Isaiah 54:1

Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. [Isaiah 54:1] Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

For all the Gentiles were "desolate" of the true God, serving the works of their hands; but the Jews and Samaritans, having the word of God delivered to them by the prophets, and always expecting the Christ, did not recognise Him when He came, except some few, of whom the Spirit of prophecy by Isaiah had predicted that they should be saved.

So when he was not a desert or a land made dry to Israel, he was, with respect to what is particular, a desert and land made dry to the pagan nations. But when he turned away from Israel and became to that Israel like a desert and land made dry, then grace was poured forth on the pagan nations, and Jesus Christ became now to us not a desert but abundance, and not a land made dry but one that bears fruit.

Who is this who before was “barren” and “desolate”? Clearly it is the church of the Gentiles, which was before deprived of the knowledge of God. Who is “she who has the husband”? Plainly the synagogue. Yet the barren woman surpassed her in the number of her children, for the other embraces one nation, but the children of the church have filled the country of the Greeks and of the barbarians, the earth and the sea, the whole habitable world.

(Chapter 54, Verse 1) Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married, says the Lord. LXX: Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who has a husband. For the Lord has spoken. Symmachus interpreted this passage as follows: Rejoice, O barren one who did not give birth. Rejoice in exultation, and neigh, you who have not given birth: For more are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband. Theodotius and Aquila agree with him in most points. After the birth of the Savior, and the order of life and virtues, the passion of the cross, and the glory of the resurrection, when he laid down his life, he saw an everlasting seed, and in his knowledge he himself justified the just, and divided spoils of the mighty, and prayed for transgressors, giving them a place for repentance, he passed on to the calling of the Gentiles, and describes with full words those who will believe in him. The Apostle Paul refers to this place under the names of Sarah and Isaac, in reference to the Church (Galatians IV, 27 et seq.), stating that the former people from Mount Sinai and Hagar serve with their children; but the following book says: Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband. And immediately after: But we, brothers, are children of the promise, like Isaac. But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman. Now we, brothers, are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. It is by this freedom that Christ has set us free (Galatians 4:27-31). Therefore, if the vessel of election, citing the testimony of Isaiah which we now have in our hands, refers to the sons of the promise and the Church gathered from the Gentiles or from both peoples, which had been deserted and left behind by the Jews, and which had not had God as its husband, nor received the Law or the Prophets, we are compelled by reason itself to follow the footsteps of our predecessor and declare it deserted, as we read above (Chapter XXXVI): Rejoice, deserted one, and similar things. It is written in Jeremiah, from the perspective of God: The one who gave birth to seven has become empty, her soul has failed. The sun has set for her even in the middle of the day (Jeremiah 15:9). And in the book of Samuel: The barren woman has given birth to seven, but she who had many sons has become weak (1 Samuel 2:5). And in the Psalms: He makes the barren woman dwell in a house, a joyful mother of children (Psalm 113:9). The synagogue is said to have given birth to seven sons, representing the mystery of the week and the Sabbath, to which the previous people were bound. Whether for seven, more should be understood according to the ambiguity of the Hebrew language, by which both the Sabbath and many [days] are signified. About this, more has been said in the book of Hebrew Questions, which we wrote on Genesis. Therefore, as long as she had God as her husband, she produced many sons by God's divine Word and was joined to the Law. But when she received a bill of divorce and refused to answer her calling husband, and heard: You are the daughter of your mother who abandoned your husband (Ezek. 16:15). And again: You have not called me as your Lord, nor as the father and prince of your virginity (Jeremiah 3:4); therefore in this same Prophet it is lamented: How has the faithful city become a harlot, Zion full of judgment; in which righteousness used to dwell, but now there are robbers (Isaiah 1:21). But it should also be noted that when it says: More are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband, the synagogue is not completely excluded from giving birth; but the multitude of Gentiles is preferred to her. And she herself, in the Apostles and through the Apostles, first gave birth to the people from the Jews. Therefore, the two leaders of the Apostles divided the two groups of believers in Christ, the Circumcision and the Gentiles, in order to first build up Jerusalem, which had been deserted and impoverished by both peoples. And the Hebrew word for joy, 'hinnitum,' signifies the greatness of joy, in the likeness of a neighing horse to victory. More is written about this in the Book of Job (Job 39). The Jews and our Judaizers refer this place and the rest that follows to Jerusalem, which they say will be restored in the kingdom of a thousand years, and that it will be the same as it had before, and afterwards it will cease to have a husband, and will have many more children after being divorced than she had with her husband. Clearly, a comparison is made between two women: one who had a husband and was abandoned, and one who was always without a husband. And it is not surprising about the Jews, whose eyes and ears are closed, if they do not see the open truth. As for the Christians, I do not know what to say, who, as the Apostle says, interpret things allegorically and refer to the two Testaments, the old and the new, with Sarah and Hagar as examples. They give themselves over to the desires of the earth for a thousand years.

And through these prophecies, the God of the universe declares that in his overflowing love for human beings he is not only “Lord” and “Father” but that he also calls himself “husband” and “groom.” This prophecy teaches that the woman who was deserted produced more children than the one who had a husband.

The church, then, is that sterile city which, because of the bad condition of the waters before the coming of Christ (that is to say, because of the sacrilege of the Gentile peoples), was unable to conceive children for God in its sterility. But when Christ came, taking on a human body like a clay vessel, he cleansed the bad condition of the waters; that is to say, he cut off the sacrileges of the peoples, and immediately the church, which used to be sterile, began to be fruitful.