Глава 5

1. “I will sing to my Beloved the song of my Beloved in His vineyard” (Isa. 5:1). Having instilled fear with the prediction of disasters, consoled with the promise of blessings, and used various medicines, the prophet again raises his speech to the beginning - the beginning befitting the introduction to prophecy. Just as at first he announced the blessings of God shown to the Jews, saying: “sons have begotten and raised up,” as well as about the iniquities they committed, adding: “you... have rejected Me,” and: “Israel does not know Me, and my people do not understand” (Isa. 1, 2, 3), so here in other words, but with the same thoughts, he expresses the same thing with the same. But why, intending to utter reproof, does he call the reproof a song? Moses and Mary rightly did this when, intending to sing a song of victory, they rightly began with these words: “I sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; He cast both horse and rider into the sea" (Exodus 15:1). And Deborah, after that wondrous trophy, after an extraordinary victory, rightly composed a victory song, sending up praise to God (see Judges 5). And this prophet, intending to denounce and having a need for a strong word and a state of soul that was not calming, but tense, promised us to sing and calls denunciation a song. However, he is not the only one who does this, but the great Moses, who then sang a victory song, in reproof of the Jews, composed a long song of reproaches, saying: “Do you repay the Lord with this, you foolish and senseless people?” (Deut. 32:6). And having composed many accusations, he commanded the Jews to pronounce them in singing; and even now we pronounce them in singing. Why did they compose their denunciations in the form of a song? Because they were guided by spiritual wisdom and wanted to bring great benefit to the souls of their listeners. Since there is nothing so useful as constant remembrance of one’s sins, and remembrance is not made as strong as from song, so that they would not become bored by excessive accusations and would not shy away from constant remembrance of their sins, the prophet, wishing through the harmony of song to destroy the shame that comes from this remembrance and to alleviate unbearable sorrow, composed such songs that, forced by the love of singing, they would constantly repeat them. remembered about themselves, and so that constant remembrance of sins would be for them some constant lesson of virtue. You know that even now other books of Scripture are not known to many by name, but the work of psalms is on everyone’s lips, as well as these very songs. Thus, from experience itself one can see how great benefits come from song. That is why the prophet says: “I will sing to my Beloved the song of my Beloved about His vineyard.” A song, he says, I will sing to the beloved grapes about the beloved himself. And for him I sing, he says, and the subject of the song is himself and his deeds. Do not be surprised that he calls beloved and beloved the one whom he intended to denounce. And it serves as the greatest conviction that they, being loved and enjoying such favor from God, did not become better. Another prophet expresses the same thing when he says: “Like grapes in the wilderness, I have found Israel; as the first berry on the fig tree, at the first time I saw your fathers” (Hos. 9:10); he means by these fruits how desirable and dear they are to God, desired and dear not because of their own virtues, but because of the goodness of God. And the meaning of his words is as follows: I loved them as much as if someone found grapes in the desert, or early fruit on a fig tree. These comparisons, not corresponding to the dignity of God, are said to accommodate their gluttony. “You,” he says, taking advantage of such love, “have alienated yourself and come to Beelphegor” (Hos. 9:10). So exactly here the prophet calls them beloved and beloved grapes, expressing that God did everything on his part, since it was not they who first began to love, but God who began first. Even after this, they did not prove themselves worthy of good deeds, but showed the opposite in everything. “My Beloved had a vineyard on the top of a fat mountain” (“there were grapes for my beloved in a rose, in a fat place”). By the name of the grapes, the prophet expresses all of God’s providence and care for them. 2. However, he does not stop there, but also counts other benefits. And firstly, it indicates the location. In the words: “in a rose, in a fat place,” he speaks with praise both about the property of the land and about the location, about which David in the psalm said about Jerusalem: “The mountains are around Jerusalem, and the Lord is around his people” (Ps. 124:2). God protected him, he says, even by the location itself, and besides, he was not content with this, but He Himself was the greatest wall for him; This is what the prophet expresses with the word: “on the top of the mountain” (“in the rose”), meaning both the safety and insurmountability of the place, and first of all, the help of God, and borrowing a figurative expression from an ox’s horn. This expression