To adore it. This explains the prohibition of making graven things, &c. The Protestants translate as usual, "Ye shall make you no idols, nor graven image, neither rear ye up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land to bow down unto it." They seem terribly afraid of i... [ Continue Reading ]
_Reverence. The Rabbins inform us, with what respect their ancestors appeared in the temple. They left their sticks and shoes behind them, and washed their feet; entering solely to perform some act of religion, and not to go a shorter road to another street. When they had ended their devotions, they... [ Continue Reading ]
_Due seasons. Before harvest, in spring; and after that in autumn, when they sow their wheat and barley in Palestine. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Time. So great shall be the abundance, that you will scarcely have time to get all the work done before you will be called off to something else. (Haydock) --- These promises would be so much the more agreeable to them, as in Egypt they had been forced to keep in their houses two or three months to... [ Continue Reading ]
_Five. Thus Gedeon's 300 men put to flight the great army of the Madianites; (Judges vii. 22,) and the Machabees destroyed vast numbers with a small force._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Old; Being unable to consume all. (Menochius) --- Hebrew, "ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new." Septuagint, "you shall eat the old of old, and you shall bring out the old from the face of the new." Like a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasury new things... [ Continue Reading ]
_Upright; and be no longer bowed down with a heavy yoke, like oxen. "I have broken the locks of your prison, and have set you at liberty," Arabic. (Calmet) --- A Greek proverb says, "Never was a slave's head right, but always crooked, like his neck." (Menochius)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Heat. Hebrew kaddachath, is rendered "scab and jaundice," by the Septuagint: and by others "a dangerous wind," like that which causes so many diseases in Egypt. The precise meaning of some terms in this verse is not well known._... [ Continue Reading ]
_More, ( septuplum.) "Very often, or very much;" in which sense it is used in this chapter. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_As brass (æneam). "Brazen," without moisture, and barren. (Onkelos)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Desolate, none being left to frequent them; or the few who remain, shall keep within doors, lest the wild beasts should meet and devour them, Isaias xxxiii. 8._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Bread; or that which supports you. You shall be deprived of the necessaries of life. --- One oven shall be used by 10 families, so little bread shall be baked, and even that little shall be delivered out by weight. I will also deprive it of its nutritive qualities, so that it shall not satisfy your... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fury. You will gain nothing by opposing me, but your own destruction. I will treat you, as you would deal with me. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Daughters. To such extremities were the Jews reduced, at the sieges of Samaria and Jerusalem. (4 Kings vi. 28; Lamentations iv. 10.; Josephus, Jewish Wars vii. 8.)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Places. The temple of Solomon was built on Mount Moria or Sion. The Persians sacrificed upon the mountains, and the Romans and Athenians built their most magnificent temples on the highest parts of their respective cities. --- Idols. Hebrew chammanim, denotes the chariots dedicated to the sun; (4 K... [ Continue Reading ]
_Odours. Even the sanctuary of the Lord shall be destroyed, as you will be unworthy to have it among you, or to offer sacrifices to me. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Desolation. It shall be uncultivated; and though you would not comply with my injunctions to let it rest one year out of seven, it shall now remain desolate for many years together. (Haydock) --- Theodoret (q. 37) says for 70 years; the number of sabbatic years, from the reign of Saul till the capt... [ Continue Reading ]
_Your sabbaths, holidays and years of rest, and of jubilee. The earth is represented as entering into the views of God, and rejoicing at his judgments. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fear. Septuagint, "timidity, or slavishness." Hebrew morec, "softness and inactivity." (Calmet) --- Their haughty temper shall be broken; and though they have dared to rebel against their God, the fall of a leaf shall now terrify them. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Brethren, in their flight; while each one is endeavouring to save himself. The Rabbins say they shall be punished for the sins of their brethren, if they have not endeavoured to prevent them._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Consume you. The Hebrew spies said that the land of Chanaan devoured its inhabitants. Such shall be in reality the enemies' country in your regard. You shall not be able to establish yourselves or be happy there._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Own. The sins of their fathers, which they have imitated, shall fall upon them; so that they shall pine away with remorse and misery._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Mind. Hebrew, "heart," wicked, rebellious, and unclean. (Menochius) --- Pray for. Hebrew and Syriac, "please themselves in," &c. They shall see what advantage they have derived from their sins. (Calmet) --- Then they shall enter into themselves, like the prodigal son. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jacob is placed first because he was the father of no other nation; as Abraham and Isaac were. (Worthington)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_I did not. He speaks of a future event, which he sees will certainly come to pass, as if it had already happened. As God had preserved his people, in Egypt, conformably to his covenant with the patriarchs, so he will be reconciled to them, after they shall have done penance, and acknowledged all th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Moses. What has been hitherto recorded, was mostly prescribed by God at Mount Sinai, as some of the following laws were also. (Calmet) --- It would seem as if this were the conclusion of Leviticus. We must remember, however, that these divisions were not introduced by Moses, as he wrote his five bo... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER XXVI.... [ Continue Reading ]