Thomas Aquinas Commentary Isaiah 56

1. Thus says the Lord. Here, after He had promised liberation from evils, He begins to promise salvation by the granting of blessings. This is divided into three parts:

• In the first part, the preparation for salvation is presented.
• In the second, the promise of salvation: arise, be enlightened (Isaiah 60).
• In the third, the great separation in the granting of salvation: who is this? (Isaiah 63).

The first of these is divided into two:

• In the first, the preparation on the part of the recipient of salvation is presented.
• In the second, the preparation on the part of the Savior Himself: behold the hand of the Lord is not shortened (Isaiah 59).

The first of these is divided into two:

• In the first, He gives beneficial counsel for preparation.
• In the second, He rules out a useless remedy: cry, cease not (Isaiah 58).

The first of these is divided into two:

• In the first, He presents the diversity of the recipients of this counsel, concerning the establishment of rewards.
• In the second, their diversity concerning escape from dangers: the just perishes (Isaiah 57).

The first of these is divided into three:

• In the first, He presents the counsel.
• In the second, the fruit of the counsel in its recipients: blessed is the man that does this (Isaiah 56:2).
• In the third, the absence of salvation for those who despise it: all you beasts (Isaiah 56:9).

2. Concerning the first, He does two things.

First, He considers the proper preparation: maintain justice, you superiors, to whom it belongs to judge; practice righteousness, you subjects—that is, practice every virtue, insofar as it is aligned with others by the precepts of the law: I will show you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Truly to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).

Second, He promises the imminence of salvation: for my salvation is near, for you will be saved by Me after your captivity, and my justice, regarding your enemies, from whom I will vindicate you, as stated above: I have brought my justice near, it shall not be far away (Isaiah 46:12).

3. Blessed is the man. Here He presents the fruit of this counsel in those who receive it.

First, He presents its utility, showing the fruit of fulfilling it: blessed is the man that does this, fulfilling it by his works, and the son of man that shall grasp this, undertaking it with determination: blessed is the man that fears the Lord (Psalms 112:1). He also shows the manner of fulfilling it, regarding ceremonial precepts: that keeps the sabbath. For the observance of the sabbath belonged to the moral law in its requirement that rest be placed in God and that time sometimes be set aside for divine matters by abstaining from other things; but it belonged to the ceremonial law regarding the determination of the time.

Now, for them, the seventh day was determined because of the work of creation, which had not yet been surpassed by anything more worthy. For us, the first day, or the eighth, is determined because of the mystery of the resurrection, in which created nature was restored to something better: remember that you keep holy the sabbath day (Exodus 20:8); take heed to your souls, and carry no burdens on the sabbath day (Jeremiah 17:21). And regarding moral precepts, that keeps his hands from doing any evil: I will wash my hands among the innocent (Psalms 26:6).

4. Second, He presents the universality of this benefit: and let not the son of the stranger.

First, He addresses the despair of some who seemed unworthy, either because of a deficiency of lineage, since they were not of the race of Israel: that adheres to the Lord, keeping His precepts; saying: the Lord will divide and separate me from his people, not making me a participant in the salvation promised to them: for there is no distinction of the Jew and the Greek: for the same is Lord over all (Romans 10:12). Or it was because of a lack of generative power: and let not the eunuch say: behold I am a dry tree, unable to beget, just as a dry tree is unable to sprout: the just shall spring up as a green leaf (Proverbs 11:28).

5. Second, He presents the promise: for thus says the Lord.

First, this applies to those things that relate especially to eunuchs: they that shall keep my sabbaths, regarding religious worship, and shall choose the things that please me, regarding obedience to the law, and shall hold fast my covenant, regarding the observance of the promise to abstain from evil. Within my walls, a place, that is, a dwelling within the walls of My city; and a name better, because they will be called My servants and holy ones, and sons, that is, as if they had fathered many sons: the eunuch, that has not wrought iniquity . And regarding foreigners: and the children of the stranger, that is, I will give them the privileges in which the Jews glory, to worship him, regarding special worship, and to love his name, like children, to be his servants, and to glory in His rule, as stated above: they shall worship the Lord (Isaiah 19:21). These things were indeed fulfilled in the return of the people from captivity, but more fully in the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith of Christ, as the Gloss explains.

