10:15 Shall the axe
glorify itself without him that hews with it? Or shall the saw lift itself up
without him that uses it, as if one should lift a rod or staff?
“Does the axe strike the wood
without human intervention? Does the saw divide it into two, three, or four?
Can a rod or a staff strike without someone to perform the action? How then can
you think that you have become the master of the nations that you have conquered
apart from my will?” He rightly compared him even to inanimate objects, since
he was suffering from extreme stupidity and irrationality.
But it shall not be so
He says, “I will not leave you in
your current ignorance, but the punishment will make you acknowledge the Master
of all.” (Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Commentary on Isaiah [trans. Gerald L.
Bray; Ancient Christian Texts; Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2026], 44)
