Isaiah 40 · The Lantern

Consolamini, consolamini, popule meus, dicit Deus vester.

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."

(Chapter 40, Verses 1 onwards) Console, console my people, says your God: Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call out to her; for her wickedness is complete, her iniquity is forgiven. She has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins. LXX: Console, console my people, says God.

This the second principle part of this book, in which he principally intends the comfort of the people through many promised benefits. And it is divided into two parts: in the first, he leads them to the expectation of promises; in the second, he describes the promise of divine benefits, below: thus says the Lord to my anointed (Isa 45:1).

Loquimini ad cor Jerusalem, et advocate eam, quoniam completa est malitia ejus, dimissa est iniquitas illius: suscepit de manu Domini duplicia pro omnibus peccatis suis.

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? What is the measure of the Amorites that is not yet full?

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.

He orders the prophets and priests to announce comfort: speak to the heart, namely, by comforting, and call them from sadness, from idolatry: I will lead her into the wilderness: and I will speak to her heart (Hos 2:14).

Vox clamantis in deserto: Parate viam Domini, rectas facite in solitudine semitas Dei nostri.

As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. [Isaiah 40:3-5] John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

God, indeed, never descends from any place, for he says, "I fill heaven and earth." 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.

The voice of one crying in the desert. Here he promises the comforter. And concerning this, he does three things: first, he sends ahead the preparation; second, he shows the firmness of the prophecy: the voice of one, saying (Isa 40:6); third, he foretells the coming of the comforter: get you up upon a high mountain (Isa 40:9). Concerning the first, he does three things.

Omnis vallis exaltabitur, et omnis mons et collis humiliabitur, et erunt prava in directa, et aspera in vias planas:

It is said that the valleys are filled, because the Lord has entered the world, and has redeemed all the peoples from the bondage of the devil, and brought them back to the faith and adoration of their Creator and has taught them to hope in eternal salvation.

He has clearly shown by these terms the facility of the evangelical proclamation: thanks to this facility, in a short time it filled the whole world.

He foretells the fulfilment: every valley, following the metaphor of the evil way: if it is mountainous, it causes labor, and thus is said, every valley shall be exalted, so that it is made as high as the mountains and everything may be made level; if it is winding, it causes wandering, and as to this he says, the crooked shall become straight; if it is rocky, it causes pain in…

et revelabitur gloria Domini, et videbit omnis caro pariter quod os Domini locutum est.

But when he took on flesh, he took on the universal logos of flesh. For he triumphed over the powers of all flesh in the flesh, and thus he came to the aid of all flesh, as is said in Isaiah, "all flesh will see the salvation of God," and in the psalms, "All flesh will come to you."

The one who has made these declarations, he says, is incapable of deceit. As for me, I am greatly astonished at those who think that the prophet has made these prophecies on the subject of the return from Babylon; for they should have considered that the prophetic text has clearly proclaimed in advance that the salvation of God would be evident for all people, whereas this retu…

He shows the utility of the preparation: and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, that is, the Son: I will cure them: and I will reveal to them the prayer of peace (Jer 33:6); all flesh together shall see, that is, he will make himself visible to all, or he speaks of the day of judgment: every eye shall see him: and they also that pierced him (Rev 1:7).

Vox dicentis: Clama. Et dixi: Quid clamabo? Omnis caro fœnum, et omnis gloria ejus quasi flos agri.

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am h…

We are still alive, but part of us has already perished in old age. Even though our soul is the same, nevertheless, we who suffer the loss of the pristine vigor of youth are, in a real sense, other than we were.

The voice of one, saying. In this part, he shows the firmness of the prophecy by comparison to the frailty of men. Thus the Lord first orders a cry, which signifies an express and plain announcement: cry, below: cry, cease not (Isa 58:1); second, he orders human frailty to be cried out, with the prophet asking: and I said: what shall I cry, fearing that he will be ordered to cr…

Exsiccatum est fœnum, et cecidit flos, quia spiritus Domini sufflavit in eo. Vere fœnum est populus:

exsiccatum est fœnum, et cecidit flos; verbum autem Domini nostri manet in æternum.

