Isaiah 57:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Ultimately, they brought Him before Pilate and leveled charges against Him, not with honesty, but through falsehoods and calumnies: they alleged that He incited the populace and prohibited them from paying tribute to Caesar, along with numerous other accusations that would bring enduring wrath upon themselves. In this, the Saviour Himself condemned them, speaking through the prophet Hosea: 'Woe unto them because they have turned away from me; they are in distress because of their offenses against me; but I will save myself, for they have spoken lies against me' (Hosea 7:13). Likewise, through Jeremiah, He declared: 'I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my possessions; I have entrusted my beloved soul to the hands of her adversaries. My treasures are like a lion in an oak tree to me, and he has raised his voice against me; for this reason, I have despised her' (Jeremiah 12:7, 8). In addition to other false accusations they concocted against Him, when brought before Pilate, they audaciously shouted, 'Take Him, take Him, crucify Him' (John 19:15). The leaders of the Jewish synagogue led these charges, for although they were aware of His rightful inheritance, they conspired among themselves, saying, 'Come, let us kill Him and seize His inheritance' (Matthew 21:38). However, their hopes were misguided; even though they succeeded in killing Him, He did not remain under the dominion of death, for He rose again and transferred the vineyard to others, having vanquished the wicked—those foolish ones who shed the blood of the Lord. Thus, He addresses them as 'O lawless descendants, the offspring of adulterers and harlots.' Here, He refers to those who are in authority—the scribes and teachers of the law—as adulterers associated with the synagogue, as they proclaim the commandments of the divine law while straying toward unrighteousness and teaching the doctrines and commandments of men. The synagogue is rightly described as a harlot, for it embraced the ways of adulterers while spurning the wisdom of Moses' law. Hence, He rightly calls its descendants lawless. Therefore, He questions, 'What do you take pleasure in, and against whom do you open your mouth, and whom do you slander?' You have mocked the holy prophets countless times; yet, though they were close to the God of all, they were merely servants, similar to you, and your offenses against them were against fellow servants. But now I ask, whom do you dare to revile? (For He was not like the prophets, nor was He merely a servant among us, nor was He burdened, but He is the Lord of all, despite having taken on the form of a servant.) Thus, He states that you are the children of destruction. You rejected the Saviour, and your lineage is indeed lawless, as you have not heeded Him who, through the preaching of the gospel, calls you to righteousness.

It is written concerning the Lord Savior, “And the son of iniquity shall not lay hold on him that worketh iniquity.” Instead of lawlessness, which is how the LXX translates it, Theodotion retained the very Hebrew term, opena, which we translate according to Symmachus as charmer, indicating that Jerusalem, the mother of the listeners, was perpetually inclined to idolatry. Consequently, they are called the offspring of the unfaithful, just as it is written, “And she hath fornicated with the rock and with the tree.” And also of the harlot, surely referring to the same, as noted, “How can the faithful city of Zion be a harlot?” You mocked him, spitting upon His face and pulling at His beard. You opened your mouths wide and stuck out your tongues, slandering, “You are a Samaritan, and you have a demon.” And again, “This man does not cast out demons, but speaks of Beelzebul, the prince of demons.” Following that, you called for His suffering: “Crucify Him, crucify Him.” And again, you declared, “His blood be upon us and upon our children.” In another episode, you lamented, “He who destroyed the temple and rebuilt it in three days, He saved others, but He cannot save Himself. Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him.” Are you not offspring of iniquity, deceitful progeny, seeking comfort in gods beneath every leafy tree, burying your children beside brook banks beneath the rocky ledges? Are you not sons of destruction, a lawless progeny, calling to idols beneath canopy trees, burying your children in the valleys among the rocks? You have committed what has been stated in the prior discourse. You are children of iniquity, as was Judas the traitor, called the son of destruction. This lawless or deceptive lineage indulges in deities under every branch and hardens their young beside the streams. The records of Kings and Chronicles tell of this, revealing how they caused their children to pass through fire unto the gods. This was done by Ahab, king of Israel, and Manasseh, king of Judah, who transitioned from child sacrifice to shedding the blood of the prophets. Hosea lamented, “Devour men, for the oxen are scarce.” Or as expressed in Hebrew, “You are consuming children, while worshiping calves.” The Psalms elaborate, stating: they mingled among the oxen, learning their ways and crafting their idols, becoming ensnared. And their sons and daughters were devoured by demons. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their children, burning them as offerings to the idols of Canaan, saturating the land with blood, polluting it with their deeds. Given that it is evident that the murderers of Christ are the offspring of those who practice these things, we encounter the question: How are the sons designated as sons of destruction when others distinguish between different natures, one lost and evil, incapable of salvation, while the other remains good and imperishable? If, as assumed, the sons of destruction possess the most wretched nature, how can that which was lost now be redeemed? Thus, in the parables of the repentant, both the lost sheep of a hundred, and the lost coin of ten are found, as is the wayward son who was lost, about whom the father said to the eldest son, “Your brother was dead and is alive again.” Only that which was once complete can perish, and only that which once lived can die. Those now known as the sons of destruction or iniquity have, through their own transgressions, abandoned the Lord, transitioning from being His children to becoming sons of perdition, as the same prophet declared, “You have forsaken the Lord and angered the Holy One of Israel.” This can also be understood figuratively concerning heretics, who represent the sons of destruction and the progeny of falsehood. From the beginning, they are deceitful like the devil, their father, who is the father of lies. They entice those misled by them to idolatry or to the idols of their teachings, inviting them beneath leafy trees, promising indulgences while disguising their filth. Hence, even Adam, following his sin, hid in paradise beneath a tree from the presence of God. Without doubt, the sons of destruction and the seed of iniquity have numerous offspring who are lured by them and led to ruin in the depths of valleys and in the abyss of lawlessness, beneath rocky ledges that always loom precariously overhead, represented variously by different falsehoods and perverse doctrines. Yet we have one true rock that faithfully accompanies the people, from which the Israelites once drew when they experienced the love of the Lord.