Книга третья

For me, the size of the books that I compile when interpreting the prophet Isaiah is not enough, where the omission of something is detrimental to understanding. Therefore, in each of the books, which mean only a list and sequence of them, I have placed only very short prefaces. And I ask you, virgin of Christ Eustochia, to help me with prayers in explaining a very difficult vision in which we contemplate: Almighty God in His greatness and two seraphim standing around Him and exclaiming: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts: fill the whole earth with His glory (Isa. 6:3); the door of the church was shaken and shaken, and the house of Judah was filled with the darkness of error; and the prophet, who says that he, in comparison with the divine glory, has unclean lips, and dwells in the midst of a blasphemous people, who with the voice of wickedness unanimously shouted: crucify, crucify him, and: not the imams of the king except Caesar (John 19: 6, 15); and one of the seraphim, sent to Isaiah, so that, taking with tongs a burning coal from the altar, he would cleanse the mouth of the prophet with it, and so that the people would remain unclean. So the third book of Isaiah begins like this: Ch. VI. Art. 1. In the year in which King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. The inscription of the first vision of Judah and Jerusalem indicates that Isaiah prophesied under four kings, that is, under Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. Consequently, the deceased Uzziah, in whose presence all that we have stated above was spoken, was succeeded by his son Jotham, who reigned for sixteen years, did what was right before the Lord and built the high gates of the church (2 Chronicles 27:1-3). During his reign, Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, signifying royal dignity. And what was under Him filled the church, or, as Theodotion and Symmachus translated: and what was under His feet filled the church, instead of which LXX translated: and the house is full of His glory. I know that when, about thirty years ago, I was in Constantinople, and from the most eloquent Gregory of Nazianzen, at that time the bishop of this city, I studied the study of the Holy Scriptures: then, to test my weak mind and obeying the insistence of friends, I dictated a short and hastily composed treatise on this vision. Therefore, I refer the reader to this book, and for the present I ask him to be content with a brief explanation. Sacred history tells that Uzziah, for appropriating the priesthood that was not permitted to him, was stricken with leprosy (2 Chronicles 26:16-21); after his death, in the church desecrated by him, the Lord is contemplated. From this we see that while the leper king reigns in us, we cannot see the Lord reigning in His greatness and know the mysteries of the Holy Trinity. Therefore, in the Exodus, after the death of Pharaoh, who oppressed Israel with clay, straw and bricks, the people, who during his lifetime could not cry out to the Lord, cried out to Him (Exodus 1:13, 14, Exodus 2:23). And Ezekiel, after the death of the most wicked prince of Phaltia, the son of Vena, falls on his face and cries out to the Lord with a loud voice (Ezekiel 11:13). And beautifully, according to the Hebrew text, it is not the Lord Himself, whose throne is heaven, and the earth is His footstool (Isa. 66:1), and about whom we read in another place: the Lord is in His holy church, the Lord is His throne in heaven (Ps. 10:3, 4), it was not the Lord Himself who filled the church; but what was under His feet filled the church. Who is this visible Lord, we learn more fully from the Evangelist John and in the Acts of the Apostles, from which John says: this was the speech of Isaiah, when he saw His glory, and the verb about Him (John 12:41), meaning, without a doubt, Christ. Also: Paul in the Acts of the Apostles, where he preaches to the Jews in Rome, says: “Good Holy Spirit spoke to Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying: go to this people and say: with hearing you will hear, and do not understand, and with seeing, you will see, and you do not see; close together, that they may see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand in their hearts, and be converted, and I will heal them (Acts 28:25–27). The Son was seen in royal majesty, and the Holy Spirit spoke according to the community of greatness and unity of being. Someone will ask how the prophet now says that he saw the Lord, and does not generally say - the Lord, but the Lord of Hosts, as he himself testifies below - when the Evangelist John said: God has not been seen anywhere (John 1:18), and God says to Moses: you cannot see My face: for no man will see My face and live (Exodus 33:20)? To this we answer that the deity of not only the Father, but also the Son and the Holy Spirit, since the Trinity has one nature, can be looked at not by the eyes of the flesh, but by the eyes of the mind, about which the Savior himself says: blessed be the pure in heart: for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8). We read that the Lord in the form of a man was seen by Abraham (Gen. 18), and that He who was God fought with Jacob as a man, from which the very place was called Phanuel by Jacob, that is, the form of God: for I saw, he says, God face to face, and my soul was saved (Gen. 32:30). And Ezekiel saw the Lord in human form, sitting on cherubim: from His loins and below was like fire, and what was above had the appearance of an electrum (Ezekiel 1:26, 27). Therefore, God by His nature is invisible, but He is visible to people as He deigns. Art. 2–3. The seraphim stood on it, one had six wings, and the other had six wings: with two they covered His face, and with two they covered His feet, and with two they flew. And they called to each other and said: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts! The whole earth is full of His glory!” Translated by us, in accordance with other translators and with the Hebrew original, in which it is written memmallo, that is, ἐπάνω αὑτοῦ, which in Latin means: super illud (on it), LXX translated: around Him, so that the seraphim are depicted standing not on the church, but around the Lord. Also, where we said that one of the seraphim covered His face and feet, which means: God, in Hebrew there is phanau and reglau, which can be translated: both his and theirs, so that, by the ambiguity of Hebrew speech, we can say that the seraphim covered both the face and feet of God, and their face and feet. In the seventy-ninth psalm we read: he who sat on the cherubim (which in our language means: a multitude of knowledge) appeared (Ps. 79:2). From this it is revealed that the Lord, in the likeness of a charioteer, sits openly on cherubim. I don’t remember that anywhere other than this place I read in the canonical Scriptures about the seraphim, who are said to stand on the church, or around the Lord; Consequently, those who usually say in prayers: sitting on cherubim and seraphim, which Scripture has not taught, are mistaken. The word seraphim means: εμπρησταί, which we can translate: igniting, or burning, in accordance with what is read elsewhere: angels create their spirits, and their servants create a fiery flame (Ps. 103:4). Therefore, the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews, which the Latins usually do not accept, says: Are not all servant souls sent into service for those who want to inherit salvation (Heb. 1:14)? And Daniel, when he portrayed the Lord in the majesty of a king, added: thousands of thousands served Him, and ten thousand stood before Him (Dan. 7:10). Consequently, on the cherubim the Lord appears visible: on the seraphim he is partly visible, and partly hidden, for they cover His face and feet; because we cannot know the past, what was before the world, and the future, what will happen after the world; but we contemplate only the average - what happened in six days. And it is not surprising that they think so about the seraphim, when the apostles open the Savior for believers, and close it for unbelievers (2 Cor. 4:2-4), and when there was a veil before the ark of the covenant (Ex. 40:3). It is also said that they have wings because of their speed and movement everywhere, or because they are always in the heavenly world. For what was said about the winds: “walk on the wing of the wind” (Ps. 103:3) does not show that the winds, according to the fables of poets and the freedom of painters, actually have wings, but testifies to the speed of their movement everywhere. And each of them has six wings, because we only know about the structure of the world and the present age. And by calling to each other or, according to the Hebrews, this one to this, that is, one to one, they mutually excite themselves to praise the Lord, and say: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of hosts, to show in the one Godhead the mystery of the Trinity, and to testify that not the church of the Jews, as before, but the whole earth is full of the glory of Him who, for the sake of our salvation, deigned to take upon Himself human nature and descend to earth. And to Moses, when he, as a result of worshiping the calf, begged the Lord to spare the sinful people, the Lord answered: I am merciful to them according to your word: but I live, and My name lives ever, and the glory of the Lord will fill the whole earth (Num. 14:20, 21). And the seventy-first psalm sings: the whole earth will be filled with His glory (Ps. 71:19). Therefore, the angels cried out to the shepherds: glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2:14). Therefore, someone 16 wickedly understands by two seraphim the Son and the Holy Spirit; whereas we teach, according to the Evangelist John and the Apostle Paul, that the Son of God was seen in royal majesty, and the Holy Spirit spoke. Some of the Latins by the two seraphim mean the old and new testaments, which speak only of the present age. That is why, they say, the seraphim have six wings, and cover the face and feet of God, and zealously express the testimony of the truth, and everything that they cry reveals the mysteries of the Trinity. And they marvel at each other that the Lord of hosts, being the image of God the Father, took on the form of a servant, and humbled Himself even to death, the death of the cross (Phil. 2:6-8), and that not only the heavenly, as before, but also the earthly knows Him. Art. 4. And the upper lintels of the door posts shook at the voice of the one who cried, and the house was filled with smoke. When, during the exclamation of the seraphim and their preaching throughout the earth of the mystery of the Trinity, the whole universe learned about the suffering of the Lord Savior, then the door of the church immediately shook or collapsed, and all its pillars fell, in fulfillment of the threat of the Savior, who said: behold, your house is left to you empty (Matthew 23:38). And what a wonderful arrangement of thoughts! After the earth was filled with the glory of the Lord of hosts, the Jewish church was filled with the darkness of ignorance, and darkness, and smoke, which is harmful to the heads. Or smoke indicates the burning of a church. For first the Gospel of the Savior was preached throughout the whole world, and then, forty-two years after the suffering of the Lord, Jerusalem was taken and the church was burned. The Jews think that the smoke that filled the church means incense, that is, incense, and through it the influx of Divine glory. Art. 5. And I said, Woe to me, that I was silent, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people having unclean lips: and I have seen with my own eyes the King, the Lord of hosts. And Abraham, after he saw the Lord and heard His voice, says of himself that he is earth and ashes (Gen. 18:27), and Isaiah, according to the LXX interpreters, testifies to himself that he was saddened, not because of other offenses, but because he had unclean lips. Happy is the conscience that has sinned only in word, and not through its own fault, but as a result of cohabitation with a people having unclean lips, with whom it was very often forced to speak. From here it is revealed that it is harmful to live with sinners, for if you touch the resin you will be blackened (Sir. 13:1). But since in Hebrew we read: woe is me, that I was silent, then the prophet mourns himself, because he was not worthy to glorify the Lord of Hosts, along with the seraphim, by which we mean the angelic powers. He did not dare to praise the Lord because he had unclean lips; but had unclean lips because he lived with a sinful people. Or, this should be understood: since I was silent and did not boldly rebuke the wicked king Uzziah, therefore my lips are unclean, and I do not dare to sing, along with the angels, the praise of the Lord, lest it be said to me: of all things have you made known my justifications, and have you taken my covenant with your lips (Ps. 49:16)? For praise is not sweet in the mouth of a sinner (Sir. 15:9). We say this not because we teach that Isaiah really was like that, but because he himself, out of humility, having only unclean lips, recognizes himself as unworthy to praise the Lord. Art. 6–7. And one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a pebble, which he had brought with tongs from the altar, and touched my mouth, and said: Behold, I have touched your mouth with this, and your iniquity will be taken away, and your sin will be cleansed. One of the seraphim, which means: the one who