"As a child was born unto us, O Son, and was given unto us, His beginning was upon His frame; and His name is called: Great is the Angel of Counsel." How many names of the Lord the Prophet taught us, we heard above. "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (cf. Isaiah 7:14; cf. Matt. 1:23). Here "His name is called: Great is the Angel of the Council" — the One Who made known the Great Council, hidden from the ages and not revealed to other generations (Col. 1:26); He Who proclaimed and revealed His "unexplored" "riches in tongues: be thou a tongue with an heir and a steward" (cf. Eph. 3:8, 6). The One "Whose beginning is on His frame," that is, the kingdom and power in the cross, for, having been lifted up on the cross, He drew all to Himself (cf. John 12:32).

"For I will bring peace upon the princes, peace and health to Him. And His beginning is great, and His peace has no bounds." From this it is evident that these words were spoken on behalf of the Father. Since the Father "pacified by the blood of His cross, through Him, whether it be earthly or heavenly" (cf. Col. 1:20), it is said: "For I will bring peace upon the princes, and His health." I think that the word shows the mystery of the Resurrection. Since "He was crucified through weakness, but alive is by the power of God" (2 Corinthians 13:4), it is said that He will be brought to health against the weakness of the flesh, which He took for us.

"And His peace has no bounds." "My peace I give unto you," says the Lord, "not as the world giveth, but I give unto you" (John 14:27). Therefore, "His peace has no bounds," for it is an all-worldly gift. If He had been of the world, He would have continued no longer than the existence of the world. But now he who has received and kept His peace will live forever, enjoying the blessings of the world. Solomon's peace was limited to a certain number of years, and the peace granted by the Lord is equal to the whole age, as infinite and boundless. For all things will submit to Him, all will acknowledge His dominion. And when "God shall be all in all" (1 Corinthians 15:28), after bringing the rebellious apostates into silence, then in peaceful harmony they will sing praises to God.

"On the throne of David and on his kingdom, correct it." Since it is said that "the prince shall not fail of Judah, nor the ruler of his loins, until that which is laid aside shall come unto him" (Gen. 49:10), all almost unanimously proclaim that the Lord proceeds according to the flesh from the seed of David. Therefore he will sit "on the throne of David and on his kingdom," so that "correct him and intercede for him in justice and righteousness." It is said: "Thy judgment is a great abyss; and Thy righteousness is as the mountain of God!" (cf. Psalm 35:7). Therefore His destinies are incomprehensible, and His righteousness is incomprehensible above all heights.

"The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this." He who is jealous of us, who have perished in ignorance, will take upon himself the economy of men, that he may win them into his kingdom. And so "the zeal of the Lord of hosts," the God of hosts, to Whom all Power is subject, "will make it."

(8) "The Word" (in the seventy: death) "the Lord sent against Jacob, and he came against Israel," (9) "and all the people of Ephraim and those who dwell in Samaria will understand, in vexation and with high hearts, saying:" (10) "Plinths have fallen, but come, let us cut down the stone, and cut down the blueberries and cedars, and build ourselves a pillar."

It seems that by the name of Jacob and Israel, the prophetic word gives us the concept of two actions: the initial training of the imperfect, and the supreme perfection of virtue. And this idea is given to us by the very image of the renaming of the Patriarch. For at birth the Patriarch is called James, because he "holds fast to the heel" of his brothers (cf. Gen. 25:26), and after the struggle, instead of a reward, he is given the title of victor. "Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name" (Gen. 32:28). Thus, the "Word" was sent "against Jacob, and came against Israel." Though the Word descends to those who are weaker in mercy to the former, yet the most clairvoyant, sensing the benefit of the Word, as it were, plunder Him, anticipating the negligent to whom He is sent. So, "The word of the Lord sent against Jacob." Do you know the Word Who "was in the beginning, and was with God" (cf. John 1:1)? It was this Word that the Father sent to James; but the true Israel has come to know the Word, the most clairvoyant souls.

"And all the people of Ephraim and those who dwell in Samaria will understand in vexation and high hearts." This is the same Ephraim from whom the apostate Jeroboam sprang up and dragged the ten tribes with him into schism and, having drained the golden youths, persuaded the people to depart from the service of God and serve the Egyptian idols. For this reason, "those who dwell in Samaria, in vexation and with high hearts," having come to the consciousness of the truth, received the Word, as the Book of Acts also relates, which the Apostles heard, that Samaria received the Word" (cf. Acts 8:14).

Then the Prophet describes what their vexation and pride were. For, despising the lot of David, because it was convenient to destroy his kingdom, they said in mockery: "The plinths have fallen, but come, let us cut out the stone." Plinths was the name given to the organization of the kingdom of the sons of Jesse, and the firmness of the stones, which were mutually united among themselves, was the name given to one's power and harmony in the affairs of life.

"And let us cut down," it is said, "the blueberries and the cedars, and let us build ourselves a pillar" instead of the temple which Solomon had built for Judah. Similar things were planned by those who, by the construction of a high pillar, intended to make heaven accessible to themselves. And they said: "Come, let us make plinths and bake them with fire" and again: "Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a pillar, the top of which shall be even unto heaven" (Gen. 11:3, 4). "Blueberry" is the most abundant tree, but its fruits are completely tasteless, unless someone extracts some juice from them with a careful incision, which has a pleasant effect on the taste. Therefore I take this tree as a symbol of pagan society, growing in number, but as if impoverished in the mind from habit to pagan customs; if anyone is able to make incisions in it with a word, receiving sweetness from this change, it becomes useful. And cedars are sometimes taken as the image of great souls, having impulses worthy of praise, because they are sublimely wise and have a dwelling in heaven, as we know from the Psalms, where David includes cedars among those who praise God and says: "Fruitful trees and all cedars" (Psalm 148:9) and again: "The trees of Poland, the cedars of Lebanon, which Thou hast planted, shall be satisfied" (Psalm 103:103). 16). But we also know that sometimes cedars are called cruel and unyielding morals, "which are levied upon the mind of God" (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:5). For this reason "the Lord draweth forth the cedars of Lebanon" (Psalm 28:5). And those who exalt themselves with falsely named knowledge, and imagine that they have comprehended the mysteries of the most high God, are also called cedars. "Seeing the wicked, exalted and exalted like the cedars of Lebanon." And their extermination is instantaneous. "Thou didst pass by, and behold, thou shalt not be" (Psalm 36:35-36). It was these cedars that were taken for the construction of the pillar, before the coming of the Word, by those who lived in Samaria "in vexation," mocked the worship of God by the Jews, and called everything called by their dogmas fallen plinths.

(11) "And God will destroy those who rise up on Mount Zion," on Him, "and scatter his enemies:" (12) "Syria from the east of the sun, and the Greeks from the setting of the sun, devouring Israel with all their lips."

And so He promises them to destroy and bring down all those who rise up against Mount Zion, and to scatter their impious concord against the truth. These enemies are Syrians and Greeks, some of whom live in the east, and others in the west. They will be scattered because they have "devoured Israel with all their lips." And here the Prophet calls the mouth the catching power of the word, which they fully used to lay a snare in simplicity for believers in God.

"In all of them His wrath is not turned away, but His hand is still exalted." (13) "And the people were not converted, until they were wounded, and did not seek the Lord."

At the same time, since the enemies of God, even those who are being punished, did not come to contrition of heart, then "wrath is not turned away, but the hand," that is, the punitive force, is raised against those who do not repent of the malice and deceit with which they acted. And so, since these people are healed not by words, but by punishment, it is written: "And the people were not converted, until they were wounded." Therefore, punishments are necessary for such people. Therefore let no one trouble to find out the causes of sorrowful phenomena: why droughts, why rains, why thunderclaps, why hail? This is for us, who have an impenitent heart and are not first converted, except when we are "wounded."