Глава 3

1. “Behold, the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, will take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the staff and the reed” (“Behold, the Lord Lord of Hosts will take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the strong and mighty one”) (Is. 3:1). Just as an excellent doctor, now cauterizing, now cutting off, now giving bitter medicines, has as his goal the health of the sick, so the humane God, strengthening the relaxation and disintegration of the Jews with various and varied punishments, now frightens the foreigners with an unrecognized raid, then even before such an attack strikes them with other threats, with a variety of threats constantly keeping alive fear in them. So now He threatens them with powerlessness, hunger, drought, deprivation of not only the necessary, but also the fact that no less than the necessary things preserves our lives. Not only is hunger hard, but it’s hard to have a lack of managers; As a result, wealth itself is usually worse than hunger. Indeed, what is the use of everything flowing as if from sources, when internecine wars occur, when the sea is heated, the waves are raging, and there is neither a helmsman, nor a helmsman, and no one who could stop the storm of circumstances and call for calm? If at the same time there is famine, then imagine the excessiveness of the disasters. God threatens (the Jews) with all this, and, firstly, with the most serious disaster. "Behold (behold), says the Lord, the Lord of Hosts" ("Lord the Lord of Hosts"). Prophets constantly use this expression: “behold” (“behold”) when they want to assure the listener of the truth of their words. Not only here, but also before, and at the very beginning, one can see that sins often preceded bodily relaxation, as for example in Cain. Since he misused his power, he rightly suffered relaxation. So in the one sitting at the font, sins were the cause of relaxation, as Christ says: “Behold, you have recovered; Sin no more” (John 5:14). And Paul says: “This is why many of you are weak” (1 Cor. 11:30), because they sinned by receiving the sacraments with a bad conscience. And he betrays the fornicator “to the destruction of the flesh” (1 Cor. 5:5), subjecting him to such punishment for his sins. However, this is not always a punishment for sins, but sometimes it is a reason to receive crowns, like Lazarus and Job. And not only weakness, but also other bodily illnesses came from sin, such as Uzziah’s leprosy for the shamelessness of his intentions. So the hand of King Jeroboam withered because of his pride and arrogance. And Zechariah's tongue was bound for nothing other than the sin of his soul. Therefore, since for the Jews, physical health, prosperity and abundance of wealth served as a reason for arrogance, God also plucked out the root of pride, admonishing them, making them better and giving them more than what he had deprived them of. What harm is it to have a weak body when the soul learns to do so? Moreover, so that they do not think that what happened was a consequence of the weakness of nature, the prophet predicts this and extends the threat not only to husbands, but also extends the punishment to the female sex - since both sexes were corrupted - and further, due to extreme shamelessness, turns speeches against the women themselves, accusing them of crimes that destroyed the city to the very foundation. That is why he sends infection to them too; It seems to me that it is infection that he means when he says: “we will take away the staff and the cane” (“we will take away the strong one from the strong one”), or some other bodily disease that is not inferior to the art of doctors. These are the punishments of God. "The strength of bread and the strength of water". This is the most severe punishment when it is not the being itself that is destroyed, but the power that comes from it, so that people are punished by the very sight of it, never being satisfied with it and hence seeing that this is the wrath of God. “Giant and mighty” (Is. 3:2). Scripture constantly calls a giant a person who is strong or superior to many in the size of his members. When in the book of Genesis he says: “these are strong, glorious people from ancient times” (“tiy bakhu polini... men of eminence”) (Gen. 6:4), then with these words he does not speak about the birth of any other kind, but indicates to us that they were strong, strong, healthy. "And a warrior man and a judge." An unbearable punishment, an indication of extreme destruction constitutes what was said when, even if the walls and towers are intact, the city, along with the inhabitants themselves, can be handed over to the enemies. After all, the safety of cities lies not in stones, not in trees and fences, but in the prudence of those inhabiting the city; when there are such people, then they, even in the presence of enemies, fence the city most safely; and when they are not there, then, even if no one bothered him, he seems more pitiful than a city under siege. 2. Thus, the prophet taught those and all who listened a considerable lesson in wisdom, urging them never to rely on the greatness of the city, on ditches and fortifications, but on the virtue of suitable men. Instilling fear in them, he says that God will deprive the city of security, taking away not only those knowledgeable in war, but also those who know how to judge, who, no less than those at war, benefit the cities, improving the world and often rejecting threatening wars. Since wars constantly grow from the root of sins, the guardians of the laws and precise guardians of justice, curbing most sins, can destroy the reasons for war, why does God take them away? Because people didn't use them as they should have when they were around. Just as His saving instructions brought great benefit to those who listened, but when He proclaimed them to the Jews, He covered up His instructions with obscurity, because they did not listen to His words, so exactly these great gifts, which bring us great salvation, He often takes away when those who receive them do not want to derive any benefit from them. "Both the prophet and the beholder". Not a small form of wrath (of God) - even when the prophecies cease. So, when God turned away from the Jewish people for the sins of the children of Eli and for the great wickedness of the people, the prophecy ceased: “the word of the Lord,” says Scripture, “was rare in those days, visions were not frequent” (“the word of the Lord would have