In the early seventh century, Bishop Isidore of Seville (d. 636), immersed in the political and religious concerns arising from the reality of Spain under Visigothic rule, exhibited in a variety of writings of different genres the importance of Scriptures and their correct interpretation. Whilst extensive and complex exegetical commentaries are not found among the works of Isidore, as Jacques Fontaine previously noted, there remained a profound interest in achieving a true understanding of the biblical text that ran through his entire life and ecclesiastical career. More precisely, this central concern constituted a key element of the pastoral and pedagogical activity of Isidore, which also encompassed the education of clerics and the homogenization of practices regarding the administration of sacraments and liturgical rites performed in the churches throughout the peninsula. Indeed, a clergy instructed in the divine Word, capable of guiding the flock, and interpreting the will of God on earth, was considered indispensable in order to achieve the difficult and uncertain path to salvation.

The exegetical activity of Isidore is thus framed in this set of concerns that made the communication of the biblical message not only a pastoral need, that of a bishop at the head of his congregation, but also a political one, consolidating Hispalis as a centre of indisputable power within the Hispanic context of the seventh century.