Canticle of Isaiah: The Incarnation and our baptism in Isaiah 12

Having looked briefly at the variable psalms for Lauds, I want to turn now to those other 'psalms' in the Benedictine (and Roman) Office, the canticles, or psalms from books other than the book of psalms. 

The importance of the (ferial) Canticles

The ferial canticles (the festal set are a later addition) are important to St Benedict’s Office for a number of reasons.

First they represent an ancient ecclesial tradition: St Benedict simply took them over from the old Roman tradition in using them, as he makes clear in his Rule.

Secondly, though, I want to suggest that they in fact provide the key to the themes that St Benedict has used to help select which psalms should be said each day.

When I first went looking for underlying themes for the Benedictine Office each day, I was prompted to do so by the recurring phrases and ideas that seem to fill each days Office.

Hrabanus Maurus

It didn’t take much study to see the traces of a mini-Triduum in the Office each week. But my hunt through the patristic literature and elsewhere to find possible associations for Mondays and Tuesdays in particular didn’t bear much fruit until I came across the Benedictine Hrabanus Maurus’ (760-856) Commentary on the Office Canticles (it can be found in Migne's Patrologia Latina, vol 107).

Maurus’ provides, by way of an introduction to his commentary, some pithy summaries of each day’s canticles. And those summaries provide some concrete evidence of how early Benedictines understood their Office.

In particular, I’ve previously suggested that the underlying theme of St Benedict’s Office on Monday was the life from the Incarnation to his Baptism. Here is what Maurus says:

“On Monday [feria secunda], truly the second day, the canticle of Isaiah, in which the coming of the Saviour and the sacrament of baptism is preached, is prescribed to be said, because these are the beginning of our salvation.”

And of course, his commentary goes on to elaborate on these ideas, including providing some of the links (inter alia) between the psalms of the day and the canticle.

Scriptural context

In fact today’s canticle comes from Isaiah and brings to a close the section known as the ‘Book of Emmanuel, which contains the prophesies of the coming Messiah, born of a Virgin, and set to be the "Wonderful counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of peace".

Having foretold the coming wonderful redemption of the remnant of the people, and the coming of the son of David promised by God, Scripture gives us the lead in ‘On that day you will say:”

The canticle effectively falls into two parts. The first half thanks God for the results of the Incarnation: he rejoices that God has finally turned aside his anger, allows us to approach him not just in fear, but with confidence, and points to the graces that flow from the saviour (verses 1-3). The second half speaks of the mission of the Church to make known God’s salvation to all the world, for God has become man.

The Scriptural context would perhaps point us to the Incarnation dimension of this canticle in any case. But it is the repeated use of the word ‘salvation’ that the Fathers drew attention to. Robert Wilken’s introduction to the Patristic commentaries on these verses (Isaiah Interpreted by Early Christian and Medieval Commentaries, pp154-5), for example, notes that the Hebrew of v. 2, God is my salvation, was translates by the LXX (and versions dependent on the LXX) as ‘my Savior’, allowing a direct application to Christ. Irenaeus of Lyons, for example says:

“The knowledge of salvation does not consist in believing in another God, nor another Father ... but the knowledge of salvation consists in knowing the Son of God who is called I and truly is "salvation" and Savior and "bringer of salvation" (salutare). "Salvation," as in the passage: I waited for your salvation, O lord (Gen 49:18). And again, Behold, my God, my Savior, I will put my trust in him (12:2). As for "bringer of salvation": God has made known his salvation in the sight of the nations (Ps 98:2). For he is indeed Savior as Son and Word of God; "bringer of salvation" as Spirit, for he says: The Spirit of our countenance, Christ the Lord (Lam 4:20 LXX). And "salvation" as being flesh: The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). This knowledge of salvation John made known to those who repented and who believed in the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world! (John 1:29).”

The waters of baptism

The references to drawing water from the fountain of joy in verse 3 have obvious connections to the imagery used in St John’s Gospel, and to the idea of the living water flowing from Christ’s side from the Cross, and thus to the font/sacrament of baptism. Indeed Pope Pius XII used the opening words of Verse 4 in his Encyclical encouraging devotion to the Sacred Heart.

Perhaps the most important message of the canticle though, is that God has become man: Emmanuel or God-with-us makes it possible for us to deal confidently with God, to obtain that living water and make a fresh commitment to the God that is our salvation, strength and joy.