Super montem excelsum ascende, tu qui evangelizas Sion; exalta in fortitudine vocem tuam, qui evangelizas Jerusalem: exalta, noli timere. Dic civitatibus Juda: Ecce Deus vester:

For in the power of the Holy Spirit, by the will of the Father and the Son, Peter stood with the Eleven and, lifting up his voice (according to the text, "Lift up your voice with strength, you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem"), captured in the spiritual net of his words about three thousand souls.

It is the chorus of the apostles that the prophetic text raises here. It is precisely for this reason that after expressing this exhortation in the singular the text shifts into the plural and says, "Lift up [the voice], do not fear." In the same way, in his turn, Christ our Master said to the apostles, "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul." And again,…

Get you up upon a high mountain. Here he foretells the coming comforter. And concerning this, he does three things: first, the Lord orders the prophet to announce it; in the second part, he determines the promise of his coming: behold your God; in the third, he shows the condition of the one who comes: behold the Lord God shall come with strength (Isa 40:10).

ecce Dominus Deus in fortitudine veniet, et brachium ejus dominabitur: ecce merces ejus cum eo, et opus illius coram illo.

We must … be zealous in doing good, for all things are from him. [Isaiah] warns us, "Behold, the Lord comes, and his reward is before his face, to pay each person according to his work." He therefore urges us who believe in him with all our heart not to be lazy or careless in any good work. Let our glorying and our confidence be in him. Let us be subject to his will.

These words are a glimpse of the second coming of the Savior. It is then that he will give the laborers their reward. "He will reward each according to his works," according to the word of the apostle.

Behold the Lord. Here he shows the condition of the one who comes. And first, he shows that he will come strong to liberate: with strength, and his arm, his strength on the day of judgment; or in the first coming of Christ, in the power of his miracles; or in the destruction of Babylon, have you an arm like God? (Job 40:4).

Sicut pastor gregem suum pascet, in brachio suo congregabit agnos, et in sinu suo levabit; fœtas ipse portabit.

And that He also calls us lambs, the Spirit by the mouth of Isaiah is an unimpeachable witness: "He will feed His flock like a shepherd, He will gather the lambs with His arm,"—using the figurative appellation of lambs, which are still more tender than sheep, to express simplicity.

I say that these [lambs] are the souls of those who are truly made heavenly philosophers, rejecting the world with its delights and false show and who prefer to dwell in the desert rather than in royal palaces.

Third, he shows that he will come kind to comfort: like a shepherd; to feed the hungry: he shall feed his flock: I will feed them in the most fruitful pastures (Ezek 34:14): I will give you pastors who shall feed you (Jer 3:15); to gather together the dissenting: with his arm: other sheep I have (John 10:16); to carry the faltering: in his bosom: when he has found it, lay it up…

Quis mensus est pugillo aquas, et cælos palmo ponderavit? quis appendit tribus digitis molem terræ, et libravit in pondere montes, et colles in statera?

That Man, however, he says, is of no reputation in the world, but of illustrious fame in heaven, being betrayed by those who are ignorant (of his perfections) to those who know him not, being accounted as a drop from a cask.

Who would deny that God has made these things, who spoke through the Prophet, saying: 'Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance, who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or who has been his counselor or instructed Him?…

Who has measured the waters. Here he shows divine power. And first, he establishes it against the errors of idolaters, who detracted from divine power by making the creature equal to the creator: they served the creature rather than the Creator (Rom 1:25); second, against the despair of the Jews, who detracted from divine power by distrust: lift up your eyes on high (Isa 40:26)…

Quis adjuvit spiritum Domini? aut quis consiliarius ejus fuit, et ostendit illi?

Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.…

"Yet to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we to him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him." … The apostle says according to the prophecy of Isaiah, "Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" And he added, "For him and through him and in him are all things," which Isaiah said of the ar…

Second, he shows the sufficiency of his power, that he needs no helper: who has forwarded, against the philosophers who posit that the last creatures were created by the mediation of the first creatures; of his wisdom, that he needs no counsel: or who has been his counsellor, that he would give the Lord counsel.

cum quo iniit consilium, et instruxit eum, et docuit eum semitam justitiæ, et erudivit eum scientiam, et viam prudentiæ ostendit illi?

