Translation of Francisco Foreiro's Commentary on Isaiah 50
Is 50:1: "Thus says the Lord..."
The matter is now with the unbelieving Jews. For as if they were not content with the response of the Lord, who promised that their barrenness would be compensated by the multitude of the Gentiles, they still complained against God, saying that God, who had betrothed the progeny of the Jews to Himself, had cast them off as unworthy and taken another. Here He shows that they ought not to complain, for the Jews first made a divorce with God, nor were they willing to acquiesce and believe in the Son of God inviting and willing to be reconciled. Whence He himself most rightly complains in the Gospel: "How often would I have gathered... and you would not" (Matthew 23:37). Therefore, they are condemned by the just judgment of God.
"Who is this?" (אֵי־זֶה). This is usually an interrogation of place, as in Genesis 4: "Where is Abel?" and often it is joined with the pronoun zeh (זה), as in this place, which nevertheless is best rendered by the substantive verb, as in 1 Samuel 19: "Where is the house of the seer?" etc. He asks, therefore, with whom it was, where it might be found, so that it could be examined, etc.
"Of divorce." From the verb which signifies "to cut," the Hebrews form the noun by which they call divorce. Whence in the Law it is the "book of cutting" (liber rescissionis), which Mark calls βιβλίου ἀποστασίου (book of dismissal), that is, a bill of divorce, which the translator of Matthew expressed by one word, ἀποστάσιον (divorcement), as if you should say "divorcement." See Deuteronomy 24. Moreover, bills of this kind were kept, perhaps not only by the divorced woman but by the public scribe. For it was prohibited in the Law that the former husband should receive again her whom he had once divorced, if she had been married to another. Wherefore it was necessary that bills of this kind be preserved. Alluding to this custom not without irony, the Lord says: "Where is the bill..." so that you may make faith and show that what you say is true, namely, that I have cast off your mother merely because it pleased me, and not rather for just and necessary causes.
"By which I have dismissed her..." The Vulgate refers the relative asher (אֲשֶׁר) to the bill; we can, however, according to the Hebraism, refer it to the mother, namely the doubled relatives: "Your mother, whom I have dismissed."
"Who is my creditor?" Or, "Which of my creditors?" As if to say: I have no creditors, I have no oppressors whose money I need, to whom, since I am not able to pay, I ought to give a pledge or hand over my sons as servants, innocent and undeserving of servitude.
"Behold, for your iniquities..." In Hebrew, be (ב) sometimes means "by" or "for." Here I believe it notes the cause, not the necessity. He says: It was not done by my necessity or indigence that you went into servitude, but this is the fruit of your iniquities, which He will soon explain.
"And for your transgressions..." Nor again merely because it pleased me or from loathing of your mother, after the human manner, did I dismiss her so that I might join another to myself. I made a divorce with her, that indeed I confess, but your transgressions were the cause which compelled me, as it were unwilling, to do this. Hence you will learn properly to speak when we say: "God has oppressed us, repelled us, destroyed the kingdom," etc. For although we say this truly, yet a more apt locution would be: "We have been oppressed, we have been repelled, the kingdom has perished because of crimes," etc. For when God brings calamities on account of sins, God is not properly said to be the author and cause of evils, but those things which somehow impelled God to do this. Therefore, when David had said in one place: "There is no health in my flesh because of Your anger" (Psalm 38:3), immediately, as if by correction, he added: "There is no peace to my bones because of my sins."
Is 50:2: "Because I came..."
Here you have the causes of the divorce and the final exile of the Jews, which still endures. "I came" to My own, to My inheritance, to My people, to My house, to My spouse, "and there was no man," that is, no one. Solitude had occupied My city and My house; they had already gone into the captivity of sin; they were already sold under sin. From which, nevertheless, if they had repented and heard Me calling, beseeching, and drawing them by the multitude of benefits, they could have been saved. "But I called, and no one answered Me."
Here you see that those who are immersed in sins are not counted among the living and are as if not in the number of men; and he who does not obey the calling of God is reckoned as mute. Moreover, the Lord says this because of the fewness of those who believed the Gospel from such an innumerable multitude.
