Commentaria in Isaiam
Chapter 12
This chapter is a song of victory of Jesus Christ the conqueror and saviour. The Prophet had said at the end of the preceding chapter that God would level all the pathless and impassable places for the Apostles and the faithful, as for the Hebrews he dried and levelled the Red Sea. Wherefore, as after the crossing of the Red Sea, and the deliverance from Pharao, Moses and the Hebrews sang to God a song of thanksgiving, Exodus 15, so here Isaias, concluding with this song, as with an epiphonema, the like, indeed greater, benefits of Emmanuel, by which he will free us from sin and death, of which he has hitherto treated, invites all the daughters of Sion, that is, Christians, to thanksgiving, and warns them to rest confidently in him alone, pardon and grace having now been received from him, with death, the devil, the conscience of sin, the weakness of the flesh, and the world despised. For he teaches that the effect of Christ’s redemption lies in tranquillity and confidence of soul, in which the redeemed people rest in holiness, and, relying and leaning on the help of Jesus, fear no further evil, but draw with jubilation the living waters springing from the fountains of the Saviour.
1. And thou shalt say in that day: I will give thanks to thee, O Lord, for thou wast angry with me: thy wrath is turned away, and thou hast comforted me. 2. Behold, God is my saviour, I will deal confidently, and will not fear: because the Lord is my strength, and my praise, and he is become my salvation. 3. You shall draw waters with joy out of the saviour’s fountains. 4. And you shall say in that day: Praise ye the Lord, and call upon his name: make his works known among the people: remember that his name is high. 5. Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath done great things: shew this forth in all the earth. 6. Rejoice, and praise, O thou habitation of Sion: for great is he that is in the midst of thee, the Holy One of Israel.
In that day, when you shall see fulfilled in yourself all that I have here foretold of Christ and of the grace and gifts of Christ.
I will confess to thee, O Lord (I will praise thee and give thanks), because, when thou wast angry with me for my sins, angry, by the death of thy Son Christ thy wrath was turned into clemency and grace, whereby, forgiving my sins, thou hast comforted me.
Note: This is the sole gift of God, that the Christian, rejoicing in this quiet of conscience and in the hope of eternal salvation, ought continually to give thanks to God, to sing psalms and to exult; and so his whole life should be nothing other than continual gladness and praise of God, so that whatever he thinks, says, does, suffers, he may do it with a glad mind, and in all things, adverse as well as prosperous, praise God, and indeed do and undergo all things eagerly for the love and praise of God. So he will rejoice continually, and begin in heaven the life of the Saints, who in happy peace, joy and delights sing Alleluia without end. This is the lofty life, transcending all things human and earthly, heavenly and blessed. This the Angels all lead, both those who minister and those rather who stand before him, who, contemplating the immense majesty, glory, beauty and beneficence of God, always exult, and with wonder sing: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts.” This is their ceaseless busy leisure and leisurely business. Blessed are they who grasp this, blessed they who enter on this way and life. So St. Francis, having received a revelation of his predestination and salvation, by which he understood with certainty that he was and would be a partaker of this gift, could for nights and days neither eat, nor drink, nor sleep, nor do anything else but rejoice, so that, drunk with joy, he uttered nothing but this: “Praised be God, praised be God!”
Moreover there are various degrees and ways of praising God: the first is by celebrating him with words and hymns, repeating often through the day: “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,” and: “We praise thee, O God, we acknowledge thee to be the Lord,” and so on.
The second is by avoiding sins, even the smallest (for these are the greatest insult and reproach to God).
The third is by persevering in holy actions and virtues, especially of charity and humility (of which I have spoken at Daniel 3:87), referring them to the praise of God:
“Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God.”
The fourth is by striving after perfection, and persevering in heroic works (for by one such work God is often more honoured and celebrated than by ten ordinary ones), and generously overcoming all temptations, sorrows and difficulties, all that is hard and contrary, for the love and praise of God.
The fifth is by meditating often on the infinite excellence of God, his holiness, power, love, and so on; and from this stirring yourself up to an abysmal reverence, praise and glorification of God, so that before God you may think nothing in the world high, nothing great and sublime, nothing worthy of praise, nay, may despise even yourself, and say with Daniel: “To thee, O Lord, glory; but to us confusion of face”; and with St. Francis: “Who art thou, O Lord? who am I? Thou art majesty, wisdom, power and glory; I am an abyss of nothingness, ignorance, sins and miseries.” And that you may ardently desire, in life and in death, in joys and sorrows, in time and in eternity, to celebrate the praises of God with a thousand tongues, and (if it were possible) a thousand hearts.
The sixth is by inviting others, by life and by voice, to the praise of God, especially those who are ignorant of God or blaspheme him, for example by converting sinners, Indians, Japanese, and so on, and by praying constantly: “Lord, hallowed be thy name,” that all nations and men may know, worship, love and glorify thee. Again, by inviting all Angels and creatures, even inanimate ones, to the praise of God, as the three children in the Babylonian furnace do, Daniel, chapter 3: “O all ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord, and so on. Let every spirit praise the Lord.”
The seventh and most perfect is bravely suffering many reproaches, persecutions, hardships, scourgings and death for the glory of God. Hence martyrdom is the greatest praise of God. So Christ on the cross, suffering the bitterest torments, insults and death, most glorified God. So also the Holy Innocents, and all the Martyrs, confessed God more by dying than by speaking, and celebrated his name. So the Martyr St. Theodore, while his sides were laid bare by the claws, sang joyfully: “I will bless the Lord at all times”; others: “Praise to thee, O Christ”; others: “Glory be to the Father.”
Verse 2. Behold God is my saviour. So Moses sings, Exodus 15: “He is my God, and I will glorify him.” The word “behold” signifies a wondrous salvation in desperate affairs, and an eternal one, which the Saviour, or Jesus, brought. Hence some render: “Behold God my Jesus,” as if it signified here the name of the boy and of Emmanuel to be born, of whom he has hitherto treated; for thus the greatness of the joy and the delights of love are better expressed. Word for word in the Hebrew it is: “Behold God my salvation.” Salvation, that is, Saviour or Jesus; as if to say: Behold Jesus, who has brought me so great salvation from so great evils; why should I not wholly exult in him? what further should I dread? what should I fear? what love? what hope? what say, but, My God, my Jesus, and my all? Hence he repeats the name of salvation, that is, of the Saviour or Jesus, three times in this verse and the next.
I will not fear; because I am conscious of nothing more against me, nor do I turn pale at any guilt: “For there is now no condemnation (nothing deserving condemnation) to them that are in Christ Jesus,” Romans 8:1. In the Hebrew there is an elegant rhythm and play on words in the words ebtach, that is, I will hope, and ephchad, that is, I will fear.
Because the Lord is my strength. I have received from Jesus all my strength, by which I shake off the yoke of the demon, and by which I shall henceforth overcome his allurements, powers and sins. Beautifully and soundly does St. Prosper teach from this passage, in the third book On the Contemplative Life, chapter 20, what and how great Christian fortitude is, and on whom it rests, namely on God alone: “This fortitude of soul,” he says, “is from him to whom we sing with the Prophet: The Lord is my strength, and my praise, and he is become my salvation. He is our strength, because he so strengthens us against all vices with unconquered protection, that neither enticements dissolve nor adversities cast down our soul; and then the Lord becomes our praise, if we desire to proclaim not our own part in the gifts of God, but the divine gifts in us.” He then adds in what it consists: “He, therefore, whose strength of soul is the Lord, yields to no carnal desires, acquiesces in no pleasures, overcomes ambition and popular glory; neither love of money draws him, nor the bitterness of passions and of losses subdues him; let God be to him all praise, perfect glory, pure delight, sure hope, firm security, sound ability, incorrupt health, so that whatever pleases the carnal displeases him; whatever seems precious grows cheap; whatever is bright grows foul in the contemplation of things to come; nor will he suffer himself to be cast down from those things which he has raised by grace.” Finally he adds that it must rule not over one vice, but over all: “For he is not usually reckoned brave who has distinguished himself by facing labours and dangers, or has been intent on curbing and mastering pleasures; but he is to be accounted great, sublime, powerful, and worthy of the name of fortitude, who permits no vice to rebel against him or to rule over him.” But this too is golden.
And my praise (that is, the matter and object of praise, whom I am bound to praise continually, whom I always praise, and in whom I exult); and (that is, because) he is become my salvation, that is, my Saviour and Jesus; second, Jesus is my praise actively, because he makes me praiseworthy before all, and worthy of praise. Others for “my praise” render “my music,” my song, or: the Lord is my canticle.
Jehova; which can be rendered: God of God, or God from God. Again, Ia is an abbreviation of Jehova; this is Jesus, who by the incarnation both emptied and abbreviated himself.
Verse 3. You shall draw waters with joy out of the saviour’s fountains. He alludes to the fountain of Siloe, to which he compared Emmanuel, chapter 8:6; again to the rock which, struck by the rod of Moses, gave a fountain of most sweet water, from which the people, parched with thirst, drank with joy: for this rock was a type of Christ, who, struck by the scourges and the rod of the cross, became a fountain of spiritual water, which refreshes and restores parched, thirsting and squalid souls. Hence Paul alludes to this, saying, 1 Corinthians 10:4: “All drank the same spiritual drink (and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ).” Indeed Christ himself, John 7, says: “If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink,” and chapter 4:14: “But he that shall drink of the water that I will give him shall not thirst for ever: but the water that I will give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into life everlasting.” So Sanchez. First, St. Cyril and St. Jerome here, and Origen, homily 19 on Numbers, and Procopius on chapter 1 of Genesis, take these waters to be the sacred Scripture and the Gospel doctrine, which we draw from Christ.
