Bede — Commentary on Scripture

Isaiah 31:9

If the breads of the furnace that were baked in secret signify the interior devotion of the mind of the faithful confirmed by the fire of charity, breads which were also commanded by the law to be offered in the sacrifice of the Lord, it is most fitting that the hearts which were made to burn constantly with the flame of intimate love and virtue and to beget words are symbolized through the furnaces in which the same breads were baked. The prophet spoke beautifully about these things when he referred to “the Lord whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.” It is also written: “Did our hearts not burn within us when he spoke along the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”

Commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah 3

Isaiah 33:6

But “true wealth” signifies either the joy of eternal life itself, concerning which it is written, “the riches of his inheritance in the saints,” or those spiritual virtues with which the fullness of life is attained, about which Isaiah said, “the riches of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord himself is its treasure.”“And if you are unfaithful with goods that are not yours, who will give you something of your own?” The resources of this world are alien to us, that is, external to the nature of our habitat, “for we brought nothing into this world and we are without doubt unable to take anything from it.” Our possession is the kingdom of heaven, our life is Christ, and our wealth consists in the fruitfulness of spiritual works, about which Solomon said, “The redemption of a man’s soul is his wealth.”

On the Gospel of Luke 5:16.11-12

Isaiah 33:7

But if you want to see that the ancient prophets were terribly sad and aggrieved about the future blinding of their nation, which was the cause of our illumination, listen to Isaiah, for when he was sent to announce beforehand the grace of the Lord’s coming, saying that “a light has arisen upon those who dwell in the region of the shadow of death,” he responded immediately to the advent of the same light, saying “you have enlarged the nation; you have not increased its joy.” And elsewhere, while commemorating the despondency of this people, Isaiah said, among other things, “the messengers of peace will weep bitterly, referring to the prophetic heralds of the divine word.”

Commentary on Samuel 3:16.1

Isaiah 33:17

Through the sacraments of his humanity with which we have been imbued, we may be able to attain the contemplation of the glory of his divinity, that contemplation which he himself in his faithful benevolence pledged to his faithful servants when he said, “One who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” He says, “I will manifest myself”—that is, “Not in such a way that everyone can look at me, or in such a way that even the unfaithful can see me and crucify me, but in such a way that only the pure eyes of the saints can see ‘the King of ages in his beauty.’ ” In this way I will show myself to those who love me, so as to reward them for their love. Therefore let us hope, as we have said, that through the visible nature of his humanity we may be able to ascend to see the beauty of his divinity, if we keep these sacraments as we have received them, unblemished in the worthy honor of justice and holiness and truth, if we follow his example in his human way of life, and if we hu…

Through the sacraments of his humanity with which we have been imbued, we may be able to attain the contemplation of the glory of his divinity, that contemplation which he himself in his faithful benevolence pledged to his faithful servants when he said, “One who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” He says, “I will manifest myself”—that is, “Not in such a way that everyone can look at me, or in such a way that even the unfaithful can see me and crucify me, but in such a way that only the pure eyes of the saints can see ‘the King of ages in his beauty.’ ” In this way I will show myself to those who love me, so as to reward them for their love. Therefore let us hope, as we have said, that through the visible nature of his humanity we may be able to ascend to see the beauty of his divinity, if we keep these sacraments as we have received them, unblemished in the worthy honor of justice and holiness and truth, if we follow his example in his human way of life, and if we humbly follow the words of the teaching which he ministered to us through his humanity.

Homilies on the Gospels 1:19

Isaiah 33:17

The disciples indeed saw him coming in his kingdom, for on the mountain they saw him shining in that brightness with which he will be seen in his kingdom by all the saints when the judgment has been brought to completion. But since the eyes of the disciples were still mortal and corruptible, they were then unable to sustain what the whole church of the saints will have the power to look upon when she has become incorruptible through resurrection. Concerning this it is written, “Their eye will see the king in his beauty.”

