Commentary on Isaiah (Super Isaiam)

And it came to pass, when he had heard, etc. In this part he shows how Hezekiah fought against the blasphemies with humility and prayers: and concerning this he does three things.

First he recounts how he went to the place of prayer, taking up the garb of humility: he was wrapped, etc. Jonah 3: he rose from his throne, etc.

Second, not presuming to pour out prayer to God by himself, he seeks the support of prayer through messengers from the prophet; where he recounts the sending of the messengers: and he sent Eliakim, etc. Above, 8: shall not a people, from their God, etc. The messengers set forth the tribulation. And it should be read thus: and they came, etc., and they said to him: a day of tribulation, which we suffer in outward persecutions; of anguish, as to the sorrows of the heart; of correction, divine; of blasphemy, of enemies. The children have come, that is, the conceptions of counsels, of giving birth, of fulfilling. Or, thus we grieve as women in labor. Zephaniah 1: this day is a day of wrath, etc.; they extend the petition, so that it should be ordered thus: lift up therefore a prayer, etc., if perhaps, etc. Jeremiah 42: pray for us to the Lord God, etc.

Third, he sets down the prophet's response: and he said to them: in which he excludes the king's fear: do not fear. Jeremiah 1: do not fear before the face, etc., and he foretells the death of king Sennacherib: behold I, etc. Apocalypse 13: he who kills by the sword, by the sword, etc. He returned, etc. Here he sets down the return of Rabshakeh to Sennacherib. And it is plain.

And he heard concerning Terancha. Here he recounts how he assailed them, threatening by letters; and concerning this he does three things.

First he sets down that one's proud threat: and he heard concerning Terancha, who had gone out to the help of the Egyptians; which when he had heard, he went out to meet him, leaving Judea; and before he withdrew, he wrote these words. Afterward, going on and besieging Pelusium in Egypt, when the king of Ethiopia came, he was unwilling to fight with him, saying — mockingly, on account of his blackness — that he was a priest of Pluto: or because mice, gnawing the bowstrings, left his army unarmed. Above, 10: how has the hand found, etc.

Second, he sets down Hezekiah's prayer, prefacing the receiving of the letter: in which prayer he confesses God's power, through the subjection of the Angels: O Lord God of hosts. Job 25: is there any number, etc., through the worship of the Jews: God of Israel, who sit above the Cherubim: because the mercy-seat, which was as it were the seat of God, and also gave responses, was above the wings of the Cherubim. Psalm 79: who sit above the Cherubim, etc. But since the tabernacle is arranged according to the pattern of the heavenly Church, as is taken from Exodus 25, it seems to be said wrongly that he sits above the Cherubim, rather than above the thrones. And to this it must be said that he sits above the Cherubim, that is, beyond, because above the Seraphim, who are beyond them. Or, according to Gregory and Dionysius, nothing there is possessed singularly; but what belongs to the lower is attributed also to the higher, and more eminently. Whence the Cherubim also possess the property of the thrones, even more eminently. Or it must be said that he sits above the thrones as above a seat of judgment; above the Cherubim as above the chair of a master: because they are interpreted as the outpouring of knowledge. And therefore it was fittingly said that responses were given from there.

He also shows God's power through the disposition of kingdoms: you alone are God, etc., Daniel 5: until he should know that he has power, etc.; he proves it also through the bringing forth of creatures: you have made, etc. Psalm 145: who made heaven, etc.; he also accuses Sennacherib's blasphemy: incline, Lord, etc.; Judith 6: Lord God of heaven, etc., proving along with this the folly of the blasphemy: for truly, Lord, etc., Psalm 113: the idols of the nations, etc. Third, in this prayer he also asks for the mercy of salvation: and now, Lord, etc. Judith 9: let all the nations know, etc.

Third, the prophet promises that the prayer is heard, through messengers: and Isaiah sent, etc., and concerning this he does two things. First he promises the destruction of the enemies; second, the liberation of the city: therefore thus he says, etc.

Concerning the first, three things. First he threatens him with the ruin of destruction; second he sets down a sign: but this shall be to you, etc.; third he shows the fruit of the destruction: and it shall send forth that which is saved, etc.

Concerning the first, two things. First he threatens the punishment of confusion against the contempt of the Jews: she has despised, etc., when she was unwilling to answer you; she will shake, in the future, when, the others having been slain, you will flee with few. Above, 33: you who despise others, etc., Job 22: the just shall see, etc.

Second, he threatens the punishment of destruction against the fault which he had committed against God: and concerning this he does three things. First he sets forth the fault; second he takes up the divine power: have you not heard, etc.; third he concludes the punishment: I will put therefore, etc.