is also popularly used about those who run away to some safe place. Since the ox is the strongest of all animals, and the horn is the strongest member of this animal - after all, it uses the horn as a weapon - many are accustomed to say so because of its insurmountability; and Scripture often speaks of "the horn of the unicorn" as the people who are in security. So, “on the top of the mountain” (“in the rose”) means here: safe, on high, just as at the beginning the prophet said: “I have raised and exalted sons” (Is. 1:2). “The place is fat”; and Moses expressed this with the words: “into the land... where milk and honey flow” (“the land boiling with milk and honey”) (Ex. 3:8). “And He surrounded it with a fence, and...” (“And with fences and entrenchments”) (Is. 5:2). “Fence” He calls either a wall, or a law, or his industry. Indeed, the law protected them safer than a wall. “And in the trenches”, i.e. made a strong defense. Since the fence is often easily destroyed, I, he says, surrounded them with another protection. “And he planted choice vines in it” (“and he planted a chosen vine”). He continues figurative speech, which should not be explained literally, but it is enough to know only its purpose. “Selected oh” (“chosen oh”) (Σωρήχ) he here calls the true, noble vine, which bears fruits that are not bad and of the lowest grade, but selected and primary, because there are many varieties of vines. “And he built a tower in the midst of it, and dug a winepress in it” (“and he made a pillar 65 and a winepress in the midst of it 66”). Some here mean a church, and by “press” (“press”) an altar, since the fruits of everyone’s virtues, and offerings, and all sacrifices were collected there; but now I will also say what I said above, i.e., that you need to look at the purpose of figurative speech. With all this He wants to say: I have done everything on My part, provided every care; I did not burden them with work, did not exhaust them with labor, did not force them to build, dig and plant themselves, but handed over to them a completely organized task; He did not limit his love for mankind to this, but also “expected that he would bring good grapes” (“I waited for him to create a cluster”) and with great patience waited for the proper time of fruit-bearing; This is exactly what the expression “expected” (“waited”) means. “And he brought wild berries” (“and create thorns”). Indicates their life is barren, rough, stubborn. What kind of forgiveness can those who, after such great care, reward the landowner with such fruits, be awarded? “And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between Me and My vineyard” (Is. 5:3). The power of truth is great if it invites the guilty themselves to judge what He did and what they did. "And now"; I do not mention, he says, about the ancient, but even now I am ready to sue. So I never cease to do Mine, and you do not do yours. “What more could be done for my vineyard? 67 Why, when I expected him to bring good grapes, did he bring wild grapes?” ("What else will I do to my grapes?.. I waited for the grapes, but create thorns") (Is. 5:4). The composition of the speech seems unclear; therefore it needs to be made clearer. The meaning of his words is as follows: what should have been done, and I did not do it? It is known that they sinned so much; what excuse can they have? Was there anything missing that they committed such crimes? “What more should I have done for my vineyard that I have not done to it?” This is what he says I did; but I do not dwell on what I have done and do not say that I have done many good deeds, but whether I have done everything, after which there would be nothing left to do, I ask you to tell me about this - you who received good deeds, witnessed what was done and learned it from your own experience, and not from strangers and strangers. “Therefore I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard” (Isaiah 5:5). Having won the victory and shown their ingratitude, He finally pronounces His decree and says what He intends to do, not to condemn them, but to make them more obedient through the fear of threat. “I will take away his fence, and he will be desolate; I will destroy its walls, and it will be trampled under foot.” 3. I will take away, He says, My help, I will deprive of protection, I will leave without such industry, and then from the opposite, when they are subjected to plunder from everyone, they will learn what they used before. “And I will leave it desolate: they will neither prune it nor dig it” (“And I will leave my grapes, and anyone who is not pruned will dig below”) (Is. 5:6). Again He uses figurative speech. If anyone wants to know in more detail, then He speaks of care through instruction, through commandments. They will no longer use what they used before; they will have no teachers, no leaders, no prophets who would correct them and take care of them as before. Just as those who care for grapes dig up and prune them, so those who correct souls threaten, intimidate, teach, and reprove; but they, he says, will be deprived of this, being taken to a foreign land. “And it will be overgrown