Isaiah 52:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

During a time of famine, Jacob journeyed to Egypt, undertaking a migration he found undesirable because he could not find the essentials of life elsewhere. Israel was taken captive by the Assyrians when the reigning Chaldean king laid waste to Judah. The reason for this was their refusal to submit and serve the only true God; abandoning His commands, they worshipped idols and revered the products of their own making. This disobedience led them to be seized by their foes, uprooted from their homeland, and enslaved in the territories of the Persians and Medes. Thus, they were forcibly taken away, caught in a situation against their own will.

Hence, it is said, “And now what is this?” says the Lord. The implication is clear: I have no other purpose in this land from which My people were taken freely, sold by their own transgressions, ensnared like deer in the traps laid by the Roman armies or the snares of the devil, which continue to bind them today. Their rulers and teachers have acted wickedly, causing them to lament and weep in their suffering, as noted by Symmachus, Theodotion, and Aquila. These are the ones who misguided the people against the Savior, leading them to cry out, “Take Him, take Him, crucify Him” (John 19:5). Concerning them, I have previously stated: The Lord Himself shall come in judgment with the elders of the people and their princes: why then do you set fire to My vineyard and plunder the needy within your homes? (Is. 3:14). According to the Seventy, He reminds them: “For your sake My name is continually slandered among the Gentiles.” It is important to note that the phrase concerning the Gentiles is absent in the Hebrew text, which implies: My name is blasphemed persistently, specifically in your synagogues, where they malign the Savior day and night, even cursing Christians three times daily, as I have frequently noted to the Nazarene. Thus, while they curse and blaspheme the Lord, His people—often referred to as Christian believers—shall come to know the name of Him who arrives in the name of the Father. They will recognize Him as the One who spoke through the prophets, who will personally instruct the nations. The Seventy convey that Israel voluntarily entered Egypt, as Moses states in Deuteronomy: “In seventy-five souls your fathers went down into Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:22); yet they were forcefully taken captives by the Assyrians. Hence, it is asked: And now, what brings you here? What are you doing in the land of the Jews, who have raised their hands against the Son of God after the prophets were mistreated? Or, at the very least, to the angelic authorities and the rulers of the temple angels, God asks, What do you do here? Why do you not leave this blasphemous people? Josephus notes (Antiquities of the Jews, Book VI, Chapter 12) that suddenly the doors of the temple, which were scarcely able to close when filled with people, swung open on their own, and a voice was heard from within the sanctuary proclaiming: “Let us depart from these seats.” The significant point is the phrasing; they did not say, “Let us depart,” but rather “Let us join the Gentiles.” Therefore, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51), revealing the entire religious structure of Judaism. In that moment, it was fulfilled as the prophet declared: “The law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; and the judgment shall be in the midst of the tongues” (Isaiah 2:3-4), reaching out to distant lands (Micah 4:3). Their message shall spread throughout all the earth, and to the ends of the world, they shall declare (Psalm 18:5). From every place, incense and pure offerings are presented to God (Malachi 1:11), as the prophecy affirms: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before Him, for the kingdom belongs to the Lord, and He rules over the nations” (Psalm 21:28-29). Thus, it is proclaimed to the Jewish leaders: Marvel and lament, for you have caused the downfall of the people. In a mystical sense, we can suggest that the people of God descend into Egypt willingly when they favor earthly pleasures over God, neglecting the prophetic warning: Woe to those who seek aid from Egypt (Is. 31:1). When someone is tainted by vices and resides in a place of indulgence, failing to embody the purity characteristic of holiness, he is inevitably delivered to the Assyrians, who will hold dominion over him—enemies and avengers who will accuse and unveil his sins. For these are the adversaries to whom Israel is addressed: And now, what is that to you, and to the path of Egypt, that you drink from the waters of Gihon? What is it to you, and the way of Assyria, that you drink from the river’s waters? (Jeremiah 2:18). Therefore, whoever went down into Egypt, descending from high Jerusalem to the low, and ventured to Jericho, another Egypt, and suffered many wounds at the hands of robbers, is asked, And now what do you have here? Why do you pretend to dwell on earth and in the church of God, you who, through neglect and every desire, have descended into Egypt, and now find yourselves under the Assyrian’s power, caught in their bondage, and should mourn rather than weep, for your vices and transgressions have led to God’s name being dishonored among the Gentiles? To them Ezekiel proclaims: You have defiled My name among the Gentiles (Ezekiel 36:20). In the Gospel, the Lord instructs His disciples: “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16); conversely, when we commit wrongful acts, God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of us. Thus, whoever comprehends the name of God, and acknowledges that he is fashioned in His image and likeness, will dwell in the light and be in the midst of the day that Abraham rejoiced in when he beheld it (John 8:56); which is also what St. David affirmed: This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 117:24). For those who shine with the light of knowledge, who possess the eternal light promised to believers: The Lord will be your everlasting light (Is. 60:20), walking in days of righteousness (Rom. 13:13), as children of light and the day (1 Thess. 5:5), and will recognize Him who declared to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you’” (Exodus 3:14); and those who first recognized Him in the saints will realize that He is also present among them.