Commentaria in Isaiam
26. THIS IS THE COUNSEL THAT I HAVE DEVISED UPON ALL THE EARTH, etc., AND UPON ALL NATIONS.—Take this fittingly as referring to the subject matter, namely all the earth and all the nations subject to the Assyrians, or allied with them, who bore arms with them against the Jews, such as the Syrians, Samaritans, Moabites, Idumeans, Philistines and Egyptians. Otherwise the Chaldean, the Septuagint and Pagninus, reading tsarim, that is, adversaries, translate: the sons of Balthasar shall not fill the world with hostile camps, as their parents did, who with warlike movements disturbed everything, to recover and extend their lost kingdom. So Cyril.
28. IN THE YEAR THAT KING ACHAZ DIED,—to whom his son Ezechias succeeded; therefore this prophecy against the Palestines, the enemies of the Jews, was delivered in the year of the pious king Ezechias, that by it the spirits of the Jews might be raised, and that they might know that the new reign of the pious king would be happy and auspicious. From this place St. Jerome judges that all the oracles that follow, to the end of the book, were delivered under Ezechias, as I have said.
29. REJOICE NOT, PHILISTIA, etc., BECAUSE THE ROD OF HIM THAT STRUCK THEE IS BROKEN.—By the one who struck, he means not king Achaz, as St. Jerome, Haymo and St. Thomas will have it; for Achaz received a great defeat from the Philistines, 2 Paralipomenon 28:18; but Samson, David, and Ozias, the grandfather of Achaz; for the latter greatly crushed the Philistines, as appears in 2 Paralipomenon 26. As if to say: Rejoice not, O Philistines, that your former smiters are dead, namely Samson, David and Ozias, who seemed to you to be serpents, that is, harsh and cruel, wounding you by their touch and stroke; for from them shall be born Ezechias, son of Achaz and great-grandson of Ozias, and he shall be to you, as the Prophet goes on to say, a still worse enemy, not a serpent only but what is called a regulus: a basilisk, far more harmful to you. For as a basilisk kills men not only by touch but by sight, namely by the pestilent breath which it sends out from its eyes, and even kills flying birds, and draws them to itself and swallows them up: so also Ezechias will overrun all that is yours by his power and arms, and will strike down and swallow up your most powerful men, as though from afar, by his mere look, presence and command, says St. Jerome. It happened so, as is told in 4 Kings 18, where it says: “He smote the Philistines as far as Gaza, and all their borders, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.”
The Prophet alludes first to the rod of Moses, which was turned into a serpent, and again into a rod, and struck Egypt and brought so many plagues upon it. As if to say: Such a rod and serpent shall Ezechias be to you, O Philistines!
Secondly, to Samson, who greatly afflicted the Philistines, of whom Jacob foretold, Genesis 49: “Let Dan be a snake in the way, a serpent in the path.” As if to say: That serpent which raged against you, O Philistines, and spewed out deadly venom, has not yet perished; for from him shall be born, that is, to him shall succeed, no longer a serpent, but a basilisk worse than he, namely Ezechias.
Note: Among the Hebrews there is a proverb: “Out of the root of the serpent shall come forth a basilisk”; they use it when a greater and more hostile thing succeeds a lesser disaster, calamity, enemy or devastation. Like it is that saying of Roboam: “My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions”; and such is this: “He fell into Scylla, wishing to avoid Charybdis”; and this: “Fleeing the lion, he met the bear”; and that of Job 6:16: “They that fear the hoar frost, the snow shall fall upon them.” So Sanchez.
Mystically, St. Bernard, in his treatise On the Eleven Burdens, sermon 2, says: “There follows the burden of the Philistines, whose name is interpreted ‘falling through drink,’ signifying those who, drunk with pride, fell from their heavenly dwelling. These now burden the wretched with temptation, now with affliction. These burdened the Egyptians with many and great plagues, as you have in the psalm: He sent upon them the wrath of his indignation, anger, and indignation, and trouble, which he sent by evil angels. These burdened the heart of Judas with avarice, the heart of the Pharisees with envy, and the heart of Pilate with folly. These burden the heart of the faithful with many temptations, insulting the soul that consents, and saying: Bow down, that we may go over.” Therefore attribute to these the threats of Isaias against the Philistines.
