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Ambrose of Milan

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 1,843 passages across 58 books

Commentary

681–700 of 1,843
Isaiah 49:9

That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.

[When] we have changed our creditor, we have not entirely escaped, or, rather, we have escaped, but the debt remains, while the interest is canceled, the Lord Jesus saying, “To them that are bound, come forth. And to them that are in prison, go forth,” for your sins have been forgiven. He has forgiven all, and there is no one whom he has not set free.
Isaiah 49:16

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

Let us flee these evils and elevate our soul to the image and likeness of God. The flight from evils is the likeness of God, and the image of God is gained through the virtues. And so, like a painter, he has painted us with the colors of the virtues. “See, I have painted your walls, Jerusalem.” Let us not wipe away with the brush of neglect the props of the painted walls of our soul.

DEATH AS A GOOD 5:17

Isaiah 49:18

Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth.

And he added: And in the blood of the grape, his garment: that is, in the suffering of his body, he washed the nations with his blood. For indeed, the nations are the garment of the Word, as it is written: As I live, says the Lord, unless I clothe them all as a garment. And elsewhere: You will change them as a garment, and they will be changed. Therefore, he has cleansed not with his own blood, their sins which they did not have, but with our sins which we have committed.
Isaiah 49:21

Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?

We are to be a model for everyone around us, not just in our actions but also in our speech, in our chastity and in our faith. Let us be what we should wish others to think us, and let us show our feelings as they really are. We should never mutter a word that is unjust, even in our own heart, thinking to ourselves that it is hidden under a veil of silence; for the One who made the secret places hears words that are spoken in secret, and the One who implanted the power of thought in our innermost parts knows the hidden things that those innermost parts contain. So as people who live under the eyes of their Judge, let us remember that everything we do is exposed to the light, and in this way it will be manifest to all.
Isaiah 50:1

Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

But Joseph was sold into Egypt, because Christ was going to come to those to whom it was said: For your sins you have been sold. And therefore, He redeemed them with His own blood, who had sold themselves by their own sins. But Christ, who was sold, is held by the assumption of the condition, not by the price of guilt, because He Himself did not commit sin. Therefore, He contracted our debt, not His own money; He took away the handwriting, removed the lender, stripped off the debtor: He alone paid what was owed by all.
Isaiah 50:4

The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.

Now what ought we to learn before everything else, but to be silent that we may be able to speak? Lest my voice should condemn me before that of another acquits me, for it is written: “By your words you shall be condemned.” What need is there, then, that you should hasten to undergo the danger of condemnation by speaking when you can be more safe by keeping silent? How many have I seen to fall into sin by speaking, but scarcely one by keeping silent; and so it is more difficult to know how to keep silent than how to speak … a person is wise, then, who knows how to keep silent. Lastly, the Wisdom of God said, “The Lord has given to me the tongue of learning, that I should know when it is good to speak.” Justly, then, is one wise who has received of the Lord to know when he ought to speak. Wherefore the Scripture says well: “A wise person will keep silence until there is opportunity.”
Isaiah 52:6

Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.

That is, he extended his hands to a people who did not believe and contradicted: not seeking an ambassador or messenger, but desiring to save his own people, the Lord himself: 'I, who spoke, behold I am here,' he said. And so, openly, I appear to those who do not seek me, and I am visible to those who do not ask me.
Isaiah 53:2

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

Therefore, Christ is both the great mountain and the small mountain: truly great because He is the great Lord and His power is great; small because it is written: You have made him a little lower than the angels. Wherefore also Isaiah says: We beheld Him, and He had no form nor comeliness. Nevertheless, He became less from great and greater from less. Less from great, because, when He was in the form of God, He emptied Himself and took the form of a servant; greater from less, because Daniel says: And the stone which was cut out of the mountain, became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
Isaiah 53:7

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

For this is the price of our liberty, as Peter says, ye were redeemed with the precious Blood, not indeed of a lamb, but of Him Who came as a lamb, in meekness and humility, and redeemed the whole world with the one offering of His Body, as He himself says, I was brought as a lamb to the slaughter. Wherefore John also says, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Isaiah 55:1

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

He then who is wise is free, bought with the price of the heavenly oracles, with that gold, that silver of the Divine Word; bought with the price of blood (for it is no small thing to acknowledge one's Redeemer;) bought with the price of Grace: he who heard and understood the words, Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and drink and eat.
Isaiah 56:5

Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.

