This text is from Cornelius a Lapide (Cornelius Cornelii a Lapide, 1567–1637), a renowned Flemish Jesuit biblical commentator. His Commentaria in Scripturam Sacram (Commentaries on Holy Scripture) were among the most widely used Catholic commentaries from the 17th through the 19th centuries. The text provided is from his Commentary on Isaiah, specifically covering Isaiah 42:1-9.
Lapide is known for his comprehensive synthesis of patristic, medieval, and contemporary interpretations, often including moral applications and historical examples (both sacred and secular). The translation was done by Qwen.
TRANSLATION: Cornelius a Lapide, Commentary on Isaiah 42:1-9
Introduction to the Chapter
He promises Christ, who goes forth into a covenant of the people and into a light of the Gentiles, whose modesty, mercy, and equity he describes. Secondly (verse 10), he invites all the Gentiles, for whom so great a salvation is prepared, to the praises of God. Thirdly (verse 13), he announces that he will destroy idols and groves. Fourthly (verse 18), turning to the Jews, he proposes to them the recent disaster and destruction of the ten tribes, warning them to convert from sins to God lest they experience a similar vengeance of God.
Commentary on Isaiah 42:1-4
Is 42:1: "Behold my servant, I will uphold him; my chosen, in whom my soul is well pleased. I have put my Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the nations."
"Behold my servant, I will uphold him": Some understand the servant to be Jacob, others Isaiah, others Cyrus. But it is certain from Matthew 12:18 that Christ is understood, who is the servant of God insofar as He assumed the form of a servant, being made man. For although the same Christ, as man, is the natural Son of God (insofar as His humanity subsists in the person of the Word, who is the natural Son of God), nevertheless He is also a servant by reason of the nature itself, namely the humanity which He assumed; for this is a creature and therefore the servant of its Creator. See St. Thomas and the Scholastics (3 p. q. 20).
Note: The Hebrew עֶבֶד (ebed) does not signify a servant who serves from a servile condition servilely, as slaves do, but a minister who worships his lord and serves him in a large office and dignity, as leaders and princes serve and minister to a king, Cardinals to the Pontiff, Apostles to Christ. Thus St. Paul calls himself a servant, that is, an Apostle of Christ, as I said in Philippians 1:1.
Moreover, these things are connected to the preceding chapter by this reason: that there (v. 23-24 & 27) He said He would announce future things equally as prior and past things, and bring them to pass; and since He demonstrated this there concerning past things by those things which He conferred upon Abraham and the Hebrews, now He demonstrates it by this type: Abraham and the Hebrews. For this is what He says in verse 9: "Behold the former things are come to pass, new things also I declare." Again, He had said in the preceding chapter (v. 27) that He would give an evangelist to Zion; hence in this chapter He promises Christ, the founder of the Gospel and the prince of the Evangelists.
The Septuagint translate: "Jacob my boy, I will assume him; Israel my chosen." Jacob, that is, Jacobite; Israel, that is, Israelite, namely Christ, who was to be born from Jacob. Thus it is said concerning Him in chapter 49:3: "You are my servant, O Israel, for in you I will be glorified." See Canon 34. The Blessed Virgin alluded to this, singing: "He has taken up Israel His servant, being mindful of His mercy" (Luke 1:54). For "assume" and for "taken up," in both places in Greek is the same word ἀντιλαμβάνω (antilambanomai).
"I will uphold him": Hebrew אֶתְמְכֶךָ (etmacheka), that is, I will sustain, I will support him, as a father a dearest son; with supreme love equally as with care and study I will cherish and uphold him. The Chaldean: I will be with him as a companion, protector, indeed leader and pedagogue. Thus Christ said to St. Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus, going to Rome: "I will be propitious to you in Rome." He said it and fulfilled it.
"My chosen, in whom my soul is well pleased": Chosen both as leader and commander of the spiritual war which He will wage against the devil and sin, and as a most beloved son. To this indeed God the Father alluded when He thundered to Christ baptized: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).
"I have put my Spirit upon him": The Spirit, namely, the sevenfold Spirit, concerning which chapter 11:2. Of this thing, as a symbol, the Father sent into Him, while He was baptized by John, the Holy Spirit in the species of a dove.
