Commentaria in Isaiam
First, Thou hast been favourable to the Jews; yet they did not return to Thee, nor did they glorify Thee; but rather in this way Thou didst remove them further from Thee and make them strangers, according to that of Deuteronomy 32:15: “The beloved grew fat, and kicked”; and Osee 10:1: “According to the multitude of his fruit he hath multiplied altars.” For it is plain from the books of Judges and Kings that the Jews in prosperity turned aside to idols, and in the tribulation and affliction caused by the Philistines and other enemies returned to God and called upon Him in supplication.
“THOU HAST REMOVED FAR ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.” As if to say, says St. Jerome: Through this Thy indulgence the ungrateful peoples departed from Thee, to the uttermost ends of the earth.
Secondly, that they might act in peace, and range without fear over all the borders of their own land, namely of the promise, repeat, “wast Thou glorified thereby?” as if to say: No; indeed then the people most worshipped idols; but on the contrary, when straitened they sought Thee, as follows.
Thirdly, Vatablus and Leo Castrius: “Thou hast removed far the borders,” that is, Thou hast extended their boundaries and estates: did they therefore glorify Thee? As if to say: Not at all. This sense is the plainest.
16. “IN THE TRIBULATION OF MURMURING THY INSTRUCTION IS UPON THEM.” They take up Thy instruction and discipline, albeit with murmuring. So St. Jerome. For as the instruction of oxen is the goad, so the foolish learn in no other way than when pricked by goads: hence the same Hebrew word malmad signifies both goad and instruction, says Sanchez. Others, as Vatablus and Forerius, take murmuring to mean prayer, to which tribulation rouses.
Others take it to mean contrition and indignation, by which the sinner, taught by tribulation, reproves himself. Hence the Chaldean for murmuring translates silence, in which the sinner, silent, is pricked within himself. The Septuagint translate, in little tribulation is Thy instruction for us, as if they said: Tribulation, though great in itself, seems small to the penitent: because it brings them discipline and a change of life.
17. “SO ARE WE BECOME IN THY SIGHT.” This is the voice of the people worn down by scourges and penitent, as if to say: As a woman from the pain of childbirth, so we, from Thy face, that is, from Thee afflicting us outwardly and pricking us inwardly, have conceived, and with great labour and effort have travailed, and at length have brought forth the spirit of salvation, namely as it were a new offspring and a new birth: hence the Septuagint, joining this to what follows, translate: we have brought forth the spirit of salvation which we made (the royal codices read, Thou madest) on the earth. Let the preachers of the word of God learn to engender this spirit in their hearers, with St. Paul saying: “My little children, of whom I am in labour again, until Christ be formed in you.” Vatablus takes spirit to mean wind, as if to say: A woman after her pains brings forth a child, but we, wicked, after the pains of a long travail, have brought forth wind, that is, a vanishing thing. Hence it follows: “We have not wrought salvation.” This sense is subtle, but not fitting.
Moreover, by these words Isaias describes what the fear of God effects in the womb of our soul, namely the conception and birth of grace, which he calls the spirit of salvation. Hence Theodoret from Eusebius: “The fear of the Lord,” he says, “makes the soul fruitful, and restrains the motion of concupiscence which rises from the flesh. For the human mind is like the womb of a woman, which, if it receives from God the seeds of piety, brings forth wholly good fruits.” St. Cyril translates thus: “Because of Thy fear, O Lord, we have borne in the womb, and have travailed, and have brought forth the spirit of salvation, with which we were pregnant upon the earth.” The fear of the Lord therefore makes the soul pregnant with holy thoughts and purposes, until it brings forth the birth of the good spirit, that is, of charity.
18. “WE HAVE NOT WROUGHT SALVATION IN THE EARTH, THEREFORE THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH HAVE NOT FALLEN.” This is the voice of the Prophets and Preachers, as if they said: Because we have not done holy works, noble and heroic works of salvation, both of our own and of our neighbours’; because we are slow to works of piety; therefore the inhabitants of the earth have not fallen from their pride and malice. Let the Saints say this even now, above all the preachers of the word of God: Therefore few forsake their vices, because we preachers fulfil our office slackly, because we preach with little spirit, because what we teach by word we do not first teach by example.