What then do you wonder at the divorce? Why do you lament your selling? What more ought to have been provided by Me? You were awaiting My advent; I came. But if you were oppressed by sleep, you were doing something else. I called you. And all that space of time in which I was among you was a certain calling, and My clamor was continuous. I was crying out in the assemblies, in the synagogues, in the temple where you all convened, through the villages, through the houses, through the fields. Likewise, the signs and prodigies which I was doing were crying out and calling you: immense benefits, My life, My doctrine, so that you might come to Me and be refreshed, so that you might do penance, so that you might belong to the kingdom of God. And no one answered, no one, I say, from among you who complain about the captivity, etc. For the speech is only with the unbelievers.
"Has My hand become shortened...?" He tacitly answers an objection which could be such: "It befitted the Redeemer whom we were expecting to snatch us from the servitude of the Romans, by which we were already pressed at that time with a strong hand. But Jesus, who came to us, came in humility and infirmity, nor did we see in Him any specimen of a kingdom or empire." The Lord responds: "I do not deny this, but did you not know that there is infinite virtue in God by which He could, if He wished, dry up the entire sea and rivers and render them like a desert, so that all the fish of both sea and rivers might rot and putrefy? And furthermore, change the face of the heavens and obscure the stars, etc.? Therefore, [He could] dissolve the Roman empire and restore you to your former dignity. For who had cut off or amputated His hands?"
"It behooved you, therefore, to lend ears to Me whom He sent to you, to obey His word, to receive with eager spirit the mandates which I was bringing to you. Which when it had been performed by us, if you still saw your mother divorced and you living in servitude, there would perhaps be place for complaint. And this is the plain and genuine sense of these verses."
"Shortened and small..." I have rendered the Hebraism literally: "Has My hand become shortened by shortening?" For as "hand extended" and "hand great and high" are said for liberating, so "infirma" (weak) is said as "decurtated" (cut short). The Vulgate rendered the sense: "That I cannot redeem." The Hebrew said by one word: "From liberation."
"At My rebuke..." There is an allusion to the words of David by which he describes the creation of the world. For when he had come to that command: "Let the waters be gathered together... and let the dry land appear" (Genesis 1:9), thus he says: "The abyss like a garment covered it" (Psalm 104:6), namely the earth was above the mountains. "The waters stood; at Your rebuke they fled; at the voice of Your thunder they hastened" (Psalm 104:7).
Is 50:3: "I will clothe the heavens with darkness..."
(See Verse 2 commentary regarding the power to obscure stars/heavens).
Is 50:4: "The Lord God has given me a learned tongue..."
Or "of the learned," that is, such as is theirs who have learned a thing and are best instructed by a teacher. Certainly, this is what the Lord says in the Gospel: that He should announce those things which He had heard from His Father, and that that doctrine was the doctrine of Him who sent Him, and He did not speak from Himself, but testified those things which He had heard and seen.
"That I may know how to sustain with a word him who is fallen..." The translator has most learnedly rendered the sense. And they are the words of the Lord Jesus: "I," He says, "ought to be heard by you. For I come from God. The Master has poured out grace on my lips; my tongue is endowed with unheard-of eloquence. I have learned and know best what I ought to speak to afflicted and weary men and to those groaning under the yoke of sin, seasonably enough and according to the capacity of each, and I know how to accommodate the word to what each needs."
Perhaps the Lord looked to this place when He said in the Gospel: "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you" (Matthew 11:28). He seems therefore to say thus: "Did hearing Me, who came taught by God to teach and console you, detract anything from the virtue of God which you were expecting to liberate you? I was present. I was not a harsh exactor; I was teaching, not those things which I did not do first. Ought you not at least on account of My meekness and humility to have accepted Me as a teacher? I was not imposing heavy and unbearable burdens, as the Scribes and Pharisees, which nevertheless they did not touch with a finger. Did you not tolerate their inexplicable avarice and Satanic pride with a patient spirit? But I came to relieve the weary and exhausted; I was liberating all oppressed by the devil; I was passing through doing good; I was sparing no labor so that you might be well. With what pardon, therefore, are you worthy if you have not heard Me?"
"He awakens morning by morning..." That is, on each day, at the first morning, namely at that time which is most apt for learning. Moreover, these things designate nothing else than the supreme promptitude, obedience, and erudition in the Lord Jesus, by which He was instructed by God to teach the nation of the Jews, which He does. And the verse which follows does this.
Meanwhile, note that the Hebraism says "to awaken the ear" for "to awaken the hearing" or "for hearing." Whence also the Latins say "to prick up the ears" (arrigere aures). It is therefore the same as if he should say: "Morning makes me prick up my ears." Thus accept the word "awakens" (erigit) in the Vulgate. For what some, alluding to the custom of teachers who sometimes tweak the ear of inattentive disciples, have said: "Morning tweaks my ear," let the prudent reader judge whether it fits. I willingly embrace the Hebraism.