with thorns and thistles, and I will command the clouds not to rain on it.” He speaks either about the desolation of the city, or about the impoverishment of themselves and the desolation of the soul of each of them; and by clouds, some here mean prophets who, as it were, received rain from above and conveyed what they proclaimed to the people. But they, he says, will not do what is usual for them. And indeed, although one or two prophets went into captivity with the Jews, the host of prophets was silent then. “The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His beloved planting” (“The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah’s new beloved garden”) (Is. 5:7). Having used many figurative expressions: “grapes”, “tower” (“pillar”), “wharness” (“foreground”), “fencing, entrenching, pruning” grapes, so that any of the foolish people of that time would not think that all this was being said about grapes, at the end of the speech he immediately explained everything. “The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel” (“The vineyard of the Lord of hosts, the house Israel "): not about plants, he says, my speech is not about soulless life, not about stones and walls, but about our people. That is why he added: “and the men of Judah are His beloved planting” (“and the man of Judah is a new beloved garden”), because the tribe of Judah had some advantage over the other ten tribes, and the church was close to it and all the worship, and it flourished more than others, and was royal and more powerful. Calling him "beloved" ("beloved"), the prophet again reproaches the Jews, who turned out to be so before God, who loved them greatly. This is the law of those who love - and even in the face of reproof, do not hide their great love. From here we get another not small lesson. What exactly? That one - when and what passages of Scripture must be taken in a figurative sense, and that we cannot use these rules at our own discretion, but must, according to the instructions of Scripture itself use allegorical speech. What I want to say is this: in this place the Scripture speaks of a vine, a fence, a winepress; but it did not leave it to the listener to apply what was said to any objects or persons, but then explained itself, saying: “The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel.” Likewise, Ezekiel, depicting a great and great-winged eagle entering Lebanon and tearing off the top of a cedar, does not leave it to the arbitrariness of the listeners to explain this allegorical speech, but he himself says who he means by the eagle and who by the cedar (see Ezekiel 17:3-12). And this same prophet, speaking further about a certain strong river rushing towards Judea, so that the listener could not apply what was said to any person, also names that king, whom he called a river (see Isa. 8:7). And everywhere in Scripture this is the law: when it uses an allegory, it also offers an explanation of the allegory, so that it is not simply or by chance that the unbridled arbitrariness of those who wish to make an allegory wanders and rushes everywhere. And is it surprising if the prophets did this? And the writer of Proverbs does the same. Having said: “let the tree of love and the lot of your graces speak to you, and let your source of water be yours alone... 68” (“Let your fountain be blessed; and be comforted by the wife of your youth”) (Prov. 5:18, 19), he himself explained why he said this about a lawful and honest wife - in order to ward off intercourse with a depraved wife and So exactly, this prophet said here, whom he called grapes. Further, after he spoke about accusations, he spoke about punishments - at the end of his speech he again presents justification: “He waited for justice, but behold, he waited for righteousness, and behold, a cry” (“I wait, let him do justice, and do not righteousness, but a cry”). "justice" ("let justice be done"), i.e., the truth, but they showed the opposite: lawlessness, untruth and crying, he here calls covetousness, unjust irritability, unreasonable anger, disagreement, quarrels. “Woe to you who add house to house, who join field to field, so that there is no room left for others” (“Woe to those who join house to house and village to village, so that you may take away from your neighbor”) (Is. 5:8). Having said that they made a “scream”, i.e. indulged in covetousness and theft, he also cites a particular form of this untruth, filled with great malice; and again begins to cry, showing the greatness of their sins, and expressing that they suffered from an incurable disease. 