Thomas Aquinas, on Isa 1:13

“Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination to me. The new moons, and the sabbaths, and other festivals I will not abide, your assemblies are wicked.”

“46. Third, he rejects the sacrifices which were owed to God and the priest, saying: offer sacrifice no more. Shall the holy flesh take away from you your crimes, in which you have boasted? (Jer 11:15); and: what shall I offer to the Lord that is worthy? . . . Shall I offer holocausts unto him, and calves of a year old? May the Lord be appeased with thousands of rams, or with many thousands of fat he goats? (Mic 6:6–7). 47. Incense. Here he rejects offerings of inanimate things, for all of which he places incense, because, among all of them, it was worthier, as thymiama (Exod 30:35), and commoner, as to frankincense, which was set out and added to any such offering, and burned whole to God, below: he that remembers frankincense, as if he should bless an idol (Isa 66:3). 48. But it is objected concerning this that the Gloss says that God never loved their sacrifices, although he commanded that they should be made: and the Lord smelled a sweet savor; and he said: I will no more curse the earth for the sake of man (Gen 8:21). And to this it is to be said that in any sacrifice there is something to be considered on the part of the offerer and something on the part of the thing offered. On the part of the thing offered, our sacrifices please God of themselves, but not the sacrifices of the ancients. And this is because something is said to be pleasing or loved of itself because it has in itself something whence it may be loved, as a virtuous good; but something that is only loved for its relation to another is not said to be loved of itself, as, for instance, being cut or burned is said to be loved, in as far as it is related to the end of health. Our sacrifices, however, contain in themselves the grace of sanctification, according to which they are accepted by God; but the sacraments or sacrifices of the ancients were only signs of these, and therefore they were not loved of themselves. On the part of the offerer, however, both ours and theirs were able to be accepted out of the devotion of the offerer. 49. Therefore, a fourfold time can be distinguished. The first is the time before the written law and the idolatry of Israel; and at that time the ancient sacrifices made by the holy patriarchs were pleasing both because of the devotion of the offerer and because of the signification of the thing offered. The second is the time under the written law; and at that time, after their idolatry, something was added which made the sacrifices displeasing in themselves, for it was not proper that God should be pleased and the devil worshipped at the same time; and on the other hand, one advantage on the part of the offerer was added, that it might be a remedy against idolatry for the people who were prone to it. Hence nothing was commanded concerning sacrifices before the fabrication of the idol, and thus the passage from Jeremiah brought in above is understood. The third time was under the prophets, when, because of the sins of the people, the sacrifices were now not pleasing on the part of the offerer, but only insofar as they were signs. Hence, following this, they did not please God, but offended him more. The fourth is the time under grace, when their use is now totally abolished, because with the coming of the reality, the figure has ceased. 50. The new moons, and the sabbaths. Here he removes the celebration of solemnities. And first, as to the future, he sets out a proposition of prohibition, saying, the new moons: blow up the trumpet on the new moon, on the noted day of your solemnity (Ps 80:4[81:3]); sabbaths (Exod 20:8); other festivals: these are the feasts of the Lord which you shall call most solemn and most holy (Lev 23:37). Your assemblies are wicked, below: behold in the day of your fast your own will is found, and you exact of all your debtors (Isa 58:3).”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.