Isaiah 40-66: Volume 11

By Mark W. Elliott and Thomas C. Oden

No book of the Old Testament is more frequently quoted in the New than Isaiah, and no portion of Isaiah is more frequently quoted in the New than the typologically fertile soil of Isaiah 40–66. Still, as interpreted by the fathers, Isaiah presents a message that is far more soteriological than christological, leading readers to a deeper understanding of God's judgment and salvation. Isaiah 40–66 provides us with the closest thing the Old Testament has to offer regarding a systematic theology. The excerpts included in this Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture volume offer us a rich array of differing styles, principles, and theological emphases, from Theodoret of Cyr to Eusebius and Procopius, to Cyril of Alexandria, Jerome and Augustine. Readers will be enriched by the wide-ranging selections, some of which are translated here into English for the first time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IVP Academic
• Release date: Feb 19, 2014
• ISBN: 9780830897360

Book preview

I

SAIAH

40-66

COMFORT FOR JERUSALEM

ISAIAH 40:1-2

OVERVIEW: It is difficult to understand why these words that call for comfort follow Hezekiah’s request in the previous chapter that there be peace and righteousness in his days. His prayer there, however, was for himself and not his descendants—a prayer that God disapproved (EUSEBIUS). Therefore Isaiah, according to the Septuagint text, asks the priests to petition the Lord on behalf of the people since King Hezekiah had neglected them (EPHREM, CYRIL). This prayer is also addressed to leaders in the church, who need to offer appropriate comfort to their people who come to God in repentance and faith (CONSTITUTION OF THE HOLY APOSTLES).

When Israel’s warfare is over, having received double for its sins, God offers special, tender comfort to its people, as a caring parent who is not afraid to correct his wayward children (GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS). Because God’s justice is tempered by his mercy, the punishment inflicted is less than equal to the sin committed (THEODORET). The joy of salvation comes, then, as blessed relief after the corrective work on the soul has been done (AMBROSE).

40:1 Comfort My People

GOD DISAPPROVES OF HEZEKIAH’S PRAYER. EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA: God did not approve of Hezekiah’s proposal. The fact that he mentioned only himself in his prayer and not the people was blameworthy. That is why the prophet says in what follows, Comfort my people, says the Lord. COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 2.15. ¹

ON BEHALF OF HEZEKIAH’S DESCENDANTS. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Hezekiah offered prayers to God because he had been told that death was imminent, but he failed to pray that evil should be averted from his descendants. Hence Isaiah says, Comfort, comfort my people, you priests. COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 40.1. ²

IN THE FACE OF CALAMITY, PRAY FOR OTHERS. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Hezekiah was at a loss for a defense. Since he could offer no excuse for his crimes, he said that God’s word was good, even though it foretold things that should have made him shed tears. Then he asks for peace in his own days, bidding goodbye, as it were, to those who were to come after him and thereby neglecting his native land, his own city and his own race. But it would have been better for him to be sorry for the things that had been predicted and to ask God for mercy and happiness (not temporary and restricted) on behalf of those to come after him. COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 3.4.40.1. ³

BISHOPS BRING COMFORT WITH LAW AND GOSPEL. APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTIONS: Observe, you who are our beloved sons, how merciful yet righteous the Lord our God is; how gracious and kind to me. And yet most certainly he will not acquit the guilty, ⁴ although he welcomes returning sinners and revives them, leaving no room for suspicion to those who wish to judge sternly and reject offenders entirely, refusing to promise exhortations to them that might otherwise bring them to repentance. In contradiction to people like this, Isaiah says to the bishops, Comfort, comfort my people, you priests. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem. It therefore behooves you, on hearing those words of his, to encourage those who have offended and lead them to repentance. Give them hope that it is not in vain that you enter into their situation of sin, because you love them. Readily receive those who are penitent and rejoice over them. Judge the sinners with mercy and compassion. For if somebody was walking beside the river and ready to stumble, and you pushed him and threw him into the river, instead of offering him your hand to help, you would be guilty of murdering your brother or sister. Instead, you should lend a helping hand when they’re ready to fall. Otherwise they will perish without anyone to help. And you do this so that the people watching are warned and so that the offenders may not utterly perish. It is your duty, O bishop, neither to overlook the sins of the people nor to reject those who are penitent so that you may not unskillfully destroy the Lord’s flock or dishonor his new name, which he has imposed on his people. And you yourself should also be above reproach as those ancient pastors were of whom God speaks to Jeremiah and others. ⁵ CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES 2.15. ⁶

40:2 Priests Speak Tenderly to Jerusalem

SPEAK, YOU PRIESTS, TO THE HEART OF JERUSALEM. THEODORET OF CYR: The God of the universe has left the king aside to invite the priests to give courage back to Jerusalem, as if the chastisement with which it had been threatened had already occurred. This is made clear in the passage to follow: Comfort [Jerusalem], for its humiliation is accomplished. The words of the threat have received a perfect accomplishment. [Its] sin is put away: for it has received of the Lord’s hand double the amount of its sins. It is worthwhile to admire the kindness of the Master at this point: because he is good and his compassion is unfathomable, and although he inflicted a punishment less than equal to the sin, he says, by reason of great benevolence, that this lesser punishment is double the amount of the sin. Now that the chastisement was less than the sin, the same prophet has cried in testimony: Your chastening was to us with small affliction. ⁷ Nevertheless, because he tempers his justice with infinite mercy, the lesson that the victims of the chastisement call small, the judge has called double [the amount of the sin]. Then he teaches the comforters the means of comfort. COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 12.40.1-2. ⁸

