Chapter 25
25:1 O Lord, you are my God, I will exalt you, and confess your name: for you have done wonderful things, your designs of old faithful, amen.
25:2 For you have reduced the city to a heap, the strong city to ruin, the house of strangers, to be no city, and to be no more built up for ever.
25:3 Therefore shall a strong people praise you, the city of mighty nations shall fear you.
25:4 Because you have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress: a hope from the whirlwind, a shadow from the heat. For the spirit of the mighty is like a whirlwind beating against a wall.
25:5 You shall bring down the tumult of strangers, as heat in thirst: and as with heat under a burning cloud, you shall make the branch of the mighty to wither away.
25:6 And the Lord of hosts shall make unto all people in this mountain, a feast of fat things, a feast of wine, of fat things full of marrow, of wine purified from the lees.
25:7 And he shall destroy in this mountain the face of the bond with which all people were tied, and the web that he wove over all nations.
25:8 He shall cast death down headlong for ever: and the Lord God shall wipe away tears from every face, and the reproach of his people he shall take away from off the whole earth: for the Lord has spoken it.
25:9 And they shall say in that day: lo, this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord, we have endured for him, we shall rejoice and be joyful in his salvation.
25:10 For the hand of the Lord shall rest in this mountain: and Moab shall be threshed under him, as straw is broken in pieces with the wain.
25:11 And he shall stretch forth his hands under him, as he that swims stretches forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down his glory with the dashing of his hands.
25:12 And the bulwarks of your high walls shall fall, and be brought low, and shall be pulled down to the ground, even to the dust.
584 . O Lord, you are my God . Here thanksgiving is set out;
and first, for the exaltation of the people;
second, for their justification: in that day (ch. 26);
third, for paternal correction: in that day (ch. 27).
The first of these is divided into two parts.
In the first, the thanksgiving is set out: I will exalt you , I will proclaim you loudly before others, and confess your name , giving thanks within myself: I will confess you, O Lord, in my whole heart (Ps 9:2[1]).
585 . Second, the matter of the thanksgiving is set out: for you have done .
And first, in general, as to the greatness of his deeds: wonderful things : who doth great things, and unsearchable things (Job 5:9); as to his fulfillment of promises: faithful : reward them that patiently wait for you, that your prophets may be found faithful (Sir 36:18[21]); amen , that is, truly.
Second, in particular: for you have reduced ;
and first, works which pertain to the suppression of the wicked;
second, which pertain to the exaltation of the good: and the Lord of hosts shall make (Isa 25:6).
586 . Concerning the first, he does three things:
first, he threatens the scourge of punishment;
second, he sets out the fruit of punishment: therefore shall a strong people praise you (Isa 25:3);
third, the manner of punishment, where it says, as heat in thirst (Isa 25:5).
Therefore, he first says, you have reduced the city , Jerusalem, to a heap ; the house of strangers , to God, namely, the Jews; to be no more built up for ever , for it was not afterwards built in the same place, above: behold Damascus shall cease to be a city (Isa 17:1); Zion shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a heap of stones (Mic 3:12); you are brought to nothing (Ezek 27:36). Or, this refers to Babylon, or some other city of the gentiles who were opposed to them.
587 . Therefore shall a strong people praise you . Here he sets out the fruit of punishment in the subjection of men to God.
And first, he sets out two signs of subjection:
praise, a strong people shall praise you , strong, as much as they are subject to you, or a gentile people strong in passions;
fear, every city shall fear you , below: the strength of the Gentiles shall come to you (Isa 60:5).
Second, he assigns the reason,
which he sets out first: because you have been a strength to the poor , who has little, even if it is sufficient for him, to the needy , who is in need: the Lord is my refuge: and my God the help of my hope (Ps 93[94]:22).
Second, he sets out a similitude: a hope , of defense, from the whirlwind , because of the violence of the persecutor; a shadow , of consolation, from the heat , because of the affliction of persecution, below: a man shall be as when one is hid from the wind, and hides himself from a storm (Isa 32:2).
Third, he sets out the explanation: the spirit , that is, the indignation and pride, above: as whirlwinds come from Africa , it comes from the desert from a terrible land (Isa 21:1).
