Commentaria in Isaiam
AND AS A THING CONSUMED (as that which is consumed and destroyed, shall be) THE MEN THAT WAR (for so it must be read, with the Romans and the Hebrews, not “of the man who wars,” as some read) AGAINST THEE.
13. WHO TAKE THEE BY THE HAND.—That is, encouraging thee, helping, strengthening, that thou mayest overcome thy enemies and all things contrary; for this is wont to be done among men by taking the right hand, which is therefore a symbol of such things as well as of a covenant and friendship. So Vatablus and Forerius.
14. FEAR NOT, THOU WORM (Vatablus, little worm) OF JACOB.—Historically and typically, the Jews afflicted by the Assyrians and shortly to be laid waste by Nabuchodonosor, say St. Thomas, Hugh, Lyranus, Vatablus and Forerius; but antitypically the Apostles and Christians (indeed of these literally St. Jerome, Haymo and Adam take it), both for their fewness and for their contempt and humility he calls a little worm, for example an earthworm, or a wood-worm which gnaws wood. For they are like Christ, who says: “I am a worm, and no man.” Again: “As a worm penetrates the earth, so the Apostolic word penetrates the cities of the Gentiles, and has entered hearts hitherto most hard,” says St. Jerome; whence it follows: “you that are dead of Israel,” as if to say: You who are afflicted and despised (whence the Septuagint translate: Little one of Israel; Forerius, Little boy of Israel), exiles and banished, so that you are held as dead, indeed are troubled by tyrants even unto death. So Job 25:6 says: “How much less man, that is rottenness, and the son of man, who is a worm.” And here Isaias properly has in view the earthworm, which is wont to be trodden under foot and crushed. For this denotes a man vile, weak, afflicted and trampled down. And in 2 Kings 23:8, Jesbaam, or sitting in the chair, first among David’s mighty men, is called “the most tender little worm of the wood.” To this Christ alluded, Luke 12:32, saying: “Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom.” With a similar figure Ezechiel, chapter 37:11 (sic 36:14), calls the Jews captive in Babylon “dry bones,” and “the dead dwelling in tombs.”
15. I HAVE MADE THEE AS A NEW THRASHING WAIN—a corpse; but I will raise thee up and strengthen thee, so that, as wains armed with toothed and serrated wheels or with harrows crush and thrash the crops, that is, shake out the grains (as was done in Palestine, and is still done in some regions): so thou also shalt thrash the mountains and hills, that is, kings and tyrants; for these the Israelites in type subdued, but the Apostles in truth put under their feet by the word of God, “Destroying every height that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,” 2 Corinthians 10:5; for the Apostles either crushed the most powerful and lofty enemies, like mountains, as the demons; or subdued them by breaking their pride and converting them to Christ, as the unbelievers, whom they made most humble, and as it were dust subject to the feet and commands of fishermen. So St. Jerome, Cyril and Theodoret.
17. THE NEEDY AND THE POOR SEEK FOR WATERS, AND THERE ARE NONE.—Historically and typically, God furnished the Hebrews in the desert and elsewhere with these very things; for to them in their need the desert was not a desert, but like a paradise of delights: there was no lack of water, nor of bread from heaven, and in place of shady trees a pillar of cloud overshadowed the camp; indeed, by miracle fountains burst forth like rivers in more than one place, which satisfied the thirsty camp of the Hebrews; who can doubt that the cedar, the myrtle, the olive and the other trees which the Prophet here names grew there in the space of so many years, says Forerius. Which, if to anyone this seems new, uncertain and hard, let him know that Sanchez takes these things figuratively, as signifying only the highest felicity, as if to say: God, after the slaughter of Sennacherib, after the return from Babylon, will embrace the Hebrews so indulgently and tenderly, as if he were to produce in the parched desert rivers, the cedar, the myrtle and other fruit-bearing and sweet-smelling trees, as he gave their fathers in the desert most abundant waters from the rock which Moses struck with his rod on the hill of Horeb, Exodus 17:6 (to which he alludes). Indeed, literally, after the thirst and want which the Hebrews suffered in Babylon, when they returned thence, God gave them a plentiful rain, as is plain in Zechariah 10:1; and that because they hoped in God, not in idols.
