Isaiah 45 · The Lantern

God Calls Cyrus

Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have taken hold of, to tread down nations before him — and the loins of kings I will loosen, to open before him double doors, and gates will not be shut:

"Thus says the Lord God to my Christ [the] Lord, whose right hand I have held, that the nations may hear him, 'the powers of kings will I burst asunder; I will open before him the gates, and the cities shall not be closed to him.' " This very thing we see now fulfilled. For whose right hand does God the Father hold but Christ's, his Son?

The divine Scripture designates under the name "anointed" not only those who are brought forward for unction but also those whom the God of the universe has singled out with a view toward [fulfilling] a required function.

857. Thus says the Lord to my anointed. After he strengthened them to the firm expectation of divine promises, in this part, he begins to describe the divine promises for their consolation. And this is divided into two parts: in the first, he promises liberation from evils; in the second, he promises salvation in good things, thus says the Lord: keep judgment (ch. 56).

I myself will go before you, and the swellings I will level. Doors of bronze I will shatter, and bars of iron I will cut down.

Nevertheless, I assert according to the Scriptures that He was able to spread out lowly places and open fields, just as He Himself says: 'I will walk before you and make mountains plain.' The force of the water itself could also make deeper things, which had settled, more turbulent: with such a movement of waves and such a surge of a more agitated element, which daily twists th…

By all that is about to be said, he has taught that he has invested Cyrus as king, he has given him the necessary sovereignty to direct his empire with good will and so that the disposition of difficult matters is mitigated and facilitated. This is what the phrase means: "I will level mountains, and I will break to pieces brazen doors."

Or because of strength, and as to this he says: I will go before you, preparing the place of your victory, by sending terror of you among your adversaries, the great ones, powerful above others, like the Babylonians; the gates of brass, the most powerful cities: he has broken gates of brass, and burst iron bars (Ps 107:16).

And I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards of hidden places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the one calling you by your name, the God of Israel.

The higher and profounder spiritual meaning is the "hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge," which the Holy Spirit speaking through Isaiah calls "dark and unseen and concealed treasures." These treasures require for their discovery the help of God, who alone is able to "break in pieces the gates of brass" by which they are shut in and concealed and to burst the iron bolts and…

"I will give you the treasures of darkness." … This is the way [Isaiah] referred to hell. Even if it was hell, it still preserved the sacred souls and precious vessels, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is why Isaiah called it a place of treasures, even if in darkness, because the Sun of justice had not yet penetrated there with its rays or with any message on the resurrection.

Or because of hiding, and as to this, he says: and I will give you hidden treasures, of various kings, whose cities he took: he discovers deep things out of darkness (Job 12:22). 859. Second, he sets out the fruit of this benefit. And first, in himself, second, in others: that they may know who are from the rising of the sun (Isa 45:6).

For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I called you by your name; I gave you a title, though you did not know me.

I am the LORD and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I gird you, though you did not know me,

so that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is nothing apart from me. I am the LORD and there is no other,

And inasmuch as this Son is undivided and inseparable from the Father, so is he to be reckoned as being in the Father, even when he is not named. The fact is, if he had named him expressly, he would have separated him, saying in so many words, "Beside me there is none else, except my Son." In short, he would have made his Son actually another, after excepting him from others.

(Verse 6) So that they may know, from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is no one besides me ((Previously it was added: God)). I am the Lord, and there is no other. And I have done these things so that from the East and the West the whole world may recognize that there is no other God besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other.

860. That they may know. Here he shows the fruit in others. And first, he shows that in others he seeks the fruit of knowledge of him: who are from the rising of the sun, that is, living throughout the entire world; and this was fulfilled in that, in his epistles, Cyrus wrote the praise of God everywhere; or because everyone praised God together seeing the liberation of the Jew…

forming light and creating darkness, making peace and creating evil. I am the LORD, doing all these things.

Now (like many other persons nowadays, especially those who have a heretical proclivity), while morbidly brooding over the question of the origin of evil, Marcion's perception became blunted by the very irregularity of his researches.

These things have thus been clearly shown to you to be in some cases bad, some good and some in between, … the inspired author is saying the in-between things are not really bad but are thought to be by the general run of people—things like captivity, servitude and exile. Now, it is necessary to explain the reason for this statement.