been honest in those days, had not 43 been sent”) (1 Samuel 3:1); “honest”, i.e. rare And it’s the same with Uzziah. Meanwhile, they would get a lot of benefit from this if they wanted. Hearing the will of God, preparing for future disasters, learning the unknown and when to attack enemies, when to be calm, and how to avoid all sorrows - this greatly contributed to their salvation. But since, having heard the revelations, they did not act as they should, God deprived them of the revelation; Moreover, God’s great love for mankind was manifested in the fact that He, both foreseeing the future and knowing that they would not use His gifts as they should, did everything in His power. Together with the prophet, he says, God will take away the “watcher.” Here, it seems to me, he calls “observant” someone who, by his great prudence and experience in business, predicts the future. After all, foretelling is another thing, prophecy is another. One speaks by the Spirit of God, bringing nothing of himself; and the other, on the basis of what has happened before and through the efforts of his own prudence, foresees much of the future, as is typical for a prudent person to foresee. But there is a great difference between the one and the other, such as between human prudence and divine grace. And to illustrate my words with an example, let us remember Solomon and Elisha. Both of them proclaimed the unknown and revealed the hidden, but both not with the same power: the first, according to human prudence, on the basis of natural experience, spoke about adulterous wives (see Prov. 5); and the latter spoke not for any reason - what reason could have revealed the theft of Gehazi (see 2 Kings 5)? - but by divine grace foreseeing distant events. “And the old man and the captain of fifty” (Isa. 3:2, 3). Along with those, he says, God will take away both the elder and the Pentecostal, meaning by “elder” not just an elderly person, but one who, along with gray hair, also has the prudence characteristic of gray hair. Also, by “leader of fifty” he does not mean just one Pentecostal, but calls all the leaders by this name. Nothing, in truth, nothing is worse than lack of leadership, just as there is nothing more unreliable than a ship that does not have a helmsman. Without stopping there, he threatens that another great pillar of security will be taken away - those who know how to give excellent advice, who, no less than weapons, bring benefits to cities. I will take away, he says, both “a wondrous adviser and a wise architect,” meaning not a builder, but a person experienced in business, who knows a lot and knows how to prudently arrange all the affairs of the city. 3. Together with those - and the “intelligent listener”. Indeed, when it is not there, then, even if everything else was there, there is no benefit to the cities; although there were prophets, advisers and leaders, if there is not a single listener, then everything is in vain and in vain. Here, it seems to me, the expression: “I will take away” means: “I will leave, I will allow,” just as Paul says: “God gave them over to a depraved mind” (Rom. 1:28), expressing not that God plunged them into madness, but left them and allowed them to remain mad. “And I will give them young men to be rulers” (“And I will make young men their princes”) (Is. 3:4). This is worse and much more disastrous than lack of leadership, because whoever does not have a boss is deprived of a leader, and whoever has a bad boss has one who plunges him into the abyss. “Youths” (in St. I. Zlat - “youths”) here the prophet calls them, not humiliating this age, but wanting to show their madness more clearly. There are youths (young men) who are reasonable, and elders who live madly; but since this usually happens rarely, and most of the time it happens the opposite, he called the insane by that name. Timothy was a youth, but he ruled the Church wiser than many elders. And Solomon, being twelve years old, talked with God, had great boldness before Him, became famous, received a crown, was an object of wonder for foreigners in his wisdom, and not only men, but also wives came from afar, having the sole purpose of their journey to learn something and listen to his voice, and when he reached old age, he deviated a lot from virtue. And his father, blessed David, committed a grave sin not when he was a youth and youth, but when he had already lived that age, then he sinned; and when he was a small youth, then he erected a wondrous trophy, defeated a foreigner, showed all kinds of wisdom, and youth was not at all an obstacle for him to valiant deeds. Also, God did not refuse Jeremiah when he referred to his age; but he sent him to the Jewish people, saying that there was no obstacle in this, as long as his thoughts were sound. Having the same age, or even much younger, Daniel condemned the elders. And Josiah, not yet ten years old, ascended the royal throne, and then was distinguished by his good deeds; but after that, soon, indulging in carelessness, he lost his spiritual virtue. And Joseph? He, being not only young, but also very young, entered into a difficult struggle, fighting not against people, but against the very force of nature, and from the furnace and flame, much more cruel than the Persian 44, did he not emerge healthy, leaving no less than three youths unharmed? Just as they then carried their bodies and even their hair intact, emerging as if from a source, and not from an oven, so he, in this struggle, having freed himself from the hands of the Egyptian woman, remained invincible neither from her touch, nor from words, nor from sight, nor from clothes, nor from incense - which, rather than brushwood and resin, ignites the fire of passion - and from his very age did not suffer anything that is characteristic of suffering to a person. And these three youths, being in their most blooming age, curbed their belly, trampled on the fear of death, defeated such a great quality and the anger of the king, who rushed against them more fiercely than a merciless flame, and nothing overcame them, but they constantly remained with an unservile soul. Thus, the prophet does not degrade the age when he says this in a similar way and Paul when he says: “You must not be one of the new converts, lest you become proud and fall into condemnation with the devil” (“not newly baptized (befits a bishop of being, μή νεοφυτον), lest the Devil become proud and fall into judgment”) (1 Tim. 3:6 ), does not mean young in age, but a convert (in St. I. Zlat – newly planted) (νεωστί φυτευθέντα), i.e. catechumen; in the word: “to plant,” he means “to announce” and “to teach,” as, for example, when he says: “I planted, Apollos watered” (1 Cor. 3:6). And Christ calls this planting: “every plant,” He says, “that My Heavenly Father did not plant, will be uprooted” (Matthew 15:13). If the apostle had called a newly baptized young man, then Timothy was very young, so young that he himself said: “Let no one despise your youth” (1 Tim. 4:12), he would not have elevated him to such a degree of power and would not have put him in charge of such churches. “and curses will rule over them.” Do you see that he does not reproach age, but depraved mood? With this addition he expressed it more clearly. Here he calls deceivers, hypocrites, and flatterers “scolders,” who with seductive speeches betray others to the devil. “And among the people one will be oppressed by another, and every one by his neighbor” (“And people will attack, man against man, and man against his neighbor”) (Is. 3:5). Just as in buildings, when the trees that support them have rotted or been taken away, the walls necessarily collapse without any support, so where the aforementioned men, leaders, advisers, judges, prophets are taken away, nothing prevents the people from destroying themselves and being in great confusion. 4. “The young man will brazenly exalt himself over the old man, and the common man over the nobleman” (“a youth will fight against an old man, and a dishonest man against an honest man”). The young man, says the prophet, will resist the old man, will exalt himself before him, will despise him. This, even before the attack of enemies, is more disastrous than any war, because when old age is not respected by youth and low and despicable people begin to trample underfoot people who were previously respectable, then the city will be in a state no better than if it were drowning in the waves. “Then a man will take hold of his brother, in his father’s family, and say: You have clothes, be our leader, and let these ruins be under your hand. And he will say with an oath: I cannot heal the wounds of society; and in my house there is neither bread nor clothing; do not make me a leader of the people" ("As a man has his brother or his household father, saying: Imashie's robe, be a leader for us, and let my goodness be under you. And having answered on that day he said: 45 I will not be a leader, for there is neither bread nor robe in my house: I will not be a leader of this people") (Is. 3: 6, 7). Here, it seems to me, the prophet points either to some very disastrous siege of the city, which led them to an extremely cramped situation, or, without a siege, to some unbearable famine and a great lack of necessities. He expresses himself in accordance with general custom. Just as many say: “if it happened that the whole city was sold for an ovol, then I could not buy it,” thereby expressing their extreme poverty, so the prophet says that if positions of authority were sold for one garment and one bread, then no one would buy them: such would be the shortage of necessities. “So Jerusalem was destroyed” (“For Jerusalem was abandoned”) (Is. 3:8), i.e. abandoned, desolate, deprived of God's providence. “And Judah fell” (“and Judea fell”); filled, he says, with confusion and anxiety, confusion and disorder. And their tongues with 46 iniquity do not submit to the Lord. Here the cause of evil is also shown - incontinence of the tongue. Hosea also accuses them of this: “Ephraim,” he says, “will become desolate on the day of punishment; among the tribes of Israel I declared this” (“Ephraim came into destruction in the days of punishment: faithfulness was shown among the tribes of Israel”) (Hos. 5:9). Malachi also says the same: “You anger the Lord with your words and say: ‘How do we anger Him?’ By saying: ‘Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He is well pleased with such’, or: ‘Where is the God of justice? do evil in the sight of the Lord, and be well pleased with them: and where is the God of righteousness?” (Mal. 2:17). He also accuses them of this, presenting a double guilt - the fact that they not only do not obey and not only violate the law, when they should be ashamed and blush, hide and bow their heads, but they also try to increase their previous iniquities, uttering impudent words when they fail to fulfill the commandments, like some worthless slave who, not fulfilling the orders of his master, still turns out to be impudent. “For this reason now shall their glory be humbled, and the coldness of their faces be against them” (Isa. 3:9). The prophet again speaks about the future, as if about the past, following the ordinary law of prophecy. He calls captivity “the humility of glory.” Indeed, it was no small shame for those who were in the title of rulers of the universe to submit to wicked and foreign people. And by “cold face” he means shame that comes from sin. Such was their life. Since they had previously disgraced themselves with their deeds, God also deprived them of glory, handing them over to a punishment less than what they subjected themselves to. They were not as bad living in a foreign country as when, owning their capital, they indulged in lawlessness. There their evil deeds were reduced, but in their fatherland they increased more and more. Thus, the prophet teaches them a high teaching, urging them constantly, before punishment, to abstain from vices, to abstain and be ashamed, not when foreigners take them and lead them into slavery, but when the power of sin holds them captives. “And they talk about their sin openly, like the Sodomites, they do not hide it” (“but they proclaimed and revealed their sin like the Sodomite”). I have often said, and now I will say: the prophet, showing the love of God for mankind, predicts not only what they will endure, but also what they deserve to undergo. Their sins were equal to those of Sodom; and their punishments are much easier. God did not uproot them, did not destroy their cities to the ground, and did not destroy the remnants of their family. The expressions: “announced and revealed” are said in a human-like manner, because God does not recognize what has happened when it happens - how can this be said about the One who knows everything before being? - but the prophet said this in order to show the greatness of the disaster. 