First, Isaiah 56[:4–5]: “Thus says the Lord to the eunuchs: ‘I shall give them a better name.’ ”
First, Isaiah 56[:4–5]: “Thus says the Lord to the eunuchs: ‘I shall give them a better name.’ ”
(I) Isa. 56:[3]–5: “Let the eunuch not say, ‘Behold I am a dry tree,’ for thus says the Lord to the eunuchs: ‘Those who keep My Sabbaths, who choose the things that I have willed and keep My covenant, to them I will give in My house and within My walls a place and name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not perish.’ ” Bellarmine notes:
(a) This deals with those who are voluntarily continent, not about the castrated or those born that way, because there is no reason to promise the castrated or those born eunuchs greater glory than that of the sons and daughters of God. (b) Continence is not being commanded in this passage but is being counseled, because it is left to choice. “Those who choose the things that I have willed” means those who transcend the things which I have commanded, accommodating Myself to human weakness, and have voluntarily chosen those more perfect things that I desire and would want.” (c) Continence is truly meritorious of a singular glory, because an eternal name is promised to it.
We respond. The debate over celibacy, as to whether and to what extent marriage should be preferred, will have its own place elsewhere [On Marriage, Celibacy, and Similar Topics (Commonplace XXVIII), §§ 489–554]. Here we point out: (1) The argument is unrelated to the question, for our question is about the evangelical counsels that were first published and promulgated by Christ in the New Testament while the cited passage speaks about the eunuchs of the Old Testament.
(2) The true aim and sense of this statement is being falsified. In the Old Testament, having many children was considered great happiness [Ps. 127:4–5], and, on the other hand, it was disgraceful not to have children (Luke 1:25). The Glossa ordinaria on Isaiah 56 cites a certain saying: “Cursed is he who has not left a seed on earth.” The rabbis say, “Whoever does not provide a seed for himself is considered a shedder of blood.” Moreover, they were excluded from public office (Deut. 23:1). They were forbidden to enter the assembly [ecclesia] of the Lord [Deut. 23:1] and were considered foreign to the number of God’s children because of the promise: “Your seed will be like the stars of heaven” [Gen. 22:17]. Thus the prophet is proposing this consolation to them: that so long as they cling to the Lord, they, no less than the rest, will have entry to the covenant of grace from which they seem to have been excluded because of the denial of this bodily blessing.
Eunuchs and the sterile were held in contempt among the Jews; that is why they tormented themselves with such thoughts: “Behold, I am a dry tree; I am like a barren and fruitless tree. I am not admitted to public offices; I produce no offspring; the blessing of Abraham is not fulfilled in me. No hope remains for the Messiah to be born of my line, etc. Therefore I am afraid that the Lord will cast me out like an unfruitful tree, that He will not appoint me among the heirs of His kingdom.” Therefore the Lord says to them: “Those who keep My Sabbaths, who choose the things that I have willed and hold fast My covenant”—that is, those who have been dedicated to the true religion and to the serious worship of God, those who have conformed their life to My Law and will and have not violated My covenant with a wicked life—“to them I shall give in My house and within My walls a place and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an eternal name that shall not perish.” That is, “They will be My dear, accepted citizens, and to them I will give a place in the church and in the covenant of grace. In fact, I will give them a name higher than those who trust in their fleshly begetting and boast that they are the people of God because of their birth, outward appearance, and profession.”
It is just as Christ says, “Many from the east will recline with Abraham while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness” (Matt. 8:11); and as John the Baptist says, “Do not think to say to yourselves: ‘We have Abraham as our father’ ” (Matt. 3:9); and as also the apostle says, “Not all they that are the seed of Abraham are children” (Rom. 9:7).
