The Name of the Lord Comes after a Long Time
Tomos 3. “Behold, the name of the Lord comes after a long time, wrath burning with glory; the oracle of His lips is an oracle full of wrath, and the wrath of His anger will devour like fire. And His breath, like water rushing in a ravine, will reach as far as the neck and be divided, to trouble the nations for vain error; and vain error will pursue them and seize them before their face” (Isaiah 30:27-28).
Having said very well that the light of the sun will be sevenfold for those who believe in Christ, at that time when He heals the bruise of His people (Isaiah 30:26), he usefully adds that the divine wrath will also be against Satan, who did the bruising, and against the demons with him. For their tyranny over us was not going to last without end, nor their strength to remain unshaken, above all once Christ, the Savior of all, had shone upon the human race.
The word of the prophecy is not bare and unclothed, as it were, but rather shadowed and deep. For it is framed as though about the Assyrians, who sacked Jerusalem and took all Judea, and, holding beloved Israel captive by the spear, went back to their own land, all but dancing in mockery over the divine glory and supposing that they had overpowered His worshippers even though God did not will it. Indeed Rabshakeh called out to those on the wall, saying: “Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, saying that God will deliver Israel out of my hand. Have the gods of the nations each delivered his own land out of my hand?” (Isaiah 36:14-18).
So those of whom the word speaks, having boasted greatly and babbled much against the ineffable glory, would be brought to judgment. And when Israel had spent seventy years in captivity and in slavery among them, the God of all rescued and saved him again. For He brought them back to Judea, under the leadership at that time of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, who was of the tribe of Judah, and of Joshua the high priest as well.
So the force of the prophecy seems, as far as what lies on the surface, to recall what befell the Chaldeans and Babylon. But the true meanings of what is said are directed against the spiritual Assyrian, that is, Satan, to whom God has said: “As a garment soaked in blood will not be clean, so neither will you be clean, because…” (Isaiah 14:19-20).
Greek
ΤΟΜΟΣ Γʹ.}1 9Ἰδοὺ τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου διὰ χρόνου ἔρχεται πολ- λοῦ, καιόμενος ὁ θυμὸς μετὰ δόξης· τὸ λόγιον τῶν χειλέων αὐτοῦ, λόγιον ὀργῆς πλῆρες· καὶ ὀργὴ τοῦ θυμοῦ αὐτοῦ ὡς πῦρ ἔδεται. Καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ ὡς ὕδωρ ἐν φάραγγι σύρον, ἥξει ἕως τοῦ τραχήλου καὶ διαιρεθήσεται τοῦ ἔθνη ταράξαι ἐπὶ πλανήσει ματαίᾳ, καὶ διώξεται αὐτοὺς πλάνησις ματαία, καὶ λήψεται αὐτοὺς κατὰ τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτῶν.9 Ἑπταπλάσιον ἔσεσθαι τοῦ ἡλίου τὸ φῶς τοῖς εἰς Χριστὸν πιστεύουσιν εὖ μάλα διειρηκὼς, κατ' ἐκεῖνο τοῦ καιροῦ, καθ' ὃν ἂν ἰάσηται τὸ σύντριμμα τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ, προσεπάγει χρησίμως, ὅτι καὶ κατὰ τοῦ συντρίψαντος Σατανᾶ, καὶ τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ δαιμονίων ὁ θεῖος ἔσται θυμός. Οὐ γὰρ ἔμελλον ἀκατάληκτον ἥξειν τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν τυραννίδα, καὶ ἀκατάσειστον τὴν ἰσχὺν, ἐπιλάμψαντος μάλιστα τῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένει τοῦ πάντων Σωτῆρος Χριστοῦ. Γέγονε δὲ τῆς προφητείας ὁ λόγος, οὐχ οἷον γυμνός τε καὶ ἀναμ- φίεστος, κατεσκιασμένος δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ βαθύς. Ἐσχη- μάτισται μὲν γὰρ ὡς περὶ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων, οἳ πε- πορθήκασι μὲν τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ, εἷλον δὲ ἅπασαν τὴν Ἰουδαίαν, καὶ δορύληπτον ἔχοντες τὸν ἠγαπη- μένον Ἰσραὴλ, ὑπενόστησαν εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῶν, μονον- ουχὶ τῆς θείας δόξης κατορχούμενοι, καὶ οἰηθέντες ὅτι καὶ οὐχ ἑκόντος Θεοῦ κεκρατήκασι τῶν προσκυ- ‹70.689› νούντων αὐτῷ. Καὶ γοῦν ὁ Ῥαψάκης τοῖς ἐν τῷ τεί- χει προσπεφώνηκε λέγων, "6Μὴ ἀπατάτω ὑμᾶς Ἐζε- χίας λέγων, ὅτι ῥύσεται ὁ Θεὸς Ἰσραὴλ ἐκ χειρός μου. [Μὴ ῥυόμενοι ἐῤῥύσαντο οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἕκαστος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ χώραν ἐκ χειρός μου;]"6 Καταλαζονευσάμενοι τοίνυν καὶ πολλὰ πεφλυαρη- κότες κατὰ τῆς ἀῤῥήτου δόξης ἁλοῖεν ἂν οἱ περὶ ὧν ὁ λόγος. ∆ιατελέσαντος δὲ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἐν αἰχμα- λωσίᾳ καὶ ἐν δουλείᾳ τῇ παρ' αὐτοῖς ἔτος ἑβδομη- κοστὸν, ἐξείλετο πάλιν καὶ σέσωκεν ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεός. Ἀνεκόμισε γὰρ εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν, ἡγουμένων τὸ τηνικάδε Ζοροβάβελ τοῦ Σαλαθιὴλ, ὃς ἦν ἐκ φυλῆς Ἰούδα, καὶ μέντοι καὶ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ ἱερέως τοῦ μεγά- λου. Οὐκοῦν δοκεῖ μέν πως τῆς προφητείας ἡ δύνα- μις, τό γε ἧκον εἰς τοὐμφανὲς τῶν συμβεβηκότων τοῖς Χαλδαίοις καὶ τῇ Βαβυλῶνι ποιεῖσθαι μνήμην. Αἱ δὲ ἀληθεῖς τῶν εἰρημένων ἔννοιαι κατὰ τοῦ νοη- τοῦ γεγόνασιν Ἀσσυρίου, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τοῦ Σατανᾶ, πρὸς ὃν εἴρηται παρὰ Θεοῦ· Ὃν τρόπον ἱμάτιον ἐν αἵματι πεφυρμένον, οὐκ ἔσται καθαρὸν, οὕτως οὐδὲ σὺ ἔσῃ καθαρὸς, διότι τ