And the vision of all has become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray you: and he says, I cannot; for it is sealed:
All Commentaries on Isaiah 29:11 Go To Isaiah 29
Jerome
AD 420
What is the gate that is always closed, through which only the Lord God of Israel enters? Surely it is that about which the Savior spoke in the Gospel: “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, woe to you teachers of the law, woe to you who hold the key of knowledge. You do not enter yourselves, and you prevent those who would from entering.” Isaiah wrote about the same thing, using the metaphor of a book: “The words of this book are like sealed words; when you give them to a man who cannot read and tell him to read, he will respond: ‘I don’t know how to read.’ And they will give it to a man who is able to read and tell him to read and he will say: ‘I cannot read because it is sealed.’ ” This is the same book whose seal no one can break and open either in heaven or on earth or under the earth, except the one about whom John said in the Apocalypse: “Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root and race of David, has conquered so that he can open the book and break its seal.” Before the Savior assumed a human body and humbled himself, taking the form of a servant, the law was closed, the prophets were closed, all knowledge of the Scriptures was closed, and paradise was closed. After he had hung on the cross, however, and said to the thief, “Today you will be with me in paradise,” immediately the veil of the temple was cut and everything was opened. And once the veil has been removed, we will say, “But we all contemplate the glory of the Lord with unveiled face and are being transformed into his very image from glory to glory.”