And what could be greater than the reward the Lord bestowed upon His mother, whom He honored above all others? For He deemed no gift more abundant than virginity, as Scripture teaches us. For thus the Lord spoke through Isaiah: Let not the eunuch say, I am but a dry tree. Thus says the Lord to the eunuchs: Whoever keeps my commandments, and chooses what I desire, and embraces my covenant, I will give them a place in my house and on my wall, a name better than sons and daughters, an everlasting name will I give them, which shall not be cut off. He promises others that they will not fail: did he allow his mother to fail? But Mary does not fail, the teacher of virginity does not fail; nor could it be possible that she who carried God would think of carrying a human being.
Isaiah 60:3

And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Prophecy did not lie, then, when it said, “Kings shall walk in thy light.” They shall walk openly, and especially Gratian and Theodosius before other princes, no longer protected by the weapons of their soldiers but by their own merits; clothed not in purple garments but in the mantle of glory. In this world they took delight in pardoning many. How much the more are they consoled in the other life by the remembrance of their goodness, recalling that they had spared many? They now enjoy radiant light.

ON THE DEATH OF THEODOSIUS 52

Isaiah 60:8

Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?

For the soul has flights, as has been said, “Who are these that fly like clouds and like doves with their young?” You see, the soul has spiritual flights that, in a brief moment, circle the whole globe. For the thoughts of wise people are free and, insofar as they rise up from lower to higher shadows, so much and more they fly without the hindrance of any earthly weight, and they are the more carried along by the beating of spiritual wings onto that ethereal and rarefied place; [the soul] despises all worldly things. It soars above the world in its regard for eternal virtues; for justice is above the world, goodness is above the world, wisdom is above the world, even when it is found in the world, it is above the world nevertheless.
Isaiah 61:1 · 2 passages

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

Here is the one who says, “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me. If anyone wants to do his will, let him know about the teaching, whether it is from God or I am speaking by my own authority.” For one is teaching from God, the other is human teaching. Thus, the Jews, when they asked whether his teaching was taken from people, saying, “How has he known these writings without learning them?” Jesus replied, “My teaching is not mine.”
We have shown by the clear evidence of the Scripture that the apostles and prophets were appointed, the latter to prophesy, the former to preach the gospel, by the Holy Spirit in the same way as by the Father and the Son. Now we add what all will rightly wonder at and not be able to doubt, that the Spirit was on Christ; and that as he sent the Spirit, so the Spirit sent the Son of God. For the Son of God says, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has appointed me, he has sent me to preach the gospel.” And having read this from the book of Isaiah, he says in the Gospel, “Today has this Scripture been fulfilled in your ears,” that he might point out that it was said of himself.
Isaiah 63:1-2

Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.

The angels, too, were in doubt when Christ arose; the powers of heaven were in doubt when they saw that flesh was ascending into heaven. Then they said, “Who is this King of glory?” And yet some said, “Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors! That the King of glory may come in.” In Isaiah, too, we find that the powers of heaven doubted.
Isaiah 66:12

For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees.

So, then, the Holy Spirit is the river, and the abundant river, which according to the Hebrews flowed from Jesus in the lands, as we have received it prophesied by the mouth of Isaiah. This is the great river that flows always and never fails. And not only a river but also one of the copious stream and overflowing greatness, as also David said, “The stream of the river makes glad the city of God.”
Isaiah 66:24

And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

If heaven and earth are renewed, how can we doubt the possibility of our renewal, for whom heaven and earth were made? If the transgressor is kept for punishment, why should not the just person be preserved for glory? If the worm of sinners does not die, how shall the flesh of the just perish? For the resurrection, as the very form of the word indicates, is this: What has fallen shall rise again, what has died shall live again.
James 4:8

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

For God, approaching is not a repulsion of those who approach; for He wants to be the cause of salvation for all, not of death. In fact, He repels no one, unless they think they should be kept away from His sight. For behold, those who distance themselves from you will perish, as it is said. For each person either joins or separates themselves from your piety through their actions. For he who performs things that he fears being caught for avoids God, just as that person who is hidden by walls and surrounded by darkness considers himself unseen by the Lord God.
Jeremiah 1:5

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

To show them, however, the weakness and transparency of their objection, though it has no real relation to any truth, divine or human, I will prove to them that people have existed before they were born. Let them show that Jacob had not been appointed and ordained, even before he was born. While yet hidden in the secret chamber of his mother’s womb, he supplanted his brother. Let them show that Jeremiah had not likewise been so, before his birth, “Before I formed you in your mother’s womb, I knew you; and before you came forth from the belly, I sanctified you, and appointed you for a prophet amongst the nations.” … What do you [Arians] mean by your principle that “before he was begotten he did not exist”? Was the Father engaged for some time in conception, so that certain epochs passed away before the Son was begotten?

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