4. Such actions can still be seen today among people who make bad use of wealth, who make claims on neighboring lands not for their own safety, but to offend their neighbors, robbing all their neighbors like a spreading fire. “It’s as if you are the only ones settled on earth. The Lord of hosts spoke into my ears" ("will food dwell alone on the earth? For this was heard in the ears of the Lord of hosts" (Is. 5:8, 9) 69. The prophet shows that they suffer from an incurable disease in vain and in vain. Since such people are not so much held back by punishment and torment, but by the exact knowledge that they will not use what was stolen, he threatens them with this and says that they will work, suffer and enjoy the fruits of sin, but they will not have pleasure. The unsleeping Eye says, do not look calmly at such deeds. With the words: “Having heard it,” he expresses not that these deeds have only just become known to God, but that now the judgment is approaching and retribution is already coming. “These numerous houses will be empty, large and beautiful - without inhabitants.” Such is covetousness! While delivering great wealth to those who indulge in it, it deprives them of what they had before. He expresses this here too, saying: when you build magnificent dwellings, when you appropriate everyone’s property for yourself, then you will lose what you had before. Houses will stand without owners and speak louder than any trumpet against those who first acquired them through robbery, while the increased desolation will seem like some kind of trophy. “Where ten spouses of oxen look, he will make one pot, and Artavas, who sows six, will make three measures” (Is. 5:10). From the city the prophet turns his speech to the desolation of the country in order to amaze the listener from all sides. And the houses, he says, will not have inhabitants, and the earth will not exert its strength. So in the beginning, because of Adam’s sin, she brought forth thorns and thistles; and after him, for Cain’s crime, she bore fruits much less than his labors and her own strength. And in many other places you can see that she is punished for the sins of people. And is it surprising that the wickedness of people reduces the productivity and fertility of the earth, if through us it became corruptible and again through us becomes incorruptible? Since she received her very existence for us and to serve us, then her state, this or that, originates and has its root here. This was the case with Noah. When human nature descended to extreme depravity, all things were mixed up, seeds, plants, and species of dumb things, and earth, and sea, and air, and mountains, and groves, and hills, and cities, and walls, and houses, and towers, and then everything was covered with a terrible flood. And when the human race again needed to multiply, the earth received its order and again returned to its former order. The same thing happened, as anyone can see, in private cases in honor of people. So the sea retreated and again took its place, the sun and moon lingered and stopped their course, fire showed the properties of water, the earth - the properties of the sea, and the sea - the property of the earth: everything, to put it briefly, turns in favor of people. Since man is most honorable and for him everything created exists, now that the Jewish people have sinned, God stops the fertility of the earth and does not allow its bowels to bear ordinary fruits after many labors and efforts of people, so that they would learn from here that it is not the art of agricultural hands, not the oxen and the plow, not the property of the earth and not anything else like that, but precisely the Lord of all this is the One who pours out everything with a generous hand, and again, when wants, stops everything. “Woe to those who, from early morning, seek strong drinks and warm themselves with wine until late in the evening; and the harp and harp, the tambourine and the flute, and the wine at their feasts; but they do not consider the works of the Lord, neither do they consider the work of His hands” (Is. 5:11, 12). Having exposed their great covetousness, he also lays down the root of evil. This root was drunkenness, which is the cause of countless evils, especially when one indulges in it with such immensity. 5. Look how well he ridicules them. He says they spend the whole day on this. They do not do this when it is time to dine, he says, but they make every time a time of drunkenness, and from the very beginning of the day, when they especially need to be attentive, they indulge in great intoxication, and then involuntarily remain in this illness until the evening. If they one day hasten to plunge into the abyss of intemperance, lose their natural sense and surrender their souls to the disastrous power of drunkenness, then, just as a ship, not equipped with ballast and without a helmsman or sailors, rushes to and fro, carried everywhere by the disorderly movement of the waters, so they too rush, carried into the depths by intoxication. That is why the prophet says: “Woe to those who seek strong drink from the early morning” (“Woe to those who rise in the morning and persecute strong drink”). They did not satisfy the need, and did not expect the awakening of the need in order to satisfy it, but that is what they did and cared about - constantly getting drunk. That’s why he says: “who... seek strong drink” (“and strong drink to those who pursue”). Here, strong drink is the sap of palm trees, which they prepared by grinding and squeezing palm fruits to turn it into wine. It has a stupefying property and produces intoxication; but they did not pay attention to this, looking for pleasure in