The Prophet's Vision and the Lord's Words
Logos 1. “The vision which Isaiah son of Amoz saw, which he saw against Judah and against Jerusalem in the reign of Uzziah and Jotham and Ahaz and Hezekiah, who reigned over Judah” (Isaiah 1:1).
I do not think anyone would be speaking falsely if he said this about the holy prophets: they received not only the knowledge of things to come, as the Holy Spirit made the matter shine clear to them and sounded it into their minds, but at times they also became eyewitnesses of the events themselves. So the blessed prophet Isaiah seems to have seen with the eyes of the mind the sufferings that would come upon Judah in due time: here the ranks of the enemy ravaging the land, there the cities laid waste, houses set on fire, and all that enemies do by the laws of war. That is why this stands written at the head of the prophecy: “The vision which Isaiah son of Amoz saw against Judah and against Jerusalem” (Isaiah 1:1).
He usefully marks the times of the kings, so that God may be seen to speak through the prophet what suited the ways of each.
“Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken: Sons I have begotten and raised up, but they have rejected Me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's manger; but Israel does not know Me, and My people have not understood Me” (Isaiah 1:2–3).
What the matter is, what the reasoning is, and what it means to show, we must look into closely. The blessed prophet solemnly calls, as it were, both heaven and earth to witness, and in doing so he does not act without God; rather, he says that the words are not his own but God's. By this he signifies that they will come to pass in every way and without fail, and he dismays his hearers with dread of suffering, for it is impossible for God to speak falsely.
At the same time, as I think, he is also securing something else. He was about to make his predictions against Judah and Jerusalem, and to announce beforehand sufferings beyond all words and incurable calamities, and he knew well that those to whom the message was addressed would in every way be sharpened to anger. So he says that the Lord spoke these things to them, and so most skilfully turns aside the fury of the ungodly and, as it were, shames their unjust anger into silence. For if he was taken on as a mediator and servant, and was carrying across words from above and from God, how could anyone justly be angry with him? Or rather, how would whatever they did in anger not be aimed against God who had spoken…
Greek
ΛΟΓΟΣ Αʹ.}1 9Ὅρασις ἣν εἶδεν Ἡσαΐας υἱὸς Ἀμὼς, ἣν εἶδεκατὰ τῆς Ἰουδαίας, καὶ κατὰ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐν βασιλείᾳ Ὀζίου, καὶ Ἰωάθαμ, καὶ Ἄχαζ, καὶ Ἐζεκίου οἳ ἐβασίλευσαν τῆς Ἰουδαίας.9 Οὐκ ἂν οἶμαι διαψεύσαιτό τις ἐκεῖνο εἰπὼν περὶ τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν, ὡς οὐ μόνην ἐδέχοντο τῶν ἐσομένων τὴν γνῶσιν, καταλαμπρύνοντος τὸ χρῆμα αὐτοῖς τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, καὶ ἐνηχοῦντος εἰς νοῦν, ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ αὐτῶν ἔσθ' ὅτε τῶν πραγμάτων εἰπὼν ὅτι ἐγίνοντο θεωροί. Ἔοικε τοίνυν ὁ μακάριος προφή- της Ἡσαΐας τοῖς τῆς διανοίας ὄμμασι τὰ κατὰ και- ροὺς ἐσόμενα κατὰ τῆς Ἰουδαίας τεθεᾶσθαι πάθη, τοῦτο μὲν τὰς τῶν πολεμίων φάλαγγας καταδῃούσας τὴν γῆν, τοῦτο δὲ τὰς πόλεις ἠρημωμένας, καὶ οἴ- κους ἐμπιπραμένους, καὶ ὅσα τοῖς τοῦ πολέμου νόμοις πράττεται παρ' ἐχθρῶν ταύτῃ τοι προγέγραπται τῆς προφητείας· "6Ὅρασις ἣν εἶδεν Ἡσαΐας υἱὸς Ἀμὼς,κατὰ τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ κατὰ Ἱερουσαλήμ."6 Ἐπισημαίνεται δὲ χρησίμως τοὺς τῶν βασιλέων καιροὺς, ἵνα φαίνηται Θεὸς προσφόρως τοῖς ἑκάστου τρόποις τὰ ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ λαλῶν. 9Ἄκουε, οὐρανὲ, καὶ ἐνωτίζου, γῆ, ὅτι Κύριος ἐλάλησεν, Υἱοὺς ἐγέννησα καὶ ὕψωσα, αὐτοὶ δέ με ἠθέτησαν. Ἔγνω βοῦς τὸν κτησάμενον, καὶ ὄνος τὴν φάτνην τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ· Ἰσραὴλ δέ με οὐκ ἔγνω, καὶ ὁ λαός με οὐ συνῆκεν.9 Τί τὸ χρῆμα, τίς ὁ λόγος, καὶ τί ἂν βούλοιτο δη- λοῦν περιαθρεῖν ἀναγκαῖον. ∆ιαμαρτύρεται γὰρ ὥσ- περ οὐρανόν τε καὶ γῆν ὁ μακάριος προφήτης, καὶ τοῦτο πράττων οὐκ ἀθεεὶ, πλὴν, οὐκ ἰδίους, Θεοῦ δὲ μᾶλλον εἶναι τοὺς λόγους φησίν. Ὅτι πάντη τε καὶ πάντως πρὸς πέρας ἐκβήσονται διὰ τούτου σημαί- νων, καὶ τοῖς τοῦ παθεῖν δείμασι καταπτοῶν τοὺς ἀκροωμένους. Ἀμήχανον γὰρ ψευδοεπῆσαι Θεόν· ὁμοῦ δὲ κἀκεῖνο, καθάπερ ἐγᾦμαι, κατασκευάζων. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἔμελλεν τὰς κατὰ τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ 70.16 Ἱερουσαλὴμ προαγορεύσεις ποιεῖσθαι, καὶ τὰ λόγου παντὸς ἐπέκεινα προκαταμηνύσειν πάθη, καὶ 2 τὰς ἀνηκέστους συμφορὰς, οὐκ ἠγνόησεν ὅτι πάντη τε καὶ πάντως ἀκονηθήσονται πρὸς ὀργὰς οἱ πρὸς οὓς ὁ λόγος. Κύριον τοίνυν τὰ τοιάδε πρὸς αὐτοὺς λαλῆσαί φησιν, τὸν τῶν ἀνοσίων θυμὸν εὐτεχνέστατα δι- ωθούμενος, καὶ οἷον ἐκδυσωπῶν τὰς ἀδίκους ὀργάς. Εἰ γὰρ παρελήφθη μεσίτης καὶ διάκονος, καὶ τοὺς ἄνωθεν καὶ παρὰ Θεοῦ διαπορθμεύοι λόγους, πῶς ἂν ἐπ' αὐτῷ δικαίως ὀργίζοιτό τις; μᾶλλον δὲ, πῶς οὐχὶ κατὰ Θεοῦ τοῦ λελαληκότος τὰ ἐξ ὀργῆ