_Priests. Such, hoarding up riches, dishonour God and his sacraments, as if they were temporal things to be purchased, and so they scandalize the weak. It would be well for them if they were reduced to poverty, (ver. 2.) and would repent, as they will otherwise be deprived of eternal goods, having r... [ Continue Reading ]
_Blessings, riches. The priests also blessed the people, Numbers vi. 23. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shoulder. I will cast away the shoulder, which in the law was appointed to be your portion, and fling it at you in my anger: and will reject both you and your festivals like dung. (Challoner) --- Hebrew now reads for shoulder, zerah, "grain," or seed. (Calmet) --- "I will menace you with the should... [ Continue Reading ]
_Levi. When this tribe was chosen does not appear. Some think that he alludes to the renewing of the covenant under Nehemias, which seems best, 2 Esdras ix. 1, 38. I then promised you life, &c. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_The angel, viz., the minister and messenger. (Challoner) --- Priests must administer the sacraments, and likewise instruct the people, being God's messengers. (Worthington) --- The Jews were well acquainted with the law, Jeremias xviii. 18. --- The priests had to decide most intricate cases, Deuter... [ Continue Reading ]
_People. If priests comply not with these high functions, they are despicable here, and condemned to eternal torments, Jude 11. (Worthington) --- Accepted. Hebrew, "raised up faces," instead of reproving the guilty, Deuteronomy i. 10., and Leviticus xix 15._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Brother, in distress, 2 Esdras v. 1. St. Jerome mentions the tradition of the Jews, which supposed that the captives at their return dismissed their wives, and married young ones, though strangers, ver. 11. But this is not probable. Such women were ordered to be dismissed, 1 Esdras ix. 1., and 2 Es... [ Continue Reading ]
_God, or one addicted to idol-worship, (Haydock) which was contrary to the law, Deuteronomy vii. 3. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "the holy things of the Lord, by what he has loved and done for strange gods." (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Master. Hebrew, "the watcher, and him who answers," on guard. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "doth such things, till he be tumbled out," &c. --- Him. Septuagint, "and out of those who offer a sacrifice to," &c. Such people shall be excluded from the society of God's servants. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_With tears; viz., by occasion of your wives, whom you have put away, and who came to weep and lament before the altar. (Challoner) --- Though divorces were tolerated, (Matthew xix. 6.) the more virtuous did not approve of them, particularly when a wife is put away who had been married in youth. See... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER II. _ Covenant. The order established at first, Genesis ii. 24., and Proverbs ii. 17. The parties promised fidelity to each other._... [ Continue Reading ]
_His spirit. Eve received a soul from God, like Adam. Hebrew, "One ( Abraham, Chaldean styled one, Ezechiel xxxiii. 24.) did it not, and he had the," &c. Septuagint vary. The text is very obscure. (Calmet) See Cap. Crit. iv. p. 317.; Grabe prologue. --- A strange god did not make women. The human ra... [ Continue Reading ]
_Garment; viz., of every man that putteth away his wife without just cause; notwithstanding that God permitted it in the law, to prevent the evil of murder. (Challoner) --- Septuagint, "iniquity shall cover your thoughts." (Haydock) --- It should be "garments," Greek: endumata, though St. Jerome and... [ Continue Reading ]
_Judgment. Being scandalized at the prosperity of the wicked, (Haydock) they deny Providence, Psalm lxxii., and Jeremias xii. (Calmet) --- Yet the wicked are left for wise purposes, either for their amendment, or for the trial of the just. (St. Augustine, Psalm liv.) --- Those who are offended at th... [ Continue Reading ]