Commentaria in Isaiam
7. AND THY SIN SHALL BE CLEANSED.—That is, shall be cleansed away, taken away and swept out, as filth is wont to be swept out of a house. Hence it appears that Isaias, in this intellectual vision, enlightened and made contrite, that he might be purged from sin, by God, freely elicited acts of contrition and of the love of God, by which he was disposed for the purging of sin and the infusion of new and heroic grace and virtue. For he received here from God freedom and boldness, and zeal for prophesying and preaching fearlessly; hence in verse 8 he says to God: “Send me”; and soon after, from him, he freely proclaims, verse 10: “Blind the heart of this people.”
Here the mystery of the Trinity is hinted at in the word “us,” and the unity of essence in the word “I shall send.” Morally, note the kindness of God, to be imitated by princes, prelates, and any superior who wishes to rule well. God could have commanded Isaias: Behold, I have now consecrated thee a Prophet, I am with thee and shall be with thee: wherefore I send thee to the Jews, go. But he would not compel him by his command to so arduous a task: hence he invites him, setting before him only his own desire, which Isaias therefore, as is fitting, immediately embraces, and of his own accord offers himself. Secondly, Isaias and the Apostles are a spur to us to undertake the missions of God with sincere and great spirit, thinking, first, that in this matter they are companions of the Seraphim, and that they go to a divine work, not of themselves, but called and chosen by God; secondly, that in this they render God a peculiar and most pleasing service; thirdly, that in this office they ought to look to and care for not their own glory but God’s, say St. Thomas and Hugo.
“These are,” he says, “men of mercy, either because they obtained mercy, or because they are full of mercy, or because they were mercifully given to us by God: we know that these men lived not for themselves, nor died for themselves, but for him who died for them, and more for us all. Their life, their doctrine, and even their very death show eminence in conduct, wisdom in preaching, patience in their passion: these things the blessed Apostles have conferred on us, which they do not cease to confer even to this day, full of mercy, and by the fruits of their holy prayers.”
St. Chrysostom, in praise of St. Paul, vol. 3: “Paul, citizen of heaven, pillar of the Churches, an earthly angel, a heavenly man. For as iron put into the fire becomes wholly fire, so Paul, set on fire with charity, was made wholly charity.” Paul, therefore, was a Seraph. Christ scattered the Apostles like the sun its rays; like a rose its sweet odours; like fire its sparks: that as the sun appears in its rays, as the rose is perceived in its odours, as fire is seen in its sparks, so in their virtues the power of Christ may be recognised. For who, seeing well-instructed disciples, would not praise the knowledge of the master? St. Augustine, in the sermon On the Apostles: “The Lord gave the Apostles power over nature, to heal it; over demons, to overthrow them; over the elements, to change them; over death, to despise it; over Angels, to consecrate the body of the Lord. This power also was given to their successors, according to that of Apocalypse 11:6: ‘These have power to shut heaven, and to turn waters into blood.’”
AND I SAID: BEHOLD I, SEND ME.—For I see that thou designest me for this, from the fact that I feel my lips cleansed by the coal, my tongue loosed, and a new freedom in my mind, and the desire of prophesying put in by thee; especially since at the same time the glory of thy Majesty which I behold spurs me, and the Seraphim whom I see flying and ready for all thy service. These reasons added courage to Isaias, so that from generous and eager magnanimity he offered himself to God for so arduous a task, even though he knew he would be sawn asunder for it, says Origen on that of Romans, chap. 10: “But Isaias is bold.” Moses, on the contrary, from humility, indeed from a certain faintheartedness, declined the mission of God a third and fourth time, as I said on Exodus, chap. 4, and St. Jerome teaches. Isaias says therefore: “Behold I”; which expression signifies a mind ready to obey. So Abraham, called by God, answered: “Here I am,” Genesis, chap. 22, verse 1; or, as it is in the Hebrew and Greek: Behold I. So Ananias, likewise called by God, answered likewise. So also Isaias, hearing from God: “Whom shall I send, and who shall go for us?” readily answers: “Behold, here am I, send me,” Isaias 6:8. Nothing is usually more pleasing to God than such readiness. Hence St. Ambrose, sermon 14 on those words: “Make the free offerings of my mouth acceptable, O Lord,” Psalm 118:108, asks why God did not send Isaias to that embassy before he offered himself to it of his own accord. And he aptly answers: “Surely,” he says, “he could have commanded his little servant, whom he had found worthy to be sent, but he preferred not to defraud him of the reward of a spontaneous offering, who waited that he himself should offer himself; and though he knew his inclination, he yet waited for the word, that he might heap up grace.”
