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| Exposition of the Prophecy of Isaiah Quoted by Jesus.
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11. Exposition of the
Prophecy of Isaiah Quoted by Jesus.
And, after this, wishing to refute completely from the
words of the prophets all these traditions of the elders among the
Jews, He brought before them a saying, from Isaiah, which in the exact
words is as follows: “And the Lord said, This people draws
nigh to Me with their mouth,” etc.;5426
and, as we said before, Matthew has not written out the prophetical
saying in the very words. And, if it be necessary because of its
use in the Gospel to interpret it according to our ability, we will
take in addition the preceding passage which is, in my judgment, noted
with advantage by us for the exposition of that passage in the Gospel
which was taken from the prophet. The passage in Isaiah from the
beginning is thus, “Be ye faint, and be maddened: be ye
drunken, but not with strong drink nor with wine: for the Lord
hath given you to drink of the spirit of stupor, and He will close
their eyes, both of their prophets, and of their rulers who see things
secret. And all these sayings shall be to you as the words of the
book, which has been sealed, which if they give to a man who knows
letters, saying, Read this, he shall answer, I cannot read, for it is
sealed. And this book will be given into the hands of a man who
does not know letters, and one will say to him, Read this, and he will
say, I know not letters. And the Lord said, This people is nigh
to Me,” etc., down to the words, “Woe unto them that form
counsel in secret, and their works shall be in
darkness.”5427
Taking up
then the passage before us in the Gospel, I have put some of the verses
which come before it, and some which follow it, in order to show in
what way the Word threatens to close the eyes of those of the people
who are astonished and drunken, and have been made to drink of the
spirit of deep sleep. And it threatens also to close the eyes of
their prophets and their rulers who profess to see things
secret,—which things, I think, took place after the advent of the
Saviour among that people; for all the words of the whole of the
Scriptures, and of Isaiah also,
have become to them as the words of a sealed book. Now the
expression “sealed” is used of a book closed in virtue of
its obscurity and not open in virtue of its lucidity, which is equally
obscure to those who are not able to read it at all because they do not
know letters, and to those who profess to know letters but do not
understand the meaning in the things which have been written.
Well, then, does he add to this, that when the people, fainting because
of their sins and being in a state of madness rage against Him through
those sins wherewith they shall be drunken against Him with the spirit
of stupor, which shall be given to them to drink by the Lord when He
closes their eyes, as unworthy to see, and the eyes of their prophets
and of their rulers who profess to see the hidden things of the
mysteries in the Divine Scriptures; and, when their eyes are closed,
then shall the prophetic words be sealed to them and hidden, as has
been the case with those who do not believe in Jesus as the
Christ. And when the prophetic sayings have become as the words
of a sealed book, not only to those who do not know letters but to
those who profess to know, then the Lord said, that the people of the
Jews draw nigh to God with their mouth only, and He says that they
honour Him with their lips, because their heart by reason of their
unbelief in Jesus is far from the Lord. And now, especially, from
the time at which they denied our Saviour, it might be said about them
by God, “But in vain do they worship Me;”5428
for they no longer teach the precepts of God
but of men, and doctrines which are human and no longer of the Spirit
of wisdom. Wherefore, when these things happen to them, God has
removed the people of the Jews, and has caused to perish the wisdom of
the wise men among them; for there is no longer wisdom among them, just
as there is no prophecy; but God has utterly destroyed the prudence of
the prudent and concealed it,5429
and no longer is it
splendid and conspicuous. Wherefore, although they may seem to
form some counsel in a deep fashion, because they do it not through the
Lord they are called miserable; and even though they profess to tell
some secrets of the Divine counsel they lie, since their works are not
works of light, but of darkness and night.5430
I have thought it right briefly to set
forth the prophecy, and to a certain extent elucidate its meaning,
seeing that Matthew made mention of it. And Mark also made
mention of it, from whom we may usefully set down the following words
in the place, with reference to the transgression of the elders who
held that it was necessary to wash hands when the Jews ate bread,
“For the Pharisees and all the Jews, except they wash their hands
diligently, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders; and when they
come from the market-place except they wash themselves they eat
not. And there are some other things which they have received to
hold, washings of cups and pots and brazen vessels and
couches.”5431
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