For the Lord Hath Spoken
The Lenten Readings from Esaias
V Lent Friday – Esaias 45: 11-17
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For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, who has formed the things that are to come, Enquire of me concerning my sons, and concerning the works of my hands command me. 12 I have made the earth, and man upon it: I with my hand have established the heaven; I have given commandment to all the stars. 13 I have raised him up to be a king with righteousness, and all his ways are right: he shall build my city, and shall turn the captivity of my people, not for ransoms, nor for rewards, saith the Lord of hosts. 14 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Egypt has laboured for thee; and the merchandise of the Ethiopians, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall pass over to thee, and shall be thy servants; and they shall follow after thee bound in fetters, and shall pass over to thee, and shall do obeisance to thee, and make supplication to thee: because God is in thee; and there is no God beside thee, O Lord. 15 For thou art God, yet we knew it not, the God of Israel, the Saviour. 16 All that are opposed to him shall be ashamed and confounded, and shall walk in shame: ye isles, keep a feast to me. 17 Israel is saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation: they shall not be ashamed nor confounded for evermore.
Both St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Cyril of Jerusalem comment on verses 14 – 15, explaining that here the prophet is proclaiming the divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ:
No one initiated in the divine mysteries needs to be told that prophets, evangelists, disciples, and apostles confess that the Lord [Jesus] is God. For who does not know that in the 45th psalm the prophet proclaims in word that Christ is God: “anointed by God” [see Ps. 45: 6-7, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of righteousness. 7 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of gladness beyond thy fellows. ” In verse six, the psalmist calls the king “God,” and then in verse seven the psalmist says that God has anointed this person that he has just called God. The king, who is God, is Christ, and He has been anointed by God, that is, the Father]. Further, who is not aware that in a number of places Esaias openly announces the divinity of the Son, as, for example, when he asserts: “… and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall pass over to thee, and shall be thy servants; and they shall follow after thee bound in fetters, and shall pass over to thee, and shall do obeisance to thee, and make supplication to thee: because God is in thee; and there is no God beside thee, O Lord. For thou art God…” What other God is there who has God in himself and is himself God except the Only-Begotten, let those say who have no regard for prophecy? – St. Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius 3: 15-16
Hear Esaias saying, “Egypt has labored for thee; and the merchandise of the Ethiopians,” and soon after, “…and [they shall] make supplication to thee: because God is in thee; and there is no God beside thee, O Lord. For thou art God, yet we knew it not, the God of Israel, the Savior.” You see that the Son is God, having in himself God the Father, saying almost the very same which [Christ] has said in the Gospels [see John 14: 11, where Christ tells the disciples, “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me…”] And again he has not said, “I and the Father am one” but “I and the Father are one,” that we should neither separate them nor confuse them.” – St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 11.16
As we draw near to the end of Great Lent and approach Holy Week our primary attention will shift from the labors of repentance to the contemplation of the great mystery for whose reception and glorification we have been preparing ourselves: Our redemption by the saving passion, death on the Cross, and life-bestowing resurrection of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. The chief priests, scribes and Pharisees, who rejected both the prophets and the One whom they prophesied, blinded themselves on purpose, in an act of incomprehensibly stubborn self-will, in order not to humble themselves before the God of Israel, Who stood before them in the flesh. We, on the other, confess Him to be the God-Man, our only Savior. Let us pray to complete the Fast in patience and peace, so that truly cleansed by the grace of this Lent, we will not only confess Him with our lips but also know Him as most intimately present in our minds and in our hearts.
Glory to Thee, O Lord, One with the Father and one with us. Glory to Thee!
