_UNDER THE PARABLE OF A BOILING POT IS SHEWED THE IRRECOVERABLE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. BY THE SIGN OF EZEKIEL NOT MOURNING FOR THE DEATH OF HIS WIFE IS SHEWED THE CALAMITY OF THE JEWS TO BE BEYOND ALL SORROW._ _Before Christ 590._... [ Continue Reading ]
SET ON A POT— The _pot_ signifies Jerusalem, the _flesh_ and _pieces_ the citizens, and the _fire_ and _water_ the calamities which they were to suffer. When the subject required secrecy, the apologue was gradually changed by faint and far-fetched allusions into a parable, on set purpose to throw ob... [ Continue Reading ]
FILL IT WITH THE CHOICE BONES— _And every choice part which cleaveth to the bones._ Houbigant. The _bones,_ says Calmet, signify the _princes_ or _chief citizens,_ and the _flesh_ the _common people._... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSE SCUM— _Whose rust;_ and so Ezekiel 24:11. Schult. and Houbigant. Instead of, _Bring it out piece by piece,_ Houbigant reads, _Throw it in piece by piece._... [ Continue Reading ]
SHE POURED IT NOT UPON THE GROUND— The words allude to the command of the law, that they should cover the blood of any beast or other living creature with dust: a precept intended not only to prevent their eating blood, but also to give them a kind of horror at seeing it shed. See Lowth.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SPICE IT WELL, &C.— _Dissolve its pieces._ Houbigant. The Chaldee, explaining the metaphor, renders it thus: _Multiply kings, gather together an army, join auxiliaries, and prepare against her the soldiers; and her brave men shall grow mad._... [ Continue Reading ]
SHE HATH WEARIED HERSELF, &C.— The LXX omit this clause. Houbigant renders it, _Her rust sticks close to her, and will not leave her. Her rust is great: it is offensive._... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THY FILTHINESS, &C.— _I had determined to cleanse thee, because thou wast unclean: but thou art not cleansed from thy filth, nor wilt thou be cleansed therefrom, till I,_ &c. Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
FORBEAR, &C.— _Groan silently; make no funeral mourning._ This translation is agreeable to the famous saying of the poet, _Curae leves loquuntur, graviores silent.*_ * Light cares are talkative; heavier cares are silent. Instead of the bread of men, Houbigant, in agreement with several of the ver... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL NOT MOURN, &C.— That is, "These terrible judgments upon your city and sanctuary shall strike you with such astonishment, and fill you with such poignant grief, as is too great to be expressed with tears or words." See on Ezekiel 24:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THAT WHEREUPON, &C.— _And the ambition of their souls._ This is called in the 21st verse, _that which your soul pitieth,_ or, "that which you would have pitied and spared.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THAT DAY, &C.— "From this time, till the time the news arrives of the city's being taken, thou shalt not prophesy any more to thine own people. But then I will give thee a new commission, and thou shalt speak with freedom and plainness, not by signs and emblems, as thou dost at present; _and they... [ Continue Reading ]