Isaías 35
Jerome · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Isaías 35:1-2
(Chapter 35, verses 1, 2) The desolate and impassable will rejoice, and solitude will exult and flourish like a lily. It will sprout and blossom; with joy and praise it will exult. The glory of Lebanon has been given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the Lord and the splendor of our God. LXX: Rejoice, O desert, thirsting, and let the solitude exult and flourish like a lily. The deserts of the Jordan will blossom and exult; the glory of Lebanon has been given to it, and the honor of Carmel. And my people will see the glory of the Lord and the majesty of our God. Since Jerusalem has been turned into pitch and its smoke rises forever, and it is inhabited by the pelican and the hedgehog, the ibis and the raven, the dragons and the ostriches, demons and half-man half-horse creatures, lamia and hairy beings: and the Lord's fulfilled sentence is upon it: 'Your house will be left to you desolate' (Luke 13:35): therefore, what was once deserted, of which it is said in the Psalm: 'The voice of the Lord shaking the wilderness', and the Lord will shake the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord prepares the stags; and it reveals the thickets of the forests (Psalm 28:8,9), it will be transformed into the abundance of all things, and the beasts of the nations will be driven out from the fighting stags, from all the forests, which previously possessed them, so that what is said in the same Prophet may be fulfilled: Rejoice, O barren one, you who do not bear; burst forth and cry out, you who are not in labor; for the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who has a husband (Isaiah 54:1). This was previously thirsty, or impassable, not having life-giving waters, and the Lord did not walk (or enter) through it, which now will blossom into a lily, or as the Eagle expressed more significantly, an opening, which we can call a swelling rose with not yet expanded leaves. However, it will blossom, as the Apostle declares: We are the good odor of Christ in every place (II Cor. II, 15). And that from the Song of Songs: Flowers have been seen in the land; mandrakes have given forth their fragrance (Cant. VII, 12, 13). And what is placed in the LXX, 'and the deserts of the Jordan shall rejoice,' is not found in Hebrew, but we can say: in the Jordan river, the baptism of repentance was shown, which the Lord signed and confirmed with his washing. And because it is figuratively said about the wilderness, which refers to the nations, in which John was, it can be subsequently joined to the Jordan, so that through the desert of the nations we come to the baptism of the Savior. And what follows, the glory of Lebanon was given to him, and the beauty of Carmel and Sharon, according to the previous explanation we must understand, in which we said that Lebanon or the Temple of Jerusalem is meant, as Zachariah says: Open, Lebanon, your gates (Zach. XI, 1); and Ezekiel: A great eagle with great wings and full of feathers, which has a direction to enter Lebanon and Carmel (Ezek. XVII. 3): the former meaning the people, of whom it has been said above: And it will be a desert in Carmel, and Carmel will be counted as a wilderness (Isa. XXIII, 9); and Sharon has the same meaning, Scripture saying: Sharon has become like a desert. Therefore, all brightness, worship of God, and knowledge of circumcision, and the most fertile and open places, which are called Sharon, for which Symmachus interpreted as fields, will be given to the once deserted Church, and its inhabitants will see the glory of the Lord, and the beauty or greatness of our God. — Commentary on Isaiah
Isaías 35:3-4
(Verse 3, 4.) Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful, "Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will bring vengeance and retribution. God Himself will come and save you (or as the Septuagint translates, us). Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will hear. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing, for water will burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert, and the dry ground will become a pool (or marsh), and the thirsty land springs of water. In the dens where the dragons once lived, green rushes and reeds shall grow (in the version of the Seventy: There will be the joy of birds and the folds of flocks). And there shall be a path and a road (or a clean road) and it shall be called the holy road, no unclean person shall pass through it. And this shall be for us a direct road, so that fools shall not go astray (or as the Seventy translated, There will be no unclean road there, those who are scattered shall pass through it and shall not wander. There will be, it says, no lion there, and no wicked beast shall ascend it, nor shall it be found there; but they who are set free shall walk on it. And those who are redeemed by the Lord shall return and come to Zion with praise, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. We have mixed together both editions, so that the size of the books may not be stretched in presenting each one, which has already exceeded the limit of brevity.) To the apostles, about whom it was said above: They themselves will see the glory of the Lord and the beauty of our God, it is commanded that they strengthen the hands that are weak among the nations, and make firm the feeble knees, so that those who were unable to do the work of God with weak hands and had a dry right hand, may extend it to good works. And those who once stumbled among idols in various errors, may walk firmly on the path of truth, and may the faith of the Lord strengthen the weak and fearful, so that they may not be afraid, and may the fear of the one God drive away all fears of error. The reason, however, is security and constancy, because Christ is coming, to whom the Father has given all judgment: and he will render to each one according to their works (John 5). He himself will come and save you, to whom it is said, do not be afraid: whether us, as the Apostles say that salvation is common with those who believe. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be opened. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will be opened. Although this was fulfilled by the magnitude of the signs, when the Lord spoke to the disciples of John, who were sent to him: Go and report to John what you have heard and seen: the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise, the poor have the good news preached to them (Luke 7:22); yet it is fulfilled daily among the Gentiles, when those who were previously blind and used to stumble into wood and stones, now see the light of truth. And those who could not hear the words of the Scriptures with deaf ears, now rejoice in the precepts of God; for those who were previously closed off and did not follow the right path, leap like deer, imitating their teachers, and the tongue of the mute will be opened, whom Satan had closed off in order that they could not confess the Lord. Therefore, the eyes will be opened, the ears will hear, the lame will leap, and the tongue of the mute will be opened, for they have been torn apart, or have burst forth, in the desert of the Church of baptismal waters, and there are streams and rivers in the wilderness, namely different spiritual graces; and what was dry has been turned into marshes and a pond, so that it not only lacks the heat of thirst but also becomes navigable and irrigated, and has many springs that the deer desires, and those who drink from them can bless the Lord, according to what is written: Bless the Lord from the fountains of Israel (Ps. 67:27). In the prisons of the souls of the Gentiles, in which dragons dwelled before, there will be reed and rush, on which the faith of the Lord will be written, and on which the weary limbs will rest; whether it will be the joy of birds, and the cages of flocks: so that the doves may take wings, and leaving behind the lowly, may hasten to the heights, and be able to say with the Psalmist, The Lord feeds me, and I shall not want: He has placed me in a place of pasture: He has nourished me by refreshing waters. There will be a path, and a very clean road, which will be called holy, and which says of itself: I am the way (John 14:6), through which someone who is defiled cannot pass. Hence it is also said in the psalm, Blessed are the undefiled in the way (Psalm 119:1). And this way will be for us, that is, our God, so straight and level and plain, that it has no error: and the foolish and senseless may perish trying to enter, to whom Wisdom speaks in Proverbs: If anyone is little, let him come to me. And she has spoken to the foolish, come and eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mixed for you. Leave behind foolishness, and live, and walk in the ways of prudence (Prov. 5:4-6). For God has chosen the foolish things of the world (1 Cor. 1): of which the prince of fools speaks in the psalm, God, you know my foolishness. And the foolishness of God is wiser than men (Ps. 68:6). Therefore the Septuagint translated: And those who were scattered (1 Cor. 2), and separated from the fellowship of the Lord, will by no means wander. It follows, There will not be a lion there: our adversary the devil, who prowls around roaring, how could he enter the sheepfold of the Lord (I Peter V). And the evil beasts, his satellites, will not climb through it. For the track of a snake cannot be found on a rock. But those who have been freed from the chains of sin, redeemed by the blood of the Savior, and have repented; and have come to Zion, of which we have often said: You have come to Mount Zion, and to the heavenly city of the living God Jerusalem (Hebrews XII, 22); let us not seek a golden Zion in the manner of the Jews, and a gemmed Jerusalem, which, according to the prophecy of Daniel, has been dissolved into eternal ashes (Daniel IX). And there will be everlasting joy for those praising the Lord over their heads, so that after they have conquered the world, they may say with the Apostle and Prophet: I have completed the race, I have kept the faith, the crown of righteousness has been reserved for me (2 Timothy 4:7-8); and, Lord, as with the shield of your good will, you have crowned us (Psalm 5:12). Then, with joy and gladness succeeding, sorrow and groaning will flee when He comes from Zion to deliver. All these things we interpret, according to the Apostle Paul, as referring to the first coming of the Savior: but the Jews and our Judaizers refer them to the second, on account of a single verse, 'They shall be converted, and shall come to Zion with praise; desiring the blood of sacrifices, the bondage of all nations, and the beauty of wives.' — Commentary on Isaiah