Adam Sasbout (1516–1563) was a prominent Dutch Franciscan friar, Catholic priest, theologian, and scholar from Delft,
known for his biblical commentaries and writings on divinity, who
taught at the University of Leuven (Louvain) and was a significant
figure in Counter-Reformation theology.
Is 49:1-4 “Listen, O islands; pay attention, you peoples from afar. From the womb the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb he remembered my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he protected me; he made me like a chosen arrow; he hid me in his quiver. And he said to me: You are my servant, Israel, in whom I shall be glorified. And I said: I have labored in vain; without cause and uselessly I have spent my strength. Therefore my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.”
From this chapter almost to the end of the book there is, as it were, one single and continuous discourse concerning Christ. Figures are indeed employed, as in the preceding sections, yet here the naked Gospel is set forth, without allegories or obscure tropes. Concerning this portion, what Jerome wrote in his letter to Paulinus is true: Isaiah seems to me not to be weaving words, but to be writing as an Evangelist.
Is 49:1 He therefore speaks in the person of Christ: “Listen, O islands,” and so forth. In the preceding chapter I dealt with the Jews; now I turn my discourse to you, the Gentiles, and to all who, according to the customary language of Scripture, are designated by a known name. “Islands,” however, are so called from the broad expanses of the seas in Scripture, and concerning them it has already been spoken in earlier passages; although even here the prophet sufficiently indicates whom he calls “islanders.” He says: “Pay attention, you peoples from afar,” that is, you who dwell far away, at the very ends of the earth. The Latins do not recognize this expression, but in their own idiom they say, the people of Italy. In the same way the Hebrews speak when they say, “Praise the Lord from the heavens,” that is, the heavenly beings; “from the earth,” that is, the earthly. This is easily understood from the Gospel, where the angel Gabriel announces to Joseph the virginal birth, saying: “And you shall call his name Jesus.”
Is 49:2 What follows—“He made my mouth a sharp sword,” and so forth—expresses the power and efficacy of the word of God and of the preaching of Christ: how great it was among those whom the Lord called from the womb, that is, those who were predestined to life, as is clear from the Gospels; and how great a force the remnants of Christ’s words, left behind in the Scriptures, still possess today, as those experience daily who approach them with devotion and read them religiously.
“In the shadow of his hand he protected me” signifies a constant and intimate protection; hence the Septuagint rendered it: “Under the protection of his hand he hid me.” This metaphor is frequent in Scripture, where “shadow” signifies protection.
What follows—“He made me a chosen arrow”—others have translated “like a polished or clean arrow,” so that he might strike not only those who hear me nearby, but also those who are far away. “In his quiver,” and so forth, explains what he had just said: “like a chosen arrow.”
Is 49:3 “And he said to me: You are my servant,” and so forth. This might seem not to pertain to Christ but to the people, since “Israel” is mentioned. Jerome, however, refers it to Christ, and Christ is called a servant because, although he was in the form of God, he deigned to take the form of a servant; and he is called Israel because he was born from the seed of the Jews. Thus Jerome. Yet it must be considered whether Scripture itself supports this. For that place may be a trope in which proper names signify not the things themselves, but a quality, as when we say “inexplicable Platos,” meaning all who have a difficulty similar to that found in Plato’s writings. Thus by the name “Israel” those may be called who are truly good and in whom there is no deceit; hence concerning Nathanael it was said: “Behold, truly an Israelite.”
Others take the reason from etymology, because they say that the name also fittingly applies to Christ himself, signifying “a man seeing God.” But if we examine the word carefully, Scripture signifies something else. For the first letter in the name Israel is yod, not aleph, and because of the yod it is composed not from ish (a man seeing) and El (God), but from sar (to rule or prevail) and El (God), as if one were to say “prevailing with God” or “ruling with God.” This etymology appears in Genesis 32, where it is said: “If you have been strong against God…”
Those to whom none of this explanation is pleasing explain it in another way, thus: “And he said to me, to me, so that I might say these things to Israel, namely: You are my servant, Israel.” Then what follows, “In you I will be glorified,” is the voice of the Father to the Son, who speaks to Christ in the Gospel, saying: “This is my beloved Son,” and so forth.
Is 49:4 “And I said,” and so forth. To the Father saying these things, the Son replies: “You will indeed be glorified in me, Father, but in my judgment my labors will be fruitless; few of the Jews will attend to my teaching.” This is what he says: “I have labored in vain, without cause and uselessly I have spent my strength.” By “strength” he means the vigor of the body, youth, and the flourishing age, which he consumed through those works that he performed in recalling the people of the Jews.
Even today there are very few who have this well considered in their minds, namely, how many labors he himself undertook in his preaching, in his prayers, in his holy vigils, in his fasts, in his Passion—by what ardor, by what flame and vehemence of soul he entered into the Passion; how he did not rest until he had poured out all his blood. These things, I say, are well known to few, because there is not so much leisure among them that they might ponder these matters. If they did so, it would be wondrous if they were not vehemently inflamed and drawn to love him in return.
“Therefore my judgment,” and so forth. The sense is: “I have done what I ought to have done; I have omitted absolutely nothing; and therefore let him judge with me whose fault it is.” He calls the whole cause “judgment.” “And my work with my God.” By “work” he calls whatever he endured in redeeming man: sweats, heat, fatigue, thirst, hunger, torments, the Passion itself, and finally death. The Septuagint, however, translated: πόνος μου (ponos mou, “my toil” or “my suffering and pain”).
Is 49:5-6 “And now thus says the Lord, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, that I might bring Jacob back to him—though Israel will not be gathered—and I am glorified in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength. And he said: It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the remnants of Israel; I have given you as a light to the Gentiles, that you may be salvation to the very ends of the earth.”
Is 49:3 “And now”—this particle and now (et nunc) has almost the force of an inference, and bears this sense: because I have entrusted my whole cause to the Lord, therefore now the Lord speaks. Hence: “And now, therefore, the Lord says, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, that I might bring back Jacob.” This is to be understood of Jacob, and it is the same as what Paul has in the Epistle to the Romans, where he says: “I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision” (cf. Romans 15:8).
“And Israel will not be gathered.” The sense is: I indeed was sent to bring back Israel, but he will not be brought back. The Hebrews, however, read it differently: “And Israel will be gathered to him.” They themselves note fifteen places in the Scriptures in which the letter yod, which otherwise is not used as a pronoun meaning to him (ei), occurs, and they say that it should be written one way and read another—written indeed with aleph, but read with waw. Yet one must be careful lest too much weight be given to them, for they are carnal men and not instructed in the disciplines.
As far as the present passage is concerned, the context requires that just as it is written, so also it be read with aleph, so that it signifies “not.” For this corresponds to what was said above: “I have labored in vain and uselessly consumed my strength; Israel will not be gathered.” Theodotion, Jerome says, and Symmachus agree with our interpretation. But those Jews, misled by that rule of the fifteen places, corrupt the sense. And if they see that these words pertain to the Messiah, this is precisely what most alarms them.
It is truly astonishing that the great Bible printed by Robert has in the text “will be gathered to him,” whereas Jerome in his commentaries teaches that it must be read “to him” or “unto him,” yet will not be gathered.
“And I am glorified,” and so forth. Although my preaching met with poor success, nevertheless I have been glorified in the eyes of the Lord, and he has consoled me in my sadness and has given me courage. This is what he says: “And my God has become my strength.” That is, he has given me heart, he has encouraged me with these words: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob,” that is, I did not will you to be born merely in order to benefit the Jews alone, but I willed you to be born for the whole world.
We have a most beautiful commentary on this passage in the Acts of the Apostles, where, when the Jews rejected the Gospel, Paul and Barnabas said with constancy: “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you; but since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles” (cf. Acts 13:46). “For so the Lord has commanded us: I have set you as a light to the Gentiles.” Paul and Barnabas therefore understood these words spoken by Isaiah as addressed to themselves.
“The remnants of Israel” (feces Israel) are the remnant of the people of Israel; for this is what that Hebrew term signifies.
CONTINUE
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