Homilies on Isaiah 7–9

On the text, “Behold, I and the children,” etc. (Isa 8). “Give a wise man an occasion, and he will be wiser,” says the divine word. And the most holy apostles received an occasion for understanding the prophetic words. Let us pray to God that we may receive wisdom and be able to become wiser through the occasion given by the apostles for expounding the prophets. The Apostle, recalling this saying, “Behold, I and the children whom God has given me,” then adds and explains: “Since, then, the children shared in blood and flesh, he too likewise became a partaker of the same, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to slavery into eternal life.” So, since the children have become partakers of blood and flesh, our Savior too shared in flesh and blood. For it was foreign to his nature and divinity to take on blood and flesh; but for our sake he took on what was foreign to him, so as to make members of his household us who had been foreigners through sin. And indeed the Apostle expounded it thus, saying: “Since, then, the children shared in blood and flesh, he too likewise became a partaker of the same.” But I will say that, as the children shared in blood and flesh and he too likewise became a partaker of the same, so, since the children cannot hear stronger words (for as children they must hear the words of God), for this reason he came in blood for the sake of the children who shared in flesh and blood, and, speaking as to little ones, he speaks not divine and ineffable things but whatever little ones can grasp. And all human beings are little ones, if you compare them with the perfection of the Word: though you name Moses, though you speak of one of the prophets, though of John, than whom none was greater among those born of women; though you come to the apostles, Peter, against whom the gates of hell will not prevail, or Paul, who was caught up to the third heaven and heard unspeakable words: you do not lower their glory if you say that they too, in what they understood compared with what they did not understand, were taught with the lessons of little ones, which are handed down to human beings. So the Savior speaks, not of those whom Paul calls little ones in Christ and declares must be given milk to drink and not solid food, but of all human beings together: “Behold, I and my little ones whom God has given me.” But just as among children some are quicker than others and grasp more swiftly what is handed down to them, so, I say, Moses and the prophets, and the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ too, became like clever children. Therefore, perceiving that even if they had made progress they had made the progress of children, they said: “We know in part and we prophesy in part.” For they did not yet behold the realities of the truth but the shadows of the realities, not the full light but an obscure image. And so they repeated, saying: “We see now through a mirror and in a riddle, but then face to face.” Who, then, reading and understanding this, will be puffed up and exalted over knowledge or over any gift? For all that has come to the children is far inferior to what is stored up for grown men. Those, then, who seem to be of sharper and quicker wit among the children ought not to be lifted up and proud. He calls all human beings these children, whom the Savior too pointed out, saying: “Behold, I and my children whom God has given me.” The Savior too received a gift from God. For no one comes to him unless he who sent him draws the one who comes to the Savior, as we have learned in the Gospel according to John. And since he received from the Father as a gift those who believe, the prophet says of them: “Behold, I and the children whom God has given me.” Nor must it be thought that he who received did not have them, while he who gave still has them. Then, in the rest, the Savior prophesies in the prophet, saying that it will be that, when he has received the children, signs and wonders will occur in Israel. It runs thus: “And they will be signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.” For he who dwells in the watchtower and can behold the truth in every soul does signs and wonders through the Savior, and after the Savior through the apostles; and wherever a soul is found fit for the ministry of God's signs and wonders, whether by spiritual healing or by sensibly exhorting those who come to faith, God is not idle, who then did signs and wonders and even now works them. “And if they say to you, Seek the ventriloquists and those who cry from the earth, who speak empty things, who cry from the belly: will not nations seek their own god? Who seek the dead on behalf of the living?” Notice that these things are said obscurely, and the sense must, God himself granting and revealing it, be joined to what precedes. It teaches us, then, not to be disciples of other words except heavenly and good ones. For there are some who speak and promise true teaching who do not speak heavenly things but earthly. “He who is from the earth speaks of the earth; he who comes from heaven is above all, and what he has seen and heard he testifies.” “If anyone,” he says, “says to the children who believe in me, Seek the ventriloquists and those who cry from the earth, who speak empty things, who cry from the belly,” as if to say, seek demons (for from one kind of demon, the ventriloquist, he has figuratively named all demons): “If they say to you, Seek the ventriloquists,” that is, seek from demons either divination or truth or sacred contemplation, answer them what I say. What does he teach them? He says in what follows. And there are some who send you, and still more the catechumens, as far as is in them, to the ventriloquists. For those who wish you to go to idols, of which it is written, “And all the gods of the nations are demons,” wish you to go not only to ventriloquists but to every kind of demon. But may our God, who does all things in heaven and on earth, tear us away from the demons and make us his own through our Savior Jesus Christ. See, then, that no one's soul among you is ever deceived, so as still to waver and doubt when he hears that in such and such an idol a demon has cured such and such a man's illness, has divined this and that. All these idols belong to demons and to men who do not know the truth. Rise up in mind to God, who is the creator of all, and compare this godliness with every one that is proclaimed to be godliness, though it is not godliness, and see that you are blessed. “For who is like you, O people saved by the Lord?” And: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his dwelling.” For once the nation of the Jews was blessed, but it lost its blessedness and was cast out of its place, because it laid snares for and killed him who was sent and had the testimony of the Father, not only through the Law and the prophets but also in signs and wonders. Blessedness, then, has passed over to us, the disciples of Jesus Christ, and we believe in him, living unshaken and firm according to what we have been taught. “And if they say to you: Seek the ventriloquists and those who cry from the earth.” Because they speak empty things, he has named them speakers of vanity. Every word that is spoken is either empty or full of truth. Every word that is a lie is empty. But that word is full of truth which has the knowledge of the God of all and teaches us to believe God, who promises the kingdom of heaven to his saints. See, then, what those say who were not speakers of vanity, nor ever appeared empty in the sight of the Lord: “We have all received of his fullness.” Those who are speakers of vanity do not have this from fullness, but are all empty of truth, empty of virtue, empty of Christ. “If they say to you: Seek those who cry from the earth, who speak empty things, who cry from the belly.” I wish to state also the reason why the word has now taken up especially this demon of the ventriloquists, so as to say, “If they say to you, Seek the ventriloquists.” You will find that all who make promises and do not have the truth serve their own belly and in a way do everything for its pleasure and abundance. Not only pagans, but also those who, while promising religion in Christ, are heretics; and not only them, but among us too, who belong to the church, you will find someone sowing everything for the filling of his belly, so as to be honored and to receive the gifts that are brought in the church. Such a one speaks from the belly, and the source of his words lies in the belly. For the source of his words does not flow from a good heart, not from good thoughts, not from the Holy Spirit. So if anyone ever promises to teach, observe whether his words have their beginning in the belly or not. But I will myself put in the objection that can be made to me, lest perhaps one of you, hearing it from someone, should think either that Scripture contradicts itself or that we have not considered how one should prove the word accusing those who cry from the belly. What, then, is the objection? “If anyone,” he says, “believes in me, rivers will flow from his belly, a spring of water leaping up to eternal life.” Let someone, then, say from these things: “If the Savior promises that this spring of water leaping up to eternal life is from the belly, it comes out of the righteous man, and the righteous man cries from the belly, since the spring of water which God promises is in his belly.” But it must be said that perhaps we have two bellies, one bodily and the other spiritual, just as the other parts which seem to be named in the body, such as the eyes: but some are of the body, others of the soul. For if it is said of eyes, “The commandment of the Lord is bright, enlightening the eyes,” I do not think this should be referred to the bodily eyes. And if it is said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” it must not be thought that this is said of the body's ears, but of the soul's, which those have who are pure in the soul's hearing. And if it is said in a promise, “Your foot will not stumble,” it must not be thought to be of the body's foot. For there is a certain foot of the heart which walks to him who said, “I am the way.” So, then, like the bodily belly there is a belly of the soul, of which the righteous man speaks: “From fear of you, Lord, we have conceived in the belly and been in labor and brought forth the spirit of your salvation, which you have made upon the earth.” But all who have a belly full of empty words, who are from the earth, have a belly that subsists from the earth, of which it is written: “But God will destroy both it and these.” The saints, then, have a belly in which they have conceived from the fear of the Lord, and their belly is full of springs of water leaping up to eternal life. Of this belly that man says: “And my belly is like a wineskin full of new wine and bound up.” For he said this not of the bodily belly; for his bodily belly was not full of divine things and of wine like them bound in a skin. These things in solution of the objection. Now let us return to what we began. “If, then, they say to you: Seek the ventriloquists and those who cry from the earth, will not nations seek their own god?” Answer them this. It is said elliptically: “Answer them this: Does not a nation seek its own god?” Each nation, if it seeks Jupiter, refers what it sought to its own god. Answer them this: “But you Israelites, who have the true God who is over all, when you seek, do not seek the ventriloquists, nor those who cry from the earth, nor the speakers of vanity, but your own God.” “Who seek the dead on behalf of the living.” For the demons are dead, deprived of the true life, which says, “I am the life.” Do not, then, consult the dead about the affairs of the living. “For you have received the Law.” O you who could not be persuaded to seek these things from ventriloquists and those who cry from the earth with empty words, attend to the word of truth and the Law, receiving it as a help to your Law. In your Law it is written, “Do not follow idols”; doing according to the Law, do not attend to ventriloquists nor to those who cry from the earth. “For he gave the Law as a help, that they might say: It is not like this word, for which there is no giving of gifts.” For he who has taken up the Law and knows that the Law is for help, and especially the spiritual Law, which forbids inquiring of ventriloquists and auguries, when he has understood the Law, must say in admiration of it that no word among Greeks and barbarians is so pure as the word of the Law. For the Law that has been given us by God differs from every word, from every teaching that promises truth. “For he gave the Law as a help, that they might say: Not like this word.” What is “not like this word”? There are many words, but not like this word. For there is no word after the word of Moses, after the word of the prophets, and much more after the word of Jesus Christ and his apostles. See whether the sense of God does not cry out in what is said: “For he gave the Law as a help, that those who received the Law as a help might say: It is not like this word,” which Moses spoke in the Law given through angels by the hand of a mediator. But much more worthily can the church say this: “It is not like this Word, which became flesh, which dwelt among us, whose glory we see, not covered with a veil like that of Moses, but glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” It is not like this Word, which the church has received, in which it believes, and through which it will be saved, the Word which in the beginning was with God, God the Word, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

On the text, “Howl, you carved images in Jerusalem and in Samaria,” up to the place where it says, “And I will shake the cities that are inhabited” (Isa 10). 1. Once, when the former people sinned, it fell away from religion, and Judah made carved images in Jerusalem, and he who was called Israel in Samaria. But if even now someone considers the multitude of those who are gathered together as sinners, he will not be ashamed to say that each one who makes as god what he thinks good, and serves sin, is cursed for making a carved image and casting the work of a craftsman's hands and setting it in a hidden place. For in the hidden place of the heart we make many idols if we sin. Hence the word teaches us to repent and to howl over the carved images and idols that are in Jerusalem and Samaria. And if we sin who are reckoned to be of the church, we make carved images in Jerusalem. But if those who are placed outside the church, like the heretics, have sinned, they make idols in Samaria. Yet almighty God, according to his goodness, calls all to repentance, saying: “Howl, you carved images in Jerusalem and in Samaria. For as I did to Samaria and her handiworks, so I will do to Jerusalem and her idols.” He threatens whatever he did to the Samaritans to those also who are of the church. “But when God has finished doing all things on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will bring upon the great mind, the ruler of the Assyrians, and upon the height of the glory of his eyes.” We are taught what will befall our enemy, the devil, whom the prophet has now called a certain great mind. For as the serpent was wiser than all the beasts that are upon the earth, and the children of this age are wiser than the children of light in their generation, and the steward of iniquity acted wisely according to a wisdom that is not good, so this one, who is figuratively called the ruler of the Assyrians, is a great mind, and one may wonder at the greatness of his mind, which he has abused to instruct the wise of this world, who with all plausibility and every power set forth and display the falsehood of their sects. When, then, God has done all things on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and has rendered what was promised to the righteous, then “he will bring upon the great mind, the ruler of the Assyrians, and upon the height of the glory of his eyes.” The word knows him as wise in lofty things, and that the beginning of his ruin began with being puffed up. Hence, if we too are puffed up, we shall fall into the judgment of the devil, into which the devil himself fell. But let us see how great his being puffed up is, so that we may beware of it and not allow him to speak truly about us. What, then, does he say? “By strength I will do it, and by the wisdom of understanding I will remove the boundaries of the nations.” He thinks that by his strength he can accomplish in us what he wishes. And truly, if we are conquered and sin after these words, if after the church we go again to the circus and the horse races and the gathering of the pagans, what else happens but that he possesses us as conquered? And what did the devil say? “By strength I will do it.” He achieves in us sinners what he threatened. And if we commit sexual immorality after long chastity, after much holiness, what else happens than that he who said, “By