Isaiah — Chapter 25
Synopsis Capitis
Synopsis: Hymn of praise for God's judgment on the city of the proud (Babylon/Rome/eschatological enemy) and promise of the Messianic banquet on Mount Zion. The great verse: 'He shall swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God shall wipe away tears from all faces' (v.8) — applied by Paul (1 Cor 15:54) to the resurrection. Lapide reads this chapter as a preview of heaven's banquet.
Verse 1
O Lord, thou art my God, I will exalt thee, and give glory to thy name: for thou hast done wonderful things, thy designs of old are faithful, so be it. Praise for God's wonderful works of judgment on proud nations and salvation for His people. Lapide: this hymn is spoken by the Church in the voice of all her members, celebrating the whole work of redemption.
Verse 4
Because thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress: a refuge from the whirlwind, a shadow from the heat. God as the refuge of the poor and needy — the poor = the humble and spiritually destitute who rely entirely on God. Lapide devotes extended treatment to holy poverty: the rich man's 'blast' (the violent breath of wealth and worldly power) is humbled before God's simple shelter.
Verse 6
Et faciet Dominus exercituum omnibus populis in monte hoc convivium pinguium
The Lord of hosts shall make for all peoples on this mountain a feast of rich things — the great eschatological banquet. Lapide: this is simultaneously (1) the Messianic era's spiritual banquet (the Gospel, the sacraments, especially the Eucharist); (2) the heavenly banquet of the beatific vision. 'Vinum meraci, pinguium medullatorum' = the richest food and finest wine = the beatific vision's infinite richness. 'All peoples' confirms universality: not Israel alone but all nations are invited. The parable of the great banquet (Mt 22, Lk 14) explicitly echoes this verse.
Verse 7
And he shall destroy in this mountain the face of the bond with which all people were tied, and the web that he began over all nations. The 'face of the bond/covering' that enslaved all nations = the veil of ignorance, sin, and the devil's power, removed by Christ's Passion. Paul's 'veil over Moses's face' (2 Cor.3:15) cited; Lapide connects this to the lifting of spiritual blindness.
Verse 8
Praecipitabit mortem in sempiternum
He shall swallow up death in victory forever — quoted by Paul in 1 Cor 15:54 and Rev 21:4. Lapide: death is swallowed by Christ's resurrection as a great beast devours a smaller one. The Hebrew 'nitsakh' = 'forever/unto victory' (both meanings in the Pauline citation). Four kinds of death destroyed: (1) spiritual death (sin); (2) physical death (abolished by resurrection); (3) eternal death (for the elect); (4) the power of the devil who wielded death (Heb 2:14). 'Absorbebitur mors in victoriam' = Paul's version: death, which swallowed all mankind, is itself swallowed and destroyed by Christ's victorious resurrection.