AND HIS SEED SHALL SWALLOW UP THE FLYING SERPENT.—The seed of the serpent is the basilisk, namely Ezechias, son of Ozias, who, as it were, with his spirit and breath alone, blowing upon them, burning, (for this is the Hebrew saraph), killing and swallowing up the Philistines, as I have said. Like this adage is that of the poet Eubulus: “Having the eyes of a locust, with a mouth that is moved on either side, destroyer of the offspring not yet born, killing the seed”; by which is signified the ichneumon, an Egyptian animal that breaks and devours the eggs of crocodiles before the seed grows into beasts. For it has a double mouth, that is, two-edged: it pricks below, and bites with its lips.
The Septuagint translates: and his seed a winged serpent. For “serpent” the Hebrew is saraph, that is, a burning and fiery serpent, such as those sent upon the murmuring Hebrews, Numbers 21. Moreover it is known that some serpents are winged and fly, and Solinus, chapter 35, asserts that the Arabian dragons are such, against which the ibis birds fight; hence the Egyptians worshipped them as gods. Therefore this winged serpent is the same as the one called a basilisk a little before; for Isaias also, chapter 30, verse 6, asserts that the basilisk has wings and flies. Such then was Ezechias to the Philistines. Such too, allegorically, is Christ, biting the devil and the reprobate, but saving the faithful and pious: hence he was lifted up on the wood like a winged serpent, that whosoever believeth in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting; and under him the chief Apostles, the poorest of the poor, led their lives in security.
The Syriac interpreter translates a little differently, namely: Out of the root of the serpent comes forth a two-headed serpent (the amphisbaena, of which Solinus, chapter 40, and Pliny, book 20, chapter 20), and his fruit a basilisk that flies; and the Arabic of Antioch: Out of the stock of the serpent comes forth a viper, and out of the offspring of the serpent a deaf flying serpent; and the Arabic of Alexandria: Out of the serpent comes forth a basilisk, and a flying serpent devouring the firstborn.
AND THE FIRSTBORN OF THE POOR SHALL BE FED.—In Scripture the firstborn is often called that which is chief and principal, say Forerius, Vatablus and Sanchez; for such in a house, among the sons, is the firstborn. Therefore the firstborn of the poor, and the heirs of the poverty of their parents, are the Jews under Ezechias, a little before laid waste by various nations. As if to say: There shall be peace and abundance of goods in Israel, even among the poor, when Philistia shall be consumed by famine; for this is what follows:
AND I WILL MAKE THY ROOT DIE OF HUNGER.—He speaks of Philistia as of a tree to be dried up or cut off at the root. As if to say: When I dry up the strength and resources of the Philistines, and consume all their remnants, then my Jewish people, before wretched and poor, shall rest and be fed.
31. HOWL, O GATE; CRY, O CITY.—Howl, gates and cities of the Philistines. By the gates he means the magistrates and princes (for these sat and judged in the gates), by the city the plebeians and common people. As if to say: Howl, as well the princes as all the people.
FOR A SMOKE SHALL COME FROM THE NORTH,—as if to say: From Jerusalem, which lies to the north of the Philistines, there shall come, not Sennacherib, as St. Jerome will have it, but Ezechias (that the Prophet speaks of him is clear from what has been said and from what goes before and follows), with a copious troop of soldiers, which, as it advances, will raise a great dust and smoke with its feet. Hence this dust is a sign of an advancing army; hence Virgil, What mass, O citizens, rolls in black darkness? . . . The enemy is at hand.
32. WHAT SHALL BE ANSWERED TO THE MESSENGERS OF THE NATION,—that is, of the nations, who according to custom shall come from the neighbouring provinces and nations to ask about the state of the war, whether the Philistines or the Jews prevail and conquer; or rather, the victory being already won, to congratulate Ezechias; to whom Ezechias and the Jews, ascribing the victory not to themselves but to God, shall answer what follows:
THAT THE LORD HATH FOUNDED SION, AND THE POOR OF HIS PEOPLE SHALL HOPE IN HIM.—As if to say: We give thanks to God, who has given us this victory, because he loves Sion and Jerusalem, and has determined to make it firm and established; wherefore henceforth the poor and afflicted in our people, seeing and considering this, shall hope in him more ardently in every calamity, and shall call upon him.
Allegorically and tropologically, this is easily applied to the spiritual Sion, that is, the Church, and the faithful soul.