everything. “They warm themselves up with wine until late in the evening.” ("for those waiting for the evening: I will burn the wine"). This is the property of drunkenness: over time it intensifies and arouses painful thirst. Further, the prophet points to another guilt, no less than the first: “and the harp and harp, the tambourine and the pipe, and wine at their feasts” (“they drink wine with the harp and singers, and the tambourine and pipes”). Another prophet also condemns this when he says: “those who drink strained wine, and who splash with the first stench of the stench, splash towards the sound of arquebuses, as if they were standing, and not as if they were running” (Amos. 6:6, 5). Indeed, it is a sign of extreme wickedness and mental corruption to turn your home into a spectacle and indulge in such songs. What darkening drunkenness produces, music also produces, weakening the strength of the mind, crushing the vigor of the soul and predisposing to greater voluptuousness. “But they do not look at the works of God 70 and do not think about the work of His hands”; he speaks either of His miracles or of the contemplation of nature. How can they contemplate it when they turn day into night, and at night are no better than the dead? How can they see the rising sun, the brilliant beauty of the sky, the varied evening chorus of stars, and the order and activity of all other creatures, when they are deprived of both external and internal eyes? Thus, they caused considerable harm to themselves if they departed from real life without contemplating the miracles of God, being immersed all the time in the darkness of drunkenness. “For my people were taken into captivity, because they did not bring the Lord to them” (Is. 5:13). Again the prophet proclaims the future as already accomplished, and determines the punishment for such a vice. Drunkenness in itself can serve instead of any punishment, filling souls with confusion, filling the mind with darkness, making it a prisoner, exposing people to countless internal and external diseases. And Paul knew this - that wickedness in itself serves as punishment, which is why he said: “and the retribution that is fitting for their deceit is received within itself” (Rom. 1:27). But since their insensibility was such that they, receiving punishment, did not feel it, being in illness, did not realize that they were sick, he also proclaims external punishment: “For this reason my people will go into captivity unexpectedly, and their nobles will starve, and their rich people will languish with thirst.” and thirst for water"). Notice how in the punishment itself great admonition is offered, and not suddenly the most severe torment is sent. God did not suddenly send captivity, but beforehand hunger and heat, so that they, staying at home, would become better and would not attract foreign troops with their incurable illness. But since they did not obey and did not benefit from this, He finally sends extreme punishment on them. However, before this, the prophet sublimely and powerfully depicts the disaster of hunger, saying: “Hell has expanded” (“And hell shall enlarge your soul”) (Is. 5:14) - he says this not because hell has a soul, but personifies a threat, wanting to make his words more striking and produce living fear in the soul of his listeners. That’s why he continues like this: “and she opened her mouth without measure,” speaking as if about some beast and bringing the image of things closer to them; and the most terrible thing is that hell not only opened its mouth, but also remains to those who opened it, not being satisfied with those who plunge into it. “And their glory and their wealth, and their noise, and everything that makes them glad will descend there” (“and the great ones, and the great ones, and the riches, and their destroyers will descend into it”). Further, so that you know that this did not happen according to the natural order of things, but was a blow from God and a decree descended from heaven, he says that noble and powerful people who were disrupting everything and throwing the affairs of the Jews into disorder will be cast out there. 6. The prophet rightly calls them “destroyers”, as people who do not leave wickedness in themselves, but transmit this disease to others. This is the property of infection: starting in one body, it spreads and infects others. “And rejoice in it,” i.e. he who enjoys pleasures, who admires, who considers himself the owner of permanent blessings, will also fall and perish. “And man shall bow, and man shall humble himself, and the eyes of the proud shall fall; and the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment" ("and a man will be humbled, and a man will be dishonored, and the eyes of those who look high will be humbled. And the Lord of hosts alone will be exalted in judgment") (Is. 5:15, 16) 73. Look again at God's care. He does not bring about complete destruction, does not exterminate all the people from among them (the living), but leaves a few so that they will become better from the punishment of the dead. He expresses this with the word: “they will bow down” (“they