The Lawlessness of Jacob Taken Away
“… stones of the altars broken to pieces like fine dust; and their trees will not remain, and their idols cut down like a forest far off” (Isaiah 27:9).
Having set in between his reproof of those who had acted impiously toward the holy prophets, the blessed prophet again holds to the sequence of his thoughts, and says, as from the person of God: “Therefore the lawlessness of Jacob will be taken away” (Isaiah 27:9). “Therefore”: for what reason? Because he will not be slain as he himself slew, nor struck as he himself struck (Isaiah 27:7). For the gentleness that is in God always overcomes human pettiness; he does not in every way and in every case bring penalties equal to the offenses committed on earth, but rather tempers his wrath with mildness.
This is why he says: “The lawlessness of Jacob will be taken away”; that is, he will receive loving-kindness, and God will in due time remit his charges and free him even from the accusations themselves. “And this is his blessing.” For God promised Abraham, saying: “Surely I will bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed” (Genesis 22:17). But the godlike Abraham would not truly have been blessed, nor would his seed have been multiplied, if those of his blood had been required to pay penalties in proportion to their sins. But since they too, though they had done nothing good, and had rather been carried down into the utmost impiety, were enriched with forgiveness, the ground of the blessing has been kept and has passed on to them. “When, therefore, I take away his sin,” he says, “this will be the manner of his blessing.”
He also makes plain the time at which Jacob too will be free of his offenses. For when, he says, those called through faith to the knowledge of him who is truly God take the field against the ancient error; when altars and sacred precincts and the swarm of idols are taken out of the way; when they consume with fire the temples built with toil for lifeless idols; when they cut down their trees, and besides these the things made with hands, like a forest: then, then indeed God will remit their stumblings to those of Israel as well. And this, I think, is what the godlike Paul declared: “But when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:25–26).
For to burn the temples down completely, to shear off the groves planted beside them, and to add as well the overthrow of the statues themselves, would signify nothing else, surely, than this: that those who long wandered in error and worshipped the works of their own hands will be changed and come to the knowledge of the truth, and will reach such love of God as even to lay hands on the things they once worshipped, and those of …
Greek
ίθους τῶν βωμῶν κατακεκομμένους ὡς κονίαν λεπτὴν, καὶ οὐ μὴ μείνῃ τὰ δένδρα αὐτῶν, καὶ τὰ εἴδωλα αὐτῶν ἐκκεκομμένα ὥσπερ δρυμὸς μα- κράν.9 ∆ιὰ μέσου προστρίψας ὁ μακάριος προφήτης τὸν κατά γε τῶν δεδυσσεβηκότων εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους προ- φήτας ἔλεγχον, ἔχεται πάλιν τῆς τῶν νοημάτων ἀκο- λουθίας, καί φησιν ὡς ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ· ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἀφαιρεθήσεται ἡ ἀνομία Ἰακώβ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο· Ποῖον; Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οὐχ ὡς αὐτὸς ἀνεῖλεν οὕτως ἀναιρεθήσεται, οὔτε μὴν ὡς αὐτὸς ἐπάταξεν οὕτω πληγήσεται, τῆς ἐνούσης γαληνότητος τῷ Θεῷ νικώ- σης ἀεὶ τὰς ἀνθρωπίνας μικροψυχίας, καὶ οὐχὶ πάν- τη τε καὶ πάντως τοῖς ἐπὶ γῆς πλημμελήμασιν ἰσοπα- λεῖς τὰς δίκας ἐπάγοντος, συγκεραννύντος δὲ μᾶλλον ἡμερότητι τὴν ὀργήν. Ταύτῃτοί φησιν· Ἀφαιρεθή- σεται ἡ ἀνομία Ἰακὼβ, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τεύξεται φιλαν- θρωπίας, ἀνήσει δὲ αὐτῷ κατὰ καιροὺς τὰ ἐγκλή- ‹70.604› ματα, ἀπαλλάξει καὶ αὐτῶν αἰτιαμάτων· καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν ἡ εὐλογία αὐτοῦ. Ἐπηγγείλατο μὲν γὰρ τῷ Ἀβραὰμ λέγων· "6Ἢ μὴν εὐλογήσω σε καὶ πληθύνων πληθυνῶ τὸ σπέρμα σου."6 Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν ηὐλογήθη κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ὁ θεσπέσιος Ἀβραὰμ, οὐδ' ἂν ἐπληθύνθη τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ, ἀναλόγους τοῖς ἡμαρτημένοις ἐξαι- τουμένων τὰς δίκας τῶν ἐξ αἵματος αὐτοῦ. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καίτοι πεπραχότες τῶν ἀγαθῶν οὐδὲν, μᾶλλον δὲ κατενηνεγμένοι πρὸς ἀνοσιότητα τὴν ἐσχάτην, πε- πλουτήκασι καὶ αὐτοὶ τὴν ἄφεσιν, τετήρηταί τε καὶ διαβέβηκεν εἰς αὐτοὺς ἡ τῆς εὐλογίας ὑπόθεσις. Ὅταν τοίνυν ἀφέλωμαι, φησὶ, τὴν ἁμαρτίαν αὐτοῦ οὗτος ἔσται τῆς εὐλογίας ὁ τρόπος αὐτῷ. Ἐναργῆ δὲ καθίστησι τὸν καιρὸν καθ' ὃν ἔσται καὶ αὐτὸς τῶν πλημμελημάτων ἐλεύθερος. Ὅταν γὰρ, φησὶν, οἱ διὰ τῆς πίστεως κεκλημένοι πρὸς ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ κατ' ἀλήθειαν ὄντος Θεοῦ τῆς ἀρχαίας καταστρατεύσονται πλάνης, ὅταν ἐκ μέσου γένωνται βωμοὶ, καὶ τεμένη, καὶ ὁ τῶν εἰδώλων ἐσμὸς, ὅταν πυρὶ δαπανήσωσι τοὺς τοῖς ἀψύχοις εἰδώλοις ἐκπεπονημένους ναούς· ὅταν ἐκκόψωσι τὰ δένδρα αὐτῶν, καὶ πρός γε τούτοις τὰ χειροποίητα, καθάπερ τινὰ δρυμόν· τότε δὴ τότε ἀνήσει Θεὸς καὶ αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ τὰ διεπται- σμένα. Καὶ τοῦτο, οἶμαι, ἔστιν, ὅπερ ἔφησε φῶς ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος· "6Ὅταν δὲ τὸ πλήρωμα τῶν ἐθνῶν εἰσέλθῃ, τότε πᾶς Ἰσραὴλ σωθήσεται."6 Τὸ γὰρ ὅλως κατεμπρῆσαι ναοὺς, καὶ τοὺς παραπεπηγότας αὐτοῖς ἀποκεῖραι δρυμοὺς, προσθεῖναι δὲ καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν ἀγαλμάτων τὴν καταστροφὴν, κατασημήνειεν ἂν ἕτε- ρον οὐδὲν ἢ ἐκεῖνό που πάντως, ὅτι τῶν πάλαι πλανωμένων, καὶ προσκυνούντων τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν ἰδίων χειρῶν μετάστασις ἔσται πρὸς ἀληθείας ἐπίγνωσιν, ὥστε πρὸς τοῦτο φιλοθεΐας ἥκειν αὐτοὺς, ὡς καὶ τοῖς πάλαι προσκυνουμένοις παρ' αὐτῶν ἐπαφεῖναι τὰς χεῖρας, καὶ τοὺς ἐκ ξ