Psalms 119:5

Is prolonged. Hebrew, "is Meshec." (Haydock) --- But Houbigant rejects this as a place unknown; and the word may have the former signification, given by the Septuagint and St. Jerome. (Calmet) (Berthier) --- Moses speaks of Meshec, (Genesis x. 2.) or of the mountains separating Cholcis from Armenia, where the Jews might be dispersed, (4 Kings xvii. 23., and 1 Esdras ii. 59., and viii. 15.) as well as in Cedar, or Arabia Petrea, (Isaias xlii. 11.) where the Saracens afterwards inhabited, according to St. Jerome. (Loc. Heb.) (Calmet) --- Inhabitants. Hebrew, "tents," in which the people chiefly dwelt. (Berthier) --- From Cedar, the son of Ismael, sprung Mahomet, whose tyranny has been long felt. Cedar denotes the "darkness" of sin and error. The Jews bewailed their absence from the temple, and Christians their being unable to meet for the divine worship, and their banishment (Worthington) from heaven. (St. Chrysostom)