Gregory the Dialogist — Commentary on Scripture

Isaiah 42:14

I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.

“I spoke as if giving birth.” For as we already have said, giving birth with pain expels that which was developing deep within for a long time. The one who was always silent speaks out now like one giving birth, for the coming judge withheld revenge from being inflicted on humans for a long time; for he shows the extent to which he kept contained within the pressure of endurance, like a headache. So no one, when God hides this light, should despise him or criticize him when God flashes down from heaven to burn up those who have contempt for him. For the one who does not long for pardon then without a doubt he will burn as punishment. So we accept the time of calling through heavenly grace, while indulgence still prevails, and may we flee the wrath that is all around, making an improvement in our lifestyle.

Isaiah 43:2

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

For the rivers overflow those whom the active business of this world confounds with perturbation of mind. But one who is sustained in mind by the grace of the Holy Spirit passes through the waters and yet is not swamped by the rivers, because in the midst of crowds of peoples he so proceeds along his way as not to sink the head of his mind beneath the active business of the world.

Isaiah 43:24

Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.

But because sweat is usually wiped away from workers by a cloth, the labor of God can also be expressed by the name of cloth—He who indeed always remains quiet and unchangeable in Himself, yet nevertheless declares that He labors when He bears the harsh depravities of men. Whence He also says through the prophet: "I have labored in enduring." Now God appeared in the flesh, He labored from our infirmity. When unbelievers saw this labor of His passion, they refused to venerate Him. For they disdained to believe that He whom they saw mortal in the flesh was immortal in His divinity.

Isaiah 49:14

But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.

For who does not know that the memory of God is not affected by forgetting or restored by recollection? But when leaving something he passes it by, so that in the manner of human minds he is said to forget, and when after a long time he looks up what he wanted, in the habit of our mutability he is said to have recollected. By what arrangement of divinity does oblivion limit the power of the one whom the very notion of memory does not suit? For only past or absent things can be recollected. How can God remember past things, since the very things that pass in themselves are always present, standing by for his command? Or how can he recollect absent things when everything that is present to him [is present] by its essence?

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.

The clothes of the church are all who are joined to it in the unity of faith.

Isaiah 51:23 · 2 passages

But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.

Hence another prophet says concerning unclean spirits: Who said to your soul, Bow down that we may pass over. For the soul stands upright when it desires heavenly things, and is by no means bent toward the lowest things. But when malign spirits see it standing in its uprightness, they cannot pass through it. For their passing through is to scatter unclean desires upon it. Therefore they say, Bow down that we may pass over, because if the soul does not cast itself down to desiring the lowest things, their perversity by no means prevails against it; and they cannot pass through her whom they fear standing rigid against them in heavenly intention.

Concerning these enemies indeed it is spoken through the prophet, for they say to your soul, “Bow down that we may cross over.” The sublime soul is indeed straight, standing tall, while the humbled one is bent, since through the heavenly quality of virtues and the heavenly longing it is lifted into the higher places, but when it is deflected to the love of this world, it fell to where the enemy attacked it and easily laid it waste. So they say to the souls, “bow down that we may cross over,” that is, to see if they bring it down to act or think in a worldly way or infiltrate its mind with mean thoughts and upset it with the warfare of vices. From this we can learn just how far away we ought to be from worldly action, word and thought.

Isaiah 53:5

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

No one usually brings hardship on himself. For example, the prophet insinuates the severity of [Christ’s] hardship when he says, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” For dying does not [necessarily] entail suffering what a condemned nature is capable of suffering. Therefore, the severity of the hardship he brought on himself comes to the fore in that he did not have by nature a body that could suffer; and yet, so that he might free us by his suffering, he humbly assumed the very thing that would allow him to suffer.

Isaiah 55:13

Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

For in the hearts of the saints, instead of the baseness of earthly thoughts, the loftiness of heavenly contemplation rises up. Now the thorn is of a very fiery nature, while the cypress is of a moderate strength. Instead of the brier the myrtle comes up, when the minds of the righteous turn from the lasciviousness and heat of vices to the coolness and temperance of thoughts that do not desire the earthly things but with heavenly desires extinguish the flames of the flesh.

Isaiah 56:10

His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.

Sometimes in sacred speech preachers are understood by dogs. For the tongue of a dog, when it licks a wound, heals it, because holy teachers too, when they instruct us in the confession of our sin, touch as it were the wound of the mind through their tongue; and because by speaking they rescue us from sins, by touching wounds as it were they restore us to health. For that by the name of dogs the tongue of preachers is signified, the Lord says through the Psalmist: "The tongue of your dogs from enemies, from him." For from the unbelieving Jews the holy preachers were chosen, who, coming against thieves and robbers in defense of the truth, gave great barkings, so to speak, for the Lord. Against this it is said of certain reprobates: "Dumb dogs, not able to bark." Because therefore holy preachers condemn sins, but approve the confession of sins, saying: "Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be saved," dogs lick the sores of Lazarus.

Isaiah 56:11

Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.

For often church leaders do not have foresight, and they fear to lose favor with human beings and fear to say the right things freely and according to the voice of truth. They in no way act with the attention of the pastors of the flock but are more like hired hands who flee when the wolf approaches, while they themselves quietly hide.

Isaiah 57:1-2

The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.

