Commentaria in Isaiam
Fifthly, because the Septuagint render, drink this first, make haste, region of Zabulon, as if to say: You, O land of Zabulon and Nephtali! as you will first drink the cup of God’s vengeance through the Assyrians, so you will first drink the cup of the saving vengeance of Christ, by which he will free you from the tyranny of the devil: for you will first draw in eagerly and thirstily the Gospel teaching, like heavenly rain, of Christ and the Apostles. The Syriac version favors this, which reads: In the first time the land of Zabulon and the land of Nephtali made haste; and dominion (power, empire) grew strong, and the way of the sea, the borders of the river Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; and the Antiochene Arabic: In the former time the land of Zabulon and the land of Nephtali hastened; and that over which they bowed their dominion (power) was confirmed (grew strong) and strengthened, the way of the sea, the middle of the river Jordan, Galilee; and the Alexandrian Arabic: In ancient time the land of Zabulon and the land of Nephtali made haste; and those who advanced on the way of the sea, which is the crossing of the Jordan, Galilee of the peoples, were strengthened. For Zabulon and Nephtali first hastened to Christ, and first submitting themselves to his dominion, felt the strength and power of his grace.
Note: Jerome Prado, on Ezechiel, page 275, takes this otherwise and not badly. To be lightened, he says, is to be slighted; to be made heavy is to be honored: for the Hebrew words signify this also. As if to say: Formerly Galilee was held as nothing by the Jews, both because it was farther from Jerusalem, and because it had fallen away from Juda and the temple, and because it had mean towns, such as were those twenty which Solomon gave to Hiram king of Tyre, which were therefore called the land of Chabul, that is, vile and ignoble; whence Christ was called a Galilean by the Jews and by Julian the Apostate as a reproach: but in the last days this Galilee, visited, inhabited and preached in by the Messias, will be most honored. In like manner Aggeus, chapter 2, verse 10, said that the temple built by Zorobabel would be more august than Solomon’s, because of Christ’s presence and preaching in it. And Micheas, chapter 5, verse 2, exalts Bethlehem because Christ would be born in it.
Finally some expound thus: The land of Zabulon and Nephtali was first lightened by Christ of the burden of unbelief and sins, when many of it believed and were converted; but afterwards it was made heavy with the same burden and the same evils, when many others remained unbelieving, and hardened and stiffened themselves in it, especially the Galileans, who were neighbors to the Gentiles, as the Scribes and Pharisees did. Whence Zabulon and Nephtali heard from Christ: “Woe to thee, Corozain! woe to thee, Bethsaida! for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes,” Matthew 11:21. And therefore Galilee, like Judea, was cut off by Vespasian. But the first sense agrees and fits better in every respect.
The way of the sea. Zabulon and Nephtali are called “the way of the sea,” that is, the sea coast of the sea or lake of Tiberias, says St. Jerome, for many of their cities lay on it, such as Bethsaida, Corozain, Capharnaum, etc., and there were many fishermen there, from whom the Apostles were called; whence Sanchez explains the way of the sea as the pursuit of fishermen, as if to say: where many were busy with fishing, where there were many fishermen: for so the Flemish commonly say a man of the sea, that is, a sailor and trader. But the former sense is plainer.
Secondly, others, as Lyranus, take it to be the Mediterranean sea: for for those coming from the Jordan to this sea the way is Galilee of the Gentiles.
Thirdly, Adrichomius best places this way of the sea between the two seas, and describes it thus on page 119, number 100, in the lot of the tribe of Nephtali: “The way of the sea,” he says, “which is mentioned in the prophecy of Isaias, in the book of Tobias, and in the Gospel of Matthew, has its name from this, that it leads from Syria westward to the Red or Mediterranean Sea; it is a certain public road which, taking its beginning in Syria, passes through the mountains of the region of Trachonitis, and the cities of Cedar and Corozain, and the river Jordan, and at last the city of Capharnaum; and from there, proceeding along the shore of the sea of Galilee, it passes by the cities of Bethsaida, Nephtali, Sephet and Naason, and through Galilee of the Gentiles and the valley of Aser, which is now called St. George’s, running to Ptolemais, discharges its wares, to be distributed to the whole West, into the great sea.”
