Protection. God will protect his Church, more than he did the Israelites by the pillar, Exodus xiv. 20. (St. Basil, &c.) CHAPTER IV. My cousin. So the prophet calls Christ, as being of his family and kindred, by descending from the house of David. (Challoner) (Menochius) --- Hebrew and Septuagint, "beloved." Dod may also mean a near relation. (Calmet) --- Isaias being of the same tribe, sets before us the lamentations of Christ over Jerusalem, Luke xix. 41. (Worthington) --- The Hebrews had canticles of sorrow, as well as of joy. The prophet thus endeavours to impress more deeply on the minds of the people what he had been saying. The master of the vineyard is God himself, ver. 7. (Calmet) --- Hill. Literally, in the horn, the son of oil. (Challoner) --- The best vines grew among olive and fig trees. (Doubdan 21.) --- Septuagint, "in a horn, in a fat soil." (Haydock) Stones. They burn and starve in different seasons, Colossians xii. 3. --- Choicest. Hebrew sorek. (Haydock) --- There was a famous valley of this name, Judges xvi. 4. The angels guarded the vineyard, in which Abraham, Moses, &c., were found. --- Tower. To keep the wine, &c., Matthew xxi. 33. It denotes the temple, (Calmet) Scriptures, &c. (Menochius) --- Wild. Sour, Deuteronomy xxxii. 32. Judge. God condescends to have his conduct scrutinized, chap. xli. 1. Was it. "Why has it produced wild grapes, while I looked?" &c. CHAPTER V. Down. By the Chaldeans, and after the death of Christ. (Calmet) --- when God withdraws his aid, man is unable to stand. Yet he falls by his own fault, which God only permits. (Worthington) It. During the whole of the captivity, the land might keep its sabbaths, Leviticus xxvi. 34. (Calmet) --- The people shall be deprived of saving doctrine. (Menochius) Israel. This comparison is very common, Psalm lxxix. 9., and Matthew xx. 1. (Calmet) --- The preceding parable is explained. (Menochius) --- Cry. For vengeance, Jeremias xii. 8., and Genesis iv. 10., and xviii. 20. (Calmet) Even. Septuagint, "to take from your neighbour: shall," &c. (Haydock) Things. Unjust practices. --- Inhabitant. What will your avarice avail, (Haydock) since you must abandon all? (Calmet) Measure. Hebrew, "both." --- Thirty. Hebrew, "a chomer shall yield an epha." To follow. Hebrew, "for shecar," (Calmet) palm wine, (Theodoret) or any inebriating liquor. (St. Jerome in chap. xxviii.) Our version is conformable to Aquila and Symmachus. (Haydock) --- Numbers vi. 3., and Ecclesiastes x. 16. Work. Chastisement, ver. 19., and chap. xxviii. 21. (Calmet) --- They are admonished to observe the festivals of the Lord, and not to indulge in riotousness. (Worthington) Hell. Or the grave, which never says enough, Proverbs xxx. 15. Isaias alludes to what should happen under Nabuchodonosor, as if it were past. (G.[Calmet?]) Justice. All will be taught to adore him. (Haydock) Strangers. Ammonites, &c., (Calmet) shall occupy part of the land. (Haydock) Cart. Fatiguing themselves with iniquity, (Wisdom v. 7.; Calmet) and delaying your conversion. (St. Isidore) (Menochius) It. The Jews were often guilty of the like insolence, Jeremias xvii. 15. Conceits. Blind guides, Matthew xv. 14. Drink. Hebrew, "mix shecar." People generally mixed wine and water. They also strove who could drink most, and the Greeks had a feast for this purpose, (Calmet) which they styled Choas, for the measure which was to be swallowed down. (Aristophanes, Acharn. act. iv. 4. and 5. ultra) --- Cyrus the younger boasted to the Greek ambassadors, that "he could drink and bear more wine than his brother." (Plut.[Plutarch?] in Artax.) Justice. Declaring the righteous guilty, ver. 20. (Haydock) Still. After the ruin of Jerusalem, the people were led away. (Calmet) --- Grievous sins must be severely punished, as was that of the murderers of Christ. (Worthington) Off. Like a king, leading all his subjects to battle. (Calmet) --- Whistle. He alludes to the custom of leading forth bees by music, chap. vii. 18. (St. Cyprian) --- Earth. The Chaldeans, (chap. xli. 9., and Jeremias vi. 22.) and not the Romans, as some would suppose. --- Swiftly. Like an eagle, Daniel vii. 4., and Jeremias xlviii. 