How was it, then, one may say, that his name was not called Emmanuel but Jesus Christ? Because he did not say you shall call but they shall call, that is, the multitude and the issue of events. For here he uses an event (i.e., God being with us) as a name; and this is customary in Scripture, to substitute the events that take place for names. Therefore, to say, they shall call him Emmanuel means nothing else than that they shall see God among humanity. For he has always been among them, but never so manifestly.

The Jews say, How then is it that he was not called Emmanuel but Jesus Christ? One may answer: The prophet did not say you shall call but they shall call. That is, the events and deeds of his life will show that he is God and that he keeps company with us. For holy Scripture gives names that are derived from the events of one’s life; for example, Call his name Plunder Swiftly. Yet where does it record that anyone was ever called by such a name? But since error was despoiled and taken captive at the moment of the Lord’s birth, Scripture gives this as his name, which he acquires from the event.

And the words of Isaiah, He shall take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria, meant that the power of the wicked demon that dwelt in Damascus should be crushed by Christ at his birth. This is shown to have taken place. For the magi, held in servitude (as spoils) for the commission of every wicked deed through the power of that demon, by coming and worshiping Christ, openly revolted against the power that had held them as spoils, which power the Scripture indicated by parable to be located in Damascus. And in the parables that sinful and wicked power is fittingly called Samaria. Now, even among you none can deny that Damascus was and is a part of the land of Arabia, although it now belongs to Syro-Phoenicia. So it would be to your advantage, my friends, to learn what you do not understand from us Christians, who have received the grace of God, and not to exert every effort to defend your peculiar teachings and scorn those of God.

For, before the child knew how to call his father and mother, as Isaiah had prophesied of him, he took the strength of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria. That is, before he uttered human speech through his humanity, he took the strength of Damascus or that which gave confidence to Damascus. For, in the estimation of the world, that city had flourished for some time on account of her riches. But preeminence in riches is gained by gold, and the magi as suppliants offered gold to Christ.

Obviously the only way to preserve the understanding of this passage is to explain its spiritual meaning. By the softly proceeding water of Siloam it means the gospel teaching of the word of salvation, because Siloam means sent with a message. This would be God the Word, who was sent by the Father, of whom Moses says, A ruler will not fail from Judah, nor a prince from his loins, until the one for whom it is stored up comes, and he is the expectation of the nations.^[1] For rather than for whom it is stored up the Hebrew has Siloam. The same word, Siloam, is used the same way in this passage for Isaiah, that is to say, the one who is sent.

[Isaiah] uses the king of Assyria as a symbol for the Antichrist.

And what the same prophet said has been fulfilled. God is with us. Know this, O nations, and be conquered. For we who are from the nations have been conquered and overcome. And we who bend our necks beneath his grace stand forth as a kind of spoils of his victory.

Christ rose again from the seed of David, as the son of David, because he had emptied himself. How did he empty himself? By taking what he was not, not by losing what he was. He emptied himself; he humbled himself. Though he was God, he made himself known as a man. He was despised as he walked the earth, though he made the sky. He was despised as a mere man, as though he had no power. Not only despised, but on top of that also killed. He was a stone lying flat; the Jews stumbled over him and were shaken. But what does he say about that himself? Whoever stumbles over this stone will be shaken; but as for anyone upon whom this stone comes, it will crush him. First he lay flat, and they stumbled; he will come from above and crush them, after they have been shaken.

Not only do we become his brothers but even his children, for he says, Behold, I and my children, whom God has given me. Not only do we become his children but also his members and his body.^[1] As if the things already mentioned were not enough to prove the love and kindness that he shows toward us, he set down another thing, greater and more intimate than these, when he spoke of himself as our head.^[2]

First it must be noted that Matthew’s Gospel uses the text of the Septuagint, not the Hebrew: Jesus, hearing that John had been handed over, departed to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he came and lived in Capernaum, which is near the sea at the end of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: ‘In the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, by the way of the sea across the Jordan in Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who sat in the region of the shadow of death a light has dawned.’ From that moment, Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘The kingdom of heaven approaches.’^[1] And the evangelist John reports that Jesus performed his first sign, changing water into wine, when he was invited to attend a wedding in Cana with his disciples: Jesus performed the first of his signs in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.^[2] Hence, the Septuagint reads, Drink this first and do it quickly. For the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali were the first to see the miracles of Christ, that they who first saw the Lord perform a sign would be the first to drink the potion of faith. According to the Hebrew, it is also said to be the first time that the [lifting of the] burden of sins was revealed, because the Savior first preached the gospel in the region of these two tribes. . . .

But it calls this sea the lake of Gennesaret, which is formed from the influx of the Jordan.^[3] On its shore are situated Capernaum, Tiberias, Bethsaida and Chorazin, in whose regions the Lord spent a great deal of time. He did so to enable the people who sat or walked in darkness to see the light—not a little light as from other prophets but a great light, as from him who said in the Gospel, I am the light of the world.^[4] And upon those who lived in the region of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. This region lies between death and the shadow of death, I believe, because death belongs to those who directed themselves straight to the underworld with their dead works: For the soul that sins will die.^[5] But the shadow of death pertains to those who do not depart from life when they sin, for they are still able to do penance if they wish.