Homilies on the Gospels 1:24

Isaiah 35:1

After John was killed, the Lord saw the time drawing near and withdrew to a deserted place called Bethsaida. This teaches mystically that a deserted Judah, which had beheaded its prophets by not believing them, would later become fruitful in the desert of a church that possessed no man of the Word. Hence, the beautiful Bethsaida means “house of fruitfulness.” For it was about it that Isaiah said, “The desert and the dry land will rejoice, and the wilderness will exult and bloom like the lily,” and again, “they will see the glory of the Lord and the beauty of our God.”

On the Gospel of Luke 3:9.10

Isaiah 35:2

Because a multitude of Gentiles followed it after Judah came to faith in the Lord’s incarnation and an astonished partaker of the same grace hastened its own unexpected conversion, Judah exclaimed in surprise, “Who is this that ascends from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon my beloved?” The church of the Gentiles ascends from the desert because the one who was deserted by its Creator for a very long time now arrives at his grace by the incremental steps of faith and good works, thus fulfilling what the prophet Isaiah said: “The desert and the dry land will rejoice, and the wilderness will exult and bloom like the lily.” Indeed, she is truly flowing with those delights about which the spouse spoke above: “How beautiful you are, and how lovely, my dear, with delights,” that is, with the delights of heavenly life. “Leaning upon my beloved” means leaning upon him without whose assistance she would be able neither to ascend above nor to rise again, for we are unable to possess either advancement in the virtues or the beginning of faith itself unless the Lord bestows them upo…

Because a multitude of Gentiles followed it after Judah came to faith in the Lord’s incarnation and an astonished partaker of the same grace hastened its own unexpected conversion, Judah exclaimed in surprise, “Who is this that ascends from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon my beloved?” The church of the Gentiles ascends from the desert because the one who was deserted by its Creator for a very long time now arrives at his grace by the incremental steps of faith and good works, thus fulfilling what the prophet Isaiah said: “The desert and the dry land will rejoice, and the wilderness will exult and bloom like the lily.” Indeed, she is truly flowing with those delights about which the spouse spoke above: “How beautiful you are, and how lovely, my dear, with delights,” that is, with the delights of heavenly life. “Leaning upon my beloved” means leaning upon him without whose assistance she would be able neither to ascend above nor to rise again, for we are unable to possess either advancement in the virtues or the beginning of faith itself unless the Lord bestows them upon us.Therefore, Judah was even more awestruck by this grace of the Gentiles’ new conversion, a grace that it believed pertained only to itself and to those who were received in its rite through the mystery of circumcision, as the Acts of the Apostles made abundantly clear.

Commentary on the Song of Songs 5:8.4-5

Isaiah 40:6

Let all who long to be refreshed by the sweetness of the living bread, all who love to be renewed by the banquet of heavenly grace, sit down on the grass. Let them trample on the bloom of the grass. Let them chastise the body and subject it to slavery.

Homilies on the Gospels 2:2

Isaiah 49:18

If anyone asks what the Lord’s garments, which became white as snow, represent typologically, we can properly understand them as pointing to the church of his saints. Of them Isaiah said, “You will be clothed with all of these as though with an ornament.”

Homilies on the Gospels 1:24

Isaiah 61:11

Therefore, those who had been scattered returned, preaching the word of God. Instead of “the dispersed,” the Greek text has “disseminated,” that is, scattered like seed, for they were those about whom Isaiah said, “their offspring in the midst of the peoples” and about whom the Lord in the parable of the Gospel said, “the good seed is those sons of the kingdom.” For this seed was disseminated throughout many regions, so that the harvest of faith that started in Jerusalem filled first Judea and Samaria and then the whole world. About these same ones, dispersed or rather disseminated through the next generations, it is said that they spoke the word not only to Jews but also to Greeks, and the noblest foundations of the new church in Antioch were planted through these.

Retractions on Acts 8:4