Commentaria in Isaiam
4. And your spoils shall be gathered together as the locust is gathered.—The bruchus is not a locust, but like it: hence Hesychius says the bruchus is a species of locust; and it is wingless. Wherefore it is not that which the French call bruyant, or bruchus, which Flemish children call the preacher from the murmur and hum it makes: for this is winged, and wholly different from a locust. In the East the bruchus is frequent, and brings the greatest damage to the crops it feeds on. Hence it is called bruchus from a Greek verb meaning to eat; whence by Nicander it is called grain-devourer. Wherefore the country people there are forced to collect innumerable bruchi, and, having collected them, thrust them into pits, cover them with earth and suffocate them; as if to say: In like manner your spoils, O Assyrians, shall be gathered by the Jews with the ease with which the bruchi are collected by country people to be thrust into the pit: for you like bruchi have laid waste Judea; hence likewise into a pit, namely into the valley of Topheth (if we believe the Hebrews), you shall be driven, and there, slain by the Angel, you shall be buried, and be a prey to the Hebrews. More I said on Joel, chapter 1, verse 4.
5. The Lord is magnified (in so glorious a slaughter of Sennacherib), because he hath dwelt (dwelleth) on high (and therefore, himself high and magnificent, he makes things high and magnificent, and from his lofty throne looks down on these low things: because all enemies and all men are before him as locusts, nay as fleas, which he can kill with one stroke of the finger); he hath filled Sion with judgment and justice—as if to say: God by this slaughter has declared himself just and faithful to Sion, since he has fully given her the help and deliverance which he promised through Isaias; wherefore henceforth, as long as thou shalt stand, O Sion!
6. And there shall be faith in thy times.—“Faith,” namely both of God, that is, his fidelity toward thee, and thine, that is, the confidence with which thou, having so often experienced the help of God, wilt henceforth believe and commit all thy affairs to him, and rest in him.
Allegorically, these things regard Christ (and in him they are truer), whose type was Ezechias, and so by Sion understand the Church. So Theodoret, Cyril and Procopius, as if to say: Christ will fill the Church with justice and holiness, “and there shall be faith,” that is, the truth of the promises made to Abraham and the Patriarchs will be fulfilled “in thy times,” O Messias, O Sion! that is, O Church, who art the spouse of the Messias! it is an enallage of person, according to Canon 16. Wisely says Polybius, book 6: “That state of a commonwealth is desirable and firm in which men live privately holy and harmless lives, and publicly justice and clemency flourish”; and Plautus in the Persa: “If the inhabitants are well-conducted, I judge the town well fortified”; and such they will be if the prince be such; for, as Quintilian says, Declamation 4: “This is the condition of princes, that whatever they do, they seem to command”; and Pliny in the Panegyric to Trajan: “We have less need of command than of example”; and Velleius, book 2: “A prince teaches his citizens to do right by doing it. Let the king wish what is honorable, and everyone will wish the same. For deference,” as Tacitus says, Annals book 3, “toward the prince, and the love of emulation, are stronger than the penalty of the laws.” On the contrary, “princes not only themselves conceive vices, but pour them into the state: and they do more harm by example than by sin” (namely, the fault of one is sinned by all), says Cicero, On the Laws book 3.
