Isidore of Seville

In his own words on Isaiah

• Isaiah 19:2

  Daughters of Tyre, daughters of the nations, from species to genus. Through Tyre, neighbor to the land of prophecy, the psalmist signifies all the people who would come to believe in Christ. Rightly, therefore, does he continue: "The wealthy of the earth will all seek your face." The Lord also threatens Assyria through the prophet Isaiah, saying, "I will destroy the Assyrian in my land, and I will crush him on my mountains"; "and the Lord will destroy Babylon, glorious and famous among the kingdoms, as he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah." It is possible that the Lord began to admonish only the city of Babylon at the beginning of Isaiah, but as he spoke against it, he crossed from species to genus and turned to address his word generally toward all the earth. Surely, if he were not speaking against the entire world, he would not have added later: "I will destroy the whole earth, and I will visit evil upon the world," and other such statements that pertain to the eradication of the corrupted world. Consequently, he also adds, "This is the decision that I have made concerning the whole earth and this is its hand extended over all the peoples." … He was addressing the entire world under the figure of Babylon, saying, "I will destroy the whole earth, and I will visit evil upon the world," along with similar declarations pertaining to the world's extermination. [But] he also turned his attention back toward Babylon, as though from genus to species, and made remarks that relate specifically to that city: "Behold, I am raising Media up against them." For during Balthasar's reign, Babylon was taken by Media. So also, the "oracle of Egypt" intends for Egypt to be understood as a personification of the entire world when it says, "And I will cause Egyptians to fight against Egyptians, kingdom against kingdom," since it is written that Egypt possessed only one kingdom, not many.The fifth rule of time is that the greater part can be implied through the lesser or the lesser through the greater. With regard to the three days of the Lord's burial, for instance, the whole is taken from the part, since he lay in the tomb neither for three full days nor for three full nights. And the part can be taken from the whole, for after the Lord had established that "the length of a man's life will be one hundred and twenty years," only one hundred years passed before the great flood. Also, whereas God predicted that the children of Israel would be slaves in Egypt for four hundred years and would then depart, they were not enslaved for four hundred years, since they had escaped slavery under Joseph's rule. Yet again, the whole is also here subjoined from the part, since they did not depart Egypt immediately after the four hundred years, as promised, but did so after four hundred and thirty years had transpired. Events that are still in the future but are narrated as though they have already occurred also belong to this rule of time. For example, "They pierced my hands and feet and counted all of my bones," and "they divided my clothing among themselves," and similar passages in which what has yet to occur is related as a historical event. Anything predicated of the future, however, is spoken from our perspective. But when the future is said to have happened, it must be understood from the perspective of God's eternity, since what is still in the future for us has already been accomplished according to God's predestination, for whom everything in the future has been accomplished. The sixth rule of time is that of recapitulation, which consists in Scripture returning to what it had already narrated. For instance, when it discussed the sons of the sons of Noah, Scripture said that they had their own language among their own people. Afterwards, however, as though subsequent in time, we read, "And all the earth was of one language, and everyone spoke with one voice." How, therefore, could the sons of Noah have had their own language if there were only one language for everyone, unless the narrative regressed in order to recapitulate what had already transpired?

  THREE BOOKS OF THOUGHTS 1:19.7-16

• Isaiah 28:22

  They do not understand that God grants to each period of time what is appropriate. As he commanded marriage in the law, so in the gospel does he recommend virginity. In the law, an eye is to be offered for an eye, but in the gospel, the other side of the cheek is to be offered to one's assailant. The former arrangement was for a weak people, whereas the latter is for the perfect. Nevertheless each order was adapted to its proper time. Yet it is not to be believed on the basis of this change that God is mutable. Instead, it should be proclaimed a miracle that while remaining immutable himself, God gave to each era its own distinctly appropriate order.Sins were of lesser guilt under the Old Testament because only a shadow of the truth, not truth itself, was present therein. For the higher precepts of the New Testament reveal that we are to forsake some of those things to which the people of the shadow of truth were bound. Previously, for instance, fornication and the taking of retribution for injuries were permitted without punishment. In the New Testament, however, they are condemned with severe punishments. The creed and the Lord's Prayer replace the whole law in sufficing to obtain the kingdom of heaven for the little ones of the church. For the entire breadth of Scripture is contained briefly in the Lord's Prayer and the creed. Thus does the prophet Isaiah say, "I heard from the Lord God of hosts about an abbreviation upon all the earth."

  THREE BOOKS OF THOUGHTS 1:20.1-21:1

• Isaiah 33:15

  Taking bribes is a violation of the truth. Therefore, it is said of the just man: "He who cleanses his hands of every gift will live on the heights."

  THREE BOOKS OF THOUGHTS 3:54

• Isaiah 49:25

  In consoling his people through the prophet, God accordingly promises to judge their enemies.… For the wickedness of the evil ones who customarily tear at the chosen of God with their own teeth. When this happens, the life of the unrighteous is undone while that of the righteous is not, but rather it flourishes. Meanwhile, however, the evil ones are educating the righteous through the training of tribulation so that they will hate this present life and long for the life to come.

  THREE BOOKS OF THOUGHTS 3:57.8-9

• Isaiah 63:17

  The punishment for previous sins is called "hardening" that comes from the divine righteousness.… While those who are righteous are in no way driven by God to become evil, nevertheless, when they are evil they are hardened so that they become worse, as the apostle says, "Since they did not receive the love of God's truth that they might be saved, God sent them a spirit of error." So God made them sin. But in these cases there was so much sin that came before that they deserved to become worse.… Some sins come from God's anger which are balanced against the merit of other sins.

  THREE BOOKS OF THOUGHTS 2:19.5-6