Antitypically, however, and spiritually far more truly, these things suit the Apostles and Christ’s disciples; for to these God turned that harsh and dreadful manner of life, Christian and Apostolic, into heavenly delights, and changed their sadness into heavenly joy and consolations. This is what Christ had promised them, that “rivers of living water” would flow “from the belly” of those believing in him, and which they themselves profess to have experienced in fact, when they say: “In all things we suffer tribulation, but are not distressed; we are straitened, but not destitute; we suffer persecution, but are not forsaken; we are cast down, but we perish not; as dying, and behold we live; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as needy, yet enriching many; as having nothing, and possessing all things.” Wretched and captives of the devil, they sought protection and liberation for their soul; but found it not, neither in the law of Moses nor among the Philosophers; but I will give it to them through Christ. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Cyril and Procopius.
18. I WILL OPEN RIVERS IN THE HIGH (so to read with the Romans, not “highest”) HILLS.—“High” means sloping and hilly. Whence Horace, Odes book 1: “Whether,” he says, “cold Praeneste or sloping Tibur.” For Tibur was a city placed on the ascent of a hill, which we daily see from Rome, whose ruins today, indeed the neighboring city and the new Tibur, we see. Whence the Septuagint translate, on the mountains; the Hebrew word sephi that in places made dry, barren, steep and impassable by sin, grace and the gifts of the Holy Spirit may abound. So Procopius, St. Jerome, Cyril and Basil, on that of Psalm 28: “The voice of the Lord shaking the desert.” He alludes to the streams that are wont to rise from mountains, as we see the Rhine, the Meuse, the Inn and others rise in the Alps, so that the Gentile world, hitherto uncultivated, cultivated by the Apostolic preaching, may bring forth the most beautiful and likewise most fruitful trees of virtues. So St. Cyril, Procopius, Theodoret and St. Jerome, who says: “The hand of the Lord brought it about that in the aridity of the Gentiles streams of virtues should be found, and in the land once desert and full of saltness the cedar, the cypress and other trees should spring up: whose height and summit the olive-wood, which is nourishment for the fires, and rest of those who labor, would swiftly illumine toward heavenly things.” We see these things fulfilled also today in Japan, Brazil, China and other provinces of the Indies with great joy of soul.
Cedars, he says, are those whose hearts are so firmly fixed in eternal love that no rot of earthly love any longer corrupts them. Thorns, those who pierce the hearts of their hearers, and so perforate the mind with the sorrow of compunction. Myrtles, those who temper the tribulation of their neighbors by compassion. Olives are the merciful. Firs are those who, placed in earthly bodies, contemplate heavenly things. Elms, which support vines, are seculars who by their liberality sustain holy men full of spiritual gifts. Box trees, those who, although by weakness of age they cannot bear good works, yet following the faith of their faithful parents hold a faith of perpetual greenness.”
AND THE THORN.—In Hebrew it is shittim, which is a tree in the desert, sweet-smelling and incorruptible, surpassing all trees in brightness as well as in strength; in appearance like the white thorn: whence our version calls it “thorn”; of this wood the ark of the tabernacle and its vessels were made. So St. Jerome. See what is said at Exodus 25:10.
THE ELM.—The elm is useful for other things, and for marrying to vines. In Hebrew it is tidhar, which some translate pine, so called from the brightness which it gives off if it is set alight. For the root zahar signifies to shine. Whence Forerius derives the Latin teda (torch) from the Hebrew tidhar. For the letter zain has the force of ds, whence it is often interchanged with daleth, or d, as happens in the whole conjugation Hitpael.
THE BOX.—The box is called in Hebrew teashur from felicity, because it is always green and luxuriates in leaves. So Forerius.
21. BRING YOUR CAUSE NEAR,—as if to say: I have so far set forth the arguments of my divinity: do you, O Gentiles, if you have anything for your idols, bring it forth now. So St. Jerome and Cyril.
IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING:—if they have, perhaps, a bony and strong argument for the divinity of their idols, let them bring it forth. For “strong” here is a noun, not an adverb; for the Hebrews call atsamot, that is bones, arguments and strong confirmations, which each brings forward for himself and his cause in judgment: for these are in a cause and speech what bones and sinews are in the body. Whence the Septuagint translate, bring into the midst your strong things; your strengths and supports.