(Verse 16.) After seventy years, Tyre will be like the song of a prostitute. Take up the lyre, go around the city, forgotten prostitute, sing well, sing often, so that there will be a memory of you. Because you have prostituted yourself with many nations, and you have been left desolate, naked, and filthy with the filth of captivity, your former lovers have despised you. Now take up the lyre, sing songs of lamentation, go around the city, weep for your former brothel, and wash away the traces of your ancient error with tears, so that you may provoke the mercy of God in yourself.
23:17
(Verse 17) And it will be, after seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and He will restore it to its merchandise, and again it will commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the earth on the face of the earth. All these things are indicated by the consonant letters of the Greeks and the Phoenicians, that after seventy years, it was restored and returned to its former power, and it became a market for all nations, which I think are called fornications, just as one who commits fornication enters a brothel and gives a fee for immorality: in the same way, the instigator, coming together from the whole world, will fill the beauty of the city like that of a harlot.
23:18
(Verse 18) And his business shall be holy to the Lord, and his wages shall be set apart for the Lord; they shall not be stored up or hoarded away. For those who dwell before the Lord, his business shall be to eat in plenty and be clothed until old age. These things, according to history, we have not yet discovered if they have been fulfilled, unless it is to be thought that after the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the restoration of Tyre, the two cities were friendly with each other and frequently sent gifts to the temple of God in Tyre. Just as we read in Ezra (Esdras 13:16) that he drove away the Tyrians who were selling fish on the Sabbath and did not allow them to enter the city, and it should be estimated from this example about other business dealings as well. The Jews delay their empty prayers for the future, stating that these will be fulfilled after the Antichrist in a thousand years. It is not surprising if they fabricate such things, as they have rejected the truth of Christ and are preparing to receive the Antichrist, the instrument of the devil. Even Christians who fall into Judaizing contend that these words refer to a thousand years of blessedness. However, I, in understanding the vision of Babylon as a type of its destruction, interpret it as the time of its fulfillment, and in Egypt, with its idols destroyed and the altar of the Lord erected, I refer it to the time of Christ. Likewise, in the vision of Moab, I recognize the throne of the Savior placed on his land, and in all the other visions of Damascus, I have no doubt that they are sacraments of our times. Thus, in the vision of Tyre, which is the most extreme, I interpret it as the time of Christian felicity: that after it is built and regains its former state, all merchants return to their ancient customs, entering its harbor, and their goods and labor are dedicated to the Lord. Let us consider the churches built in Tyre, let us think about the wealth of all, which is not stored up or hoarded, but given to those who live before the Lord, who, as altar servants, share with the altar (1 Corinthians 9). However, the Tyrians serve not for wealth, nor to accumulate the wealth of priests, but to provide for the necessary sustenance: so that, according to the Apostle, having food and clothing, we may be content with these (1 Timothy 6). And note that it did not say negotiations and goods of Tyre sanctified to be given to the Lord to those who dwell in Jerusalem as the Jews think, but to those who are before the Lord, who serve Him. For the Lord established it so that those who preach the Gospel should live from the Gospel (I Cor. IX). But to serve the Lord and to dwell before Him is not a matter of place, but of merit. Thus far we have discussed the visions of Isaiah, or the burdens that he imposed on certain nations, as you have commanded, and as we have been able to, following the historical interpretation, focusing only on the footsteps of Hebrew truth. The following things pertain to all nations, and generally to the completion of the whole world. About these things, neither did you ask me to write, nor was it a waste of time for me to dictate unasked and barely written about sought-after things.
Book Six
Book Six
What I promised in the previous volume, that if Christ were to grant our desire, I would build a spiritual structure upon the foundations of history and show the adornment of the perfect Church with its roof set, I will attempt to accomplish in the following two books, O virgin of Christ Eustochium, through your prayers and the mercy of the Lord, so that with the same effort that the fifth book encompasses history, the sixth and seventh may touch upon the anagoge: not discussing everything, lest the volumes become too numerous, but briefly indicating what the men of the Church before us have thought.