strength I will do it,” is proved to have spoken truly about us? But let us look at what else this boaster promises: “And by the wisdom of understanding I will remove the boundaries of the nations.” He promises some wisdom or other, of which the prophet also speaks: “There is a foreign wisdom in them.” For there is a certain wisdom foreign to the truth, which God will destroy. Having this, he thinks himself wise and says: “By the wisdom of understanding I will remove the boundaries of the nations, and I will plunder their strength.” For his working has reached all nations; but the Savior, sending his word to all nations, has rescued those who were held captive by the devil in all nations. “And I will plunder their strength.” He threatens to plunder our strength and hand it over to those who fight against us. And truly one can see him doing this with some. For when someone is conquered by the devil and handed over to demons, to the worst spirits, to the opposing powers, what else has happened than what he had said, “And I will plunder their strength”? Taking our strength, he has plundered us. “And I will shake the cities that are inhabited.” This too the devil threatens. He sees the cities inhabited, the churches of God built in Christ everywhere; he declares that he will shake them. And often indeed he has shaken the inhabited cities by persecutions, often he has shaken them by scandals. But let us, having our foundation on the rock, try to become such that he who says, “I will shake the cities that are inhabited,” cannot move us by his storms or by adverse spirits. But in all that happens let us persevere steadfast, as having our building on the rock, Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

On the text, “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people?” and passing over a little, it comes as far as the place where it is written, “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God, in the depth or in the height” (Isa 6 and 7). “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people? And I said: Here am I, send me. And he said: Go, and say to this people: With the ear you will hear and not understand,” and the rest. Concerning the word of the prophet Isaiah that has now been read, let us pray to God to grant us grace, that we may be able to expound things worthy of the prophetic Spirit. “And I heard,” he says, “the voice of the Lord saying: Whom shall I send?” After the prophet's lips were purged, he readily took up the Lord's ministry and says: “Here am I, send me.” But so that he might be readier for this, he remembered the voice of Moses. For he too, using the same words, “send me,” became leader of the people and judge and was called the servant of God. Now I heard a certain Hebrew expounding this passage and saying that the prophet willingly and readily took up the prophecy to the people, not knowing what he would have to say. But hearing the sad things that would have to be announced to the people, that is, “With the ear you will hear and not understand,” and so on, he became more sluggish in what follows: when the voice of God said to him, “Cry,” he answered him and said, “What shall I cry?” But I think these things are prophesied about the Savior: that it would come about that those who heard would not hear and those who saw would not see. What is said will become clearer if we consider this passage a little: “Looking you will look and not see.” It is of this kind. They saw the blind looking up then and seeing, but they did not know the meaning of the sight. They heard the parables which the Savior explained privately to the disciples. But they did not hear, not knowing what was said; therefore, bearing witness to them, he said: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” For they were not deprived of these ears so as not to hear, but their inner ears were heavy for hearing. Therefore he foretells to them, and through the prophet foretells the future, saying: “With the ear you will hear and not understand, and looking you will look and not see. For the heart of this people has grown fat.” Let us examine what is meant by, “The heart of this people has grown fat.” In all who are occupied with the cares of the present life the heart has grown fat: in those who dwell in worldly things the heart has grown fat, just as if they were choked by thorns. For this reason the heart grows fat and cannot receive the notions of a subtler spirit. Let us flee from such cares, then, so that our heart, made thin, may become acceptable to God. Let us flee earthly business; for these are the things by which the heart grows fat. For this reason his speech was thin, as is written in Exodus of the one who says this; and whoever are of this kind because of the thinness of their heart will see God. For God is seen with such eyes. Three things are said: “For the heart of this people has grown fat, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and they have closed their eyes.” But what is said in this passage can also be understood in another, plainer way. For many think, when they look at the creatures and contemplate this world, that they see them. And why do I speak of human beings? See, birds and four-footed beasts see the sun and the moon and the whole heaven together with the choir of the stars, but they do not understand their meanings; only the righteous and holy, grasping them through the reason of God's wisdom, behold them. Therefore in Psalm 8 David says: “For I will see your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have founded.” For did the prophet not see the heaven and the moon now? But if we consider his saying, “I will see,” we shall be able to understand.