Nations, whose conversion is implicitly foretold. All behold the justice which God has treated both his people and their oppressors. (Calmet) CHAPTER LXI. Rest, as long as God grants me life, or till I behold the Saviour; or Cyrus, the figure of Christ. (Calmet) --- True preachers will not be silent on account of any threats, but will labour for the Church, 2 Timothy ii. (Worthington) One. No profane historian mentions what Cyrus did for the Jews; but all the world knows how much Christ has favoured his Church. (Calmet) --- Name. Thou shalt be no longer the rebellious Jerusalem, but the spouse and chosen people, the Church of Christ. (St. Ignatius of Antioch, ad Magnesians) (St. Jerome) Hand. Chaldean, "before." Hebrew, "by the protection." Forsaken. Yet the synagogue was again rejected, at the death of Christ. The promises naturally relate to his Church. (Calmet) --- Inhabited. Protestants retain the Hebrew words Chephtsi-bah, "my delight in her," and Beulah, (marginal note) "married." (Haydock) Dwell. Hebrew, "marry." They shall be attached to their country. --- Thee. He shall love thee as a bridegroom does one whom he has lately married. Christ never abandons his virgin spouse. (Calmet) --- Isaias speaks of some state of the Jews which has not yet taken place. (Houbigant) Watchmen; priests and prophets, (Matthew ii. 1., and Psalm cxxxiii. 2.; Calmet) or angels. (St. Jerome; St. Bernard) --- The synagogue has long been destitute of guides, but the Catholic Church has an uninterrupted succession of watchful pastors. --- Mindful whose duty it is to remind him of his promises, and to recite the Church office. (Calmet) --- Hebrew mazcirim, monitors, 2 Kings viii. 16. (Haydock) --- In these faithful watchman the Church is always visible. (Worthington) Hand; inviolably, Deuteronomy xxxii. 40. The Persians deemed this oath most sacred. (Calmet) --- Darius just expiring, said to Polycrates, "By thee I give this right hand to Alexander," (Plut.[Plutarch?]) that he may revenge my death. --- Wine. The Church cannot be deprived of her faith or of her God. People, that they may return to Judea, and be converted to Christ. (Calmet) CHAPTER LXII. Work the redemption of mankind. (Haydock) --- Though Cyrus was a figure of Christ, he was as much beneath him as earth is below heaven, Zacharias ix. 9. (Calmet) Edom. Edom and Bosra (a strong city of Edom) are here taken in a mystical sense for the enemies of Christ and his Church. (Challoner) --- St. Jerome with reason finds it difficult to explain it of Christ, as it regards the Machabees. (Houbigant) --- The first six verses are applied to our Saviour's ascension, which excites the admiration of angels, Psalm xxiii. 7. Judas, the Machabee, the glorious figure of Christ, is introduced speaking in this and the following chapter. He conquered Idumea, (1 Machabees v. 3., and 2 Machabees x. 10.) and fought to save the people, 1 Machabees ix. 21. (Calmet) --- The highest order of angels asks this question, admiring the beauty of Christ, though imbrued in blood after his victory. (St. Dionysius, Hierar. vii.) (Worthington) Press. Christ suffered, (St. Cyril) and punished his enemies, Apocalypse xiv. 19. Judas received God's sword from Jeremias, (2 Machabees xv. 15.) and liberated his people. Me. I depended on the goodness of my cause, and on God's aid, chap. lix. 15. (Calmet) Drunk with the wine of my fury, Psalm lxxiv. 9., and Ezechiel xxiii. 31. (Haydock) I, Isaias; or rather the hero mentions what induced him to rise up, 1 Machabees xvi. 10. (Calmet) --- The Jews confess God's mercies. (St. Jerome) Deny, or prove degenerate. (Calmet) --- God approves the conduct of the Machabees. (Haydock) Presence, in high authority, Exodus xxxiii. 20. (Calmet) --- The angel guardian of the Church. Particular guardians also see God's face, Matthew xviii. (Worthington) One; Moses, Numbers xiv. 29., and xx. 3, 12. CHAPTER LXIII. Flock. Psalm lxxvi. 