Second, he sets out the proof of his divinity, which can be known from the fact that he can afflict and liberate: I am the Lord, etc. I form the light, the day or consolation; I create evil, of punishment: is there evil in a city, which the Lord has not done? (Amos 3:6); the Lord made all things double, one against another (Sir 42:24).

Drip down, heavens, from above, and let the skies flow with righteousness. Let the earth open and let them bear the fruit of salvation, and let righteousness sprout up together. I, the LORD, have created it.

"Rejoice, O heavens, from above," that is, rejoice over the salvation of the nations. The angels are delighted at the repentance of a single sinner. "And the clouds will rain down righteousness." The clouds, which rain down righteousness, are the apostles and the priests who justify through the absolution, which they give by means of baptism.

"And let the clouds rain righteousness." On the occasion of making previous threats, he has said, "I will command the clouds to rain no rain on it," and … it was the prophets who were referred to in this way. Here, therefore, the text invites the prophets to present, as a kind of rain, the discourse dealing with righteousness.

861. Drop down dew. Here he describes the birth of Cyrus under the metaphor of the fruit of a tree, for whose generation the moisture of the earth and rain and dew from heaven are required; so in the birth of Cyrus, divine mercy, intending to liberate God's people through him, coincides with lower nature, which is signified.

Ah, one who quarrels with the one who formed him — a potsherd among the potsherds of the ground! Shall the clay say to the one forming it, What are you making? Or your work say, He has no hands?

And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.

Though this saying is deep and shrouded in much obscurity, you will nonetheless come to understand how true and useful it is. I think it is necessary first to explain briefly the thrust of the ideas. This way it will become more accessible to my listeners and easier to understand.

862. Woe to him that gainsays. Here he excludes the contradiction of the unbelievers. And first, under the metaphor of a craftsman who fashions clay; for as clay does not contradict the one who fashions it, so the Jews ought not contradict God, by not believing that anyone could arise who would conquer the Babylonians; earthen pots or samia, earthen vessels, so-called because t…

Ah, one who says to a father, What are you fathering? And to a woman, What are you giving birth to?

Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel and the one who formed him: Ask me of the things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands you would command me?

How do we think, except as in the way that the prophet also foretells of God, that he has done the things that are going to be? For he does not say, "Who will do the things that are going to be, but "who did the things that are going to be." Therefore, [God] both did them and is going to do them.

"He who made the things that will be," therefore, the things that were to be done, he willed them to be spoken of as if done, because these things which come about changeably in time, he has made firm with the unchangeable eternity of his plan.

863. Thus says the Lord. Here he sets out the utility of the liberator. And first, as to the liberation of the Jews; second, as to the conversion of the gentiles: for thus says the Lord (Isa 45:18). Concerning the first, he does three things.

I myself made the earth, and humankind upon it I created. I — my hands — stretched out the heavens, and all their host I commanded.

I myself have roused him in righteousness, and all his ways I will level. He will build my city and send off my exiles, not for a price and not for a bribe, says the LORD of hosts.

[The Septuagint reads], "You are God, and we knew it not." The words "we knew it not," spoken in the person of those of old who did not know him, occur only in the Septuagint.

For taking into his hands the book of Isaiah he found as he read the section which contained the prophecy concerning himself; since Isaiah says in that section: Thus saith the Lord to his Anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings. I will open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut.

And the direction of its execution: I have raised, to worthiness, him, Cyrus, using the past tense for the future, to carry out justice concerning the Chaldeans: in all your ways think on him, and he will direct your steps (Prov 3:6); and he promises the liberation: he, namely, Cyrus, shall build, promising and paying the expenses for building, below: you were sold gratis, and…

Thus says the LORD: The toil of Egypt and the trade of Cush and the Sabeans, men of stature, will cross over to you and be yours; they will walk behind you, they will cross over in chains. And to you they will bow down; to you they will pray: Surely God is in you, and there is no other, no God at all.

But consider this also in relation to the homoousion [that the Son is of the same essence as the Father], how the Spirit says to Isaiah, "God is in you, and there is no God outside of you."

Would you receive yet a third testimony to Christ's godhead? Hear Isaiah saying, "Egypt has labored, and the merchandise of Ethiopia," and soon after, "In you shall they make supplication, because God is in you, and there is no God except you.

