Chapter 31
31:1 Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, trusting in horses, and putting their confidence in chariots, because they are many: and in horsemen, because they are very strong: and have not trusted in the Holy One of Israel, and have not sought after the Lord.
31:2 But he that is the wise one has brought evil, and has not removed his words: and he will rise up against the house of the wicked, and against the aid of them that work iniquity.
31:3 Egypt is man, and not God: and their horses, flesh, and not spirit: and the Lord shall put down his hand, and the helper shall fall, and he that is helped shall fall, and they shall all be confounded together.
31:4 For thus says the Lord to me: like as the lion roars, and the lions whelp upon his prey, and when a multitude of shepherds shall come against him, he will not fear at their voice, nor be afraid of their multitude: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight upon mount Zion, and upon the hill thereof.
31:5 As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts protect Jerusalem, protecting and delivering, passing over and saving.
31:6 Return as you had deeply revolted, O children of Israel.
31:7 For in that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your hands have made for you to sin.
31:8 And the Assyrian shall fall by the sword not of a man, and the sword not of a man shall devour him, and he shall flee not at the face of the sword, and his young men shall be tributaries.
31:9 And his strength shall pass away with dread, and his princes fleeing shall be afraid: the Lord has said it, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.
693 . Woe to them that go down . In this part, he threatens both at the same time, namely, the Egyptians and the Jews, and concerning this, he does two things:
first, he sets out the threatening;
second, the consolation, where it says, for thus says the Lord to me (Isa 31:4).
Concerning the first, he sets out two things.
First, he sets out their guilt from trust in human help: trusting in horses : vain is the horse for safety: neither shall he be saved by the abundance of his strength (Ps 32[33]:17); and from contempt of divine help: and have not trusted in the Holy One of Israel , against what it says in Psalm 19:8[20:7]: some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will hope in the name of the Lord, our God .
694 . Second, he threatens the punishment: but he .
And first, against their contempt of divine help he sets out the wisdom of God, and the firmness of the sentence: the wise one has brought evil, and has not removed his words , that is, he has not made void what he threatened through the prophets: God is not a man, that he should lie, nor as the son of man, that he should be changed (Num 23:19); and he adds the punishment: and he will rise up .
Second, against trust in human help, he sets out their weakness: Egypt is man : whereas you are a man, and not God, in the hand of them that slay you (Ezek 28:9–10); and he adds the punishment: and the helper shall fall : they that dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation (Job 4:19).
695 . For thus says the Lord . Here he sets out the consolation, promising liberation by God from their enemies, from whom they could not be liberated by the Egyptians. And concerning this, he does three things.
First, he sets out the defense of the Jews under the likeness of a defending lion, saying: you and the Egyptians in whom you trusted in contempt of me will perish: for thus says the Lord , who alone saves; so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight , as a defender against those who hindered the building of the temple after the return from captivity; or against the Assyrians: and I will be to them as a lioness, as a leopard in the way of the Assyrians (Hos 13:7). And under the likeness of a protecting bird: as birds : how often would I have gathered together your children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and you wouldst not? (Matt 23:37); as the eagle enticing her young to fly, and hovering over them (Deut 32:11).
696 . Second, he sets out the destruction of their enemies, promising counsel for meriting this: return , to me: the wicked man, when he is come into the depths of sins, contemns (Prov 18:3); as you have yielded your members to serve iniquity, unto iniquity: so now yield your members to serve cleanness, unto sanctification (Rom 6:19). And he sets out the completion of the counsel: in that day , above: in that day a man shall cast away his idols (Isa 2:20). And he sets out the fruit, namely, the destruction itself as to the death of the slain: by the sword : my sword shall devour flesh (Deut 32:42); and as to the removal of the survivors in flight, fear, and servitude, for his young men shall be tributaries , afterwards, to the Babylonians.
697 . Third, he sets out the strengthening of both: the Lord has said it, whose fire , burning the Assyrians, above: the light of Israel shall be as a fire, and the Holy One thereof as a flame (Isa 10:17); or the fire on the altar of incense; his furnace , on the altar of holocausts: the fire on the altar shall always burn (Lev 6:12); or the fire of charity burning imperfectly in the Church militant, but a furnace burning perfectly in the Church triumphant.
698 . Note also that charity is called a fire : see the collation preceding this chapter.