Translated by Qwen
Father Cornelius a Lapide's Commentary on Isaiah 52:13–53:12
ISAIAH 52:13
"Behold, my servant shall understand, he shall be exalted and extolled, and shall be exceeding high."
Commentary:
"My servant therefore" — that is, Christ. "Shall understand" — Hebrew yaskil (יַשְׂכִּיל), that is, he shall act prudently and vigorously, and shall carry through and complete the work of human redemption.
He alludes to David, who, sent by Saul against the enemies of Israel, conducted himself prudently in all things (1 Sam 18:5). For David was a type and ancestor of Christ. So write Cyril, Forerius, Pagninus, Vatablus, and others.
Secondly, Sanchez says: Christ, he says, shall understand the will and commands of the Father—that is, he shall obey them and observe them. Thus it is said in Psalm 119:99: "I have understood your testimonies"—that is, I have observed them. And Psalm 41:1: "Blessed is the man who understands the needy and the poor"—that is, he studies and applies himself to relieving the misery of the needy and poor. For the knowledge and understanding of God's commandments, in those who are docile and obedient (such as Christ and his followers were), is practical, efficacious, and operative.
"He shall be exalted" — Christ, through his heavenly doctrine, efficacious sermons, divine miracles, and all the grace which he will show to all; so much so that the people will accept him as the Messiah. [He will be exalted] when they receive him into Jerusalem with palm branches, as a triumphant king, and as it were inaugurate him. So S. Jerome, Cyril, and Chrysostom in Demonstration that Christ is God.
"And shall be extolled, and shall be exceeding high" — Some manuscripts read exaltabitur et sublimis erit ("he shall be exalted and shall be high"); others, as the Hebrew has it, read from the second to the third person: a te, ad ejus ("from you, to his"). See Canon 16. So also the Septuagint translate, as if to say: Christ, while he lives, shall be an object of stupor or admiration; he shall also be an object of contempt. Christ shall be glorious, and also inglorious.
For just as the people at first admired Christ's miracles, doctrine, and life, so soon after, seeing him inglorious—namely, captured, condemned, bruised, bloody, spat upon, disfigured, and crucified—they despised him, and with the same mouth with which shortly before they had shouted: "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"—soon they will cry out: "Crucify, crucify him!" So fickle is the crowd. So S. Cyril and Chrysostom, as cited above.
That this is the sense is clear from the following chapter, verse 1. For the Prophet gradually transfers his discourse to Christ's passion. Hence, for inglorious, the Hebrew is maskil (מַשְׂכִּיל), that is, cut off, lost, corrupted. Forerius and the Hebrews now commonly read mishchat (מִשְׁחָת), that is, "anointing." Hence they translate contrariwise:
"Just as many were astonished at you" (or were horrified—for this is what the Hebrew shamem, which is commonly taken in a bad sense, signifies), "so shall his anointing [or: his appearance] be marred beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the sons of men."
"Anointing" here means grace, comeliness, beauty. As if to say: Through the cross, Christ appeared deformed, and as it were a prodigy and portent, exposed to the mockery and hissing of all; yet through that same cross he became beautiful beyond the sons of men, so much so that no other form more beautiful do Christians—yes, even kings and princes—behold and contemplate with greater delight than the form of Christ crucified.
This sense responds very well to the modern Hebrew text, and our Latin version could be adapted to it if, for inglorious, one were to read in glory. However, inglorious is read commonly in the Latin Bibles and the Septuagint.
Vatablus, however, translates thus:
"Just as many were amazed and stupefied at him, because his appearance was more marred than that of any man, and his form more than that of the sons of men, so that he did not seem to be human, but like a sheep or ox led to slaughter: so shall he cause many nations to startle"—that is, so likewise he shall give the nations occasion to speak concerning him, that for their salvation he was willing to suffer such things; which things they will ponder and comment upon before him.
This sense also agrees with the Hebrew and with what precedes and follows. For he opposes Christ's reproach to his praise and glory: namely, he opposes the hissing of the many with the silence and veneration of kings. And according to this sense, our Latin version could be taken in this way:
"Just as they were stupefied"—that is, they shall be stupefied—"at him, because so (that is, so very) inglorious among men shall be his appearance," etc. "So shall he startle many nations," etc.
Nevertheless, the first sense is the plainest and easiest, according to both our version and that of the Septuagint.
"He shall sprinkle many nations" — He shall sprinkle, namely, both with his blood for their redemption, and with the water of baptism for washing away their sins. He alludes to the Mosaic lustrations and sprinklings of expiatory water, prepared from the ashes of the red heifer. See Hebrews 9:13. So S. Jerome.
"Upon him shall kings shut their mouth" — As if to say: Kings, conquered by the wisdom, holiness, and miracles of Christ and the Apostles, will not dare to open their mouths against Christ or to speak ill of him; but they will be silent, will yield to Christ, and in silence and reverence will venerate him. For silence signifies reverence, as when youths are silent before elders, disciples before teachers, children before parents out of respect. So S. Jerome.
For just as opening the mouth is a symbol of audacity, impudence, and irreverence, so closing the mouth is a sign of modesty, submission, repentance, reverence, and sometimes of admiration, as Forerius says.
"For those to whom it has not been told about him shall see" — that is, the Gentiles, Ethnics, and Pagans shall see the divine wisdom, grace, and glory of Christ and the Gospel. So S. Jerome and Augustine, On the Harmony of the Evangelists, Book 1, Chapter 31; indeed, the Apostle [quotes this] in Romans 15:21.
Therefore, let not the deformity, abjection, and ignominy of the cross of Christ and of Christians disturb us. For these have their own beauty and grace, on account of the happiness and eternal glory which will afterward come.
ISAIAH 53:1
"Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?"
Commentary:
"Who has believed our report?" — First, these words may be taken as those of one expressing admiration, as if to say: Who will believe so stupendous a metamorphosis of Christ? Who will believe that there will be so great a glory for him, as great as I predicted at the end of the preceding chapter, if he hears those things which in this chapter I describe concerning his torments and reproaches?
Secondly, as words of one lamenting, as if to say: How few, especially of the Jews, will believe these oracles of mine and my followers the Apostles, when they themselves preach these very things in the world—namely, that Jesus Christ alone, crucified, is their Messiah, and the Redeemer and Savior of the world? So indeed S. John explains this passage in Jn 19:38, and S. Paul in Romans 10:16. Likewise S. Jerome, Augustine, Chrysostom, Origen, and others commonly.
Note: "Report" (auditus) is put by metonymy for the thing and the word—that is, for the prophecy or preaching heard, whether that which Isaiah and the Apostles heard and received from God, and which in turn the Jews and Gentiles heard from them. Moreover, Isaiah speaks in the person both of himself and of the Apostles. For he refers to that passage in the preceding chapter, Is 52:7: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings and preaches peace," etc.
"And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" — The "Arm of the Lord," says S. Augustine in his sermon Against the Arians, and Cyril, and Tertullian in Against Praxeas, Chapter 13, is Christ the Son of God, because from the Father, as an arm from the body, he proceeds consubstantially with him; or (which comes to the same thing), as Tertullian says, it is the power which God showed in Christ, and the strength which he communicated to Christ and to his passion, sufferings, and death.
So S. Jerome, as if to say: The sufferings, reproaches, and cross of Christ will seem to men to be signs of the utmost weakness; yet God will show that they are his arm and his fortitude, by which he will subject the whole world to Christ and to Christ's cross. Who will believe this? Who will believe that a crucified man is Almighty God, is the Messiah? Who will believe that a crucified man, by the power of the cross, will rule this world, to be adored by kings and monarchs throughout the entire globe?
To this S. Paul alludes in 1 Corinthians 1:23 and elsewhere, where he calls Christ and his cross "the power of God," that is, his strength and wisdom:
"We preach Christ crucified: to the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and to the Gentiles foolishness; but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."