5. As in another place of Scripture, when he says: “the cry of their sins has multiplied 48 (“the cry of Sodom and Gomorah has multiplied against Me, and their sins have greatly increased against Me”) (Gen. 18:20), he says so, not imagining God living somewhere far away and not concluding Him in the sky, but showing the greatness of sin, so here with the word “announced” the prophet expresses excessiveness vice. Lighter sins might be invisible; but the excessive and great are very well known and obvious, even if there was no one to condemn and expose them: they expose themselves and make them obvious. Thus, the prophet, wanting to show the greatness of the evils, says: “she proclaimed and revealed,” i.e. They committed evil with great immoderation, with great audacity, without being ashamed or hiding, but making vice their occupation. “Woe to their soul! for they bring evil upon themselves. Tell the righteous that it is good for him, for he will eat the fruits of his deeds" ("Woe to their souls: having deliberately devised evil counsel on themselves, they said: We will bind the righteous, for it is not necessary for us to eat") (Is. 3: 9, 10). It is extreme evil when they not only sin, and not only sin boldly, but also drive out those who could correct it. Just as madmen often rush at the doctor, so they also represented the greatest proof of an incurable disease in that they drove out the righteous. Such is virtue: its very appearance upsets those who live viciously. Such is the vice: it is often, not yet hearing reproof, burdened by the very presence of people who live honestly. There is a twofold reproof here: for the fact that they bind the righteous, and for the fact that they bind him as if “indecent.” So, when someone not only does not accept something useful, but also considers it harmful, then what means of correction remains for him? That is why the prophet, seeing that they have reached the extreme, begins again with crying, and not with reproof and reproach, saying: “Woe to their soul!” ; and then he very wisely says: “for they bring evil upon themselves” (“having deliberately intended evil counsel upon themselves”). Although what happened was apparently directed against the righteous, if you examine carefully, their intent is not directed at the one who suffers, but at those who do it. From here we learn that a virtuous person, even if subjected to countless insults, will not suffer any harm from those who cause them; and those who plot against him rather raise the sword against themselves, as was the case with these. By binding the righteous man, they did not harm him at all, but they plunged themselves into greater darkness and desert, removing the lamp from themselves. “For he will eat the fruits of his deeds” (“For he shall eat the fruits of his deeds”). Such is vice: it contains punishment within itself. What the prophet said here means the following: they will eat their fruits, placing themselves in a complete wilderness and preparing for themselves many pits. “And woe to the wicked, for he will have recompense for the works of his hands” (Isaiah 3:11). Do you see that the measure and beginning of punishment always depends on us? Therefore, the prophet again cries, laments and laments that the Jews plotted against themselves and harmed their salvation worse than any enemy, and what could be more disastrous than this? “My people, your servants are reaping you” (Isa. 3:12). An excellent teacher tends to diversify his speech, not only to plunge into sorrow and not to give only pleasure, but sometimes to offer one and sometimes another, so that great benefit comes from such a mixture. Therefore, the prophet not only denounces, but also cries, which is even stronger than denunciations, but causes less grief, and - what is surprising - inflicting the deepest wound, produces the slightest pain. He does not only cry, but also heals and uses another, wondrous method of instruction. Which one exactly? He does not reproach everyone together, but he separates the people from the leaders and directs reproaches on their heads. The benefit of this kind of reproof is so great that Moses used it quite often. This prophet, when everyone was worthy of reproof, turns his speech against the leaders; and Moses, having then found the people especially guilty of lawlessness, and Aaron worthy of not so great reproof, left the very guilty and turned the reproach on the not so guilty, such reproaches against him arousing their conscience to recognize themselves as worthy of great punishment. And so it happened: then there was no longer any need for other speeches to the people, but those few words that were spoken to Aaron were enough to bring so many thousands into contrition, as if it were one person, and from such insolence turn to fear and extreme languor. Foreseeing this, Moses immediately came down (from the mountain), threw down the tablets and said to Aaron: “What have these people done to you, as I have done... to bring joy to your enemies?” 49 (Exodus 32:21, 25). 6. This is what this prophet also does, imitating that holy man in two ways. Moses then not only reproached, but, also taking on the appearance of compassion, thus made that reproof. So this one imitated both of them, saying: “My people, your servants are reaping you.” He rebukes them and speaks as one who sympathizes with the people. It seems that he here refers to “tormenters” as “tormentors,” by which, I think, he means predators and their covetous people; and if not so, then those who collect taxes. Look at his wisdom here too: he condemns not the deed itself, but immoderation. He didn’t say: “demand”, but: “reap”, i.e. they take away property, deprive them of everything under the pretext of demanding what is due. He borrowed this expression from the example of those gathering the harvest; “to reap” (κ λαμάσθαι) means: after the harvest, to collect the ears of corn that have fallen from the reapers and leave absolutely nothing in the field. This is exactly what these people did then, taking away all the property from the Jews and leaving them naked. “And the oppressive possess you.” What is even more difficult is that they did not limit their covetousness to this, but extended violence even further, making people free slaves. “My people, the blessed ones flatter you.” Here, it seems to me, he points to false prophets, or to those who deceived them with words, which everywhere is the cause of extreme corruption. Therefore, showing the harm that comes from here, he adds: “and the paths of your feet trouble”, i.e. they do not allow you to go straight, leading