588 . As heat in thirst . Here he sets out the manner of punishment as to affliction: as heat in thirst , afflicts, the tumult , the proud clamor, of strangers ; as to barrenness: and as with heat under a burning cloud , united by the south wind, by which fruit of the vine is sometimes destroyed because of its excessive heat: for the sun rose with a burning heat and parched the grass: and the flower thereof fell off (Jas 1:11).
589 . And the Lord of hosts shall make . Here he sets out those things that pertain to the exaltation of the good, and this is threefold.
First, as to abundance of honor, which he describes under a metaphor of a feast which is prepared from fat animals and clarified wine; in this mountain , for it was there that Christ suffered, from which all good things come forth to us, or because it is there that he will judge, as it says in Matthew 22:4: behold, I have prepared my dinner: my beeves and fatlings are killed .
590 . Second, as to the removal of evils: and he shall destroy , as to the punishment of death, which he calls a bond, inasmuch as we are bound to it from sin, and a web inasmuch as it is a just sentence woven by God: death is swallowed up in victory (1 Cor 15:54); O death, I will be your death; O hell, I will be your bite (Hos 13:14). The sadness of sorrow: and the Lord God shall wipe away tears from every face : God shall wipe away all tears from the eyes of the saints (Rev 21:4); the ignominy of confusion, and the reproach , above: take away our reproach (Isa 4:1). Some refer this to the judgment carried out in the death of Holofernes, who came against all nations; and similarly concerning the feast. And he sets out the thanksgiving, and they shall say , we have endured for him , patiently waiting: you that fear the Lord, endure for his mercy (Sir 2:7). And he sets out the reason: for the hand of the Lord , with which nothing evil can exist: this is my rest for ever and ever (Ps 131[132]:14).
591 . Third, as to the oppression of their enemies, namely, the Moabites, who were most hostile to them because of dreams.
And first, he sets out their affliction: threshed : they have threshed Galaad with iron wains (Amos 1:3);
second, their complete subjection: he shall stretch forth his hands , as though prostrate and seeking mercy or help, below: they shall come (49). And the destruction of their fortifications: and the bulwarks , which are mentioned above (Isa 16:7).
592 . Note on the words, confess your name (Isa 25:1), that confession is manifold:
first, of humility: confess therefore your sins one to another (Jas 5:16);
second, of truth: with the heart, we believe unto justice: but, with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation (Rom 10:10);
third, of praise: confess to the Lord on the harp (Ps 32[33]:2);
fourth, of thanksgiving, above: I will confess to you, O Lord, for you were angry with me: your wrath is turned away, and you have comforted me (Isa 12:1).
593 . Note also on the word, amen (Isa 25:1), that amen is Hebrew, and when it is used as a verb, it means “so be it,” and all the people shall say: amen (Deut 27:15); when it is used as an adverb, it means “truly,” amen, amen, I say to you (John 6:26); when it is used as a noun, it means “truth,” these things says the amen (Rev 3:14). When it is Greek, it means “without defect,” from a , which means “without,” and men , which means “defect”: who is God blessed for ever. Amen (Rom 9:5).
594 . Note on the words, a feast of fat things (Isa 25:6), that the feast is threefold.
First, the family feast of the Church militant, in which he sets out three things:
first, the bitterness of suffering: you shall eat it with wild lettuce (Exod 12:8); as often as you shall eat this bread and drink the chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord, until he come (1 Cor 11:26);
second, the sweetness of love: you gave them bread from heaven, bread from heaven, prepared without labor; having in it all that is delicious, and the sweetness of every taste (Wis 16:20);
third, fatness, as to its effect: you have fattened my head with oil (Ps 22[23]:5).
595 . Second is the private feast of the soul, in which he sets out three things:
first, the wine of love: your breasts are better than wine (Song 1:1);
second, the honey of contemplation: how sweet are your words to my palate! More than honey to my mouth (Ps 118[119]:103);
third, the milk of purification unto growth toward perfection: endowed with reason, desire the milk without guile (1 Pet 2:2).
596 . Third is the solemn feast of the heavenly court, in which he sets out three things:
first, wine unto drunkenness: eat, O friends, and drink, and be inebriated, my dearly beloved (Song 5:1);
second, honey unto satiety: I shall be satisfied when your glory shall appear (Ps 16[17]:15);
third, milk unto perfection of body and soul: your eyes as doves upon brooks of waters, which are washed with milk (Song 5:12).