Isaiah 12
And you shall say in that day:
I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for you were angry with me: your wrath is turned away, and you have comforted me.
2 Behold, God is my saviour, I will deal confidently, and will not fear: because the Lord is my strength, and my praise, and he has become my salvation.
3 You shall draw waters with joy out of the saviour's fountains:
4 And you shall say in that day: Praise the Lord, and call upon his name: make his works known among the people: remember that his name is high.
5 Sing to the Lord, for he has done great things: show this forth in all the earth.
6 Rejoice, and praise, O habitation of Sion: for great is he that is in the midst of you, the Holy One of Israel.

Et dices in die illa :
Confitebor tibi, Domine, quoniam iratus es mihi; conversus est furor tuus, et consolatus es me.
2 Ecce Deus salvator meus; fiducialiter agam, et non timebo : quia fortitudo mea et laus mea Dominus, et factus est mihi in salutem.
3 Haurietis aquas in gaudio de fontibus salvatoris.
4 Et dicetis in die illa : Confitemini Domino et invocate nomen ejus; notas facite in populis adinventiones ejus; mementote quoniam excelsum est nomen ejus.
5 Cantate Domino, quoniam magnifice fecit; annuntiate hoc in universa terra.
6 Exsulta et lauda, habitatio Sion, quia magnus in medio tui Sanctus Israël.

The canticle for the Sabbath that God dictated? Deuteronomy 32/1

Saturday in the Benedictine Office, I have suggested previously, calls us to remember Holy Saturday, when the tomb is empty and the Mass is not celebrated, because Christ is preaching to those in Sheol.

It is a day when we can meditate on God's wonderful faithfulness and care of us, set against our constant rejection of him through sin.

In St Benedict’s ordering of the Office, Saturday has but one psalm, Psalm 142.

The reason for this is no doubt in part that the Canticle he set for the day, from Deuteronomy 32, is extremely long (65 verses when arranged for liturgical use). Today I want to look briefly provide something of an introduction to it.

Importance of the Canticle

Before looking at the text itself, it is worth noting that this is an extremely important canticle.

Whereas in the case of the other Lauds canticles St Benedict simply says, in his Rule, to use the Roman ones, he specifically mentions Deuteronomy for Saturday. In this he was carrying over a Jewish tradition that this canticle be recited each Sabbath in the synagogues, a tradition alluded to by St James in Acts 15:21.

This in fact reflects a Scriptural injunction: in Deuteronomy 31 God tells Moses that he is going to die soon, and calls him and Joshua before him within the tabernacle. Appearing as a pillar of cloud, Scripture records that God then dictated the canticle and instructed Moses to make the children of Israel learn it by heart so they would have no excuses as to what the law required, and could not say that they did not know the consequences of not following it.

Modern (and modernist?) commentaries (yes, even the Navarre) tend to reject the idea that it was composed all at once, or dictated in quite so dramatic a fashion, Scripture notwithstanding.  Still, regardless of how literally you interpret the story of its composition, the inclusion of this explanation clearly signals its importance.

The canticle is effectively a summary of all of Deuteronomy, and its mix of rejoicing over God’s care and creation of us, testimony to God’s care of us and man’s infidelity and continuing rejection of him, together with warnings over the consequences of sin.  Its themes are also reflected in many of the psalms of Matins today in the Benedictine Office.

And its references to a perverse generation and should sound very familiar from the New Testament.

Liturgical wreckovation?

Despite all this, the full text of the canticle is likely to be relatively unfamiliar to those who say the 1962 Benedictine Office using the Monastic Diurnal or Breviary (as opposed to the Antiphonale Monasticum) for several reasons.

First, on many Saturdays during the year, the rubrics suggest that it be replaced by the festal canticle, as part of the Saturday Office of Our Lady.

But secondly, even where it is retained (such as during Lent and Advent), the 1962 breviary actually cuts out more than half of it, ending it at verse 27, before even the division point of the original version! Indeed, the Monastic Diurnal for some reason inserts a division into Psalm 142 rather than the canticle as St Benedict actually specified, perhaps by way of a protest?  The result is that the canticle seems to end on a rather odd note, condemning the people who had forgotten God who created them.

Soft soaping?

