Augustine of Hippo — Commentary on Scripture

Isaiah 1:3

Therefore “Jesus found a donkey and sat upon it.” … The donkey’s colt upon which no one had sat (for this fact is found in the other Evangelists) we understand as the people of the nations which had not received the Lord’s law. However, the donkey (because both beasts were led to the Lord) is his community which came from the people of Israel, clearly not unbroken, but which recognized the Master’s manger.

TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 51:5.2

Isaiah 1:3

But, in fact, there were even in that people those that understood, having the faith which was afterwards revealed, not pertaining to the letter of the law but the grace of the Spirit. For they cannot have been without the same faith, who were able to foresee and foretell the revelation that would be in Christ, inasmuch as even those old sacraments were signs of those that should be.

EXPLANATIONS OF THE PSALMS 78.2

Isaiah 1:3

The Leader and Shepherd of shepherds is announced to shepherds, and the food of the faithful lies in the manger of dumb beasts.… For that reason he sat upon the colt of a donkey when he entered Jerusalem amid the praises of the multitude surging around him. Let us understand; let us draw near to the manger; let us eat of this food; let us bear the Lord, our Guide and Leader, so that under his direction we may come to the heavenly Jerusalem.

SERMON 190:3

Isaiah 1:3

Therefore those oxen magnified the Lord, not themselves. See the ox magnifying his Lord because the ox has acknowledged his owner; observe the ox fearing that the ox’s owner may be deserted and confidence be placed in the ox. How he is terrified of those who want to put hope in him!

TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10:7.3

Isaiah 1:3

In the persons of the shepherds and the magi, the ox began to recognize his owner and the donkey his Master’s crib. From the Jews came the horned ox, since among them the horns of the cross were prepared for Christ; from the Gentiles came the long-eared donkey, since it was concerning them that the prophecy had been made: “A people, which I knew not, has served me: at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me.” For the Owner of the ox and the Master of the donkey lay in a manger, yet he was furnishing common sustenance to both creatures.

SERMON 204:2

Isaiah 1:3

The ox from the Jews, the donkey from the Gentiles; both came to the one manger and found the fodder of the Word.

SERMON 375:1

Isaiah 1:3

He who fills the world found no room in an inn. Placed in a manger, he became our food. Let the two animals, symbolic of two races, approach the manger, for “the ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib.” Do not be ashamed to be God’s beast of burden. Carrying Christ, you will not go astray; with him burdening you, you make your way through devious paths. May the Lord rest upon us; may he direct us where he wishes; may we be his beast of burden and thus may we come to Jerusalem. Though he presses upon us, we are not crushed but lifted up; when he leads us, we shall not go astray. Through the Lord may we come to the child so that we may rejoice forever with the child who was born today.

SERMON 189:4

Isaiah 1:9

Beware, O Christian, beware of pride. For though you are a follower of the saints, ascribe it always wholly to grace. That there should be any “remnant” in you, the grace of God has brought it to pass, not your own merits.

SERMON 100.4

Isaiah 1:12

God seeks us, not what’s ours. Anyway, the Christian’s sacrifice is alms, or kindness to the poor. That is what makes God lenient toward sins.

SERMON 42:1

Isaiah 1:15

O foolish and wretched person, what are you doing? Why do you burden yourself with the weight of greater sins? Why do you inflict injury on God in addition to your contempt? Why, in order to provoke his wrath more quickly in manifestation of your punishment, do you extend to God your crime stained hands when he who has commanded that only holy and unspotted hands be lifted up to him refuses to look at yours? Why do you beseech God with that mouth by which not long ago you spoke evil? Its prayers, however they be multiplied, are an abomination to him.

ON THE CHRISTIAN LIFE 11

Isaiah 1:16

He [the one who is fasting] will wash his face, that is, cleanse his heart, with which he will see God, no veil being interposed on account of the infirmity contracted from squalor; but being firm and steadfast, inasmuch as he is pure and guileless.… From the squalor, therefore, by which the eye of God is offended, our face is to be washed.

