Commentaria in Isaiam
Chapter Twenty-two
Here the ruin of Jerusalem is joined to the ruins of other nations, so that she may suffer the punishment of those whose guilt she imitated; for the Lord chose the nation not for the sake of the place, but the place for the sake of the nation. Secondly, at verse 15, he threatens Sobna, the unworthy and proud governor of the temple, with deposition and captivity, and foretells that the pious and gentle Eliakim shall be put in his place, to whom he promises a stable and glorious office.
1. The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee also, that thou too art wholly gone up to the housetops? 2. Full of clamour, a populous city, a joyous city: thy slain are not slain by the sword, nor dead in battle. 3. All thy princes are fled together, and they are bound hard: all that are found are bound together, they are fled afar off. 4. Therefore I said: Depart from me, I will weep bitterly: labour not to comfort me for the devastation of the daughter of my people. 5. For it is a day of slaughter, and of treading down, and of weeping to the Lord the God of hosts in the valley of vision, searching the wall, and glorious upon the mountain. 6. And Elam took the quiver, the chariot of the horseman, and the shield made bare the wall. 7. And thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate. 8. And the covering of Juda shall be discovered, and thou shalt see in that day the armoury of the house of the forest. 9. And you shall see the breaches of the city of David, that they are multiplied: and you have gathered together the waters of the lower pool, 10. and you have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and have broken down houses to fortify the wall. 11. And you made a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: And you looked not up to him that made it, nor did you behold from afar him that formed it. 12. And in that day the Lord the God of hosts shall call to weeping, and to mourning, to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: 13. and behold joy and gladness, killing calves, and slaying rams, eating flesh, and drinking wine: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. 14. And the voice of the Lord of hosts was revealed in my ears: Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you till you die, saith the Lord the God of hosts. 15. Thus saith the Lord the God of hosts: Go, get thee in to him that dwelleth in the tabernacle, to Sobna who is over the temple, and thou shalt say to him: 16. What dost thou here, or as if somebody here? for thou hast hewn thee out a sepulchre here, thou hast hewn out a monument carefully in a high place, a dwelling for thyself in a rock. 17. Behold the Lord will cause thee to be carried away, as a cock is carried away, and as a garment he will lift thee up. 18. With a crowning he will crown thee with tribulation, he will toss thee like a ball into a large and spacious country: there shalt thou die, and there shall be the chariot of thy glory, the shame of the house of thy lord. 19. And I will drive thee out from thy station, and depose thee from thy ministry. 20. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliacim the son of Helcias, 21. and I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and will give thy power into his hand: and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Juda. 22. And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none shall open. 23. And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, and he shall be for a throne of glory to the house of his father. 24. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, divers kinds of vessels, every small vessel, from the vessels of cups even to every instrument of music. 25. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, the peg that was fixed in a sure place shall be removed, and it shall be broken and shall fall, and that which hung thereon shall perish, because the Lord hath spoken it.
The first part of this chapter is to be separated from the rest. In the first part, where the subject is Jerusalem, the Prophet proceeds as follows:
First, by a question in which he asks the cause of the anxious tumult, the mourning, and the flight, and the captivity, of the inhabitants, verses 1–3.
Secondly, by an answer in which he himself describes the hostile forces gathered from fierce and barbarous nations, who move their camps against Jerusalem, and laments the devastation of the land, the overthrow of the city, and the plunder made by the enemy, verses 4–7.
Thirdly, by an exposition in which he describes the vain efforts of the besieged to defend themselves, verses 8–11.
Fourthly, by a reproach in which he rebukes the people, who trusting in these measures took licence for an Epicurean life in place of penance, with which God, being greatly offended, does not forgive them, verses 12–14.
In the second part, as to the rulers of the temple, concerning whom the Prophet receives a divine oracle, he foretells:
First, concerning Sobna: he was perhaps the chief among the wicked nobles of the court of that time, who from an overweening opinion of his own security and his splendid monument is to be carried away into exile, and there miserably to die, verses 15–19.
Secondly, concerning Eliacim: he is to succeed to the place of the former with supreme and stable power, and to be a great protection to his people, verses 20–24.
The oracle is concluded with an epilogue confirming the sentence against Sobna, verse 25.
1. The burden of the valley of vision, “that is, the burden of Jerusalem.” So St. Jerome, the Septuagint and others, as is plain from verse 4. Jerusalem is called a valley, first, because it lay beneath Mount Sion; secondly, because as a valley receives rain from heaven, so Jerusalem drew prophets and visions, that is, oracles, from God; thirdly, because the city, once renowned for piety and wisdom as well as for wealth and glory, so that it might be called a very high mountain, and was upon Sion, has now on account of its crimes, and the slaughter and disasters, namely this burden of destruction, become most lowly and abject, so that, destroyed by the Chaldeans and afterwards by the Romans, it might be called a valley and a chasm. So St. Jerome, Procopius and others. Hence the Septuagint render it, the word of the valley of Sion, as if to say: O Sion, who once wast a mountain renowned for temple, citadel and glory! now thou art sunk into the lowness and depth of a valley and of inglorious meanness. Such we now see Jerusalem, because of Christ slain by her, so that hardly any house in it is of any account; but the few inhabitants it has seem to dwell rather in huts and caves than in houses, as eyewitnesses report.
Of the vision—that is, of prophecy, because Jerusalem was the parent or nurse of almost all the Prophets. He alludes to Mount Moria, that is, of Vision, says Forerius, where Abraham, wishing to sacrifice his son, saw God, that is, the Angel acting in the place of God, Genesis 22:2. For Moria was in Jerusalem, and was Sion, on which the temple was built, as is plain from 2 Paralipomenon 3:1, as if to say: O Sion! thou wast Moria, now thou art Mara; thou wast the mountain of vision, now thou art a valley of tears and darkness; thou wast the temple of God, now thou art a den of robbers.
Mystically, St. Bernard, in his treatise On the Eleven Burdens of Isaias, sermon 9, speaks thus: “There follows the burden of the valley of vision: vision refers to contemplation, valley to humility or to dejection. For the contemplation of some is humble, of others cast down. The humble belongs to the saints, the cast down to sinners. But the saints, the more they advance, the more they are wearied by the burden of vanity; and thus they raise themselves to higher things, so that sometimes against their will they are drawn down to lower ones: for if virtue advances, humility is preserved; if the burdens, there is vanity. You know, brethren, what a struggle the advancing mind must sustain, lest human favour creep in, lest flattery dissolve it, lest the heart swell with ambition. But those who, since that which is known of God is known to them, behold the invisible things of God through the things that are made, became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened, and from the mountain of contemplation have fallen into the valley of error. Therefore they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of corruptible man, and of birds, and of fourfooted beasts, and of creeping things. And if you would know of what burden these are worthy, hear what follows: Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, to shameful passions: and God delivered them up to a reprobate sense.” He then applies this burden to others, saying: “But those also who, with knowledge of the Scriptures or heavenly doctrine, are turned aside by a wrong intention, for instance to the praises of men or to temporal gain, are known to belong to the valley of vision, so that knowledge signifies the vision, and the valley the intention. What weight of punishment awaits all these, the prophetic word declares.”
What aileth thee also (O Jerusalem!), that thou too art wholly gone up (all thy citizens, sons and daughters) to the housetops?—that you may look out from there, and with a common wail lament the common burning of the city and the ruin of the nation: for the roofs in Judea were flat, like platforms, so that men could walk upon them and view the streets and the city.