The voice in the wilderness

Treasures of Our Faith with Deacon Richard Vehige

On the Second Sunday of Advent our Church invites us to first read and reflect on a passage from the book of the prophet Isaiah (22: 8b-23) entitled “Against the pride of Jerusalem and Shebna”. Our treasure, which follows, is from a commentary on Isaiah by Eusebeus of Caesarea, bishop.

Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260–c. 340) is known as the “father of church history.” He was the first to write a “comprehensive” history of the early church. He was born in Palestine, and little if anything is known of his early life and conversion. In Palestine, Eusebius came under the influence of Pamphilus, who was a student of Origen. Pamphilus had amassed a large library of Origen’s writings, copies of Scripture, and commentaries—truly one of the great ancient Christian libraries. It seems that Eusebius fled the persecution of Christians in Palestine and eventually made his way to Egypt where he witnessed Christian martyrdom firsthand. He was also imprisoned for a short time. In 313 or 314, Eusebius was made bishop of Caesarea in his native Palestine.

Eusebius of Caesarea wrote several major works. In Preparation for the Gospel, he refutes paganism, using extensive quotes from pagan authors. In Demonstration of the Gospel, he examines how Christ fulfilled Old Testament prophecies. In his most famous and perhaps most important work, Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius provides a history of the church from apostolic times through the death of Constantine. His Commentary on Isaiah is one of his major exegetical works and the earliest extant Christian commentary on the great prophet. Geographically situated between Alexandria and Antioch, Eusebius approached the text giving notable attention to historical detail and possible allegorical interpretation. But above all, employing the anologia fidei (a biblical phrase that refers to the relationship between concepts that are both similar and different), he drew his readers’ attention to other passages of Scripture that share a common vocabulary and theological themes, thus allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture. Here, for the first time in English, Jonathan Armstrong provides readers with a highly serviceable translation of Eusebius’s notably difficult Greek text, along with a helpful introduction and notes.

Isaiah, one of the greatest of the prophets, appeared at a critical moment in Israel’s history. The Northern Kingdom collapsed, under the hammerlike blows of Assyria, in 722/721 B.C., and in 701 Jerusalem itself saw the army of Sennacherib drawn up before its walls. In the year that Uzziah, king of Judah, died, Isaiah received his call to the prophetic office in the Temple of Jerusalem. Close attention should be given to chapter six, where this divine summons to be the ambassador of the Most High is circumstantially described.

The vision of the Lord enthroned in glory stamps an indelible character on Isaiah’s ministry and provides a key to the understanding of his message. The majesty, holiness and glory of the Lord took possession of his spirit and, at the same time, he gained a new awareness of human pettiness and sinfulness. The enormous abyss between God’s sovereign holiness and human sinfulness overwhelmed the prophet. Only the purifying coal of the seraphim could cleanse his lips and prepare him for acceptance of the call: “Here I am, send me!”

The ministry of Isaiah extended from the death of Uzziah in 742 B.C. to Sennacherib’s siege of Jerusalem in 701 B.C., and it may have continued even longer, until after the death of Hezekiah in 687 B.C. Later legend (the Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah) claims that Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh, executed Isaiah by having him sawed in two. During this long ministry, the prophet returned again and again to the same themes, and there are indications that he may have sometimes re-edited his older prophecies to fit new occasions.