Книга пророка Исаии, Глава 7, стих 23. Толкования стиха

Then the Word shows forth yet more clearly when he continues on and says: And it shall be in that day that every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels, will become barren ground and thorn. And again: For all the land will be barren ground and thorn. Surely then because the land will be barren and full of thorns, no one will have any grain. The one who is left will not nourish himself with food suitable for men, and rather than wine 53 he will be sustained with milk and butter and honey. And these are acquired neither from multiple herds of cattle nor from flocks of sheep but from cheap and pitiable animals. For one will be nourished from the yield of one young cow and two sheep. These events came about during the Babylonian captivity, when the prophecy was repeated that the people would soon be forced to leave. The present story about those who departed into another place states: “But the captain of the guard left some of the poor from the land to be vinedressers in the land of Benjamin.” After a little while the text states again: “And as for the people who were left behind in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, had left behind—he also appointed over them Gedaliah.” It says further: “And Gedaliah swore to the men who were with him, saying, ‘Fear not a passing of the Chaldeans; stay in the land, and be subject to the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.’” They indeed remembered the present word, the prediction that alluded to the poor and the indigent in saying: Everyone that is left on the land will eat butter and honey. For every one left on the land was the people along with Gedaliah. Because of the shortage of grain for food, he predicts that they will be nourished with milk and butter (the food of the smallest of nurslings), since the entire land was turned into a barren desert and thorns through men.Since the captivity in Babylon and the uprising from that place, the Jews have been in the most extreme poverty regarding God. Indeed, after these things, prophets failed to appear among them, and there was no one worthy of remembrance among them after the writing of Ezra, but the kingdom itself was demolished. No longer did anyone of the house of David rule among them, nor did anyone “rich toward God” shine forth among them. But if there is anyone who says that there was a spiritual man worthy of renown among them, this one might seldom find one young cow or two sheep among them; the soul of the entire country had been laid waste. The man about whom it is revealed that he will have food fit for an infant in store—milk and butter and honey—will have nothing more for the aforesaid nurslings, so that the man left among them will enjoy these things. Again, the one left may even be among these, but the one who is saved from the destruction of the many and who preserves the spiritual image is indeed rare. He is the one who after careful study may gain one or two lessons from the Jewish teachings, just as there will be a young cow from the cattle and two sheep (indeed, today these are clean animals). But so too, he will scarcely find even these; all that will be left will be wolves and jackals, wild beasts and venomous reptiles. This is why he will scarcely find one young cow or two sheep among them; and although the man who is left among them will tend them, he will not receive any produce from them, nor will they yield any solid food or nourishment 54 suitable for men. But because they offer instruction only in childish things, they are able only to produce a certain milky food appropriate for infants and nothing better. He who scarcely found the young cow and two sheep tended them because of all that had befallen the souls of the multitude and their wilderness. The Word therefore was present and said: All the land shall be barren ground and thorn. And again: if there might be a thousand vines, they will become barren ground and thorn.

Исаия предсказывает нечестивому Ахазу, обратившемуся за помощью к ассирийскому царю, будущее опустошение и притеснение иудеев от тех же ассирийцев.