23 And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for briers and thorns.
(Verse 21 onwards) And it shall come to pass on that day, a man shall nurture a cow of oxen, and two sheep, and because of the abundance of milk, he shall eat butter; for everyone who is left in the midst of the land shall eat butter and honey. And it shall come to pass on that day, every place where a thousand vines were worth a thousand silver shekels, there shall be thorns and briers. With arrows and bows they shall come there, for thorns and briers shall cover the whole land. And all the hills that were once cultivated with a hoe shall no longer be afraid of thistles and thorns; and they shall become pastures for cattle and a trampling ground for livestock. After the subversion of Jerusalem, the captivity of the people, and the burning of the Temple, Nabuzardan, the prince of the army whom the Seventy called the chief cook, left a few of the people, and those poor, in the land to till the vineyards and fields. Finally, Godolias, who had been appointed over them from the royal line, encourages them and says: Do not be afraid of the Chaldeans; dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you (2 Kings 25:24). Therefore, at that time when all the wealth of the Jews had been transferred to Chaldea, there will be such a great desolation in the land of Judaea and such incredible devastation that they will by no means have herds of cattle or flocks of sheep as they used to have before: but scarcely a rare inhabitant will be able to support one cow and two sheep; not for plowing, but for food and clothing of milk and wool. Indeed, because of the scarcity of wheat and everything that the land produces for eating, they will subsist on milk, butter, and wild honey. And what he says: He will eat butter from the abundance of milk, signifies that the land will be more fertile due to the scarcity of farmers and more suitable for grazing. In that time, due to the scarcity of people, there will be such a shortage of wine from deserted vineyards, which will not be considered a concern for hostile fear, that each vine will barely be bought with silver sickles. For all the land will be reduced to brambles and thorns: and there will be such fear, with swords raging everywhere, that no one will dare to visit their own field without a bow and arrows, and abandoning the open fields, they will seek refuge in the mountains, and there, fortified by the difficulty of the location, they will barely dig rough mountains by hand: because they will not have oxen, plows, and plowshares. Therefore, if a rare inhabitant were found in the mountains, they would sustain a miserable life from there. The rest, however, will be open to pasture, and without any guardian, they will be trampled by wild animals. These things are accustomed to happen after captivity, would that we did not know! But now a large part of the Roman world is similar to once Judea: which we do not think was done without the anger of God, who avenges not at all the contempt of himself through the Assyrians and the Chaldeans; but through savage nations, and once unknown to us, whose faces and speech are terrifying, and they have feminine and cut faces (he means the Goths who shaved their beards), they pierce the fleeing backs of men, well-bearded. I have read in these places an extensive and intricate tropology: that everything, which we have discussed according to history, happened spiritually to the Jews, who barely had one cow and two sheep, namely clean animals: so that they might be nourished not with solid food, but with milk, like infants, and consume the honey of words, which drip from the lips of a prostitute; and they do not have wine, which gladdens the heart of man: but all their works are turned into thorns, so that they may be wounded by adversaries, who strike at the upright of heart (Psalm 10). But if at any time they desire to know something more deeply, and, exerting excessive effort, they seek to discover something mystical from the Holy Scriptures, nevertheless, they bring forth no fruits of doctrine, but rather their minds are filled with thorns and thistles, which arise in the hands of the drunk. And their land and doctrine are in no way cultivated by rational beings, but by cattle, of which God has no care, and are trampled upon by brute animals.
[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 7:21-25