Isaiah 26:19

Then too, Isaiah himself has plainly declared that there shall be joy of this nature at the resurrection of the just, when he says, “The dead shall rise again; those too who are in the tombs shall arise, and those who are in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew from you is health to them.”

Unquestionably, if the people were indulging in figurative murmurs that their bones were become dry and that their hope had perished—plaintive at the consequences of their dispersion—then God might fairly enough seem to have consoled their figurative despair with a figurative promise. Since, however, no injury had as yet alighted on the people from their dispersion, although the hope of the resurrection had very frequently failed among them, it is manifest that it was owing to the perishing condition of their bodies that their faith in the resurrection was shaken. God, therefore, was rebuilding the faith that the people were pulling down. But even if it were true that Israel was depressed at some shock in their existing circumstances, we must not on that account suppose that the purpose of revelation could have rested in a parable. Its aim must have been to testify a resurrection, in order to raise the nation’s hope to even an eternal salvation and an indispensable restoration and thereby turn off their minds from brooding over their present affairs. This indeed is the aim of other prophets likewise. “You shall go forth,” [says Malachi], “from your tombs, as young calves let loose from their bonds, and you shall tread down your enemies.” And again [Isaiah says], “Your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall spring up like the grass,” because the grass also is renewed by the dissolution and corruption of the seed. In a word, if it is contended that the figure of the rising bones refers properly to the state of Israel, why is the same hope announced to all nations, instead of being limited to Israel only, of reinvesting those bony remains with bodily substance and vital breath and of raising up their dead out of the grave? For the language is universal: “The dead shall arise and come forth from their graves; for the dew which comes from you is medicine to their bones.” In another passage it is written: “All flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Lord.” When? When the fashion of this world shall begin to pass away. For he said before, “As the new heaven and the new earth, which I make, remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your seed remain.” Then also shall be fulfilled what is written afterwards: “And they shall go forth” [namely, from their graves] “and shall see the carcasses of those who have transgressed: for their worm shall never die, nor shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be a spectacle to all flesh,” even to that which, being raised again from the dead and brought out from the grave, shall adore the Lord for his great grace.

Isaiah the prophet says, “The dead men shall rise again, and those who are in the tombs shall awake.” And the prophet Ezekiel, now before us, says most plainly, “Behold, I will open your graves and bring you up out of your graves.” And Daniel says, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame.”67And there are many Scriptures that testify of the resurrection of the dead. For there are many other sayings on this matter. But now, by way of remembrance only, we will make a passing mention of the raising of Lazarus on the fourth day and just allude, because of the shortness of the time, to the widow’s son also who was raised. And merely for the sake of reminding you, let me mention the ruler of the synagogue’s daughter, and the rending of the rocks, and how “there arose many bodies of the saints which slept,” their graves having been opened. But especially be it remembered that “Christ has been raised from the dead.”

Do not listen to those who say that this body is not raised up; for raised it is, as Isaiah witnesses, saying, “The dead shall arise, and they in the tombs shall be raised.” Or, as Daniel says, “Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame.” But while rising again is the common lot of all people, the manner of rising again is not alike for all. For while we all receive everlasting bodies, those bodies are not alike for all. That is to say, the righteous receive such bodies as may enable them to join with the band of angels throughout eternity, while sinners received bodies in which to undergo through the ages the torture of their sins.

Isaiah made it clear that Christ will raise up all people when he said, “The dead shall be raised up again; even those in the tombs shall be raised up. For the dew from you is healing for them.” That was not all. After his cross, after his slaughter, his glory will shine forth more brightly; after his resurrection, he will advance the message of his gospel still more.

To remove all doubt about the resurrection of the body, take a single illustration from the course of nature. The apostle reminds us, “What you yourself sow is not brought to life, unless it dies.” Here you have a grain of wheat, dead and dry and sown in the earth. It is softened by the rain from heaven. Only when it decays does it spring to life and begin to grow. I take it that he who raises to life the grain of wheat for the sake of humankind will be able to raise to life the person himself who has been sown in the earth. He both can and wills to do this. What the rains do for the seed, the dew of the Spirit does for the body that is to be raised to life. Thus Isaiah cries to Christ, “Your dew is health for them,” true health, since, once the bodies of the saints have been raised to life, they feel no pain, they fear no death. They will live with Christ in heaven, who lived on earth according to the words and ways of Christ. This is the eternal and blessed life in which you believe. This is the fruit of all our faith and holy works. This is the hope on account of which we are born, believe and are reborn. It was on account of this that the prophets, apostles and martyrs sustained such endless toil and accepted death with joy.