will humble themselves”), i.e. those that remain are the ones left behind. “And the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment, and the Holy God will show His holiness in righteousness” (“And the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment, and the Holy God will be glorified in righteousness”) (Is. 5:16). Indicates two benefits: that they will get rid of arrogance and become better, and that God will be an object of wonder to everyone; this is what the words mean: “he will be exalted and show holiness” (“he will be exalted and glorified”), through the very punishment, through their defeat. What does “in court” mean? Through retribution. “And the spoiled ones will feed like young men, and the desert lambs will eat up the captives” (Is. 5:17) (“And the sheep will feed according to their own will, and strangers will eat the rich pastures of the rich that are abandoned.”). This indicates the small number of those left and the extreme desolation of the country. “Woe to those who drag iniquity upon themselves with ropes of vanity, and sin as with the straps of a chariot; who say: ''Let Him hasten and hasten His work, so that we may see, and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come to fruition, so that we may know!''" ("Woe to those who draw their own sins 74 for they are already long, and for the yoke of youth is bound by the strap of their iniquity, saying: let them quickly draw near, even as God will do 75, let us see, and yes the counsel of the Holy One of Israel will come, that we may understand” (Is. 5:18, 19). While the prophets constantly threatened and predicted disasters, the false prophets, preaching what was pleasing to the people and weakening them, assured that their words were false and theirs were true. Thus, many, being deceived, did not believe even the very speeches. Since prophecies were not fulfilled suddenly after they were spoken - because the nature of prophecy was a prediction that would be fulfilled after a long time - since the prophets constantly spoke about famine, infections and wars, but in fact this had not yet happened, many of the deceived, finding in the very delay of disasters a reason for unbelief, said: let what was said be fulfilled; if you speak the truth, then let such events occur; show us God's definition in practice. Therefore, since they made for themselves the long-suffering of God as a reason for unbelief, and through this they multiplied their sins, both through unbelief and through greater carelessness from unbelief, the prophet rightly mourns them, saying: you, as if with a long rope, attract the wrath of God to yourself, and increase your depravity; if you don’t believe what was said, now all that remains is for you to actually experience it; Thus, you bring disaster upon yourself by not believing what is said. That’s why he says: “Woe to those who bring iniquity upon themselves” (“Woe to those who draw their own sins”), i.e. retribution for sins. “Like a long time,” he says, you from afar attract to yourself the punishment determined for your sins, and “like a yoke with a belt” of a young woman under the yoke, - thereby expressing their effort, diligence. Just as if someone draws something to himself with a strong rope, so you, through your unbelief, attract the wrath of God upon yourself. Then he talks about how they attracted: “let Him hasten and speed up His work, so that we can see” (“saying: let God do it quickly, let us see”). Another prophet reproaches them for this: “Woe to those who desire the day of the Lord! Why do you need this day of the Lord? he is darkness and not light... he is darkness, and there is no brightness in him” (Amos 5:18, 20). So these unbelievers said: when will the day of punishment and torment come? “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who call darkness light and light darkness, who call bitter sweet and sweet bitter!” (Isa.5:20). Again he says the same thing. Since they insulted the prophets and called them deceivers, and revered false prophets, and thus perverted the order of things, he proclaims “woe” to them for their false judgment. “Woe,” he says, “who call evil good,” i.e. false prophecy, “and good with evil,” i.e. prophecy, “they consider darkness as light, and light as darkness, bitter as sweet, and sweet as bitter!” . Although the words of the prophets are difficult, he says, there is nothing sweeter than them, since with verbal threats they deliver from trials (disasters) in practice; and although the words of false prophets are sweet, there is nothing more bitter than them, since through the charm of words they bring about a real threat. 