Is 50:5: "The Lord God has opened my ear..."
This is a Hebraism, of which already above (Isaiah 48:5). That is, He made me to hear Him and to listen; He signified to me what He wished, what you ought to return to Him for such benefits.
"And I was not rebellious..." From the verb marah (מָרָה), which is of mutability, that is, of disobedience, as if from a certain impotence of mind. It was said above, as if he should say: "I did not bear it molestedly, I was not indignant or exasperated; I received with a tranquil mind the things which were said." "The enemy comes," He says in the Gospel, "and in me he has nothing" (John 14:30). "But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father has given Me commandment, so I do" (John 14:31).
"I turned not backward..." I did not repent of My advent on account of such ingratitude which was signified to Me, but with a willing mind I exposed myself to all things, which the following verse expresses.
Is 50:6: "I have given my body..." (Implied from context of verse 6).
"To strikers..." In Hebrew, gav (גֵּו) is an eminent part of the human body, namely the back, as in Proverbs 19 and Job 30. Then it can be taken for the body. Moreover, this prophecy is manifest enough that it needs no exposition. For we read in the Gospel of the scourges, spittings, blows, and contumelies, which all the Lord Jesus endured with supreme love for us, who preceded His own while He went to Jerusalem, where these things awaited Him, who was straitened by the desire of the baptism of His blood, etc. The Father had opened His ear; He had announced what He wished Him to suffer. He gave His body to strikers, etc. For He suffered because He Himself willed, etc.
"And my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair..." The Evangelists are indeed silent about the plucking of the beard, but Isaiah is also an Evangelist. For He was affected by every kind of contumely. Moreover, the plucking of the beard has both pain and significant contumely, just as to spit in the face, which is expressed in proverbial form in Job 30: "They did not refrain spitting in my face."
"And I did not turn away my face..." These things, therefore, you have returned for obedience and subjection to Me, whom you understood to be sent to you by God.
"I gave my back..." (Continuation of thought). He compares His face to a hard rock on account of unheard-of constancy and fortitude.
"And I know... that I shall not be confounded..." Or "I knew," or "I have learned by experience." For yada (יָדַע) is sometimes sense and experience. "I have seen and experienced that I have not been confounded." For because I was made obedient unto death, I have received a name above every name, etc. (Philippians 2:9).
"A rock most hard..." (Petram durissimam). Chalmish (חַלְמִישׁ) is a single word in Hebrew, which most interpret as "a very hard rock." Concerning which, because neither the Rabbis nor our men have anything certain, I believe the reader will hold me in grace if I discuss this word somewhat more fully, from the understanding of which the knowledge of not a few places of Sacred Scripture depends.
Indeed, if you look to the Hebrew etymology, it seems to be called from chalam (חָלַם), that is, "he subdued/domit," with the letter mem inserted. I found this etymology in a certain learned man. But since he thought, with others, that it signifies "flint" or "very hard rock," he thought it was said by a contrary signification of the verb, because it is not subdued. But I, since I hold it for certain that it signifies "steel" (chalybs), I judge it rightly to have the appellation from "subduing." For few things are there which are not subdued by steel. Moreover, I call steel iron, or rather the marrow of iron, and what Plinius (Natural History 34.14) seems to call the "kernel of iron." For he teaches that its use is for hardening the edge of iron instruments. Whence Aristotle (Meteorologica 4) calls iron hardest, somoma (σώμα), for "bone," just as the Hebrews attribute to swords, the Greeks...
Moreover, that it signifies steel, besides the similarity of words and knowledge of elements and agreement of etymology, the place in Job 28 confirms, which seems unable to be understood otherwise. Where, when discussing much of the industry of man, he says: "He puts forth his hand to the chalmish and overturns mountains..." (Job 28:9). Certainly, if chalmish is not steel, how does man do these things? But with steel and iron instrument seized, what mountains does he not overturn, what rivers does he not cut? But concerning these words of Job, more in their place.
