Isaiah 48:14Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

I, however, revealed every detail through the holy prophets to avert disasters and draw the net wide; yet you waited in expectation for calamities that confirm the truth of my prophecies. What benefit do you derive from the wise? What advantage do you gain from deceitful prophets? What knowledge could those who practiced divination possess? Those maintaining the idols' sanctuaries, attending the impure altars, sell the empty lies they weave from their hearts as if they were divine truths, casting their fabrications before those who approach them for meager sustenance, as referenced in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 13:19).

Loving you, I will enact your will over Babylon, removing the Chaldean lineage. I have spoken and summoned, my decrees shall succeed. Come to me and listen to the words I spoke at the onset: when I was present, I was there, and now, the Lord has sent me with His Spirit. He strives to redirect them from erroneous beliefs. It is likely that those whose minds were untrained, easily swayed by treachery and susceptible to deception, believed that the afflictions of war were a result of the anger of false gods, since their proper worship had been forsaken and their sacrifices neglected, hoping that these deities would again show mercy to the distressed and rescue them from the calamity that befell them due to such wrath. This notion is not without merit. We have previously shown that when Jerusalem lay in ruins, and all of Judah with the temple was consumed by flames, the remaining women said this occurred because they had stopped making offerings to the queen of heaven. Hence, to help them recognize the Savior and express gratitude for their deliverance rather than to other deities, He clearly explains how He, moved by compassion and love, commanded what they desired to come to fruition, eradicating the Chaldean lineage for their triumph over and inhumane treatment of them, subjecting them to these misfortunes. Therefore, my love for you ignited a desire to fulfill that which you found pleasing regarding Babylon, removing the Chaldean seed.

He then speaks of Cyrus, who was guided and appointed by God to lay waste to this land and conquer it. Yet, I proclaimed it from the beginning, not in secret, and openly foretold it through the holy prophets. Thus says the Lord to my anointed, Cyrus: I will hold you by your right hand, I will make nations submit before you, and I will conquer the fortified strongholds of kings (Isaiah 45:1). I did not speak of him covertly or obscurely; rather, I advanced and hastened his path. I did not merely proclaim but also supported him in accomplishing that which was pleasing to you, demolishing the power of the Chaldeans, and empowering him who vanquished them, so that it was accomplished, not merely through Cyrus' hand, but through My mighty right hand, when I struck them for their hostility towards you, or rather for their extreme inhumanity and uncontrolled cruelty; for I said: I have placed them in your power, yet you showed no mercy (Isaiah 47:6).

Then, interspersed within these statements, are the words of Cyrus himself, acknowledging that God compelled him and made him invincible against the might of the Babylonians: Now, he declares, the Lord has sent me, along with His Spirit. The word now replaces the notion that the events were unpredicted by God; indeed, at this moment, Cyrus acknowledges that God stirred him up and bestowed glory upon him for his victory over the Babylonians. Upon learning from the Jews in Babylon that God had spoken of him in the writings of the holy prophets, predicting his future conquest over Chaldea and the deliverance of Israel from bondage, he was so moved that he acknowledged the God of Israel as Lord and Most High in his decrees. In the first book of Ezra, it is written: In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, and commanded him to proclaim throughout his kingdom, thus saying: “Cyrus, king of Persia, declares: The Lord Most High has made me ruler over the entire earth and has appointed me to build a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever among you belongs to His people, let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and rebuild the house of the God of Israel, He who is in Jerusalem” (1 Ezra 1:1-3). Therefore, he states, if you do not believe that it was not through false gods but by my actions that these events were disclosed to you beforehand: hear now Cyrus, who declares, the Lord sent me and His Spirit.

To whom I previously proclaimed: Listen to this, O house of Jacob, called by the name of Israel, and descended from the waters of Judah. He now says, Pay attention to Me, O Jacob and Israel, whom I have called. For many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14). Therefore, He refers to them as 'called,' not 'chosen,' because they have yet to embrace the Savior. I am, He declares, the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, both for the living and the dead (Revelation 22:14, Revelation 1:18), which relates life to the beginning and the end to Him who was dead, who humbled Himself by taking the form of a servant, obedient to the Father, and even unto death, the death on the cross (Philippians 2:7). My hand established the earth. Thus, in Proverbs it is said: “The Lord established the earth by His wisdom, and by His understanding measured the heavens” (Proverbs 8), or as the LXX translates, He established the heavens. He calls the heavens to obey His command and to proclaim His glory. If the heavens heed the Lord’s authority and follow their ordained course, why then does the earth, made from dust, remain prideful and oblivious to its own frailty? Come together and listen: either to the heavens, to all of creation, or to the people of Israel. What is it that needs to be heard? That the Lord loved him—this undoubtedly refers to Cyrus and Darius, who carried out the Lord's will against Babylon and demonstrated His power over the Chaldeans. The Lord Himself spoke, named it, and brought it forth, charting a path that none should dare contest. Therefore, He calls them to gather and listen, so that by the Lord's prophecy, they may know that a king from Persia and India would emerge to vanquish Babylon and the Chaldeans. To declare this, the prophet was sent by the Lord and His Spirit. This speaks to the Jews and their understanding. However, according to Symmachus’s translation: who made it known to him? It was he whom the Lord loved, who fulfills His will in Babylon, and according to the Seventy: to destroy the progeny of the Chaldeans, this addresses the Countenance of the Lord, who is truly beloved by the Father, who accomplished all the will of the Father, and has annihilated in Babylon, that is, within the corruption of this world, all the progeny of the Chaldeans, symbolizing demons. He spoke Himself and listened to the Son, bringing forth the one who invites the weary and burdened: “Come to Me, all you who are laboring and heavy laden” (Matthew 11:28), and He reveals what was whispered from the beginning—through divination and the mysteries of the prophets, which were unknown to all previous generations. As these things were executed by the Father, He was with Him, rejoicing, and now says: “I, who have always been with the Father and within the Father, and was never apart from the Father, I now speak” (John 14), and in the frailty of flesh, I declare that the Lord God sent Me and His Spirit: in this compact verse, the mystery of the Trinity is revealed to us.