"He shall grow up before him as a tender plant" — And this is causal, signifying "because"; for it gives the reason why these things seem so admirable, and why so few will believe in Christ: namely, because they will see him humble, abject, and afflicted.
For "tender plant," the Hebrew is yoneq (יוֹנֵק), that is, "suckling," namely a boy or infant nursing at the breast; hence the Septuagint, for "tender plant," translate "infant." However, yoneq is transferred metaphorically to plants and saplings, and then signifies a tender shoot, which, like a suckling, draws and sucks the sap from the root or tree.
Just as powerful, wealthy, and splendid men are compared to cedars and oaks—as is clear regarding Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4:17, and regarding Jehoiakim in Jeremiah 22:15 and 23—so Christ, poor and abject, is compared to a tender sapling or shoot. Hence Sanchez takes "tender plant" to mean the tamarisk; for this is humble, has no beauty, and grows in deserts; therefore it is a symbol of a poor and abject man, as is clear in Jeremiah 17:6: "He shall be like a tamarisk in the desert."
However, the Hebrew yoneq, which our translator renders "tender plant," is a general term, applying both to the shoot of other trees and plants and to the tamarisk; and it signifies, first, Christ's childhood and infancy; secondly, his lowliness, weakness, and abjection. Hence Theodoret, cited by Eusebius in Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 3, Chapter 2, translates: "He shall ascend as a suckling child before him." So also Aquila translates. The Septuagint also translate: "We announced him as a child before him"; or, as Tertullian reads in Against Marcion, Book 2, Chapter 17, "as an infant"—as if to say: We Apostles preached God made a child for the sake of man.
For thus S. John begins and thunders forth: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh." Nevertheless, our translator, together with Symmachus, better translates the Hebrew yoneq as "tender plant." For the Prophet compares Christ to a plant sprouting and growing up.
For it follows: "And as a root out of thirsty ground."
The sense therefore is, as if to say: Christ shall be born a little one, and shall sprout forth as a tender plant from the bare earth—that is, from a virgin mother alone (without the seed of man, says Origen, Homily 17 on Genesis), but from "thirsty," that is, arid ground—that is, from a poor, wretched, squalid mother. And thus for thirty years he shall grow and live humble and obscure, as if the son of a craftsman, having nothing comely, nothing illustrious or magnificent.
Hence the Prophet explains himself, adding: "He has no form or comeliness." He begins with the abject and marvelous nativity of Christ, from which he passes to his passion, more abject still and more marvelous.
Some note: Just as a cut-off sapling grows more, so Christ, cut off in death, sprouting forth again through the resurrection, grew much more.
"Before him" — Namely, before Israel, before the Jews themselves, says Forerius. Secondly, Sanchez: "before him," that is, before himself; for the Hebrew lephanav (לְפָנָיו) can be translated "according to his appearance" or "according to his face," as if to say: Christ will be, in outward appearance, as it were a tender plant, or will have the appearance of a tender plant; or, "before him," he says, that is, before himself—that is, in his own opinion and estimation, Christ will be humble, and will esteem himself to be as a tender plant.
Thirdly, more simply and plainly: "before him," namely, before the Lord; for "the arm of the Lord" preceded. Therefore the pronoun "him" refers to "Lord"; hence the Septuagint translate, "in his sight." Moreover, by this he signifies that this sapling, since it lacks seed and father, has grown up by the power of the Lord, or by the Lord working—that is, that Christ was conceived and born of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit. So Hugo and Dionysius.
"And as a root out of thirsty ground" — "Root," that is, a shoot sprouting from the root, by metonymy; the Hebrew is, "from the land of drought," that is, dry land; for such land thirsts for moisture. This root therefore, just like its shoot sprung from it, was born from dry and squalid earth, and therefore both it and its shoot were dry and squalid.
Namely, this root is the Blessed Virgin, poor and abject, and betrothed to a craftsman, from whom Christ, born poor and abject, was despised by the Jews.
Secondly, S. Jerome, Procopius, Cyril, and Augustine, cited above: They say the womb of the Virgin is called "thirsty ground" because it was moistened and defiled by no human seed; hence Aquila translates, "from impious land"; which Eusebius, in Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 3, Chapter 2, explains as referring to the Blessed Virgin.
"He has no form or comeliness" — The Arabic translates: "There is no appearance to him, nor beauty, nor clarity, nor seemliness, nor form." The sense is: Just as a sapling born in a dry place is squalid, has no beauty nor comeliness, so also Christ, being born, living, and conducting himself in this world, showed nothing noble, wealthy, luxurious, or splendid before the world, but led a life that was obscure, humble, and laborious in the work of a craftsman.
This is what he himself says: "I am poor and in labors from my youth" (Psalm 87:16). So S. Chrysostom on that passage of Psalm 45: "You are beautiful in form beyond the sons of men," Volume 1.
Secondly, in his passion there was no form or comeliness to him, because he was disfigured by scourges, bruises, and wounds. Hence then he did not have that form of his which is equal to the Father, and which he showed in the Transfiguration, as Tertullian says in Against Marcion, Book 2, Chapters 7 and 17. So also S. Augustine, Homily on this saying of Isaiah, which is Homily 36 among the homilies in Volume 10, and On the Harmony of the Evangelists, Book 1, Chapter 34; and Origen on Romans 10. See Hector Pinto, piously meditating and weighing these things in this passage.
Hear also S. Bernard, Sermon 28 on the Canticle:
"Beautiful in form beyond the sons of men—this beauty of the sons of men is obscured in the passion, is torn on the cross, grows pale in death, and altogether there is no form or comeliness to him, so that he may acquire for himself a beautiful and comely spouse, the Church, without spot or wrinkle."
"And we saw him, and there was no appearance" — That is, he was not worthy of being looked upon, he had nothing deserving of sight that would detain or turn the eyes of beholders toward him; but he was despised, as follows. See Canon 38. Hence the Septuagint translate: "He had no form, nor comeliness."
Moreover, this was true of Christ both throughout his whole life, and especially in his passion, when his face was defiled and disfigured by spittings, blows, welts, sweat, and blood flowing from his head pierced by the crown of thorns.
"And we desired him" — We, namely the Prophets and Apostles; because although we saw him disfigured, nevertheless we knew that he would be the Savior of the world.
Secondly, Leo of Castro, Salmerón, and from them Sanchez, appropriately repeat the negation "not," which preceded; for this is customary among the Hebrews. As if to say: We did not desire to look upon and behold him, because there was no appearance to him. That is, there was no appearance to him that was desirable, which would attract men to desire and gaze upon him. Hence Symmachus and Vatablus translate: "He had no form, no dignity that we should see him, nor appearance that we should desire him."
Therefore Forerius also explains our phrase, "And we desired him," in this way: as if to say, "So that we might desire," that is, seek after him. For since the Jews were avaricious, Christ's poverty was repulsive to them; since they were desirous of glory and most ambitious of honor, Christ's lowliness and humility were repulsive to them.
Symbolically, S. Augustine on Psalm 45, in the exposition of the title:
"Christ crucified," he says, "seems to the Jews to be a stumbling block, to the Gentiles foolishness; but to us who believe, without delay the beautiful Bridegroom meets us: beautiful in heaven, beautiful on earth, beautiful in the womb, beautiful in the hands of his parents, beautiful in miracles, beautiful under the scourges, beautiful on the tree, beautiful in the tomb, beautiful in the understanding."
He has the same and more in Sermon 13 on Time.
"Despised, and the lowest of men" — Supply "we saw." The Septuagint translate: "His appearance dishonored and failing before the sons of men," or "before all men," as S. Augustine reads in City of God, Book 18, Chapter 29.
For "despised," the Hebrew is nivzeh (נִבְזֶה), that is, "spurned," that is, contemptible, wretched, despicable.
For "the lowest of men," the Hebrew is chadal ish (חֲדַל־אִישׁ), that is, "cessation" or "abstention of men."