21. --- One. Moses inspired by God. (Calmet) Not, the road was so plain, Wisdom xix. 7. (Haydock) Back. This is spoken by the prophet in the person of the Jews, at the time when for their sins they were given up to their enemies. (Challoner) --- Judas uses the same language at Maspha, 1 Machabees iii. 50. (Calmet) Abraham, &c. That is, Abraham will not now acknowledge us for his children, by reason of our degeneracy; but thou, O Lord, art our true father and our redeemer, and no other can be called our parent in comparison with thee. (Challoner) --- Abraham is not able to save us. (Calmet) --- The patriarchs may justly disregard us, as degenerate children; yet we hope in God's mercies. Thus St. Jerome, &c., explain the passage, which does not favour the errors of Vigilantius and of Luther, who maintain that the saints departed do not know what passes in this world. St. Augustine (Cura xv.) shews the contrary, from the example of Lazarus, Luke xvi. They know each other, though they had not lived together, (St. Gregory, Dial. iv. 33.) and beheld in the light of God what regards their clients. (St. Augustine, City of God xxii. 29.) We cannot decide how the martyrs do help those whom it is certain they assist. (St. Augustine, cura xvi., and contra Faust. xx. 21.; St. Jerome, contra Vigil.; St. Gregory, 3 ep. 30., and 7 ep. 126., &c.) (Worthington) Hardened, &c. The meaning is, that God, in punishment of their great and manifold crimes, and their long abuse of his mercy and grace, had withdrawn his graces from them, and so given them up to error and hardness of heart. (Challoner) --- They had abused his patience, to sin the more. (Theodoret) --- The Jews are accustomed to attribute all to God, though they agree with us in reality God might prevent any sin. (Calmet) --- But he chooses to leave man to the free exercise of his liberty. He hardens (Haydock) "not by infusing malice, but by not shewing mercy; and those to whom he shews it not, are undeserving." (St. Augustine, ep. ad Sixt. cxciv. 14.) --- God is never the author of error. Man takes occasion from his indulgence to become obdurate. (St. Jerome) (Worthington) Nothing; holding them in the greatest contempt. Epiphanes though he should make them easily change their religion. His persecution lasted only three years and a half. --- Sanctuary. 1 Machabees i. 23, 49, 57., and iii. 45. Name. We seem to have no distinction, temple, &c. (Calmet) --- Protestants, "We are thine. Thou never bearest rule over them. They were," &c. (Haydock) Presence, as at Sinai, Exodus xix. 16., and Judges v. 4. Judas [the Machabee] continues to pray. (Calmet) --- The faithful sigh for Christ's coming. (Haydock) --- All good people desired it most fervently. (Worthington) They. Septuagint, "As wax melts before the fire, so also fire will burn the adversaries, and thy," &c. (Haydock) --- Burn. Sparks of fire seem to proceed from it. Bear. Exodus xx. 18. Hebrew, "expect." Judas [the Machabee] appeared victorious, when the nation was prostrate. Thee. Never was deliverance more unexpected or miraculous. St. Paul quotes this passage, to shew the wisdom manifested in the incarnation, 1 Corinthians ii. 9. It is commonly applied to the glory of heaven. Thee. The little band of Judas was sincerely attached to the Lord, 2 Machabees i. 3. --- Sinned. This excited thy anger. Yet thou wilt shew mercy. Sin is often put for punishment. (Calmet) --- Vau means also, "for, and, yet." Protestants, "for we have sinned." But we follow St. Jerome and the Vulgate. (Worthington) Unclean: leper. (Grotius) (Leviticus xiii. 45.) --- Justices. That is, the works by which we pretended to make ourselves just. This is spoken particularly of the sacrifices, sacraments, and ceremonies of the Jews, after the death of Christ, and the promulgation of the new law. (Challoner) --- The justice which is under the law is stated uncleanness, when compared with evangelical purity, Philippians iii. 8. --- "If any one after the gospel....would observe the ceremonies of the law, let him hear the people confessing that all that justice is compared to a most filthy rag." (St. Jerome) --- The good works which are done by grace, and not by man alone, cannot be said to be of this description. They constitute the internal glory of man, and God will one day crown these his gifts. Of ourselves indeed we can do nothing, and the works of the Mosaic law will not avail, as St. Paul inculcates; but those works, point out the saint, which are preformed by charity with faith in Christ. This justice is not imputed only, but real; and shews where true faith exists, according to St. James. Thus the apostles explain each other. (Haydock) --- Woman. Septuagint, "of one sitting down;" like Rachel, Genesis xxxi. 35. Symmachus, "lying-in." Aquila, "of proofs." Grotius, "like a plaster on a sore, which is thrown away." Such were Alcimus, &c. (Calmet) --- To practise (Haydock) the Jewish rites would now be sinful. (Menochius) Of thee; to remove thy indignation, like Moses, Jeremias, (vii. 15.) &c. See Ezechiel xiii. 5. Desolate, under Antiochus Epiphanes, 1 Machabees i. 31., and iv. 38. (Calmet)