40. Broken. They shall march incessantly, Ezechiel xxvi. 7., and xxx. 11. Hoofs. They were hardened, but not shod. (Xenophon) (Amos vi. 13.) Lion. Nabuchodonosor is compared to one, ver. 26., and Jeremias iv. 7. Mist. Denoting calamity. Hebrew, "ruin." Septuagint, "indigence." (Calmet) Died. Either a natural (Calmet) or a civil death, by means of the leprosy. (Chaldean) (Tostat. 7.) --- This and the former chapters relate to the commencement of Joathan's reign, whether before or after the death of Ozias. (Calmet) --- Many think that this was the first prediction of Isaias. (Origen) (St. Jerome, ad Dam.) --- I saw. By a prophetic vision, as if I had been present at the dedication of the temple, 3 Kings viii. 10. (Calmet) --- Lord. Not the Father, as some have asserted, but the Son, John xii. 40. (St. Jerome, ad Dam.) (Calmet) --- Neither Moses nor any other saw the substance of God; but only a shadow. Yet Manasses hence took a pretext to have Isaias slain. (Origen) (St. Jerome, Trad.) (Paralipomenon) (Worthington) The two Seraphims "burning." They are supposed to constitute the highest order of angels, Numbers xxi. 6. --- His. God's or their own face. Hebrew and Septuagint are ambiguous. Out of respect, (Calmet) they look not at the divine majesty. (Menochius) Glory. By no means of the Incarnation. The unity and Trinity are insinuated. (St. Jerome; St. Gregory, Mor. xxix. 16.) Of him. Septuagint, "them," (Haydock) the Seraphim signifying that the veil was removed by the death of Christ, (Theodoret) or that the people should be led into captivity, as a Jew explained it to St. Jerome. Peace. It is proper for sinners to do so, Ecclesiasticus xv. 9. The prophet was grieved that he was unworthy to join in the acclamation of the Seraphim, and had reason to fear death, Genesis xvi. 13., and Exodus xxxiii. 20. He finds himself less able to speak than before, like Moses, Exodus iv. 10., and vi. 12. Coal. "Carbuncle," (Septuagint) the word of God, (St. Basil) spirit of prophecy, (St. Jerome, 142. ad Dam., &c.) Sin. Impediment in speech. All defects were attributed to some sin, (John ix. 2.) as Job's friends maintained. For us. Hence arises a proof of the plurality of persons. (Calmet) --- Send me. Thus Isaias was an evangelical and apostolical prophet. (St. Jerome) (Worthington) Blind. The prophets are said to do what they denounce. (St. Thomas Aquinas, [Summa Theologiae] 1. q. xxiv. 3.) (Sanctius) --- Septuagint, "heavy or gross is the heart," &c. The authors of the New Testament quote it thus less harshly. --- Them. Is God unwilling to heal? Why then does he send his prophet? (Calmet) --- He intimates that all the graces offered would be rendered useless by the hardened Jews. (St. Isidore. Pelus 2. ep. 270.) --- Hebrew may be, "surely they will not see," &c. (Calmet) Desolate. By means of Nabuchodonosor, (St. Chrysostom) and the Romans, (Eusebius, &c.) or even till the end of the world, their obstinacy will continue. Earth. After the captivity, the people shall be more docile. But this was more fully verified by the preaching of the gospel. Tithing. The land shall produce its fruits, and people shall bring their tithes, Ezechiel xx. 40. There shall be some left; (chap. i. 9., and iv. 3.; Calmet) though only a tenth part will embrace Christianity. (St. Basil) --- Made. Septuagint, "ravaged." They shall be exposed to many persecutions under Epiphanes, and few shall escape the arms of the Romans, (Calmet) those particularly (Haydock) who shall be a holy seed. (Calmet) --- The apostles were of Jewish extraction, (Haydock) and spread the gospel throughout the world. (Menochius)