Commentaria in Isaiam
All these things belong to the same prophecy and were foretold at the same time; indeed so are those that are set forth in some of the following chapters.
6. Forasmuch as this people hath cast away the waters of Siloe, that go with silence. Note first: Siloe is a spring at the foot of Mount Sion, which, says St. Jerome, wells up with a noise not continually but at uncertain hours and days; then it is silent, that is, hides itself under the earth, and through channels is carried into the pool of Siloe, whence through pipes it is led quietly and gently into the king’s gardens and waters them; wherefore Siloe in Hebrew means “Sent,” John 9:7. Again, Siloe is also called Geon, by which name the Nile is also called in Hebrew, from the root goach, that is, to lie upon the breast, to flow in and pour forth; because, as the Nile by overflowing and standing lies upon the land, covers it with silt and makes it fertile, so too Siloe or Geon lies upon the gardens and fields of Jerusalem and makes them fertile. By the waters of Siloe or Geon Solomon was anointed king, 3 Kings 1:45. Hence the waters of Siloe here signify the royal stock and the sceptre of David and Solomon. For the Prophets are wont to signify by rivers the adjacent provinces, as by the Nile they signify Egypt, by the Euphrates Babylon, by the Tigris Mesopotamia, by the Araxes Armenia.
You will ask, who is this people that despised the waters of Siloe? St. Jerome, St. Thomas and others answer, the ten tribes, which separated themselves from Siloe and Juda. Better, St. Cyril, Procopius, Forerius and others think they are the two tribes, who, seeing themselves afflicted with so many disasters by Rasin and Phacee, and many of them, seeing the fewness of their own and despairing of God’s help promised by Isaias, were planning a defection from Achaz and from the sceptre of the family of David, which was like the modest and gentle waters of Siloe, and thought of submitting to Rasin and Phacee and receiving as king the son of Tabeel, whom Rasin and Phacee had destined for them.
To these he therefore compares the king of the Assyrians, Sennacherib, first to the overflowing river Euphrates; for so he overwhelmed Judea with the multitude of his soldiers; secondly to a great eagle which with the stretching of its wings overshadows much land; for so he with his wings and military battle lines occupied many regions and subjected them to himself.
The waters of Siloe that go with silence. The waters of Siloe passed into a proverb, and by them are signified quiet, trust and the secure tranquillity of the mind. As if he said: Because this people has cast away the waters of Siloe, that is, because you were unwilling to be silent, to trust in God, and to rest securely in his help promised by me, imitating the silence of your spring Siloe, therefore God will send upon you not the gentle and silent waters of Siloe, but the mighty and roaring waters of the Euphrates, that is, the Assyrians, who will flood and ruin your country.
Allegorically and chiefly, Siloe is Christ, who is meek, and as a lamb led to death; for he himself was sent and sent forth by the Father, from whom he proceeds in secret silence, as God in heaven and as man by the Virgin on earth. Again, Christ is Siloe, that is, a fountain of water springing up into life everlasting. The Jews despised him, and called upon Rasin, saying: “We have no king but Caesar”; therefore Assur, that is, Titus and the Romans, will destroy them. So St. Cyril, Basil, and Eusebius, book 7 of the Demonstratio, chapter 3.
Note here the quiet and silence of Christ, who, to lead us to silence of mouth as well as of heart, was silent up to the thirtieth year, and again in the time of his passion. For when he was tried on a capital charge, it is said of him: “But Jesus held his peace”; and Isaias: “As a lamb before his shearer he shall be dumb, and he shall not open his mouth.” Whence Climacus says: “The silence of Jesus,” he says, “was a cause of wonder and reverence to Pilate; O humility, virtue of Christ, how you confound the pride of our vanity! I know a little, or rather seem to myself to know, and already I cannot be silent, thrusting and displaying myself shamelessly and rashly, quick to speak, swift to teach, slow to hear. And Christ, when he was so long silent, when he hid himself, did he fear vainglory? Surely not, but that he might teach us to be silent, and by silence to flee display.” Rivers that flow gently and silently are the deepest; so hearts that keep silence are deep in wisdom. “All the deepest rivers glide with the least sound,” says Quintus Curtius. Likewise: “Brave men are keen in action, but calm before it,” says Aristotle, book 3 of the Ethics. And: “The army that is most restrained before the danger is the most courageous in the danger itself,” says Tacitus, book 1 of the Histories. For, as Livy says, book 7: “A breast full of courage and silent anger puts off all its fierceness to the very moment of the struggle.” So you will see “men born for war, great in deeds, unskilled in contests of words and tongue,” says the same author. Those who will dare least in danger are excessive in words and fierce of tongue, says Tacitus, book 1; as timid dogs bark violently but scarcely bite.
Wherefore that old man in John Moschus, Spiritual Meadow, chapter 156, rightly said to the philosophers who asked for a word of edification: “Let it be the work of your philosophy always to meditate on death, and accustom yourselves to silence and quiet.” Hence Arsenius also heard from an Angel: “Arsenius, wouldst thou be saved? Flee, be silent, be quiet.” And Abbot Pastor, book 5 of the Lives, title 11, number 26: “Let a question,” he says, “be the key of silence,” so that you open not your mouth unless asked. Another, book 7, chapter 31, number 3, asking an old man: “How long, Father, must silence be kept?” heard: “Until you are questioned. For in every place, if you are silent, you shall possess rest.” Of the fruit of silence I shall say more in chapter 30.
7. The waters of the river, strong (the waters of the Euphrates, that is, the forces of the Assyrians; whence, explaining, he adds): the king of the Assyrians, because Achaz, hard pressed by Rasin and Phacee, neglecting God’s help and the prophecies of Isaias, was thinking of imploring the help of the Assyrians; hence God threatens, indeed foretells with certainty, that the same would be a scourge and ravager to him.
And he shall come up (the river Euphrates just mentioned) over all his channels, that is, its own, as if to say: The waters of the Euphrates, that is, the forces of the Assyrians, will flood and occupy not only Babylonia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, and the other regions lying along the Euphrates and its channels (which, according to Herodotus, are various), but will go out from there, as in a flood, and overflow and overwhelm Judea. This was done by Sennacherib, who in the time of Ezechias, the son of Achaz, laid waste a great part of Judea; for of Nabuchodonosor, who was much later, the Prophet will treat afterward at length.
8. He shall reach even to the neck. The head of Judea was Jerusalem, the neck the neighboring cities, all of which the Assyrians and Sennacherib occupied; Jerusalem alone, though besieged, was saved by God’s protection and was not taken by him, as is plain below, chapter 19, and 4 Kings 18.
“Up to the neck” is a proverb signifying that Judea would be in the utmost danger of head and life, that is, of kingdom and destruction: for unless God by an Angel had struck down 185 thousand of the Assyrians, Jerusalem and Judea would have been overthrown by them. It is a metaphor from waters flooding and swelling so as to rise to men’s necks: if they rose a little higher, they would cover their heads and drown the men; so if the siege and onslaught of the Assyrians had grown a little more, Jerusalem would have been taken and overwhelmed by them. So Sanchez.
And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Emmanuel. Sennacherib is called an eagle; his wings are his military forces. These filled the land of Emmanuel, that is, Judea, in which Emmanuel, being born, reigned, and reigns in the house of Jacob and David for ever. Note: when he says, “O Emmanuel,” it is an apostrophe of wonder to the child who was to be born of the prophetess and virgin, as if to say: Since you, O Emmanuel, are our leader and guardian, and are most strong and most powerful, how is it that you suffer such devastation to be brought upon us by the Assyrians, indeed upon your own land?