Therefore, when in Deuteronomy and the Psalms it is said: "God brought forth water or oil from the chalmish," it is a hyperbolic metaphor, noting nothing else than that from where no one could hope, there by the benefit and virtue of God those things were produced for the utility of men. Which if these things are true, as certainly they seem to be, now it must not be said, as some have thought, that from the peoples who are called Chalybes near the river Thermodon, who invented the use of iron, iron was called steel. Nay, rather, since the Hebrew name chalybs is older than those peoples, and even the use of iron, as is manifest from the book of Genesis, both those in Asia and others whom Justin places in Spain were called Chalybes from the steel itself. For just as the origin of Greek words is not to be sought from the Latins, so neither Hebrews from Greeks or any others.
Therefore, to return to the matter, the Lord Jesus compares His face to steel on account of unheard-of constancy and fortitude.
Is 50:7: "The Lord God is my helper..."
In the Hebrew there is a conjunction: "And the Lord my help." That is, "And indeed, as far as I am concerned, although I have suffered things so bitter, nevertheless, since the Lord has brought help to me, it has come to pass that I have counted ignominies as nothing, and I have endured all things with a great spirit, as if they were striking a hardest rock."
"Therefore I have set my face..." Because namely God was a help to me. Behold, you have it: if God is present, if He confirms the spirit, ignominy is not ignominy, nor contumely contumely, nor do those things which bring pain bring pain, but we are able to endure all things like flinty cliffs and rocks. See how Paul conducted himself in adversities. Those things which enemies were inflicting on him could make him sad, God being absent. But he was always rejoicing with his own. They seemed indeed to have nothing, but they conducted themselves as those who enrich very many.
Is 50:8-9: "Who is he that shall condemn me?"
Someone could still object: "We have seen Him condemned, crucified, and dead, accursed according to the Law. God did not snatch Him from our hands. What then could anyone expect from Him, or what did His advent accomplish for our redemption?" To these and such cogitations the Lord responds: "He ought not to be held as condemned whom God absolves in judgment, nor to be held as accursed and impious to whom God gives help."
"What do you object to me the judgment of men?" He says. "Behold, He is present who justifies Me," that is, pronounces Me just. "On the third day, after the condemnation of men, I appear revived. He did not delay long. Why do you think of the cross and not the resurrection? He is now at hand who justifies Me. Who will dare to oppose Me as if litigating, or to contend with Me in judgment, and dare to say that I was worthy of death?"
This is plainly what the Lord was saying at John's, that the Holy Spirit would convince the world of justice (John 16:8), that is, would manifestly confirm that Jesus was just, whose justice would be conspicuous even from this, that He was going to the Father, no longer to be seen on earth. Moreover, whom God and heaven thus received, who would dare to affirm unjust and a sinner?
"Who is my adversary?" The Hebraism can be rendered variously on account of the word baal (בַּעַל): "Who is the lord of my judgment?" or "Who has my judgment?" or "Who holds my judgment in power?" That is, who dares to pass judgment on me? Or rather, who hopes that he will carry off the palm and emerge victor if he descends into judgment with me? This the Lord calls "His judgment." Let him approach and see how insane he is.
"Behold, the Lord God..." He repeats nearly what He said, except that He explains who is that helper. Certainly, Paul assumed that from this place to the Romans: "If God be for us, who can be against us? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns?" (Romans 8:33-34). What is here said "God is my helper," Paul said "If God be for us." What is here said yariv (יָרִיב), that is "shall oppose litigating," Paul said "Who is against us?" What is here yashria (יַרְשִׁיעַ), Paul rendered by the word katakrino (κατακρίνω), which is to condemn and declare impious. And it is opposed to the Hebrew word "he justified," "he absolved," etc. Moreover, those things which are here said concerning Christ, Paul diverted to the brothers of Christ, the sons of God, and His elect. For by the example of Christ, we ought to count the condemnation and judgment of men as nothing, to fear them not.
"Behold, all of them shall wax old as a garment..." Why do I call wretched little men to judgment? Is not their ignorance manifest, who, since they are mortal and food for worms, dare to pass sentence on the Elect of God, and whom God has vivified and exalted and constituted Redeemer of all, they do not fear to tear with reproaches and call a seducer and accursed? To this pertains what will be said below: "Fear not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings" (Isaiah 51:7). "For the moth shall eat them up like a garment..."
Is 50:10-11: "Who is among you..."
The conclusion is in these two verses of the whole oration, and most worthy that we roll it perpetually in our mind. As if to say: "Wherefore, O men of Jews, whoever worship God, do not follow the judgment of men, but even in the midst of evils and tempests trust in God, never depart from Him. Hear the voices of your prophets, especially of that servant of His who will be sent to you when you shall look for redemption. Let not His meekness and humility disturb you. Let it suffice that He is called the Servant of God. Therefore, acquiescing to His sayings, hope that you will be redeemed."