"He shall bring forth judgment to the nations": Judgment, that is, that which is just, namely just laws. Secondly, the true and just worship of God. Thirdly, true justice and holiness, namely the Evangelical law which embraces these three things; He will teach and promulgate it through all the Gentiles. Therefore the word "judgment" signifies that Christ will be a new doctor of justice, that is, of the Gospel, and lawgiver. Hence in the following things His equity, modesty, meekness, mercy, and clemency are described. Thus passim the Fathers and interpreters here and in Matthew 12, except Theodoret and Eusebius (Demonst. 1.9 c. 15), who thus explain it: that Christ will announce to the Gentiles the future general judgment of God, so that all may look out for themselves and prepare themselves for it. This is true, but in an anagogical sense.
Procopius notes that Christ's Gospel is called judgment because the Jews called their own old law "judgment"; but to the old law, as to a type and shadow, succeeded the Gospel as truth. Hence greater justice and rectitude of judgment than the shadow of the Mosaic law; for it hands down a greater, more divine, and more sublime justice and perfection than that. Again, Christ was a far greater lawgiver than Moses. But this signifies "he shall bring forth judgment," that is, he shall declare law. For this is a periphrasis of royal and imperial power. Hence even now in the Church Christ through His Pontiffs and ministers declares law. Hence when princes and kings themselves have given their name to Christ, they will not think themselves to exercise judgments, to judge causes justly, and to render law justly, unless first they consult the law of Christ. Again, when Christian kings have disputes among themselves, they seek judgment from Christ, that is, from His vicar on earth, and they stand and obey him, nor do they declare law to themselves with arms. For to this head of the Church Christ left Himself on earth.
Is 42:2: "He shall not cry out, nor lift up his voice, nor make his voice heard in the street."
"He shall not cry out": He will not be clamorous nor contentious, whence Matthew (c. 12:19) translates "he shall not contend." The Prophet teaches here that Christ will be most meek and will teach and rule His own in a most meek manner. For this the threefold repetition of the thing signifies in St. Matthew, when he says: "He shall not contend, nor shall He cry out, nor shall anyone hear His voice in the streets."
"Nor shall he accept persons": Note that there can be several not only literal explanations but also versions of the same place of Holy Scripture, as I have shown elsewhere. Thus here the Hebrew לֹא יִשָּׂא (lo yissa), that is, "he shall not lift up." St. Matthew, understanding קוֹלוֹ (kolo), that is "his voice," translates "he shall not contend." Our version here, understanding פָּנִים (panim), that is "faces," that is, persons, translates "he shall not accept persons." Therefore each of these versions is canonical and intended by the Holy Spirit.
Thirdly, Symmachus, testifying to St. Jerome, translating "he is not deceived," read יִשָּׁה (jussah) by schin from the root נָשָׁא (nasha), that is, "he deceived." Fourthly, the Septuagint: "he will not leave," namely the people of the Jews; they read יִשָּׁה (jussah) by schin from the root נָשָׁה (nasha), that is, "he forgot." Moreover, according to our version, in the judge Christ is commended here both meekness and sincerity and rectitude, by which without acceptance of persons he will declare law to each.
Is 42:3: "A bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall not quench; he shall bring forth judgment in truth."
"A bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall not quench": St. Jerome by "reed" understands a pipe or flute which, before sonorous, when bruised emits a hiulc sound and therefore is cast away. But better, generally, you may accept any reed here; for St. Matthew expounds the reed as an arundine (reed). Again, aptly, Delrio (Adagio 772) by "flax" understands a wick or ellychnium of linen smoking, the flame not yet dominating or now vanishing. Hence also the Syrian for "flax" translates "lamp," namely a linen wick of a lamp. For he translates "a smoking lamp which is just about to be extinguished, He will not extinguish," and the Arabic "a lamp by which you light, He will not extinguish." For thus often matter is put for the thing made from it, as linens for nets, iron for fetter, wood for club, gold for golden ring, silver for money, stones for weights. Thus the ancients, especially the Romans, did not extinguish the lighted wicks of lamps but permitted them to languish and fail by themselves. Plutarch investigates and assigns the causes (Problem. Roman. 75): "Whether," he says, "as venerating the kindred and affinity of that inextinguishable and immortal fire? Or is this also a sign that one ought not to corrupt or kill what is animated unless it harms, as if fire were an animal? Nor undeservedly. For it needs nourishment and moves by itself and when it is extinguished emits a voice. Or are we taught by this custom that one ought not to corrupt or consume water nor fire nor any of those things which pertain to use, even if they abound, but they should be left for use to the needy when we ourselves no longer have need of that work?"