I can only speculate on the reasons for this bit of liturgical butchery.

Were the verses condemning homosexuality perhaps ones the reformers didn’t want to have modern monks confronted with on a regular basis?

Or was it perhaps the references to God’s judgment?

Or worse still from a liberal perspective, the references to God’s vengeance, that actually conclude the canticle?

Unsurprisingly, the modern Liturgy of the Hours goes even further, slashing the canticle to but twelve verses, and thus transforming it from some hard sayings coupled with a tough warning to a ‘joyful hymn to the Lord who lovingly protects and cares for his people amid the daylong dangers and difficulties’ (Pope John Paul II, in a General Audience on it in 2002).

Can one legitimately add those excluded verses back into the 1962 Office? Given that many monasteries continue to use the older version of the Antiphonale Monasticum which includes the full text of this canticle, I actually do think this is legitimate and even desirable.

Deuteronomy 32

Here is the canticle with the different divisio and endpoints identified:

Canticum Moysis [4] 32:1 Audíte, cæli, quæ loquor: * áudiat terra verba oris mei. 32:2 Concréscat ut plúvia doctrína mea, * fluat ut ros elóquium meum. 32:3 Quasi imber super herbam, et quasi stillæ super grámina. * Quia nomen Dómini invocábo. 32:4 Date magnificéntiam Deo nostro. * Dei perfécta sunt ópera, et omnes viæ ejus judícia: 32:5 Deus fidélis, et absque ulla iniquitáte, justus et rectus. * Peccavérunt ei, et non fílii ejus in sórdibus: 32:6 Generátio prava atque pervérsa. * Hǽccine reddis Dómino, pópule stulte et insípiens? 32:7 Numquid non ipse est pater tuus, * qui possédit te, et fecit, et creávit te? [1962 divisio point] 32:8 Meménto diérum antiquórum, * cógita generatiónes síngulas: 32:9 Intérroga patrem tuum, et annuntiábit tibi: * majóres tuos, et dicent tibi. 32:10 Quando dividébat Altíssimus gentes: * quando separábat fílios Adam. 32:11 Constítuit términos populórum * juxta númerum filiórum Israël. 32:12 Pars autem Dómini, pópulus ejus: * Jacob funículus hereditátis ejus. 32:13 Invénit eum in terra desérta, * in loco horróris et vastæ solitúdinis: 32:14 Circumdúxit eum, et dócuit: * et custodívit quasi pupíllam óculi sui. 32:15 Sicut áquila próvocans ad volándum pullos suos, * et super eos vólitans, 32:16 Expándit alas suas, et assúmpsit eum, * atque portávit in húmeris suis. 32:17 Dóminus solus dux ejus fuit: * et non erat cum eo deus aliénus. 32:18 Constítuit eum super excélsam terram: * ut coméderet fructus agrórum, 32:19 Ut súgeret mel de petra, * oleúmque de saxo duríssimo. 32:20 Butýrum de arménto, et lac de óvibus * cum ádipe agnórum, et aríetum filiórum Basan: 32:21 Et hircos cum medúlla trítici, * et sánguinem uvæ bíberet meracíssimum. 32:22 Incrassátus est diléctus, et recalcitrávit: * incrassátus, impinguátus, dilatátus, 32:23 Derelíquit Deum, factórem suum, * et recéssit a Deo, salutári suo. 32:24 Provocavérunt eum in diis aliénis, * et in abominatiónibus ad iracúndiam concitavérunt. 32:25 Immolavérunt dæmóniis, et non Deo, * diis, quos ignorábant: 32:26 Novi recentésque venérunt, * quos non coluérunt patres eórum. 