THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAS
ON THE PROPHETS
We come now to another division of the Bible, specified by our Saviour: All things must needs be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me, Luke xxiv. 44. He more frequently comprises all the Scriptures under the titles of Moses, or the Law and the Prophets; (Luke xxiv. 27) as in effect, all the sacred writings refer ultimately to him, who is the end of the law; (Romans x. 4.) and the Jews comprise under the name of the first prophets, the histories of Josue, &c. (Haydock) — God has kept up a succession of prophets from the beginning, who either by word of mouth or by writing, established the true religion. Their predictions are the most convincing proof of its divine origin, Isaias xli. 23. They contain many things clear, and others obscure: having, for the most part, a literal, and a mystical sense. (Calmet) — Yet some relate solely to Christ, while others must not be applied to him. (Bossuet) — The Fathers, in imitation of the ancient Jews, and of the apostles, discover frequently a spiritual sense, concealed under the letter, as Christ himself declared that Jonas, in the whale’s belly, prefigured his burial and resurrection on the third day. See Matthew xii. 39., Mark ix. 11., and Galatians iv. 24. When the figurative sense is thus authorized, it may serve to prove articles of faith; and such arguments must be more cogent in disputes with the Jews, than what can be drawn from their authors. They must confess that the New Testament contains a true history, or they cannot require that we should pay greater deference to the Old. Tertullian (Pręs.) well observes, that heretics have no right to the Scriptures: But if they will quote them, they must receive them all, and adopt the sense given to them by the Church. (Calmet) — The providence of God, in giving prophets, and other guides to direct his people, was ever an object of admiration and gratitude. The prophets were enabled, by a supernatural light, superior to that of faith, though beneath that of glory, to announce the secrets of futurity, as eye-witnesses; whence their predictions are styled visions, as such witnesses deserve the utmost credit. We have the writings of the four great, and the twelve less prophets. In these, many things are hard to be understood, which must not be interpreted by the private spirit, 2 Peter i. A large commentary would be requisite to explain these to the bottom, and we must refer the curious to the works of the Fathers, &c., as the subsequent notes will be rather briefer than usual. (Worthington) — The Septuagint varies much from the original in Isaias. But we cannot specify every particular. (Calmet) — St. Jerome has frequently given a double version in his learned comments on the prophets, as he would not peremptorily decide which exhibited the sense of God’s word more accurately. (Haydock)
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THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAS.
INTRODUCTION
This inspired writer is called by the Holy Ghost, (Ecclesiasticus xlviii. 25.) the great prophet; from the greatness of his prophetic spirit, by which he hath foretold, so long before, and in so clear a manner, the coming of Christ, the mysteries of our redemption, the calling of the Gentiles, and the glorious establishment, and perpetual flourishing of the Church of Christ: insomuch that he seems to have been rather an evangelist than a prophet. His very name is not without mystery: for Isaias in Hebrew signifies the salvation of the Lord, or, Jesus is the Lord. He was, according to the tradition of the Hebrews, of the blood royal of the kings of Juda; and after a most holy life, ended his days by a glorious martyrdom; being sawed in two, at the command of his wicked son-in-law, king Manasses, for reproving his evil ways. (Challoner) — He began to prophesy ten years before the foundation of Rome, and the ruin of Ninive. His style is suitable to his high birth. He may be called the prophet of the mercies of the Lord. Under the figure of the return from captivity, he foretells the redemption of mankind (Calmet) with such perspicuity, that he might seem to be an evangelist. (St. Jerome)
St. Jerome’s Preface to Isaiah
BEGINNING OF THE PROLOGUE OF JEROME TO THE PROPHET ISAIAH No one, when he will have seen the Prophets to be written in verses, would think them to be bound in meter among the Hebrews, and to have anything in common with the Psalms or the works of Solomon. But what is customary to be used in Demosthenes and Cicero, as they are written in words with divisions, who certainly wrote prose and not in verses, we also, providing ease of reading, have divided a new translation with a new kind of writing. And first, knowing of Isaiah what is presented in his speech, certainly as a man noble and of urbane elegance he does not have anything of rusticity mixed into (his) speech. For this reason it happens that in comparison with others the translation was not able to preserve the flower of his speech. And then adding this, that it is being spoken not only by a prophet, but by an evangelist. For thus all the mysteries of Christ and the Church are pursued to clarity, so that you would not think them to be prophesied of the future, but they covered the history of things past. For this reason I suppose the Seventy interpreters to have been unwilling at that that time to set forth clearly for the gentiles the sacraments of their faith, not throwing holy things to dogs or pearls to swine, which things, when you will have read this edition, you will note were hidden by them. Nor am I unaware of how much work it is to understand the Prophets, or for anyone not to be easily able to judge from the translation, unless he will have before understood those things which he will have read, and we to suffer from the bites of many, who, being goaded by jealousy, what they are not able to follow, they despise. Therefore, knowing and being wise, I place my hand in the fire, and nevertheless I pray this for the scornful readers: that just as the Greeks after the Seventy translators read Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotion, either for study of their doctrines or so that they better understand the Seventy through their collation, that these are deemed worthy to have at least one translator after the earlier ones. Reading first and afterward despising, they are seen not to condemn by judgment, but rather by the ignorant presumption of hatred. And Isaiah prophesied in Jerusalem and Judea when the ten tribes had not yet been led into captivity, and the oracle covered both kingdoms, now together, now separately. And while he sometimes looks at present history, and indicated the return of the people to Judea after the Babylonian captivity, yet is all his concern for the calling of the nations and for the coming of Christ. Who, how much the more you love, O Paula and Eustochium, the more strive for him, so that for the present disparagement, by which the envious incessantly tear me into pieces, the same One may restore a reward to me in the future, Who knows me to have exerted myself in the learning of foreign languages: the Jews might not jump all day on the errors of the Scriptures in His Church. END OF THE PROLOGUE |