6. Second, this applies to everyone in general: every one that keeps the sabbath from profaning it. Concerning this, He does two things.

First, He presents the promise, in which He promises the restoration of the holy place: I will bring them into my holy mount, namely, as above: come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord (Isaiah 2:3). And regarding the acceptance of sacrifices: their holocausts, and their victims shall please me: the sacrifice of Judah and of Jerusalem shall please the Lord (Malachi 3:4).

Second, He presents the order of fulfillment. First, regarding the worship of the temple: for my house: the temple which is honored throughout the whole world ; my house shall be called the house of prayer (Matthew 21:13). Second, regarding the gathering of the people: the Lord God, who gathers, to Himself, Israel, the peoples who adhere to Him: the Lord builds up Jerusalem: he will gather together the dispersed of Israel (Psalms 147:2).

7. Note on the words, I will give to them . . . a name better, that the saints have a name:

1. From predestination, as stated above: the Lord has called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother he has been mindful of my name (Isaiah 49:1).
2. From divine adoption,Adeptione, but perhaps we should read adoptione. behold what manner of charity the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called and should be the sons of God (1 John 3:1).
3. From the infusion of grace: you have a name and hold fast my name (Revelation 2:13).
4. From the renewal of their minds: I will give him a white counter: and in the counter, a new name written (Revelation 2:17).

8. Note also that the name of God is to be loved :

1. Because it is great and to be feared: my name is great among the Gentiles, says the Lord (Malachi 1:11).
2. Because it is holy and to be venerated: he that is mighty has done great things to me: and holy is his name (Luke 1:49).
3. Because it is sweet to be meditated on, as stated above: your name, and your remembrance are the desire of the soul (Isaiah 26:8).
4. Because it is abundant in showing mercy: your name is as oil poured out (Song of Solomon 1:2).
5. Because it is effective to be called upon: whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he will give it you (John 15:16).
6. Because it is powerful to save: for there is no other name under heaven, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
7. Because it is hidden from knowing: what is his name? (Proverbs 30:4).

9. All you beasts of the field. Here He threatens an absence of salvation for those who despise His counsel.

First, He describes the punishment of death: all you beasts of the field come to devour their corpses: say to every fowl (Ezekiel 39:17).

Second, He presents the fault. He begins with the fault of the superiors regarding their failure in governing and foreseeing dangers: his watchmen, for superiors are placed over the people to guard them from dangers, just as a watchman guards against enemies. They are ignorant, unable to foresee dangers: let them alone: they are blind, and leaders of the blind (Matthew 15:14). In correcting vices: all dumb dogs not able to bark against vices: but I, as a deaf man, heard not: and as a dumb man not opening his mouth (Psalms 38:13). In warning them of what must be done: seeing vain things, promising them prosperity when adversity is near, and thus encouraging them in their sins: her prophets have daubed them (Ezekiel 22:28). In plundering their goods: and most impudent dogs, plundering their subjects' goods as if without any restraint of shame, and they are never satisfied: they shall suffer hunger like dogs (Psalms 59:6). And regarding their lack of perfect knowledge: the shepherds themselves knew no understanding of the Law and the Prophets: he that understands shall possess governments (Proverbs 1:5); they have not known nor understood: they walk on in darkness (Psalms 82:5).

10. Second, He addresses the fault of the subjects, or of all of them together.

First, regarding their own will, which relates to pride: all have turned aside into their own way (Jeremiah 16:12).

Second, regarding their desire, which relates to avarice: everyone for his own gain: from the least of them even to the greatest, all are given to covetousness (Jeremiah 6:13).

Third, regarding pleasure, which relates to the sinful desire of the flesh: come, let us take wine, and it shall be—that is, if today we rejoice in such things, tomorrow, much more, as stated above: behold joy and gladness, killing calves, and slaying rams, eating flesh, and drinking wine (Isaiah 22:13).

Chapter 57