32:27 Deum qui te génuit dereliquísti, * et oblítus es Dómini, creatóris tui. [1962 endpoint] 32:28 Vidit Dóminus, et ad iracúndiam concitátus est: * quia provocavérunt eum fílii sui et fíliæ. 32:29 Et ait: Abscóndam fáciem meam ab eis, * et considerábo novíssima eórum: 32:30 Generátio enim pervérsa est, * et infidéles fílii. 32:31 Ipsi me provocavérunt in eo, qui non erat Deus, * et irritavérunt in vanitátibus suis: [traditional divisio point] 32:32 Et ego provocábo eos in eo, qui non est pópulus, * et in gente stulta irritábo illos. 32:33 Ignis succénsus est in furóre meo, * et ardébit usque ad inférni novíssima: 32:34 Devorabítque terram cum gérmine suo, * et móntium fundaménta combúret. 32:35 Congregábo super eos mala, * et sagíttas meas complébo in eis. 32:36 Consuméntur fame, * et devorábunt eos aves morsu amaríssimo: 32:37 Dentes bestiárum immíttam in eos, * cum furóre trahéntium super terram, atque serpéntium. 32:38 Foris vastábit eos gládius, et intus pavor, * júvenem simul ac vírginem, lactántem cum hómine sene. 32:39 Dixi: Ubinam sunt? * cessáre fáciam ex homínibus memóriam eórum. 32:40 Sed propter iram inimicórum dístuli: * ne forte superbírent hostes eórum, 32:41 Et dícerent: Manus nostra excélsa, et non Dóminus, * fecit hæc ómnia. 32:42 Gens absque consílio est, et sine prudéntia. * Utinam sáperent, et intellégerent, ac novíssima providérent. 32:43 Quómodo persequátur unus mille, * et duo fugent decem míllia? 32:44 Nonne ídeo, quia Deus suus véndidit eos, * et Dóminus conclúsit illos? 32:45 Non enim est Deus noster ut dii eórum: * et inimíci nostri sunt júdices. 32:46 De vínea Sodomórum vínea eórum, * et de suburbánis Gomórrhæ: 32:47 Uva eórum uva fellis, * et botri amaríssimi. 32:48 Fel dracónum vinum eórum, * et venénum áspidum insanábile. 32:49 Nonne hæc cóndita sunt apud me, * et signáta in thesáuris meis? 32:50 Mea est últio, et ego retríbuam in témpore, * ut labátur pes eórum: 32:51 Juxta est dies perditiónis, * et adésse festínant témpora. 32:52 Judicábit Dóminus pópulum suum, * et in servis suis miserébitur: 32:53 Vidébit quod infirmáta sit manus, * et clausi quoque defecérunt, residuíque consúmpti sunt. 32:54 Et dicet: Ubi sunt dii eórum, * in quibus habébant fidúciam? 32:55 De quorum víctimis comedébant ádipes, * et bibébant vinum libáminum: 32:56 Surgant, et opituléntur vobis, * et in necessitáte vos prótegant. 32:57 Vidéte quod ego sim solus, * et non sit álius Deus præter me: 32:58 Ego occídam, et ego vívere fáciam: percútiam, et ego sanábo, * et non est qui de manu mea possit erúere. 32:59 Levábo ad cælum manum meam, et dicam: * Vivo ego in ætérnum. 32:60 Si acúero ut fulgur gládium meum, * et arripúerit judícium manus mea: 32:61 Reddam ultiónem hóstibus meis, * et his qui odérunt me retríbuam. 32:62 Inebriábo sagíttas meas sánguine, * et gládius meus devorábit carnes, 32:63 De cruóre occisórum, * et de captivitáte, nudáti inimicórum cápitis. 32:64 Laudáte, gentes, pópulum ejus, * quia sánguinem servórum suórum ulciscétur: 32:65 Et vindíctam retríbuet in hostes eórum, * et propítius erit terræ pópuli sui.

