Isaiah 57:5Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

This is poignantly expressed by the Almighty through the prophet Jeremiah, who proclaimed, “Have you seen what the house of Israel has done to me? They went up into every high mountain, and under every leafy tree, and gathered them together” (Jeremiah 3:6). They filled the heights of the mountains and the finest locations with altars and shrines, offering sacrifices and libations to impure spirits, showing disregard even for their own children. Jechoniah, for instance, offered his son to the false deities. God spoke through the holy prophets, illustrating the brutality of those accustomed to such acts: "devour men, for the calves are scarce" (Hosea 13:2). Therefore, he admonishes, as you pray to the idol beneath the frequent tree, burying your children amid the thickets amongst the stones, what shall come next? This is your inheritance, this is your destiny. If you have bowed down to emptiness, your fate shall also be emptiness. Or perhaps he desires to emphasize this point: You have sacrificed your children in the wilderness; consequently, your demise will mirror this same fate, a future laden with calamities and slaughter. Why is this so? First, because you have become a murderer of your own children, and second, because you have made offerings to foul spirits and lifeless idols, and have devoted sacrifices to them. Thus, he questions, shall I not be enraged by these actions? Is there not a legitimate basis for my wrath against you, a sufficient reason to enact judgment upon you? Upon the high and elevated mountain, there lies your bed, and there you have made your offerings; behind the hedges of your doors, you have set up your memorials. The prophetic word frequently reminds us that they slept on the mountains seeking dreams. It is noted that the Israelites wandered so far from the truth that they engraved images of idols on their doors and doorposts, ensuring that as they entered and exited their homes, they would always be reminded of them. All this stands as undeniable evidence of their profound impiety; they labeled the various images of idols as Saviors and helpers.

Thus, it is written of the Lord Savior: “And the son of iniquity shall not lay hold on him that worketh iniquity.” Instead of lawlessness, as rendered by the LXX, Theodotion uses the actual Hebrew term meaning enchantress, signifying that Jerusalem, the mother of the listeners, consistently leaned towards idolatry. Hence, he refers to them as the offspring of adulterers, or those who engage in harlotry, of whom it is written, “And she hath fornicated with the rock and with the tree.” He questions, how can the faithful city of Zion be a harlot? To whom do you mock, spitting on His face and pulling His beard, widening your mouths and sticking out your tongues, saying, “You are a Samaritan, and you have a demon”? And again, it is said: this one does not cast out demons but by Beelzebub, the prince of demons. Following that, they shouted for His crucifixion: “Crucify Him, crucify Him.” And once more, they declared, "Let His blood be upon us and upon our children." In another instance, how they lamented, "He who destroyed the church and rebuilt it in three days, He saved others; Himself He cannot save. Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him."

Are you not the children of wickedness, the deceitful offspring, who find solace in idols beneath every leafy tree, ritually burying your children by streams under rocky rises? LXX: Are you not sons of perdition, a lawless lineage, invoking idols, or worshipping idols beneath leafy trees, sacrificing your children in the valleys among the rocks? You have committed what was previously mentioned: you are sons of wickedness or perdition, just as Judas the traitor was, named the son of perdition. This lawless or deceitful seed enjoys worshipping idols under every leafy bough, and they lead their children astray by the brooks. The histories of Kings and Chronicles recount how they hardened their children to the gods and consecrated them by fire. This is undoubtedly true of Ahab, king of Israel, and Manasseh, king of Judah, who went from sacrificing children to shedding the blood of prophets. Just as Hosea declares, “Devour men, for the oxen are scarce.” Or, as the Hebrew states, “Quenching children, you worship calves.” The Psalms elaborate, saying they mingled with the oxen, learned their actions, crafted their idols, and it became a snare to them. Their sons and daughters were consumed by demons. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, which they offered to the idols of Canaan, saturating the land with blood and defiling themselves through their actions.

The narrative clearly indicates that the murderers of Christ are the descendants of those who commit such acts, prompting the question: How can they be called sons of perdition when some acknowledge different natures—one that is lost and evil and cannot be saved, and the other good and incapable of perishing? For if, as they think, the sons of perdition possess the worst nature, how is the lost reclaimed? In the parables of repentance, the sheep that strayed from a hundred has been found, as has the drachma that was lost among ten, and the son that was lost, of whom the father said to the elder sibling, "Your brother was dead and is alive again."

Only that which once was whole can perish, and only that which once lived can die. Those now identified as sons of perdition or iniquity and crime have, through their own failings, forsaken the Lord and transitioned from being called sons of the Lord to being recognized as sons of perdition, as the same prophet speaks to them: “You have forsaken the Lord and have angered the Holy One of Israel.” This can also be understood figuratively in relation to heretics, who are the sons of perdition and the progeny of falsehood. From the outset, they are deceitful like the devil, who is the father of lies. They lure those misled by them towards idols or the idols of their erroneous beliefs, beneath leafy canopies, offering false promises of pleasure and delight while concealing their impurities. Thus, Adam, after his sin, hid himself in paradise beneath a tree from the face of God. There is no doubt that the sons of perdition and this lawless seed have many offspring entangled by them, leading them to destruction in the depths of valleys and the abyss of wickedness among the rocky outcrops, which constantly pose a threat of collapse. According to the multitude of lies and the variety of corrupt teachings, they are designated by numerous rocks. However, we have a single rock that steadily follows the people, from which the Israelites once drank in the joy of the Lord's love.