Which, first, Vatablus and Forerius explain as "a cast-off," that is, the most contemptible of men, from whom, namely, other men cease and abstain from speaking, as from one vile and poor; whose companionship, as ignominious, they shun, and whom they reject from their assemblies as the dregs of mankind.
To this S. Paul alludes in 1 Corinthians 4:13: "We have become as the offscouring of this world, the refuse of all things"—that is, a rejected thing, namely, rubbish, dregs, and filth, which men sweep out and cast away from their houses.
For thus the Pharisees and the wise and noble of the world disdained to associate with Christ and the Apostles, thinking that they would suffer loss of name and dignity if they approached them. Hence Nicodemus came to Christ by night, and none of the rulers believed in him; and they said that the crowd which adhered to him was accursed, and that to be his disciple was a curse or malediction. Indeed, they excommunicated him and cast him out of their synagogue, as they did to that blind man illuminated by Christ, in John 9:22, 34.
Secondly, the same Forerius and Sanchez: Christ, they say, is called "cessation," "desistance," or "one who causes men to cease"—that is, the ultimate end, boundary, or last of men, beyond whom there is no further man; who is of such a kind in the genus of men that to him is ascribed the cessation and desistance of men, so that the state of men cannot proceed further, but ends in him; otherwise men would not be men, but something more than men.
So S. Cyril on John 1:5: "As if to say," he remarks, "he was not so much a creature formed according to the type of men, but the end and abjection of the people"—that is, not so much a man as a certain empty phantom of a man.
Hence the Septuagint translate: "Failing before the sons of men," as Tertullian reads in Against the Jews, Chapter 9: "Despised, and the last of men." The Arabic: "The last of the sons of men."
Such a man was Christ from the beginning of his nativity unto death. For he was born a little one, and as it were a child of the lowest condition; he was placed in a manger between an ox and an ass, because there was no room for him in the inn. Such he was until his thirtieth year, working at the craft of a carpenter with Joseph. Such he was for the remaining years, traveling on foot through Judea and Galilee. For "the foxes," he himself says, "have holes" (Matthew 8:20).
And such he was especially in his passion and on the cross, where he hung among thieves, as if a malefactor and thief, as if unworthy of the company of men, unworthy of life, unworthy to touch and tread the earth with his feet, and therefore suspended, he hung between heaven and earth.
But why did Christ wish to become "cessation," or "the last of men"?
Because Adam, equally with Lucifer, wished to become first—not of men, but of angels; indeed, of gods, for he wished to be equal to God. For this God reproaches Adam in Genesis 3:22: "Behold, Adam has become as one of us."
Hence pride and ambition were born in his posterity, and so innate that this vice is the first in man while living, and the last while dying, as the physicists teach concerning the animal and human heart.
Therefore, that Christ might heal this vice so deeply implanted in us, he used this most efficacious remedy, namely, his own example: that, though he was in the form of God, he emptied himself and took the form of a servant, and became man, indeed the last of men.
For what pride will there be in so paltry a little man, which the self-emptying and humiliation of so great a Son of God, and King of kings, and Lord of lords, will not crush? Who will complain that he is despised, who, if he looks sincerely at his own conscience, sees himself to be contemptible by many names, when he sees the Lord Christ despised, and so despised?
Who is so despised as to be, like him, chadal ish—that is, "cessation" and "desistance of men"? Who now seeks honors and praises, when he sees Christ seeking opprobrium and contempt for himself?
Blush, O earth: God humbles himself; and you, O little worm, exalt yourself?
Do you therefore wish to heal the lethal wound inflicted on you by Adam? Do you wish to cure your ambition? Follow Christ; seek not the highest, but the lowest; desire from your heart to be last and lowest. Here lie great riches, great treasures hidden: because the lowest place is the center of humility, in which he who places himself enjoys the greatest quiet and tranquility of soul, fearing no fall or descent; for since he places himself at the bottom, he cannot descend or fall further; and on the contrary, the proud and haughty, who place themselves on high, are cast down to the depths.
Here also is the most noble and most excellent place. For that place is most excellent which is next to the king, that is, the Emperor. But the place of our King Christ was the lowest, as Isaiah says here.
Therefore you err, O Christian, if you think the most excellent place is the highest, and seek the summit, not the lowest. Hear Christ persuading: "When you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place."
Therefore be humble, and you will be exalted by Christ. Prefer the lowest to all; desire to be postponed to all; but shun and fear being preferred to even one. This is the wisdom of the saints.
See S. Bernard, Sermon 37 on the Canticle, at the end. Thus Christ gave this rule to a certain holy virgin: "Greatly desire the lowest places, and you will be reformed according to the image of him who, being in the form of God, emptied himself. Let refrigeration and refreshment be in nothing other than in being the last and the least of all."
Finally, commenting on these words of Isaiah, S. Bernard, On the Passion of the Lord, justly exclaims:
"O what a man! Both the opprobrium of men and the glory of angels! No one more sublime, no one more humble."
And he adds:
"Marvelous is your passion, O Lord Jesus, which will justify many. In this passion, brethren, three things especially should be considered: the work, the cause, the fruit. In the work, patience is commended; in the cause, humility; in the fruit, charity. The recollection of patience drives away all voluptuousness; the consideration of humility expels all curiosity; charity utterly removes all inordinate desire."
ISAIAH 53:4
"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted."
Commentary:
"Surely he hath borne our griefs" — The Septuagint translate: "He bears our sins, and suffers pain for us." St. Peter follows the Septuagint in 1 Peter 2:24: "Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree." St. Cyril of Alexandria reads: "He bore our sins in his body on the wood." St. Athanasius, Oration 4 against the Arians: "Bearing our sins in the cross with his body." The Syriac: "He bore all our sins, and carried them in his body to the cross, that by suffering and satisfying for them he might abolish them, and as it were nail them to the cross," as Paul says in Colossians 2:14.
The Chaldean paraphrase here: "He shall pray for our sins, and our iniquities for his sake shall be forgiven."
Moreover, St. Matthew 8:17, having narrated various diseases, sick persons, and energumens healed by Christ, adds: "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases."
You may ask: How does St. Matthew accommodate this to bodily diseases, and how did Christ bear them?
First, Forerius explains thus: "Took," that is, removed; "bore," that is, carried away, cast out; not however that he took them upon himself. For thus it is said: "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world." For Christ did not formally take the sins of the world into himself and his soul.
However, the Hebrew sabal properly signifies to bear and carry a burden; and it is certain that Isaiah speaks of pains taken upon himself by Christ; for this reason he called him the "Man of Sorrows," and soon after, "stricken by God."
Secondly, St. Thomas and Lyranus by "griefs and sorrows" understand hunger, thirst, weariness. But what are these toward curing the diseases of others?
Thirdly, Jansenius and Maldonatus think St. Matthew speaks in an accommodated sense: namely, he accommodates the words of Isaiah spoken of diseases of the soul to diseases of the body. But the phrase "that it might be fulfilled" opposes this; for to fulfill is one thing, to accommodate is another. Therefore that passage ought not to be explained accommodatively, as Gabriel Vasquez rightly teaches.
I say first: St. Matthew does not mean to say that Christ took the diseases of others upon himself; for Christ did not sicken, nor did he have disease, but his body was always sound and integral.
Because diseases do not become a divine body most perfectly glorified by the Holy Spirit, and they would have been an impediment to his labors, journeys, preaching, work of legislation and our redemption, for which he was sent into the world by the Father.
Because Christ took upon himself only human passions common to human nature, not proper to this or that man, such as fever, stone, and other diseases.
Because diseases arise from imperfect formation of the body, put from complexion and temperament of the four humors incongruous and ill-tempered, put from intemperance of food, labors, studies, etc., or finally from ignorance and imprudence, by which we do not know, or do not notice, or do not avoid foods, air, and other things harmful to health. But none of these things were in Christ; just as neither were they in Adam in the state of innocence. Finally, in Christ, in whom there was no concupiscence, there ought to be no disease; for this is its effect, penalty, and curb destined by God.
