Thomas Aquinas Commentary Isaiah 1:2-9

"Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for Jehovah hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master`s crib; [but] Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that deal corruptly! they have forsaken Jehovah, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are estranged [and gone] backward. Why will ye be still stricken, that ye revolt more and more? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; [but] wounds, and bruises, and fresh stripes: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with oil. Your country is desolate; your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except Jehovah of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah." — Isaiah 1:2-9 (ASV)

1. Hear, O you heavens, and give ear, O earth. Here begins the discourse of this book. From this point, it will be divided according to the needs of the subject matter. It was said above that the prophet’s primary intention concerns the coming of Christ and the calling of the Gentiles. However, it is evident that all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth (Psalms 25:10). Thus, when Christ was born, it was said by Simeon, behold this child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel (Luke 2:34). And when the Gentiles were entering, it was said by the Apostle, blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in (Romans 11:25). Therefore, this book is divided into two parts:

• In the first, the threat of divine justice for the overthrow of sinners is presented.
• In the second, the consolation of divine mercy for the resurrection of the just is presented, where it says, be comforted (chapter 40).

2. The first of these sections is divided into three parts. While the prophet speaks primarily about Judah and Jerusalem:

• In the first part, he threatens the two sinning tribes.
• In the second, he threatens the others who persecute them: and it came to pass in the days of Achaz (chapter 7).
• In the third, he frees them from the enemies who threaten them: behold a king shall reign in justice (chapter 32).

The first of these parts is divided into two parts:

• In the first, he rebukes their fault and threatens corrective punishment.
• In the second, he threatens the punishment of condemnation for the incorrigible: in the year that king Ozias died (chapter 6).

The first of these parts is divided into two parts:

• In the first, he condemns their fault regarding what they turn away from.
• In the second, he condemns their fault regarding what they turn toward: the word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw (chapter 2).

The first of these parts is divided into two parts:

• In the first, he condemns in them the fault of turning away from the worship of God.
• In the second, he condemns the fault of turning away from justice for one’s neighbor, where it says, how is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a harlot? (Isaiah 1:21).

The first of these parts is divided into three parts:

1. In the first, he rebukes the fault.
2. In the second, he threatens punishment for the fault, where he says, your land is desolate (Isaiah 1:7).
3. In the third, he seeks the remedy for the punishment, where he says, hear the word of the Lord (Isaiah 1:10).

The first of these parts is divided into three parts:

1. In the first, he seeks a witness for the judgment.
2. In the second, he argues the deformity of their sin, where he says, I have brought up children (Isaiah 1:2).
3. In the third, he shows the incorrigibility of the sinners, where he says, for what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? (Isaiah 1:5).

3. He asks creation to be a witness to the judgment of their sin, as it was also a witness to the obligation of the commandment: hear, O you heavens, the things I speak (Deuteronomy 32:1). For creation was a witness of the obligation to the commandment (Deuteronomy 32); now, however, it is invoked as a judge of the transgression: he shall call heaven from above, and the earth, to judge his people (Psalms 50:4). But sometimes it is called as an instrument of divine vengeance: creation serving its Creator, will blaze in punishment against the unjust .

4. It seems unfitting that heaven and earth, which are creatures without sensation, should be called to hear.

But it should be said that a creature without sensation is called to do things that are proper to a rational nature for several reasons:

• To show divine power: I set my bounds around it (Job 38:10); and, he calls those things that are not, as those that are (Romans 4:17).
• For evidence of a fact: I will do this thing in the sight of all Israel, and in the sight of the sun (2 Samuel 12:12); and, I say to you that if these remain silent, the stones will cry out (Luke 19:40).
• To emphasize wickedness: be astonished, O you heavens, at this, and you gates thereof, be very desolate (Jeremiah 2:12).
• To magnify joy: let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad (Psalms 96:11).
• To intensify sorrow: therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwells in it shall languish (Hosea 4:3).

This is as if to say, “Your sin is so plain that even irrational things could convict you, if such a thing were possible.” The same applies to the other examples.

Alternatively, this is a metonymy, where “heaven” stands for the angels and “earth” for men.

5. Heavens is plural for the singular, or it is used because there are literally many heavens and one center, which is the earth. The Lord has spoken: you should hear Him speaking, for He made you by speaking: he spoke, and they were made: he commanded, and they were created (Psalms 148:5). Hear, O you heavens, as though they were distant; give ear, O earth, as though it were near.

6. I have brought up children. Here the prophet shows the deformity of their sin. Concerning this, he does three things:

1. He shows the contempt in their affections.
2. He shows the ignorance in their intellect, where he says, the ox knows his owner (Isaiah 1:3).
3. He shows the distraction in the effect of their deeds, where he says, woe to the sinful nation (Isaiah 1:4).

