Isaiah 51:20Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

This sentiment echoes in the passages we are examining: O wretched Jerusalem! Instead of engaging in battle and striking you, these two adversaries confront you. What are they? The fall and the devastation of glory, and the sword. In these phrases, He succinctly conveys the hardships of war. It is crucial to pay attention here, for although he lists four elements, he summarizes them as two: the fall and the crushing, the glory and the sword. What can be understood from this? How can these elements be considered two? Though seemingly numerous, the prophetic language connects their outcomes to the initial concepts. I assert that the fall must be accompanied by devastation, and famine is inevitably followed by death. Thus, the two primary elements are the fall and famine, while their consequences are brokenness and the sword. He points out that at the time of these occurrences, who could have intervened to avert the calamities? This is what the term comfort implies. He asks, ‘Will thy sons be able to assist you?’ Yet they are seen in a state of despair, possessing nothing to offer for their solace or salvation. They slumbered at every exit; when war descended upon them, the strong fled from the land of Judah, seeking refuge at the borders, prepared to escape: some rushed to the Egyptians on the edge, others to the neighboring Moabites or to other nearby nations. They lingered at every point of exit, as I have mentioned, positioned on the fringes of the land, not in a state of vigilance, ineffective in aiding those in distress, as if inebriated, their heads heavy, lying down, their thoughts disoriented, as if they had lost their minds, akin to beets that had not been cooked. What accounts for this? They were filled with the wrath of the Lord; this was the source of their weakness. When we are overwhelmed by unbearable anguish, we often lose our clarity and struggle to find a path to salvation, particularly when the misfortune originates from God.

Hence, as mentioned by the Seventy: who will be lacking in spiritual wealth in all utterance, insight, and righteous deeds, but will live in poverty, unable to withstand threats, not residing in homes built on virtues, but positioned at the beginnings of paths, at every intersection, forsaking all. It is justly observed that they experience a slumber described in the Scripture, ‘They sleep in their sleep, and find nothing. With this slumber, the king of Assyria has lulled them. They are compared to half-cooked beetroot, a delicate and inexpensive vegetable. Regarding these vegetables, the Psalms say, ‘Do not be envious of those who do evil; consider those who engage in wrongdoing. For they will soon wither like grass and fade like herbs. This represents the sustenance for the weary. He who has become an apostate is likened to raw beetroot. In contrast, he who, content with simple faith, without complex reasoning or dogmatic truth, performs acts of righteousness may be viewed as boiled beetroot. Moreover, he who teeters between vices and virtues and with a divided heart serves God rightly earns the designation of half-cooked beet. In the Revelation of John, God addresses such individuals: ‘I wish you were cold or hot; but because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.’ Those who are lukewarm and in slumber are filled with the wrath of the Lord, weakened and made weary through the Lord God—not because the Lord, who does not create death or take delight in the demise of the living, is the cause of their downfall, but due to those who transgress the law being judged by it, which incites the wrath of God upon violators.