(6) "From the feet even to the head there is no integrity in him: neither scab, nor ulcer, nor scorching wound."

The Prophet took the word "head" for a whole person. "From the feet even to the head there is no integrity in him: neither scab, nor ulcer, nor scorching wound," because for each sin the scourges were laid by Him who cares for them. Then, since a scab (wound) is a discontinuity of cohesion in the body from the interruption of contact in some small part, and an ulcer (scar) is a bloody trace of a blow when the body is struck by the striker with something hard, and it occurs on some part of the body; Inflammation is a swelling combined with fever from the confluence of moisture into the greater part of the body, scorching the suffering member with unnatural heat — what does the prophetic word say about those affected by the disease in all parts? "The sickness has touched you," it says, "not like a scab, not like an ulcer, not like a scorching wound. On the contrary, evil has fallen upon you with united forces, so that everything has merged together: the scab, the ulcer, and the wound."

"There is no plaster to apply, below oil, below the obligation."

Since the disease is stronger than the scab, and the ulcer, and the scorching wound, then "there is no plaster to apply" to the wound, "no oil" scabs. "These aids are not needed," says the Prophet, "the attacks are so great that they will not yield to them." Thus, scab is schisms in the Church, ulcers are lying hearts, inflammation is the exaltation of the soul, which is puffed up with irrational self-conceit and therefore "exalts itself on the mind" of Christ (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:5). "Plaster" is a word that humbles vain arrogance with meekness and quietness; and "oil" is the word which, with mercy and compassion, softens the deceit, deceit, and cruelty in the hypocrisy of those who speak lies; and "obligation" is the word that restrains those who seek division.

(7) "Your land is desolate, your cities are burned with fire, your country is devoured before you by strangers, and desolate is turned away from strange people."

Since he despairs of correction, he threatens with extermination. But this did not happen in the time of Isaiah. On the contrary, prophecy usually speaks of the future as having already been. For example: "Thou hast given me gall for food, and hast given me drink for my thirst" (Psalm 68:22). For according to the certainty of the event foretold, as indisputably coming to pass, the future is combined with the past. This happened during the captivity of Babylon. Then the land was devoid of inhabitants, the cities were burned by fire, and the country, in the eyes of the remaining Jews, was devoured by the settlers expelled from Persia: then "the whole country" became "corrupted from strange people."

But according to the higher concepts, according to which the Old Testament applies to us, when we depart from our God, "lift up our hands to a strange god" (cf. Psalm 43:21), then we are given over to strangers, who desolate and corrupt us. For it can be seen that all threats are fulfilled against sinners. "Your land is empty." The Scriptures often call the soul the earth that receives the seeds of the word, as in the Gospel we learn from the Lord's parable that some seeds fell on good ground, which conveniently receives Divine instructions and is capable of bearing fruit. But the soul is empty, which has neither wisdom nor understanding in it, does not live in righteousness, does not walk in truth. "Burn your cities with fire." A city is an assembly of people who, in various kinds of life, are bound together in a common life, and it, since in its affairs many things are vain, such as wood, hay, and straw, is burned on the day of judgment, and the companies of the wicked are given over to the fire. "Strangers devour your country before you," when invading alien thoughts destroy what they have acquired through labor in a previous life with good activity, which filled the soul with spiritual fruits: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, goodness. But if in worldly affairs we treacherously give over the active power of the soul to unclean spirits, then our land is "corrupted by strangers," because we are "God's burden, God's building" (1 Corinthians 3:9). As long as we are the rod that dwells on the vine, bringing to Christ the fruit required of us (John 15:1-2), until then God is our "burdener." And if we fall away from the life-giving root, from faith in Christ, then we dry up and are cast out and burned, and our "edification" on teaching, if we live indecently, is destroyed. For as soon as we are not established on the foundation of the Apostles in the building of our precious buildings, as having no foundation, we fall apart, and our fall is great. Then, as it were, chastity is eaten by intemperance, generosity in alms by love of money, and love by love of enmity. Wherefore it is worthy of pity when the soul, which abounds in the fruitfulness of good works, becomes the food of the adversaries, who are not satisfied with our desolation until they have completely perverted us, for the depravity proceeds from evil instruction, and the soul of the deceived is as it were leveled with the earth. And devastation is the deprivation of former rights. And it's easy to be with the human soul. Look at another young man who has been brought up in an honest life since childhood, who carefully goes to the house of prayer, who is not negligent in doing good according to his ability, who remembers the eternal Judgment, who accepts the word of teaching with love, and then he has crept into fornication: how in him the loss of chastity and the deprivation of fruit is followed by a complete depravity. An evil conscience no longer leads him to the place of prayer, because he did not stand among the faithful, but fell away. He does not stand with those who weep, because he is ashamed. From that time on, he was lazy to pray, inventing imaginary pretexts in response to those who asked. He says: "I am compelled by so-and-so, I cannot wait for the Divine service," and again, for such and such a reason (which happened to him to invent), he leaves the church before the prayer of the faithful. Then, from a gradual habit, the thought of apostasy is born, and he comes to complete destruction. In general, it is characteristic of evil forces, as soon as they deprive us of the fruits of righteousness, not to depart from us until they entangle our minds with errors.

