Isaiah 48:16Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Yet I, through the holy prophets, declared each occurrence in full detail, hoping to stave off disasters and cast the net wide; yet you awaited the very calamities that validate the truth of my statements. What then do you gain from the sages? What do you derive from the false prophets? What knowledge can those who engage in fortune-telling possess? Those who oversee the shrines of idols and stand at filthy altars exchange for meager rewards the fabrications they convey from their own hearts, as though they were divine revelations, scattering their deceptions to those who approach them for a morsel of bread or a handful of grain, as stated in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 13:19). Loving you, I will fulfill your will concerning Babylon, aiming to eradicate the descendants of the Chaldeans. I have spoken, I have called, I have acted, and their path shall be prosperous. Come to me and heed what I initially proclaimed: when I was present, I was there, and now the Lord has sent me alongside His Spirit. Once again, he attempts to redirect them from their misguided beliefs. It is quite possible that those whose minds had not been shaped by education and were easily led astray believed they were suffering the calamity of war due to the anger of their false gods, as they neglected proper worship and did not offer sacrifices, yet believed these gods would eventually show mercy and rescue them from the troubles incurred by their wrath. Such thoughts are not inherently implausible. We have previously demonstrated that when Jerusalem was laid waste and all Judea, including the temple, was consumed by fire, the remaining women claimed it was due to their failure to present offerings to the queen of heaven. Hence, in order for them to recognize the Deliverer and express gratitude for their salvation to Him instead of to other gods, He clearly declares that, moved by compassion and love, He commanded what they desired to be accomplished, so that the lineage of the Chaldeans might be annihilated due to their inhumane actions against them and the calamities they imposed. Therefore, I was filled with love for you, aiming to fulfill your desires regarding Babylon by wiping out the Chaldeans’ progeny. He then speaks of Cyrus, illustrating that he was chosen and guided by divine intervention to lay waste to this land and conquer it through force. However, I have addressed this matter from the beginning and not in secrecy, but I have openly proclaimed it through the holy prophets. Thus says the Lord to my anointed Cyrus: I will hold you by your right hand, making nations obey you and shattering the strongholds of kings (Isaiah 45:1). I did not speak of him in obscurity or concealed places, rather, I brought and expedited his path. Not only did I speak, but I also supported him in doing what was pleasing to you, demolishing the might of the Chaldeans, elevating him who vanquished them, so it occurred not through Cyrus’s hand, but by My mighty right hand, as I chastised them for their harshness toward you—indeed for their excessive inhumanity and unchecked cruelty; for I stated: I placed you in charge, yet you showed them no mercy (Isaiah 47:6). In between these declarations, there are words from Cyrus affirming that God inspired him, granting him unstoppable strength and victory over the Babylonians: As he says, the Lord has commissioned me, and His Spirit. Cyrus’s declaration is a recognition that although the events were not initially foreseen by God, he now acknowledges the divine involvement, feeling honored with victory over Babylon. When Cyrus learned from the Jews in Babylon that God had foretold his rise in the writings of the holy prophets, concerning his conquest of the Chaldean territory and delivering Israel from bondage, he was so moved upon seeing the sacred texts that he referred to the God of Israel as Lord and Most High in his edicts. In the first book of Ezra, it is recorded: In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, so the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah was fulfilled: the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, commanding him to proclaim throughout his kingdom, and also to write, ‘Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord Most High has appointed me ruler over all the earth, the Lord of Israel,’ and He commanded me to build Him a temple in Jerusalem, located in Judah. Whoever among you belongs to all His people, let his God be with him and let him go to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, to rebuild the house of the God of Israel, who is in Jerusalem (Ezra 1:1-3). Therefore, if you do not believe that the events which occurred were revealed not by false gods but through me beforehand, then listen to Cyrus, who declares, The Lord has sent me, and His Spirit.

The same now says, Give ear to Me, O Jacob and Israel, whom I call. For many are invited, but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14). Therefore, He labels them as called but not yet chosen, for they have not yet embraced the Savior. I am, as He declares, the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, both the living and the dead (Rev. 22:14, Rev. 1:18), enabling you to associate life with the beginning and the last with Him who once died, who humbled Himself, taking on the form of a servant, obedient to the Father, even to the point of death on a cross (Phil. 2:7). My hand created the earth. Therefore, in Proverbs, it is also said: ‘By His wisdom, God established the earth, and His right hand measured it’ (Proverbs 8), or set up the heavens, as the LXX translates. He calls the heavens to obey His command and declare His glory. If the heavens follow the Lord's will and maintain their order, why then does the earth act prideful and neglect its own mortality (Sir. 10:9)? Gather yourselves and listen: whether to the heavens, to all creation, or to the people of Israel. What is it that they are commanded to hear? That the Lord loved him—pointing undoubtedly to Cyrus and Darius, who carried out the Lord's will against Babylon and displayed His might over the Chaldeans. He Himself named it, brought it forth, and its path is straight enough that none may challenge its power. Thus, He invites them to come and listen, and through the prophecy of the Lord, they should understand that a king from Persia and India will arrive to destroy Babylon and defeat the Chaldeans. And it is said by the prophet that he was sent by the Lord and by His Spirit. This reflects the opinions of the Jews. Yet, according to Symmachus, who proclaimed it to him? He whom the Lord loved, who fulfills His purpose in Babylon. According to the Seventy, to obliterate the lineage of the Chaldeans, this refers to the Lord’s face, who is truly cherished by the Father and has accomplished the Father’s will, annihilating in Babylon—that is, within this world’s corruption—all the progeny of the Chaldeans, which signifies demons. He Himself spoke and listened to the Son and delivered the one who beckons to the weary, ‘Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden’ (Matt. 11:28), and discloses what I spoke from the very start in secret, through prophecies and mysteries, previously hidden from all generations. When all these events unfolded through the Father, He was with Him, who rejoiced and now states: I, who was eternally with the Father and never apart from Him, now speak (John 14). In light of the impermanence of the flesh, I affirm that the Lord God has sent Me and His Spirit. In this brief verse, the mystery of the Trinity is revealed to us.

For it is said, “The Lord hath sent Me, and His Spirit.” Given that the teachings of Sabellius, which promote a singular divinity over the differentiation of Persons, have been decisively disproven, the prophet delineates the distinctions of the hypostases—sometimes referring to the Son and the Father, and at other times to the Father and the Holy Spirit.