Therefore, here is a twofold proverb signifying the supreme meekness of Christ. For men cast away a bruised reed because it is useless and because it stings and wounds the one holding it with its fractures and spines. Similarly, flax or wick not burning and scarcely shining but smoking, because it harms both eyes and nostrils (for it smells), soon they extinguish. Christ truly will be of such patience that He will do neither. That is, Christ will be so patient and meek that He will not cast away the bruised reed and smoking flax, in which still something of light and fire remains, that is, the weak and imbecile in faith, hope, and charity; nor will He rebuke and oppress them contentiously and clamorously, but by His meekness He will sustain, cherish, heal, and ignite them. Thus St. Jerome, Procopius, Cyril, and Hilary in Matthew 12. Hence also St. Chrysostom interprets: Christ will not avenge His enemies.
Maldonatus somewhat differently: that Christ will walk so meekly, quietly, and attentively that even if He were to walk upon a bruised reed, He would not break it, or if He were to tread upon smoking flax and tow, He would not extinguish it. That this is the sense is clear from Matthew 12:18. For when the Pharisees, envying the miracles of Christ, were taking counsel to destroy Him, Christ withdrew from there and healed very many of those who were following Him, to whom He commanded that they not make Him manifest, "that," says Matthew (v. 17), "might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the Prophet, saying: Behold my boy whom I have chosen... He shall not contend... a bruised reed He shall not break." The Pharisees therefore were a bruised reed, but which still retained the appearance of integrity; wherefore Christ did not wish to drive them exasperated into fury and utterly destroy them, which He would have done if, when He saw them unworthy, He had persisted in His operation nor had departed from there. Says Forerius: "Going away indeed and forgetful of the injury, He proceeded to heal the sick, who themselves also were a bruised reed." Thus St. Gregory (lib. 33 Moral. c. 3): "A bruised reed," he says, "is the royal genus which already had failed among the Jews; for Herodes the alien possessed their kingdom. What truly does He express by flax except their priesthood, which namely used linen vestments? Which because in the advent of the Lord it lost the ardor of charity, as if the fire of faith were now lost, it was not burning but smoking. This Christ did not break, this He did not extinguish, because He endured neither with the power of judgment but tolerated both with the longanimity of patience."
Morally: Let the Christian learn here from Christ to bear patiently the manners, infirmities, and vices of neighbors, indeed to render good for evil, just as Christ here, when the Jews were plotting death for Him, He nevertheless did not cease to cure their infirmities. When therefore the flax, that is, imbecile men, smoke against you, endure and patiently sustain them; give place to anger, for it extinguishes itself by its own ardor most quickly. For every human virtue, even royal, is the tail of a smoking brand, as Isaiah says concerning Rasin king of Syria and Phacee king of Samaria (c. 7:4). Hear St. Basil (in Regul. brevior. 291): "Who," he says, "is the bruised reed or smoking flax, or how does one not break the other, not extinguish the other?" He answers: "Truly, by the bruised reed I judge that one to be understood who does not execute the command of God with that sincerity of mind which is fitting; whom it is fitting not to break nor cut off but rather to heal, as the Lord taught when He said: 'Take heed that you do not give your alms before men to be seen by them.' And in another place: 'Nothing through contention or vain glory.' But smoking flax, whenever one indeed executes the command but not with burning desire or full study but somewhat sluggishly and slowly; who therefore is not to be deterred but rather to be aroused by assiduous admonition of the judgments of God and His promises."
Moral for Prelates, Pastors, Princes: Again, let Prelates, Pastors, Princes learn from Christ that their proper virtue is clemency and mercy. Splendidly Justinian the Emperor (lib. ult. Cod. de donat. inter virum & uxor.): "Nothing," he says, "is so peculiar to imperial majesty as clemency and humanity, by which alone the image of God is preserved." Imitation: Pliny in the Panegyric of Trajan the Prince says: "It is to try ingenues by benefits rather than by remedies." Seneca (lib. 1 de Clementia): "In bees," he says, "we see the king without a sting. For nature did not wish him to be savage nor to seek vengeance at great cost; it took away his weapon and left his anger unarmed. This is a huge example for great kings." Solomon (Proverbs 20:28): "The throne is strengthened by clemency," namely of the king. Ennodius in the Panegyric of Theodoric: "Let your mind be bent always prone to pardon." And Ovidius: "Let the prince be slow to punishments, swift to rewards." Julius Caesar (epist. ad Oppium lib. 9 ad Attic.): "Let this be a new method of conquering, that you fortify yourself with mercy and liberality." Do you want examples? Julius Caesar forgave Brutus and others who had fostered the parts of Pompey against himself. The same detected conspiracies against himself he did not argue beyond showing by edict that they were known to him, and for those speaking bitterly he was satisfied to denounce in assembly that they not persevere. Hannibal, says Livius (l. 21), strove for this one thing in the beginning of things, that he might gather a fame of clemency. Charlemagne sanctioned that all lords treat subjects clemently. "Knowing," he says, "brothers to be their own and to have one Father with themselves, the Lord to whom all cry: Our Father who art in heaven." Nero, at the beginning of his empire, clement, asked by the Prefect to subscribe to the damnation of certain guilty men, exclaimed: "Would that I did not know letters!" Alexander Severus, when his mother Mammæa and wife Memmia reproached him for excessive clemency, saying: "You have made power softer and more contemptible for yourself," responded: "But safer and more long-lasting," thus Spartianus. Titus, testifying to Suetonius, endured two patricians convicted of affecting the empire, nor did he anything more than warn that they desist, saying only this: "The Principate is given by fate." M. Antoninus to his wife Faustina, asking for the punishment of the accomplices of the conspiracy of Avidius Cassius, thus replied: "Truly I will spare both his children and his son-in-law and wife; for nothing is which better recommends an Emperor to the nations than clemency. This made Caesar a God, this consecrated Augustus, this especially adorned your father. Be therefore secure; the gods protect me, my piety is pleasing to the gods."
"In truth he shall bring forth judgment": That is, He shall bring forth just judgment, or He shall establish and sanction judgment, that is, the Evangelical law, true and solid. Forerius translates: "He shall cause judgment to go forth into truth," that is, He shall bring forth and promulgate judgment which He shall pronounce for truth, or He shall make in causes so that the end be truth and truth shine forth and conquer, which He Himself, as queen, He shall bring forth into the world and place it upon its due throne, as I will soon say.
Is 42:4: "He shall not be sad nor turbulent, until he establishes judgment in the earth; and the islands shall await his law."
"He shall not be sad nor turbulent": Hebrew לֹא יִכְהָה וְלֹא יָרוּץ (lo yikheh velo yaruts), which literally Aquila and Theodotion translate: "He shall not be obscured or clouded, and He shall not run." That is, as St. Jerome says: Christ wishes to terrify no one with the sadness of His face, nor will He hasten to punishment, because He reserved the truth of judgment for the last time. Secondly, St. Jerome translates: "He shall not be with obscure countenance," that is, sad, "nor turbulent," but with supreme maturity and prudence He will judge all things and causes. That is: Christ will never be more gloomy, sadder, more morose, slower; never also more glad, lighter, more hasty, but lord of Himself and of passions, He will preserve equality and quiet of all motions at every time. Concerning which the Greeks falsely glory concerning Socrates. Says St. Jerome: "He shall not be carried away headlong," that is, He shall not be borne as a whirlwind.
Thirdly, the Chaldean translates: "He shall not be lassus nor shall He labor," that Christ will not be wearied from excessive zeal and labor but easily and as if without labor He will do all things. Fourthly, Vatablus translates: "He shall not hallucinate or smoke," that is, He shall not be extinguished, nor shall He be headlong, or He shall not be shaken, so that yaruts be future ratsars, that is, to break, that is, He shall not die, Christ shall not suffer until He has published His Gospel. Fifthly, the Septuagint translate: "He shall not smoke but shall shine forth and shall not be broken," which Hilary says (prologo psal.): "Christ shall not smoke," that is, He shall not remain extinguished for long; but as extinguished lamps do not smoke for long but immediately are kindled again, so Christ on the third day will revive and resplend, that is, He will irradiate the whole world with clearer light than before. For in Greek it is not λάμψει (lampsei) but ἀναλάμψει (analampsei), that is, "He shall shine forth again," as Procopius notes. Thus also St. Jerome and Cyril.