Ecce gentes quasi stilla situlæ, et quasi momentum stateræ reputatæ sunt; ecce insulæ quasi pulvis exiguus.

For it was fitting that (since all the nations are reckoned as a droplet of the bucket) he who for the salvation of all became all things should become also a droplet, to set them free. For what did he not become for our salvation? We are empty; and he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.

And just as all things compared to the divine power can do virtually nothing, so all things compared to the divine essence are virtually the least. Whence in respect to the divine being this entire world is as something minimal.

Third, he shows its excellence, that it exceeds all the multitude of nations: behold the Gentiles are as a drop, a little spot, of a bucket, falling from a bucket, which is a vessel of water fit for the thirsty, which is accounted as nothing; the smallest grain, which is between the arms of a balance and is easily inclined to either: seeing we have heard scarce a little drop of…

Et Libanus non sufficiet ad succendendum, et animalia ejus non sufficient ad holocaustum.

He teaches, therefore, that all of this service through blood and sacrifice is no longer appropriate for God. Neither someone offering all the four-footed creatures of the earth nor all of Lebanon and all the matter produced in it as sacrifices would be worthy before God.

(Verse 16) And Lebanon is not enough to burn, and its animals are not enough for a burnt offering. LXX: Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor all the animals enough for a burnt offering.

He also shows that it exceeds every fitting honor and especially as to offerings: and Libanus, that is, the trees of Libanus, in which it abounds, because it is wooded, nor the beasts, in which it abounds, because it is fit for pasture: what shall I offer to the Lord that is worthy? (Mic 6:6).

Omnes gentes quasi non sint, sic sunt coram eo, et quasi nihilum et inane reputatæ sunt ei.

(Verse 17) All nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. LXX: All the nations are as nothing in his sight, and they are counted as worthless.

He also shows that it exceeds every perfection of creation: both natural, for the being of creatures is, in respect to God, non being; for Dionysius says, in his book on Divine Names 12.4, that so far as the participants surpass non-participants, and the participations surpass the participants, to such an extent, he who is the principle of the participants exceeds both the part…

Cui ergo similem fecisti Deum? aut quam imaginem ponetis ei?

(Verse 18 and following) To whom then will you liken God, or what image will you set before Him? Can the craftsman make a graven image, or the goldsmith overlay it with gold, and the silversmith spread silver plates upon it? Or perhaps the skilled craftsman chooses a piece of wood that will not rot and seeks out a proficient artisan to fashion an image that will not move.

Here he excludes the error of the idolaters. And first, he mocks this error as to the intention of the worker, that they wished to make a god: then, consequently, he is so powerful, to whom have you likened God, he speaks according to the error of those who thought the likenesses themselves were gods, or what image, as to those who thought the things of which they were likeness…

Numquid sculptile conflavit faber? aut aurifex auro figuravit illud, et laminis argenteis argentarius?

Forte lignum et imputribile elegit; artifex sapiens quærit quomodo statuat simulacrum, quod non moveatur.

Numquid non scitis? numquid non audistis? numquid non annuntiatum est vobis ab initio? numquid non intellexistis fundamenta terræ?

(Vers. 21 seqq.) Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been announced to you from the beginning? Have you not understood the foundations of the earth? He sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like locusts. He spreads out the heavens like nothing, and expands them as a tent to dwell in. He makes secret things known as if they were not.

From the beginning, [Isaiah] says, have I not taught you the weakness of the idols? Do you not know who it is who set the earth on its foundations with a view to assuring its stability?

Second, he convicts the one who errs. And first, from the natural law, which prescribes: do you not know, by natural reason, that idols are not gods?; and from the written law, which prohibits: has it not been told you? Have they not heard? (Rom 10:18).