SERMON ON THE MOUNT 2:42

Isaiah 1:16

So present yourself to such a head as a body worthy of him, to such a bridegroom as a worthy bride.… This is the bride of Christ, without stain or wrinkle. Do you wish to have no stain? Do what is written.… Do you wish to have no wrinkle? Stretch yourself on the cross. You see, you do not only need to be washed but also to be stretched, in order to be without stain or wrinkle; because by the washing sins are removed, while by the stretching a desire is created for the future life, which is what Christ was crucified for.

SERMON 341:13

Isaiah 1:18

What is surprising about white garments symbolizing the church?

SERMON 78:2

Isaiah 1:18

Humankind has need of God’s grace not only to be made just when they are wicked, when they are changed, that is, from wicked to just, and when they are given good in return for evil, but grace must accompany them, and they must lean on it in order not to fall. This is why it is written of the church in the Song of Songs: “Who is this that comes up clad in white, leaning upon her kinsman?” For she who could not do this of herself has been made white. And who has made her white but him who says by the prophet, “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow”? She was not gaining any good merit then at the time she was made white. But now that she has been made white, she walks aright, provided only that she continues to lean upon him who made her white. Accordingly, Jesus himself, upon whom the church leans, now that she has been made white, said to his disciples, “Without me you can do nothing.”

ON GRACE AND FREE WILL 6

Isaiah 2:2

The central place they are all coming to is Christ; he is at the center, because he is equally related to all; anything placed in the center is common to all.…Approach the mountain, climb up the mountain, and you that climb it, do not go down it. There you will be safe, there you will be protected; Christ is your mountain of refuge. And where is Christ? At the right hand of the Father, since he has ascended into heaven.

SERMON 62A.3

Isaiah 2:2

It talks of a mountain, and the mountain is veiled to the party of Donatus. …The holy Daniel saw a vision and wrote down what he saw, and he said that he had seen a stone hewn out of a mountain without hands. It is Christ, coming from the nation of the Jews, which was also a mountain, you see, because it has the kingdom.…
What is the mountain over which the heretics stumbled? Listen to Daniel again: “And that stone grew and became a great mountain, such that it filled all the face of the earth.” How right the psalm is to say to Christ the Lord as he rises again, “Be exalted over the heavens, O God, and let your glory be over the whole earth.” What is your glory over the whole earth? Over the whole earth your church, over the whole earth your bride.

SERMON 147A.4

Isaiah 2:3

The first law, the Old Testament, had come out of Mount Sinai by the lips of Moses; but it was foretold of the law Christ came to give: “The law shall come forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” This explains why Christ ordered repentance to be preached in his name among all peoples but beginning in Jerusalem.

City of God 18.54

Isaiah 2:5-6

What did the prophet Isaiah mean when he announced that a mountain would be prepared on the summits of the mountains, to which all peoples were going to come? The law and the Word of God was going to proceed from Zion and Jerusalem to all nations, not from Mount Sinai to one nation. This we see most evidently fulfilled in Christ and the Christians. A little later the prophet says, “O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord.” Here, you [the Jews] will surely say your usual piece: “We are the house of Jacob,” but listen a moment to what follows, and when you have said what you want to say, hear what you do not want to hear. The prophet continues, “For he has cast off his people, the house of Israel.” Here say, “We are the house of Israel”; here acknowledge yourselves and forgive us for reminding you of these facts.

IN ANSWER TO THE JEWS 8

Isaiah 2:5-6

Dearly beloved, whether the Jews receive these divine testimonies with joy or with indignation, nevertheless, when we can, let us proclaim them with great love for the Jews. Let us not proudly glory against the broken branches; let us rather reflect by whose grace it is, and by much mercy, and on what root, we have been grafted into.

IN ANSWER TO THE JEWS 10

Isaiah 3:14

For not alone he shall come to judgment but with the elders of his people, to whom he has promised that they shall sit upon thrones to judge, who even shall judge angels. These are the clouds Isaiah is speaking of.

EXPLANATIONS OF THE PSALMS 68 (67).39