The God Who Formed Israel Will Yet Help
Logos 2. 'Thus says the Lord God who made you and formed you from the womb: You will yet be helped' (Isaiah 44:2).
He had charged those of Israel with their apostasy, with drifting away from their love for him and giving themselves over to gods that do not exist; for he had said: 'Your fathers and your rulers have acted lawlessly against me, and the rulers have defiled my holy things' (Isaiah 43:27–28). Now, with great wisdom in his dealings with them, he adds these words as well. For he does not let them be carried off into apostasy, or rather into despair, nor slip away altogether from their hope in him. He promises them gentleness again, wins them back by his usual love for humankind, and brings them round to repentance.
He gives them to understand that he has not wholly turned away from those who have sinned, and that Israel will not perish root and branch, since he has pity on them and makes the way of salvation quite smooth for those who believe in him. In calling himself Lord and God, who made and formed Israel from the womb, he seems to hint that Israel has also gone astray by putting the name of divinity on others and thoughtlessly attaching the glory of lordship to gods that do not exist.
He hints again that Israel did not know his Maker, the one who brought the human being on earth into existence when he once did not exist; for he firmly declares that he himself is Former and Maker, and as it were charges with ingratitude those who have leapt away from their love for him. For it is absurd that we should offer the highest honors to our parents according to the flesh, the divine law also awarding them this (Exodus 20:12), and yet that the Creator of the universe should not, far more than they, be extolled by us with the praises fitting for him and honored by our complete submission.
He says something of this kind through one of the holy prophets too: 'A son honors his father, and a servant his lord. If then I am a father, where is my glory? And if I am Lord, where is the fear of me? says the Lord Almighty' (Malachi 1:6).
For he is both at once. He is Lord, as holding the whole creation under the yoke and in service; for the divine Psalmist said to him somewhere, 'All things are yours' (Psalm 119:91). And again he is Father, as Former and Maker, who brought it into being. So, as though paying a debt, we must render to God both the submission fitting for sons and the fear proper to household servants. So whenever he calls himself Former and Maker …
Greek
ΛΟΓΟΣ Βʹ.}1 9Οὕτως λέγει Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ὁ ποιήσας σε, καὶ ὁ πλάσας σε ἐκ κοιλίας, Ἔτι βοηθήσῃ.9 Ἐγκαλέσας τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ τὴν ἀπόστασιν, καὶ τὸ ἀποφοιτῆσαι μὲν τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀγάπης, ἑαυτοὺς δὲ προσνεῖμαι τοῖς οὐκ οὖσι θεοῖς· ἔφη γὰρ, ὅτι Οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν, καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες ὑμῶν ἠνόμησαν εἰς ἐμὲ, καὶ ἐμίαναν οἱ ἄρχοντες τὰ ἅγιά μου· οἰκονο- μικώτατα λίαν καὶ ταῦτα ἐπιφέρει· οὐκ ἐᾷ γὰρ ἀπ- ενεχθῆναι πρὸς ἀπόστασιν, ἤτ' οὖν ἀπόγνωσιν, οὔτε μὴν τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν ἐλπίδος εἰσάπαν ἀπολισθεῖν. Ἡμε- ρότητα δὲ πάλιν αὐτοῖς ἐπαγγέλλεται, καὶ διὰ τῆς συνήθους ἀνακτᾶται φιλανθρωπίας, καὶ ἀνακομίζει πρὸς μετάγνωσιν. Καὶ δίδωσιν ἐννοεῖν, ὅτι μὴ εἰσ- άπαν ἀπεστράφη τοὺς ἡμαρτηκότας, οὔτε μὴν ὁλόῤ- ῥιζος ὁ Ἰσραὴλ ἀπολεῖται, κατοικτείροντος αὐτοῦ, καὶ τοῖς εἰς αὐτὸν πιστεύουσι τὴν τῆς σωτηρίας ὁδὸν εὖ μάλα καταλεαίνοντος· ἑαυτὸν δὲ λέγων Κύριόν τε καὶ Θεὸν, ποιήσαντα καὶ πλάσαντα ἐκ κοιλίας, ὑπεμ- φαίνειν ἔοικεν, ὅτι καὶ πεπλάνηται τὸ τῆς θεότητος ὄνομα περιθεὶς ἑτέροις, καὶ τὴν τῆς κυριότητος δόξαν ἀνάψας ἀβούλως τοῖς οὐκ οὖσι θεοῖς. Ὅτι δὲ καὶ οὐκ ἔγνω τὸν Ποιητὴν, καὶ τὸν παρενεγκόντα πρὸς ὕπαρ- ξιν οὐκ ὄντα ποτὲ τὸν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἄνθρωπον, ὑπεμ- φαίνει πάλιν, πλάστην τε καὶ ποιητὴν ἑαυτὸν εἶναι διαβεβαιούμενος, καὶ οἷον ἀχαριστίας γραφόμενος τοὺς τῆς 337 εἰς αὐτὸν ἀγάπης ἀποπηδήσαντας. Καὶ γάρ ἐστι τῶν ἀτόπων, τοῖς μὲν κατὰ σάρκα γονεῦσι τὰς ἀνωτάτω τιμὰς προσφέρεσθαι παρ' ἡμῶν, νόμου τοῦ θείου καὶ τοῦτο βραβεύοντος, τὸν δέ γε τῶν ὅλων γε- νεσιουργὸν, μὴ οὐχὶ δὴ μᾶλλον ἐκείνων ταῖς αὐτῷ πρεπούσαις εὐφημίαις καταγεραίρεσθαι καὶ τιμᾶσθαι πρὸς ἡμῶν διὰ τῆς εἰσάπαν ὑποταγῆς. Τοιοῦτόν τί φησι καὶ δι' ἑνὸς τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν· "6Υἱὸς δο- ξάζει τὸν πατέρα, καὶ δοῦλος τὸν αὐτοῦ κύριον. Καὶ εἰ πατήρ εἰμι ἐγὼ, ποῦ ἔστιν ἡ δόξα μου; καὶ εἰ κύριός εἰμι ἐγὼ, ποῦ ἔστιν ὁ φόβος μου; λέγει Κύ- ριος παντοκράτωρ."6 Ἐν ταυτῷ γάρ ἐστι, καὶ Κύριος μὲν ὡς ὑπὸ ζυγὰ καὶ δουλείαν ὅλην ἔχων τὴν κτίσιν. ‹70.920› Ἔφη γάρ που πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ θεσπέσιος Μελῳδὸς, ὅτι "6Τὰ σύμπαντα σά."6 Πατὴρ δὲ δὴ πάλιν ὡς πλά- στης, καὶ ποιητὴς, καὶ εἰς τὸ εἶναι παρενεγκών. Οὐκ- οῦν καθάπερ ἐν ὀφλήματος τάξει καταθετέον τῷ Θεῷ καὶ τὴν υἱοῖς πρέπουσαν ὑποταγὴν, καὶ τὸν ἁρ- μόττοντα τοῖς οἰκέταις φόβον. Ὅταν τοίνυν πλάστην τε καὶ ποιητὴν ἑ