Riches of salvation, wisdom and knowledge—as if to say: the saving riches will not be gold and silver, but wisdom, knowledge and the fear of the Lord, namely that the faithful know God, and fear and worship him. So St. Jerome and Procopius. Vatablus renders this verse thus: There shall be stability of thy time, or of thy felicity, that is, thou shalt persevere in felicity, and the strength of thy salvations, that is, of thy successes, shall be wisdom and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is his treasure; as if to say: Israel shall experience all things prosperous, if it give heed to wisdom and the knowledge of divine things, which follows the fear of the Lord. Morally, note that there is no greater treasure, no greater gift, than the fear of God. For, as St. Gregory says, Morals book 6, chapter 26: “The anchor of the heart is the weight of fear”; and St. Jerome, to Fabiola, on the 42 mansions: “Fear is the guardian of virtues”; and Tertullian, On the Dress of Women, book 2, chapter 2: “Fear is the foundation of salvation; by fearing we shall be cautious, by being cautious we shall be safe: he who is anxious can truly be secure”; and indeed holy Job 28:28: “The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding”; and Ecclesiasticus 1:20: “The fulness of wisdom is to fear God, the fear of the Lord is honor and glory, and gladness, and a crown of joy. The fear of the Lord shall delight the heart, and shall give joy and gladness and length of days. With him that feareth the Lord, it shall go well in the latter end, and in the day of his death he shall be blessed.” For “the eyes of the Lord are upon them that fear him,” Psalm 32:18; and: “The Lord is a firmament to them that fear him,” Psalm 24:14; and: “No evil shall happen to him that feareth the Lord, but in temptation God will keep him and deliver him from evils,” Ecclesiasticus 33:1. Therefore St. Jerome earnestly warns Eustochium, writing to her: “I do not wish pride to come to you from your purpose, but fear: you go laden with gold, the robber must be avoided: this life is a stadium for mortals: here we contend that elsewhere we may be crowned; do you think peace on the earth, which brings forth thistles and thorns? Blessed then is the man to whom it is given to have the fear of God: he who holds it, to whom shall he be likened?”
7. Behold, they that see shall cry without.—He shows how great was the trepidation and peril of Jerusalem when Sennacherib besieged it, that thence he may declare how great was the faith, clemency and power of God delivering it.
Note first: for “they that see” the Hebrew has erelam; which, first, the Hebrews and Arias hold to be the name of an Angel: for in Hebrew erelam is the same as “seeing their strong one.” Second, Aben-Ezra and Forerius think erelam is the same as Ariel, of which chapter 29, verse 1, that is, their strong lion, and that so the citizens of Jerusalem are called. Third, Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion take erelam as ere lahem, that is, I will appear to them: whom our translator seems to follow, as if to say: Behold those to whom I shall appear; or, with another pointing, arelam, that is, to whom I will show, that is, behold they that see me.
Note second: by “they that see,” Hugh understands the Prophets, St. Thomas the citizens dwelling in the suburbs, who, seeing such forces of Sennacherib drawing near, cried “without,” that is, outside the city, that each should provide for himself by flight. Third, and more aptly, Lyranus by “they that see” understands the watchmen of Jerusalem, who, seeing such ranks of Assyrians coming on, cried that the country people and those who were abroad should betake themselves into the city.
The angels of peace shall weep bitterly.—These are the messengers whom Ezechias sent to Rabsaces, general of Sennacherib, to make peace, namely Eliacim, Sobna and Joahe: who, when they did not obtain peace from the tyrant but threats, seeing the destruction impending over the city, wept with rent garments, as is said in chapter 36.
St. Jerome by the angels of peace understands the Angels who presided over the temple of Solomon: for these grieved to see it in danger of so great a disaster; hence in the time of Titus they cried: “Let us depart hence,” namely from the temple about to be overthrown.
Allegorically, St. Jerome, Theodoret, Procopius and Gregory, Morals book 34, chapter 7, by the angels of peace understand the Apostles, who announced to the Jews the peace and grace of Christ: these wept seeing them hardened, and turned away from the peace and grace of Christ; whence, leaving them, they betook themselves to the Gentiles. So St. Paul wept when he wished to be anathema for the Jews, Romans 9:3.
8. The ways are made desolate.—This is a mimesis: for it seems to be the voice of the ambassadors of Ezechias weeping, as if to say: All the roads through fear of the Assyrians are deserted, nowhere is a traveler seen, the covenant is made void: it is all over with us and with Jerusalem and the kingdom of the Jews.
The covenant is made void.—First, Hugh understands the covenant of the Jews with God, to keep the law of God, which, because they violated it, they were therefore laid waste, according to what God threatened them, Leviticus 26.
Second, St. Thomas, Lyranus and Forerius take the covenant made by Sennacherib with the Jews, which he violated after receiving money from them, and “he hath rejected” and overthrown “the cities” of Juda, and “hath not regarded men,” since he despised and scorned all the Jews, as is plain from 4 Kings 17.