you astray, relaxing you, making you careless. “The Lord has risen in judgment and stands to judge the nations. The Lord enters into judgment with the elders of His people and with their princes" ("But now the Lord will arrange for judgment and will bring His people into judgment: the Lord himself will come into judgment with the elders of the people and with their princes") (Isa. 3:13, 14). He continues the same method of correction, turning reproaches from the people to the elders and leaders and using a more formidable form of speech: he represents God himself as judging and condemning and convicting those who offended the people for sins against the people. That is why he says: “The Lord has risen for judgment.” Since he has completed the reproof - reproof for insensitive people is not very hard, but the punishment is terrible for them - he says that the matter will not stop at one reproof, but punishment for sins will follow when He Himself, who has to judge, finally demands an account and enters into court with sinners. This shows the great condescension of God, who wants to sue them, and makes the speech itself accusatory, so that those with a mind can lead to great contrition. And not only for the reason that I mentioned above, he turns his speech to the bosses and elders, but also in order to teach everyone that bosses will be subject to more severe punishments than subordinates. The subordinate will give an account only for himself, and the boss both for himself and for the people who are entrusted to his power. And the same severity of life is rightly required of the elders, since what is power for those, is their age for these. It is true that a young man who sins gravely is worthy of punishment; but the one who, due to his very age, is capable of self-control and is not overwhelmed by such waves of passions, but has the opportunity to be wise with greater ease and with greater comfort withdraws from everything worldly and has acquired more prudence due to experience in business, he should rightly be punished most of all if in his old age he does the things of intemperate youths. “Why did you devastate the vineyard? the spoils of the poor are in your houses?" ("Why are you setting fire to my grapes, and plundering the poor in your houses?") God always has great concern for those who suffer insults, and is no less angry for sins against Him, and sometimes even more, for sins against slaves like us. He allowed the release of an adulterous wife, but not a pagan woman (see Matt. 5:32; 1 Cor. 7:12), although the latter is guilty against Himself, and the first - against a person. And when a sacrifice is made, He commanded that the gift should be left and not offered until the one who offended his neighbor was reconciled with his brother (see Matt. 5:23, 24); and he forgave the entire debt, but for a hundred denarii he called him a slave and the evil one, and handed him over to the torturers, and not before allowed him to be released until the entire debt was paid (see Matt. 25). 7. And when Christ himself was struck, He did not do anything to the servant who struck the blow, but meekly answered: “If I said bad, show that it is bad; What if it’s good that you beat Me?” (John 18:23). But when Jeroboam, stretching out his hand, commanded to take the prophet who had denounced him, then God made his hand dry (cf. 1 Kings 13:4), teaching you to meekly endure insults concerning yourself, and to pursue those concerning the Lord with great strength. Therefore, while teaching the commandments, although He made love for one’s neighbor the second commandment, it is similar to the first, and just as He demands the fulfillment of that one very strictly, so does this one. About the first he says: “with all your heart and with all your soul,” and about this: “as yourself” (Matthew 22:37, 39). And from many other places one can see with what severity He prescribes our duties to each other. So here too, look how strongly He repeats and intensifies the denunciation with striking expressions: “Why did you,” he says, “destroy the vineyard?” (“You,” he says, “why set fire to my grapes?..”) As some cruel foreign enemies would have acted, so you did to your own. He calls the people grapes, because of his great care for them and providence from above. And wanting to strengthen the conviction. He didn’t say: why did they destroy slaves, neighbors, brothers like themselves, but “Mine”, he says, “Mine” was plundered? Further, showing what this “devastation” (“burning”) consists of, he says: “the plunder from the poor is in your houses” (“the plunder of the poor in your houses?”). It is not so much that hail damages the vineyards, but rather that injustice towards the poor and wretched usually scorches his soul, subjecting it to despondency that is worse than any death. Predation is always evil, but especially when the victim is in extreme poverty. By this he not only denounces, but also corrects, turning their gaze to what was stolen. After such words, the very sight of what lies before the eyes can sufficiently touch someone who has not become too insensitive. “Why do you oppress My people?..” (“Why do you offend my people?..”) (Is. 3:15). He continues the same pattern of speech; as he said there: “vineyard” (“my grapes”), so here: “my people” (“my people”). “And you disgrace the faces of 50 wretched people?” Those who needed to be corrected, you drive away; those who needed to be restored you crush. Along with robbery, they also despised the lower ones, treated them worse than slaves, adding arrogance to covetousness, and acquiring great pride from unrighteous enrichment. The disease of arrogance is inseparable from greed, and the more wealth one accumulates, the more this disease intensifies. “This saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts” 51. What does "Savaoth" mean? Angels, Archangels, higher powers. He says this, wanting to raise the listener from earth to heaven, to instill in him thoughts about the great kingdom of God, in order to amaze him with this, make him more prudent and show that such condescension is a consequence not of weakness, but of God’s long-suffering. “And the Lord said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with their necks lifted up... and they walk with majestic steps and rattle the chains on their feet - the Lord will expose the crown of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will expose their shame; On that day the Lord will take away beautiful ankle chains