_Blasphemy. The enemy insults over us (Calmet) and over God. (Haydock) --- Birth. Hebrew, "the mouth of the womb." (Vatable) --- This comparison shews the utmost distress to which the people of Jerusalem were reduced. Any great anguish is denoted by a woman in travail, Deuteronomy ii. 25., and Psalm... [ Continue Reading ]
_It may. Literally, "if perhaps the Lord hear." (Haydock) --- Found. After such devastation has been made in the country, particularly by carrying away the ten tribes, (Calmet) Ezechias recommends the kingdom to the prayers of the prophet; as we are exhorted to have recourse to the intercession of t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Upon him, so that he shall be eager enough to return, (Calmet) being filled with consternation at the approach of Tharaca, (Menochius) and at the destruction of his men by an angel, ver. 35. (Haydock) --- Lachis and Lobna were both in the mountains of Juda, to the south of Jerusalem, Josue x. 31. ... [ Continue Reading ]
_When he, Sennacherib, though it would seem to refer to Rabsaces. (Haydock) --- Tharaca, called by Thearchon by Strabo, (i., and xv. p. 653.) extended his conquests as far as the pillars of Hercules. (Megasthenes) --- The Egyptians seem to have called him Sethon, and assert that the god (Vulcan) app... [ Continue Reading ]
_Gozan, in Less Armenia; Haran and Reseph in Palmerene Syria. Thelassar, or Syria. They were nations not very remote. See chap. xviii. 34. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Before the Lord, to move him to revenge his own cause, (Haydock) and to shew that he looked upon the Lord, as a father, with the utmost confidence (Menochius) and resignation. He spreads the blasphemous letter (Haydock) before the ark, which was the special place for prayer. (Worthington)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Earth. He attempts to make some reparation for the blasphemies which had been uttered (Calmet) and written. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Unto us is not in Hebrew or Septuagint. (Du Hamel) --- God, as if he were not able to deliver us. (Menochius)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Virgin. The few who adhere to the Lord despise all idols and their votaries. (Worthington) --- Of Sion and of Jerusalem may denote those places. Towns and provinces are often represented as women: the daughter of Babylon, the daughter of the sea, mean Babylon and a maritime town. Perhaps this compa... [ Continue Reading ]
_Of Israel. This title is often found in Isaias; xlv. 11., and xlvii. 4., &c._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Carmel. A pleasant fruitful hill in the forest. These expressions are figurative, signifying, under the names of mountains and forests, the kings and provinces whom the Assyrians had triumphed over. (Challoner) --- He must have passed by Libanus, and might boast of this exploit. Other proud words t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Strange waters, which did not run in my original dominions, (Haydock) or which were found by opening springs before unknown. --- Shut-up, with mounds of earth, or in the banks of rivers. The army of Xerxes is said to have drunk whole rivers dry. We might also translate, "I have dried up the waters,... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have formed it, &c. All thy exploits, in which thou takest pride, are no more than what I have decreed; and are not to be ascribed to thy wisdom or strength, but to my will and ordinance: who have give to thee to take and destroy so many fenced cities, and to carry terror wherever thou comest. --... [ Continue Reading ]
_Of hand. Hebrew, "short, (Calmet) or contracted in hand," or power. This does not add to the glory of Sennacherib; and if the enemy had been less valiant, the victory was still to be attributed to God. (Haydock) --- The Assyrian found but little resistance, chap. xviii. 13._... [ Continue Reading ]
_In. All thy actions. (Menochius) --- I knew, or disposed of, for wise purposes. Nothing shews more forcibly the dominion of God, even over the most impious. They cannot frustrate the divine decrees._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ring, or hook, like that with which fishes are taken. (Calmet) --- Bit. Protestants, "bridle," (Haydock) or a sort of muzzle. (Menochius) --- I will treat thee like a furious beast. --- Camest, without having effected what thou hadst designed. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_O Ezechias is not in Hebrew or Septuagint; but they shew the sense. (Haydock) --- Second, which was a sabbatical year. (Usher) (Tirinus) --- We elsewhere find signs given as a proof of past events, and that they were from God, who enabled his prophet to foretell both, Exodus iii. 12., and Isaias vi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Upward, like a fruitful tree. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Sion. These shall repeople the land. In a higher sense, the Christian Church was propagated by the few Jews who believed. (Calmet) --- Zeal, or ardent love. (Menochius) --- Of hosts, is added in the Protestant version, as being deficient in the Hebrew. (Haydock) --- It is found in several manuscrip... [ Continue Reading ]
_About it, as was then the custom in besieging cities. Josephus and others suppose that Sennacherib's army was destroyed before Jerusalem. But it seems more probable it fell on the road to Egypt, ver. 7. The camp, which is still shewn, might be that of Rabsaces, chap. xviii. 17. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Return. Sennacherib's life was spared for a time, that he might be covered with ignominy the longer, and suffer a more disgraceful death. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Own sake, who have chosen this city for my sanctuary. (Menochius) --- David. Here again we behold the influence of the saints with God. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Night following the prediction of Isaias, (Calmet) or that memorable night which would be so terrible to the Assyrians after three years, ver. 29. Thus we read, in that day, &c., Isaias xxvii. (Menochius) --- The exterminating angel, (Exodus xi. 4.; Calmet) an evil spirit, (Psalm lxxvii. 49.) or th... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER XIX. _ Nesroch. Jospehus calls both the idol and the temple Araskes. Sennacherib persecuted the Israelites for 45 (Greek 55) days. (Tobias i. 21.) --- Sons, as the Jews suppose they were destined for victims by their father, and got beforehand with him. (St. Jerome, in Isaias x.) (Calmet) -... [ Continue Reading ]