13:1
(Chapter XIII—Verse 1) The burden or vision against Babylon that Isaiah, son of Amos, saw. He saw not with the eyes of the flesh, but with the eyes of the mind, how great and weighty a burden is to be imposed upon Babylon. And because Babylon, which in Hebrew is called Babel (), signifies confusion; because there the speech of the builders was confounded, it is understood spiritually that this world, which is placed in evil, not only confuses languages, but also the works of individuals and their minds. The king of Babylon is the true Nebuchadnezzar, who rebels against the Lord, saying in his heart: I will ascend to heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven. I will sit on the mountain of the Covenant on the sides of the North. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. This is the one who shows the Lord all the kingdoms of the world, and said to him: All these things are given to me, and I will give them to you, if you fall down and worship me (Matthew 4:9). Finally, in the following statements, there is a threat not against Babylon, but against the whole world. The Lord of Hosts commanded the most warlike nation to come from a distant land, from the highest heavens, to destroy the world. And again: Behold, the day of incurable fury and wrath is coming, to make the world a deserted place, and to destroy sinners from it. And then: I will bring evils upon the whole world, and upon the wicked their own sins. From these things it is proved that everything that is said against Babylon pertains to the confusion and destruction of this world.
13:2
(Version 2.) On the dark or open plain, raise the sign. The Apostles and the Apostolic men and masters of the Churches are instructed to raise the sign of the Lord's cross when they are about to fight against Babylon, not in a lowly place or in sunken valleys, but on a dark or open mountain. The former signifies the hidden sacraments of the Church, which Moses entered into darkness and gloom in order to see and hear the voice of God. For God has set darkness as his hiding place: and clouds and mists surround him. (Psalm 17). The other teaches us that we should ascend to the heights of ecclesiastical teachings in such a way that, according to the Apostle Paul, we humble ourselves and say: 'I am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God' (1 Corinthians 15, 9). He himself raised a sign on the mountain plain, when, with inherent humility, he said: 'But I have judged myself to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.' But this sign he himself shall raise up in the previous days, who has arisen from the root of Jesse amongst the nations, in order to gather the lost of Israel.
Exalt your voice, raise your hand. Regarding which, the Seventy translated: 'Console his hand.' He who speaks of lofty matters raises his voice and despises present things as if they were brief and fleeting. He also hears from Isaiah: 'Ascend to the high mountain, O bearer of good news to Zion. Raise your voice with strength, O bearer of good news to Jerusalem; raise your hand, O bearer of good news.' And he is able, like David, to say: 'The raising of my hands is an evening sacrifice.' And he raises holy hands in every place, not only to raise his hands, but also to console with his hand, so that he does not say to the poor: 'Come back tomorrow and take it,' but rather to console his poverty and need with present mercy.
And let the leaders enter the gates. LXX: Open, O leaders. The leaders of the Church enter the gates of God's mysteries, and they understand the sacraments of the Scriptures, having the key of knowledge, so that they may open them to the people who believe in them. Therefore, it is commanded that the teachers open them, and the disciples enter.
13:3
(Verse 3) I have commanded my sanctified ones. Concerning this, in the Septuagint (LXX): I will command, and I will bring them. For he himself sanctifies his ministers, so that both the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified may all be one. He also speaks in another place to the believers: Be holy, for I am holy, he himself commands, and he will bring his princes to do what has been commanded (Leviticus 19:2).
And I called my strong ones in my anger: rejoicing in my glory. LXX: Giants come to fulfill my fury, rejoicing together and causing insult. According to the Hebrew, they adhere to the previous statements, that He Himself called His strong ones, rejoicing in His glory, those whom He had commanded to be sanctified. However, according to the LXX, the coming giants to fulfill the wrath of the Lord, rejoicing in the injury of others and rejoicing, must be understood as the reception of left-handed and contrary virtues, of which we also read in the Psalms: He sent upon them the rage of His anger, wrath and trouble, by the sending of the worst Angels (Psalm LXXVII, 49). Among these is the destroyer in Egypt, who dares not enter the dwelling of the blood-stained doorposts (Exod. XII), and that spirit who went forth and stood in the presence of the Lord, and said: 'I will deceive Ahab.' And the Lord said to him: 'You will deceive and prevail, go forth and do so' (III Kings XXII, 21, 22). From the same book of Kings, Michaiah said: 'I saw the Lord of Israel sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven stood around Him on His right hand and on His left' (Ibid., 9). The virtues of the angels who are sent for good are on the right, but those who are entrusted with punishing are on the left. Hence, the Apostle says: 'Those whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they may learn not to blaspheme' (I Tim. I, 20). However, the name of the giants, for which in Hebrew it is Geborim (), that is, the strong ones, is translated by the Septuagint and Theodotion into a likeness of the fables of the gentiles, just as they name the Sirens, and Titans, and Arcturus, the Hyades, and Orion, which are called by different names among the Hebrews. But if the giants are rebellious against God, and all heresies rebel against the truth contrary to God: all heretics are giants, who rejoice in their error, and especially glory when they have insulted the Church.