This order is followed so that their ignorance is made more serious by their contempt, not so that their ignorance excuses their contempt. He adds to the weight of their contempt by the benefit rendered to them.

Therefore, concerning the first point, he does two things:

1. He brings to mind the benefit.
2. He brings to mind the vice of their ingratitude, where he says, but they have despised me.

He lays out a threefold benefit:

1. The benefit of filial adoption, where he says, sons: Israel is my son, my firstborn (Exodus 4:22).
2. The benefit of attentive education, where it says, I have brought up: you did feed your people with the food of angels .
3. The benefit of their singular exaltation, where it says, and exalted them: showing by the thirst that was then, how you didst exalt thine, and didst kill their adversaries .

This exaltation occurred first, in the calling and election of their fathers; second, in the liberation of their children; and third, in the subduing of their enemies.

But they have despised me. Here he states the fault of ingratitude. As a woman that despises her lover, so has the house of Israel despised me (Jeremiah 3:20).

7. He adds to the weight of their ignorance, however, through the example of beasts. Concerning this, he does two things:

1. He introduces the knowledge of beasts.
2. He introduces the ignorance of sinners, where it says, but Israel has not known me.

The ox knows his owner, by a kind of custom born from benefit. But Israel: He condemns a twofold ignorance in them:

• Ignorance of the one who commands, when he says, has not known me, which is contrary to where he had said, his owner, and contrary to the meaning of the name Israel—for Israel is interpreted as “seeing God.” They have not known the Father nor me (John 16:3).
• Ignorance of the law: my people has not understood. This is contrary to where he had said, manger, and where he says, people, who are subject to a lawgiver who commands: I shall write to him my manifold laws, which have been accounted as foreign (Hosea 8:12).

8. He adds to the weight of the effect of their deeds, however, by showing how ingrained it has become. Therefore, he first shows its confirmation and, second, their turning away: they have forsaken the Lord.

He shows this confirmation in four ways:

1. Through the custom of sin, which gives rise to habit. Thus he says, the sinful nation, for a sinner is one by habit just as a singer is one by art or office. Later he says, I have called you a transgressor from the womb (Isaiah 48:8).
2. Through the readiness to sin, which is like a kind of weight in the sinner. As Gregory says, “A sin which is not washed away by penance quickly draws one to another by its own weight.” Their feet are swift to shed blood (Psalms 13:3).
3. From the succession of sin, because, by imitating the sins of their fathers, they have them as if by inheritance. Thus he says, a wicked seed, that is, seed of the worst, according to another translation: we have sinned with our fathers: we have acted unjustly, we have wrought iniquity (Psalms 106:6).
4. As to the magnitude of their sins, when he says, ungracious children: slanderers have been in you to shed blood, they have committed wickedness in the midst of you (Ezekiel 22:9). Later he says, are not you wicked children, a false seed? (Isaiah 57:4).

9. For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? Here he shows the incorrigibility of their sin by setting aside a threefold method of correction.

1. First is the correction that comes through a divine scourge, saying, for what, that is, to what end, you that increase, so that the greater the correction, the more you increase your sins: in vain have I struck your children, they have not received correction (Jeremiah 2:30).
2. Second is the correction that comes through the counsel or help of a neighbor, where he says, the whole head is sick, for no one is fit to aid another because of his own weakness. He shows this regarding the person of the king, saying, the whole head is sick: when you were a little one in your own eyes, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel? (1 Samuel 15:17). He shows it regarding the person of the priest, the whole heart is sad, for the heart first receives life from the soul and transfuses it into the body, as a medium between the soul and the body; just so the priest is a medium between God and the people: you will be to them in those things that pertain to God (Exodus 18:19). And he shows it regarding the person of the private individual, when he says, from the sole of the foot, and later: all have turned aside into their own way (Isaiah 56:11).

10. It should be noted that the unfitness of the king is shown in sickness, because he is not able to help by punishing through his power. Seek not to be made a judge, unless you have strength enough to eradicate iniquities .

The unfitness of the priest, however, is shown in sadness, through which he is made unfit for the sacrifices that atoned for sins: how could I eat it, or please the Lord in the ceremonies, having a sorrowful heart? (Leviticus 10:19). Come in before his presence with exceeding great joy (Psalms 100:2).

The private individual, however, is able to correct others by challenging them through his example. Therefore, he is shown to be unfit through his sin, which is indicated by the lack of soundness: they are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together (Psalms 14:3), namely, for correction.

