Isaías 45
Cyril of Alexandria · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Isaías 45:1
What is most clear is the power of the prophecy or the prophetic preaching. We should look at each of the lines to see clearly what seems obscure. For it calls Cyrus "Christ" and not as if he were one of the saints, who could bear this name, but it functions to mean that he bears the name as anointed by God, in that God was in the habit of anointing those called to the kingdom even if they were not saints or worshipers. For we find the holy prophets saying to those who have received this, "The Lord has anointed you king over Israel." So Cyrus is the anointed one, anticipating Christ as king. Only through God has he triumphed and been brought to this triumphal song so as to reflect that since he is called "anointed," that is, by chrism and selection, he is called by God to the kingdom … so that you might know.… "I am the Lord God who calls your name, the God of Israel, for the sake of Jacob my servant/son and Jacob my chosen. I, God alone, have called you for this, and I have honored you with radiance, that you will be civil to my servant Israel. I have called you and have crowned you with glory, even though you do not know that I am the Lord and that there is no God other than me." — COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 4:2.45:1
Isaías 45:9
Though this saying is deep and shrouded in much obscurity, you will nonetheless come to understand how true and useful it is. I think it is necessary first to explain briefly the thrust of the ideas. This way it will become more accessible to my listeners and easier to understand. Therefore, the God of all redeemed Israel from Egypt and rescued them from the errors of polytheism and the deceit of the demons, and brought them through the law of Moses to the dawn of the true knowledge of God. He taught them to worship one God and adore one Lord. Then, by means of types and shadows, he wanted to raise them to those things that are still better and more perfect, namely, the things that are in Christ. The law was a tutor, and it stayed until the time of correction, that is, the time of the coming of our savior Jesus Christ when he set aside the shadow of the commandments of the law and the types found in the text, and introduced the people on earth to the beauty of worship in spirit and truth openly and without disguise.But the Jews were quite vexed by this, and because they were still clinging to the types, they resisted Christ, accusing him of transgressing the Mosaic legislation. … Accordingly, since they deemed as unacceptable the benefit that comes from the preaching of the Gospel, although it would have brought them from the inane shadows to spiritual fruitfulness, it says to them: "Will the plowman plow the earth all day?" "O foolish people," he is saying, "the farmer furrows the soil with the plow, but he does not do so forever, nor does he spend the whole time of farming doing the work of the plow. He furrows the soil not simply for the sake of doing so, but that it may be ready to receive the seed when it is sown in it, and thus be productive. Therefore, previously I worked all your hearts, overgrown with thickets and dry as a wasteland as they were, using the law of Moses like a plow; and like a farmer who furrows the land, I prepared them to receive the sowing of good seeds. Now, the sower of every good thing is my Son. Accept, therefore, what comes from him, and cease from your constant love and affection for the plow, which is the law." You see, his purpose in plowing, as I said, was not for you to have that (for what profit would there be in that?) but so that you may produce the fruits of truth. Since we have been refashioned spiritually in Christ, that is to say, we have been transformed, some from the [pagan] error to the knowledge of the truth and to a holy life that comes form Christ, who is the Savior of us all, others from circumcision to adoption of the gospel teachings and into a newness of worship that is no longer marked by the dreariness of types but instead is resplendent with the striking beauty of spiritual worship. Both we and they have been enriched with rebirth in Christ through water and the Spirit. — COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 4:2.45:9
Isaías 45:9-10
Likewise, the common Jewish people rejected the grace that was given them and found it unacceptable; for they resisted, as I have said, the teachings of Christ.… "For I desire to refashion you," he says, "into something better, to remake you into something superior through a spiritual birth which, of course, is the one through water and the Spirit; but you foolishly resist my plans. Did the clay," he says, "ever reproach the potter for not having a skillful hand, or for not knowing how to give shape to what he holds in his hands? Nor," he says, "does the one who is about to be born put a question to his own father, 'Will you give birth?' How is it, then, that you, who are like clay in the potter's hands, and do not know at all how your spiritual rebirth will take place, are not afraid of being cantankerous? And why do you not realize you ought to leave it to me, as to a craftsman and father, how to do these things?" … Therefore, it is necessary to [yield] to what God says. He himself knows the way of his own works, and what he fashioned is not subject to prying, and what transcends our understanding should be given the honor of unquestioning faith.One must also understand that the prophet Jeremiah was sent to the house of the potter to see him at work. When the clay collapsed and was reshaped into a different vessel, God said to him: "Can I not do with you as this potter has done, O house of Israel? Behold, just like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand." Paul, also, explains that we are transformed spiritually into a holy and utterly good life, when he says: "And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed in to the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit"8; through whom we are also born again, not any longer of corruptible seed, but through the word of the living God who endures forever. — COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 4:2.45:9-10
Isaías 45:18
For it says, "thus says the Lord" and not simply an earthly "lord," for there are many in heaven and earth that ruin this name [the Lord] by overusing it. But he is the one who by nature and in truth is just—he is what he is said to be and derives no false glory from what he has ordained.… For if he who made heaven and earth did not make it in vain but to be inhabited, … then who else other than him can be considered God? — COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 4:3.45:18-19
Isaías 45:19
"I speak righteousness and proclaim truth." Righteousness, as I take it, means the law, for the law is the arbitrator of righteousness. And truth is the discipline of Christ. For there is a form of truth in the law, and the mystery of Christ lies concealed in its shadows, for Moses wrote about this. So, in speaking of righteousness, truth and power are proclaimed along with it, since it is true that the law is a shadow—and yet in it there remains a form of the truth. — COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 4:3.45:18-19
Isaías 45:19
I drew up laws about these things for them and did not speak in riddles, nor did I speak in a weighty tone but lightly and clearly. As a result, the Lord came down on Mount Sinai in the form of fire. There were darkness, storms, smoke and the piercing sound of trumpets. — COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 4:3.45:18-19
Isaías 45:20
But Emmanuel appeared who led with courage those who were snared. He endured for us the death of the flesh so that as Isaiah says in an evangelical way, the scattered children of God would be gathered into one … to gather, that is, to be bound together in one faith and like-mindedness. [They are] gathered by God the ruler of all through holiness and righteousness … and "brought near through the blood of Christ." … For it is through faith that understanding grows so that it is not in doubt. Even though faith might be undermined by deceit of ill counsel or led astray into ruin by ancient wickedness, we can quickly return to God and receive the light of the true divine knowledge and with a deliberation that comes from an upright mind constantly pursue the better things. Consider then and take counsel, all who have been saved from among the nations. — COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 4:3.45:20
Isaías 45:21-22
There is among them no true knowledge of the things to come, but rather they prophesy falsely, and with clownish talk and deception and trickery and nothing else. The God of the universe responds: If they prophesy rightly, they will come close and will know at the same time. For if they are able to prophesy rightly, then they will all be brought together as one. For their oracles came from many places. But some worked others into a frenzy and honored the unclean demons who were speaking falsehood. If they had been able to prophesy rightly, they would all be aware of what is to come and who from the very start made these things to be heard. — COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 4:3.45:21-22