13:5
(Verse 5) The voice of the multitude on the mountains is like the voice of populous nations, the sound of gathered kings of nations. This place is understood in three ways. First, that with a raised sign on a rural mountain, a multitude of nations may come, and they themselves, being situated on the mountains, are divided into two, namely, peoples and kings, disciples and teachers, of whom the Savior spoke in the Gospel: Many will come from the east and west and recline at table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 8:11). Therefore, one voice is said to be consonant, so that the apostolic saying may be proved: 'You all say the same thing and there are no divisions among you, but you are perfect in the same mind and in the same judgment' (1 Corinthians 1:10). Secondly, the pride of heretics is described, who, believing themselves to be on mountains, rise up against the knowledge of God and speak iniquity on high, and they raise their mouths to heaven. They themselves also have people, they have kings, who devour the deceived people. The third interpretation is as follows: because, as mentioned before, the giants come to fulfill my wrath, rejoicing together and committing insults; the passage describes the arrogance of the giants themselves and their agreement to carry out punishment against those who have been handed over to them.
The Lord of hosts has commanded the army of war, coming from a far country, from the end of heaven: The Lord and his vessels of wrath, to destroy all the earth. LXX: The Lord of hosts has commanded the most warlike nation, to come from a distant land from the highest foundation of heaven. The foundation must be noted. We read in the Book of Kings and Chronicles (2 Kings 24; 1 Chronicles 21). The passage states that the anger of God was kindled against Israel when David numbered the people, which offended the Lord. In the Psalms, it is also written: 'O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath,' and so on with similar statements. It is mentioned in someone's (possibly Basil's) Commentaries that the anger of God can be understood as contrary to strength, which is given to us for punishment. This is also sung in the eighth psalm: 'To destroy the enemy and the avenger' (Psalm 8:3). Those can be called warriors who come from far away lands and from the highest heavens, even the ministering angels who are to be sent in the consummation of the world to gather the bundles of weeds and prepare them for eternal fire (Matthew 13). Likewise, the whole earth is destroyed when earthly works are overthrown. There are also other warriors of the Lord, armed like the apostles, who daily in the Church, which is called the inhabited world, fight against and kill those who rise up against the knowledge of God.
13:6-7
(Verse 6, 7.) Howl, for the day of the Lord is near; it will come as destruction from the Lord. Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every man's heart will melt, and be crushed. For the warriors of the Lord are coming to destroy all the earth, howl and repent, for punishment is coming. For the day of the Lord is near, the end of the world, and judgment, or the end of each person's life. For plunder comes from the Lord, which we call destruction, to keep the metaphor, because the warriors had been sent ahead. When the day of judgment or of death comes, all hands will be dissolved, as it is said elsewhere: Take courage, you who have dissolved hands. The hands will be dissolved because no work worthy of God's justice will be found, and in his sight, no living creature will be justified (Psalm 142:2). Therefore, the Prophet says in the Psalms: If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, who could stand? (Psalm 130:3). Every heart and every soul of man will waste away, and the conscience of their sin will cause fear. This is a day of fear and terror, about which even Zephaniah speaks: 'Fear before the Lord; for the day of the Lord is near' (Soph. I, 14). And again: 'The great day of the Lord is near, it is near and hastens quickly' (Zeph. I, 14). And Amos says: 'Woe to those who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light' (Amos V, 18). And that which is added in the Septuagint is: 'The messengers will be troubled and pains will seize them'. We can interpret those messengers as the citizens who sent against him who had gone into a far country to obtain a kingdom for himself' (Luke XIX, 27). But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.
13:8
(Verse 8.) They will be tormented with twists and pains. They will groan like a woman giving birth. Each one will be astonished at their neighbor. Their faces will be burned. When the warriors of the Lord come from a distant land, and all hands are loosened, and the heart is fearful and crushed, then the stomach turns, which we have interpreted as twists, and pains will torment them, similar to the pains of a woman in labor. Through this, it is shown that they are tormented by their own conscience and have faces burned by the fire they have kindled for themselves. Because they cannot say: 'The light of your face, Lord, has shone upon us' (Psalm 4:7); and: 'We all, with unveiled face, contemplate the glory of the Lord, and we are transformed into the same image' (2 Corinthians 3:18). Each one will be amazed to see their neighbor suffering in the same torments as themselves.
13:9