Isaiah 41:17Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Their tongues are parched with thirst; I, the Lord, will respond to them; I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them. I will open rivers in the mountains, and provide springs in the valleys; I will turn the desert into a lake, and the dry ground into fountains of water; I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive tree; in the open land, I will sow the cypress, the pine, and the oak together, so that they may see, recognize, reflect, and understand that it is the hand of the Lord that has accomplished these things, and that the Holy One of Israel has done them (Isaiah 41:17-20). Do you not perceive the care of God, who not only offers blessings but also makes it known that He is the source, ensuring that these blessings are not considered mere chance or the result of human effort, but are recognized as the outcome of divine providence and governance? It is typical for humanity to endure trials and then receive blessings; yet, it is divine to comprehend the reasons behind both.

The holy Apostles customarily celebrated those who learned to glory through faith in Christ, as Paul noted in his epistle: Rejoice and crown me (Phil. 4:1). It is clear that all the holy disciples shared this sentiment; their greatest joy stemmed from the conversion of the misguided and the enlightenment of those unaware of the truth. Therefore, rejoice in the saints, O Israel, and who are they? He further clarifies: rejoice in the humble and the poor, referring to the Gentiles. They lack all good things and are far removed from God's gracious blessings because those who are entirely ignorant of Him are stripped of the adornments of virtue. Hence, the humble and the poor shall rejoice.

How will this come to be? They will seek water, yet it will be absent; their tongues will not find satisfaction. This indicates that they will seek, rather than have already sought. Since they do not find water, their thirst remains. Even among the Hellenes were those who loved words, who sought knowledge and truth, yet they lacked anyone able to convey these teachings (the message of the Gospel); there was no living water, no one to immerse the seekers in the doctrines of truth. Thus, they remain in thirst. But the God of Israel declares, I will hear them and will not abandon them; He showed mercy to the multitude of the misguided and did not forsake them in their lack of the highest gifts; rather, He fulfilled those needs, as He will explain in what follows.

The nations, impoverished and weak, in search of saving waters devoid of knowledge of the truth, wander through various teachings and philosophies seeking fulfillment but find none, leaving them spiritually parched, devoid of law and prophetic guidance. The Gospel testifies of one who exhausted his wealth on healers (Luke 8) yet could not free himself from the bloodshed of idolatry and the sacrifices associated with it. Thus, the Lord God of Israel did not completely abandon them nor allow them to be lost forever; He opened rivers on the towering mountains and springs in the valleys.

These rivers originate from the source mentioned in the Psalms: 'The river doth make glad the city of God' (Psalms 40:5) and, 'The river of God is filled with waters' (Psalms 64:10). These waters flow from the living spring described by Jeremiah, who laments about forsaking the spring of living waters. The prophet also proclaims: 'They shall drink of the waters of the fountain of the Saviour,' and in Psalms, it is said: 'Bless the Lord God from the fountain of Israel' (Psalm 67:27). The Lord transformed the wilderness into a reservoir of waters and made the barren land into streams.

In speaking of these waters, the Saviour declares in the Gospel that the one who drinks from the water He gives will never thirst again, for it will become in him a wellspring flowing to everlasting life (John 4:14). He also invites those who thirst to come to Him and drink, stating that rivers of living water will flow from within them, referencing the Holy Spirit that believers in His name will desire to receive (John 7:37-39).

Therefore, the members of the once-desolated church have now been nourished by these waters of life, and as a result, cedar, beech, myrtle, cypress, and poplar flourish within it—according to the Seventy. In the Hebrew translations, we find cedar, shittim, myrtle, olive, cypress, elm, and beech intertwined. This variety of trees signifies an array of spiritual graces.

Among these, we can highlight the Hebrew term "setta," which Theodotion translated as thorns. This tree grows in the wilderness and resembles a white thorn; the wood derived from it is used in constructing all the wooden elements of the ark and tabernacle (Ex. 37). It is light yet sturdy, surpassing the strength and beauty of other trees. Cedar, cypress, and myrtle emit sweet fragrances and are resistant to decay. Elm and poplar or beech serve practical purposes, whether for fastening vines or for various uses.

All these trees are planted together in the wilderness so that not a single string of the Lord's zither or virtue from the gifts of the church is absent, allowing everyone to realize that the Lord’s hand has orchestrated all this. Consequently, rivers of virtues may emerge even in the wilderness of the nations, where cedar, cypress, and a variety of other trees thrive, their tops reaching heaven and illuminated by the olive tree, which provides sustenance for the light and rest for the weary.

Thus, it may be more fitting to interpret the Lord's promise in the selected passages allegorically, relating it to the Church of Christ, which will be primarily composed of Gentiles rather than Jews. Before coming to faith in Christ, their spiritual state resembled a barren desert; they were lacking in the essentials that fulfill spiritual desires—truth, goodness, and joy. They would discover this fulfillment only within Christianity. ‘The grace of the Holy Spirit,’ we echo our earlier remarks related to the previous parimia (Isaiah 35:6), ‘flows like water from the rock, generated by the staff of Moses, to create a living spring from the spiritual rock - Christ (1 Cor. 10:4), whose life-giving waters will nourish the wilderness, quenching the thirst of the heart for truth and salvation. Christ Himself refers to the grace of the Holy Spirit, which will be bestowed upon those who believe in His name, as rivers of living water’ (John 7:38-39).