ignites, flew in, or was sent, to cleanse the unclean lips of the prophet and burn out their uncleanness with a burning coal or pebble brought from the altar. Many people think that there were two seraphim, because one cried out to the other; but even more numerous ones can appeal to one another, and the LXX edition, which translated: the seraphim stood around Him, rather means very many, and if they were talking about two, then they would say not around, but on both sides. This corresponds to the multitude of angels destined for the service of God, and seraphim is the plural, and the singular is seraph, like cherubim and cherub. That the altar, under which the souls of the martyrs are, is seen in heaven, John speaks about this in the Apocalypse (Apoc. 6:9); the pebble, which is translated by some LXX: ἀνθpαξ, that is, carbuncle, may not mean a coal, extinguished or burning, as many people think, but ἄνθpακα, that is, a carbuncle stone, called fiery because of the similarity of its color to flame. From this we understand that the altar of God is full of carbuncles, that is, red-hot pebbles and coals that cleanse sins. Therefore, we read what is written about God: coals burned from Him (Ps. 17:9), and about the Lord Himself it is said that He is a consuming fire (Deut. 4:24. Heb. 12:29), and the Savior in the Gospel says: fire came to cast upon the earth (Luke 12:49), to baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matt. 3:11). For every work, as it is, will be tempted by fire (1 Cor. 3:13), and he who has to be saved will be saved as if he had passed through fire (1 Cor. 3:15). And then it should be noted that in Jeremiah, to whom it was said: before I could create you in the womb, having known you, and before I could bring you out of the womb that sanctified you (Jer. 1:5), since he did not have unclean lips, but only said: I do not know how to say, for I am a child (v. 6), the Lord himself stretched out His hand and touched his lips, and said: behold I have given My words into your mouth (v. 9); and to Isaiah, who said: I am a man of unclean lips, and among a people who have unclean lips I live (Isa. 6:5), it is not the hand of God that stretches out, but is sent from God, or flies of his own free will, a seraphim, since he is assigned to this service - and in his hand he holds a pebble, taken by him, according to LXX and Theodotion, with a tong, but according to Aquila and Symmachus, following the Hebrew text, with pincers, that is, malcaim, to touch his mouth with it and cleanse his former sins. The hand extends from both God and the seraphim so that the prophet, seeing a member of his body, does not fear outside touch. Some of our people think that the pliers with which a pebble is taken are two covenants, united by the unity of the Holy Spirit. since the Lord appears to be seated and seated in the church, and the house was filled with smoke, as the Jews think, of incense; then, in accordance with this, tongs are also mentioned, which, as we read, constitute an accessory to the priestly service (Ex. 37). Art. 8. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Whom shall I send? And who will go for Us? And I said: here I am, send me. Instead of what was translated by us and all other translators: for Us, which in Hebrew lanu, I don’t know what they wanted, LXX put: to this people, which is not at all in Hebrew. When it is said on behalf of God: for Us, then this should be understood in the sense in which Genesis says: Let us create man in our image and likeness (Gen. 1:26), in order to show the mystery of the Trinity. For as we read in the Gospel, when the Lord says: I and the Father are one (John 10:30), and we relate one to the essence, and Esma to the difference of persons: so, when the Lord commands, the Trinity commands. The Lord does not say who He commands to go, but leaves it to the own desire of those listening, so that free will receives a reward. And the prophet says that he will go, not out of recklessness and arrogance of conceit, but out of boldness, for his lips are cleansed, and iniquity is taken away, and sin is blotted out. Therefore Moses, to whom the Lord said: Come now, that I may send you to Pharaoh king of Egypt (Exod. 3:10), and he answered: I pray to You, Lord, choose another mighty one, after him, or, as it is read in Hebrew, “send whom you have to send” (Ex. 4:13), he answered this not out of disdain, but out of humility, for he who had been taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians had not heard anything about cleansing his lips. And Isaiah offers himself to serve not according to his own merit, but according to the grace of the Lord, by which he was purified. Others think that Isaiah offered himself because he thought that good things would be foreshadowed for the people; but, since he heard: go, tell this people: with your ears you will hear, and do not understand, and seeing, you will see, and do not know (Isa. 6:9), then later, when the voice of the Lord says to him: he cried (Isa. 40:6), he does not immediately cry, but asks: why did I cry (ibid.)? And Jeremiah, to whom it was said: Take the cup, and give all your tongues to drink to them. I will send you (Jer. 25:15), willingly taking the cup of punishment in order to present it to hostile nations so that they would drink, vomit, and fall, after hearing: “Go, and first offer it to Jerusalem,” he answered: You have deceived me, O Lord, and I am corrupted (Jer. 20:7). This is the interpretation of the Hebrews. And we say that offering oneself to the Lord for the embassy was not a matter of pride, but of obedience. Art. 9–10. And He said, Go and tell this people, Hear with your ears and do not understand, and with your eyes see and do not recognize. Blind the heart of this people, and stop their ears, and close their eyes, lest by any means they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and are converted, and are healed. LXX translated this passage as the Evangelist Luke brought it in the Acts of the Apostles: beings who disagree with each other, (no doubt the Jews), departed, I said to Paul one verb: for the good Holy Spirit spoke to Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying: Go to this people and say: by hearing you will hear, and do not understand, and you will see what you see, and You must not see: for the heart of these people is clothed, and their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes are closed, lest their eyes see, and their ears hear, and understand in their hearts, and be converted, and I will heal them (Acts 28:25-27). At what time this prophecy was fulfilled, the Apostle Paul himself speaks about this in further words: let it be known to you that the salvation of God was sent by the tongue, and these also will hear (Acts 28:28). That is why in the same Acts of the Apostles we read that Paul and Barnabas said to the Jews who did not want to believe: it is wrong for you to speak the word of God first: but since you have rejected it, and are unworthy of yourselves to eternal life, behold, we are turned into tongues (Acts 13:46). This is the Lord’s commandment to us: to set You as a light with His tongue, so that You may be saved even to the last of the earth (Acts 13:47; Isa. 49:6). Thus, the explanation of this passage according to LXX is easy - that the prophet Isaiah, at the command of the Lord, predicts what the people will do. But in the Hebrew text there is a difficulty: how does God himself command the people so that they listen by hearing, and do not understand, and seeing see, and do not recognize, and how the prophet is then brought forward speaking, and beseeching the Lord, he says: blind the heart of this people, and stop their ears, and close their eyes, lest they somehow see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and are converted, and are healed ( Isa. 6:10 )? And first the following question must be resolved, which can be proposed to us: why did the Apostle Paul, competing with the Jews, quote this passage not from the Jewish text, the correctness of which he knew, but from the LXX? Ancient church researchers say that the evangelist Luke was very knowledgeable in the art of medicine, and knew Greek literature better than Jewish literature. Therefore, his speech both in the Gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles, that is, in both of his books, is especially decorated and resonates with secular eloquence, and he uses Greek books more than Hebrew ones. Matthew and John, one of whom wrote the Gospels in Hebrew and the other in Greek, cite testimonies from the Hebrew, such as: out of Egypt I called My Son (Hos. 11:1; Matt. 2:15); and: for he will be called a Nazarite (Matthew 11:23); and: rivers from his belly will flow out living waters (John 7:38); and: they will look at Nan, whose blood has broken (Zech. 12:10. John 19:37), and others like them. The authenticity of Paul's letter to the Hebrews is disputed because he, writing to the Hebrews, uses evidence that is not contained in the Jewish books. If anyone says that the Jewish books were later corrupted by the Jews, then let him listen to what Origen answers this question in the eighth book of the Commentaries on Isaiah; - that the Lord and the apostles, who denounced the scribes and Pharisees for other crimes, would never have kept silent about this crime, which was the greatest. If anyone says that the Jewish books were distorted after the coming of the Lord and the preaching of the apostles, then I cannot help laughing at the thought that the Savior, and the evangelists, and the apostles cited evidence in the way that the Jews later had to distort them. What should be said about the present passage is that we are in vain resorting to the LXX translation, so that what is in the Hebrew text does not seem blasphemous: Hear by ear, and do not understand, and see by vision, and do not recognize, when we find similar evidence in the LXX interpreters, such as, for example, what is known in Exodus, said to Pharaoh: “I have raised you up for this purpose, that I may show my power in you” (Ex. 9:16). If He himself set and hardened the heart of Pharaoh so that he would not believe, and if it is said about others: God give them the spirit of compunction, eyes not to see, and ears not to hear (Rom. 11:8), and in the Psalms: let their table be a snare before them, and a reward and a temptation: let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and let their backs be cut off (Ps. 68:23, 24): then it is not those who do not see who are guilty, but He who gave such eyes so as not to see. Consequently, even without the evidence that we are now trying to explain, this question remains in the churches, and either other questions will be resolved along with it, or together with others this question will remain insoluble. The blessed Apostle Paul explains this passage more fully to the Romans, and we would labor in vain if we wanted to cover in a short word what he spent almost an entire epistle on. For after much he says: God shut everyone up in rebellion, that He may have mercy on everyone (Rom. 11:32), and marveling at the mysteries of the Lord, he adds: O the depth of the wealth and wisdom and understanding of God! For His judgment has not been tried, and His ways have not been tried (Rom. 11:33); and again, discussing the unbelief of the Jews, he says: if you sin, let them fall away; let it not be, but the salvation of those who fall is by the tongue, in order to provoke them to anger (Rom. 11:11). And a little later: if their putting aside, there is reconciliation to the world: what is acceptance, is it life from the dead (Rom. 11:15)? And again: I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brethren, so that you will not be wise about yourselves, for there has been blindness on part of Israel, until the fulfillment of tongues comes, and so all Israel will be saved (Rom. 11:25, 26). And a little later: according to the gospel, for the sake of defeat you, according to the election of the beloved of the father: unrepentant for the gifts and calling of God. Just as you, he says, sometimes resisted God, but now the mercy of these is quickened by resistance: so too are these now resisting your mercy, so that these too will have mercy. For God shut all into rebellion, that He may have mercy on all (Rom. 11:28–32). Consequently, it is not cruelty, but the mercy of God, that one nation perishes, so that all nations may be saved, that some of the Jews do not see, so that the whole world can see. Therefore, the Lord himself in the Gospel raises the mystery of the man blind from birth, who received eyes, to an allegorical meaning, and says: I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see will be blind (John 9:39), and Simeon in another place says: Behold, this one is destined for the fall and rising of many (Luke 2:34). So, in their blindness, we see; when they fall, we rise. The Prophet, realizing this, says in slightly different words: O Lord! You command me to speak to the Jewish people, so that they may hear and not understand the Savior, and see Him and not recognize Him; If You want Your commandment to be fulfilled, and for the whole world to be saved, the fulfillment of which I also desire, then You blind the heart, and block the ears, and close the eyes of this people, so that they do not understand, so that they do not hear, so that they do not see. For if they see, and are converted, and understand, and are healed; then the whole world will not receive healing. From this we see that no matter how