I say second: It is probable that Isaiah here has a twofold literal sense. The first is, concerning diseases of the soul, that is, sins, and their penalties, which Christ took upon himself and expiated on the cross: and this Isaiah chiefly intends, as is clear from what follows and from the word "carried." The second, subordinate to the first, concerns diseases of the body, as Cajetan teaches on Matthew 8. For these are types and effects of the diseases of the soul, which St. Matthew says Christ bore, not by taking them upon himself, but through compassion, by which he was moved to take them away and restore the sick to health: as the Apostle says in Galatians 6:2: "Bear ye one another's burdens." So Leo of Castro.
I say third: It is truer that by "griefs and sorrows" which Christ bore, Isaiah understands sins, as the Septuagint translate, and their offspring, which are diseases, pains, and all miseries and penalties of body and soul. For this is the offspring and progeny of sin, which Christ carried and abolished. For Christ endured so cruel and bitter a death on the cross, that he might abolish all these infirmities and miseries, and death itself, either here or in the resurrection.
Therefore, just as he bore our sins on the cross and expiated them: so consequently he bore diseases, and hence he had the power of curing them, because he took them upon himself to be healed. So St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius on Matthew 8, and Origen on Romans 8 and 15. This is what Hilary says, cited by St. Thomas in the Catena on Matthew 8: "Christ by the passion of his body, according to the sayings of the Prophets, absorbed the infirmities of human weakness." St. Peter alludes to this in 1 Peter 2:24: "Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree." For it follows the Septuagint, who here translate: "He bears our sins, and suffers pain for us."
Note: He calls griefs and sorrows "ours," because the guilt of sinners was ours, and was ours; but the penalty was ours, that is, it was equally ours, and inhered in us. For we were guilty of present and eternal pains and torments. But Christ transferred all these into himself.
Hence Sanchez and other learned and pious men think that our diseases and languors (since they are penalties of original sin, and often for actual sins are inflicted by God on each one) added something of pain and crucifixion to Christ suffering, and that he underwent and tolerated certain peculiar penalties, or some increase of penalties, that he might cure and take them away. Therefore all the pains which the elect endured, or endure, passed through that sacred humanity, and thence became sweet and amiable to us, as a certain holy virgin afflicted with a grave disease said.
For Christ, as St. Peter Chrysologus piously and wisely says, Sermon 150: "Came to take our infirmities, and confer his virtues on us; seeking human things, bestowing divine; receiving injuries, rendering dignities; bearing foul things, restoring health." Because the physician who does not bear infirmities, knows not how to cure; and he who has not been made infirm with the infirm, cannot confer health on the infirm.
Finally, Rupert, Vasquez, Maldonatus, and from them Sanchez, say that this place of Isaiah directly regards sins, indirectly diseases; because Christ cured bodily diseases with this end, that through them he might make a step to the cure of diseases of the soul. For while the sick saw themselves so beneficently and miraculously cured by Christ, they believed in him, and stirred up by him they grieved and were compuncted for their sins, and thus impetrated pardon and grace from him, as happened to St. Mary Magdalene. Whence many teach that all those whom Christ cured corporally, were also cured spiritually by him and justified. But this sense does not explain how Christ bore and carried bodily diseases. Therefore the third sense, which alone explains this itself, is to be taken, and to this the others are to be joined.
"Yet we did esteem him stricken" — We, namely the Jews (for he speaks in their person), did not consider that Christ bore our griefs, but we thought him so afflicted and deformed for his own sins, that he seemed to be a leper; yet he bore not his own leprosy, but ours.
Again, "we esteemed him as a leper," that is, unclean, and struck by God for his own crimes. For leprosy among the Jews is often a penalty of sin, and God inflicted it on the proud, murmuring, and rebellious, as on Miriam the sister of Moses, on King Uzziah, and others, as I showed in Leviticus 13 at the beginning.
Note, Christ is compared to a leper on account of eight analogies:
Because, just as a leper stained with leprosy over his whole body strikes horror in beholders: so Christ livid over his whole body with scourges and wounds moved horror and compassion in beholders; so that Pilatus meritously proposed him to the Jews, saying: "Behold the Man."
The leper had rent garments: So the soldiers tore the garments, and even the flesh of Christ.
The leper had a bare head: So Christ was with bare head, but crowned with a crown of thorns.
The leper had his mouth covered with a garment: Again Christ: "As a lamb before his shearer he shall be dumb, and shall not open his mouth."
The leper defiled himself with sordid things: Christ says: "I am a worm, and no man; the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people." Christ was like holy Job, who sitting in the dunghill, was not recognized by his friends, because there was no appearance to him, and he was despised and the lowest of men.
The flesh of lepers was most vile and abject: Christ was such.
The proud were wont to be punished with leprosy: and Christ bore the appearance as it were of leprosy for our pride, and cured it by this abjection. For our pride's wound was cured by his livor.
Lepers were cast out of the city, no one deemed them worthy of approach, congress, or speech, all spurned them, and fled them as a plague: So Christ as a leper was cast out beyond the gate and crucified, Hebrews 13:12. And Psalm 38:12: "My friends and my neighbors have drawn near, and stood over against me. And they that were near me stood afar off." (St. Jerome translates: "Who stood against my leprosy").
Isaiah especially regards the first analogy here: for he calls him a leper, because struck by God.
"And smitten of God, and afflicted" — The Syriac translates: "Stricken of God," that is, by God. From the Hebrew it can be translated: "Stricken by God, and humbled," or "afflicted." For this the Hebrew nagah eloim ve'innah plainly signifies. Christ therefore was struck by God, and humbled.
Wherefore through these Hebrew words, many Jews were converted from Judaism to Christianity, as Andreas Payva teaches in Defense of the Tridentine Faith, Book 4, after the beginning. For when asked how they had given their hands to Christ whom they hated, they responded that they were convinced by these words of Isaiah so clear, nor could they evade them even if they wished. A certain distinguished Hebrew narrated this to me here in Rome.
ISAIAH 53:5
"But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
Commentary:
"But he was wounded for our iniquities" — Namely, not Christ's, but our iniquities wounded and bruised Christ, and made him weep, sigh, and groan.
Yours, O glutton, your gluttony gave Christ gall and vinegar to drink.
Yours, O proud man, your ambition suspended Christ among thieves.
Yours, O dandy, your luxury of garments crowned Christ with a crown of thorns.
Yours, O lustful one, your libido transfixed Christ with nails, cut him with scourges, and bloodied his whole body.
Yours, O slanderer, your maledictions and blasphemies covered with spittings the face of Christ, into which the Angels desire to look.
Do you wish therefore, O sinner, to see the living image of your sinning soul? Behold Christ scourged, spit upon, crowned, and crucified: behold him bloodied and livid over his whole body, so that his whole body does not seem to be anything but one plague, livor, and wound: behold him disfigured as a leper. This is the form, this the species of your soul: which Christ took upon himself and expressed. Pray him, that with his stripes he may cure the stripes of your soul, with his wounds your wounds.
Again, see and admire the abyss of the love of Christ, who substituted himself for you in this inform shape, in these pains and crucifixions before God, who willed to suffer all these things for you, who offered himself a victim for your sins, a victim, I say, so cut up and mangled. As many welts, livors, and stigmata you see in his body, so many signs, so many characters of immense love you behold. "Love was carved in his whole body." O love, love, our love, good Jesus, how much you loved us, with how much pain, indeed love, did you bring us forth! The measure of pain is love, the measure of love is pain. For love was far greater than pain; the sea of your love absorbed all the rivers of pains.
Grant, Lord Jesus, that we may feel not our pain, but your pain; not our love, but your love. Wound our heart with your pain, inebriate our heart with your love, that with St. Paul we may say: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."
"The chastisement of our peace was upon him" — For "chastisement" the Hebrew is musar, that is, correction. For this children need, who like little beasts are wanton and wander with their senses, that they may be constrained, and that they may receive and learn discipline from a teacher. Hence correction, flagellation, beating, indeed even the whip itself by metonymy and metalepsis, is called discipline, because namely it begets and induces discipline. So the Hebrew limmud, that is stimulus, is derived from lamad, that is he learned. For calves and oxen, as well as boys, and rude men, do not learn to undergo the yoke and discipline, unless driven by stimuli. Hence Proverbs 23:15 it is said: "Withhold not correction from the child," that is chastisement; and Prov 29:15: "The rod of correction shall drive it away," namely, the foolishness of the boy. Ecclesiastes 12:11 alludes to this when it says: "The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fixed on high, which by the counsel of masters are given from one shepherd."
The sense therefore is, as if to say: Christ was chastised, vexed and exercised with scourges and plagues, that he might reconcile us to God, and that we might have peace with him. So St. Peter alluding to this place in 1 Peter 2:24. So Procopius.
Again, by "peace" the Hebrews understand all prosperity and every good: for this Christ by his evils and afflictions begot for us.
Calvin therefore wrongly infers from this, that for the penitent, to whom God through Christ has remitted sins, there is no temporal penalty to be endured, because Christ bore this, Isaiah saying: "The chastisement of our peace." Wrongly, I say. For Scripture here signifies not temporal penalty, but guilt and eternal penalty. For this begets war and hatred of God, which Jesus reconciling us removed by his death, making peace.
Thirdly, Sanchez explains the Hebrew shalem, meaning retribution, thus: "The discipline of retribution which we ought to render and repay for our sins, this God imposes upon him," as if to say: Whatever penalties God ought or could have exacted from us for our sins for all eternity, this the Father exacted from the innocent Son.
Moreover, Calvin collects from this imperiously and blasphemously, that Christ felt the pains and desperations of the damned, not in himself but satisfactorily, because he condignly satisfied for them on account of the dignity of his person suffering.
"And with his stripes we are healed" — Vatablus translates: "And by his livor medicine was made for us." This is a precious pharmacy, which Christ compounded not from the juices of herbs, not from the fat of beasts, not from another body and blood, but from his own. He hid this pharmacy in the Sacraments instituted by himself; thence indeed the Sacraments have the power of justifying and healing the diseases of the soul, namely, from the livor, blood, and wounds of Christ.
ISAIAH 53:6
"All we like sheep have gone astray; every one hath turned to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Commentary:
"All we like sheep have gone astray" — Like sheep having nor following a shepherd, but their own gluttony and concupiscence. We have erred through the labyrinths of pleasures, exposed to the rage of wolves, who might tear us, and transport us into the cavern of Gehenna. Christ alludes to this, when he compares himself to the shepherd who sought the stray sheep, and having imposed it on his shoulders brought it back to the fold, Luke 15:5. And St. Peter in 1 Peter 2:25 when he says: "For you were as sheep going astray; but are now converted unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls."
"And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" — For "laid" Vatablus translates "cast"; Forerius, "made to occur or run into." For the Hebrew paga signifies, first, to occur, to fall upon; secondly, to rush upon anyone, and kill him, as Gideon rushed upon the princes of Madian, Judges 8:21. In both ways, says Forerius, our sins occurred to Christ: they rushed upon him, that they might destroy him: they fell upon him, that they might be expiated by him.
Here consider, Christian reader, that your sins and mine were part of that army which rushed upon Christ, and slaughtered him.
The Septuagint translate: "The Lord delivered him up for our iniquities," that namely, our sins being translated from us onto Christ, might as it were recline upon him, and offer him as it were guilty to be punished and crucified. To Christ most innocent and the greatest enemy of iniquity, it was a very great cross to be delivered to iniquity, and far worse than to be delivered to Caiphas, Pilate, scourges, nails, and cross.
ISAIAH 53:7
"He was offered because it was his own will: he opened not his mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth."
Commentary:
"He was offered because it was his own will" — The Hebrew is "he approached," namely as a victim for sin to be slaughtered on the altar of the cross, that is, he was offered (our translator translates well), because he himself responded. Whence Paul from this in Hebrews 10:5: "Sacrifice and oblation thou wouldest not; but a body thou hast fitted to me... Then said I: Behold I come... to do thy will, O God."
Wherefore Symmachus here translates: "You were brought near and you obeyed." Whence it is clear that both Symmachus and our Translator, for niggas (he approached), read nuggas (he was made to approach, brought near, offered).
Now for niggas through gimel, they read niggas through sin: which signifies, exacted, straitened, afflicted was, as a surety or debtor: For Christ became surety for our debt; whence the Father exacted our debt from him. So Cyril and Sanchez. Forerius translates: "Driven, or rather led was he as a sheep, and he himself did not open his mouth." Vatablus: "Punished and afflicted"; Pagninus: "Oppressed and afflicted."
"Because it was his own will" — Not coerced by the arms and violence of the Jews capturing him, not unwilling and reluctant; but spontaneously accepting the will and command of the Father, and offering himself freely to him. This is what Paul says in Galatians 2:20: "Who loved me, and delivered himself for me," and Christ himself in John 10:18: "No man taketh it away from me: but I lay it down of myself."
Hence it is clear that Christ's death was truly and properly a sacrifice: otherwise it is concerning the death of Martyrs. For Christ properly immolated himself on the cross to the Father for the redemption of men, that he might reconcile them to God, which is the proximate end of sacrifice. Wherefore also he was offered with mystical rite. For it was not by chance, but by his own election and the Father's, that on the feast day of Pasch, and on the altar of the cross, and with hands extended, and outside the gate of Jerusalem he suffered. Whence Christ in John 17:19 says: "For them do I sanctify," that is sacrifice, "myself." So St. Leo, Epistle 83. St. Augustine, Book 1 against the Adversary of the Law and the Prophets, Chapter 18.
Piously and truly St. Bernard, Sermon 3 on the Purification of the Blessed Virgin: "He was offered," he says, "not because he merited, not because the Jew prevailed: but because he willed. I will sacrifice freely to thee, O Lord, because freely you were offered for my salvation, not for your necessity."
"He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter" — With that sharp shearing, by which not wool and garment, but skin, flesh, blood and life, will be shorn and scraped off from him by scourges, nails and plagues: he will not deny, will not complain, will not cry out, will not resist, but with most mild patience he will silently endure all things.
Symbolically St. Ambrose, Epistle 25: "Well," he says, "before the shearer, who loses not dignity, but superfluity." St. John the Baptist alludes to this in John 1:36: "Behold the Lamb of God," namely predicted here by Isaiah, and figured in the paschal lamb.
Note: Symbolically, the name of the Lamb, namely Jesus, in Greek by anagram is the same as sheep, as is clear from this anagram of his: Iesous, Oisus, that is, He is Sheep. So William Blancus Albiensis, Book on Anagrams. For in both the same letters are entirely, but in changed order.
More admirable was in the passion the lamb-like, indeed divine meekness, patience and silence of Christ, than his very passion and cross; especially joined with such heroic constancy, liberty and fortitude, who, as St. Peter says in 1 Peter 2:23: "When he was reviled, he reviled not again: when he suffered, he threatened not: but delivered himself to him that judgeth him unjustly." Namely he here gave a perfect mirror of virtue. This our sheep brought forth others like to itself: for from it all the patient, all the constant, all the confessors, all the Martyrs drew their fortitude as well as patience.
Wherefore St. Francis, seeing or hearing a lamb named, was moved with tender affection, was dissolved in tears, bought the lambs who were led to the slaughter: for he beheld in them then the Lamb of God, from whom he professed he had drawn his lamb-like simplicity, innocence and leniency.
