Thomas Aquinas Commentary Isaiah 1:13-20

"Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; new moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies,- I cannot away with iniquity and the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth; they are a trouble unto me; I am weary of bearing them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it." — Isaiah 1:13-20 (ASV)

1. The new moons, and the sabbaths. Here he rejects the celebration of solemn festivals.

   He addresses this in three stages:

   1. First, regarding the future, he issues a prohibition, saying, the new moons, as in, blow up the trumpet on the new moon, on the noted day of your solemnity (Psalms 81:3); sabbaths (Exodus 20:8); and other festivals, as in, these are the feasts of the Lord which you shall call most solemn and most holy (Leviticus 23:37). He calls them wicked, saying, Your assemblies are wicked, and later: behold in the day of your fast your own will is found, and you exact of all your debtors (Isaiah 58:3).

   2. Second, regarding the present, where it says, your new moons, he expresses his hatred. These are the same “new moons” mentioned above; hence, another Psalm says: take up the trumpet at the beginning of the month (Psalms 81:3).In the Roman Psalter, Canite in initio mensis tuba, as Introit for Ember Wednesday of September in the Dominican Gradual. As it is written, The Lord has caused feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion: and has delivered up king and priest to reproach, and to the indignation of his wrath (Lamentations 2:6).

   3. Third, regarding the past, he expresses his weariness, saying, they have become troublesome to me. He describes two things:

      1. The severity of the weight: they have become troublesome, as in, as a heavy burden they have become heavy upon me (Psalms 37:5).

      2. The toil of the one carrying them: I labor bearing them. And later: you have given me laborDR: “wearied me.” with your iniquities (Isaiah 43:24).

      He speaks of God in human terms, because it is considered burdensome for a person to work at something that does not please them.

2. And when you stretch forth. He rejects their prayers.

   First, he states the rejection, and second, he gives the reason for it, where it says, for your hands are full of blood.

   Concerning the first point, he does two things:

   1. He rejects their prayers regarding the outward sign of devotion, where it says, and when you stretch forth your hands. As it is written, let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens (Lamentations 3:41); and later, I have spread forth my hands all the day to an unbelieving people, who walk in a way that is not good (Isaiah 65:2).

   2. He rejects them regarding the length of their prayer: he that turns away his earAurem. Vg.: aures. DR: “ears.” from hearing the law, his prayer shall be an abomination (Proverbs 28:9).

   The reason for the rejection is, For your hands are full of blood, which you have shed: their feet are swift to shed blood (Psalms 13:3); restrain your foot from their paths. For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood (Proverbs 1:15–16).

3. Wash yourselves. Here he offers beneficial counsel. He does three things concerning this:

   1. He gives the effective remedy.

   2. He describes the effect of the remedy, where it says, come, and accuse me (Isaiah 1:18).

   3. He states the punishment for contempt, where it says, but if you will not (Isaiah 1:20).

   The remedy consists in two things:

   • Fleeing from evil.

   • Pursuing good, where it says, learn to do well (Isaiah 1:17).

   Evil is fled from in two ways:

   1. Through the purging of past evil. Regarding this, he says, wash yourselves: wash your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that you may be saved: how long shall hurtful thoughts abide in you? (Jeremiah 4:14).

   2. Through guarding against future evil. This is done in three ways:

      1. A person should not think evil thoughts in their heart: be clean, for he that loves cleanness of heart, for the grace of his lips shall have the king for his friend (Proverbs 22:11).

      2. A person should not carry out such imagined deeds: take away the evil, that is, the evil deed: woe to you that devise that which is unprofitable, and work evil in your beds: in the morning light they execute it (Micah 2:1).

      3. A person should not complete evils already started: cease to do perversely, as in, keep your foot from being bare, and your throat from thirst (Jeremiah 2:25), and as a swift runner pursuing his course (Jeremiah 2:23).

4. Learn to do well. Here he gives the remedy regarding the pursuit of good.

   First, he says that they must learn it, and second, that they must carry it out in action, where it says, relieve the oppressed.

   A person does good first in ordering themselves, and regarding this he says, learn to do well: be you instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from you, lest I make you desolate, a land uninhabited (Jeremiah 6:8). Second, a person does good regarding their neighbor, and he says, seek judgment: the cause which I knew not, I searched out most diligently (Job 29:16); stand on the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths (Jeremiah 6:16).

5. Relieve the oppressed. Here he describes the fulfillment of this work in assisting the needy. A person can become needy either through violence, and regarding this he says, relieve the oppressed: deliver them that are led to death: and those that are drawn to death, forbear not to deliver (Proverbs 24:11); or through the vulnerability of youth: judge for the fatherless, as in, in judging be toEsto. Vg.: esto misericors. DR: “be merciful to.” the fatherless as a father ; or through the weakness of their sex: defend the widow, as in, the ear that heard me blessed me, and the eye that saw me gave witness to me (Job 29:11).

6. And then come. Here he promises the result, and concerning this he describes three things.

   1. First is the obligation of the one who promises, where he says, come, and accuse me. It is as if to say: if you do what I say, and what I promise does not follow, I oblige myself to let you accuse me. Job mourned this: there is none that may be able to reprove both, and to put his hand between both (Job 9:33).

   2. Second is the end of evils: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow. He especially promises cleansing from sins. Because when the cause has ceased, the effect ceases, he touches on two kinds of sin:

      • That which comes from burning passion, which he indicates by scarlet because of its intense redness. Against this he places the whiteness of cold snow: if I be washed, as it were, with snow waters, and my hands shall shine ever so clean (Job 9:30–31).

      • That which comes from deadening fear, which is indicated by crimson, whose color approaches whiteness. Against this he places wool: in the multitude of diverse riches,Vg. adds in vino pingui. DR: “in rich wine.” in wool of the best color (Ezekiel 27:18); his garment was like white snow,Sicut nix candidum. Vg.: candidum quasi nix. DR: “white as snow.” and the hair of his head like clean wool (Daniel 7:9).

   3. Third, the restoration of good things is described: if you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land. As the Psalm says, I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living (Psalms 27:13). He says, you shall eat, and later: behold my servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry (Isaiah 65:13).

7. But if you will not. He describes the punishment for contempt.

   1. First, he describes their contempt, saying: but if you will not, as in, as I purposed to afflict you, when your fathers had provoked me to wrath (Zechariah 8:14).

   2. Second, he threatens the sword of vengeance: the sword shall devour you, as in, I will draw out a sword after them. And I will accomplish my fury, and will cause my indignation to rest upon them (Ezekiel 5:12–13).

   3. Third, he shows that the judgment is unchangeable: because the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. As it is written, God is not a man, that he should lie, nor is the son of man, that he should be changed (Numbers 23:19).