And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a hut in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
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Cyril of Jerusalem
AD 386
Isaiah lived almost [two] thousand years ago and saw Zion in a hut. The city was still standing, beautiful with public squares and clothed in honor; yet he says, “Zion shall be plowed like a field,” foretelling what has been fulfilled in our day. Observe the exactness of the prophecy; for he said, “Daughter Zion will be left like a hut in a vineyard, like a shed in a melon patch.” Now the place is full of melon patches. - "Catechetical Lectures 16.18"
What therefore? Have these things not come to be? Have the things announced by you not come to fruition? Is not their land, Judah, desolate? Is the holy place not burned? Are their ways not thrown down? Are their cities not laid waste? Do strangers not devour their lands? Do the Romans not rule over their land? - "On the Antichrist 30"
But since the fruits were removed in this manner, only the drying arbors of the bushes and the cottages remain, the custodian having departed because there is nothing left for him to preserve. Therefore God omnipotent also abandons the temple and causes the city to be deserted. There is no need to prove this with words, especially to us who see Zion deserted and Jerusalem overthrown and the temple leveled to the ground. But the fact that he calls Zion a daughter displays the most clement affection of a parent. Neither is it any wonder that Zion is called a daughter, since Babylon also is frequently referred to as a daughter. For we are all children of God by nature, though we have been alienated from him by our own sins. Analogically, our souls can be called God’s vineyard and a paradise of fruits, having God as its custodian provided that the mind, that is, the nous, presides. But if it is plundered by sin as though by wild beasts, then we are forsaken by God the custodian and rendere...
Isaiah is not recalling events that have happened but is announcing events in the future. The prophets customarily use fear to demonstrate the truth of what they are saying. - "Commentary on Isaiah 1.3"
You know very well that Jerusalem was laid waste just as it was prophesied. That it would be destroyed, and no one allowed to live there, was promised through the prophet Isaiah in this way: “Your land is desolate.” … Indeed you are aware that it is guarded and no one is in it. - "First Apology 47.4–6"