Therefore the redemption of our Lamb is, first, most clement; secondly, universal; thirdly, eternal. It is most clement, because of a lamb, not a lion; it is universal, because of the world; it is eternal, because of all time: it embraces all peoples, all cities, all men, of every state, of whatever sex and condition they may be.
Formerly in the time of Noe, God took away the sins of all as a lion (for with the deluge he overwhelmed all): but through Christ he took them away as a lamb. The deluge of waters killed men, not sins: the deluge of the blood of the lamb brought death to sins, life to men.
Where note the wonderful, and more than leonine fortitude and victory of the most mild lamb. For this lamb subdued the world not with iron, but with wood; not with sword, but with cross; not by striking, but by suffering; not by slaughtering, but by dying.
This lamb therefore is the Lion of the tribe of Juda:
Because he prostrated sin, the devil, hell, and the flesh.
Because both in this life, and especially in judgment, he will be kind and sweet to the saints and elect as a lamb, but to the reprobate terrible as a lion; so that they struck say to the mountains and rocks: "Fall upon us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb," Apocalypse 6.
Because this lamb transforms lions and wolves, and makes them lambs. Whence St. Augustine, Sermon 1 on the Conversion of St. Paul: "Slain," he says, "the Lamb [Christ] by wolves, and makes [Paul] a lamb from wolves." The same, Tract 7 on John: "The Lamb came. What kind of lamb is he? Who kills the lion. What kind of lamb is he? Who slain divides the lion. The devil was called a lion going about and roaring, seeking whom he may devour. By whom was he slain? By the lamb. Behold the spectacle of Christians."
ISAIAH 53:8
"He was taken away from distress and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the wickedness of my people have I struck him."
Commentary:
"He was taken away from distress and from judgment" — So also Symmachus translates.
First, Forerius: The Hebrew otser, that is, anguish, straitening, compression, was the very crowd of the people compressing itself: but judgment, was the very concert of judges, namely both from the crowd and from the judges he was condemned and killed. For the judges themselves, namely the pontiffs, said: "He is guilty of death," and they themselves persuaded the crowd, that before Pilate they should cry out: "Crucify him." For "taken away," Forerius translates "dragged," namely to punishment.
Secondly, Sanchez: "Taken away," he says, that is, exalted onto the cross the judgment of Christ, as the Septuagint translate, that is, Christ judged: for often abstracts are put for concretes.
Thirdly, and genuinely, it is a hendiadys: "From distress and from judgment," that is, from the distress of judgment, or from the narrow judgment, as if to say: Christ from the judgment of Pilate and the pontiffs full of anguish, oppression and humility, was taken away to the punishment of the cross. So from Origen, Leo of Castro.
The Septuagint, whom St. Luke follows in Acts 8:32, translate: "In his humility his judgment was taken away." They seem to have read mishpato, that is, his judgment, not me'otser, that is, from distress. Or rather, because to take someone away from judgment is the same as to take away and overturn his judgment. The sense is, says St. Jerome, Christ the judge of all, did not find truth of his judgment: for in humility, that is, on account of Christ's humility, abjection and silence, by which as a lamb he was dumb, the proud pontiffs and Pilate tumultuously and most iniquitously condemned the innocent. So therefore his judgment was taken away, because the juridical cognition of Christ's cause was not performed, without cognition of the cause he was damned and dragged to the cross.
"And who shall declare his generation?"
First, Forerius and Vatablus by "generation" understand the age, namely the men and Jews of this age. For dor in Hebrew signifies age or century, and thus it is called from succession and volubility, because age succeeds age, and century century, so that they seem to complete a circle. But it is said both of time, and of the men of that time, and all things which in that space happen and occur. As if to say: Who will explain the depravity of the Jews, Pilate, and the soldiers of that age, who so mocked, scourged, crucified Christ? This sense satisfies well with the precedents: for it explains the judgment, concerning which he said: "From distress and from judgment he was taken away." Again the Latin generation, equally as the Greek genea and Hebrew dor, often metonymically signifies the men of that age or century.
Secondly, Lyranus, Gorcus, and others, by "generation" understand the progeny and offspring of Christ, namely the Christians who are propagated through all ages. For dor in Hebrew properly is a series, either of time, or of men and posterity, namely a certain succession, or revolution both of times, and of men successively born, propagating themselves and posterity in a certain order. Whence dor is called a sphere, or globe and circle from revolution. And from dor some deduce the verb durare: for dor is successive duration. To this exposition favors that which follows: "Because he was cut off from the land of the living"; and below: "If he shall lay down his life for sin, he shall see a long-lived seed." As if to say: The Jews attempted to cut off Christ, and his name and stock, but in vain: For God will give him generation and progeny numerous through all ages, and he himself shall see his seed long-lived, indeed eternal. Again Christ had dor, age and life brief, and in the very flower of his age he was taken away: but dying he left illustrious offspring, who propagated his name and stock through the whole orb, and through all ages. From Christ began a new age, a new and golden century. Whence he is commonly called the "Beginning of the Eternal Father."
Thirdly, commonly the Fathers accept this place concerning the generation of Christ, either human, as St. Athanasius, Justin, Tertullian; or divine, as St. Basil, Justin, Chrysostom; or both, as St. Augustine, St. Jerome, Procopius, Cyril, and others. For although Hebrew dor properly does not signify generation, that is, the act of generating, or nativity; yet it signifies the age of anyone, and the series of generation, by which anyone from father or mother at his time is born, and succeeds them.
The Prophet therefore contemplating the reproaches and pains of Christ, at the same time contemplating his person and dignity, is rapt, and admiring exclaims: "Who shall declare his generation?" How do you crucify him, O Jews? How will Christ suffer such dire things, whose age or series of origin and life is ineffable? For if you look at him as God, his age is eternity: for from eternity the Father begot and produced him: he is therefore co-eternal to the Father. If you look at him as man, his age, by which he was propagated, and by which from his mother he came forth into the world, was new and admirable: for he was born and conceived in the end of the ages from a Virgin, the Holy Spirit operating. Again, born he united hypostatically human nature to the Word: which union is insoluble and eternal. What God has joined, let not man separate. How therefore was he taken away from distress and from judgment? How was he cut off from the land of the living?
This sense, as it is common to the Fathers, so it is more sublime and divine. Wherefore Tertullian, Book against the Jews Chapter 13, and elsewhere reads: "Who shall declare his nativity?"
"Because he was cut off out of the land of the living" — Like a tree cut down, indeed uprooted, to which he compared him in verse 2. This is causal, if you look at the first and more second sense now given, as if to say: Therefore Christ will give generation, that is, offspring numerous and inexplicable, because he was cut off from the earth. For just as grain dead fructifies, and multiplies itself, and as a tree cut down sprouts again into more shoots: so Christ dying sowed many Christians from himself.
"For the wickedness of my people have I struck him" — These are the words of the Father concerning Christ the Son. The Septuagint translate: "From the iniquities of my people he was led to death." The iniquities therefore of my people were the lictors and executioners of Christ.
Note: The Septuagint read nagah lamo, that is, struck (or nuga, that is, led) to death. Our translator better reads nega lamo, that is, the stroke is to him, that is, the stroke is for them. For "them," the Hebrew is lamo, that is lahem, which the Jews thus understand, as if to say: On account of the crimes of the Christians the Jews are struck. For they think themselves to suffer exile and all these so hard and long things, on account of the sins of Christians, especially on account of their hatreds by which they subjugate and afflict the Jews. Whence they interpret this whole chapter concerning the afflictions, not of Christ, but of the Jews. Calvin favors the Jews. Concerning whom see our Lessius in Antichrist. Meritously therefore Hunnius wrote a book with this title: Calvinus Judaizans (Calvin Judaizing). Hunnius was a Lutheran theologian.
But all the precedents are singular, not plural, and signify a certain person, namely Christ, not the Jews.