CORRECTION IS FOR THE SOUL’S GREATER BENEFIT. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: How is it that some receive at the Lord’s hand double for their sins and the measure of their wickedness is doubly filled up, as in the correction of Israel, while the sins of others are removed by a sevenfold compensation? ⁹ What is the measure of the Amorites that is not yet full? ¹⁰ And how is the sinner either acquitted or chastised again, acquitted perhaps, because reserved for the other world, chastised because healed thereby in this? ON HIS FATHER’S SILENCE, ORATION 16.5. ¹¹

PUNISHMENT A BLESSING. AMBROSE: There is also another type of consolation to those who remove heavy punishments, as you have it written in the book of Isaiah: Comfort, comfort my people, says the Lord. Priests, speak to the heart of Jerusalem, comfort it, for its humiliation is complete, its sin is removed, for it has received from the Lord’s hand double for its sins. Although faith was lacking, punishment makes good; those who are not absolved by the praise of merits are relieved by the removal of punishments. EXPOSITION OF PSALM 118.18.2. ¹²

THE VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS

ISAIAH 40:3-5

OVERVIEW: The way of the Lord is made straight in our hearts through true contemplation and those activities that follow from such contemplation. The Lord wants to find in us a path by which he can enter into our souls (ORIGEN), as he condescends to dwell in our hearts by meeting us through his Word (AMBROSE). The Word is united to the soul through the Spirit’s election (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM). When Isaiah speaks of preparing a way, this concerns the preparatory work done by John the Baptist: God has to be allowed to come close in Christ before spiritual rebirth is possible. But it seems that Christ is now also the means of preparation (AUGUSTINE). John as a herald announces the incarnation of the Word (THEODORET). The prophecy will ultimately be fulfilled in the last times with an angel, not John, playing the announcer’s role (JEROME).

Isaiah is declaring here the essential humility of the ministry as a lowly conduit to do God’s work (CAESARIUS). Continuity between the penitent life and Christ’s work of fulfilling the law can also be seen here (TERTULLIAN). Ultimately, Isaiah’s prophecy concerns the cross of Christ. The way prepared is God’s coming to the human heart in the incarnation (AUGUSTINE). The prophet prepares a way beforehand for souls to receive God (CHRYSOSTOM). The valleys are unbelievers and the mountains are demons, who are worshiped on the mountains (THEODORET). If one takes the filling of the valleys in a literal way, one might even say the valleys are full of holy ascetics who empty their hearts, only to be filled later with the presence of God (EPHREM). In the valleys, the Lord has prepared a smooth highway for us, although at times it may be felt as hard and rough (CASSIAN). The return from Babylon was not evident to all, but the story of the cross of Christ has been proclaimed to the ends of the earth (THEODORET). The Word assumed what is common to all humanity (MARIUS).Through him, the revelation of God’s glory appears even in the humility of the incarnation (AMBROSE) as the Son reveals the Father’s glory to the world (CYRIL).

40:3 Prepare the Way of the Lord

MAKING A PATH IN THE HEART FOR GOD TO FIND. ORIGEN: The Lord wants to find in you a path by which he can enter into your souls and make his journey. Prepare for him the path of which it is said, Make straight his path. The voice of one crying in the desert—the voice cries, prepare the way. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 21.5. ¹

CONTEMPLATION FOLLOWED BY PRACTICE. ORIGEN: Now the way of the Lord is made straight in two ways: by contemplation, which is clarified by truth unmixed with falsehood, and by activity, which follows sound contemplation of the appropriate action to be taken, which is conformed to the correct sense of these things to be done. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 6.103. ²

THE CONDESCENSION OF GOD. AMBROSE: God, indeed, never descends from any place, for he says, I fill heaven and earth. ³ But he seems to descend when the Word of God enters our hearts, as the prophet has said, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. We are to do this, so that, as he himself promised, he may come together with the Father and make his abode with us. ⁴ ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 5.7.98. ⁵

SPIRIT’S ELECTION ACCORDING TO FAITH. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: While the heavenly powers rejoice, let the souls that are to be united to the spiritual bridegroom make themselves ready. For the voice is heard of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord. For this is no light matter, no ordinary and indiscriminate union according to the flesh but the all-searching Spirit’s election according to faith. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 3.1. ⁶

PREPARATION AND REBIRTH. AUGUSTINE: They were not reborn, those who were baptized by John’s baptism, by which Christ himself was baptized. ⁷ Rather, they were prepared by the ministry of a forerunner, who said, Prepare a way for the Lord—for him in whom alone they could be reborn. ENCHIRIDION 14.49.