11. Third, where it says, wounds and bruises, he removes the manner of correction which is through human exertion, as when someone is disposed to grace, which erases sins through good works. Thus he says, wounds, for open fault; and bruises, for hidden envy; and swelling sores, for inflating pride. They are not bound up, by the bond of the law drawing them back: of old time you have broken my yoke, you have burst my bands, and you said: I will not serve (Jeremiah 2:20), regarding the first. Nor dressed, with healing charity, regarding the second: charity covers all sins (Proverbs 10:12). Nor soothed with oil, with soothing humility, regarding the third: the prayer of the humble and the meek has always pleased you ; the greater you are, the more humble yourself in all things ; a mild answer breaks wrath (Proverbs 15:1); can I leave my fatness, which both gods and men make use of? (Judges 9:9).

12. Your land is desolate. Here he threatens punishment. First, he presents the judgment of the one who punishes; second, he offers a small measure of comfort, where it says, except the Lord of hosts had left us seed (Isaiah 1:9).

He presents a threefold punishment.

1. As to the destruction of their possessions. He says, your land is desolate, regarding the plains, which, being uncultivated, will be like the desert. Later he says: for briers and thorns shall be in all the land (Isaiah 7:24). Your cities are burnt with fire, regarding the cities: and I will send a fire into Moab, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem (Amos 2:2); I looked, and behold Carmel was a wilderness: and all its cities were destroyed at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of the wrath of his indignation (Jeremiah 4:26).
2. The second punishment is the destruction of the products of the soil. He says, your country strangers devour before your face, regarding its fruit: it will devour the fruit of your cattle, and the fruits of your land, until you be destroyed (Deuteronomy 28:49). It shall be desolate, regarding the destruction of trees and vineyards: woe unto us, for we are laid waste (Jeremiah 4:13).
3. Third is the captivity of the people. He says, the daughter of Zion shall be left, that is, Jerusalem or the temple, from which came the protection of the whole province. It was solitary, as a shelter in a vineyard after the harvest. Later he says: for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel: and the man of Judah, his pleasant plant (Isaiah 5:7). It was as a hut in a garden of cucumbers, after the last fruits have been collected, through which he signifies their fathers: I saw their fathers like the first fruits of the fig tree in the top thereof (Hosea 9:10). It was as a city that is laid waste, because it was the metropolis: the city is laid waste (Ezekiel 33:21), said he who had come from Jerusalem. This is the city to be visited, all oppression is in the midst of her (Jeremiah 6:6).

13. Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed. Here he presents consolation from the promise to liberate their descendants (their seed). The Lord, however, left them:

• the gathered seed of the flesh, as it says later: I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west (Isaiah 43:5);
• the promised seed of blessing: to Abraham were the promises made and to his seed (Galatians 3:16);
• the scattered seed of preaching, as it says later: when he shall rush out from Jacob, Israel shall blossom and bud, and they shall fill the face of the world with seed (Isaiah 27:6);
• the new seed of the saints, as it says later: as the new heavens, and the new earth, which I will make to stand before me, says the Lord: so shall your seed stand, and your name (Isaiah 66:22).

14. I have brought up children (Isaiah 1:2). Here, three things are to be noted: the benefit of their upbringing, the privilege of their exaltation, and the contempt of their ingratitude. Indeed, He brought them up in the time of the law, when the heir was still a child (Galatians 4:1):

1. Refreshing them with promises in the patriarchs: to Abraham were the promises made (Galatians 3:16).
2. Governing them with judgments in the lawgivers: he has not done in like manner to every nation, and his judgments he has not made manifest to them (Psalms 147:20).
3. Defending them with help in the judges and kings: their God will defend them, and we shall be a reproach to the whole earth .
4. He taught them with warnings in the prophets: the Lord has been witness between you, and the wife of your youth (Malachi 2:14).
5. He corrected them with punishments from their enemies: for it is a token of great goodness, when sinners are not suffered to go on in their ways for a long time, but are presently punished .

15. But He exalted them in the time of grace:

1. According to the assumption of flesh: for nowhere doth he take hold of the angels: but of the seed of Abraham he takes hold (Hebrews 2:16).
2. Through personal preaching: I was not sent but to the sheep, that are lost of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24).
3. Through his own conduct: many good works I have showed you from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me? (John 10:32).
4. Through the working of miracles: a great prophet is risen up among us: and, God has visited his people (Luke 7:16; John 5).
5. Through the preaching of his disciples: instead of your fathers, sons are born to you: you shall make them princes over all the earth (Psalms 45:16).

16. But, on the contrary, they did the following:

• They despised the descent of Christ: is not this the son of Joseph? (Luke 4:22).
• They rejected his teaching: beginning from Galilee to this place, we have found this man perverting our nation (Matthew 26:59–68; Luke 23:2, 5).
• They blasphemed his life: why doth your master eat with publicans and sinners? (Matthew 9:11).
• They perverted his miracles: by the prince of devils he casts out devils (Mark 3:22).
• They killed his disciples: behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves (Matthew 10:16).