(3) This interpretation is confirmed by what comes before and what comes after this passage. For there comes first in [Isa. 56:]3 a consolation on behalf of foreigners and proselytes who also were forbidden entry into the assembly [ecclesia] of the Lord. That is, public offices would not be entrusted to them. Therefore they could have feared that perhaps they also were being excluded from entering the kingdom of heaven because the promise had been given to Abraham’s seed and because the Israelites were treating them quite rudely. Thus the prophet comforts them with these words: “Let not the son of a foreigner who clings to the Lord”—that is, he who has rejected the wickedness of the Gentiles, embraces the true religion, and pursues true devotion—“say, ‘The Lord will surely separate me from His people,’ ” that is, “I shall surely be excluded from the church and from the fellowship of the kingdom of heaven.” Verses [6–7]: “The sons of foreigners who cling to the Lord, to worship Him and love His name and to be His servants, etc., these I will bring to My holy mountain. I will give them a place in the assembly [ecclesia] and make them joyful in the house of My prayer.”
Therefore just as consolation is being given to foreigners, so also it is being given to eunuchs. They are promised a better name than the rest, not because they are foreigners or eunuchs, but if they strive for true piety and holiness. Jerome (commentary on this passage): “ ‘Eunuchs.’ Those who are concerned for the things of God, about whom Wisdom [3:14] says, ‘The eunuch who does not work iniquity with his hand and does not think evil against the Lord, such a person knows that he will receive the best place in the house of the Lord, which is His church.’ ”
Procopius (commentary on this passage): “He consoles first the foreigners and then also the eunuchs, as if it were a brief loss if they lacked noble blood or the fertility to have children, because such things do not hinder one from taking possession of divine goods.”
(4) In Bellarmine’s interpretation much is left to be desired. He denies that we can take this passage to mean those eunuchs who are such either by birth from their mother’s womb or as made thus by men, though he gives no reason why they are promised a glory greater than that of sons. Yet we have just given the reason. Sterility was a disgrace among the Israelites. As a result, the sterile were exposed to contempt, regardless of their piety; and thus they had to be lifted up with a consolation. The Gloss. ordin. and Lyra do not deny that this saying can be taken to refer to those eunuchs, though they do add that it can be referred also to those who have castrated themselves for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.
The word סָרִיסִים [“eunuchs”] is a foreign word, namely, Egyptian. It is used for the name of the person who belonged to the king and had household responsibilities for the king, especially the care of the bedchambers. Hence it is translated as “eunuch.” Indeed, those who were in charge of the women’s quarters would be castrated to make them less suspect in regard to the trustworthiness of their continence. Yet it cannot be shown from Scripture that they all were castrated. Therefore just as “foreigner” is taken to mean a person who is so naturally rather than voluntarily, so also is “eunuch” understood.
Bellarmine understands “sons” and “daughters” as the devout Israelites, but this is not always so in the Scriptures, for quite often those are honored with the title “sons” who are the sons of Abraham according to the flesh, even though they are rebellious and disobedient. “The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took to wife such of them as they chose” (Gen. 6:2). “Woe to the corrupt sons; they have forsaken the Lord” (Isa. 1:4). “Woe to the rebellious sons” (Isa. 30:1). “They are lying sons who will not hear the instruction of the Lord” (v. 9). “The sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness” (Matt. 8:12). “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things” (Luke 16:25).
Bellarmine presses hard the word “choose,” from which he struggles to prove that this passage can mean only voluntary continence, because it is left to free choice. But this is a weak support, for quite often we are commanded to choose that to which we have been bound by command. “If it is bothersome to you to serve the Lord, choose whom you will serve” (Josh. 24:15). “I have set before you life and death: therefore choose life” (Deut. 30:19). “I would rather choose to be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of sinners” (Ps. 84:10). “I have chosen the way of truth” (Ps. 119:30). “I have chosen Your precepts” (v. 173).
Bellarmine points out that continence earns a singular glory because an eternal name is promised to it. But even if we were to accept Augustine’s interpretation that also in eternal life there will be a prerogative for devout celibates who castrate themselves for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, it cannot and should not be inferred from this that celibacy earns eternal life and that continence merits a singular glory. Augustine himself does not approve of this, for he writes (De sanct. virg., ch. 40): “Even you” (virgins) “have been saved by grace through faith, and this not of yourselves; rather, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any of you boast [cf. Eph. 2:8–9].” Chapter 48: “Even celibates must pray ‘Forgive us our debts’ [Matt. 6:12], that through what they are asking they may remember what they are.” More about this in its own place [On Marriage, Celibacy, and Similar Topics (Commonplace XXVIII), §§ 489–554].