In the same way that the Lord becomes the light, the way, the truth, the bread, the vine, the fire, the shepherd, the lamb, the door, and many other things to believers, so also does he become the dew to us who are in need of his mercy and know ourselves to be feverish with sin, about whom Isaiah said, “The dew which is from you is their health.”

(Verse 19.) Let your dead live; let corpses arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is a radiant dew, and the earth will give birth to the shades. LXX: The dead will rise, and they will rise from the graves, and those who are on the earth will rejoice. For your dew is their healing, but the earth of the wicked will fall. To the holy ones who give birth and to those who bear the spirit, and to the inhabitants of the earth who fall down, because they have not done good deeds on earth, those whom the Apostle calls dead in Christ and who were killed for the name of the Lord, will rise in glory (I Thess. IV). And because their death is sleep, they are said not to rise again according to the LXX, but to wake up and awaken. Hence Lazarus, who was to be awakened, is called sleeping by the Lord (John 11). Therefore, all martyrs and holy men who have shed their blood for Christ, and whose whole life was a martyrdom, will rise again and wake up, and they will praise their Creator God, they who now dwell in dust, of whom it is written in Daniel: Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will arise, these to eternal life, and those to reproach and everlasting shame (Dan. 12:1). And in the Gospel of John we read: The hour is coming, and now is, when those who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live, and those who have done good will come forth to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment (John 5:28-29). For the dew of the Lord, surpassing all the herbs of Paeonia according to the fables of the Poets, will give life to the bodies of the dead. And just as the dew, when cast upon the earth, gradually causes the herbs to grow and bear fruit of their kind, so the dew of the Lord, which is placed for mercy, will be the dew of many lights, which in Hebrew is called Oroth. But the land, that is, the bodies of the Raphaim, namely the giants and the wicked, the Lord will condemn to eternal punishment. In fact, for the Raphaim alone, seventy wicked were transferred. And because we read above: The dead will not see life, nor will doctors raise them up, for which reason Aquila and Symmachus, interpreted Raphaim and giants, we inquire what the cause of the error is, that some have translated Raphaim as Hebrew, others as giants, and others as doctors. The Hebrew word Raphaim, if it has the letter Vau after the first letter, is read as Rophaim (alternatively spelled Rosim) and signifies doctors; but if it is written without the letter Vau, it is read as Raphaim and is translated as giants. Likewise, because he had said above that the dead shall not see life, to demonstrate more clearly that this is not said there of the dead according to the law of nature and the separation of soul and body, but of those who are dead in sin, now on the contrary he says to God: Your dead shall live, who have been killed for your sake, who are not absolutely dead, as the Septuagint translated, but according to the Hebrew [text] where it is said 'Jeju Metheca', they are called your dead.