865. Third, where it says, thus says the Lord, he promises the exaltation of the liberated as to three things. First, as to the adherence of foreigners, setting out their adherence: the labor of Egypt, their riches, and they themselves, as to the many who had followed them: ten men of all languages of the Gentiles shall take hold (Zech 8:23); or he says this of those who adhere…

Truly you are a God who hides himself, God of Israel, Savior.

They are ashamed and also humiliated, all of them; together they walk in humiliation, the makers of idols.

Israel is saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation. You will not be ashamed and you will not be humiliated forever and ever.

For thus says the LORD, the Creator of the heavens — he is the God, the one who formed the earth and made it, he established it; he did not create it formless, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD, and there is no other.

Not in secret did I speak, in a place of a land of darkness. I did not say to the seed of Jacob, Seek me in emptiness. I am the LORD, speaking righteousness, telling what is upright.

(Vers. 19) I did not speak in secret, in a dark place on the earth. I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, 'Seek me in vain.' I am the Lord, speaking truth, declaring what is right. LXX: I have not spoken in secret, nor in a dark place on the earth. I have not spoken in secret, in a place of a land of darkness: I have not said to the seed of Jacob: Seek me in vain.

[Isaiah] has said this to mock the delusion of idols. For their votaries used certain practices of sorcery. They took darkness as an auxiliary for deceit and, from the bottom of some secluded and obscure place, they said whatever they wished and deceived their listeners, all the while saying that it was the idols who uttered that voice.

Third, from the manifestation of truth foretold: I have not spoken in secret, as if to say, the things that natural reason prescribes are to be done, or of the preaching of the Christian faith: I have spoken openly to the world (John 18:20); fourth, from the utility of his precepts: I have not said to the seed of Jacob: seek me in vain: in keeping them there is a great reward (…

Gather and come, draw near together, survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge, those who carry the wood of their carved image and pray to a god that cannot save.

(Vers. 20) Gather together and come, draw near, you who have been saved from the nations. They have no knowledge, those who carry about their wooden idols and pray to a god who cannot save.

But Emmanuel appeared who led with courage those who were snared. He endured for us the death of the flesh so that as Isaiah says in an evangelical way, the scattered children of God would be gathered into one … to gather, that is, to be bound together in one faith and like-mindedness.

867. Second, where it says, assemble yourselves, he enjoins upon the Jews the calling of the gentiles, recalling their salvation: assemble yourselves, as though to hear my precept, you that are saved, liberated from the captivity to the gentiles, below: I will send of them that shall be saved, to the Gentiles (Isa 66:19); he also sets out the necessity of the calling, namely, t…

Tell and bring near; indeed, let them take counsel together. Who made this heard from of old, told it from then? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no other God apart from me — a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me.

AGAINST THE PAGANS. — By what reasoning the pagans dare to confront us or attack our faith, while thinking themselves innocent, I do not see. For they have no evidence for their assertions, of their superstition, I would rather say, than of religion.

There is among them no true knowledge of the things to come, but rather they prophesy falsely, and with clownish talk and deception and trickery and nothing else. The God of the universe responds: If they prophesy rightly, they will come close and will know at the same time. For if they are able to prophesy rightly, then they will all be brought together as one.

He enjoins the declaration of his praise: tell, in which he enjoins the office, consult together, how you ought to convert others: declare his glory among the Gentiles (Ps 96:3); who has declared, in which he teaches them the proof of his divinity for converting others, namely from his foreknowledge of future things.

Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other.

By myself I have sworn; righteousness has gone out from my mouth, a word that will not turn back: that to me every knee will bend, every tongue will swear.

Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant?

(Vers. 23) By myself I have sworn, from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that shall not return: 'To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.' LXX: By myself I swear: righteousness will go out of my mouth, my words will not be turned away, for every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will swear and confess to God, saying.

Second, he foretells their conversion, setting out the sign of adoration: I have sworn by myself, for I have nothing greater by which I might swear (Heb 6:13); it shall not return, without effect, below: so shall my word be, which shall go forth from my mouth: it shall not return to me void (Isa 55:11).

Only in the LORD, one says of me, are righteous acts and strength. To him he will come, and all who burn against him will be ashamed.

In the LORD all the seed of Israel will be shown right and will glory.

Isaiah45

God Calls Cyrus