Is 60:1. “Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem.”
The Prophet addresses the primitive Church gathered from Jews and Gentiles, who before they believed in Christ lay in sins, surrounded by darkness; therefore he exhorts them to rise from sins and to be illumined by faith and grace. Not that anyone can of himself rise from sin and be enlightened by the splendor of grace, but because God does not deny grace to one who does what lies within him (facienti quod in se est). For He Himself says through Zechariah: “Turn to Me, and I will turn to you.” And through Jeremiah (Jer 15): “If you are converted, I will convert you, and you shall stand before My face.” And through Malachi: “Return to Me, and I will return to you.”
The sense therefore is this: You, O Jerusalem, strive to rise and to be illumined; dispose yourself to grace, because your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. This light is Christ, whom Saint Simeon in Luke 2 calls “a light for revelation to the Gentiles.” He Himself says of Himself in Luke: “I am the light of the world.” He came, as Zechariah says (Luke 1), “to enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to direct our feet into the way of peace.” You may also understand this light as the Gospel. The glory of the Lord is Christ Himself, who arose from Judea.
Is 60:2 “For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but upon you the Lord shall arise.”
That is, while the nations of the world wander in darkness, you alone, O Church, shall be illumined, because Christ, the Sun of Justice, shall rise upon you. Here you see that the splendor of faith and grace is found in the Church alone. Woe to those who, having abandoned the Catholic Church, have delivered themselves shipwrecked to the synagogue of Luther.
Is 60:3 “And the Gentiles shall walk in your light.”
The Gentiles, abandoning the worship of idols, shall come to you and be enlightened by the light of the Gospel. The divine prophet foretells that the preaching of the Gospel will also be extended to the Gentiles, and consequently that the Law of Moses—which was to last only until the Gospel—would be abrogated, as I have discussed at length elsewhere.
Is 60:4 “Lift up your eyes round about and see.”
That is: Look, O primitive Church, to all parts of the world, and you will see an innumerable multitude of Gentiles coming to you. “All these are gathered together”—not in one place, but in one faith.
“Your sons shall come from afar.”
That is, from the furthest regions of the world and from the most distant lands; or “from afar” may also mean from sin, which separates and distances human beings from God.
“And your daughters shall rise from your side.”
That is, from neighboring regions which lie beside Jerusalem. By these daughters you may understand souls who, having abandoned and repudiated worldly attachments, adhered to Christ and, rising from the sides of their parents, followed God. David had already exhorted this in Psalm 44, saying: “Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear; forget your people and your father’s house.”
The Septuagint reads: “And your daughters shall be carried upon shoulders.”
Pagninus renders: “And your daughters shall be nurtured at your side.”
Is 60:5 “Then you shall see.”
Namely, the multitude coming to you.
“And you shall abound.”
That is, you shall overflow with joy and delight.
“And your heart shall wonder and be enlarged.”
Namely, because of immense joy. For just as sorrow constricts and tightens the heart, so joy enlarges and expands it. Hence “to enlarge the heart” means to fill it with joy, as in the Psalm: “When I called, He heard me” (Ps 4), “O God of my justice, You have enlarged me in tribulation,” that is, my heart. As if he were saying: When I was in affliction and poured forth my cries and prayers to You, O Lord, You heard me and delighted my soul with spiritual pleasure.
“The multitude of the sea.”
That is, coastal towns and sailors, or a multitude of people compared to the great sea.
“The strength of the Gentiles.”
That is, nations distinguished by power.
Is 60:6 “A flood of camels shall cover you.”
That is, there shall then be such an abundance of camels, by which gifts will be brought to you from various regions of the world, that they will cover the land. This is said because the rich and powerful who were converted to the faith of Christ brought their wealth with them to help the Church and to relieve the poor.
He then designates certain regions—namely Midian, Ephah, Sheba, Kedar, and Nebaioth—from which he foretells that riches will come to the Church. From Midian and Ephah he predicts dromedaries laden with wealth; from Sheba, gold and frankincense; from Kedar and Nebaioth, rams and other livestock. Through these regions the conversion of barbarian nations from the whole world to the faith is signified.
A dromedary is a swift animal, named from its speed of running—δρόμος (dromos, “course” or “race”) in Greek. They say that a dromedary and a camel are the same, but that only that camel which runs swiftly is called a dromedary.
That these gifts would be offered had been foretold by David, saying in the Psalm: “The kings of Tarshish and the islands shall offer gifts; the kings of Arabia and Sheba shall bring presents” (Ps 71). This prophecy began to be fulfilled when the Magi, as Matthew 2 relates, came to Jerusalem with gifts which they offered to Christ, presenting them and firmly adoring Him as true God.
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