Isaiah 63:17Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Scripture frequently depicts the Church as the holy mountain, in which the Israelites comprise a small fragment. Had they embraced faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, they would have been a significant part of the Church alongside the multitude of Gentiles. However, due to their considerable disobedience, they have fallen behind the Gentiles, who now outnumber them, resulting in their being a mere remnant. Consequently, their inheritance within the Holy Mountain, that is, the Church, is limited. If someone were to interpret the holy mountain as the highest city, the heavenly Church, nurturing and sustaining the saints, this reading could certainly be valid as well. The statement holds true: for they have become as they were at the beginning, lacking His possession, beneath whose name they were called. This is a truthful observation; by being bereft of His guidance and shelter, they reverted to their original state. And what was that state? They were enslaved in Egypt, laboring with clay and bricks, suffering greatly from their toil. Presently, they are likewise oppressed under the dominion of the evil one, tainted by fleshly desires and worldly pursuits, which could rightly be seen as akin to the painful toil of brick-making. In Egypt, they served false gods, and now they are occupied by an unclean spirit. The Redeemer Himself taught us, stating: when the unclean spirit departs from a person, it traverses through arid regions, searching for rest but finds none. It then declares, I will return to my house from which I came; and upon its return, it discovers it to be swept and well-organized. Subsequently, it departs and fetches seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and upon entering, they reside there, and the final state of that person becomes worse than the first. Such will be the fate of this wicked generation (Mt. 12:48-45).

The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, addresses a diverse community of saints and sinners, offering praise, rebuke, teachings, discipline, and encouragement towards self-control, while affirming marriage and denouncing idolatry. He instructs them about the resurrection and seeks to protect the sanctity of marriage to prevent adultery. We present this section, consisting of the people's prayer to God, as reflective of both the righteous and the sinful—those who glorify God and those who beseech Him or express their grievances against Him. Hence, they inquire: Why, O Lord, have You allowed us to stray from Your ways or have led us away from Your paths, rendering our hearts hard so that we may not fear You? This does not imply that God is the architect of our errors and hard-heartedness; rather, it suggests that His patience, as He waits for our salvation and refrains from restraining the misguided, appears to be the cause of our waywardness.

Indeed, when God becomes indignant towards some, He refrains from punishment, declaring, I will not punish your sons for their sexual immorality, nor your daughters for their unfaithfulness (Hosea 4:14). For He disciplines every son He accepts (Heb. 12:6) with the intent of correction. Thus, He addresses those who retain their status as children, albeit chastised and inclined to repentance: I shall address their iniquities with the rod and their iniquities with wounds; yet My steadfast love will not be taken from them (Ps. 88:33). There exists a sorrow that brings forth life, and a sorrow that leads to death. Consequently, the sinner articulates in the Psalm, You have turned aside our ways from Your path and humbled us in bitterness (Isaiah 43:19). The people wandered for forty years in the wilderness (Num. 32) to avoid returning to Egypt. Hosea speaks of Jerusalem being enclosed with thorns, preventing her from pursuing her lovers, compelling her to return to her first husband (Hosea 2). It is also said of Pharaoh that God hardened his heart so that he would not release His people, leading to their suffering under ten plagues (Ex. 4). Paul elaborates on this topic in his letter to the Romans (9), which we have previously discussed.

The Lord implores us to return for the sake of His servants, Abraham and Israel, whom we believe are part of the people. How easily our adversaries have taken possession of Your holy people. Or, as the Seventy translates, restore us so that we may take possession of a small portion of Your holy mountain, acknowledging that we cannot possess it all; by gaining a part, we may ultimately attain the fullness and witness the glory of the only begotten Son, full of grace and truth (John 1). The same prophet declares, In the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be revealed (Isaiah 2:2).

Regarding the phrase, 'Why have You permitted us to wander?' (v. 17), Jeremiah articulates, You have deceived me, O Lord, and I have been deceived; You have restrained me and prevailed against me (Jer. 20:7). For, by assuring me of mercy without revealing the severity of Your judgments, like a compassionate father not displaying a hidden sharp tool to a frightened patient, You allowed me to grow complacent. Thus God declares concerning Jerusalem: Behold, I will lead her into a wilderness and render her desolate, yet I will speak to her heart and draw her back, allowing her to acknowledge her plight (Hosea 2:14-15). Let us closely examine the sequence of thought: He seduces her into desolation to evoke her thirst for virtue. When she cries, My soul longs for You, and my flesh thirsts for You (Psalm 62:2), He will comfort her in her mourning and provide her with attraction born of repentance and sorrow, leading to salvation.

The humility of her contrite heart, which signifies the valley of Achor, will awaken her understanding to recognize her Creator. Our foes have trampled upon Your sanctuary, clearly alluding to the temple overrun by victorious Romans. We find ourselves as we once were, before the calling of Abraham, when we were in Egypt without God, king, prince, or prophet and devoid of the commandments of God (Hosea 3:4). All prophecies were fulfilled after the suffering of the Lord and continue to resonate now. For they declared, His blood be upon us and upon our children (Matt. 27:25), and thus an eternal curse rests upon them; God's dominion is absent, and His name is not called upon them, for they are no longer recognized as the people of God.

The essence of this lament is not to assert that God is directly responsible for sin but rather that He allows the afflictions which can lead to sinful behavior. In this regard, it is stated that God hardened Pharaoh's heart (Ex. 13:15) — indicating that the plagues inflicted upon Pharaoh and his people incited bitterness within him. The captives cry out for the Lord's mercy because they are not unknown to Him; they are His servants, chosen by a special covenant for His service as the one true God, and they are tribes of His heritage, distinguished from other nations as His treasured possession.