_Brethren, &c. Or, call your brethren, My people; and your sister, Her that hath obtained mercy. This is connected with the latter end of the foregoing chapter, and relates to the converts of Israel. (Challoner) --- I seemed to have abandoned them at the great day of carnage; (Haydock) but I will st... [ Continue Reading ]
_Your mother: the synagogue. (Calmet) --- He addresses Juda, (ver. 11, 15.) or all God's people, chap. i. 11. This vineyard yields no good fruit, Isaias v. Idolatry prevails, Ezechiel xvi. 5., and xxiii. 3._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Drought. In Egypt the people were plunged into idolatry, and oppressed. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fornications. They imitate their parents. (Haydock) --- I will not spare them, as I did some in the wilderness. (St. Jerome) --- Punishment will not cease till people repent. (Worthington)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lovers: idols, and foreign nations, Ezechiel xvi. 15, 33._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Paths. The aid which she sought from foreigners shall prove vain. --- It is often an effect of mercy, when our wicked plans miscarry. (St. Jerome)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Baal: or they formed idols._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Season. When the harvest is ripe, the loss is more afflicting. God withdraws what proves an occasion of sin. --- Liberty. The creature serves unwillingly, Romans viii. 21._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Folly, or shame, Genesis xxxiv. 7., and Judges xix. 23._... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER II. _ Times. This was verified during the captivity._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ear. Hebrew, "nose-ring," or ornaments hanging from the nose. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will allure her, &c. After her disloyalties, I will still allure her by my grace, &c., and send her vine-dressers, viz., the apostles, originally her own children, who shall open to her the gates of hope; as heretofore, at her coming into the land of promise, she had all good success after she ha... [ Continue Reading ]
_Vine. Hebrew, "vineyards there," (Calmet) or "from," &c. (Haydock) --- Achor. The environs of Jericho were very enchanting, Isaias lxv. 10. --- Sing is better than Septuagint, "shall be humbled." Hebrew, "shall answer," as people singing alternately. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_My husband. In Hebrew Ishi. --- Baali: my lord. The meaning of this verse is: that, whereas, Ishi and Baali were used indifferently in those days by wives speaking to their husbands, the synagogue, whom God was pleased to consider as his spouse, should call him only Ishi, and abstain from the name... [ Continue Reading ]
_Baalim. It is the plural number of Baal; for there were divers idols of Baal. (Challoner) --- The Jews hence styled Esbaal, Isboseth; as boseth means "confusion," 1 Paralipomenon viii. 33._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Beasts. The most savage nations shall receive the gospel, and become mild, Isaias xi. 6. (Theodoret) --- Wild beasts shall not infest the land, Leviticus xxvi. 22. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will espouse thee, &c. This relates to the happy espousals of Christ with his Church, which shall never be dissolved. (Challoner) --- God gives the dowry, justice, &c._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Faith, the root of all virtues. We shall be true to each other. This has been realized only in the Church of Christ. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hear the heavens, &c. All shall conspire in favour of the Church, which in the following verse is called Jezrahel, that is, the seed of God. (Challoner) --- Harmony shall subsist between all the parts of the universe. The earth shall receive rain, &c. This happiness was enjoyed in figure by the Jew... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jezrahel. This most fruitful valley shall again be covered with abundant crops. The whole nation of the Jews shall be happy. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_That which is not my people, &c. This relates to the conversion of the Gentiles, (Challoner) as the apostles explain it, 1 Peter ii. 10., and Romans ix. (Worthington)_... [ Continue Reading ]