St. Augustine somewhat differently (lib. 20 de Civit. cap. 30): "His face," he says, "resplended on the mountain, His fame in the orb; nor was He broken or crushed because neither in Himself nor in the Church did He yield to persecutors that He might desist." These things could also be referred to the smoking flax and bruised reed. For this He will not break, that He will not extinguish, but He will make it resplend, that is, be kindled and shine again. Finally, the Septuagint can be reconciled with ours, so that they say the same; for a serene and splendid face indicates hilarity of mind and that the man is not sad. Again, for the face not to be broken, the countenance not to fall nor be turned back, signifies the man is not turbulent but of composed mind.
Summa: By these words it is signified that Christ will be of a placid and constant countenance, which is neither contracted by adversity nor dissolved by prosperity, but persevering always in the same tenor, signifying a tranquil mind, a firm state, and constancy of mind in the same lenity and modesty. Christ therefore was not sad, that is, gloomy; He assumed however in the passion pain and sorrow of mind for our sins. Hence He Himself says: "My soul is sorrowful even unto death" (Matthew 26:38). Therefore Cleon said wrongly among Thucydides (lib. 3): "Three things are most harmful to empire: pity, blandiloquence, and leniency." For as Claudian says (Panegyr. Mallii): "Tranquil power accomplishes what violent cannot; you urge commands more strongly, imperious quiet." With so placid, serene, and splendid a countenance was Moses most meek, as is clear from Exodus 34:29. Much more Christ, whose face in the Transfiguration resplended as the sun (Matthew 17:2). Thus St. Anthony, testifying to Athanasius (ex oratione), from the quiet and stillness of mind had a countenance radiant like the Sun, so that among three thousand Monks, Anthony alone was recognized by those who had never seen him from these rays alone and the constant hilarity of his countenance. Similar rays in his countenance had St. Ignatius praying, and other Saints. For these were the symbol and effects of the serenity, joy, internal light by which their mind was perfused by God.
St. Matthew (cap. 12:18), citing this place, omits these words "He shall not be sad nor turbulent," because they seem to be contained in the preceding and following, although St. Jerome thinks them omitted by the oscitance and error of writers.
"Until he establishes judgment in the earth": That Christ will cease through His whole life until death, by patience, leniency, and constancy, to teach men, until He establishes on earth the Evangelical law of humility, patience, and holiness, and teaches how one ought to live humbly, piously, justly, and holily. St. Matthew translates: "until He sends forth judgment unto victory," that is, until He leads judgment, that is, justice or faith and Evangelical holiness, to victory, so that indeed it dominates the whole orb. And thus Our Version can be accepted: "until He places judgment in the earth," that is, until He places judgment as if in its kingdom and throne on earth, as queen and lady. This is what Christ says (John 12:31): "Now is the judgment of the world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself." St. Matthew seems to have written in Hebrew or rather Syro-Hebrew זְכִּיתָא (zekita), which signifies both purity and truth and victory, which the interpreter in Matthew accepted for victory, when in Isaiah it is truth, says Maldonatus, but it comes to the same sense. Again, Irenaeus (lib. 3 cont. hæres. c. 11) thus reads: "until He sends forth judgment into contention." He seems in St. Matthew for נֵצַח (netzach), that is victory, to have read רִיב (rib), that is, contention. That Christ with His Evangelical law will contend with the law of Solon, Lycurgus, Pythagoras, and other laws of the Romans, Greeks, and Gentiles, which partly natural light, or rather blindness, partly ambition, avarice, and libido introduced into the world; all of which He Himself will surpass, overturn, and abolish, and will make His judgment, that is, His law, His Gospel, conquer and triumph everywhere.
See here with what arms Christ introduced His kingdom and His law into the world, namely patience, leniency, longanimity; with these He subjected all nations to Himself; if He had been arrogant, headlong, impatient, He would have turned all away from Himself and His law. In a similar way the Romans possessed every place by their counsel and patience (1 Machabees 8:3). With the same arms the Apostles propagated this kingdom and law of Christ, as St. Paul teaches (2 Corinthians 6:4): "Let us exhibit ourselves as the ministers of God in much patience." Let those see therefore who wish to recall and restore Christian discipline henceforth, with what arms they ought to proceed instructed.
"And the islands shall await his law": He calls "islands" the islanders, that is, Gentiles even most remote, dwelling across the sea and in islands, because the Mosaic Law was concluded in one angle of Judea, but the judgment and law of Christ will be propagated to the islands, that is, to all Gentiles and to the limits of the earth. Hence the Septuagint, whom St. Matthew follows (12:21), translated: "And in His name the Gentiles shall hope." The name of God is God Himself. It is a Hebraism. Forerius notes that in these words can be repeated "until," which preceded, that: "Until the islands await His institution and become subject, the whole world to God." I will say more concerning this thing in chapter 51.
Commentary on Isaiah 42:5-9
Is 42:5: "Thus says the Lord God, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who established the earth and the things that spring from it, who gives breath to the people who are upon it, and spirit to those who tread upon it."
Is 42:6: "I the Lord have called you in justice, and I have taken hold of your hand, and I have preserved you, and I have given you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations."
Is 42:7: "That you may open the eyes of the blind, and bring out from confinement the bound, from the house of prison those sitting in darkness."
Is 42:8: "I am the Lord, this is my name: I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to graven images."
Is 42:9: "Behold the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I will make them known to you."
"Thus says the Lord God, creating the heavens..."
Verse 5: Here the Prophet runs out into the praises and preconia of divine power, because he is still disputing with idols and idolaters, as will be clear in verse 9, and because He promises great and great salvation through Christ. That is: Do not wonder that I promise great things to Christians; for I am omnipotent, giving breath to the people and spirit.
Firstly, St. Athanasius (disput. contra Arrium in Concilio Niceno) by "spirit" accepts the wind. Secondly, St. Basil (lib. de Spiritu sancto c. 21), Irenaeus (lib. 5), and St. Jerome, St. Thomas, Haymo, and Procopius here by "breath" (flatum) accept the soul and breath by which man respires and lives; by "spirit" truly the Holy Spirit; for this is given to those treading upon the earth, that is, to those who trample terrestrial things, who are superior to the earth, whose conversation is in heaven. This sense is more subtle and symbolic and moral rather than literal. Thirdly therefore and genuinely, "breath" here is the same as "spirit," namely the soul. For it is the same to say "giving breath to the people who are upon it" as "spirit to those treading upon it." Thus St. Cyril, Hugo, and Dionysius.
"I the Lord have called you in justice"
Verse 6: That is, into justice. He speaks concerning Christ, as will be clear from the following. Therefore Hugo wrongly accepts these things concerning Cyrus, into justice, namely that he might justly punish the Chaldeans, and into a covenant, that he might liberate the Jews. Moreover, "into justice," that is, endowed with justice and supreme justice, or "unto justice," as the Septuagint translate, that I have excited you, O Christ, for this, that You might raise and restore justice collapsed in the impious and unjust earth, and that You, just, might justify and sanctify others. Hence it follows: "I have given you for a covenant," etc. Thus passim the interpreters. This sense is genuine. Secondly, "into justice," that is, that My justice and fidelity may appear to the whole world, by which just as I promised you, Christ, to the Patriarchs, so also I have exhibited You in reality, says St. Thomas and Adam. Thirdly, "into justice," that is, with that goodness with which I am endowed, I have excited You and made You to be born in the earth, thus Forerius.
"And I have taken hold of your hand": That is, I have favored, I have sustained, I have led You through all hard things. "And I have preserved you": Unharmed among enemies, among so many dangers, and in death, lest You remain in it, but soon as if victor of death You might rise again, and through it save and liberate very many from eternal death.