The malice remaining in the world deserves no better than to have those who could be of profit quickly taken away. It is to spare the elect the sight of worse evils that they are removed when the end of time approaches.… It is not our belief, however, that all the elect are taken out of this world, leaving only the perverse to continue on, for sinners would never turn to sorrow and repentance if there were no good examples to motivate them.

Isaiah 58:14

Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

“I will lift you up upon the high places of the earth.” For he is lifted up on the high places of the earth who treads under foot through looking down on them in his mind, even the very things of the present world, which seem lofty and glorious. But, having been suddenly dashed from this summit of things by the whirlwind of this trail, I have fallen into fears and tremors, since, even though I have no fears for myself, I am greatly afraid for those who have been committed to me. On every side I am tossed by the waves of business and sunk by storms, so that I may truly say, “I am come into the depth of the sea, and the storm has overwhelmed me.” After business I long to return to my heart; but driven from there by vain tumults of thoughts, I am unable to return.

Isaiah 60:8 · 2 passages

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

For death indeed climbs in through the windows and enters houses, in that through the body's sense lust comes and enters the dwelling of the mind. Quite to the contrary is this which we have often cited from Isaiah concerning the righteous: "Who are they who fly like clouds and like doves come to their windows?" The righteous are said to be like clouds since they are raised above earthly contagions, just as doves go to their own windows, since each one does not pay much attention to their exterior senses, and fleshly lust does not catch them when they are far from home.… For the holy person who receiving the senses of his body like servants to help him is in control of them; and the fairest judge sees sins before they come and closes the windows to the plundering death of the body, saying, "I have made a covenant with my eyes, that I should not gaze at a young woman."

But this sacrifice of good will is never fully paid unless desire for this world is perfectly abandoned. For whatever we covet in it, we without doubt envy our neighbors. For it seems that what another obtains is lacking to us. And because envy always conflicts with good will, as soon as the former seizes the mind, the latter departs. Therefore the holy preachers, that they might perfectly love their neighbors, strove to love nothing in this age, never to desire anything, to possess nothing even without desire. Looking upon them well, Isaiah says: "Who are these that fly as clouds, and as doves to their windows?" For he saw them despise earthly things, draw near to heavenly things in mind, rain down words, flash forth miracles. And those whom holy preaching and sublime life had lifted up from earthly contagions, he calls both flying and clouds. Moreover our windows are our eyes, because through them the soul looks upon what it desires outwardly. But the dove is a simple animal, and free from the malice of gall. Therefore they are as doves to their windows who covet nothing in this wo…

But this sacrifice of good will is never fully paid unless desire for this world is perfectly abandoned. For whatever we covet in it, we without doubt envy our neighbors. For it seems that what another obtains is lacking to us. And because envy always conflicts with good will, as soon as the former seizes the mind, the latter departs. Therefore the holy preachers, that they might perfectly love their neighbors, strove to love nothing in this age, never to desire anything, to possess nothing even without desire. Looking upon them well, Isaiah says: "Who are these that fly as clouds, and as doves to their windows?" For he saw them despise earthly things, draw near to heavenly things in mind, rain down words, flash forth miracles. And those whom holy preaching and sublime life had lifted up from earthly contagions, he calls both flying and clouds. Moreover our windows are our eyes, because through them the soul looks upon what it desires outwardly. But the dove is a simple animal, and free from the malice of gall. Therefore they are as doves to their windows who covet nothing in this world, who look upon all things simply, and are not drawn by the zeal of rapacity in what they see. But on the contrary, the kite and not the dove is at its windows, who pants with desire for plunder at what it considers with its eyes.

Isaiah 61:7

For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.

About this twin glory it is written, “they will possess double in their own land.” This is written concerning the souls of the saints, for single white cloaks are given to them, and it is said that they might have rest a short time until the number of their colleagues and brothers is filled up. So they take now single cloaks, but they will have double cloaks on the day of judgment; for the first is in the way of souls only, but later they will rejoice in the glory of souls and bodies together.

Isaiah 61:8

For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

But it is one thing to show mercy for sins, another to sin for the sake of showing mercy, which cannot really be called mercy since it does not issue in sweet fruit, since it is embittered through the influence of a diseased root. For here the Lord rebukes such sacrifices through the prophet, saying, “I, the Lord, love justice and hate robbery with whole burnt offerings.” … Such people also often withdraw from the poor what they give to God. But the Lord shows how strongly he disowns and censures such conduct.

Isaiah 64:6

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Here is what Isaiah deeply deplored by saying, “We all have fallen like leaves, and our sins have carried us off like the wind.” … But the righteous are able, through innocence they have received, to ward off the charges of the present accusation, but they are not strong enough in their own strength to drive out the bonds of death that result.… The Redeemer of the human race, who became the mediator of God and humanity through the flesh, … alone showed himself righteous among people, yet he received the punishment of blame without blame. He convicted humanity lest it get worse and stood before God lest he smite; he offered examples of innocence and took the punishment for evil.

Isaiah 66:2

For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Differently to be admonished are the humble and the haughty. To the former it is to be carefully communicated how true is that excellence that they hold in hoping for it; to the latter it is to be intimated how that temporal glory is as nothing, which even when embracing it they do not grasp it. Let the humble hear how eternal are the things that they long for, how transitory the things that they despise; let the haughty hear how transitory the things are that they court, how eternal the things are that they lose.

James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

This changing is a shadow which conceals the divine light if it goes through certain ups and downs in this life, but because God is unchanging, no shadow can cut off his light.