Second, St. Ambrose understands these waters as the Sacraments of the Church, which flowed from the wounds of Christ as from fountains, especially the Eucharistic chalice; whence Origen above understands baptism. So these are saving waters.
Third, others take by the waters the most abundant grace of the Holy Spirit, consolation, devotion, charity, tears: all of which flow from the merits of Christ and the fountain of his blood. Hence some for “from the fountains” render “from the bowels of the Saviour”; both because the bowels of Christ were fountains of the blood shed for us, and because the Hebrew word meaning fountains, by the cutting off of a letter, is the word meaning bowels, and includes it.
Fourth, St. Bernard, sermon 4 On the Nativity, takes the waters that are from the fountains of the Saviour to be the waters of remission, discretion, devotion, zeal and eternal life: “As in the earthly paradise,” he says, “there were four fountains to water the whole earth, so in Christ, who is our paradise, four fountains are to be found: the first fountain is of mercy, to wash away our faults with the waters of remission; the second fountain of wisdom, to quench our thirst with the waters of discretion; the third fountain of grace, to water the plants of good works with the waters of devotion; the fourth fountain is of charity, to season and temper our affections with the waters of zeal, and of these may be understood that of Isaias: You shall draw waters with joy out of the saviour’s fountains. Add a fifth, which is the fountain of life, which after this age he promises again, for which the Prophet thirsted when he said: My soul hath thirsted after the living God. Perhaps on account of these four fountains Christ was wounded in four places while still living on the cross; on account of the fifth, when he had already given up the spirit, he was pierced in the side.”
Fifth, the same Bernard, sermon 66 among the Small Sermons, takes these fountains to be, first, the fountain of truth, from which flow the waters of judgments; second, the fountain of wisdom, from which well forth the waters of counsels; third, the fountain of virtue, from which gush the waters of defences; fourth, the fountain of charity, from which flow the waters of holy desires; which he then pursues more fully.
Of these is true what Euripides says in the Medea: “Upward flow the fountains of the sacred rivers.”
All these expositions are true, and come nearly to the same thing.
Hence one name of Christ is “an open fountain,” Zacharias 13: “There shall be a fountain open to the house of David”; of whose waters St. Gregory has many beautiful things, homily 22 on Ezechiel.
Verse 4. And you shall say (that is, therefore you shall say): Praise ye the Lord, celebrate the beneficence of God toward us. Those who are mindful of a benefit and leaping with gladness are wont to feel unequal to giving thanks to so beneficent a God: wherefore they invite other Angels and Saints also, indeed all inanimate creatures, to give thanks to God with them and for them, and to celebrate him with praises. So the three children in the Babylonian furnace did, and David, Psalm 148, as I said at verse 1.
Make his works known among the people, that is, his counsels, thoughts, ways and designs in the redemption of the human race; the Septuagint render, his glorious things, namely his miraculous works.
For his name is high. Although the name of Jesus Christ is higher than all praise and glory, you nevertheless, O redeemed, celebrate with praises and feasts, as much as you can, the name which he himself merited by his passion and resurrection, that in the man Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, on earth and under the earth.
Verse 5. He hath done great things. The Septuagint: he hath done lofty things, that is, wonderful, sublime and magnificent things.
Verse 6. Rejoice: shout for joy as much as you can; some render, neigh; others, exalt or sing out. The Hebrew tsahal signifies to cry out strongly and with all one’s strength, as horses do when neighing.
O habitation of Sion (the assembly of the faithful, the holy Church); for great (exalted and glorious) is in the midst of thee the Holy One of Israel, namely the God of Israel; for he is far more and more sublimely in the midst of thee than he was in the midst of the Synagogue, or even in the midst of thee while he lived, before the ascension into heaven: for then he was in thee teaching men, working miracles, dying, and descending into the bowels of the earth; but after the ascension he is glorious in heaven, and still remains in the venerable Sacrament in the midst of the Church Militant.
He alludes to the name Emmanuel, that is, God with us; for “in the midst of thee” is the same as with thee, or among thee.
The clearest examples of this hymn and jubilation were seen in the first Christians and Martyrs. And, to say nothing of others, Saints Processus and Martinian, the keepers of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul in the Mamertine prison, seeing their heavenly life and teaching, were converted to Christ: and when water was lacking, St. Peter, making the sign of the cross on the Tarpeian rock, drew forth a spring, which we still see flowing and taste, and from it he baptized them. They were soon endowed with such grace, strength and joy that, when the prefect Paulinus ordered their jaws and teeth to be crushed with stones, they with eyes fixed on heaven sang: “Glory to God in the highest.” Again, when they were tortured on the rack, with red-hot plates, scorpions and other dire torments, they uttered nothing but: “Blessed be thy name, O Lord, for ever.” At last, struck with the axe on the Aurelian Way, they glad and exulting met their martyrdom. So their Life has it, July 2. Had not they drawn waters with joy from the fountains of the Saviour?