The just perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart, and men of mercy are taken away, because there is none that understandeth; for the just man is taken away from before the face of evil.
הַצַּדִּ֣יק אָבָ֔ד וְאֵ֥ין אִ֖ישׁ שָׂ֣ם עַל־לֵ֑ב וְאַנְשֵׁי־חֶ֤סֶד נֶֽאֱסָפִים֙ בְּאֵ֣ין מֵבִ֔ין כִּֽי־מִפְּנֵ֥י הָרָעָ֖ה נֶאֱסַ֥ף הַצַּדִּֽיק׃
6 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Consider this: the just individual, as it is stated, passes away. A single healthy soul soon meets death among a multitude of ailing individuals. This illustrates the state of affliction, for those who possess strength and the ability to transform their lives and conduct are removed from their company. The upright individual rejoices in his avoidance of wrongdoing; this exemplifies the reward of his integrity.
Observe how the just are taken away, and there is no one who takes it to heart; the righteous are removed, and no one perceives it: the righteous is taken from the presence of wickedness. He will find rest in his burial, having been removed from the land of the living. After indicating that they have become mute and greedy for gain, these words communicate their indifference and neglect, as they continue to commit grave sins without any consideration for the need for repentance. For it is lost, he declares, and there is no one who truly considers it, and the righteous are taken away, and no one understands. He seems to refer to the brazen transgressions of the Jewish leaders against Christ and their treatment of the holy apostles.
They put Jesus to death as if proclaiming prophetically, "We will ensnare the just one with flattery, for He is not pleasing to us"; through their own design, the Righteous One perished, remaining ignorant of sin; they unjustly executed Him, and they mercilessly pursued other righteous individuals who preached to them the truth of the Gospel and called them to repentance for their inherent cruelty. Thus they stoned the holy Stephen, who confronted them with an eloquent address meant to inspire repentance, yet instead kindled their animosity. Therefore, take heed, he warns, righteous men, for no one considers it; in other words, no one honors the gravity of evil. In their wickedness, they assaulted the righteous and overcame Him who was without sin.
The blameless are taken away, and no one reflects on it; merciful individuals are collected, as there is no comprehension of this matter, for the righteous are removed from the face of wickedness. May peace arrive: let the one who walks uprightly find rest upon his bed. Observe how the righteous are taken away, and no one considers it; the righteous are gathered, yet no one pays attention. The just are removed from the sight of evil: their burial shall be peaceful. Due to the blind watchmen and the mute dogs, who together act as shepherds lacking in insight and who do not indulge in immediate pleasures, but rather continuously prepare for what lies ahead, the righteous are lost.
Pilate's wife remarked about that innocent man, "Nothing have I to do with you and with that righteous man" (Matthew 27:19), while Pilate, having washed his hands, declared, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person" (Matthew 27:24). It is important to recognize that the term "perish," often misinterpreted by heretics as implying complete and eternal destruction, is applicable to Christ, where this "perishing" signifies the intensity of persecution rather than the cessation of life. Furthermore, no one truly contemplates or retains such knowledge in their heart. It is improbable for those who are spiritually blind and deaf, who only perceive vanity and chase after dreams, to think of divine matters. Consequently, the gathering of gracious individuals implies the apostles, who are harmed by the wicked yet gathered by the Lord. It also explains the reasoning behind the removal of the righteous, stating that they are taken away from the presence of evil so as to avoid witnessing the calamities of the world. Christ bore the sins of humanity, and thus He ascended as the Victor to the Father. The essence of the Hebrew text conveys this: "Let the world arrive and find rest: let it walk in its upright way." Although this sentiment is clear, the arrangement of words, reflecting the nuances of their language, may appear perplexing to us. Essentially, it signifies that the peace of the Righteous One, which He left with His Apostles, is what will bring repose, fulfilling His promise, "My peace I give unto you; my peace I leave with you" (John 14:27). When the peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding, arrives, His apostles will find rest, and their passing will be a serene slumber. This indicates that the martyrs do not perish; rather, they conquer and find eternal rest. He, who belongs to all creation and whose apostles rest, advances along His righteous path, triumphantly ascending to the Father. The text from the Seventy, stating that "the just is taken from the face of the wicked; his burial shall be in peace; taken out of the midst," is directly applicable to Christ, who remained untainted by the apostolic experience, whose burial was peaceful and whose body was not left to decay, for He did not remain among the dead. According to the angel's words and those of the women, "Whom do you seek? Jesus? He is not here; come, see the place where the Lord lay" (Matthew 28:5-6). The Jews speculate that this and similar accounts may reference all the righteous whose blood was shed by Manasseh, saturating Jerusalem, or perhaps they think Isaiah's prophecy pertains to his tragic death, as stated by their ancient traditions. Likewise, many interpretations of the suffering of saints in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 11:37) have been related to the suffering of Isaiah.
