Commentaria in Isaiam
Chapter 29
Argument. He foretells the destruction of Jerusalem, which on account of its fortification he calls Ariel, that is, the lion of God. Secondly, in verse 5, he turns to the Chaldeans who cut it off, and says their victory will be like a dream; for soon they themselves are to be destroyed. Thirdly, in verse 9, he returns to the overthrow of the Jews, and says that God will take from them the understanding of the Prophets. Fourthly, in verse 15, he rebukes their godless wise men, who thought that they and their counsels were hidden from God. Fifthly, in verse 17, he foretells the blinding of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles.
1. Woe to Ariel, to Ariel the city which David stormed: year is added to year, the solemnities are at an end. 2. And I will make a trench about Ariel, and it shall be in sorrow and mourning, and it shall be to me as Ariel. 3. And I will make a circle round about thee, and will cast up a bank against thee, and will raise bulwarks to besiege thee. 4. Thou shalt be brought down, thou shalt speak out of the earth, and thy speech shall be heard out of the ground: and thy voice shall be from the earth like that of a pythonissa, and thy speech shall mutter out of the ground. 5. And the multitude of them that winnow thee shall be like small dust: and the multitude of them that have prevailed against thee, shall be as a passing ember. 6. And it shall be at an instant suddenly. A visitation shall come from the Lord of hosts in thunder, and with earthquake, and with a great noise of whirlwind and tempest, and with the flame of devouring fire. 7. And the multitude of all the nations that have fought against Ariel shall be as a dream of a night vision: and all that have fought and besieged and prevailed against it. 8. And as he dreameth that is hungry, and eateth, but when he is awake, his soul is yet empty: and as he dreameth that is thirsty, and drinketh, and after he is awake, is yet weary and thirsty, and his soul is empty: so shall be the multitude of all the nations that have fought against mount Sion. 9. Be astonished and wonder, stagger and reel: be drunk, and not with wine: stagger, and not with drunkenness. 10. For the Lord hath mingled for you the spirit of a deep sleep: he will shut up your eyes, he will cover your prophets and princes that see visions. 11. And the vision of all shall be unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which when they shall deliver to one that is learned, they shall say: Read this: and he shall answer: I cannot, for it is sealed. 12. And the book shall be given to one that knoweth not letters, and it shall be said to him: Read: and he shall answer: I know not letters. 13. And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draweth near me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify me, but their heart is far from me, and they have feared me with the commandment and doctrines of men: 14. Therefore behold I will proceed to cause an admiration in this people, by a great and wonderful miracle: for wisdom shall perish from their wise men, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. 15. Woe to you that are deep of heart, to hide your counsel from the Lord: and their works are in the dark, and they say: Who seeth us, and who knoweth us? 16. This thought of yours is perverse: as if the clay should think against the potter, and the work should say to the maker thereof: Thou madest me not: and the thing framed should say to him that formed it: Thou understandest not. 17. Is it not yet a very little while, and Libanus shall be turned into Carmel, and Carmel shall be counted as a forest? 18. And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and out of darkness and obscurity the eyes of the blind shall see. 19. And the meek shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. 20. For he that did prevail is brought to nothing, the scorner is consumed, and all they cut off that watched for iniquity: 21. That made men sin by word, and supplanted him that reproved them in the gate, and declined in vain from the just. 22. Therefore thus saith the Lord to the house of Jacob, he that redeemed Abraham: Jacob shall not now be confounded, neither shall his countenance now be ashamed: 23. But when he shall see his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him sanctifying my name, and they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall glorify the God of Israel: 24. And they that erred in spirit shall know understanding, and they that murmured shall learn the law.
1. “WOE TO ARIEL, ARIEL THE CITY WHICH DAVID STORMED.” Ariel here signifies Jerusalem, as is plain from what follows. So St. Jerome, Cyril, Procopius. It is called Ariel, that is, mountain of God, says Rabbi David; but then Ariel would have to be written with he, and pronounced hariel: but now it is called Ariel with aleph.