These are, if I mistake not, the voices of the prophet concerning Christ, or rather of the Lord Christ, who foresaw the cause of the perdition of the Jews.
"Fearing God..." The fear of God makes one take sane counsels.
"Hearing the voice of His servant..." Listening to Jesus, because he acknowledges Him to be the Servant of God whom God sent.
"Who walks in darkness..." Even if you walk in the midst of the shadow of death, even if the whole seems mixed with darkness, even if no light shines forth but all things are obscure by the malice of times and men—when, with that Servant of God held as a seducer and apprehended as a robber and raised on the cross as an impious man, the sun will be obscured in the midst of the day to note the darkness of minds—nevertheless, do not desert hope and faith, but trusting in the name of God, lean upon your God, just as Abraham, who against hope believed in hope (Romans 4:18). For he knew that He was able to raise the dead.
"This shall those do who fear God," of whom nevertheless the number is very few. But of the unfaithful there is an immense multitude, who as they did not fear God, so neither did they listen to the Servant of God calling. But as is in the Gospel, affecting Him with contumelies, they killed Him. Wherefore in the midday light the sun set for them, and they remained in darkness up to the present day. For they did not hope in God, nor did they believe that that man Jesus or His doctrine accomplished anything for the redemption which they were hoping.
Wherefore, now turned to these, not without irony, He says:
Is 50:11: "Behold, all you who kindle a fire..."
Or as the usage of participles in the form which they call "regiminis" requires: "Kindlers of fire," who as if by office do this: by all your actions, studies, sermons, and even cogitations, you kindle fire, as if deputed to kindling furnaces. Certain men, almost all of you, O Jews, are such.
"Girded with flames..." Or "girders." For it seems to be in the active form. Moreover, the Vulgate said "flames" for "snares" or "manacles" (zikot זִיקוֹת). Because soon follows "in zikot which you have kindled." From which words it seems to signify flames or something similar. Which although not reprobate, yet estimate here fiery bonds to be designated, by which he understands the fire of the damned. For bonds are fiery, they are. Wherefore they are said to "kindle snares" who nourish and foster that fire in which they will be held by their studies.
"You are all kindlers of snares," who do nothing else than make snares and fit them for yourselves and others. Or certainly, He calls snares "bundles" tied with some bond. He calls them therefore "kindlers of fire" and "girders of bundles fit for fire," that is, furnace-men, charcoal-burners, or wood-cutters. These are the titles of all the impious. For they prepare for themselves eternal fire and fuel. Already here semi-burnt, horrible like charcoal-burners.
"Walk in the light of your fire..." Those who fear God and hear the voice of the Servant of God, while they are in the midst of darkness, leaning on their God and not deserting confidence, finally emerge and are liberated. But you, unfaithful and impious, great lords and authors of the conflagration, walk in the light, or in the light of your fire, and in the light of the snares or bundles which you have kindled.
"And in the sparks..." If you wish to accept be (ב) for "in," moved: "Go into the focus of your fire and the bundles which you have kindled," etc. To this light certainly you will emerge, namely your inextinguishable fire. For it is yours; you have prepared it, so that illud of the Gospel may be: "Depart into eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil..." (Matthew 25:41).
"From My hand..." I, whom you as a wicked man have reprobated, I condemn you to this fire. For you yourselves said it was just that the king should send his armies who would destroy the murderers and burn their city, who killed the heir and lord of the vineyard (Matthew 22:7). From this fire you will pass to that one by the just judgment of God.
"Wherefore you shall lie down in sorrow..." Or "you shall go to lie down." You shall incline your heads to pains, sadnesses, sorrows. These are the sides of hell, these the beds, these the pillows, namely pains. Unless you wish, according to the custom of the Hebraism, to take lematzebah (לְמַצֵּבָה) as an adverb: "To sorrow," that is, sorrowfully or with sorrow.
Hither have come the impious and unfaithful Jews, who did not listen to that learned tongue nor wished to be refreshed by the Lord Christ. Nay, rather, they were injurious and impious toward the Servant of God. This finally is the lot of all the impious. For "He shall rain upon sinners snares, fire and brimstone, and a stormy wind: the portion of their cup" (Psalm 11:7).
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