_Take. Before (chap. iii. 17.) God made the choice, (Calmet) as he does here, ver. 7. He confirms the authority of those who are appointed to govern. --- Meanest. Literally, "last," (Haydock) which seems to denote such as are chosen without regard to their dignity or obscurity in life, Genesis xlvii... [ Continue Reading ]
_Iniquity, not regarding the admonitions of his pastor; (chap. iii. 18.; Calmet) or rather of conscience, when the guide proves faithless and silent, as in this instance. (Haydock) --- The people were persuaded that none suffered except for some fault, ver. 10.; Jeremias xxxi. 30., Daniel xiii. 52.,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Surely die a temporal, (Theodoret) or rather an eternal death. (St. Jerome)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Live? They suppose their case to be desperate, as their fathers had sinned, chap. xviii. The prophet shews that none are punished except for their own faults, (Calmet) and that "each one has free-will to be saved or to be lost." (St. Jerome)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Desire. The sinner's damnation is not an object of God's pleasure, chap. xviii. 23. (Calmet) --- He has an antecedent will to save all. He knocks at the door of our heart, (Apocalypse iii. 20.) and if man do what depends on him, nothing will be wanting on the part of God. (St. Thomas Aquinas, [Summ... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hurt him. God effaces all past crimes: yet a relapse makes them as it were revive, and is pardoned with more difficulty, Matthew xviii. 35. Some read, "In what day the converted sinner groans, he shall be saved," as if they had taken in part of Isaias xxx. 15._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Equitable; as we are much more inclined to vice than to virtue. This argumentation is inconclusive, as God owes nothing to man; and what good the latter does, is an effect of His grace. The propensity to evil is no excuse, as man is still free. He is judged according to the dispositions in which he... [ Continue Reading ]
_Twelfth. Roman Septuagint, "tenth." Syriac, "eleventh year,...in the twelfth month;" which Theodoret thinks more probable, as the city was taken in the ninth of the fourth month of that year. Yet even so, it is strange that the news should not arrive before. Some think (Calmet) that the messenger c... [ Continue Reading ]
_Places. He has answered those who despaired, ver. 10. Now he turns to the presumptuous, who expected to be treated like Abraham, though they did not imitate his virtues. (Calmet) --- They perhaps entertained these sentiments before the death of Godolias, thinking to establish themselves in the land... [ Continue Reading ]
_To them. Grabe marks to ver. 27., Thus saith, &c., as wanting in the Septuagint, though not in the Alexandrian copy. St. Jerome reckons eight verses or lines omitted. (Haydock) --- The Complutensian and Theodoret read them with some variations. --- The blood. It must be carefully extracted, Genesis... [ Continue Reading ]
_Swords, thinking to live thereby, (Genesis xxvii. 40.) and to be secure. But I will disarm you. The pestilence shall find out those in the rocks, ver. 27._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Walls, the resort of idle people. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_In to a religious meeting. (Chaldean) Perhaps they came on the sabbath to his house. Yet they made a just and song of his instructions. (Calmet) --- They heard them with pleasure, but did not reform their lives. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER XXXIII.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Coming. The desolation of Jerusalem, (Haydock) and what I have foretold, hath already taken place; or, the news will presently arrive: as it did the following morning, ver. 21. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]