Глава 25

“O Lord my God, I will glorify You for the defeat of the Assyrian army, which was predestined long ago, and for the deliverance You promised to Jerusalem, which has now been accomplished” (Is. 25:1). “For thou hast laid the city in dust,” that is, made the Assyrian camp a heap of corpses, or turned the city of the Assyrian kings into a heap of stones, as Nahum prophesied. “And let it not be built in the habitation of strangers forever” (Is. 25:2), that is, the city will not be renewed by inhabitants; or the king of Assyria, who came with an army, will never have honor in his army, because the city is destroyed and the army is destroyed. “For this reason many people will bless you” (Is. 25:3), that is, they will bless the peoples adjacent to the Jews and living in the vicinity of Judea, because for the sake of the Jews they were saved from destruction; those of the Assyrians who escaped defeat, fled and told Sennacherib, will also bless. So, the nations will praise, together with the house of Judah, and say: “Thou art a helper to Thy people from the oppression of persecutors, a shelter from the storm.” Under the image of the storm, the prophet represents the threat of Rabshakeh and his friends. “Shadow from the heat.” For the Jews You were a shelter from the storm and a shelter from the heat (Is. 25:4). “The pride of strangers will be humbled during the tribulation.” This prophet speaks of the Assyrians, whose pride will be humiliated by their death, “like heat by the shadow of a cloud.” Just as the heat is painful for a traveler, when the air becomes suffocating from thick clouds, so heavy will be the defeat that will befall Rabshakeh and his companions. “And the rod of the mighty shall be humbled” (Is. 25:5), that is, Sennacherib shall be humbled by the destruction of his armies. “And the Lord of hosts will make a fat feast on this mountain with all the tongue” (Is. 25:6). The Jews, on the day of deliverance, truly rejoiced and praised the Lord in Jerusalem; but the prophecy was completely fulfilled in our Lord, when on the mountain of Jerusalem He broke His body and gave His blood, and said: “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19). This is a heavenly and spiritual feast, a feast kept and fat from time immemorial, a feast of the Life-Giver and the Mighty One, a feast that endures forever, of which all nations will partake, as it is said: “And the Lord of hosts will make with all the tongue... a fat feast” (Is. 25:6). “And the ruler of all nations will be cut off from this mountain” (Is. 25:7). Although the prophet speaks here about Sennacherib, he also points to the devil. The spiritual meaning is almost everywhere inextricably linked with the historical meaning. The sayings of the prophets about what happened and will happen to the Jewish people in a mysterious sense must be attributed to the structure of the Church of Christ, to the Providence of God for the righteous and to the Judgment on the wicked. “And death will be sacrificed in victory forever.” By this the prophet makes it clear that through the medicine of Life, that is, Christ our Lord, death was put to death, and by the death of Christ the promise of a true resurrection was given to all nations. “And the Lord God will take away every tear from every face with the destruction of the Assyrians, and the reproach of His people will be taken away,” that is, the reproach that the people endured Jewish, hearing the blasphemies uttered by Rabshakeh. “For this is the mouth of the Lord” (Is. 25:8), the Lord will fulfill what he said against the Assyrians, and indeed he did soon, destroying the kingdom of Assyria, but he will also fulfill it at the end of time, when he casts out Satan, the prince of this age, and casts him into prison forever and ever. “And Moabiti will be trampled” (Is. 25:10). The Moabites, the evil oppressors of the Jews, will not be shown mercy, like the people of Judah, but will be humiliated under the feet of the Assyrians according to the power and will of God. “And he will stretch out his hands, as a swimmer stretches them out to swim.” The Moabites, relying on their idols, will enter into battle with the king of Assyria, but he will “humble the pride of the Moabites and the sleight of their hands. And he will turn their glory into dishonor” (Is. 25:11), that is, along with the Moabites, he will disgrace those nations to whom they turned their eyes and stretched out their hands. “And the height of the refuge of your fence will be humbled,” that is, it will destroy the capital of the Moabites, “and it will be brought down even to the ground” (Is. 25:12). You might be interested in: