Isaiah — Chapter 26
Synopsis Capitis
Synopsis: A canticle of the redeemed city of God, contrasted with the fallen city of the enemy. Key verses: v.4 (trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord is an everlasting rock), v.19 (your dead shall live, their bodies shall rise — the clearest OT statement of bodily resurrection), and v.20-21 (hide in your chambers until God's wrath passes). Lapide treats v.19 as a primary OT proof-text for the resurrection of the body.
Verse 1
In that day shall this canticle be sung in the land of Juda: A strong city is ours, the Saviour shall be set therein for a wall and a bulwark. The 'strong city' = the Church militant or the heavenly Jerusalem. Its salvation/safety is not from human walls and towers but from God Himself as wall and rampart.
Verse 3
The old error is passed away: thou wilt keep peace: peace, because we have hoped in thee. The double peace ('peace, peace') = perfect peace from both external enemies and internal anxieties, given to those who fix their hope entirely in God. Lapide: this is the famous 'peace that surpasseth all understanding' (Phil.4:7).
Verse 4
Confidite in Domino in saecula saeculorum
Trust in the Lord forever and ever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. 'Tzur olamim' = rock of ages. Lapide: Christ is the rock (1 Cor 10:4, Mt 7:24-25); those who build on Him are never shaken. The contrast with the false 'cities' of human power (v.5-6): every human stronghold is temporary; only the city whose foundation is God (Ps 87:1, 'the Lord loves the gates of Sion') endures.
Verse 9
My soul hath desired thee in the night: yea, and with my spirit within me in the morning early I will watch to thee. The contemplative's desire for God: in the night of tribulation and in the dawn of hope, the soul seeks God unceasingly. Lapide: this is the pattern of all great mystics — night-time is the time of spiritual combat and desire; morning is the time of vision and consolation.
Verse 19
Vivent mortui tui, interfecti mei resurgent
Your dead shall live, my slain shall rise — the clearest statement of personal bodily resurrection in the Old Testament. Lapide: against those who interpret this only of the national restoration of Israel from Babylonian exile, he cites the context (individual resurrection language: 'wake up and sing, you who dwell in the dust'), the Fathers (Jerome, Basil, Cyril), and Jewish tradition (even the Talmud reads this of the resurrection). 'Ros lucis ros tuus' = the dew of light/dawn that God will shed: just as morning dew makes dry grass revive, God's grace will quicken dry bones. Applied to baptism: the dew of grace raises souls dead in sin.