7. This is how the prophet wisely interpreted their judgment. Since they did not listen to the words of some, as they uttered very bitter things, and they listened to the words of others, as very favorable and containing great sweetness, he said that, on the contrary, great sweetness is among the prophets, and great bitterness is among the false prophets. We need to understand the words about light and darkness in the same sense. Some led to error, while others led to truth; some, with their hands almost tied, handed over the darkness of captivity, while others took all measures to lead them to the light of freedom. Therefore, since the listeners had perverted and inappropriate ideas about this, the prophet rightly admonishes them, saying: “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and understanding before themselves!” (Isa.5:21) 76. This shortcoming is also not small when someone considers himself wise and relies on his own judgment in everything: this is where the above comes from, i.e. that they call good evil, and evil good, and so on. For this, Paul condemned the pagan philosophers when he said: “professing to be wise, they have become fools” (Rom. 1:22). And the writer of Proverbs also says: “Have you seen a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope in a fool than in him” (Prov. 26:12). And elsewhere Paul condemns this when he says, “Do not dream of yourselves” (Rom. 12:16); and again: “If anyone among you thinks to be wise in this age, let him be foolish in order to be wise” (1 Cor. 3:18). Let him not rely, he says, on his own wisdom and his own judgments, but, having humbled them, let him surrender his soul to the guidance of the Spirit. Since among the Jews there were people who despised the prophets as shepherds and overseers of the flock, wanting to consider themselves wise, which was the basis of their pride and disdain for what was proclaimed to them, the prophet rightly mourns them, saying: “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and reasonable before themselves! Woe to those who are brave to drink wine and are strong to prepare strong drink" ("Woe to those who are wise in themselves and understand before themselves. Woe to your strong men who drink wine, and to your nobles who dissolve strong drink") (Is. 5:21, 22). Don’t be surprised that he, having recently said so much against drunkenness, repeats the same speech again; Since this wound is severe and incurable, it was necessary to wash it often. It is severe and incurable because it does not seem to many to be a sin, whereas it is the gravest of all sins and produces countless diseases. That’s why he says: “who are brave to drink wine and strong to prepare strong drink” (“those who drink wine, and the nobles who dissolve strong drink”). The danger is twofold: from the power of intoxication and from excess of power. Indeed, all people need prudence, but especially those endowed with honors and power, so that, being carried away by the burden of power, as if by some tendency of disordered waters, they do not fall into the abyss. “Who justify the guilty for gifts and deprive the right of the lawful!” (Isa.5:23). Again there is a double guilt: the acquittal of the guilty and the condemnation of the innocent. And the root of both sins is accepting gifts. “For this reason, as a reed shall be burned with a coal of fire, and shall be consumed with a burning flame” (Isaiah 5:24). He points to the speed of retribution, the speed of punishment, depicting in this way their complete destruction. 8. He expressed all this with the words: “flame, coals, reed” and the following. “So their root will decay, and their flower will be scattered like dust.” The strong and strong will be destroyed, the magnificent will dissipate, the bright will pass and disappear. “You did not want to do the law of the Lord of Hosts 77, but provoked the word of the Holy One 78.” The prophet calls the law “word”. “Therefore the wrath of the Lord will be kindled against His people, and He will stretch out His hand against them and smite them, so that the mountains will tremble 79 and their corpses will be like dung in the streets. And yet in all this His anger will not be turned away, and His hand will still be stretched out” (Is. 5:24, 25). Here he points to a cruel war, during which it will be impossible even to bury bodies, not so that the dead are punished, but so that the living, by the example of other people's misfortunes, will somehow restrain themselves from their own vice. And look how strongly he put it. He did not say that the dead were not buried, but were abandoned more despicably than any dung, which for the living seems more terrible than anything and more terrible than death itself. But, worst of all, even after this, he says, they did not improve, but remain in the same state. And since they did not correct themselves, he again threatens them with a severe blow - from the foreigners. That is why he continues saying: “and he will raise up a standard to the nations that are far off” (“he will raise up a sign among the nations that are far off”) (Is. 5:26). So that the distance of the journey does not plunge them into carelessness, he says that it is as easy for God to lead them, as for one who raises a banner to lead armed and ready warriors into battle, or as happens with horses prepared for battle: as soon as the sign of exit is given, they immediately jump out from behind the fence. Thus, the prophet here points out two circumstances: that they (“who are among the nations”) will easily come according to the calling of God, and that they would have come long ago if His great