Mighty; Chaldeans. Providence watched over Jeremias, amid all his enemies. (Calmet) CHAPTER XV. Place. It was going to be destroyed, and the cares of a family might interrupt the prophet. The Fathers believe that Jeremias never married, (see St. Jerome in chap. xxii. Isidor.) which was then a rare example. (Calmet) --- He always lived a single life, and not only in time of tribulation. (St. Jerome, contra Jov. 1.) (Worthington) --- The Church enforces this law of God for her sacred ministers, in subdeacons and the higher orders. St. Paul shews the propriety of such a regulation, (1 Corinthians vii.) which innovators deem unnatural and tyrannical. How then could God enforce it once? With his grace we may observe celibacy like Jeremias. (Haydock) Illnesses, denoting God's wrath. (St. Jerome) --- Earth. The privation of sepulture was accounted one of the greatest evils. Feasting: usual at burials for all relations. (Calmet) --- This custom reduced many to poverty. (Josephus, Jewish Wars ii. 1.) --- Sed c\'e6nam funerish\'e6res Negliget iratus quod rem curtaverit. (Pers. vi.) --- Mourn, if thou shouldst meet a funeral, Luke vii. 32. Cut. Moses prohibited this being done in honour of Adonis, Leviticus xix. 27., Deuteronomy xiv. 1., and Ezechiel xxvii. 31. "The custom of cutting the arms and hair still subsists in Judea," says St. Jerome; and in other countries. (Plut.[Plutarch?] Herodotus iv. 71.) Cup. Most exquisite things were sent on such occasions. (Buxtorf, Syn. xxxv.) (Proverbs xxxi. 6., Tobias iv. 18., and John xi. 19.) Feasting. Hebrew, "of drinking," in times of joy. Fathers. Hence you are justly partakers of their punishment, Matthew xxiii. 32. (Calmet) --- A continuance in sin brings on severe punishments; after which, God again shews mercy. (Worthington) Gods. Elohim, "masters," &c., chap. xvii. 4. Chaldean, "idolatrous nations." Fathers. He joins consolation with distressing predictions, and alludes to the redemption of mankind, of which the return of the Jews was the most striking pledge. Rocks. They shall be found in all their lurking places, Ezechiel xii. 12., and Habacuc i. 4. (Calmet) --- The apostles shall save them. (Origen) --- The Medes and Persians shall grant them liberty; or rather Nabuchodonosor shall fish at first, and afterwards hunt or destroy more of the Jews. (Calmet) --- Apostolical men (Worthington) shall be like rocks, (St. Jerome) for the protection of their hearers. Double: enormous. (Haydock) (Chap. xvii. 18.) --- I will punish them doubly. --- Carcasses. So he styles the victims, or idols, the representations of dead men. Them. After the captivity many were converted, Esther viii., and 1 Esdras vi. 21. Edom was forced to receive circumcision. But this was nothing in comparison with the crowds which embraced the gospel. Make gods. This consideration alone suffices to shew their absurdity. (Calmet) --- "Man must now be merciful to god!" (Tertullian, Apol.) --- No one can make even a man, much less a god. (St. Jerome) (Worthington) CHAPTER XVI. Power, in taking vengeance on idolatry. --- Lord. "He who is;" (Calmet) Jehova. (Haydock) The. Grabe (de Vit. p. 8.) observes that the four first verses were omitted in the Septuagint by some careless transcriber, long before the days of Origen, who restored them from the Hebrew and the other Greek versions. On such occasions his work was very useful; but the marks being soon neglected, great confusion ensued. (St. Jerome) (Kennicott, Dis. ii.) --- Grabe has restored these verses in his edition. (Haydock) --- Eusebius (Dem. x.) and Theodoret acknowledged them; and Nobilius found the first verse thus expressed in many copies, (Calmet) as it is in Grabe: "The sin of Juda is expressed in writing with a finger nail of adamant, cleaving to the breast of," &c. (Haydock) --- Altars, to appear more conspicuously to the latest times. This excited God's indignation. (Calmet) --- These figurative expressions shew the inveterate malice of the people. (Worthington) Sin of idolatry, chap. xv. 13. Be left. Protestants, "discontinue from thine," &c. (Haydock) --- The land shall have its sabbaths, which thou wouldst not allow. (Chaldean) (Exodus xxii. 11., and Leviticus xxvi. 34.) Thus. Septuagint continue from the last chapter, "cursed," &c. (Haydock) --- Sedecias had formed alliances with several princes, instead of turning to the Lord, chap. xxvii., and xxxvii. (Calmet) --- Our chief dependence must be on God, not on human policy. (Worthington) Tamaric. A barren shrub, that grows in the driest parts of the wilderness. (Challoner) --- Harhar denotes some sort (Haydock) of "useless wood." (Symmachus) See chap. xlviii. 