery, or, as the others translated, with vessels, or with her jewels.

Here in the person of the church he cries to its benefactor, … "May my soul rejoice." … He calls the grace of baptism "the garment of salvation" and "the cloak of joy," for "as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." For in the Hebrew language the garment of salvation is called the garment of "Jeshua," that is, of Jesus, like a young groom. … She both calls herself a bride, because she has been yoked to the bridegroom, and a bridegroom, because she has put on the bridegroom [Christ]. As for the mitre, the three interpreters translate it as "crown." Of this adornment the blessed David comments, "The queen is here on your right, arrayed in a multicolored golden vestment." The text means the multicolored gifts of the All-Holy Spirit.

1085. I will greatly rejoice. Here the people receive the promise and give thanks. And concerning this, he does two things.

First, in the person of the people or of the Church, he expresses joy of heart: I will greatly rejoice: but I will rejoice in the Lord: and I will joy in God my Jesus (Hab 3:18).

Second, he confesses the divine benefit,

and first, under the likeness of clothing, inasmuch as the divine benefits protect them from sufferings: for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, above: put on the garments (Isa 52:1) of your joy.

Second, under the likeness of adornments, inasmuch as they adorn them: as a bridegroom. Mystically, as to the perfect in the Church, taking the place of Christ; and as a bride, as to the imperfect: I will clothe you with the double garment (Bar 5:2).

Therefore, those who had been scattered returned, preaching the word of God. Instead of "the dispersed," the Greek text has "disseminated," that is, scattered like seed, for they were those about whom Isaiah said, "their offspring in the midst of the peoples" and about whom the Lord in the parable of the Gospel said, "the good seed is those sons of the kingdom." For this seed was disseminated throughout many regions, so that the harvest of faith that started in Jerusalem filled first Judea and Samaria and then the whole world. About these same ones, dispersed or rather disseminated through the next generations, it is said that they spoke the word not only to Jews but also to Greeks, and the noblest foundations of the new church in Antioch were planted through these.

And she sets forth examples of another comparison, of which the first refers to the bridegroom, the next to the bride. As the earth brings forth its shoot and is watered by the rains of heaven, and as a garden makes its seed spring up, which longs for the waters of springs and rivers, so, he says, the Lord will make righteousness and gladness spring up before all the nations: by no means before Israel, so as to strike down the haughtiness of the Jews, but before all the nations, which are gathered in the Church.

Then Isaiah says, "Raise a standard to the nations." For the Lord has made it to be heard to the end of the earth. Let no one think that this is said about the Jewish people. For he orders the standard to be raised to the ends of the earth.The nature of this audible sign that he has raised is his making known the word of faith, which we proclaim, or perhaps it is the symbol of the suffering of the Savior. For this is contained in the confession of faith. For it should be said that the Lord Jesus believed that God raised him from the dead. Now he instructs the daughter of Zion, who is clearly the church as it awaits salvation. For it is the daughter of those among the Jews who of old were a godly community. Now he speaks of the second coming, reminding [the church] that he is the one who formerly saved it, on whose account he acted and suffered.

There are some who would explain the whole passage this way. It is prophetic custom to lament the bad things but to rejoice in the good. And this is what the prophet does here. For telling forth the good news of the coming of Christ and the salvation of all things, putting on Christ and being adorned and surrounded by him, he gives praise in the spirit, having the disposition of a young man with a virgin, as long as he is joined to Christ. And the "as the earth shoots forth its flower" represents those who receive in their souls the spermatic words that prepare the way for Christ. For their eyes have an affinity with the light. They see whenever light is present. So, too, when Christ arises we receive him through our preparedness for him and immediately turn away from darkness. It says that he appeared from the shoot of Israel as one openly rejoicing before the nations.And lest Israel seemed abandoned, I will not abandon my plan, which was made from the beginning, nor its dignity. For first of all Christ sent his disciples to the lost sheep of Israel.

It is the custom of prophets to foresee the things to come, to mourn and lament the disasters and then from their visions of favor to tell the people the good news, even when those listening reject them, to rejoice and raise their spirits, since the prophets are those who possessed a fixed intention concerning the vision of things signified. Now the prophet looks toward Christ as he puts him on as a garment. For all who are clothed in Christ have put on the garment of salvation and beautify his holy church. And this is a fuller version of that disposition that a young man is filled with toward a virgin, rejoicing and dancing in spirit, as one united with Christ, having put him on and having him as a tunic of rejoicing.

The text signifies the seed-like words that are planted in the soul as in earth and as seeds grow in a garden. No seed from outside or of a different sort is let in, but it is like soil that has the word and yields to Christ. Just as the eyes in the body have a close connection with the light and when the sun rises we immediately see this link, so when the Savior will enlighten us, we will in turn illuminate that readiness for righteousness, which is mixed into us, putting aside the dark ways of our souls.

Third, under the likeness of buds, as to their fruits: for as the earth brings forth her bud, above: it shall bud forth and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy and praise (Isa 35:2).