Secondly, St. Jerome, St. Thomas, Hugo and Sanchez fitly, as if the Jews said: Therefore the inhabitants of the land, namely of our own and neighbouring, such as the Jebusites, Philistines and others, have not fallen, have not been destroyed, but still vex and attack us; because we have not wrought salvation, that is, holy works, which bring forth salvation; they are therefore left to us as a goad and as a lye, that by their impurity they may wash away and cleanse whatever remains of vice in us.
Thirdly, Vatablus translates and explains otherwise, as if to say: Salvation was not wrought in the earth, that is, tribulation has not ceased, and yet the inhabitants of the land have not fallen under the hand of God, that is, those who afflicted us have not obeyed God, though conquered by our patience.
19. “THY DEAD SHALL LIVE” (O Lord! there is here a striking enallage; for this is the voice of Isaias to God: “Thy dead shall live,” as if to say: They shall rise again, and blessed shall be the dead who die in the Lord. Then follows the voice of God): “MY SLAIN SHALL RISE AGAIN” (as if to say: It shall altogether be so, as thou sayest, O Isaias! God calls His slain the Martyrs, who like Isaias were sawn asunder with a wooden saw for God, or killed in some other way. Then follows the voice of Isaias to the dead, that they rise to immortality and praise God, saying): “AWAKE, AND PRAISE, YE THAT DWELL IN THE DUST.” For “praise” the Septuagint translate eufranthesontai, that is, they shall rejoice; Aquila ainesousin, that is, they shall praise; Theodotion alalaxate, that is, shout for joy; others agalliasontai, that is, they shall exult. From the Hebrew Vatablus and Pagninus translate otherwise, namely: Thy dead, O Lord, shall rise with my corpse at the end of the ages. Our Hieronymus Prado explains this otherwise on Ezechiel chapter 20, verse 4, note 5, where by the dead and slain rising again he understands the Martyrs, whose constancy and virtue lives in the present Church, and established and increased it, the giants being prostrated, that is, the Decii, Diocletians and other tyrants who attacked it. But this resurrection is symbolic and mystical, not literal. Here, then, is the applause of Isaias and of the Saints for the future resurrection, which God applauds. So we read in the Life of St. Leocadia, 9 December, who was a noble virgin and martyr at Toledo in Spain under the Emperor Diocletian and the governor Dacianus, that after her death St. Ildefonsus, Archbishop of Toledo, and Recesvintus, king of the Spaniards, on the feast of St. Leocadia went to her tomb for veneration and prayer; and behold, the huge stone of her tomb rolled back of its own accord, St. Leocadia rose, and taking St. Ildefonsus’ hand in hers, said: “O Ildefonsus! through thee the glory of my Lord lives”; for he had defended the virginity of the Blessed Virgin against heretics. Ildefonsus answered her: “O glorious virgin! thou dost rightly reign with God in heaven, because for love of Him thou hast spent thy life. Look upon this thy city, which celebrates thy feast, and protect and console it.” As the Saint returned to the tomb, St. Ildefonsus, having received a knife from the king, cut off a small piece of her veil in memory of the miracle; and it is preserved in the Church of Toledo like a treasure.
“FOR THE DEW OF LIGHT IS THY DEW.” Our Hieronymus Prado on Ezechiel chapter 26, verse 20, thinks this is the praise and canticle of those rising again, as if to say, Isaias: Awake from the dust and the sepulchre, O dead! and praise God, and sing what follows, namely: “For the dew of light is Thy dew, and the land of the giants Thou shalt pull down into ruin.” For “of light” the Hebrew oroth signifies, first, lights; secondly, herbs and green and shining vegetables. Hence some translate and explain thus: As dew falling on herbs makes them grow and rise, so the dew of Thy grace falling on dead bones will raise them again. So it is said in Isaias 66:14: “Your bones shall spring up like grass”; and Ecclesiasticus 49:12: “Let their bones spring up out of their place.” So Vatablus.