long-suffering had not held them back. In further words, he further shows the ease of this, saying: “and I will live 80 from the end of the earth.” Do not be surprised that when speaking about God he uses such sensual expressions; he adapts the words to the foolishness of the listeners, wanting to show everyone only that this is easy for God and will certainly come true; That’s why he adds: “And behold, the light ones are coming quickly: they will not hunger, nor toil, nor to sleep” 81 (Is. 5:26, 27). This is exaggerated. Is it really possible that they do not hunger and do not sleep, being human and subject to the general conditions of life? With all this, as I said, he depicts the speed of the army, lightness, speed. “And the belt shall not be removed from his waist, neither shall the thong of his sandals be broken; his arrows are sharpened, and all his bows are drawn; The hoofs of his horses are like flint, and his wheels are like a whirlwind; his roar is like the roar of a lioness; he roars like the skimn, and roars, and seizes the prey and carries it away, and no one will take it away. And on that day it will roar against him like the roar of an angry sea; and he will look at the earth, and behold, darkness, grief, and the light was darkened in the clouds" ("...And he will cry out for their sake in that day, like the sound of a troubled sea: and they will look to the heavens on the mountain, and to the earth below, and behold, the darkness is cruel, the darkness is in their need") 82 (Is. 5: 27-30). With all this, the prophet spread the speech and intensified the fear, describing each circumstance separately, speaking about the properties of the enemies, their strength, weapons, horses, chariots, in order to bring the listeners into great contrition with the abundance of what was said and to bring these circumstances closer to them with the clarity of images. Therefore, he compares his enemies with lions, and does not stop at this comparison, but depicts both the voice and the attack of the beast, and, continuing the figurative speech, uses many figurative expressions. Then he mentions the sea, saying that there will be such noise, such confusion as happens when the sea is very stormy and agitated; and in general uses all measures to increase fear so that they do not have the need to experience (these disasters) in reality. And, what is even more terrible, then, he says, there will be no protector either from earth or from heaven, but, deprived of both heavenly protection and earthly help, they will be handed over to their enemies. “Darkness” here he calls the darkness that has occurred in them due to misfortune, not in the sense that the rays of the sun will disappear, but in the fact that those who suffer, according to their disposition, will see darkness instead of light in the middle of the day, as usually happens to people struck by sorrow and despondency. And so that you know that this darkness did not come from the quality of the air, but from their location, he added: “the darkness is cruel in their need.” In the c.-sl.: “a pillar in the midst of it” (cf. Alex. and Vat. code translation LXX: πύργον έν μέσφ αύτοΰ). In ts.-sl.: “in it” (compare alex. and vat code. έν αύτφ). Track. words: “What didn’t I do to him?” ("and will I not do to him?") (x αί ού x έποίησα αύτφ) are not read here by St. I. Zl., and read below. Instead of: σοι ίδία in the central word: “yours”, cf. alex. and wat. code. lane LXX, St. I. Zl. read: σοι μόνφ. At St. I. Zl. stands only (Isa.5:9) St. I. Zl. reads here: τοΰ θεοΰ, whereas in the known. Greek sp. t. LXX reads: Κυρίου, why in the c.-word: “Lord’s”. According to some Greek sp. lane LXX, St. I. Zl. here after x αταβήσονται “they will descend”, reads: είς αύτόν “into it”. The word μόνος “one”, read here by St. I. Zl., in friend. Greek sp. no cheat at St. I. Zlat. only (Isa.5:15) According to some Greek sp. lane LXX, St. I. Zl. here, after the word: τάς άμαρτίας - “sins”, read αύτών “own”. After the word: ποιήσεν “will create”, St. I. Zl., according to some. Greek sp. lane LXX, reads: ό θεος "God". at St. I. Zl. - “they count darkness as light, and light as darkness... Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and understanding in their own eyes!” (Isa.5:21)). After the word: Σαβαώθ “Savaoth”, St. I. Zl., according to some. gr. sp. lane LXX, read: ποιείν “to create.” Next after άγίου “holy”, the words ‘Ισραήλ “Israel” (cf. Al., Vat. code., and therefore ts.-Sl.), St. I. Zl. I haven't read it. Instead of: κ αί παρωξύνθη τά όρη in the central word: “and the mountains were irritated”, as read. in al. and wat. code., St. I. Zl., according to some. Greek sp. lane LXX, read: κ αί παρωξύνθη έπί τά όρη. Instead of: αύτοίς “to them”, as read. V. al. code. vol. LXX (compare ts.-syl.), St. I. Zl. read αύτούς. The last word is όυδέ κ οιμηθήσονται in the central word. “they will not sleep” St. I. Zl. I haven't read it. According to some Greek sp. lane LXX, St. I. Zl. end of 30th century read: x αί έμβλέψονται είς τόν ούρανόν άνω, x αί είς τήν γήν x άτω. x αί ίδού σ x ότος σ x ληρόν, σ x ότος έν τή απορ ΄ α αιέτών. You might be interested in: