Commentaria in Isaiam
Marcus Antoninus, to his wife Faustina, who asked for punishment for the accomplices of the conspiracy of Avidius Cassius, wrote back thus: “I will spare both his children and his son-in-law and his wife; for there is nothing which more commends an Emperor to the nations than clemency. This made Caesar a god; this consecrated Augustus; this especially adorned your father. Be therefore secure, the gods protect me, my piety is dear to the gods.”
IN TRUTH SHALL HE BRING FORTH JUDGMENT.—That is, he shall bring forth just judgment, or he will establish and sanction “judgment,” that is, the true and solid Evangelical law. Forerius translates, he shall cause judgment to go forth in truth (that is, shall bring forth and promulgate), as if to say: He shall give sentence according to truth, or in causes shall cause truth to be the end, and truth to shine forth and conquer, which he himself will bring forth into the world like a queen, and has placed on the throne due to her, as I shall soon say.
4. HE SHALL NOT BE SAD, NOR TROUBLESOME.—In Hebrew lo yikheh velo yarutz: which word for word Aquila and Theodotion translate, he shall not be darkened, or grow dim, and shall not run, that is, as St. Jerome says, Christ will frighten no one by the sadness of his countenance, nor hasten to punishment, because he has reserved the truth of judgment for the last time. Secondly, St. Jerome translates, he shall not be of dark countenance, that is, sad, nor run headlong, that is, he shall not be borne along like a whirlwind, he will not be turbulent, but with the greatest maturity and prudence will judge all matters and causes, as if to say: Christ will never be gloomier, sadder, more morose, slower: never either more cheerful, lighter, more hasty, but master of himself and of his passions, he will keep at all times with calm an evenness of countenance and of all motions; which the Gentiles falsely boast of Socrates, says St. Jerome.
Thirdly, the Chaldee translates, he shall not be weary, nor labor, as if to say: Christ will not be wearied by excessive zeal or labor, but easily and as it were without labor will do all things, till he set his judgment on the earth.
Fourthly, Vatablus translates, he shall not stumble, or shall not smoke, that is, shall not be extinguished, nor be headlong, or shall not be bruised (so that yarutz would be from ratsats, that is, to crush), that is, Christ shall not die, shall not suffer, until he has published his Gospel.
Fifthly, the Septuagint translate, as if to say: He shall not smoke, but shall shine again and not be crushed, as Hilary says in the Prologue to the Psalms: Christ shall not smoke, that is, shall not long remain extinguished, but as lamps that have been put out, that they may not long smoke, are at once lit again: so Christ on the third day will revive and shine again, that is, again more brightly than before will shine on the whole world with a most clear light. For the Greek is not “will smoke” but “will shine again,” as Procopius notes. So also St. Jerome and Cyril.
A little differently St. Augustine, City of God, book 20, chapter 30: “His face,” he says, “shone forth on the mount, in the world his fame, and he was neither broken nor crushed; because neither in himself, nor in the Church, did he yield to persecutors so as to desist.” These things could also be referred to the smoking flax and the bruised reed. For the one Christ will not crush, the other he will not quench, but will make it shine, that is, be kindled, and give light again.
Lastly, the Septuagint can be reconciled with our version, so that they say the same: for a serene and shining face indicates cheerfulness of mind, and that the man is not sad. Again, that the face is not crushed, that the countenance does not fall, nor is twisted, signifies that the man is not turbulent, but of composed mind.
In sum, by these words it is signified that Christ will be of placid and constant countenance, neither drawn together by adversity of affairs nor loosened by prosperity; but persevering always in the same tenor, will signify a tranquil state of mind, and constancy of the mind in the same gentleness and modesty. Christ, therefore, was not sad, that is, gloomy: yet he took on in his passion grief and sorrow of soul for our sins. Whence he himself says: “My soul is sorrowful even unto death,” Matthew 26:38. Cleon in Thucydides, book 3, said perversely: “Three things are most hurtful to empire: pity, flattery and leniency.” For, as Claudian says in his Panegyric of Mallius:
A tranquil power accomplishes what the violent cannot: and imperious quiet presses commands more strongly.
With so placid, serene and shining a countenance was Moses most meek, as is plain from Exodus 34:29. Much more Christ, whose “face shone as the sun” in the transfiguration, Matthew 17:2. So St. Antony, according to Athanasius, from prayer, and the quiet and joy of his mind, had a face shining like the sun, so that among three thousand monks the one Antony was recognized by those who had never seen him, from these rays alone and the constant cheerfulness of his face.
Like rays were in the face of St. Francis when praying, of St. Ignatius our Father, and of other Saints. For these rays were the symbol and effect of the serenity, joy and inner light with which their mind was filled by God.
These words, “He shall not be sad, nor troublesome,” St. Matthew, chapter 12:18, omitted in citing this passage, because they seem sufficiently contained in what precedes and follows; though St. Jerome thinks they were omitted through carelessness and error of the scribes.
TILL HE SET JUDGMENT ON THE EARTH,—as if to say: Christ will not cease, to the end of his life, in his patience, gentleness and constancy, to instruct and teach men, until he establishes on earth the Evangelical law, of humility, patience and holiness, and teaches how one ought to live humbly, piously, justly and holily. St. Matthew translates: “Till he send forth judgment unto victory,” that is, till he bring judgment, that is, justice, or Evangelical faith and holiness, to victory, so that it rules over the whole world. And so our version can be taken, till he set judgment on the earth, that is, till he place judgment on the earth, as in his kingdom and throne, as queen and mistress; this is what Christ says, John 12:31: “Now is the judgment of the world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself.” St. Matthew seems to have written in the Hebrew, or rather Syro-Hebrew, a word which signifies both truth and victory: which the Interpreter in Matthew took for victory, whereas in Isaias it is “truth,” says Maldonatus; but the sense comes to the same. Again, Irenaeus, Against Heresies, book 3, chapter 11, reads thus: Until he send forth judgment unto contention. In St. Matthew he seems to have read for victory a word meaning contention, as if to say: Christ with his Evangelical law will contend with the law of Solon, Lycurgus, Pythagoras, and other laws of the Romans, Greeks and Gentiles, which partly natural light, or rather blindness, partly ambition, avarice and lust have brought into the world: all of which he will overcome, overthrow and abolish, and will make his judgment, that is, his law, his Gospel, everywhere conquer and triumph.
See here with what arms Christ introduced his kingdom and his law into the world, namely patience, gentleness, long-suffering; by these he subjected all nations to himself: had he been arrogant, hasty, impatient, he would have turned all away from himself and his law. In like manner the Romans possessed every place by their counsel and patience, 1 Machabees 8:3. With the same arms the Apostles propagated this kingdom and law of Christ, as St. Paul teaches, 2 Corinthians 6:4: “Let us exhibit ourselves,” he says, “as the ministers of God, in much patience.”
Let those, therefore, see, who now and henceforth desire to recall and restore Christian discipline, with what arms they ought to proceed equipped.
AND THE ISLES SHALL WAIT FOR HIS LAW.—He calls the islanders “islands,” that is, even the most remote nations, living across the sea and on islands, as if to say: The law of Moses was shut up in one corner of Judea; but the judgment and law of Christ will be propagated to the islands, that is, to all nations and to the ends of the earth. Whence the Septuagint, whom St. Matthew follows, chapter 12, verse 21, translate, in his name the Gentiles shall hope. The name of God is God himself. It is a Hebraism. Forerius notes that in these words “until,” which preceded, can be repeated, as if to say: Until the islands wait for his instruction, and the whole world is made subject to God. More on this matter I shall say at chapter 51, verse 5.
5. THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD, HE THAT CREATED THE HEAVENS.—The Prophet here breaks out into the praises and heralding of the divine power, because he is still disputing with the idols and idolaters, as will be plain from verse 9, and because he promises great things and a great salvation through Christ, as if to say: Do not wonder that I promise great things to Christians; for I am omnipotent, “giving breath to the people and spirit.” First, St. Athanasius, in his disputation Against Arius in the Council of Nicaea, understands by spirit the wind; secondly, St. Basil, book On the Holy Spirit, chapter 21; Irenaeus, book 5, and St. Jerome, St. Thomas, Haymo and Procopius here understand by breath the soul, and the breath by which man breathes and lives; but by spirit the Holy Spirit; for he is given “to them that tread the earth,” that is, to those who tread on earthly things, who are above the earth, whose conversation is in heaven. This sense is more subtle, and symbolic and moral rather than literal.