Concerning the first, he accuses him of two sins. First, of blasphemy: whom have you reproached? The words of Hezekiah to Sennacherib; as if to say: not me, but God. Below, 57: over whom have you mocked, etc., second he accuses him of pride, which he had conceived from the greatness of the things done. And you have said. By the multitude, as though mine, and not by the power of God. The heights of Lebanon: the summits of the mountains, that is, of the powerful. Deuteronomy 32: our hand is exalted, etc.; from the greatness of the things proposed: and I will cut down the high things, the powerful among the Jews; the height, the house of the Lord; the forest, the people. Zechariah 11: open the gates, Lebanon, etc.; from the multitude of fighters: I have dug; as if to say: I have so great an army that the water I find does not suffice me, unless I dig wells. Or metaphorically: I have dried up the consolations of all nations. Joel 2: as a garden of delight, etc.

Have you not heard, etc. Here he takes up the divine power, speaking in the person of God himself. And first, as to the eternal preordination: what I did of old, from eternity, I purposed to do, both concerning the exaltation and the destruction; that — the evil of punishment which is inflicted through him — I foresaw and preordained, Ecclesiasticus 23: to the Lord our God, before, etc. Second, as to the temporal execution of the eternal purpose: and now I have brought it. Of the hills, of the princes, fighting together, against each other. Shortened, that is, withdrawn, my hand, from their help; or, their own hand diminished from helping itself. Psalm 128: let them become as the grass of housetops, etc. Third, as to the knowledge of all deeds: the dwelling, that is, the seat of the kingdom. The entrance, into the land of the Jews. Job 34: his eyes are upon the ways, etc.

I will put, therefore. Here he concludes the punishment. A ring, as on a buffalo; a bit, as on a horse, that is, by restraining with the power of my divinity. Job 30: he has opened his quiver, etc.

But to you. Here he sets down the sign. Now the army of the Assyrians had come with the harvest impending. Whence they were then unable to gather in the fruits, and they remained in the land until after the time of sowing: whence they were not able to sow either. So therefore it is said to them that, in that remaining part of the year, with Sennacherib going into Egypt, they should eat: they should eat what grows of itself, namely from the grains trodden down by the hooves of the horses and the chariots. Or whatever you shall find, as in 4 Kings 20, already gathered beforehand into the barns for the siege. Or what you had sown, according to the Septuagint, that is, what remained trodden down in the fields. And in the second year — he still being in Egypt, because he remained a year — because you will gather nothing, since you will have sown nothing, feed on fruits, or on what grows of itself, as in the Book of 4 Kings 20. And in that second year the Assyrian shall be destroyed; and so in the third year you will have free power of sowing and gathering. Or, according to Andrew, this is the meaning: and this shall be a sign refers to what precedes.

And it shall send forth. Here he sets down the fruit of the destruction: first setting down the likeness of a tree, which bears much fruit if it sinks its roots deep in the earth. Jeremiah 17: he shall be like a tree, etc.; second he sets down the exposition: because out of Jerusalem. Below, 46: I will give in Zion, etc.; third he assigns the reason: for the zeal, etc.; above, 9, the same.

Therefore thus he says. Here he promises liberation. He shall not enter, as he had proposed. Above, 8: take counsel, etc., and he assigns the reason: and I will protect. For my own sake. Below, 48: for my own sake I will do it, etc., and for David's sake. Psalm 131: for the sake of David your servant, etc.

Now there went out, etc. Here he sets down the punishment which he sustained from God. And first, as to the slaying of the army: and he struck. Above, 33: at the voice of the Angel, etc.; second, as to the disturbance and flight of those who remained: and they arose. Above, 17: behold, a disturbance, etc.; third, as to his own slaying: and it came to pass, as he was worshipping (...). Adrammelech and Sharezer, the firstborn, envying the younger brother, whom they wished to substitute, born of another mother. And thus the just man out of distress, etc. (Collationes, ch. 37).

Prayer is lifted up: through the excellence of contemplation, Psalm: I have lifted up my eyes, etc.; through the fervor of affection, Lamentations 3: let us lift up our hearts, etc.; through the tears of compunction, Psalm: I will lift up, every single night, Joel 1: lift up a wailing, etc.; through the zeal of good work, Psalm: the lifting up of my hands, etc.

Bridle: of human discretion, James 3: if anyone does not offend in word, etc.; of divine governance, below, 48: I will bridle you with my praise, etc.; of diabolical deception, above, 30: the bridle of error, etc.; of temporal affliction, Job 30: his quiver, etc.; of eternal damnation, Psalm: with bridle and bit, the jaws, etc.