Isaiah — Chapter 45
Synopsis Capitis
Synopsis: The Cyrus oracle continued — 'Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus' (v.1). The theology of God as the sole Creator and Sovereign of history (v.5-12). The great Messianic verse: v.8, 'Drop down, O heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, and let salvation and righteousness spring up together; I, the Lord, have created it' — the Rorate caeli, sung in Advent. Lapide's treatment of v.8 is one of his most celebrated Marian passages.
Verse 1
Haec dicit Dominus Christo meo Cyro
Thus says the Lord to his anointed (Hebrew: meshiach), to Cyrus — the Vulgate translates 'meshiach' as 'Christo meo,' making this the only place outside the Psalms where a non-Davidic, non-priestly figure receives the title 'Christ' (anointed). Lapide: Cyrus is Christ's type in a particular way — as Cyrus freed Israel from Babylon, so Christ frees humanity from the captivity of sin and the devil. Cyrus was anointed by divine purpose (not sacramentally); Christ is anointed essentially by the hypostatic union of human nature to the divine. The 'opening of doors before him' (v.1b) = Babylon's gates opened miraculously for Cyrus (Herodotus confirms the river-diversion strategy); typologically, the gates of death and hell opened before Christ's resurrection.
Verse 8
Rorate, caeli, desuper, et nubes pluant justum
Drop down, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One; let the earth be opened and bud forth a Saviour. The Rorate caeli — the great Advent antiphon of the Western Church. Lapide's full treatment: (1) the heavens = the angels and heavenly powers who cooperated in the Incarnation (Gabriel's annunciation); (2) the rain of the Just One = the descent of Christ in the Incarnation, condensed from the 'cloud' of the Virgin Mary; (3) 'let the earth be opened' = the Virgin's womb, opened by divine power to conceive without human seed; (4) 'bud forth a Saviour' = the flower (flos) of ch.11:1, Christ springing from the Virgin-earth. Lapide cites Augustine, Ambrose, Theodoret, and the liturgical tradition. Applied to Mary: as the earth by nature is passive and receptive (receiving rain from above and producing crops), so Mary received the divine seed and brought forth the Saviour.