(8) "The daughter of Zion shall be left as a tabernacle in the vineyard, and as a storehouse of vegetables in the vineyard."

The retribution of equals for equal serves as a proof of God's justice. Since the "daughter of Zion" has forsaken the Lord, she will also be forsaken. But the Lord still preserves His love for mankind, calls her daughter, calling her by the former name that she had before her estrangement. "It shall be left as a tabernacle in the vine." To protect the fruits, tabernacles are placed in the vineyards. Therefore, when the vineyard abounds in its proper fruits, the tabernacle is taken care of, and every care is taken so that the watchman may look out of it to see if those who pass by do not pluck the grapes; but when the vineyard is barren, it is necessary to neglect the protection of the grapes. For this reason God threatens the people of Israel with forsaken for not bearing proper fruit.

Let us also be afraid to become barren, so as not to be left without God's care! Our guardian is the Holy Spirit. When the soul bears fruit worthy of eternal granaries, the Spirit abides with it, protects it and repels the intrigues of the "solitary wonder" (cf. Psalm 79:14). But when it brings forth a "cluster of gall" and brings forth a "cluster of bitterness" (cf. Deuteronomy 32:32), then the Spirit leaves the barren soul, and it is trampled under foot by bestial thoughts and bestial desires of all kinds.

The Scriptures often call Israel the vineyard in a figurative sense, for example: "Thou hast brought the vine out of Egypt" (Psalm 79:9), and "the vine was for the Beloved" (Isaiah 5:1), and "And I planted thee a fruitful vineyard, all true" (Jeremiah 2:21). And if Israel is a vineyard, then the tabernacle of this vineyard is a house, and perhaps a temple. For it is called "the dwelling place of glory" (cf. Psalm 25:8) and "the dwelling place where men dwelt" (cf. Psalm 77:60). Therefore, while this vine bore many fruits, there was also a tabernacle to preserve the fruits. But since He who planted him was waiting for him to "make a cluster," and he "made thorns" (cf. Isaiah 5:2), with which the Lord was crowned, and all turned to bitterness, for he created "a bunch of gall" and "a bunch of sorrow," which is why they also gave gall to the Lord for food, then for this a tabernacle of grapes was left. For it is said: "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate" (Matt. 23:38). Then this threat was fulfilled, for Israel was forsaken as "a tabernacle in the vine"; Since then, "it has been commanded by a cloud, lest it rain" on the grapes (cf. Isaiah 5:6). That is why they have no prophets, no heavenly grace, but they have become "frogs" (arable land overgrown with grass), suitable for trampling (cf. Isaiah 5:6). The fences of this people are destroyed, that is, the protection of the holy Powers: if they do anything according to the law, it will serve them to destruction. That is why now "they encircle those who pass by, the boar and the boar from the oak grove, and the solitary wonder of the devour" (cf. Psalm 79:13-14): now they are trampled under foot by the invisible Powers.

"And like a vegetable storehouse in a vineyard." To save vegetables, storage facilities are built in the fall. Why is the "vertigrad" (beds with cucumbers) a place that bears temporary fruits, which soon disappear, serving more for pleasure than for good. But such is the law, which has a short-term use. For the ministry was temporary and flourished for a short time, then it provided the continuation of life with true and more solid food — the teaching of the Gospel. Thus, Zion will be "left" as a vegetable storehouse, a place in which vegetables are stored. But vegetables are not hard and permanent, but tender and temporary food. And such is the law, which has in itself the likeness of service, and not the truth itself, which is why it is "the image and wall of the heavenly ones" (cf. Heb. 8:5).

Inasmuch as the soul of each of us is likened to a vine, as in the Psalm: "Thy wife is like a fruitful vine" (Psalm 127:3), and as the Lord says: "I am the vine, but ye are the begotten" (John 15:5), let this threat not befall us either, if we do not bear the proper fruit. For tabernacle, perhaps, also means the body in which the Holy Spirit dwells: "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 6:19). The vine is the soul, from which it is required to bear fruit, worthy of the original planting and God's cultivation. For it was planted, being created true, in the image of the true God; but it is cultivated by the special care of the Creator, Who purifies that which bears fruit, so that it may bear greater fruit. If we dedicate ourselves to a pure life, God helps us in purifying ourselves from passions, perfecting our diligence and zeal for good. Therefore, just as grapes are pruned when excessive shoots stop their fertility, so do we guard in our souls the care of vain things, preserving all its strength for the fruitfulness of good deeds, so that, having grown in the vain world, it does not exhaust all its strength for the pleasure of man, scattered by the images of this world, as if by leaves and young shoots. But the soul also digs in, so that everything close to it can be turned into food proper to itself, and thus prepare itself to receive the teachings of the Spirit. Just as an undug vine deafens and does not participate in the benefit provided by water because of the density of the earth around it, so the soul, which has not cast off the carnal and is burdened by it without rest, being oppressed by the burden of the material, is incapable of bearing fruit, and therefore, not accepting help from above, remains barren. And when the soul is barren, the Holy Spirit withdraws from it; the guards fall down — the help of the Angels; and the intruders are passing strangers, who are the forces that produce in it the errors of reason; and the passions that have previously settled in it defile it, like a pig that gives itself over to irrational aspirations and rolls in the fetid slime. And then the word is fulfilled in such a soul: "The daughter of Zion shall be left as a tabernacle in the vineyard, and as a storehouse of vegetables in the vineyard." Those who do not bear fruit worthy of the granary of heaven, but admire the fleeting fruits of this world, who rely on riches, who are exalted by glory, who think highly of the nobility of their ancestors or of bodily health, are likened to a vineyard, because they produce a non-nutritious fruit, which fills with vain arrogance and vain burdens, prepares the soul for pomp and puffiness. Such fruits the lustful people coveted and were buried in the wilderness. For it is said that they wept when they remembered the cucumbers and melons, the Egyptian food (Num. 11:5), which an Israelite would not have eaten, eating the heavenly bread – manna. But the Israelites of that time despised it and coveted "scarlet onions" (cf. Num. 11:5). May this not befall us either, if we prefer a voluptuous life to a rational life. For the pleasures of the flesh are indeed like onions and garlic: they impart much sharpness and irritability; whoever has tasted of them, they emit a heavy and barely destructible stench from his inward parts, and cause many tears to those who have tasted them.

Between the threats it is also said that "it will be left as a city at war." The enemy is waiting for us, waiting for us to relax in order to attack us, the unwary. Just as in a city that has been taken by storm, after the wealth in it has been plundered, the gates remain unlocked, there are no watchful guards on the walls, so the soul, deprived of the treasures that were in it by God's gift, remains neglected, as unworthy of God's protection. That is why it is said: "Guard your heart with all guarding" (Proverbs 4:23). Therefore, let us not only be vigilant and sober, but let us pray that we also may receive for our vigilance on our guard, that "he shall not slumber, but keep Israel asleep" (Psalm 120:4). For "if the Lord does not preserve the city, it is in vain" (Psalm 126:1). When, for lack of good works, He leaves us unguarded, then before our enemies we will remain ready to be kidnapped, taken captive and taken into slavery.