Homilies on Isaiah

Contents

Reading pages: 1–2 · 3–4 · 5 · 6 · 7–9

1. 1Origen reads Uzziah's death as the death of sin's rule in the soul, interprets the two seraphim as the Son and the Holy Spirit covering God's beginning and end, and applies the cleansing of Isaiah's lips to the hearers.
2. 2Origen interprets the sign of Isa 7 as Christ, who descended and ascended, discusses the reading “you shall call” against Matthew's “he shall be called,” and reads the butter and honey as the good words and works Christ eats with us.
3. 3Origen reads the seven women of Isa 4:1 as the sevenfold Spirit of Isa 11:2, reproached by false wisdom, which rested fully only on Jesus, the shoot of Jesse, whose name they take.
4. 4Origen returns to Isaiah's vision: God's beginning and end are hidden, the seraphim proclaim the threefold holiness, God's glory fills the earth through holy lives, and the burning coal from the altar is Christ's purifying word.
5. 5Origen calls Christ the living righteousness of Isa 41:2, then returns to Isaiah's vision, urging his hearers to let the “Uzziah” of sin die within them, as the reign of Pharaoh had to end before Israel could cry to God.
6. 6Comparing Isaiah's readiness with Moses' refusal, Origen teaches that church office is service, explains the spiritual meaning of the foot-washing, and expounds the fat heart, heavy ears, and closed eyes of Isa 6:9–10.
7. 7Origen expounds Isa 8:18–20: all believers are Christ's little children, even the prophets and apostles knew only in part, and Christians must not seek ventriloquists and demons, or teachers who speak from the belly, but the Law and the Word made flesh.
8. 8Origen reads the idols of Jerusalem and Samaria as the hidden idols of sin in church members and heretics, and the boastful king of Assyria as the devil, whom Christians resist by standing firm on Christ the rock.
9. 9Origen returns to Isaiah's commission, reports a Hebrew teacher's view that the prophet grew reluctant after hearing his grim message, and explains the fat heart as one choked by worldly cares; the homily breaks off unfinished.