serious the sin, if someone converts, he can be healed. But at the same time, it must be understood that, due to the greatness of the crime, they are recognized as unworthy even of repentance, when the Lord himself says to Jerusalem: “Your fellow children have desired as much as they gathered kokosh for their chicks under the wing, and did not desire” (Matthew 23:37). Art. 11–13. And I said: How long, Lord? And He said: Until the cities are desolate, without inhabitants, and the houses without people, and until this land remains desolate. And the Lord will remove the people, and what remains will multiply in the midst of the earth. And the tenth part will still remain on it, and again it will be desolate, like terebinth, and like an oak that has lost its acorns; the holy seed will remain in her. When the Lord said: go and tell this people: let them listen and not hear, and let them look and not see, and therefore let them not hear and not see, because they do not understand the words of the Lord, and do not know His works, and that they have grown fat and enlarged and forgotten their Creator (Deut. 32:15): then the prophet, in response to this, worrying about his people, asks: how long, Lord, will it be will this sentence continue so that the people who listen do not hear and do not see when they look? The Lord answered him: until then he will not hear, and will not see, and will have a blinded heart, until the cities of Judea, during the war of Vespasian and Titus, are completely destroyed, so that their former name will not even be preserved, and the houses, if any remain, will not be without an inhabitant, and this land will not turn into a desert, and the people of Judah, through either flight or captivity, will not be scattered throughout the entire globe, and will multiply, but not in Judea, as before, but among all nations. Regarding what I say: it will multiply, such is the misfortune of the surviving people that, compared to its former number, barely a tenth will remain. And while in the land of Judea itself there will be a paucity of people (for this passage can be understood in two ways: that on the entire globe barely a tenth of this people will remain, and in Judea itself a small part of it will barely survive), this remnant will again be ruined when, after about fifty years, Hadrian comes and completely devastates the land of Judea, so that it will be like terebinth and an oak tree that has lost its acorns. Finally, after the last devastation, laws were even posted publicly by which the Jews were forbidden to enter the land from which they had been expelled. When will some of the Judeans believe in Christ, and what we read above will be fulfilled: if the Lord of hosts had not left us a seed, as Sodom would have been, and as Gomorrah would have been like (Isa. 1:9); then when, according to the Apostle, the remnant is saved (Rom. 9:27), it will be holy seed, and from the sprout of the apostles all churches will multiply. What we said: the holy seed will be that which stands in it, or according to Aquila: the holy seed will be its sprout, the LXX has no interpreters, but this was added by Origen from the Hebrew text and the edition of Theodotion. The church lists say that when the full number of the Gentiles has entered, then all Israel will be saved (Rom. 11:25, 26), and even in this the word of the Lord will be fulfilled, saying: I will kill, and I will do life: I will smite, and I will heal (Deut. 32:39). Chapter VII. Art. 1–2. And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah: Racine king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Romelin, king of Israel, went against Jerusalem to fight against it, and were not able to conquer it. And they told the house of David, saying, Syria has made a covenant with Ephraim; and his heart and the heart of his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. Uzziah, also known as Azariah, king of Judah, reigned in Jerusalem for fifty-two years (2 Kings 15:1, 2; 2 Chronicles 26:1–3). In his last time, Isaiah saw what was discussed in detail in our previous speech. Immediately after his death and the accession in his place of his son Jotham, the most righteous king, the prophet saw the Lord the Savior, in His royal majesty, announcing the blinding of the Jewish people and the destruction, under Vespasian and Hadrian, of Jerusalem and other cities, and how the remnant would be saved in the person of the apostles. The third king was the son of Jotham, the most wicked Ahaz (2 Kings 16. 2 Chronicles 28), who locked the doors of the church, and in the valley of Benhannom he worshiped the Baals, and dedicated his son to idols. He was so wicked that he demolished the copper altar made by Solomon and erected an idol altar in the church of God, the design of which he received from Damascus. Therefore, he was rightly abandoned by the help of the Lord, and Racine, king of Syria, that is, of Aramean, and Phekaeus, son of Romelin, king of Israel in Samaria, rebelled against him and went to Jerusalem to conquer it (ibid.). In the book of Chronicles we read that Racine, king of Damascus, having defeated Ahaz, took many from Judea to Damascus, and that Pekah, son of Romelin, king of the ten tribes called Israel, who reigned in Samaria, killed in one day one hundred and twenty thousand warlike people from Judah, and took two hundred thousand wives, boys and girls with countless spoils captives to Samaria (2 Chronicles 28:5–8). The prophet is now silent about this defeat, but speaks of the second war, when they, having the experience of their courage and victory, carried away by the abundance of booty, again come to Judea and want to conquer Jerusalem, but could not, because the Lord helped him, so that, regarding the mercy by which He freed the besieged people, they would announce His Son, who would be born of the Virgin. When the house of David, that is, the royal house, heard about this, that is, that Syria and Ephraim, Racine and Pekah, joining forces, were coming, they were horrified and afraid, and both the king and the people trembled to such an extent that one would have thought that these were tree leaves shaken by gusts of wind. In a mysterious sense, the explanation is not difficult - that those who fought during the reign of the wicked king Ahaz were the king of Aram (which means: high and exalted, to designate the arrogance of pagan wisdom), and Pekah, the son of Romelin, who was also, according to the prophet Hosea, from the tribe of Ephraim, from which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, placed golden calves in Bethel and Dan (1 Kings. 12:28, 29) and separated the people of God from the house of David, portray themselves as heretics who conspired among themselves to enslave the Church. When the house of David, about whom we read in Ezekiel, hear about this, that he will be made a good shepherd (Ezek. 34), and his people, who sincerely believe in the Lord, will tremble. And therefore they will tremble because they are not like fruitful trees, but a barren forest. That heretics and pagans are fighting against the house of David with the same swords of invention and dialectical art, no one doubts this, so that although they disagree with each other in attacking the Church, they agree, just as Herod and Pilate, who were at enmity with each other, unite in condemnation of the Lord. Art. 3–9. And the Lord said to Isaiah: go out, you and the remaining Jasub your son, to meet Ahaz, to the end of the aqueduct of the upper pond, on the road to the whitewash field, and say to him: look and be calm, do not be afraid, and let not your heart be afraid from the two ends of these smoking brands, from the wrath of the rage of Racine, and Syria, and the son of Romelin, because Syria, Ephraim and the son The Romelins adopted a very evil intention against you, saying: let us go up to Judah, and stir him up, and tear him away to ourselves, and set the son of Tabeil among him as king. The Lord God says this: this intention will not take place and will not come true, but the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Racine; and another sixty-five years and Ephraim will cease to be a people. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Romelin. If you do not believe, you will not endure. Isaiah's son Jasub, which means abandoned and converted, into the image of the people of Judah, who had to be liberated by the hands of two kings, receives a command to go out with his parent and meet Ahaz, king of Judah, at the place of the water supply of the upper pond, on the road to the whitewash field, where under Hezekiah, king of Judah, which we will read about later, Rapsak stood and, by order Sennacherib, king of Assyria, reviled the people of God (Isa. 36), to which place the city leaders sent by Hezekiah came out, about whom we read in the book of Kings (2 Kings 18). And Ahaz, although a wicked king, is commanded, by the mercy of the Lord, that he should remain calm and not be afraid, and that his heart should not be horrified, thinking that he will suffer the same thing as what he previously suffered. The two ends of brands, that is, smoking charred logs, He calls Racine, king of Syria, and Phekei, son of Romelin, king of Samaria, because with them the kingdom of Syria, that is, Damascus, ended, and the kingdom of Samaria, that is, the ten tribes, which were also called by another name - Ephraim. For it is written that Thelgaffellaser, king of Assyria, under king Ahaz, went up to Damascus and destroyed it, and resettled its inhabitants to Cyrene, and killed Rasin (2 Kings 16:7-9); and that Hoshea the son of Elah plotted against Pekah the son of Romelin, and struck and killed him, and reigned in his stead over Israel for nine years (2 Kings 15:30, 17:1); and that Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came and besieged Samaria, which is now called Sebast, for three years, and in the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, he took it, and put Hoshea bound in prison, and carried the Israelites to the Assyrians, and settled them in Alai and Abor by the river Gozam, in the cities, or, as the Seventy translated, in the mountains of the Medes (2 Kings. 17:3–6). For although these two most wicked kings adopted the intention of ascending to Judah, whose region lay in the mountains, and awakening him, who was at rest, and as if sleeping, and subjugating him to their power, and installing the son of Tabeel as king over him, which means: good God, to designate with this name either a person or an idol: however, the Lord God says this: this intention will not take place, but for some time only Damascus will be the head of the Syrian cities, and in the capital itself Damascus will reign over Racine. Further He says: Ephraim, for the sake of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who was the first to reign from the Ephraimites, will have Samaria as its head, that is, the royal house in the city of Samaria, and the head of Samaria will be the son of Romelin, that is, Pekah; but after sixty-five years the kingdom of the ten tribes, that is, the people of Ephraim, will cease to exist. If we do not examine this with special care, it will turn out to be untenable. For Hoshea reigned over Samaria in the fourteenth year of the reign of Ahaz the son of Jotham, over the tribe of Judah, and in the ninth year of his reign he was taken captive (2 Kings 17:1-6). Ahaz reigned over Judah for sixteen years (2 Kings 16:2), and after his death, in the seventh year of his reign, Hosea was besieged, and in the ninth he was taken captive, Samaria was destroyed, and the whole people were resettled to the Medes, so that if we want to add together the sixteen years of Ahaz and the seven of Hosea, it will be twenty-three, or, much, twenty-four years; where will those sixty-five years come from, about which it is said that during them the kingdom of Israel will end? Therefore, the Jews explain this passage in this way: that Amos, who began to prophesy under Uzziah, when Isaiah also began his prophecy, was the first to prophesy against Israel, saying: Israel is taken into captivity and taken away from their land (Amos. 7:11, 17), and that the inscription of his prophecy is against Samaria, and that he began to prophesy in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, two years before the earthquake, which, in their opinion, happened at that time the time when Uzziah, having entered the church of God, assumed the priesthood for himself, and the earth shook, and the ashes of the altar scattered, and the king himself was stricken with leprosy (2 Chronicles 26:16-20). They think that when this happened, it was the twenty-fifth year of the reign of Uzziah, the remaining years of which were twenty-seven, for Uzziah reigned fifty-two years (2 Chronicles 26:3; 2 Kings 15:2); after him his son Jotham reigned for sixteen years (2 Kings 15:33), and the latter’s son Ahaz also reigned for sixteen years (2 Kings 16:2); After Ahaz, Hezekiah reigned, in the sixth year of whose reign Samaria was taken (2 Kings 18:10), and thus, in their opinion, a total of sixty-five years. When the Lord predicted this through the prophet, both Ahaz and the people did not believe that this would happen. Therefore it is added: if you do not believe, you will not remain, as Symmachus translated, that is, you will not remain in your kingdom, but will be taken into captivity, suffering punishment from those whose unbelief you imitated. Or, according to LXX: you will not understand; and the meaning is this: since you do not believe that what is spoken by the Lord will come true, you will not have understanding. We have explained this in a historical sense. In the allegorical sense we began, we should pay attention to the fact that Isaiah is commanded, having left his residence, to meet the wicked king not at the beginning of the water supply, but in the last parts of the upper pond, which was in the bleaching field, where dirt and sewage were washed out. For although Ahaz reigned over Judah, yet, since he was wicked, he was in the last parts of the upper pond. Consequently, God shows mercy not so much to the king, whom He recognized as unworthy of salvation, but to His people. And as we said above, he calls secular wisdom and heretical speech two tails of smoking brands; their end is burning and they in vain conspired to go out against Judah and, as a careless and sleeping man, take him captive, bind him with their errors and install over him the son of Tabeel, that is, the good God, as king. For both the enemy thinks that he has the truth, that he has the best teaching. And the heretic Marcion thinks that Christ is the son of a good God, that is, another, and not the just God of the prophets, whom he calls bloodthirsty, cruel and a judge. When they say this, the Lord threatens them that their advice will not stand, that now, temporarily, while this world stands, that which is of the world rules within its borders and in its cities; when the time of death comes, that is, sixty-five years are completed and when both the objects of the world created in six days, and everything related to the five senses receives the end: then everything will be revealed, in the future fulfillment of which pagans and heretics do not believe and, due to unbelief, do not understand what is being proclaimed. Art. 10–11. And the Lord continued to speak to Ahaz, saying: Ask yourself a sign from the Lord your God into the depths of hell, or into the heights above. The same one who previously spoke through the prophet to Ahaz: look and be calm, do not be afraid, etc., when he did not believe and therefore did not understand, tells Ahaz that at least fearing the power of the Lord, he should accept what is said. Since, he says, it seems impossible to you that the most powerful kingdoms will soon cease to exist, and that you and your people will be freed from great danger: then ask yourself for a sign, ask not from the idols whose delusions you hold on to, but from the Lord your God, who promises you help, and ask yourself for such a sign from wherever you want, whether from the depths or from the heights. While only LXX was translated this way, others, in accordance with the Hebrew, translated more expressively: from the depths of hell. Thus, just as depth means hell, so by height we must mean heaven above, so that whether you receive a sign from the depths or from above, you may believe that what I have spoken will be fulfilled. Do you want to say that the earth will dissolve and the great yawning abyss of hell will open, which is, as they say, in the bowels of the earth, or that the heavens will open? Both of these relate to the prototype of the death and ascension of the Lord: He who descended is also He who ascended (Eph. 4:10), and we read from the Apostle: Do not say in your heart: whoever ascends into heaven; that is, to bring Christ together. Or who will descend into the abyss; that is, to raise Christ from the dead (Rom. 10:4, 6, 7); and in another place, discussing Christ, he says: that you may be able to understand with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height: understand the love of Christ that surpasses understanding (Eph. 3:18). This is as far as the understanding of the mysterious is concerned. In another sense: Moses also received signs from the earth, about which we read in the Psalms: he sent signs and wonders in the midst of you, Egypt (Ps. 135:9), - frogs, locusts, scnips and dog flies, and from the sky hail, fire and three days of darkness. I think that Hezekiah, when the sun returned ten degrees, received a sign from heaven (2 Kings 20), as well as Joshua in Gibeon and Giyalon, when the sun and moon stood still (Joshua ch. 10). Many think that Saul received a sign from the earth and from the depths of hell when, as it seemed to him, he summoned Samuel with spells and magic arts (1 Sam. 28). And the prophet Jonah gave and received a sign from hell, when he was delivered from the abyss - from the depths and from the jaws of death (Jon. 2). In someone’s interpretations, I read an allegorically strained explanation of this passage, where the interpreter by depth and height means ἀισϑητὰ and νοητὰ, which we can translate into words sensual and rational, of which one refers to feelings, the other to reason and mind; By virgin he means a soul that is not damaged by any consciousness of sin and can give birth from itself to Immanuel, God with us, that is, the inherent Word of God. But we do not eat boiled lamb meat, but baked meat (Ex. 12), which could dry up all the phlegm of lusts in us, so that we would not degrade the sacraments of our faith by philosophizing more than we should philosophize. Art. 12 And Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. Not out of humility, but out of pride, he does not want to ask the Lord for a sign. For although it is written in Deuteronomy: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God (Deut. 6:16), and although the Savior brought this testimony against the devil (Matthew 4): however, having received the command to ask, out of obedience he had to fulfill what was commanded, especially when both Gideon and Manoah asked and received a sign (Judges 6:13). Due to the ambiguity of the Hebrew speech, in which it is written ulo anasse adonai, which everyone translated in the same way: I will not tempt the Lord, one can read: I will not exalt the Lord. For the wicked king knew that if he had asked for a sign, he would have received it, and the Lord would have been glorified. Therefore, as a worshiper of idols, who set up altars at all crossroads, on mountains and in shady groves, and had priests instead of Levites, he does not want to ask for the sign commanded to him. Art. 13. And he said: Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to annoy people, that you also annoy my God? Who is it that said: Hear now, O house of David? Not God, who above said to Ahaz: ask yourself a sign from your Lord, but the prophet, as can be seen from the following words: why do you annoy my God. And the meaning is this: since you not only persecute the prophets and despise their words, but also resist the definition of the present or commanding God, so that you make it difficult for Him, Who in another place said: “I am tired of enduring”: then for this the Lord will do what follows. Instead of labor and annoyance, as Aquila and Symmachus translated, LXX and Theodotion translated struggle, that is, bickering and competition, since the obstinate do not bow their necks to serve the Lord, but while He wants to heal their wounds, they reject healing. It should also be noted that when Ahaz, the most wicked king, did not want to ask for a sign, the prophetic speech turns to the house of David, that is, to the royal family, about which we read above: “and they announced this to the house of David, saying: Syria and Ephraim have agreed” (Is. 7:2). Art. 14. Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. The virgin will conceive and give birth, and you will call His name Immanuel. According to the Apostle Paul, God will not speak in many different and varied ways (Heb. 1), and, according to another prophet, he will not use parables through the prophets (Hos. 12:10); but He who spoke before through others will say Himself: “Here am I” (below chapter 58), for which the bride prayed in the Song of Songs: let him kiss Me with the kiss of his lips (PP 1, 2). For the Lord of hosts, He who is the King of glory, He Himself will descend into the virgin’s womb, and will enter and come out through the eastern gates that are always closed (Ezek. 44), about which Gabriel says to the Virgin: The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you: in the same way, and what is to be born holy will be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35), and in Proverbs: wisdom has made for itself an house. (Prov. 9:1). When it is said: the Lord Himself will give you a sign, then it must be new and wondrous. If, however, a young maiden or a young woman gives birth, as the Jews want, and not a virgin, then how can this be called a sign, when this name is the name of age, and not the name of purity? And in fact, in order to argue with the Jews, and in a stubborn competition not to give them a reason to laugh at our ignorance, the maiden in Hebrew is called bethula; in the present place this word is not put, but instead alma is put, which except LXX was translated by a young maiden (adolescentula). But alma among the Jews is an ambiguous word, for it means both a young maiden and a hidden one, i.e. ἀπόκρηφοϛ. Therefore, in the inscription of the tenth Psalm, where alamoth is placed in Hebrew, other translators translated about youth, and LXX translated about mysteries. And in the book of Genesis we read that where Rebveka is called alma (Gen. 24), Akila translated not a young maiden or a maiden, but the hidden one. And the Shunammite wife, having lost her son, when she fell at the feet of Elisha and Gehazi forbade her, she heard from the prophet: leave her, for her soul is sick in her, and the Lord has hidden him from Me (2 Kings 4:27); instead of the words ukry from Mene in Hebrew it is written: eelim memmenni. So, the word alma denotes not only a young woman or a maiden, but with intensification - a hidden and secret virgin, who was never shown to the eyes of men, but was guarded with great care by her parents. And in the Phoenician language, which is said to be derived from the Hebrew, the virgin is properly called alma. And to give the Jews a reason to laugh, and in our language alma means holy. Jews use words from almost every language; for example, in the Song of Songs (3, 9) φορεῖον, that is, Solomon made himself a stretcher, this word is read from Greek in Hebrew. Also, the words nugae (nonsense) and mensura (measure) are expressed by Jews in the same way and with the same sounds. And as far as I remember, it seems to me that I have never read that alma was used in relation to a married woman, but only to one who is a virgin, and not only a virgin, but also a very young virgin, in her early youth. And vetula can mean a virgin, but this virgin (alma, which is spoken of here) was in her adolescence, although she is a virgin - not a girl who could not yet know a husband, but already capable of marriage. And in Deuteronomy (22, 25 et seq.) the name of a youth and a girl means a virgin. If, he says, a man finds a betrothed virgin in the field, and rapes her, kill the man who was with her: but you will do nothing to the damsel: for the virgin cannot bear mortal sin. As if someone had rebelled against his neighbor and killed his soul, this is the case: even if I find you in the village, the betrothed girl will cry out, and do not help her. And in the book of Kings we read that they found a virgin girl named Abishag and brought her to the king so that she would sleep with him and warm him, and the girl was extremely beautiful and served him, and the king did not know her. Further: and you will call His name Immanuel and LXX and the other three translated the same way, instead of which Matthew says He will be called, which is not in the Hebrew. So, the house of David, that Child who will be born of a virgin, will now be called by you Immanuel, that is, God with us. For having freed yourself from two kings hostile to you, you will be convinced by your very deed that God is with you, and the One who will later be called Jesus, that is, the Savior, because He will save the entire human race, will now be called by you by the name of Emmanuel. The word carathi, which everyone has translated will call, can be understood as a name - that, i.e., the Virgin herself, who conceives and gives birth, will call Christ by this name. It should be noted with particular care that in many of the testimonies borrowed by the evangelists or apostles from the books of the ancients, they adhered not to the literal expression, but to the meaning. Therefore, in the present place, instead of conceiving, Matthew delivered in the womb and will receive, and instead of naming, they will name. The Jews think that this is predicted about Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, that during his reign Samaria will be taken, which is absolutely impossible to prove. For Ahaz, the son of Jotham, reigned over Judah and Jerusalem sixteen years (2 Kings 16); he was succeeded as king by his son Hezekiah, twenty-five years old, and reigned over Judah and Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. How then, recognizing that this prophecy was to Ahaz in the first year of his reign, how is it said about the conception and birth of Hezekiah, when at the time when Ahaz began to reign, Hezekiah was already nine years old? Unless they say that the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign, in which Samaria was taken, signifies his childhood, but childhood not of age, but of reign. But how far-fetched and artificial this is is obvious to fools. One of our people claims that the prophet Isaiah had two sons Jasub and Emmanuel, and that Emmanuel was born from the wife of his prophetess, in the image of the Lord Savior, so that the first son Jasub, which means abandoned or converted, means the Jewish people, abandoned and subsequently having to convert; the second, i.e. Emmanuel or God with us, means the calling of the pagans after the Word became flesh and dwelt in us. Art. 15. He will eat oil and honey so that he will understand to reject the bad and choose the good. Instead, the LXX translated: before he understands, there is no further word to have will in Hebrew. The meaning is this: the house of David! You, who are commanded by the word of God to name, that is, to call upon in times of danger the name of Emmanuel, that is, God with us, do not be surprised at the news of the event, if the Virgin gives birth to God, who has such power that, having been born after a long time, now through prayer to Him he delivers you; for He is the one who appeared to Abraham and spoke to Moses. I will also say something more wondrous, so that you do not think that He will be born in a ghost: He will eat the food of children, will eat butter and milk, and although many centuries later the Evangelist testifies about Him: as a child he abounded in wisdom and stature and grace with God and men (Lk. 2:40, 52), which is said to prove the truth of the human body: however, while still wrapped in swaddling clothes and fed on oil and honey, He will distinguish between good and bad, and rejecting the bad will choose the good, He will reject or choose not because He will do this, but because He will understand to reject and choose - so from these words we learn that the infancy of the human body did not cause damage to Divine wisdom. That is why the angels announce Him, lying in a manger, to the shepherds, and the wise men who come from the east worship Him. Of course, they should be recognized as the chosen ones, but Herod, the scribes and the Pharisees, on the contrary, are rejected, for because of one Child they killed many thousands of children (Matthew 2). P. 16. For before this baby understands to reject the bad and choose the good, the land that you fear will be abandoned by both of its kings. Samaria was taken by the Assyrians in the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign, that is, in the thirty-first year from his birth. So, if this one who is going to be born either of a virgin, as we think, or of a young girl, as the Jews want, will eat milk and honey and will be so small that he will not be able to distinguish bad from good, and the land of Syria and Samaria will be devastated by the Assyrians before he comes out of childhood: then let the Jews answer how, under the name of a child, Hezekiah, who was thirty-one years old, is prophesied and how he appears so young children who eat milk and honey and, like the children of Nineveh, do not know either their left hand or their right, that is, neither good nor bad? Relating to Immanuel, what God means with us will be easy to understand - that by a mysterious sign, as a result of invoking His name, the land of Syria and Samaria will be devastated by the superior forces of the Assyrians, and the house of David will be delivered from the two kings whom they feared, i.e. Racine and Pekah. Art. 17. The Lord will bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon your father's house, such days as have not come since the days of the separation of Ephraim and Judah, with the king of Assyria. This passage should be read with the words rearranged. We, following the Hebrew text, interpreted it as follows: the house of David! Heed my words that the land of Syria and Samaria will be abandoned by both kings, whom you fear very much: the Lord will bring on you and on the house of your father David days such as you have never had since the time when ten tribes separated from two and began to have a kingdom in Samaria - he will bring those days, that is, the times with the king of Assyria, so that he will defeat and crush them, and you, according to the power of being with you Emmanuel, get rid of them. This passage LXX was translated as follows: The Lord will bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon your father’s house, days such as have not yet come since the day Ephraim took the king of Babylon from Judah. We cannot understand what meaning this makes, except perhaps it can be said that Ephraim, i.e. Samaria, through the multitude of its sins, first of all attracted the onslaught of the Assyrians. Otherwise: the two kings, Racine and Phakai, who are now besieging you and seeking to devastate you, will soon be crushed, and the time for your devastation will come when, what you never expected and never feared, the king of Assyria comes. This teaches us that the house of David should fear not Syria and Samaria, but the Assyrians. This means it frees you from present troubles, but threatens future ones. Art. 18–19. And it will come to pass on that day that the Lord will whisper to the fly that is on the edge of the rivers of Egypt, and to the bee that is in the land of Assyria: and they will all come and sit on the streams of the valleys and in the clefts of the rocks, and in all the bushes and in all the wells. When the country of the two kings, Damascus and Samaria, which you now fear and fear, is desolate, then the Lord will bring upon you, the house of Judah, and upon your people days such as you have never seen before, and the king of Assyria. So you fear the present in vain, you tremble at those who are half-burnt and have no fire at all; for know that the Lord will call with his whistle the flies of Egypt and its rivers, which undoubtedly signifies the seven canals of the Nile, and the bee that is in the land of Assyria. He calls the Egyptians flies because of the impurity of idolatry and the lack of warlikeness of the people, and he calls the Assyrians a bee, because at that time their kingdom was the most powerful and most war-loving, or because almost the entire Assyrian and Persian country used arrows. So they will all come and occupy your land in the streams of the valleys and in the clefts of the rocks and in all the bushes and wells and on the trees of the forest. This is said metaphorically, so that the once used comparison of the Egyptians and Assyrians with flies and bees can be maintained in other respects. Let us read the books of Kings and Chronicles, and we will find that the holy king Josiah was killed by the Egyptians, and the people of Israel were subject to the authority of the king of Egypt (2 Kings 23; 2 Chronicles 35), so that he appointed them a king. And after a little time, Nebuchadnezzar came with countless warriors, and taking Jerusalem and destroying other cities of Judea, burned the church and settled the inhabitants of Assyria in Judea (2 Kings 24) Art. 20. On that day the Lord will shave, with a razor hired by those on the other side of the river, the king of Assyria, his head and the hair of his legs and his entire beard. Some think that this is prophesied about the Assyrians, who for one thousand three hundred years before they conquered Jerusalem, owned the kingdom of Asia, Egypt and Libya, that they would be defeated by the Medes and Persians, and their kingdom would be destroyed. Others think that the Egyptians will be defeated beyond the Euphrates River. And we recognize the king of Assyria himself as a rented razor, whom, as an avenger of a sinful people, God calls in Jeremiah even his dove (Jer. 23) And in the vision of Tire (Ezek. 28, 29), since Nebuchadnezzar put a lot of effort into building fortifications and constructing embankments, and meanwhile, when the inhabitants fled on ships, he was deprived reward, Egypt was given to him for his expenses and labors. So with this sharpest razor, these living beyond the Euphrates River, i.e. king of Assyria, the Lord will shave from Judea all the hair of the entire body from head to toe, and a beautiful beard, which serves as a sign of masculinity, so that there will be nothing strong, nothing beautiful left in it, and men will be effeminate, or better yet, will be like dishonest women. Art. 21–25. And it shall come to pass on that day that a man shall feed a cow and two sheep, and because of the abundance of milk he shall eat butter; For everyone who is left in the land will eat oil and honey. And on that day there will be thorns and thorns in every place where there grew a thousand vines for a thousand pieces of silver. They will go there with arrows and bows; for thorns and thorns will be throughout the whole land. And he will not come to any of the mountains that were cleared by the furrower, fearing the thorns and thorny bushes; and it shall be for the oxen to pasture, and for the cattle to be trampled. After the destruction of Jerusalem, the taking of the people into captivity and the burning of the church, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the army, whom LXX is called the archmagir, left in the country a few of the people, and, moreover, the poor, to cultivate the vineyards and fields. And Gedaliah, left in charge over them from the royal family, convinces them and says: do not be afraid of the coming of the Chaldeans: sit on the lands and work for the king of Babylon, and good will come to you (2 Kings 23:24). So, on that day, i.e. at the time when all the wealth of the Jews will be transferred to Chaldea, there will be such desolation in the land of Judea and there will be such incredible poverty that they will not have herds of oxen and herds of sheep, as they usually had before, but a rare inhabitant will be able to feed one cow and two sheep - not for arable land, but for food and the use of milk and wool, and due to the lack of bread for food and all products of the earth, they will eat milk, butter and wild honey. The words: because of the abundance of milk, there will be butter, means that the land, because of the small number of farmers, will be more fertile and will be more convenient for pastures. At that time, due to the small number of people, with the desolation of the vineyards, which, for fear of enemies, will not be cared for at all, there will be such a shortage of wine that one vine can barely be bought for a silver shekel. For the whole earth will turn into thorns and thorny bushes and there will be such horror with devastation everywhere that without a bow and arrows no one will dare to go out into their field and everyone, leaving the plains, will flee into the mountains, and there, protected by the inaccessibility of the terrain, they will dig solid mountains only with their hands, since they will have neither oxen, nor plows, nor plows. Therefore, since few will cultivate the land in the mountains, the inhabitants will lead a miserable life. Other areas will be left for pastures, and unprotected by anyone, they will be trampled by unreasonable animals. Oh, if we did not know that this usually happens after a conquest! But now much of the Roman world is like ancient Judea; and we do not think that this would happen without the wrath of God; for forgetfulness of Himself, He takes revenge not through the Assyrians and Chaldeans, but through wild and once unknown to us peoples, whose face and speech are terrible and who, preferring women’s and shaved faces in men, deftly strike the backs of bearded men running in front of them 17 . I remember that I read a very lengthy and complicated allegorical interpretation regarding these passages - that everything that we explained historically was fulfilled spiritually in the Jews, who have barely one cow and two sheep, that is, clean animals, so that they do not eat solid food, but the milk of childhood and eat the honey of words that drips from the lips of a harlot's wife, and do not have wine, which gladdens the heart of man, and all their deeds turn into thorny bushes, so that they they are wounded by opponents who strike in secret the upright in heart (Ps. 10); that those who work excessively on the Holy Scriptures, even if they ever want to philosophize about something very sublimely and find something mysterious in the Scriptures, nevertheless they do not bear the fruits of the teaching, but are filled with thorns and thorny bushes, which will be born in the hands of the drunken: and on their land and teaching it will not be people - rational creatures, but oxen, about which God does not care, and unreasonable animals. Chapter VIII. Art. 1–4. And the Lord said to me: take yourself a large scroll, and write in it in human style: “quickly carry away the spoils, quickly plunder it.” And I invited faithful witnesses to me: Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Barachiah, and I approached the prophetess and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said to me: call the name: “Hasten, carry away the spoils, hasten to plunder.” For before the child can name his father and his mother, the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be taken away from the king of Assyria. Instead of the large LXX scroll, they translated a new and great scroll, and instead of the one standing in Hebrew, I invited faithful witnesses to come to me: for it (captivity) has come, and make faithful people my witnesses, and instead of Uriah the priest they installed only Uriah, the rest is similar. First, the prophet was sent to Ahaz (Isa. 7) to predict to him what was given in Scripture; and when he did not want to listen, the Lord himself speaks to Ahaz and commands him to ask himself for a sign in depth or in height. When he answered: I will not ask and I will not tempt the Lord, then, leaving the wicked king, the words of God turn to the house of David, and a promise is given about the Virgin who will give birth to a Son, whose name is Immanuel, that is, God is with us. If they call on Him often, then Samaria and Syria will be crushed, and crushed by the king of Assyria, who will subsequently conquer Judah himself, so that the whole land of Judea will turn into a desert. So, again, under a different image, the birth of a virgin is depicted. And the Lord said to the prophet, not to the people; He proclaimed the mystery of the new birth, and wrote about it in that large scroll that we are now reading about, and what is more surprising than this, he commands the mysteries of God to be embraced in human words and in the style in which people usually write. What is it that is written in human style? That the born Youth will soon carry away the spoils and will soon plunder, that is, no longer enduring the kingdom of the devil, he will not send angels, not prophets, but He Himself will come down to save his creatures. So the prophet fulfills the commandment and invites two faithful witnesses to himself: Uriah the priest, who is the teacher of the law, as Malachi says: the mouth of the priest will keep understanding, and the law will be required from his mouth: for the angel of the Lord Almighty is (Mal. 2:7), and Zechariah the son of Barachi, who undoubtedly was a prophet. We read that during the reign of Ahaz there was in the church of the Lord the priest Uriah (2 Kings 16), whom Ahaz ordered to make an altar similar to the altar in Damascus; and the Book of Days tells (2 Chronicles 29) that Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, sought the Lord in the days of Zechariah, taught in the fear of God. Isaiah showed himself worthy of the prophetic spirit and presented himself to the prophetess, that is, to the Holy Spirit, which in Hebrew is called in the feminine gender rua, according to it written: come to the Lord and be enlightened (Ps. 33:6). So the Lord was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And although the word of man cannot explain the mysteries of His birth, yet Gabriel says to the Virgin herself who conceived: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you: by the same thing, and what is to be holy will be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). Some by prophetess mean Holy Mary, who undoubtedly was a prophetess, for she herself says in the Gospel: behold, from now on all generations will bless me: for the Mighty One has done great things for me, etc. (Luke 1:48, 49). Isaiah is commanded that that child, who was formerly called Immanuel, he now calls hasten, carry away spoils, hasten to plunder. For, having ascended on high, He took captivity captive and took gifts for people (Ps. 67; Eph. 4:8). And before He takes on a human body and, in childhood, calls God Father and Mary matter, the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be taken away by the king of Assyria, so that not yet being born He will save His people, the house of David, by one appeal to Him. Uriah means the light of the Lord, Zechariah means the memory of the Lord, and Barachiah means the blessing of the Lord. These witnesses confirm the birth of Christ; for He Himself, according to the Gospel, revealed to the two disciples going to Emmaus, beginning with Moses and the prophets, that everything was prophesied about Him. In an allegorical sense, in a virgin soul and not stained by any taint of sin, the word of God, conceived from the Holy Spirit, soon takes away spoils from the opposing forces and makes everything serve itself, and since now (the person blessed) partially sees and partially prophesies, then before he becomes perfect and deservedly calls God Father and heavenly Jerusalem his mother, while still in childhood and in perfection, he will overcome the power Damascus, that is, the teaching of secular wisdom and will take away the spoils of Samaria, which the heretics stole from the Church, saying: What is our portion in David; and we shall not have an inheritance in the son of Jesse (1 Kings 12:16), take it away in the presence of the king of Assyria himself - the devil, who will not be able to help them. And not only does Mary the Ever-Virgin prophetess give birth to such sons, but also holy wives give birth to patriarchs, like Sarah, which means ἄρχονσα, that is, ruler, and Rebecca, which in our language means patience. Art. 5–8. And the Lord continued to speak to me, saying: Because this people neglected the waters of Siloam, which flow quietly, and desired Racine and the son of Romelia more, for this the Lord will bring upon them strong and many rivers of water, the king of Assyria and all his glory; and it will rise above all its springs and flow above all its banks. And the flood will pass through Judea, and the crossing will even reach the neck, and the outstretching of its wings will fill the breadth of Your land, Immanuel. I said above that the strength of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be taken away from the face of the king of Assyria and that two kings will be taken captive during the invasion of the Assyrians; Now God speaks to the prophet in the usual way of the Scriptures: he compares the Jerusalem stream of Siloam with the enormous Assyrian river and says that it will flood the entire land of Israel with its waves, overflow the banks of the riverbed and rush with such force that, having occupied the land of the ten tribes, it will reach Judea and in its movement will reach the neck. This means imminent captivity; for although Judea was not conquered then, all the cities of the two tribes were conquered and only Jerusalem remained, delivered by the incredible mercy of God. Further, the strength of the king of Assyria and his countless army, depicted under the image of the flood of the river, now shows through another comparison that with its wings, that is, leaders and an infinite multitude, it will cover the land of Immanuel, that is, the God who protects it, but will not, however, take possession of it (although the word Emmanuel in LXX refers to the next verse and is not put by its own name, as in the Hebrews, but in translation, i.e. with God by us). And that the stream of Siloam is located at the foot of Mount Zion and that it is not constantly filled with water, but boils at certain hours and days and passes with great noise through the uneven soil and hollows of the hardest mountain - we cannot doubt this, especially we who live in this region. The meaning is this: since the people of the ten tribes were more willing to submit to Racine and the son of Romelia, i.e. to the kings of Damascus and Samaria, than to the family of David, who received the kingdom according to My determination: then I will force him to be in slavery not to these kings whom he received, but to the king of Assyria, whose power in occupying the land of Samaria is compared to the flooding of the river. And an appeal is made to Emmanuel, that is, to the inherent God, that the king of Assyria rose to such an extent that he tried to take possession of His land, Judea. In a mysterious sense, every heretic who calls upon secular wisdom to his aid and wants to take possession of Jerusalem, that is, the Church, leaving the waters of the stream of Siloam (John 9), which means sent and which flows into eternal life, will be betrayed to the leader of the Assyrian (we will read this great meaning later) and those devoted to his power will reach the depths of sins. For he is so arrogant that he dared to show the Savior all the kingdoms of the earth and say: “They are all given to me” (Luke 4). He will try to penetrate into Judas, i.e. into the house of confession and often through the careless in the church it will reach the neck, trying to strangle those who believe in Christ, and will spread its wings, filling the entire region of Emmanuel, but will not be able to take possession of it, since Judas has an inherent God. In the Gospel of John (chapter 9) we read that the Lord sent a man blind from birth, whose eyes He anointed with mud from His spit, to the waters of Siloam, with which, having washed the mud, the blind man was delivered from blindness and received clear vision for his eyes: this, after the greatness of the miracle, shows that the blindness of the Jews and every unbeliever can be healed only if the darkness the former error will be driven away by the teaching of the waters of Christ, flowing quietly without the sound or noise of words. Read from LXX: and he will go around every wall of yours and take away from Judea a person who could raise his head or do anything in the Hebrew, and in the Greek codes it is pierced with a crushing goad ÷ 18. Art. 9–10. Gather together, peoples, but you are defeated; take heed, all distant countries: arm yourself, but you are defeated; gird yourself, but you are overcome; draw up a council, but it will go bankrupt; speak the word, but it will not come to pass, for God is with us. Instead of gather or weaken, as others translated, LXX put understand, for the Hebrew word rou, due to the similarity of the letters resh and dalet, was read do u. So, people of Samaria and Syria, understand that you are powerless and weak, and you can do nothing against Jerusalem, the city of God, when Immanuel is with it, and not only you, those neighboring him, but also every distant land, let him understand this; for although you gather an army and gird yourself for battle, and the number of the besiegers will be greater than the besieged, yet not once, but again I will tell you: you will be defeated. And whatever council you plan against Jerusalem, it will be ruined. And although you said above: let us go against Judah and disturb his peace and make the son of Tabeel king over him, but although you say this word, it will not come true, for God is with us, that is, Immanuel. We can use this testimony against the pagans during persecution, that although they seem strong and defeat us in the person of the fallen, they are nevertheless defeated in the person of those who shed blood for Christ, and that after the persecution, peace is restored in the churches and all the councils of the pagans against Emmanuel are destroyed, for God is with us. And those who oppose the truth will learn for their benefit that in the end they will be defeated by rational reasons, so that they do not try to overcome with lies, since no matter what they say, the wrong will not be able to overcome the right. Art. 11–15. And so the Lord spoke to me, and how with a strong hand He admonished me, so that I would not walk in the way of this people, saying: Do not say: “This is a conspiracy”; for everything that this people says is a conspiracy, and do not fear or be dismayed by its fear. Sanctify the Lord of hosts; He is your fear and He is your trembling, and He will be your sanctification, and He will be a stone of stumbling and a stone of offense for the two houses of Israel, and a snare and a fall for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and very many of them will stumble and fall, and will be broken and entangled in a snare and will be caught.” LXX this passage was translated as follows: Thus says the Lord: With a strong hand they have departed from the way of the paths of this people, saying: Let them not say: “This is hard,” for everything that this people says is hard: but do not be afraid of their fear and do not be embarrassed. Sanctify the Lord of hosts, and He will be your fear, and if you trust in Him, He will be your sanctification, and you will not stumble as over a stumbling block or as over a falling stone. And the house of Jacob will be in a net and in a valley for those who sit in Jerusalem; Therefore, very many will weaken in them and fall, and will be crushed, and will draw near, and will be caught. The following: people in the fortress - should be marked with a white. Since the Hebrew text and the Vulgate differ in many ways, that is why I have given both readings. First we should talk about Jewish things. This is what the Lord told me. The One who, for the sake of good deeds and the grace that I received for the sake of good deeds, or the One who admonished and instructed me with His strong hand, so that I would not walk in the way of this people and follow the same error, or the One Who made me retreat from the worst path of this people, He said to me: do not be afraid of the conspiracy of two kings, but rather keep in mind that everything that this people says against Me is conspiracy, and, according to Symmachus (who translated ἄνταpσιν), that he rose up against me as a rebel. But you, prophet, and those who are with you, do not be afraid of the insidious plans of the people, but fear the Lord, and let Him be your fear. For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 1:7; Ps. 110:9). It will be sanctification for believers, and for unbelievers, i.e. for the two houses of Judah and Israel a stone of stumbling and a stone of offense; in particular, He will be a snare and a fall for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and very many will stumble over Him, and will fall and be broken, and, entangled in the bonds of their sins, will be taken into captivity. By the two houses of the Nazarenes (who so accept Christ that they do not abandon the fulfillment of the Old Testament law), we mean the two surnames Shammai and Hillel, from whom descended the scribes and Pharisees, whose school was accepted by Akiba, who is considered the teacher of the proselyte Aquila, and after him Meir, whose successor was Johnan, the son of Zechaiah, and after him Eliezer, and after that Telphon, and then Joseph of Galilee, and before captivity of Jerusalem to Jozueh. So, Shammai and Hillel appeared in Judea not long before the birth of the Lord, of whom the first means wasteful, and the second unclean, since with their traditions and their δευτερώσειϛ they wasted and desecrated the commandments of the Law. They are the two houses that did not accept the Savior, Who became a fall and a temptation for them. According to LXX: with a strong hand the people resisted the will of God and said that everything commanded by the Lord is hard, according to what is read in the Gospel: this word is hard: who can listen to it (John 6:10). Therefore, they are commanded to listen to the Lord and fear Him alone. For if they trust in Him, He will be their sanctification, and they will not stumble over a stone of offense or as a stone of fall. From this place the apostle borrows evidence that Christ was a temptation for the Jews, and madness for the pagans (1 Cor. Ch. 1:23), and also: Israel, persecuting the law of righteousness, did not comprehend the law of righteousness: for the sake of it; not from faith, but from the works of the law: for he stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written: Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a stone of offense: and whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame (Rom. 9:31, 33). So, those who did not accept Emmanuel, but for whom He became a stone of stumbling and a stone of temptation, will be crushed and taken into captivity. The words: “And the house of Jacob in a net and a valley will be for those sitting in Jerusalem” mean that they will not live in the mountains and dwell on the heights of the Scriptures, but will always practice base wisdom, adding sins to sins and being wrapped in networks of vices. Art. 16–17. Bind testimonies, seal the law on My disciples, and I will wait for the Lord, who hid His face from the house of Jacob, and I will wait for Him. These are the words of the Lord speaking to the prophet; since, he says, for the two houses of Israel the Lord became a stone of stumbling and a stone of offense, and they did not want to accept Emmanuel who was sent to them: then tie up the testimonies of the Old Testament and pass them on to My disciples who accepted the Gospel, that is, the apostles or apostolic men. Or: the law and prophecies before John are tied up (Matthew 11), concluded and sealed, so that they do not understand what they read (for instead of the word disciples, by the reciprocity of the Hebrew expression, we can translate the teachings). Therefore, the prophet answered: since with the coming of the Gospel the law of the Jews was concluded and sealed, and You command it to be revealed not to the Jews, but to the Gentiles: therefore, I will wait for Immanuel, about whose coming You give a promise, about Whom You said above that He should be our fear, our trembling, and be our sanctification; and I will wait for the Lord, who hid His face from the house of Jacob, i.e. from the Jews, because they did not want to accept Him. LXX this passage was translated as follows: then those who are imprinted so as not to learn the law will be discovered. This has the following meaning: when very many have fallen, been crushed, and stumbled over the stone of stumbling and the stone of temptation, then they will be found sealed among the people, so that they will not learn the law of Moses, but obey the commandments of the Gospel. Art. 18. Here am I and my children, whom the Lord has given me for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts who dwells in Mount Zion. The Lord commanded me, says, that I should establish a testimony among the Jews, convey the law to His disciples and seal it, since He hid His face from the house of Jacob: therefore I will wait and wait for my Lord, and not only I, but also the children whom the Lord has given me, that is, other prophets and sons of the prophets, not from the lust of flesh and blood, but born of God (John 1:13), about whom the Apostle says: My children are still sick with them until Christ is imagined in you (Gal. 4:19). These children, that is, the prophets, were given as signs and wonders for Israel, according to what is read in Ezekiel: and Ezekiel will be a miracle for you (Ezekiel 24:24), and in Zechariah the holy men and disciples of the prophets are called τερατοσκόποι, i.e. spectators of wonders and signs, since the prophets always appeared as a sign of the future (Zech. 3:8). This is a literal interpretation. The blessed apostle in the epistle that is written to the Hebrews (although Latin custom does not accept it among the canonical writings) teaches that this testimony must be understood from the person of the Lord Savior: for the sake of guilt, he is not ashamed to call them on the brethren, saying: I will proclaim Your name to My brethren, in the midst of the church I will sing praises to You. And again: I will hope nan: and again: behold, I and the children that God has given me to eat. From now on children have partaken of flesh and blood, and sincerely have they partaken of the same sufferings (Heb 2:11-14). And how these children were a sign and a wonder for the wisdom and pride of the Jews, the same apostle teaches, saying that the Lord Savior chose the foolish and weak things of the world to shame the wise and mighty (1 Cor. 1). Therefore, the Savior said to the apostles: unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:5). The preacher of the new Gospel becomes a child who puts off the old man, which is decaying in the lusts of deceitful desires, and puts on the new man, who is renewed in the mind in the image of the Creator. And that the Lord of hosts lives on Mount Zion, the same apostle writes about this: approach Mount Zion and the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22). Therefore, I am surprised that one of our people by these children means the two sons of Isaiah, born from the conception of the prophetess’s wife, i.e. Jasub and Immanuel, of whom the first foreshadowed the rejection of the ancient people, and the second the acceptance of the pagans. Anyone who accepts this opinion will consistently have to admit that the prophet Hosea actually had a harlot wife. Art. 19–22. And when they say to you: ask the callers of the dead and the foretellers who whisper in their sorceries, then answer them: do the people really not ask their God, but ask the dead about the living? More to the law and to the testimony. If they do not speak according to this word, they will not have the morning light. He will pass by it (i.e. the earth); she will fall and be hungry, and when she is hungry, she will be angry and will blaspheme her king and her God. And he will look up and look at the earth, and behold disaster and darkness, relaxation, sorrow and darkness that haunts; and will not be able to escape from his tightness. If, as the Jews think, the words: here I am and my children, whom the Lord gave me as a sign and wonder in Israel, are the words of the prophet Isaiah, then we must think that he speaks further words to his disciples. When, he says, the languages ​​and nations, about which it was read above: gather nations, but you are defeated, will say to you: why do you want to listen to the prophets, why are you seduced by the words of Isaiah and think that he knows the future? Ask better from the callers of the dead and from the prophets who whisper in their magic, (instead of which the LXX translated: from the earth speaking, from the belly of those who proclaim, for whoever is from the earth, he speaks from the earth (John 3:31) and the one whose belly is God and glory in his shame (Phil. 3:16) must be considered to be proclaiming from the belly), - then you say to them in response: Do the people really not ask their God, but ask the dead about the living? If, he says, because of the variety of your idols (for you have not one, but many gods) you turn to those whom you consider to be gods, and ask about the living from the dead or from the images of dead people: then how much more should we listen to our God, who speaks through the prophets? Thus, he instructs the disciples and adds: more to the law and to the testimony. If you doubt anything, he says, then know what is written: these pagans, whom you have inherited, will listen to these enchantments and sorceries: but the Lord your God has not given this to you. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; listen to him (Deut. 18:14, 15). Therefore, if you want to know something doubtful, then primarily turn to the law and the testimony of the Scriptures. If your congregation does not want to turn to the Word of God, then it will not have the light of truth, but will revolve in error and darkness. The light will pass by your congregation or the earth, and you will fall and be hungry, and when you are hungry, you will be angry, according to what is written: if they are not satisfied, they will grumble (Ps. 58:16); and you will blaspheme God your king, and in times of trouble you will look up to heaven and down to earth: and behold distress and darkness, weakness in the knees, heaviness in the mind and darkness in the eyes, and you will not be able to escape from this disaster. This applies to Jewish. But, as we said above, if on behalf of Christ it is said: here am I and my children whom God has given me, then He also says this to the apostles and the pagan believers who accepted His Gospel. If your fathers whom you have left say, he says, ask the ventriloquists (we mean them by soothsayers, and the servant girl about whom we read in the Acts of the Apostles (chap. 16) and which was a source of income for their masters), - ventriloquists who speak from the earth, since when summoning souls they promise to make themselves magicians, and ask wizards of other kinds: then know that every nation turns to its gods and asks the dead about the welfare of the living, and God has given you a law to help you, so you can say: among the pagans, divination, which often deceives their admirers, is not the same as ours, which is offered by the law without any payment. Therefore, the LXX was translated: not like this word, but not for years to give gifts. For tuna, he says, eat, give tuna (Matthew 10:8). The most severe famine will come to the unbelievers, a hunger not of bread or thirst for water, but a hunger of hearing the word of God. And when you become hungry, you will be angry and will blaspheme your prince and the traditions of your fathers, that is, the devil and ancient errors. He says this to those who will suffer the hunger of truth; they will look up to heaven and down to earth, and will be in distress, in darkness and sorrow, so that they will not see until they themselves turn to the Lord. These passages require extensive interpretation. But we are shy about writing big books so as not to tire our readers. We have only partially touched on these passages in the LXX translation, which differs significantly from the Hebrew. The Nazarenes explain this passage this way: when the scribes and Pharisees tell you to listen to them, who do everything for the sake of gluttony and, like wizards, whisper their incantations: then you must answer them like this: it is not surprising if you follow your traditions when every nation turns to its own idols; therefore, we should not ask you the dead about the living: God has given us the law and the testimony of the Scriptures, which if you do not want to follow, you will not have light, but the darkness that will pass through your land and teaching will constantly oppress you, so that when those deceived by you see that they are in error and suffer a hunger for truth, they will be annoyed or angry and will curse you, whom they considered as their gods and kings, and in vain They will look at heaven and earth when they are constantly in darkness and cannot free themselves from your wiles. Ch. IX. Art. 1–2. At first the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali were lightened, but lately the seaside route, the pagan country of Transjordanian Galilee, has been aggravated. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; to those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has shone upon them. LXX: Drink this first, do it quickly, country of Zebulun, land of Naphtali and others who are by the sea beyond the Jordan, Gentile Galilee. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, and for you who live in the land and shadow of death, a light will shine for you. We presented both editions, since the evidence is common and given by the Evangelist Matthew, we presented it so that both the differences and similarities in the translation can be seen. And first of all, it should be noted that the Evangelist Matthew cited this testimony not from the LXX, but from the Hebrew text. For the word of the Gospel says: When Jesus heard that John was betrayed, he departed into Galilee. And he left Nazareth, and came to live in Capernaum in the seaside, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: The land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, the half of Jordan, the tongue of Galilee, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, and to those who sit in the land and the shadow of death, a light has risen. im. From there Jesus began to preach and say: repent, the kingdom of heaven is drawing near (Matthew 4:13 et seq.). And the Evangelist John narrates that Jesus, having been invited with his disciples to a marriage in Cana of Galilee, performed the first miracle there, turning water into wine: Behold, Jesus did the firstfruits as a sign in Cana of Galilee and showed His glory: and His disciples believed in Him (John 2:11). Therefore, LXX says: drink this first, do it quickly, land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali: the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali was the first to see the miracles of Christ, so that the first to taste the drink of faith was the land that was the first to see the Lord doing signs. In relation to the Jewish text, it is stated that, first of all, this land was lightened from the severity of sins, since in the regions of these two tribes the Savior first of all preached the Gospel. Therefore, Psalm 67 says: Bless the Lord from the fountains of Israel. There the youngest Benjamin was in a frenzy, the princes of Judah are their rulers, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali (Ps. 67:27, 28); for in these tribes were the villages from which our leaders, the apostles, believed. Benjamin, the youngest in madness, is the Apostle Paul, who in another place said: if we are maddened, God (2 Cor. 5:13). And they believed, according to Symmachus, quickly, so that when they heard the words: He is coming after me, and I will make you a fisher of man (Matthew 4:19), they immediately left both their father and the boat. Lately, their faith has been burdened, given the persistence of errors among many of the Jews. The sea here is called Lake Gennesaret, which is formed from the confluence of the Jordan into it, and on the shores of which lie Capernaui, Tiberias, Bethsaida and Chorazin. In this area the Lord dwelt most, so that the people who sat or walked in darkness saw the light - and not small, like the light of other prophets, but great, like the light of Him who says in the Gospel: I am the light of the world (John 8:12). And to those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, the light shone upon them. The difference between death and the shadow of death, I think, is that death is the lot of those who went to hell with mortal deeds, for the soul that sins will die (Ezek. 18:20); and the shadow of death is the lot of those who, living in sins, have not yet departed from this life, for they can, if they want, repent. Instead of Galileo, pagan Aquila set ϑῖναϛ pagans, Symmachus - pagan borders; By the word ϑῖναϛ we mean sand deposits on river or sea banks. Jews who believe in Christ explain this passage as follows: first, these two tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali were conquered by the Assyrians and taken to the enemy’s land, and Galilee was devastated (2 Kings. 15), about which the prophet now says that she is relieved, since she suffered for the sins of the people; subsequently, not only two tribes were taken into captivity, but also others who lived beyond the Jordan and in Samaria (2 Kings 17 and 18). Now, they say, Scripture expresses that the country whose people were first taken into captivity and began to serve the Babylonians and which was previously in the darkness of error, this country saw the first light of the preaching of Christ and from it the Gospel was scattered throughout all nations. The Nazarenes, whose opinion I presented above, try to explain this passage as follows: when Christ came and His preaching shone forth, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali were the first to free themselves from the errors of the scribes and Pharisees and cast off from their neck the very heavy yoke of the traditions of the Jews; subsequently, with the Gospel of the Apostle Paul, who was the last of the apostles, the preaching was aggravated, i.e. multiplied, and the Gospel of Christ shone upon the borders of the Gentiles and the whole way of the sea, and thus the whole world, which formerly walked or sat in darkness and was bound by the bonds of idolatry and death, saw the clear light of the Gospel. Art. 2–4. You multiplied the people, but did not increase the joy; they will rejoice before You, as they rejoice during the harvest, as the victors rejoice after taking spoils, when they divide what they captured. For Thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the rod of his shoulder, and the reed of his tormentor, as in the day of Midian. For all spoil taken with violence and noise, and clothing stained with blood, will be given to be burned and to be eaten in the fire. LXX: You brought out most of the people in joy; and they will rejoice before You, as they usually rejoice during the harvest, and as those who divide the spoils rejoice. For the yoke that was on them was taken away, and the rod from their neck. For the rod of the torturers will be broken as in the day of Midian. For they will give away all the clothes they have gathered by cunning, and all the clothes they have exchanged, and will wish to be burned with fire. In obscure places we present both editions so that the careful reader will know how much the Vulgate differs from other editions and from the Hebrew text. An appeal is made to the light itself, which appeared to the people living in darkness, i.e. to the Lord Savior, and it is said to Him: You have multiplied the people, filled all nations with the knowledge of You; but did not increase his joy - in accordance with the word of the apostle, who said that for him there was unceasing sorrow for his brothers the Israelites (Rom. 9). And Jonah grieves that the Ninevites were saved, while the gourd, or cicelon, withered. And the Lord Himself says in the Gospel: I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24), and during suffering: My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me (Matthew 26:39). This place has the following meaning: if it is possible for many pagans to believe without the destruction of the Jews, then I renounce suffering; if they must be blinded so that all nations can see, then, Father, Thy will be done. So, when Christ comes and the Christian race is gathered from all nations, then the apostles will rejoice like the reapers during the harvest, about which the Lord said: the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few (Matthew 9:37), and how the victors rejoice when they share the spoils taken; for when a strong man is taken and bound, his whole house is plundered and his spoils divided (Matthew 5:12, 29). You, Lord the Savior, the yoke of his weight, that is, the devil, who formerly triumphed in the world, who reigned over all nations, who oppressed everyone with the most severe yoke of slavery and who encouraged sins to bring, as it were, some kind of tribute to themselves - You, Lord the Savior, took from their shoulders this yoke and the rod with which he beat everyone, and having delivered them, forced them to serve Himself - having delivered them without any army and without shedding blood, with an unexpected blow, just as you once gave the people of Israel victory over the Midianites under Gideon (Judges 7). For just as clothing stained with human blood cannot be washed, but soaked in blood is burned with fire, so that the stains are destroyed with the bloody clothing: so the violent prey of the devil, his agitations and passions, with which he subjugated the human race, are destined for fiery hell. LXX denote that not all, but some of the people believed, although instead of what they set: You brought out most of the people in joy, You increased the others; and while in the rest of the LXX they retain the same meaning, they add that the devil will give back clothes collected by deceit and clothes exchanged, i.e., that the devil will give back our souls, deprived of God’s help, with their previous decorations, not only he himself, but also his servants the demons, who, if given the right to choose, would prefer to perish in the flames than to lose the spoils. Art. 6. For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government was upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God, Mighty, Father of the age to come, Prince of Peace. His government will increase, and His peace will have no end on the throne of David and in his kingdom, to strengthen it and establish it in judgment and righteousness from now and forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. LXX: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, whose government was upon his shoulder: and the name of his great council is called angel. For I will bring peace to the rulers and good health: His government is great, and there is no end of peace on the throne of David and on His kingdom, to correct Him and to help him in judgment and righteousness from now and forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. So, the devil and all his violent prey, with which he oppressed the human race and added blood to blood, will be burned and fed to eternal fire; For a Child was born to us from the Virgin, about whom it was said above: before the child understands, reject what is bad and choose what is good (Isa. 7:16), and then at the birth of the prophetess: before the child can name his father and his mother (Is. 8:4). So, the same Child who was born from the Virgin and is called Immanuel, that is, God is with us, and who was born from the prophetess, that is, from the Holy Spirit, and was named haste, carry away spoils, hasten to plunder, is now called by many names. And although by the above, precisely by the word Emmanuel, that is, God with us, showed that He is God; however, now he says that His dominion was on His shoulder, - that either He Himself would bear His cross, or under the shoulder indicating the strength of the muscle, according to the same word of Isaiah: and the Lord will open His holy arm before all tongues (Isa. 52:10), and again: Lord, who has faith in our hearing, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed (Is. 53:1)? So, after these two names, He will be called by six other names: Wonderful, Counselor, God, Mighty, Father of the Age to Come, Prince of Peace. These names should not be put together in twos to read: the wonderful Counselor, the mighty but Wonderful God, which is in Hebrew phele, should be read separately, and the Counselor, in Hebrew ides, separately, God, in Hebrew El, separately. And in further places where we read: “for You are God, but we did not know” and also “I am God and there is no other beside Me” (Is. 45:5) and in many similar places, instead of what is called Deus in Latin, in Hebrew it is El. The further word Strong in Hebrew is gibbor; therefore, in the place where the same prophet says: “Israel will hope in the Holy God in truth, and the remnant of Jacob in the mighty God,” instead of “the mighty God” in Hebrew it is put El gibbor. That He is the father of the future age and the resurrection is fulfilled in our calling; and that he who said to the apostles: “My peace I leave with you” (John 14:2), is the prince of peace, he who reads according to the Apostle Paul that the Savior is our peace will not doubt this. I believe that the LXX, frightened by this greatness of the names, did not dare to say about the baby that He would be directly called God, but instead of these six names, they put - which is not in the Hebrew - the great council of the angel, and I will bring peace to the princes and His health. This, it seems to me, has the following meaning: the angel of great counsel is the One who told us that Israel would be rejected for a time and the Gentiles would be saved, and who gave peace to His princes, the apostles and apostolic men, and left the believers the health of His teaching. And what follows further: His power will increase and His world will have no end, instead of which LXX translated His great dominion, then we should know that the Hebrew word mesra LXX both here and above was translated by the word ἀpχὴ, i.e. dominion, instead of which we put above: principatum, and here imperium (power). Aquila, misled by the ambiguity of the word, translated μέτpον, that is, mensura (measure), which in Hebrew and Latin is denoted by the same name. The many powers of the Savior and His peace, which will have no end, will not be doubted by anyone who reads in the Psalms: ask of Me, and I will give you the tongues of your inheritance and your possession the ends of the earth (Ps. 2:8) and also: in his days righteousness and abundance of peace will shine until the moon is taken away (Ps. 72:7), i.e., until the end of the age. His dominion and power will be over the throne and kingdom of David, destroyed after the captivity of Babylon, in order to establish it and strengthen it, and to teach that this dominion is eternal - so that the promise of God will not seem in vain - from the time of the incarnation until the age of eternity. Jealousy, that is, the Lord's competition, did this because they themselves provoked Him to jealousy by those who were not gods, and therefore He also provoked them to jealousy by a people who were not a people (Deut. 32:21). The prophecy about Immanuel and the child born of the Virgin, which began from the place where it is said to Ahaz: ask yourself a sign from the Lord your God, ends with this verse, which says: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Let's move on to something else now. Origen, of course. See Letter to Pammachius and Oceanus. Creation Bl. Jer. In Russian Translation of the book. 2, p. 365. Bl. Jerome means the Goths who shaved their beards. That is, it is marked with a whitewash as unnecessary. You might be interested in: