The Ancient Witnesses

Chapter 4: The Unfolding of Time, Part 1 • 137

the book of Isaiah, the prophecy of God’s judgment on Babylon. 34 After reading the chapter, he repeated this verse, Therefore, I will make the heavens tremble and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the L ord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger. “The Holy Prophets speak in parables,” Cyril explained, “and in interpreting God’s ineffable power and glory they raise their voices aloft and ponder remarkable things in their description.” 35 I understood why Cyril described Isaiah’s poetic language as being “in parables,” but why was he reading from Isaiah if our subject was the Exodus? “Created nature are his servants,” continued Cyril, “and wrath is stirred in them when the wrath of God arouses them. He was wrathful toward the Egyptians, for example, and creation could not fail to respond; the water was changed into blood, the land gave birth to frogs, as Scripture tells, heaven sent down hail, and total darkness spread over the whole land for three days. So, he says, heaven will be moved and the earth shaken, from its depths , as it were, on account of the anger of the wrath of the Lord; creation joined in combating the foolish people, and since its Master was offended, it too was aroused. In fact, everything conspires with the supreme design, and there is nothing that exists that does not move in accordance with the divine decisions and design.” 36

34 Isa. 13. Isa. 13:13 is the “repeated verse.”

35 Robert Hill, Cyril of Alexandria: Commentary on Isaiah , vol.1, 288.

36 “So he says…” could refer to God or the Prophet Isaiah (who speaks for God). Robert Hill, Cyril of Alexandria: Commentary on Isaiah , vol.1 288.