and stars and moons, 52 earrings, and necklaces, and fans, withered wrists, and belts, and vessels with perfume, and magic pendants, rings and nose rings, outerwear and underwear, and scarves, and purses, light thin capes and headbands, and bedspreads. And instead of incense there will be a stench, and instead of a belt there will be a rope, and instead of curled hair there will be baldness, and instead of a wide cap there will be narrow sackcloth, instead of beauty there will be a brand. Your men will fall by the sword, and your braves in war. And the gates of the capital will sigh and weep, and she will sit on the earth desolate" ("This saith the Lord: the daughters of Zion were exalted from time to time, and walked with their high necks, and with the marking of their toes, and with the treading of their feet, wearing garments... and with their feet playing with each other: and the Lord will humble the chief daughters of Zion, and the Lord will reveal the shame them. On that day, the Lord will take away the glory of their garments and their beauty, 53 and their weavings, 54 and the cracks of their garments... and thin saplings, and the beauty of their faces and the construction of the glorious beauty, and hoops and wrists, and the plexus of 55 reticulum, and rings, and rings, and sapphires 56, and purple robes 57, and church utensils and bright Laconian, and fine linen and blue, and scarlet and fine linen with gold and blue pierced 58, and the thin ones are captured with gold: and instead of a good stench there will be a stench, and instead of a belt you will be girded, and instead of the adornment of your head, 59 you will have baldness for the sake of your works, and instead of a scarlet robe you will be girded with sackcloth. This is instead of splendor 60. And your good son, whom you love, will fall by the sword, and your strongmen will fall by the sword and humble themselves: and the storehouses of your utensils will mourn, and you will remain alone and will be struck on the ground” (Is. 3:16-25). Here the prophet did something extraordinary, addressing a lengthy speech to the wives, which we do not find anywhere in the Scriptures in this form. What is the reason for this unusual way of speech? 8. It seems to me that the effeminacy of wives was great then, and they contributed greatly to the depravity of their husbands. That is why the prophet especially addresses them, directing more severe reproaches at them; and at the beginning he elevates his speech, speaking on behalf of God: “And the Lord said: because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with their necks lifted up” (“This saith the Lord: the daughters of Zion were exalted and walked with their necks high”). He reproaches them for the greatest of evils - pride and arrogance. This evil is unbearable everywhere, but especially in the female sex. A wife filled with arrogance, being more frivolous and unreasonable, is easily corrupted, drowns, and suffers shipwreck from every stormy breath, since pride and arrogance drown her. He seems to be addressing the women of Jerusalem; That’s why he calls them “daughters of Zion.” “And they walk with their necks lifted up” (“and they walk with their necks high”). Here he laughs at them and shows female arrogance, which cannot remain in the soul, but breaks out and is expressed by body movements. And he reproaches them not only for pride, but also for debauchery, as he says and explains in further words. He adds “and deceiving with his eyes” (“and with the combing of his toes”). It is characteristic of depraved women to blink their eyes and thus show great debauchery and effeminacy; nothing proves debauchery and effeminacy like this. “And with the step of the feet, the vestments are enticing.” This reproach is also important, although it seems unimportant; on the contrary, dragging clothes along the ground is a sign of extreme depravity, effeminacy, intemperance, and debauchery. Even one of the pagans, ridiculing his opponent, reproached him, saying: “He lets his clothes down to his heels” 61. “And the nogama play a lot.” And this again is a sign of the same shamelessness. In everything, in the eyes, in the clothes, in the legs, and in the gait, either chastity or debauchery is revealed. The movements of the external members are, as it were, messengers of the soul located inside. Just as painters, mixing paints, draw the images they want, so exactly the movements of bodily members bring out the properties of the soul and present them to our eyes. That’s why another wise man said: “A man’s clothing and the grinning of his teeth and his gait show his character” (“The attire of a man and the laughter of his teeth and the laughter of his feet 62 will announce him”) (Sir. 19:27). “And the Lord will strip the crowns of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will lay bare their shame; on that day" (further texts diverge) ("and the Lord will humble the chief daughters of Zion, and the Lord will reveal their shame. On that day, and the Lord will take away the glory of their garments"). Having exposed two vices, pride and debauchery, he uses the appropriate medicine for each: for the first - the first, and for the second - the subsequent, for pride - humility, and for the beauty of clothes - deprivation of it. When he says, war will come, then everything will be taken away. Then arrogant and proud women, stricken with fear, will be freed from this disease; those who are depraved and effeminate in everything, having been subjected to the yoke of captivity, will be freed from all this effeminacy. But in order to make his words more sensitive for them and touch the souls of the listeners, the prophet calculates in detail the decorations of these women’s clothes, the gold things worn on the face and other members of the body, then proceeds to decorating the house. They not only decorated their bodies, but extended such pride onto the walls, squandering their property on unnecessary objects, and, curling their hair, spread these seductive wings everywhere. For this he reproaches them, saying: “He will take away the glory of their garments and their beauty, and their braids, and the cracks of their garments.” By the expression: “cracks of the vestment,” he refers to either some kind of head decoration, or the very type of head hairstyle. “And lunochki” (“and moons”) is a decoration near the neck, similar in appearance to the moon. “And thin assholes” - probably talking about summer clothes. “And the beauty of their faces” - here, it seems to me, he means rubbing and blush. “And the building of glorious beauty” - this indicates gilding. “And hoops” - gold jewelry on the hands. "And wrists" ("And wrists)" - decoration on the hands. “And weaving” - a golden decoration around the head. “And rings and rings,” which are called bracelets. “And seryaz, and scarlet, and very scarlet, and church utensils, and bright Lakonian.” Such was their concern for luxury that they used not only domestic products, but also collected from afar, from foreign countries, and undertook sea voyages for this, because there is a great distance and a huge sea between Palestine and Lacedaemon. 