Ariel therefore is the same as lion of God, and that first on account of fortitude and principality. For as the lion among beasts, so Jerusalem was the prince of cities, and among them by art and nature so fortified that the Jebusites, occupying its citadel Sion, laughed at David’s troops attacking it; and placed on the walls the blind and the lame, as if by them alone the city could be defended, 2 Kings 5. So Juda, whose seat was in Jerusalem, was called lion or lioness by the patriarch Jacob, Genesis 49:9, and by Balaam, Numbers 23:24, to which Isaias here alludes: hence it is called lion of God, because the things that are God’s are great. So the cedars and mountains of God are called, that is, great. Again, of God, because it was a people devoted to the worship of God: hence it is called Ariel. Secondly, Jerusalem is called Ariel on account of the temple and altar in it, which Ezechiel 43:15 calls Ariel, because in the altar the strength, majesty and worship of God most shine: and because Ariel, with a letter transposed, as Ezechiel transposes it, signifies the ram of cursing or of sin, which indeed used to be offered for sin on the altar, from the root arar, that is, he cursed, and el, that is, ram. So Arias. Vilalpando adds, tom. 2, p. 208 at the end, that it is the common opinion of the Doctors that the temple had the form of a lion: for from the front it was broad and behind narrow like a lion, says Vatablus: hence it is called Ariel, that is, lion of God: as Belgium by its situation resembles a lion; hence it is called the Belgic Lion. Belgium therefore may be called Ariel, and to it, thus now laid waste, fitly belong the things that Isaias in this chapter foretells of Ariel. In a like figure Apollonius, as Strabo witnesses, called the city Alabanda “a chest full of scorpions, turned over”; by this riddle signifying that the citizens of Alabanda were most wicked. For that city seems to be so set beneath the mountains that it imitates the form of a chest: that region also abounded in scorpions.
Thirdly, if for Ariel, by changing one point, you read Uriel, that is, light of God, or fire of God, it will signify prophecy and the Prophets, and likewise the knowledge of the law among the Priests of Jerusalem: for the High Priest bore on his breast urim and thummim, that is, doctrine and perfection, as I said on Exodus, chapter 28, verse 30. Hence in 4 Esdras 5:20, Uriel is the name of the Angel revealing secrets, as Gabriel, Raphael and Michael are. Hence the Syriac Lexicon: Ariel, it says, is a city so called from the name of its founder, who was called Ariel; and Ariel, that is, light of God, is Jerusalem. But all Interpreters read Ariel, that is, lion of God, not Uriel, that is, light of God.
After the reprobation of the Jews, Isaias foretells, first, the transfer of the faith to the Gentiles, 17; secondly, their conversion and salvation, 18, 19; thirdly, the removal of the enemies of faith and justice, 20, 21; fourthly, the confusion, shame and late recognition of the Jews and their return to God, 23, 24. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Woe to Ariel, that is, Jerusalem, which David took from the Jebusites, which once like a most strong lioness raged against the nations, now will most miserably be laid waste by the Chaldeans, and afterwards by the Romans: for as first David took it by slaying the lame and blind whom the Jebusites, trusting in the fortification of the place, had set up in derision of David: so secondly Christ, another David, and David’s son and heir, will take it, and by Titus and the Romans will slay the blind Jews and lame in the paths of God, the mockers of Christ. So St. Cyril, St. Jerome, Procopius.
“THE CITY WHICH DAVID STORMED.” Aquila translates, the little city (as St. Jerome translates) of the encampment of David; Symmachus, the camp of David; Theodotion, the circumvallation of David.
“YEAR IS ADDED TO YEAR: THE SOLEMNITIES ARE AT AN END.” First, the sense is, as if to say: After two, that is, a few years the majesty of Jerusalem will be overturned, and then its festivals will be rolled away and cease. So Adamus and Forerius. This sense is genuine; for there follows: “And I will make a trench about Ariel,” etc.
Secondly, Dionysius, as if to say: “Year is added to year,” that is, the years decreed by God for the destruction of Jerusalem have now run out.
Thirdly, St. Thomas, Haymo, Hugo and Sanchez think that there is here signified the duration of the calamity and devastation of Jerusalem, as if to say: Years will follow years, and times times; and yet the desolation of Jerusalem will not cease, nor the long silence of its solemnities, as if to say: For many years the Jews will remain in exile and squalor, without festivals.