Isaias therefore gives here a pattern and example of perfect obedience, by which, when God does not command but only hints his will, he offers himself freely and readily to every danger. Let the faithful imitate this, especially Religious, thinking that they are invited and called by God, and consequently that God will be with them, so that they overcome all difficulties generously and easily. For this is the power and reward of the obedient. Truly did that Religious say: “I do not fear the voice of obedience, calling me to anything whatever, however arduous: to it I offer myself, I am ready: for I am sure that God, who commands through the Superior, will be with me.” “For he who presses a command forestalls the help,” says St. Leo. Hence the perfectly obedient man, like Isaias, “anticipates him who commands,” as St. Bernard teaches in the sermon On Obedience. For “a wise servant is acceptable to the king,” Proverbs 14:35. Hence our Rule prescribes that we do not wait for the Superior’s command, but as soon as he gives a sign of his will, we carry it out promptly and at once, and obey a mere hint, and at his every nod run in whatever direction. For this obedience is better, and more pleasing to God and to the Superior, than that which waits for the command, as St. Thomas teaches, II-II, Question 104, article 2. And Albertus Magnus in the Paradise of the Soul, chap. 2: “The truly obedient man,” he says, “never waits for the command, but, knowing or believing only the will of the Prelate, carries it out fervently in place of a command.” Finally St. Bernard in the place cited: “The faithful obedient man,” he says, “knows no delay, flees tomorrow, is ignorant of slowness, anticipates him who commands, prepares his eyes for the sight, his ears for hearing, his tongue for the voice, his hands for the work, his feet for the journey; he gathers himself wholly, that he may take in the will of him who commands.” So did Isaias here, and so the Seraphim, standing before God with outspread wings, ready to fly anywhere at his every nod.
Note that Isaias and the Apostles had to be sent by God: the heretics who of their own accord thrust themselves into preaching were not sent by Christ, the Apostles or the Bishops. They are apostles not of Christ but of the devil. Hence Christ calls them thieves and robbers, John 10, says Chrysostom, homily 5 on John the Baptist.
9. HEAR YE INDEED, AND UNDERSTAND NOT; AND SEE THE VISION, AND KNOW IT NOT.—That is, you shall hear and shall see, but shall not understand, or shall not wish to understand and know, as the Septuagint explain it, and from them St. Paul, Acts, last chapter, verse 26. It is a Hebraism, and an interchange of moods; for the imperative is put for the future: for it is certain that God did not command the Jews to sin; indeed it is evident that he wished and ordered the Jews to understand, know and carry out his oracles: for this is why he bade the Prophets set them forth and proclaim them to them.
Note: Isaias prophesies here of the blinding of the Jews, both of his own time, who were blind and deaf to the threats of Isaias and the Prophets, and above all of the time of the Messias; and consequently of their rejection and reprobation: for as a river is the same although other and other water flows to it and succeeds, so the people of the Jews was always the same, although other and other men succeeded one another in it, says St. Basil; as if to say: I know, O Jews, that you will eagerly await the promised Messias; but when he comes, you will reject him: his sermons and miracles you will hear and see, but you will not wish to know them, nor to believe that they are the works of the Messias: indeed you will say that he casts out devils in Beelzebub. So St. Basil, Chrysostom, Cyril and Jerome.
10. BLIND THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE, AND MAKE THEIR EARS HEAVY.—For blind the Hebrew is hasmen, that is, make fat, thicken, that is, blind and harden. For a thick and fat heart, namely one serving luxury and belly, is unfit to grasp heavenly things, and therefore dull and blind. Blinding is nothing else than a certain obesity of the mind and dullness to seeing and tasting divine things, and an obstruction hindering the entrance, influx and understanding of heavenly doctrine, as the following words clearly show. For the heart and ears are not of the body but of the mind to understand: for the mind itself is heart, is ear, is eye, namely spiritual; for the mind by itself sees as an eye, hears as an ear, tastes as a heart: for eminently it contains in itself heart, eyes, ears, nostrils and all the senses of the body.