9. So, it was not in vain that the prophet, without naming the clothes themselves, pointed to their fatherland, but in order to show the immeasurable luxury of women. “And the fine linen, and the fine linen, and the scarlet, and the fine linen with gold and fine linen, was pierced, and the fine linen was pierced with gold.” They did not abandon a single form, either in clothing or in other decorations, but went through all the paths of luxury, being driven to madness by the force of debauchery. If even then, before grace and such wisdom, this was condemned, then what justification can today’s wives have, who are called to heaven and to great exploits, who are obliged to compete with the angels, who can overcome such abstinence with incomparably greater power, and yet surpass those acting in the spectacle? And, what’s worse, they don’t even think that they are sinning. That’s why we need to arm ourselves with the word of the prophet against them. Indeed, what he added applies not only to those, but also to these: “there will be a stench instead of incense” (“there will be a stench instead of a good stench”) Do you see how he rejects the anointing with incense and threatens great punishment for this? “Stink” (by St. I. Zlat. - Stench) he calls here the dust that rises after the destruction of the city and the raid of enemies. And indeed, they then destroyed it with fire and sword, destroying some of it, and burning others. Foreshadowing this, the prophet says: “And instead of incense there will be a stench, and instead of a belt there will be a rope” (“and instead of a good stench there will be a stench, and instead of a belt they will already be girded”); it represents the image of captivity and the removal of foreigners to the country. And “instead of curled hair, you will have baldness” (“and instead of decorating your head, you will have baldness”) - because either the hair will fall out from grief, or the enemy will do it, or they will do it to themselves. In ancient times there was a custom - in times of sadness and misfortune, to cut your hair or shave. So, Job shaved his head after hearing about the misfortune of his children. And this prophet further says that along with sackcloth and mourning there will be cutting (see Isaiah 22:12). Also, another prophet says: “Take off your hair and be shorn, grieving for your dearly beloved sons” (“Turn off your hair and be shorn after your young children”) (Mic. 1:16). “And instead of a wide epancha - narrow sackcloth” (“and instead of a scarlet robe, they girded themselves with sackcloth”) Doesn’t this seem terrible and unbearable? But it is not such punishments that await us, but a poisonous worm and endless darkness. If captivity, slavery and extreme disasters befell those for their addiction to jewelry - and that God condemned and punished them for this sin itself, listen to how the prophet, having calculated the disasters, points out their cause: “this is this,” he says, “instead of splendor” - if the Jewish women, addicted to jewelry, were subjected to such punishment when their fatherland was destroyed to the ground, and they, after great luxury, were taken to foreign country as slaves, captives and exiles, and subjected to hunger, disease and countless types of death, is it not obvious that we will be subjected to even more severe punishments, falling into the same sins? If any wife, addicted to jewelry, has not yet suffered anything like this, let her not be presumptuous. God usually sends punishments to one and another and through them inspires to everyone else what disasters await them. But I will express more clearly what I said. The inhabitants of Sodom once committed grave sins and were subjected to extreme punishment when fire descended, and the cities, and the people, and the earth with their bodies - everything was burned. So what? After them, didn’t anyone dare to do the same things? On the contrary, many and in many places in the universe. Why didn't they tolerate anything like this? Because they are observed for another, graver punishment. Therefore, God, having done this once, did not do it again, so that those who dare to commit such deeds clearly saw that they would never escape punishment, even if they were not subjected to it here. In fact, would it be reasonable if those who lived before grace and the law and did not listen to the prophets or anyone else suffered such punishments for their sins, and those who after them were rewarded with such care of God and did not come to their senses by their example - which makes the sin much more serious - would escape the punishment assigned for this? Why haven't they been punished yet? So that you may learn that they are observed for punishment that is much more severe. 10. And that you can really be subjected to punishment more severe than Sodom, listen to Christ, who says: “It will be more bearable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that city” (Matthew 10:15). Therefore, if today’s wives, addicted to jewelry, did not suffer what those who decorated then suffered, let them not be arrogant. The very slowness and long-suffering of God prepares for them the most severe fiery furnace and makes the flame the strongest. This happened with Ananias and Sapphira. They, at the beginning and at the first appearance of the (Gospel) sermon, having hidden part of their property, were immediately struck with death; and after them many who dared to do the same suffered nothing. How would it be consistent with reason for a righteous Judge who rewards everyone equally, to punish the least sinners, and leave the more serious sinners without punishment? Is it not obvious that, having predetermined the day on which He will judge the universe, He therefore postpones punishment, so that people either will be corrected through His long-suffering, or