And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
All Commentaries on Isaiah 11:3 Go To Isaiah 11
Gregory The Dialogist
AD 604
There are seven steps to the gate because the way to heavenly life is opened to us through the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah locates this sevenfold grace in our Head himself, or in his body which we are: “The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord will fill him.” He is speaking here from the perspective of heaven, clearly numbering the steps in descending rather than ascending order: wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, piety and fear. Because it is written, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” the way consists beyond doubt in ascending from fear to wisdom, not in regressing from wisdom to fear, for wisdom surely has perfect charity. It is also written: “Perfect charity casts out fear.” The prophet, therefore, because he reasoned from heavenly realities to the lower things, began with wisdom and descended toward fear.
We, however, who strive from the earthly toward the heavenly, enumerate the same steps in the ascending order to enable us to make progress from fear to wisdom. In our minds, then, the first step on the way to heaven is the fear of the Lord, the second godliness, the third knowledge, the fourth strength, the fifth counsel, the sixth understanding, and the seventh wisdom. For the fear of the Lord is in the mind. But what kind of fear is it if it is not accompanied by godliness?
