_Just. But had not God declared the contrary, chap. xviii? The time was not yet arrived; or, he rescued the just from death, though he permitted them to experience the other common miseries. (Calmet) --- He preserved them from eternal death. (Estius) --- The just often means those who are so only in... [ Continue Reading ]
_North, including all the country belonging to Israel._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Back, (ver. 30.) without doing execution, Jeremias l. 9. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Bitterness. Septuagint, "pains," like those of child-bearing, Isaias xxi. 3._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Melt. Literally, "decay," Josue vii., &c. --- Knee. Chap. vii. 17. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_My son. He speaks, according to St. Jerome, to the sword of Nabuchodonosor; which was about to remove the sceptre of Israel, whom God here calls his son. (Challoner) --- This title belonged to all Israel, Exodus iv. 22. (Worthington) --- The Hebrew seems to be corrupt, and we may adhere to the Vulg... [ Continue Reading ]
_Slayer. He had conquered many nations before he attacked Israel. Let none boast of being the scourges of the Lord._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fled, with Sedecias, by night. --- Thigh, in surprise and grief, ver. 17._... [ Continue Reading ]
_God. Perhaps you will say it is only a trial: but what will be your sentiments, when you behold the king and his people led away? (Calmet) --- Protestants, "Because it is a trial; and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, saith." (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Tripled. Let the war be very bloody. Nabuchodonosor often invaded Judea. (Calmet) --- He raised the siege, but returned. (Vatable)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ready. Literally, "covered," ( amicti. Haydock) in the scabbard, and quite new and sharp._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Rabbath. They had formed a league with Sedecias, and Nabuchodonosor thought of punishing them first. (Haydock) --- But they joined his forces, Jeremias xii. 6., and xxvii. 3._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shuffling. Hebrew, "polishing." Syriac, &c., "shooting an arrow upwards." He was undetermined which to attack first, and perhaps wrote Jerusalem on one and Rabbath on another arrow; (St. Jerome, &c.; Calmet) or which way the arrow fell the army followed. (Haydock) --- Many nations have adopted such... [ Continue Reading ]
_Right of one going by Thapsacus and Damascus, and not through the Desert Arabia, for thus Rabbath would have been to the right. God permitted this divination to succeed in his wrath. The devil pushed the Chaldeans forward, lest the Jews might be converted. (Calmet) --- I they had attacked Rabbath f... [ Continue Reading ]
_Vain. They shall think that Nabuchodonosor is wasting his time. --- Sabbaths. Hebrew, "they have people who swear to them;" false prophets, or the Egyptians, on whom they depend. Septuagint, "and counting the weeks," like Aman, Esther iii. 7. --- Iniquity, or perfidy of Sedecias, chap. xvii. 15. (C... [ Continue Reading ]
_Remembered. Hebrew, "caused....to be remembered," (Haydock) sinning publicly. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou profane, &c. He speaks to king Sedecias, who had broken his oath, and was otherwise a wicked prince. (Challoner) --- Hebrew, "Criminal, (sentenced to die) wicked," &c. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Diadem, ( cidarim.) Some think this was th ornament of the high priest, (St. Jerome; Chaldean) denoting that he should perish as well as the king. (Haydock) --- This. The royal crown of Juda had exalted Sedecias from a private state and condition to the sovereign power, as the loss of it brought do... [ Continue Reading ]
_Iniquity. Or, I will overturn it, viz., the crown of Juda, for the manifold iniquities of the kings: but it shall not be utterly removed till Christ come, whose right it is; and who shall reign in the spiritual house of Jacob (that is, in his Church,) for evermore. (Challoner) --- Hebrew also, "sid... [ Continue Reading ]
_Reproach, by which they had reproached and insulted over the Jews, at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. (Challoner) (chap. xxv. 6., and Sophonias ii. 8.) --- They were punished five years later (Calmet) by the same Babylonians whom they had encouraged. (Worthington)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Sheath. The sword of Babylon, after raging against many nations, was shortly to be judged and destroyed at home by the Medes and Persians. (Challoner) --- After Nabuchodonosor had chastised the nations around for 18 years, after the ruin of Jerusalem, he returned and died in peace. Yet he first bec... [ Continue Reading ]
_Brutish, or devoid of sense. (Haydock) --- Hebrew, "burning;" smiths. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER XXI.... [ Continue Reading ]