6Canticle of Moses 32:1 Hear, O ye heavens, the things I speak, * let the earth give ear to the words of my mouth. 32:2 Let my doctrine gather as the rain, * let my speech distill as the dew, 32:3 As a shower upon the herb, and as drops upon the grass. * Because I will invoke the name of the Lord: 32:4 Give ye magnificence to our God. * The works of God are perfect, and all his ways are judgments: 32:5 God is faithful and without any iniquity, he is just and right. * They have sinned against him, and are none of his children in their filth: 32:6 They are a wicked and perverse generation. * Is this the return thou makest to the Lord, O foolish and senseless people? 32:7 Is not he thy father, * that hath possessed thee, and made thee, and created thee? [1962 divisio] 32:8 Remember the days of old, * think upon every generation: 32:9 Ask thy father, and he will declare to thee: * thy elders and they will tell thee. 32:10 When the Most High divided the nations: * when he separated the sons of Adam, 32:11 He appointed the bounds of people * according to the number of the children of Israel. 32:12 But the Lord’s portion is his people: * Jacob the lot of his inheritance. 32:13 He found him in a desert land, * in a place of horror, and of vast wilderness: 32:14 He led him about, and taught him: * and he kept him as the apple of his eye. 32:15 As the eagle enticing her young to fly, * and hovering over them, 32:16 He spread his wings, and hath taken him * and carried him on his shoulders. 32:17 The Lord alone was his leader: * and there was no strange god with him. 32:18 He set him upon high land: * that he might eat the fruits of the fields, 32:19 That he might suck honey out of the rock, * and oil out of the hardest stone, 32:20 Butter of the herd, and milk of the sheep * with the fat of lambs, and of the rams of the breed of Basan: 32:21 And goats with the marrow of wheat, * and might drink the purest blood of the grape. 32:22 The beloved grew fat, and kicked: * he grew fat, and thick and gross, 32:23 He forsook God who made him, * and departed from God his saviour. 32:24 They provoked him by strange gods, * and stirred him up to anger, with their abominations. 32:25 They sacrificed to devils and not to God: * to gods whom they knew not: 32:26 That were newly come up, * whom their fathers worshipped not. 32:27 Thou hast forsaken the God that beget * and hast forgotten the Lord that created thee. [1962 end] 32:28 The Lord saw, and was moved to wrath: * because his own sons and daughters provoked him. [divisio] 32:29 And he said: I will hide my face from them, * and will consider what their last end shall be: 32:30 For it is a perverse generation, * and unfaithful children. 32:31 They have provoked me with that which was no god, * and have angered me with their vanities: 32:32 And I will provoke them with that which is no people, * and will vex them with a foolish nation. 32:33 A fire is kindled in my wrath, * and shall burn even to the lowest hell: 32:34 And shall devour the earth with her increase, * and shall burn the foundations of the mountains. 32:35 I will heap evils upon them, * and will spend my arrows among them. 32:36 They shall be consumed with famine, * and birds shall devour them with a most bitter bite: 32:37 I will send the teeth of beasts upon them, * with the fury of creatures that trail upon the ground, and of serpents. 32:38 Without, the sword shall lay them waste, and terror within, * both the young man and the virgin, the sucking child with the man in years. 32:39 I said: Where are they? * I will make the memory of them to cease from among men. 32:40 But for the wrath of the enemies * I have deferred it: lest perhaps their enemies might be proud, 32:41 And should say: Our mighty hand, and not the Lord, * hath done all these things. 32:42 They are a nation without counsel, and without wisdom * O that they would be wise and would understand, and would provide for their last end. 32:43 How should one pursue after a thousand, * and two chase ten thousand? 32:44 Was it not, because their God had sold them, * and the Lord had shut them up? 32:45 For our God is not as their gods: * our enemies themselves are judges. 32:46 Their vines are of the vineyard of Sodom, * and of the suburbs of Gomorrha: 32:47 Their grapes are grapes of gall, * and their clusters most bitter. 32:48 Their wine is the gall of dragons, * and the venom of asps, which is incurable. 32:49 Are not these things stored up with me, * and sealed up in my treasures? 32:50 Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time, * that their foot may slide: 32:51 The day of destruction is at hand, * and the time makes haste to come. 32:52 The Lord will judge his people, * and will have mercy on his servants: 32:53 He shall see that their hand is weakened, * and that they who were shut up have also failed, and they that remained are consumed. 32:54 And he shall say: Where are their gods, * in whom they trusted? 32:55 Of whose victims they ate the fat, * and drank the wine of their drink offerings: 32:56 Let them arise and help you, * and protect you in your distress. 32:57 See ye that I alone am, * and there is no other God besides me: 32:58 I will kill and I will make to live: I will strike, and I will heal, * and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. 32:59 I will lift up my hand to heaven, * and I will say: I live for ever. 32:60 If I shall whet my sword as the lightning, * and my hand take hold on judgment: 32:61 I will render vengeance to my enemies, * and repay them that hate me. 32:62 I will make my arrows drunk with blood, * and my sword shall devour flesh, 32:63 Of the blood of the slain * and of the captivity, of the bare head of the enemies. 32:64 Praise his people, ye nations, * for he will revenge the blood of his servants: 32:65 And will render vengeance to their enemies, * and he will be merciful to the land of his people.