The prophet proclaims the crucifixion of the Lord, affirming the righteousness of Christ as he committed no wrongdoing and spoke no deceit (1 Pet 2:22). Righteousness is absent in the presence of injustice; thus, his resting place will be in tranquility. <...> This pertains to the Lord, to Christ, illustrating the inequity of His bloodshed and the triumph following His death: for through His death, we are reconciled with God, who rose from the grave and ascended into heaven.
In the world today, the depravity of those who persist in wrongdoing justifies the notion that individuals capable of doing good may be taken away before their time. As the culmination of the age approaches, it is believed that the chosen ones will be taken from their midst so that they are spared from witnessing even greater evils. Nevertheless, we hold the belief that not every chosen one will be taken away and that it is not solely the wicked who will remain, for sinners would not find the path to sincere repentance without the presence of virtuous examples to inspire and guide them.
Observe the fate of the righteous who pass away, yet no one recognizes it in their hearts (Isaiah 57:1). There are certain matters for which even the most eloquent human expression seems inadequate, resonating more profoundly in their essence than through mere words. Beloved Christians, this is precisely the profound mystery that ought to occupy our thoughts, hearts, and emotions at this moment. Yet, what the Church has failed to do permits the ‘voice of the blood’ of Christ, shed for us, to resonate within your hearts—a voice that speaks more eloquently than Abel’s (Gen. 4:10). How often have the scriptures, both prophetic and apostolic, been revealed to you, striving to connect with your inner feelings through diverse melodies that echo the ‘word … of the cross’ (1 Cor. 1:18)! How many hymns have we heard that inspire sweet and salvific sorrow for God's cause!
From the Covenant Supper, where bread and wine were transformed into the body and blood of our Lord, to the Supper of the Cross, where His flesh and blood were destined to serve as the ultimate sacrifice; from the turmoil of Gethsemane, where the Great Sufferer grappled with the impending fears of death, to Golgotha, where He lay in the tomb; from the first agony of His lips at the hands of Judah to the final wrenching of His heart through the piercing of His side; from the prayer that entrusted His forsaken disciples to God the Father, to the prayer with which He yielded His own spirit; from the powerful voice that upended the Jewish multitude to the agonizing cry that trembled the earth—so many mysteries of suffering and marvels of patience are reflected to you in the clear mirror of God’s word!
Lastly, it is essential to impress upon you that what we do here is not merely remembrance of the past; it is a contemplation of a present reality, for ‘the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world’ (Rev. 13:8) is being continually slain until the very end. The Church even visibly presents the burial cloth of Jesus, offering an image of His now-invisible body, and gathers all who come here alongside Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. If the minister of the word attempts to reach your hearts in any way, it must solely be by pointing to what you already perceive in the sacred actions happening now, echoing the words of the prophet Isaiah: ‘But let each of us Christians enter into our hearts and ask: what is my part in the indescribable sufferings of the Divine Redeemer? Did we journey with Him through His sorrow with reverent contemplation? Do we now, like Joseph, cover His nakedness on the cross with pure thoughts? Do we, like Nicodemus, offer the fragrant incense of our prayers? Or do we merely drift toward His tomb like waves upon the shore, only to recede again?—Perhaps through such self-examination, Isaiah’s lament will resonate in our souls more deeply; perhaps we will envision the Prophet standing between the Crucified and ourselves, astonished at the unfathomable sufferings of this Divine One, yet equally at our profound indifference: ‘The righteous perish, and no one takes heart!’ (Isaiah 57:1).
It may be beneficial to delve more deeply into these prophetic words, that at the very least, the rebuke of our rightful neglect might spur us to reflect upon the sufferings and death of our Savior. Behold, the astonished prophet exclaims; behold, an event that should never have been witnessed by humanity, one that merits our full attention: the righteous man is no longer! ‘The righteous perish!’ What does he mean? — The people of Jerusalem likely questioned when they first heard Isaiah’s cry, and it is probable that today, as now, some will wonder: of what is he speaking? Is he speaking of the demise of a virtuous and pious individual? — For we are all mortal, both sinful and righteous? Or is it about the tragic and unfortunate death of an innocent man? — Such occurrences are not so rare as to be dismissed without contemplation. Or is it that the number of good, virtuous people dwindles? — Complaints regarding this have echoed through time, proving the consistent condition of humanity: people are fundamentally flawed, often showing weaknesses rather than virtues.
This is how the current generation rationalizes, or better still, how they dismiss the Prophet of truth, which is daunting to them, before they even begin to grasp it. And how can they comprehend? The same Prophet clarifies that they are preoccupied with a flurry of affairs fueled by vanity and excess, leaving them little time to examine the workings of God’s providence. ‘With harp, … and song, and tambourine, and flute, they drink wine, but they do not regard the works of the Lord, nor consider the operations of His hands’ (Isaiah 5:12). Let us not, Christians, become so blind or have such deceptive eyes regarding the works of the Lord. Let us not view what lies before us through tainted lenses, magnifying or minimizing objects according to our desires, but rather with clarity, so we may see every event as an act of Providence.
‘The righteous perish!’ laments the prophet. — Let us not concern ourselves with whether he is referring to the loss of a mighty instrument of God's kingdom, the martyrdom of devoted servants, or the decline of righteousness in the world alongside the rise of wickedness, or whether he speaks, as some Church fathers have suggested, of the death of the single Righteous One, Jesus, upon the cross. We must receive Isaiah’s words with a simple understanding, acknowledging their profound significance. — How? ‘The righteous shall perish’? It is the wicked who shall encounter destruction. ‘The Lord preserves all who love Him and will destroy all the wicked’ (Psalm 144:20). ‘Evil men will not live out half their days’ (Psalm 54:24). ‘The rod … of the wicked shall have a fierce end’ (Prov. 3:19). How can ‘the righteous perish’? If, as the Word of Truth asserts, ‘Not one of the enemies shall fall to the earth outside the Father’s will in heaven, and not one of them shall perish’ (Matt. 10:29-30), how can the King of heaven and earth allow the precious jewel from His own crown to be cast aside, left to be trampled upon? And if already ‘the righteous perish,’ what despair awaits the wicked? — Such reflections strike our careless hearts like thunder, alarmed by the news that ‘the just shall perish’.
It would indeed require much contemplation for the natural mind to grasp this extraordinary event in God’s kingdom, where the higher powers seem to be at odds. The Word of God shines a light upon this providential mystery, as disturbing to the eyes of the sinner as the darkness in which he dwelt previously. ‘The just shall perish!’ cries Isaiah; ‘The righteous shall be taken away!’ — But why, O Prophet of God, does the Lord allow or permit this dreadful event? The prophet responds: ‘From the face of evil, the righteous shall be removed’ (Isaiah 57:1). What does it mean, ‘from the face of evil’? It may refer to the harm inflicted by mankind, through which the righteous often endure more in life than in death, including martyrdom; or it might point to other tribulations by which God at times punishes and restrains the evil of humanity.
‘He who was favored by God,’ so explains the Wise One regarding the unforeseen death of a righteous man, ‘was beloved and taken from among sinners. His soul was pleasing to the Lord; hence he was spared from the midst of evil’ (Wisdom 4:10-14). ‘I will gather you to your ancestors,’ says God to King Josiah, ‘and you shall be brought to your grave in peace; you shall not behold the wickedness which I am about to bring upon this place’ (2 Kings 22:20). Likewise, whenever we observe or hear that ‘the righteous is taken away,’ we must perceive the hand of Providence or hear the forewarning about the evil of sin, from which the righteous, as from a deadly plague, is taken to eternal life, or the looming evil of punishment of which they are a bulwark. ‘From the face of evil, the righteous were taken away.’
The existence of the righteous among humanity serves as a veil of God's Providence, a truth once clearly recognized by Abraham: ‘I will not destroy the city for the sake of ten righteous men.’ Even when just one righteous soul is taken away, ‘the Lord … ceases to speak’ (Gen. 18:32-33), and doom looms over many. ‘From the face … the righteous shall be taken away.’ There remains hope when the righteous depart, as the world senses their absence. Then the world receives insight to acknowledge the worth of those ‘of whom the world was not worthy’ (Hebrews 11:38), to disgrace by their example the face of the prevailing evil, and through contrition reroute the destructive path that threatens it. But what if hardened hearts do not empathize with the plight of the innocent, are unmoved by the departure of the righteous, and fail to recognize the profound decline of reverence they now show? — (Ps. 11:2). This reveals that the malaise of sin is pervasive and unhealed, and thus, the wrath of divine judgment approaches. The Prophet perceives this lamentable state of humanity and cries out in astonishment and dread: ‘The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart!’ Here, Christians, I venture to shine the light of God’s law and the Prophet’s word upon the murky and somber occurrences of our times and, as far as my limited perspective allows, to explore what the lot of the righteous is today among us.
What verdict do we render upon ourselves and our contemporaries when we frequently declare that our era lacks saints, that the piety and morality of our forebearers seem almost extinct, that calamities—while seeming to elevate so many innocent among the wicked—have not ceased, but perhaps hastened the spread of wrongdoing? We often discuss such sorrowful realities surrounding us with an air of detachment as if they were phantoms of the night amid daylight. What visions of the future lie hidden behind this dazzling display of worldly riches and carnal pleasures that seem to captivate us now? Yet these considerations would divert us from the central discourse to which we must return.
Before us stands the figure of the Divine Righteous One, in whose presence all righteous individuals are shrouded from view, much like hidden stars in the brilliance of the sun. Christians, we are the generation of the righteous, inheritors and followers of the Righteous One, Jesus! ‘The righteous perish! Take the Righteous One!’ This ultimate and singular Righteous One is named ‘The Lord, our righteousness’ (Jer. 23:6), who embodies truth itself and our righteousness bestowed upon us by His grace, ‘Holy of holies and holy of holies,’ sanctified, ‘He who lived amid sinners was delivered up!’ (Wisdom 4:10). ‘The cornerstone’ upon which all of creation is built, and upon which we too are ‘built into the habitation of God by the Spirit’ (Eph. 2:22), is overlooked and ‘rejected by those who build’ (Ps. 117:22). ‘God’s beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased’ (Matt. 3:17; Mark 1:11) is hated, scorned, and put to death by the children of wrath and ruin! If the choicest bloom of humanity, the tree of life and fertility, is reduced to ashes by the fire of divine judgment, what fate awaits the rest of mankind, this barren, lifeless tree? ‘But if these things are done to the green tree, what will happen to the dry?’ (Luke 23:31).
Passages read together with this verse.
THEOSIS