Commentaria in Scripturam Sacram, Vol. 11: Prolegomena (prefaces and canons)
LXXV. Chap. xlvi, ver. 13. “I will give salvation in Sion, and my glory in Israel,” as if to say: I, God, will show my glory in Sion, that is in the Church; and in Israel, that is in the faithful.
LXXVI. Chap. xlviii, ver. 4. “I knew that thou art stubborn, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy forehead of brass.”
LXXVII. Ver. 9. “For my praise I will bridle thee, lest thou perish,” as if to say: With the bridle of my chastisement I will call thee back, lest thou rush into crimes and destruction. Hence he adds: “Behold I have refined thee, but not (fully and purely) as silver, I have chosen thee in the furnace of poverty.” LXXVIII. Ver. 22. “There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord.”
LXXIX. Chap. l, ver. 8. “He is near (God) that justifieth me (Christ), who will contend with me?”
LXXX. Chap. li, ver. 9. “Arise, arise, put on strength, O arm of the Lord, etc. Art not thou he that struck the proud one, and wounded the dragon?” Namely Pharao, who like a dragon, that is a crocodile, swam in his rivers and banks of the Nile, and like a whale pursued the Hebrews in the Red Sea. “Art not thou he who driedst up the sea, the waters of the mighty deep?” Namely of the Red Sea, that the Hebrews might pass out of Egypt. With the like arm and strength thou wilt strike the dragon, that is the devil, and lead thy elect safe through the sea of this world into heaven. Hence follows: “And now they that are redeemed by the Lord shall return, and shall come into Sion singing praises, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.”
LXXXI. Chap. lv, ver. 6. “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found: call upon him while he is near.”
LXXXII. Chap. lvi, ver. 7. “My house shall be called the house of prayer to all peoples.”
LXXXIII. Chap. lvii, ver. 1. “The just perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and men of mercy are taken away, for there is none that understandeth: for the just man is taken away from the face of evil.”
LXXXIV. Ver. 13. “The wind shall carry them all away (those who hope in idols), a breeze shall take them: but he that putteth his trust in me shall inherit the land, and shall possess my holy mountain.”
LXXXV. Ver. 17. “For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry, and I struck him: I hid my face from thee, and was angry, and he went away wandering in the way of his own heart.” It is a great punishment of an angry God that he suffer sinners to wander and fulfil their lusts at pleasure; for so they rush into all crimes, and at last into hell.
LXXXVI. Chap. lviii, ver. 3. “Why have we fasted, and thou hast not regarded: have we humbled our souls, and thou hast not taken notice?” God answers, and gives the cause: “Behold in the day of your fast your own will is found, and you exact of all your debtors. Is this such a fast as I have chosen, for a man to afflict his soul for a day (by fasting)? Is it to wind his head about like a circle, and to spread sackcloth and ashes? Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? loose the bands of wickedness, etc., break thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harbourless into thy house: when thou shalt see one naked, cover him.”
LXXXVII. Chap. lix, ver. 4. “They conceived labour, and brought forth iniquity,” as if to say: They conceive designs of harming, that they may afterwards bring them forth and carry them out, and unjustly harass the simple.
LXXXVIII. Ver. 14. “Truth hath fallen down in the street, and equity could not enter in,” as if to say: The whole city is full of iniquity and deceit, there is no place for truth and justice, no access.
LXXXIX. Chap. lx, ver. 22. “The least shall be a thousand, etc.” A faithful preacher especially will beget very many faithful like himself, as St. Francis, little and least in humility, grew into a most numerous family.
XC. Chap. lxi, ver. 8. “I am the Lord that love judgment, and hate robbery in a holocaust.”
XCI. Ver. 9. “All that shall see them (my faithful) shall know them, that these are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.”
XCII. Chap. lxiv, ver. 4. “The eye hath not seen, O God, besides thee, what things thou hast prepared for them that wait for thee.”
XCIII. Ver. 6. “We are all become as one unclean, and all our justices as the rag of a menstruous woman,” namely the justifications of the old law, or the justices which we sought from the sprinklings and sacrifices of Aaron. For it is the voice of the Jews. Such also were the justices of the Gentiles, which they arrogated to themselves on account of philosophy and moral virtues.
XCIV. Ver. 8. “And now, O Lord, thou art our father, and we are clay: and thou art our maker, and we all are the work of thy hands.”
XCV. Ver. 11. “The house of our sanctification and of our glory, where our fathers praised thee, is burnt with fire. Wilt thou refrain thyself upon these things, O Lord, wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us vehemently?”
XCVI. Chap. lxv, ver. 2. “I have spread my hands all the day to an unbelieving people. Who say: Depart from me, come not near me, because thou art unclean: these shall be smoke in my anger, a fire burning all the day.”
XCVII. Ver. 13. “Behold my servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry: behold my servants shall drink, and you shall be thirsty: behold my servants shall rejoice, and you shall be confounded: behold my servants shall praise for joyfulness of heart, and you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for grief of spirit.”
XCVIII. Ver. 23. “My elect shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth (spiritually, making faithful and holy) in trouble: for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their posterity with them. And it shall come to pass, before they cry, I will hear: as they are yet speaking, I will hear.”
XCIX. Chap. lxvi, ver. 2. “To whom shall I have respect, but to him that is poor and little, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my words?”
C. Ver. 4. “I also will choose their mockeries: and I will bring upon them the things they feared: because I called, and there was none that would answer, I spoke, and they heard not.”
CI. Ver. 6. “A voice of the people from the city, a voice from the temple, the voice of the Lord that rendereth recompense to his enemies,” as if to say: I seem to myself to hear the voice of the people wailing at the destruction of the city and temple; and on the other side the voice of the Lord raging through the mouths of the enemies shouting, rejoicing in victory, and insulting the captive people.
CII. Ver. 9. “Shall not I that make others to bring forth children, myself bring forth, saith the Lord?”
CIII. Ver. 10. “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love her, etc. that you may suck, and be filled with the breasts of her consolations: that you may milk out, and flow with delights, from the abundance of all her glory.”
CIV. Ver. 12. “Behold I will bring upon her (Jerusalem, that is the Church) as it were a river of peace, and as an overflowing torrent the glory of the Gentiles, which you shall suck: you shall be carried at the breasts, and upon the knees they shall caress you.”
Ver. 13. “As one whom the mother caresseth, so will I comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
CV. Ver. 14. “Your bones shall spring up like an herb,” as if to say: Your bones, wasted, dry and dead with sadness and troubles in the captivity of Babylon, or rather of sin and the demon, shall in this new liberty and joy grow green and flourish again, as an herb dead in winter grows green and revives in spring.