6., and Isaias xvii. 2. --- Salt, like the environs of Sodom, the fruits of which were bad. Fruit. See Psalm i. 3. (Pindar, Nem. viii.) How different from the wicked! (Calmet) Perverse. Septuagint, "deep." --- Unsearchable. Septuagint, "man, who shall know him?" (Haydock) --- God alone can search the heart by his own power. He enables saints to do it by the light of glory, or of prophecy; as Eliseus and St. Peter knew secret transactions. (Worthington) Partridge. Hebrew kore, (Haydock) may mean the "coucou." The kra lays many eggs, all of which she does not hatch. (Calmet) --- Protestants, " As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not," &c. (Haydock) --- It is rare that all produce birds; so the unjust do not succeed (Calmet) in the end. (Haydock) Throne. The temple. We may also read "O high," &c., chap. xiv. 21. Earth, where alone their portion shall be, (Apocalypse iii. 5,) or they shall be forgotten. It is a proverbial expression, like that of Catullus:Dixit: sed mulier cupido quod dixit amanti In vento et rapida scribere oportet aqua. --- Living, which never fail, unlike those of the wicked, chap. ii. 13. Come. We have several instances of such impious sarcasms, Isaias xxviii. 10., and xxxiv. 13., Amos ii. 12., and Micheas ii. 6. (Calmet) --- We fear not the Chaldeans. (Menochius) Troubled. Hebrew, "in haste to be a pastor after thee." Chaldean, "I delay not, at thy command, to announce thy truths to them," chap. i. 6. Jeremias was aware of the dangers attending his office, yet not dismayed. --- Day: approbation, (1 Corinthians iv. 3.) or advantages of the world. (Calmet) --- Of man. Hebrew also "of the wretched:" anush. I wished rather for the people's welfare, (Haydock) and sought not their ruin. (Chaldean) (Theodoret) Let them be confounded, &c. Such expressions as these in the writings of the prophets, are not to be understood as imprecations proceeding from malice or desire of revenge, but as prophetic predictions of evils that were about to fall upon impenitent sinners, and approbations of the ways of the divine justice. (Challoner) --- The prophet has already prevented this objection, ver. 16. (Haydock) Gate of the palace, or that by which the kings entered the temple, on the west. The time when this admonition was given is not ascertained. CHAPTER XVII. Souls. Those who broke the sabbath were to die, Exodus xxx. 15., and Numbers xv. 32. --- Burdens, or servile work. (Calmet) --- The Jews trifle in deciding what is a burden. (Origen, prin. iv. 2.) --- Sabbath often denotes the observance of the whole law. (Worthington) David. I will observe my covenant, 2 Kings vii. 12. --- Horses: in prosperity, (Menochius) provided this law, as well as all the rest, be observed. (Haydock) --- Such temporal rewards were commonly proposed under the law, as spiritual ones are now. (Worthington) Sacrifices. Hebrew mincha, (Haydock) "offerings" of flour, wine, &c. (Calmet) Fire, by means of Nabuzardan. (Menochius) --- The city shall be entirely destroyed. (Calmet) Potter's. Thus God would shew his dominion over all, Romans ix. 21. Wheel. Hebrew, "stones." Septuagint, "seats;" or "wheel." (Chaldean) (Exodus i. 16.) See Ecclesiasticus xxxviii. 32. (Calmet) Broken. So Providence ordered it. (St. Jerome) --- How should this idea humble man! (Calmet) --- A potter may mould afresh the clay as long as it is soft, but God can change the hardest heart. (Worthington) Shall repent, having free-will, though prevented by grace. (St. Jerome) Hopes. Chap. ii. 25. Septuagint, "we are valiant men." (Haydock) Virgin. The disorders of Israel are thus enhanced. (Calmet) Snow. It continues on Libanus seven or eight months, (La Roque quoted. Univ. Hist. ii. p. 363) or all the year; (Tacitus, Hist. v. 6.) and hence the mountain is justly denominated "white," as the Alps and Albion are from albon. (Bochart; Parkhurst, p. 155.) (Haydock) --- Away. Yet my people abandon me, to serve idols! Hebrew may have many other senses to the same purpose. Septuagint, "Shall the mountain springs fail, or snow from Libanus? Shall a stream forcibly driven by the wind, turn aside?" (Haydock) --- The laws of nature are observed by inanimate things, and shall my people be so foolish as to follow mere vanity. Ancient; followed by the patriarchs, chap. vi. 16. Head, through contempt (Calmet) and pity, Lamentations ii. 15. Burning. Hebrew kadim, "eastern," (Haydock) coming from Desert Arabia, Exodus x. 13. (Calmet) --- Back. Thus the Lord now treats the synagogue. (St. Jerome) Prophet. Jeremias will not cease to upbraid us with our transgressions; or we have guides as good as him, and we shall not be left destitute, as he would intimate. --- Tongue, detraction; or make him suffer for what he says. In all the transactions of this prophet, Christ was foreshewn; (Calmet) and here, particularly, the Jews demand the crucifixion. (St. Jerome) (Worthington) Remember, &c. This is spoken in the person of Christ, persecuted by the Jews, and prophetically denouncing the evils that should fall upon them in punishment for their crimes. (Challoner) --- Jeremias had prayed earnestly for the people, chap. xiv. 17. (Haydock) Therefore. He foretells of the event, and approves of the chastisement of the impenitent, (Calmet) whose "impurity might be a bad precedent for others.["] (St. Jerome) See chap. xvii. 18. For. Protestants, "when." (Haydock) --- Robber. So Nabuchodonosor and all professional conquerors are styled. (Calmet) Destroy. Hebrew, "with them." use them as vessels of ignominy: abutere. (Haydock)