Qui sedet super gyrum terræ, et habitatores ejus sunt quasi locustæ; qui extendit velut nihilum cælos, et expandit eos sicut tabernaculum ad inhabitandum;

"He that stretches out the heavens as a vaulted ceiling." These same thoughts, let us also recommend to ourselves concerning the earth, not to be curious about what its substance is; or to wear ourselves out by reasoning, seeking its very foundation; or to search for some nature destitute of qualities, existing without quality of itself; but to realize well that all that is see…

It is he, [Isaiah] says, who has caused the earth to appear; it is he who holds it in his hand and who directs it. As for human beings, they are no different from grasshoppers if one compares them with divine power.

And as to their creator: it is he that sits upon the globe of the earth, for it is spherical, as though governing it, and the inhabitants thereof are as locusts, in respect to the magnitude of the earth, or of God himself; also from the creation of heavenly creatures: he that stretches out, as to the magnitude of heaven, as nothing, as to the subtlety of its substance, as a ten…

qui dat secretorum scrutatores quasi non sint, judices terræ velut inane fecit.

Et quidem neque plantatus, neque satus, neque radicatus in terra truncus eorum; repente flavit in eos, et aruerunt, et turbo quasi stipulam auferet eos.

Et cui assimilastis me, et adæquastis? dicit Sanctus.

Levate in excelsum oculos vestros, et videte quis creavit hæc: qui educit in numero militiam eorum, et omnes ex nomine vocat; præ multitudine fortitudinis et roboris, virtutisque ejus, neque unum reliquum fuit.

In many places in scripture is the phrase "Lift up your eyes" set forth by the divine word, urging us to elevate and raise our thoughts and our vision, which is cast down and stooped, unable to fully look up and to rise on high; just as in Isaiah: "Lift up your eyes on high and see: who has created these things?" And the Savior, when about to proclaim the Beatitudes to those ga…

As for their other assertion, that God's knowledge cannot comprehend things infinite, it only remains for them to affirm, in order that they may sound the depths of their impiety, that God does not know all numbers.

Lift up your eyes. Here he establishes the same divine power against those who despair. And first, he establishes divine majesty from the creation of things: who has created these things, namely, heavenly things: he spoke, and they were made (Ps 148:5); from the perfection of his knowledge: who brings out, to fulfill his will, in number, determined in his knowledge, their host,…

Quare dicis, Jacob, et loqueris, Israël: Abscondita est via mea a Domino, et a Deo meo judicium meum transivit?

Numquid nescis, aut non audisti? Deus sempiternus Dominus, qui creavit terminos terræ: non deficiet, neque laborabit, nec est investigatio sapientiæ ejus.

If they shall assign the toil of making all things as the reason why God only made the Son, the whole creation will cry out against them as saying unworthy things of God; and Isaiah, too, who has said in Scripture, "The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint, neither is he weary: there is no searching of his understanding." And if God ma…

Then he recalls the truths that he has often taught: "[I am an] eternal God." This is what the blessed Moses has also said: "I AM WHO I AM." As for the blessed David, he in his turn addresses himself to him in these terms: "But you, Lord, endure forever, and your remembrance to generation and generation." Or again: "But you are the same, and your years shall not fail."

He sets out the reproof of the error; and first, the confirmation of the proof from the law: know you not, from the natural law, or have you not heard, from the written law, these things which follow?

Qui dat lasso virtutem, et his qui non sunt, fortitudinem et robur multiplicat.

Deficient pueri, et laborabunt, et juvenes in infirmitate cadent;

qui autem sperant in Domino mutabunt fortitudinem, assument pennas sicut aquilæ: current et non laborabunt, ambulabunt et non deficient.

But those who have confidence not in their own strength, but in God, and always await His mercy, let them change their strength and go from virtue to virtue: and let them take wings like eagles, and hear: Your youth will be renewed like the eagle's (Psalm 103:5); let them run to the Lord, and not grow weary of desiring Him; let them walk, and never grow faint.

The second disposition for the inflowing of the gift of fortitude is through the imperturbable consolation of hope. "Those who hope in the Lord shall renew their strength: they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not labor: they shall walk and not grow faint." A man would gladly bear a great burden for a mark of gold.

The soul runs swiftly to God and touches Him again and again; and it runs without fainting by reason of its hope. For here the love that has made it strong makes it to fly swiftly. Of this the prophet Isaiah speaks thus: ' The saints that hope in God shall renew their strength;'

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