Commentaria in Isaiam
Morally, the lamb and the sheep is an innocent, gentle, submissive and humble animal, useful for wool, milk and flesh. Such Christians ought to be: let them be sheep and lambs, not goats, not foxes, not bulls, not bears, not wolves, not lions.
HE HIMSELF SHALL CARRY THOSE THAT ARE WITH YOUNG (those that bear offspring in the womb, or have just given birth)—he will lead them gently, as if carrying them, that is, he will drive them on step by step so that they are not wearied, and so will let them rest at intervals; indeed he will restore their strength with fodder, and if need be, taking them in his bosom or on his shoulder, he will carry them. So Vatablus and Forerius, as Jacob did, Genesis 33:13, to which Isaias here alludes. See the duties of a good shepherd in Ezechiel, chapter 34. The sense is, as if to say: Christ, with the greatest providence, watchfulness and gentleness, like a shepherd, will cherish “the lambs,” that is, the simple people newly born again in baptism; and “those that are with young,” that is, the Apostles and preachers, who bring forth children to Christ, he will strengthen and support by his grace and spirit, like a shepherd bearing them in his arms, or gently leading them by the hand through every steep and adverse place, and sustaining them, as if carrying them. So St. Jerome, Cyril and Procopius.
12. WHO HATH MEASURED THE WATERS IN THE HOLLOW OF HIS HAND?—The Prophet breaks out into praise of the divine power and wisdom, in order to show that this wonderful work of the incarnation of the Word, and all Christ’s dispensation for the redemption of men, by which he will feed the lambs like a shepherd, carry those that are with young, etc., was entirely easy for him, and was all foreseen and provided for by God. For he governs and rules the whole universe most easily and most wisely, as if to say: Do not wonder at the marvels I have spoken of concerning the grace and consolation of Christ, concerning the God-man, the Gospel, the calling of the Gentiles, like his sheep, and their conversion to him; for God, who is wonderful, most powerful and most wise, will do all these things. So St. Jerome, Theodoret and Tertullian in his Scorpiace.
Note the figure of speech: God holds the world in the hollow of his hand, in his fist, with three fingers, that is, most easily; although others say that “three fingers” means three of his attributes, namely wisdom, goodness and power. But this is symbolic and mystical, as is also that of Paschasius, book 1 On the Holy Spirit, chapter 2, who understands the Most Holy Trinity by the fingers: “Has he not here,” he says, “weighed in the scales of a certain mystery the equality of one power in three fingers?” So also the Gloss: “The three fingers,” it says, “are the Most Holy Trinity.” So also Christ the Lord represented the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, by a hand containing three fingers, to St. Anno, Archbishop of Cologne. Sigebert relates the vision in his Life, chapter 18: “Christ,” he says, “with shining eyes, presenting himself kindly and calmly to the face of the astonished man, and holding out before him three fingers of his left hand, touched the first of them with his right forefinger, saying: Behold the Father; and then the second: Behold the Son; and afterwards the third: Behold the Holy Spirit. And, holding back his words for a little while in his throat, he said: Behold three persons in one Godhead, to be adored alike, to whom equal glory is ever given by the universal Church. The Son has the middle place between the Father and the Holy Spirit, without any division from the two, or any diminution of the same majesty and glory.”
Here is a striking and vivid portrayal of the power and majesty of God: for God holds the vast and deepest waters of the whole Ocean as easily as a man holds a few drops of water in the hollow of his hand. The whole Ocean, then, is to God as small a thing as the water which we measure and grasp with the palm or the fist (Aquila renders, with the little finger). He also weighed the heavens with his palm. The palm is the hand stretched out from the tip of the thumb to the little finger; if you contract the hand it becomes a fist. As if to say: As Atlas is feigned by the poets to hold up the sky on his shoulders, so truly God, the Atlas of heaven and of the world, indeed its Creator, not on his shoulders but with his palm, that is, with his hand placed beneath, not only measures but hangs up, balances and as it were weighs that huge mass and vastness of the heavens. With three fingers he likewise hangs up the mass of the earth. He alludes to merchants who test light weights by ounces or drams on a scale, which they hold with three fingers and keep suspended on high in balance: for in the same way God, hanging the whole globe of the earth in the middle of the world, as it were in the air, with three fingers, as it were, hangs it up, that is, balances and sustains it: for this is what the Hebrew means.
From this passage St. Gregory, Moralia II, chapter 8, teaches that God is in heaven, under heaven, above heaven, beneath heaven, everywhere, and beyond:
“By the seat (for heaven is God’s seat, Isaias 66:1), he says, over which he presides, he is understood to be within and above; by the fist with which he contains it, he is signified to be without and beneath. For he himself abides within all things, himself outside all things, himself above all things, himself beneath all things; and he is higher by power, and lower by sustaining, outside by greatness, within by subtlety; ruling above, holding up beneath, encompassing without, penetrating within. Nor is he higher in one part and lower in another, or outside in one and inside in another; but one and the same, whole everywhere, presiding by sustaining, sustaining by presiding, penetrating by encompassing, encompassing by penetrating.”
THE BULK OF THE EARTH.—In Hebrew, the dust of the earth, as if to say: God holds the whole mass of the earth as if someone should take a little dust with the tips of his fingers. Likewise, he hath weighed the mountains in scales. By “weight” he means by metonymy the scale or balance with which things are weighed. For this is the Hebrew peles. The Ubiquitarian heretics, ignorantly and absurdly, strive to prove from this passage that Christ’s body, because it is united to the divinity, is everywhere, and fills and contains all things. For Isaias is not speaking of Christ’s body or humanity, but of God and the divinity. For granted that Christ’s humanity is united to it, yet the humanity, as in essence, so also in quantity, is bounded, defined and circumscribed in a certain place. Otherwise it would pass into the divinity and cease to be what it is.
Tropologically, the mountains and hills are dignities and prelacies, which few know how to balance in weight and scale. Hence Isaias exclaims: “Who hath weighed the mountains in weight, and the hills in a balance?” He who weighs them is rare and great. For dignities have more burden than honor; and as great as the ascent to them is, so great is the descent. For if one ascends to prelacy, one descends to servitude. The soul of a Saint, then, weighs the mountains in weight and the hills in a balance when he weighs the burden against the honor, and the servitude against the prelacy; and so it comes about that the consideration of servitude and burden extinguishes in his soul every desire of prelacy and honor. The author of his Life, chapter 11, relates that St. Laurence, Archbishop of Dublin, who was a contemporary and defender of St. Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury and Martyr, and laid down his life in that work, did this. It is found in Surius on the 14th of November. Truly King Antigonus said to his son, who was growing insolent in his kingdom: “Do you not know, my son, that a kingdom is a glorious servitude?”
13. WHO HATH DIRECTED THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD?—In Hebrew, who hath weighed, that is, assessed, examined, penetrated “the spirit,” that is, the mind and counsels of the Lord, so as to be able to help him by his aid and counsel in his work? As if to say: No one. For he himself weighs, measures and penetrates all things; and, as is said in Proverbs 16:2: “The Lord is the weigher of spirits”; but he himself can be weighed, penetrated or comprehended by no one. Hence the Septuagint, and St. Paul following them, Romans 11:34, translate: “For who hath known the mind of the Lord?” whence he exclaims: “How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways!”