I respond therefore, lamo is put for lo, that is, ei, that is, him. For so it is taken in Is 44:15, Psalm 29:8, and elsewhere. So also here it ought to be taken, is clear both from the Septuagint, Chaldean, Vatablus, and others, who equally as our translator translate, him. Whence some suspect that the Jews corrupted this place, that for lo, they wrote lamo. But even if we translate lamo, them (not him), as St. Jerome translates in Commentary on Symmachus, Theodoret, and Forerius, it is not here for the Jews, but rather against. For the sense is, as Forerius and St. Jerome rightly say: "For the wickedness of my people," that is, of the Jews, who dared to lay hands on the Messiah, whom I sent them as redeemer, "I struck them," or, as the Hebrew is, "the plague is to them": for all the plagues of the Jews flow from this, that they themselves killed their Christ and ours.
ISAIAH 53:9
"And he gave the wicked for his burial, and the rich for his death: because he had done no iniquity, neither was there deceit in his mouth."
Commentary:
"And he gave the wicked for his burial"
First, Procopius and St. Augustine, Homily 86 among 50, Tome 10, thus explain: As if to say: The wicked, namely the soldiers, Pilate will give for the burial of Christ, namely for the custody of his sepulcher. Again Caiphas will give the rich, namely the Jews, who with their moneys may corrupt these custodian soldiers, for his death, that namely they may not confess him to have risen from death, but may lie that he was stolen by the disciples while dead. For all these things regard the passion of Christ, and narrate those things which Christ suffered, as well after death as before.
Secondly, Vatablus, Forerius, and Pagninus from the Hebrew thus translate: "He gave with the wicked his sepulcher, and with the rich in his deaths," and thus they explain: Christ will die on Mount Calvary, where only from the wicked is punishment wont to be taken; but dead he will be carried by the rich Joseph into his sepulcher, into which he will be reposed. But, thus it ought rather to have been said: "He gave with the wicked his death, and with the rich his sepulcher": but now conversely he joins sepulcher with the wicked, death with the rich.
Thirdly, Mariolus wrongly translates: "And he exposed his sepulcher to the wicked, and his death to the rich," and thus explains: Christ was overwhelmed among the wicked and sanguinary hands of the Jews, and as it were buried. For those hands overwhelming Christ are metaphorically called a sepulcher. But he does this, that he may elide the glory of the burial of Christ and of Christians. But in vain: for it is clear concerning the sepulcher and burial properly so called this is treated, and thus all the Fathers and Orthodox Interpreters explain.
For the genuine sense, Note, here is Hebrew rhythm, in which the latter hemistich says the same or nearly the same as the prior: therefore, "he shall give the wicked for his burial," is the same as, "he shall give the rich for his death." For "the rich" is the same as "the rich men," as the Septuagint translate. Now "he shall give," either Christ himself suffering, or rather God the Father. For he just as he permitted him to be struck by the Jews: so equally he will give and this condign reward of his patience, namely vengeance on his enemies the Jews, and other impious, as if to say: God the Father will give this premium to Christ, that he may overturn, kill and bury with himself the hostile kingdom of sin, impiety and the impious, because he was unjustly killed and buried by them.
But he will give dissimilarly, and therefore doubly.
For the impious remaining impious and rebellious, because they will not believe and obey Christ, he will give for burial, etc., because God the Father will make that the impious and rich, such as were the Jews who killed Christ, give deserved penalties for this slaying and death, both in the excision by Titus, and in Gehenna. So Eusebius, St. Jerome, Cyril, Procopius, Chrysostom, Euthymius, and from them Leo of Castro. This sense agrees with that which preceded: "For the wickedness of my people the plague shall be to them," as I said is in the Hebrew.
God the Father the impious willing to believe and obey Christ, he will give and subject to Christ, that in them he may kill impiety, and raise up justice and piety, and thus he will kill the impious, by transforming them into the pious. For this is the sum, most noble and divine vengeance of Christ, and this Christ by his death and burial merited: for his scope and all fruit was, that sin be taken away. Again, he will call away the rich from the pride of riches and honors, and make them humble and obedient to Christ, and this for his death, or his, that is, on account of the merit of his death. So St. Jerome, Haymo, Dionysius, Adamus, Forerius and others.
The Hebrews indicate this sense: for they have: "He gave the impious his sepulcher," as if to say: God the Father will make that the impious and impiety be buried with Christ, and all improbity be thrust into the abyss and inferno, that henceforth here on earth he himself reign, and his justice and sanctity. Whence we all dead to sins and the old life, may rise again into a new, holy and Christian life. This is what Paul says in Romans 6:4: "For we are buried together with him by baptism into death; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life."
"And the rich for his death" — "Rich," that is, the rich men. So the Septuagint and from them Cyril, Procopius, Chrysostom, Augustine, Tertullian and others. Moreover St. Jerome by the impious understands the Gentiles unfaithful, therefore impious: by the rich, namely in faith and law, the Jews, as if to say: God will give both people of the Jews and Gentiles to Christ, as one his Church, and this for the merit of his death.
But simply anyone here can be accepted impious, equally as rich, namely both from the Gentiles as from the Jews. But why do the Hebrews and Our translator have "the rich," not "the rich men"? Response: Because among the rich he notes one singular, namely Joseph of Arimathea, who buried Christ dead with aromatics. Did that Joseph of Arimathea bury the poor man honorably in his own sepulcher? In which he sought riches, says St. Augustine, Homily 36 among 50. That Joseph is noted here the Fathers teach with St. Augustine, Vatablus, Forerius, and others commonly. Whence Pagninus translates: "He gave with the impious his sepulcher, and with the rich among his dead"; others: "He placed with the impious his sepulcher, and with the rich in his death," as if to say: The rich Joseph buried Christ in his death among his dead, that is, in his monument.
"Because he had done no iniquity" — As if to say: Because neither by deed, nor by word he sinned, because he was innocent. Here he gives the cause, why God granted so great a reward and vengeance to Christ suffering, namely his innocence, or that he suffered so great things, since he was plainly innocent and innoxious. St. Peter alludes to this in 1 Peter 2:22, and St. John in 1 John 3:5.
ISAIAH 53:10
"Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him in infirmity: if he shall lay down his life for sin, he shall see a long-lived seed: the will of the Lord shall be prosperous in his hand."
Commentary:
"Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him in infirmity" — By making infirm, afflicting and crucifying him. For "bruise," the Hebrew is daka, that is, to express, to crush. The Septuagint contrary translate, namely: "The Lord wishes to cleanse him from the wound," that is, as Tertullian reads, "to cleanse from death," by raising him: or "to make him clean," that is, to show him clean and innocent, while namely on account of Christ's slaughter he so punishes the Jews through Titus, says Cyril, Procopius, and Leo of Castro. The Septuagint seem to have read le'dakeo for dako.
"If he shall lay down his life for sin" — That is, himself, or his life. The Hebrew is: if he shall place sin, that is, a victim for sin, an expiation. For the victim which was borne for the sin of the sinner, took upon itself his sin, and bore as it were sin: as is clear concerning the scapegoat which was offered on the day of expiation, Leviticus 16:21.
Imitating this Hebraism the Apostle says: "Him that knew no sin, for us he hath made sin, that we might be made the justice of God in him," 2 Corinthians 5:21.
"He shall see a long-lived seed" — That is, spiritual sons, namely very many Christians through the whole orb: and this long-lived, because they will last until the end of the world, indeed through all eternity. Christ alluded to this saying: "Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit," John 12:25. In Christ therefore dying for us, and raising us to life by his death, true is that enigma of the phoenix (which others attribute to the pelican, which they say with its blood gives life to dead chicks):
"It brings forth while it perishes; It perishes while it brings forth."
Therefore by these words and the precedents, is contained the pact, or promise of God to Christ. And which he promises he will accept his works, labors, passion and death, for the redemption of men. Whence it is clear, to Christ by justice was due our grace and glory, as Francis Suarez, Part 3, Question 1, Article 2, Disputation 4, Section 2.