Go, my people, enter your rooms, close your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath is past. For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain. For behold, the Lord will bring wrath upon the inhabitants of the earth, and the earth will reveal its blood, and the slain will no longer be hidden. He had said above concerning the holy ones, The dead will rise, and they who are in the graves will rise; for the dew of yours is their healing: and on the contrary, concerning the wicked, the earth of the wicked will fall; now He speaks to the holy ones, because resurrection has been promised to you, until the wrath of God rages against sinners and the wicked: enter into your graves, and hide yourselves, for a short time until the indignation of God passes through. For the Lord indeed goes out from His place, because the Lord is merciful and compassionate, and the most gentle Father is compelled to strike negligent children, and in a way to change His own decision, in order to visit and bring His anger upon the inhabitants of the earth, of whom it is said in Hosea: 'Cursing and lying, and adultery, and theft have spread over the inhabitants of the earth' (Hosea 4:2). And in the Book of Revelation, we read in chapter 8, 'Woe to the inhabitants of the earth' (Rev. 8:13). Moreover, the righteous, though they may appear on earth, their conversation is in heaven, as those who can say: I am a stranger in the land, and a sojourner like all my fathers (Ps. XXXVIII, 13), and they enjoy the dwelling of the Most High, of whom the holy one speaks: He who dwells in the help of the Most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven (Ps. XC, 1). Then the earth shall reveal its blood, of which God speaks to Cain: The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand (Gen. IV, 10, 11). This can also be understood about the Martyrs, who shed their blood for Christ, and under the altar of God cry out: How long, O Lord, will you not avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? (Rev. 6:10) Of whom Moses also says in the Song: The blood of His children will be avenged and He will take revenge, and will render vengeance to His enemies (Deut. 32:43). The earth, which received this blood, will reveal it, and will by no means cover the slain of the Lord; but it will bring them forth to public condemnation, those who killed the Martyrs. This is about the simple resurrection of the intellect. It is commanded, according to the Anagoge of the people of God, that one enters one's own chambers or cells, for ταμεῖα signifies both: that one closes the door of one's chamber according to the Gospel precept (Matthew VI), and says with the Prophet: Set, O Lord, a guard to my mouth, and a door of protection to my lips (Psalm CXL, 3). And let one hide for a little while, until the wrath of the Lord passes by, so as not to do anything for the sake of glory; but let one enjoy the good of conscience, and await only the judgment of God. But there are cellars that must be closed and hidden from those who have become rich in works and words, with prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice, so that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing, so that we may enjoy the wealth of the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel. But since all the days of our life are short and small, Jacob, exceeding one hundred years, says: My days are short and evil (Genesis 47:9). But the anger of the Lord that will come is the anger of those who refuse to repent and store up for themselves; after it has passed, the storehouses will no longer be closed, but what is written will be fulfilled: Nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing concealed that will not be made known (Luke 8:17). And what follows: Behold, the Lord will bring His anger from the holy place: this signifies that the anger of God begins with the holy ones, or that all His vengeance is just and holy, not stemming from a disturbance of the mind as is usual in humans, but from a desire to correct. But I think that land of inhabitants, of which it is written: Let the earth hear the words of my mouth (Deut. XXXII, 1). And: Hear, O earth, perceive with your ears (Isaiah, I, 2). And again: Earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord (Jeremiah, XXII, 27). For just as those who dwell on the earth cannot please God, so too those who are in the flesh cannot please Him (Rom. VIII). But in this place, the earth signifies the soul that lives in a carnal manner. And it will reveal its blood, if it scandalizes anyone, and it deserves to hear with Cain: The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the earth, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood (Gen. IV, 10, 11). Therefore, all blood will be required on the day of judgment, and the earth will not hide its blood; and it will present in the midst those who have been killed, whether intentionally or negligently.

We should love the dew about which Moses said, “May my words descend as the dew,” and about which Isaiah also said, “The dead shall rise again, and all who were in the graves shall rise again, for the dew which is from you is their health.”

The first part [of the verse] concerns the resurrection of the just, but the last few words may be taken to mean “the bodies of the wicked will fall into the ruin of damnation.” In regard to the resurrection of the just, the attentive reader will notice some distinction. “The dead shall rise” refers to the first resurrection; “those in the graves” refers to the second; and in the following words we may not improperly find a reference to the saints whom the Lord will find alive on earth. As for the word “your dew is their health,” we are not wrong in taking “health” to mean “immortality,” that most perfect health which needs no daily medicine of ordinary food.

Of the fulfilled promise (both believed and seen) wherein the bodies of the saints rose again at the death of the Lord, the prophet Isaiah said, “The dead will rise again, and all who were in the graves will be raised up, and all who are on the earth shall rejoice, for the dew which is from you is their medicine.” Matthew the Evangelist confirms this, saying, “The earth shook and rocks were split and graves were opened and many bodies of the sleeping saints were raised. And going forth from their graves after his resurrection, they came to the holy city and appeared to many.”

About this dew the prophet Isaiah proclaimed: “Your dew is their salvation,” or, according to the Hebrew text, “For your dew is the dew of light.” Here is clearly taught that the dew of which he speaks is the light of wisdom and the healing of souls, which is the doctrine of wisdom and truth, without which the soul is sickly and blind.

Sacred Scripture … testifies to the fact that there will be a resurrection of the body.… Isaiah also [testifies that] “the dead shall rise and those in their graves be awakened.” And it is obvious that it is not the souls that are put in the tombs but the bodies.