"I have given you for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles": Christ was given to the people of God, that is, to the Jews, for a covenant, because He was promised to them. Hence the Septuagint Complutensian translate: "I have given you for a covenant of Israel." But to the Gentiles He was given for a light, because He was not promised. Similar is chapter 49:6. This is what Simeon sings: That salvation, that is, Savior Christ, was given as a light unto the revelation of the Gentiles and glory of the people Israel (Luke 2:32). Moreover, Christ was given to the Jews for a covenant, that is, that He might fulfill the pact and promise of God concerning sending the Messiah. Again, "for a covenant," that is, as Forerius, into reconciliation, that namely He might reconcile the Jews and thence all Gentiles to God, and sanction among them and God a new covenant, namely a new testament, and that most joyous, concerning eternal inheritance to be given to the faithful obeying Him and His Gospel. See what I have said in 1 Corinthians 11:25 and Jeremiah 31:31. Wherefore by the people of Israel can be accepted all the faithful, both Gentiles and Jews; for these are spiritual Israel and genus, that is, sons of God. To all these Christ instituted this new covenant and testament, so that nearly the same is "I have given you for a covenant of the people" as "I have given you for a light of the Gentiles," that namely You might illuminate and teach all Gentiles the true faith of God, religion, and way to eternal salvation and beatitude. For this is the sum, scope, and end of the whole new testament.
"That you may open the eyes of the blind": These are the notes and signs of the Messiah, which therefore Christ brought forth, and from them demonstrated to the disciples of St. John that He is the Messiah (Matthew 11:5). Moreover, these are to be accepted rather of the blind, bound, etc., spiritually than corporally; for he explains "I have given you for a light of the Gentiles," that namely You might open the eyes of the mind to the Gentiles blinded by the darkness of infidelity and ignorance, that they might see and know God and Christ. This is what Zacharias sings: "To illuminate them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death" (Luke 1:79). For infidelity and sin are darkness and shadow of death, and are also prison and chains by which sinners are held miserably bound by the devil. This is what he says: "That You might bring out from confinement," that is, from the prison by which the bound is closed.
"I am the Lord, this is my name"
Verse 8: Hebrew: I am Jehovah, this is my name. Jehovah is the proper name of God, the same with Ego sum qui sum (I am who am). See what I have said in Exodus 3:14 and chapter 6:3. Therefore God here, when He had already enumerated what benefits and miracles He had formerly promised and performed for Abraham and his posterers; Secondly, what He had recently predicted He was about to perform for the whole world through Christ, the son of Abraham; which two things He had proposed in the preceding chapter as signs and arguments of His divinity invincible, as if happy concerning victory in judgment obtained against idols and idolaters, with no one contradicting, He ascribes to Himself the glory of divinity and the name of God, Jehovah, not permitting that this glory and this name be attributed to another. Thus Forerius. This is what He subjoins: "Behold the former things..." etc.
"I will not give my glory to another": He does not say "to anyone," lest He exclude the Son; for to this the Father communicated His glory, as He Himself says (John 17:1), but "to another," who namely is of another essence and nature, e.g., idols. Hence explaining He subjoins: "Nor my praise to graven images." Thus St. Jerome. See St. Bernard (serm. 13 in Cantic.), who throughout teaches that glory competes to God alone, where among other things he says: "I will not give my glory to another." What therefore will You give to us, O Lord? What will You give to us? "Peace," He says, "I give to you, My peace I leave to you." "It suffices for me; I gratefully accept what You leave, and I leave what You retain. Thus it pleases, thus I do not doubt it is my interest. I abjure glory entirely, lest perhaps if I usurp it, I lose meritously what was not conceded and offered. I will peace, I desire peace, and nothing more. To whom peace does not suffice, You do not suffice. You are indeed our peace..." To You, O Lord, to You let Your glory remain unviolated. It is well with me if I shall have peace.
"Behold the former things are come to pass..."
Verse 9: Here is the conclusion of the disceptation with idols and idolaters. That: Those things which long ago I promised to Abraham, Moses, and other Prophets and predicted through them, these have now happened; whence you can conjecture that those things which through Isaiah and other Prophets, as if My Evangelists, I predict and announce concerning Christ, the son of Abraham, and concerning His glory, Gospel, testament, vocation of the Gentiles, etc., will likewise happen, and that I am and will be that they happen. What therefore remains unless that, leaving idols, you worship Me alone for God and believe in My Christ when He comes, and submit yourselves? Thus Forerius and Sanchez. Wherefore, as if after victory and the epinicion of God, the Prophet simultaneously bursts forth into praise and thanksgiving that through salvation and so great benefits already given to the orb, saying...
CONTINUE
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