"The will of the Lord shall be prosperous in his hand" — That is, it will succeed, it will fall out happily. For the will of the Lord cannot be void: wherefore through Christ he will efficaciously cure the salvation of all the Gentiles, which he so thirsts and burns for, that for it he gave the Only Begotten Son to death and the death of the cross. This is that long seed, which he named.
Again, "the will of the Lord shall be directed," that is, whatever around the Lord he decreed supernaturally to be done, by the merits of Christ it will be executed, says Ludovicus Molina. Whence St. Jerome: "The will of the Lord," he says, "shall be directed, and whatever the Father willed and decreed, by his virtues it will be performed." And a little below he adds: "Because he labored, he shall see the Church rising in the whole orb, and he shall be satiated with their faith."
ISAIAH 53:11
"He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be filled: by his knowledge shall my just servant justify many, and he shall bear their iniquities."
Commentary:
"He shall see of the travail of his soul" — Clearly Vatablus translates: "From the labor (sweat and pain) of his soul, he shall see," that is, he shall perceive the fruit perceived from his labor, namely the salvation and harvest of so many souls, and with it he shall be satiated. For this one thing he ate and thirsted living and dying. Whence on the cross he exclaimed: "I thirst."
"By his knowledge shall my just servant justify many" — This knowledge can be taken in two ways:
Actively: As if to say: Christ through his knowledge, that is through his doctrine, preaching and Gospel will justify many, that is, he will teach and show the way to justice.
Passively: As if to say: Christ through the knowledge and faith of himself, not naked, but formed by charity and instructed with good works, he will justify many. So Vatablus and Sanchez. St. Paul alludes to this in Romans 3:26 saying: "That he himself may be just, and the justifier of him, who is in the faith of Jesus Christ."
"And he shall bear their iniquities" — As a porter bears the burden and weight of another on his shoulders. For this is sabal: and it is causal: for it signifies the cause and mode of justifying Christ, namely, that on his part he himself bore our iniquities, and merited justice for us; on our part however it requires faith, that we believe him to have done this, and ourselves to be justified through his passion and merits. This is the knowledge of the saints, which justifies them.
Tropologically St. Clement, Book 2 Apostolic Constitutions Chapter 25, from this place teaches, that the Bishop like Christ should bear the sins of all, and expiate them by praying. "You," he says, "Bishops (and pastors), are to your laity Prophets, princes, leaders, kings, mediators of God and his faithful, receptacles of the word of God, and preachers of it, knowers of the Scriptures, and witnesses of the will of God, who bear the sins of all and will render account for all, etc. For you are imitators of Christ the Lord, that, just as he bore all our sins on the wood of the cross being crucified without any fault and stain for those who were worthy of punishment, so also you ought to attribute the sins of the people to yourselves, and lead them as your own."
ISAIAH 53:12
"Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoils of the strong: because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and was reputed with the wicked: and he hath borne the sins of many, and prayed for the transgressors."
Commentary:
"Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great"
First, "the great," that is, the demons, who are the powers and princes of these darknesses. "Spoils," namely the Gentiles unfaithful and impious, Christ will divide among the Apostles, and from them converted through Churches, Episcopalities and dioceses he will distribute. So Leo of Castro.
Secondly, "the great," that is, the powerful kings, princes and Gentiles, "he shall divide the spoils," that is, he will subject them to himself, and to his faith and obedience. It is a catachresis from a leader of war, who parted victory is wont to distribute the spoils of the enemies among the soldiers for merits.
Thirdly, St. Cyril, Book 6 Thesaurus Chapter 5: Christ, he says, will divide the prizes to the strong, that is, to the Saints, who strenuously fought for him, and his kingdom propagating.
Finally, St. Augustine, Book 1 On the Harmony of the Evangelists Chapter 31, by "spoils" understands the riches, which Christ tore away from the devil and the shrines of idols, and attributed to the fabrics of churches. Thus we see here at Rome the Pantheon, columns, marbles and whatever was august and splendid in the orb, by Constantine and others, donated and attributed to the temples of SS. Peter and Paul, and others. Indeed temples at Rome are very many, almost all are marble, and thus they shine and glitter, that they refer and represent the appearance of heaven.
"And he was reputed with the wicked" — Because he hung in the middle between two thieves, as their leader and coryphaeus. So St. Mark explains in Chapter 15:28. For this infamous ignominy, God repaid him this glory, that he divide the spoils of strong kings and princes. "Reputed" Hebrew minnah, that is, enumerated.
"Of many" — That is, of all. For all are many.
"And prayed for the transgressors" — Both at other times, and crying on the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." For "prayed," the Hebrew is yaphgia, that is, he occurred to the wrath of God, he interceded: So Forerius and Vatablus.
This clause seals this whole mystery of the passion of Christ with the insignia and admirable charity of him, who as if forgetful of his own and his people's pains, prayed for his own executioners and crucifiers, and by praying, impetrated pardon, faith, grace, and salvation for the centurion and others.
Christ here taught us to overcome evil in good, to love enemies, to contend with benefits against malefits; and thus to superate and overwhelm them, that from enemies we make friends of God and ours. Which is human and divine.
Christ therefore here condemned the Philosophers, who permit or persuade the vengeance of injuries. For Aristotle, Book 4 Ethics Chapter 3, teaches: To follow the arbitrament of another, and consequently to endure injury, is servile, and magnanimous not to tolerate contumely from an enemy so great, but to repay malediction with malediction. The voice of Severus is at Herodian, Book 2: That if you are the author of injury, you seem unjust: so if you do not avenge injuries accepted, ignoble. More impious and antichristian dogma is of Mahomet in the Alcoran: Therefore he does not evil who hates the enemy, as who kills him, he is worthy of the delights of paradise. Vespasian at Suetonius, in his Life Chapter 9, says: It ought not to be permitted to senators to be maledicted, but to maledict is civil and lawful. And Cicero, Book 1 Offices, says: It is the part of a good man, that he benefit whom he can, He harms no one, unless provoked by injury. Which saying of Cicero meritously Lactantius reprehends, Book 6 Chapter 13, and Plutarch Book on Benefits to be taken from Enemies, where he teaches that even adversaries and enemies ought to be loved. Plato Dialogue 1 On the Republic refutes those who say vengeance is licit. And Dialogue Crito he says: Since to do evil is nothing other than to inflict injury, it is not proper to do evil to anyone, even if you have suffered innumerable things from him. Xenophon Book 2 Cyropaedia: Nature, he says, gave dogs teeth, horses hooves, bulls horns, other animals their weapons. But to man he gave no weapon except reason, by which he may defend himself, and repel injuries.
But these are nothing, if they are compared with Pauls, Stephens, Ignatiuses, and other Christian athletes.
Finally from this St. Bernard infers, Sermon on the 6th Feria of the preceding week: "Therefore I will be mindful, as long as I shall be, of the labors which he endured in preaching, of fatigues in running about, of temptations in fasting, of vigils in praying, of tears in compassionating. I will remember also his pains, contumelies, spittings, blows, mockings, reproaches, clamors, and this sweat, which through him, and over him abundantly passed."
"Therefore fortitude makes me, likeness makes me, but if imitation also shall access that I may equal his footsteps, otherwise even the blood of the just which was fused upon the earth will be required from me."
And St. Augustine, Book On Virginity: "Behold," he says, "the wounds of the hanging one, the blood of the dying one, the price of the redeeming one, the scars of the rising one. He has head inclined to osculating, arms extended to amplifying, whole body exposed to redeeming. Consider how great these are, weigh these in the balance of your heart, that he may be fixed in your heart, who was wholly for us fixed on the cross."
Nearly the same to the word has St. Bernard, Sermon 31 on the Passion of the Lord, upon that "I am a flower of the field," and he transcribed these from St. Augustine, as is noted there in the margin.
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