26.5. The Parable of the Vineyard

Further, the prophet depicts Israel in the parable of the vineyard: "My Beloved had a vineyard on the top of a fattened mountain, and He surrounded it with a fence, and cleansed it of stones, and planted in it choice vines, and built a tower in the midst of it, and dug a winepress in it, and expected that it would bring forth good grapes, but He brought forth wild berries. And now, ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge me with my vineyard. What else should I do for My vineyard that I have not done for it? Why, when I expected him to bring forth good grapes, did he bring forth wild berries? Therefore I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away its fence, and it will be laid waste; I will break down its walls, and it will be trampled underfoot, and I will leave it desolate..." (Isaiah 5:1-6).

Through the prophet, the Lord Himself explains this parable: "The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His favorite planting. And He waited for justice, but behold, there was bloodshed; waited for righteousness, and behold, there was a cry" (Isaiah 5:7). The vineyard is an image used in the Old Testament by a number of prophets (Jeremiah 2:21; 31:5; Ezek. 28:26; Zech. 8:12; Micah 4:4). When Christ tells the parable of the wicked husbandmen, He introduces it, repeating the text of the prophet Isaiah word for word (Matt. 21:33; Mk. 12:1; Lk. 20:9), thereby not giving His listeners the opportunity to understand Him in any other way. And finally, the words of the farewell discourse: "I am the true vine" (John 15:1) unite Christ and the Church as one, revealing to us the mystery of the Church as the Body of Christ.

26.6. The Calling of the Prophet Isaiah

Up to this point, we could still say that, in comparison with the books of the minor prophets already studied, we did not see anything fundamentally new. But this is just the beginning. You will agree that the first five chapters could have formed a separate prophetic book.

Chapter 6 describes the calling of the prophet Isaiah. A calling is necessary for the prophetic ministry, but it is not described by all prophets. Why is the calling spoken not at the beginning of the book, but after the pronouncement of a number of prophecies? Perhaps we are not talking here about the original call to ministry, but about a phenomenon that preceded a whole series of high and mysterious revelations. If we look at the prophecies contained in the next five chapters, we will see that this is indeed the case.

"I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and exalted, and the edges of His garments filled the whole temple. Around Him stood the Seraphim; each of them had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And they cried out to one another, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts. the whole earth is full of His glory! And the tops of the gate were shaken at the voice of those who shouted, and the house was filled with incense" (Isaiah 6:1-4). Notice that God reveals Himself to the prophet in the temple.

We have seen that the Lord demands from people truth, mercy, and condescension to the widow and the orphan. For prophets like Amos and Hosea, this is the center of preaching. At some point, there is even a feeling that the Lord is the God of social justice, that He is only busy solving some human problems, sorting out untruths, and so on. From this sometimes follows the naïve (and theologically illiterate) question: "What did God do before He created the world?" The filling of heaven and earth with the glory of God, the service of seraphim and cherubim to Him show the divine omnipotence, the incompatibility and incomprehensibility of God by the world, the impossibility of even approaching Him. When Isaiah sees this, he exclaims: "Woe is me, I am lost! for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among the people also with unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 6:5). "The prophet calls himself "accursed", first from the point of view of his nature, saying: "O accursed one, for I am touched, as this man", and then from the side of the state of the soul: "with unclean lips". He called his lips unclean, as I think, in contrast to those fiery lips of pure powers, with their most perfect service. Not stopping there, he pronounces a confession for all the people, adding: "And I live among the people also with unclean lips." Why does he condemn his own mouth here? He expresses his indecision. So the three youths, being in the furnace, said almost the same thing: "We cannot open our mouths" (Dan. 3:33). And now, when it was the time of singing and doxology, and when the prophet saw the heavenly powers doing this, he justly turns the word to the lips, which are called especially to such service. For this reason he called his own lips unclean, but the lips of the people – not because of this, but because the Jews were filled with iniquity" [29, vol. 6, p. 79].

And yet the prophet Isaiah becomes a partaker of this glory when one of the Seraphim brings a burning coal and touches the prophet's mouth and says: "Behold, this has touched thy mouth, and thy iniquity is taken away from thee, and thy sin is cleansed" (Isaiah 6:7). When priests and deacons commune in the altar, then, having communed, they kiss the holy chalice and say: "Behold, I have touched my lips, and he will take away my iniquities and cleanse my sins." These are the same words; they speak of the action of the power of God, which corrects and purifies man, who by his own will, by his own power, is not able to draw near to God. The tongs with which Seraphim takes the coal from the throne prefigure the Mother of God, to Whom the divine coal of the Body of Christ was brought: "Isaiah is cleansed, the coal is received from the Seraphim, the elder cried out to the Mother of God, as with pincers with your hands enlightened me, giving him, bearing him, the unfading light and ruling the world" [The Meeting of Our Lord and God Jesus Christ, at Matins, Canon, Ode 5, Troparion 3 // Menaion, February 2].

"And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send? and who will go for us? And I said, Here am I, send me" (Isaiah 6:8). These words are often applied not only to the Prophet Isaiah, who is sent to preach, but also to the Son of God, to the Eternal Council, when the question of man's salvation is being decided, and the Son of God takes upon Himself the obligation, through death on the Cross and Resurrection, to save the human race. These words also apply to the prophet Isaiah himself and his ministry: "Go and say to this people, 'With your ears you will hear, and you will not understand, and with your eyes you will see, and you will not see. For the heart of this people is hardened, and with their ears they can hardly hear, and their eyes are closed, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and be converted, that I may heal them" (Isaiah 6:9-10). Again a prototype. The ministry of the prophet Isaiah precedes the appearance of God incarnate, because it is in His appearance that these words are fully fulfilled. God Himself stands and preaches to the people, and they close their eyes, and stop their ears, and don't want to hear Him, they don't want to hear Him, and they don't want to be healed. After all, this is what Christ said: "And the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled over them, which says, 'With your ears you will hear, and you will not understand...'" (Matt. 13:14). And the holy Evangelist John, quoting this quote, adds: "These things Isaiah said, when he saw His glory, and spoke of Him" (John 12:41). Thus, he was vouchsafed this appearance before the mystery of the Incarnation of God was revealed to him.

26.7. Prophecies about the Nativity of Christ and Christ

After describing the prophet's calling, chapter 7 begins a series of great prophecies. The first of them, showing how the fulfillment of the divine Council will begin, is the prophecy of the birth of Christ from a Virgin (Isaiah 7:14). The historical context of this prophecy is as follows. King Pekah of Israel and King Rezin of Syria go to Jerusalem in order to destroy it. From the Second Book of Kings it is known that they inflicted a fairly significant defeat on the Jewish troops at the very first meeting, but failed to conquer Jerusalem (2 Kings 16:5). "And the Lord said to Isaiah, Go out to meet Ahaz, to the end of the water supply of the upper pool, to the road to the bleaching field" (Isaiah 7:3). Having announced to the king deliverance from enemies, the prophet suggested that he ask for a sign from God. But Ahaz, who was an idolater, does not even want this, he does not want to receive any sign from God, lest he should inadvertently give up his idolatry. And then the prophet Isaiah says these words: "Hear, therefore, house of David! is it not enough for you to trouble men, that you want to trouble my God also?" (Isaiah 7:13). These words usually cause some bewilderment.

What does it mean to make people difficult and to make God difficult? The inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea resist and do not allow the prophets to proclaim the will of God, do not allow the prophets to serve for the correction of the people. And now Ahaz is trying to hinder God Himself, Who is ready to give an edifying sign, trying to prevent God Himself from correcting himself, correcting the entire people [see 12, part 2, p. 225]. And then the prophet Isaiah announces to him: "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel. He will feed on milk and honey, until he understands to reject evil and choose good; for before this child understands to reject evil and choose good, the land which you fear will be forsaken by both kings thereof" (Isaiah 7:14-16).

The Hebrew word alma can mean both "virgin" and "young woman." Seventy interpreters translated it as "virgin," which confirms the New Testament understanding of this passage by the Old Testament Church. This is very important for us.