Isaiah — Chapter 63
Synopsis Capitis
Synopsis: The divine warrior returning from Edom in blood-stained garments (v.1-6) — a terrifying theophany of judgment. Then the great prayer of national confession and supplication (v.7-64:12). Key verses: v.9, 'In all their afflictions he was afflicted'; v.16, 'You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old'; v.19, 'Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down.' Lapide reads the blood-stained warrior as Christ at the Passion and at the Last Judgment.
Verse 1
Quis est iste qui venit de Edom, tinctis vestibus de Bosra?
Who is this coming from Edom, in crimson garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? Lapide: the primary referent is God's judgment on Edom (Idumaea), a type of all God's enemies. The ultimate Christological reference (Apoc 19:13: Christ coming with 'a robe dipped in blood') makes the warrior figure = Christ at the Last Judgment. The red garments = the blood of Christ's Passion (his own blood) and the blood of His enemies trodden in the winepress (the judgment on the reprobate). 'I have trodden the winepress alone' (v.3) = Christ's atoning death accomplished without human assistance (the disciples fled); His judging victory also accomplished in divine sovereignty.
Verse 9
In omni tribulatione eorum ipse afflictus est
In all their afflictions he was afflicted — the supreme text on divine compassion (sympatheia). God not as a distant, unmoved Judge but as one who suffers with His people in all their sufferings. Lapide: this is not mere metaphor; it describes the genuine reality of God's covenantal love (within the divine impassibility rightly understood: God is affected not by passion but by the free act of His will). Applied to the Incarnation: Christ by taking human nature made every human suffering literally His own suffering. Applied to the Mystical Body: 'whatever you did to the least of my brethren, you did to me' (Mt 25:40).