Beyond the Jordan. This way or coast of the sea was on this side of the Jordan; yet it is said to be beyond the Jordan with respect to Jerusalem, namely because it was beyond that most noble part of the Jordan which we call the sea of Tiberias, which lies midway between Jerusalem and Galilee of the Gentiles, says Sanchez. For, as I said in Canon 39, Scripture marks the situation of places with respect to Jerusalem. But because the sea of Tiberias is not usually called Jordan, and because this sea lies at the side of Galilee of the Gentiles, so that this Galilee is indeed beyond it but not across it, we shall more easily say that this Galilee is called beyond the Jordan with respect to Syria: for from Syria beyond the Jordan began the way of the sea just described, and it went on beyond the Jordan through Galilee of the Gentiles to the city of Ptolemais and to the Mediterranean sea, as is plain from the maps of Adrichomius and from his words just cited. Galilee of the Gentiles; so the Roman edition. It may be rendered “Galilee of the Gentiles,” as Matthew 4:15 renders it, and the sense is the same: for Galilee itself is called “the way of the sea,” that is, the sea coast; again, this coast was the coast of Galilee of the Gentiles; so it is the same whether you render it of Galilee or Galilee; yet the sense will be clearer if you render it Galilee. Note: There were two Galilees, upper and lower, and this with respect to the Jordan, to which both lie adjacent. For as Upper Germany is called that which is nearer to the source or origin of the Rhine flowing down below; and Lower Germany, that which is farther from the source, into which the Rhine flows down as from a higher place: so too Lower Galilee was that which was farther from the source or spring of the Jordan, and into which the Jordan, rising above, flowed down: but the upper was that which was nearer to the spring itself, and was neighbor to the Tyrian and Sidonian Gentiles; whence it was also called “of the Gentiles,” because that part of it which was given by Solomon to Hiram king of Tyre, 3 Kings chapter 9, was inhabited by Gentiles. In Upper Galilee, or Galilee of the Gentiles, lay Bethsaida, Corozain, Capharnaum, etc., which Christ made illustrious by his dwelling, miracles and sermons, as Isaias here prophesies.
2. The people that walked in darkness (the people of Galilee, the people of Zabulon and Nephtali, dwelling in the darkness of unbelief, that is, of Judaism mixed with Gentilism) have seen a great light (the Gospel truth, and Christ himself, who is the light of the world): to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death (that is, in the densest darkness of ignorance and sins) light is risen. That is, the faith, grace and brightness of Christ have shone upon them. Of the shadow of death I shall say more on Jeremias, chapter 13, verse 16.
Jansenius explains this otherwise in chapter 25 of the Concord, namely not of the Galileans but of the Jews besieged under Ezechias by Sennacherib: for they saw the light, that is, deliverance and great joy, when the Angel struck down 185 thousand of the Assyrians in his army; but of Sennacherib and the Jews no mention is made here; and that this is said of the Galileans and not of the Jews is plain both from the preceding verse and from St. Matthew 4:15. From which it is plain that these words of Isaias were literally fulfilled by Christ preaching in Galilee: the Prophet therefore here passes wholly to Christ.
3. Thou hast multiplied the nation, and hast not increased the joy. First, St. Thomas, Lyranus, Hugh and Adam refer this again to Sennacherib, who invaded Judea with many forces, but, these being struck down by the Angel, returned inglorious and sad to his own.
Secondly and genuinely, others refer this to the time of Christ; of him he said: “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light,” converting many from the Galileans as well as from Jews and Gentiles; but to you and to the Apostles you will not increase the joy; because you will see, and they will see, that much the greater part of them remains unbelieving; and consequently they will see with grief the destruction of their nation, both of the Galileans and of the Jews, by Titus, for whom they, with Paul, wished to be anathema. So St. Jerome, Haymo and others. Hence Christ, grieving and groaning, said:
“Woe to thee, Corozain! woe to thee, Bethsaida!”
Verse 3. Where our version has “multiplied,” the Hebrew is hirbita, which Forerius and Sanchez render “magnified,” that is, adorned and enriched them by your teachings and miracles, and so our “multiplied” can be taken as meaning by your gifts, graces and benefits: and then the sense is plainer and more fitting. So by enallage “much” is often taken for “great,” and conversely “great” for “much”: thus the Hebrews from the same root raba, that is, he was much, call rab or rabbi, that is, great, meaning a teacher or prince, one endowed with much learning or power: thus a “great” multitude means a “much” one; a “great” people, a “numerous” one; so Exodus 8:24 the fourth plague of Egypt is called “a most grievous fly,” that is, very many. See what is said there.