will be subjected to the most severe punishment if they remain in the same sins? So, when we, sinning in the same way as others who have suffered punishment, have already sinned, do not tolerate the same, we will not be arrogant, but we will be even more afraid. By punishing those, God seemed to have uttered a law, instilling and convincing everyone: I punished the one who sinned at the beginning, so that you, who sinned after them, would expect the same for yourself, so that you would correct yourself and become better. The same punishments are prescribed for the same sins, although they are not immediately executed. And regarding these people, I hesitated not without reason, but because a bad disease had entered their homes from the effeminacy of their wives - a passion for decoration, which increased the waste of property, introducing husbands into unnecessary expenses, giving rise to enmity, restlessness and daily rivalry, and exhausting the womb of the poor. In fact, when a wife forces her husband to spend all his property or even more of his property on the pride of the body (because the pride of the body is the gold lying around it), then the hand of necessity is squeezed for beneficent mercy. And, as you can see, many other types of sin come from here. However, having left it to those who are exposed to such evil to learn this well from experience, let us turn to what follows. Having presented an image of captivity and said: I will bring this instead of splendor, the prophet intensifies the punishment and says: “And your good son, whom you love, will fall with the sword, and your strongmen will fall with the sword.” Indeed, this is worse than captivity; this is life worse than death. When, along with slavery, they are forced to mourn untimely sorrows, then imagine how great such misfortune is when various sorrows are combined with one another, which are grave in themselves. Truly, when one captivity happened, such a disaster was unbearable, and when such sorrows occurred among those living in freedom, then life was bitterer than death; but now, he says, both will be united together. Such a disaster should be called more than double, but triple and quadruple - when it is the son, both beautiful and beloved, and from enemies, and not according to the general law of nature, who loses his life, and with him all those who are in adulthood, so that there is no good hope left for them for human help and assistance. “And the gates of the capital will sigh and weep, and it will sit desolate on the earth” (“and they will humble themselves: and the storehouses of your utensils will mourn, and they will remain united and will be struck on the ground”). The Prophet by all means increases the lamentation, intensifies fear, arouses living contrition, makes disasters visible, spreads the description of the misfortune, turning to everything, collecting sorrowful features from everywhere due to the insensitivity of the listeners, since it was desirable that they would be shocked by such threats and begin to feel the occurrence of the disasters awaiting them. That is why he added what seems very pitiful - that they would see an empty storehouse of gold, a monument to former prosperity, which by its very appearance would constantly arouse living sorrow. Misfortunes usually especially strike us when we compare them with previous prosperity; such a comparison makes the wound more cruel. So Job once said with tears: “Oh, if only I were as in the previous months” (“Who will arrange me according to the months of the previous days?”) (Job 29:2). And he talks about all the wealth, about the benefits that flowed as if from sources, about honors, about income, about all his glory, in order to better show with such a comparison how serious the real disasters that befell him are. The prophet now does the same, recalling the storehouses and, not content with this, imagines them themselves crying. Speech is more striking when such personifications are made. Therefore, he presents both the grapes and the wine as crying, in order to further amaze the listeners and touch their insensibility. What does it mean: “remain united”? Left, he says, without helpers and without the care of God, deprived of all its former glory, surrounded on all sides by enemies and oppressed among foreigners. Then, wanting to imagine the extreme of humiliation, he says: “and you will be struck on the ground.” He did not say: “you will fall”, or: “you will be overthrown”; but he used another word that more clearly expresses all her humiliation. The word όρασις “vision” in St. I. Zlat. here according to the ed. Minya is not readable. Those. Babylonian. St. John Chrysostom often calls Assyria and Babylonia Persia. The word σου “your” in St. I. Zl. not readable here. In ts.-slav. In translation, these words read: “and their tongue is with iniquity, not repenting to the Lord.” In ts.-slav. In translation, these words read: “Your words rotten God.” The first two words: οί προφήται όνιδείζοντες “reproaching prophets”, read in St. I. Zl., not in any Greek. t. are not readable, and therefore - in ts.-sl. The words ύμων “yours” by St. I. Zl. I haven't read it. St. I. Zl. makes a paraphrase (Genesis 18:20): “the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and their sin is very heavy.” St. I. Zlat. makes an abbreviated paraphrase (Ex. XXXIÏ21, 25). Instead of τό πρόσωπον ts.-slav. "face" as read in Alex. and wat. code., St. I. Zl. reads τό πρόσωπα "faces". In ts.-slav. these words read: “says the Lord of hosts.” In ts.-sl.: “and lunitsy hryvnia”. Instead of: τούς x όσμους ts.-word: “beauty”, as in alex. code., St. I. Zlat. read τούς x όσμον “beauty”. In the central word: “golden weaving [on the chapter].” x αί τό έμπλό x ιον “and weaving” In ts.-sl.: “and artistic use”. Next then along al. and wat. code. words: x αί τά μεσοπόρφυρα in Ts.Slav.: “and the purple one” St. I. Zl. I haven't read it. Instead of: συγ x αθυφασμένα in the central word: “stumbled”, as in Al. and Wat, St. I. Zl. read: συγ x αθυφασμένην “stumbled.” In Ts.-Slav., according to Alex. and wat. code: “and instead of decorating the gold, the hedgehog is on the head” (x αί αντί τού x όσμου τής x εφαλής τού χρυσίου ). Ταύτά σοι άντί x αλλωπισμού: these words are not read in any known Greek. list T. LXX, therefore they are absent in the Ts.-Slav. Dion says this about Cicero (usque ad talos vestem demitteret). In alex. and wat. list: βήματα άνθρώπου in the central word: “human feet”. You might be interested in: