Translated by Qwen
Is 1:10. After Isaiah has described the sins of the Jews, he now exhorts them to better things and warns them not to place their confidence in the sacrifices of the Law. He testifies: "Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom"—that is, "O you priests, Pharisees, and Scribes, who in your vices are like the rulers of Sodom, openly and shamelessly committing the worst and most disgraceful deeds." Hence it is written below: "They have proclaimed their sin like Sodom" (Isaiah 3:9). "Give ear"—that is, diligently attend with the ears of your mind and body—"to the law of your God, O people of Gomorrah"—that is, you who are like that people. Similar to this is what the Lord says through Ezekiel to the people of the Jews: "Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite" (Ezekiel 16:3). Indeed, he then adds that the crimes of Jerusalem were greater than those of Sodom (ibid., v. 48): "As I live, says the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done."
Is 1:11. "To what purpose"—that is, for what end—"do you offer me the multitude of your victims?" says the Lord. As if to say: "In no way are they pleasing to me, nor on account of them do I pardon your sins." "I am full"—that is, I have no need of them, since in myself I am supremely rich, abounding in all good things, and altogether perfect. "The burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and the blood of calves, of lambs, and of goats, I have not desired"—that is, I reject and despise the legal sacrifices. Now, a "holocaust" was so called because it was entirely consumed by fire in honor of the divine majesty, as a sign that man ought to offer himself totally to God and surrender himself to divine service. Moreover, this sacrifice could be offered from rams, calves, lambs, and goats (Leviticus 1), yet in no sacrifice was fat or blood permitted to be offered.
Is 1:12. "When you come to appear before me"—entering the temple, or presenting yourselves elsewhere before my sight—"who has required these things at your hands?" As if to say: "I did not demand these from you." "That you should walk in my courts"—that is, to the end that you might be worthy to enter sacred places and the courts of the temple. "Therefore, offer no more the legal and figurative sacrifice in vain, because it is not accepted by me." "Incense"—that is, the offering of frankincense, or the holocaust which by another name is called "incense"—"is an abomination to me."
Is 1:13. But did not God through Moses command that legal sacrifices be immolated to Him for the remission of sin and for other pious causes (Leviticus passim)? Does it not very often say in Leviticus: "It is an offering of a most sweet savor to the Lord" (ibid. 1:17)? To these objections, a twofold response is given:
Those who refer these words to the Jewish people preceding the Babylonian captivity, or existing at that time, say that God at that time rejected the sacrifices of the Jews on account of their sins, not on account of the cessation of sacrifices. Hence Ecclesiasticus affirms: "The Lord does not look with favor on the offerings of the wicked" (Sirach 34:23). And in the Proverbs it is asserted: "The sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord" (Prov. 15:8).
But those who refer these words to the time of the Gospel law and the final captivity understand that God here finally and simply rejects the sacrifices of the Law. For since these sacrifices were not acceptable in themselves, but were figurative of the true sacrifice—namely, of Christ—they ought to cease after Christ's passion and the promulgation of the Gospel. And this response is better and more conformable to the text.
After the Babylonian captivity, the temple was rebuilt (1 Esdras 1 ff.), and the sacrifices of the Law were offered therein and were pleasing to the Lord; but after the Jews killed and denied Christ, all their legal sacrifices became displeasing to God, as He foretold through Malachi: "I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord, and I will not receive a gift from your hand" (Malachi 1:10). Finally, those legal sacrifices were never pleasing to God in themselves, but on account of the devotion of those who offered them. Nevertheless, the Lord commanded that they be offered to Him: first, lest they be offered to idols; second, that they might prefigure Christ's passion and immolation on the cross; third, that from carnal victims, as through a type and image, we might aspire to spiritual victims.
To these things which have now been said concerning the rejection of legal sacrifices, those words agree which are read in the Psalms: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but you have perfected ears for me; burnt offering and sin offering you have not required" (Psalm 39:6). In another psalm also: "I will not take calves out of your house, nor goats out of your folds, for all the beasts of the forest are mine" (Psalm 49:9). Hence also Micah says: "Wherewith shall I worthily offer to the Lord? Shall I offer Him holocausts? Can the Lord be appeased with thousands of rams, or with many thousands of fat goats?" (Micah 6:6–7).
Is 1:14 Moreover, what follows concerning the rejection of the legal solemnities is to be understood in the same manner as what has been adduced concerning the rejection of sacrifices. For he says: "The new moon and the Sabbath, and other festivals I will not bear." The "new moon" was a solemnity to be celebrated at the beginning of each month on account of the benefit of divine governance. The "Sabbath" was the festival of the seventh day, in memory of the creation of the world. By "other festivals," he understands the feasts of Trumpets, of Expiation, of Passover, of Pentecost, and of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23). Therefore, the Lord says that He does not "bear" these—that is, does not approve them—especially in the time of the New Law, for the reason that they were observed in the Old Testament, since they were figurative and pertained to ceremonial observances.
"Your assemblies are wicked"—because from the sole of the foot even to the top of the head, there is in you no spiritual health (cf. Isaiah 1:6). The assemblies of the Jews were wicked, concerning which it is written in Matthew: "Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered together, and took counsel that they might by subtlety apprehend Jesus and put Him to death" (Matthew 26:3–4).
"Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates"—that is, your beginnings of months, namely, the new moons celebrated among you, and your other solemnities, "my soul has rejected"—not that in God, according to His proper nature, there is a soul, but God speaks in human manner, understanding by "soul" the divine mind. And so it is written: "The Lord God has sworn by His soul: I detest the pride of Jacob" (Amos 6:8). "They have become burdensome to me"—the aforementioned legal feasts. God speaks in the manner of a man who is weary and affected with disgust at some deed, in order to insinuate how vehemently these observances displeased Him after the Gospel of Christ was promulgated.
"I have labored in bearing them"—that is, you have so grievously offended me that, in enduring your sins, I have conducted myself like one who labors and who, when finally compelled by exhaustion, ceases from labor; so I at length ceased to have mercy on you on account of the homicide of my beloved Son. Hence Symmachus translated: "I have ceased, showing mercy." And in Hosea the Lord protests: "I will no more love them" (Hosea 9:15). For on account of the killing of Christ, God finally forsook them.
Is 1:15. "And when you stretch forth your hands"—corporal or spiritual, namely, the desires of the heart—"to heaven, to pray to me, I will turn away my eyes"—that is, the regard of my mercy—"from you, not granting what you ask; and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear you." The reason for this is: "Your hands"—that is, your affections and works—"are full of blood"—that is, of great excesses. Therefore, as long as a man remains in sin, or rather in the will or purpose of doing evil, his prayer is not heard. On account of which it is written: "He who turns away his ear from hearing the law, his prayer shall be an abomination" (Proverbs 28:9); and "We know that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, Him He hears" (John 9:31).
Finally, these words are spoken against the Jews who killed Christ, and against their children who cried out: "His blood be upon us and upon our children" (Matthew 27:25). Hence, even to this present day, their hands are full of the blood of the immaculate Lamb, because, like wicked husbandmen, they killed the heir sent to them, and have not repented.
Consequently, the Prophet exhorts the Jews to the grace of Christ's Baptism, because, as it is said in John: "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). "Wash yourselves"—that is, for the aforementioned feasts and legal sacrifices rejected by me, be baptized in the font of Baptism; "be clean"—because in Baptism all sins are forgiven. Therefore, be clean, O Jews, from the sin committed against Christ.
This may also be expounded more broadly and understood of all Jews—indeed, of all sinners universally. To these the Prophet says: "Wash yourselves with the tears of repentance, or with contrition of heart, from the impurity and foulness of your vices," as it is written in Jeremiah: "Wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved" (Jeremiah 4:14). "Be clean," persevering in purity obtained through this washing.
"Take away the evil of your thoughts"—that is, remove your wicked and impious thoughts—"from before my eyes"—that is, from the sight of my wisdom, which beholds all things. Hence Micah: "Woe to those who devise iniquity... for their hands are against the Lord" (Micah 2:1). And in Jeremiah the Lord speaks: "How long shall pernicious thoughts lodge within you?" (Jeremiah 4:14).
Is 1:16 cont. Is 1:17. "Cease to do perversely"—that is, stop acting wickedly; "learn to do well"—by listening willingly to instructions and rebukes, and other means by which a person is formed in right living. For virtue must be learned so that it may be exercised. Hence the Lord says: "Be instructed, lest at any time my soul depart from you" (cf. Isaiah 1:4). "Seek judgment"—that is, pray to God that He may grant you grace and prudence for judging yourselves, or others over whom you preside, just as it is said through Zechariah: "Judge true judgment" (Zechariah 7:9). This is most necessary, as it is written in Job: "Can he who does not love judgment be healed?" (Job 34:17). And the Apostle says: "If we judged ourselves, we should not be judged" (1 Corinthians 11:31).
But this seems to contradict what the Savior says: "Judge not, that you be not judged" (Matthew 7:1), and that other word of the Apostle: "I do not even judge myself" (1 Corinthians 4:3). The answer is that Christ forbids us to judge in doubtful cases, especially lest we condemn things that may be done with a good intention. The Apostle, however, speaks of the judgment of self-approval or of seeking one's own praise.
"Relieve the oppressed"—by comforting him or rescuing him through violence if necessary; "judge for the fatherless"—saving him in judgment, if it can be done justly; "defend the widow." The Lord commands that special assistance be given to these persons, because they lack human help and consolation more than others.
"And come, and rebuke me, says the Lord." If you do these things, you may deservedly complain if I do not render to you due recompense and a just reward. All these things were fulfilled by holy Job, who declares: "When I sat as a king, with an army surrounding me, yet I was a comforter of those who mourned. I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and the cause which I knew not, I searched out most diligently" (Job 29:25, 15–16). These duties pertain especially to prelates, princes, and judges.
Is 1:18. "If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow." That is: if your sins cling to you so tenaciously as the scarlet color adheres to wool, or if they are blood-stained and deformed like scarlet dye, "they shall be white as snow"—that is, as regards the stain, they shall be utterly blotted out. "And if they be red as crimson"—that is, if they are vehemently disordered and greatly or supremely distant from the beauty of virtue, like the worm called "coccus" from which scarlet dye is made—"they shall be as wool": the foulness shall be removed and expelled.
It is not that sins become "white" in the sense of beautiful or splendid—for one of two contraries is not changed into the other—but these things are said because the ugliness of sin is entirely taken away from those who perform the aforesaid virtuous works. Just as Christ says in the Gospel: "That which remains, give as alms, and behold, all things are clean unto you" (Luke 11:41); and through Jeremiah the Lord says: "Return to me, and I will heal your backslidings" (Jeremiah 3:22).
Is 1:19. "If you be willing, and hearken unto me"—by obeying my precepts—"you shall eat the good things of the land." That is: in the present life, I will give you sufficiency of temporal goods, namely of food, just as I spoke through Moses in Leviticus: "You shall eat the oldest of the old stores, and when the new comes, you shall cast out the old" (Leviticus 26:10). For God was accustomed to promise temporal goods to the rude people of the Jews, because they were not yet able to grasp heavenly things.
You shall therefore eat the good things—that is, the fruits of this earth—in this present life; but in the future age, you shall eat, by spiritual consumption, the good things of the Lord in the land of the living—namely, the heavenly bread, of which it is said in Luke: "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God" (Luke 14:15). Concerning which goods Wisdom says: "Eat, O friends, and drink, and be intoxicated, O dearest ones" (Song of Songs 5:1).
Is 1:20. "But if you will not, and provoke me to anger"—that is, to just vengeance—"by not hearkening unto me, and by transgressing my commandments, the sword shall devour you"—that is, it shall kill you.
This was fulfilled in the perverse and rebellious Jews, whom first the sword of the Chaldeans devoured, then the sword of the Romans. The "sword" may also be understood as the assault or temptation of the devil, concerning whom it is written in Job: "He who made him will apply his sword to him" (Job 40:14). By this sword the wicked are spiritually devoured and slain when they fall into his temptations. For in the present life they lose the life of grace; in the future, the life of glory; and finally they fall into the eternal torments of hell.
These things shall come to pass "because the mouth of the Lord has spoken"—that is, God, whose word is fulfilled, has foretold these things.
CONTINUE
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