HAYDOCK CATHOLIC BIBLE COMMENTARY ON THE OLD TESTAMENT

ISAIAS 40

CHAPTER XL.

Ver. 1. Be. Sept. "comfort my people." Let them not be dejected. H. --- The end of the captivity, and still more the coming of the Messias, afford consolation, (C.) and to this the prophet chiefly alludes. W.

Ver. 2. Evil. Heb. and some Latin copies have, "warfare." --- Double. A rigorous chastisement. Apoc. xviii. 6. C.

Ver. 3. God, that he may conduct his people from Babylon. Sanchez. --- Yet the prophet speaks chiefly of the baptist, (Mat. iii. 3. C.) who is evidently foretold. W.

Ver. 4. Plain. For the captives, or the conversion of the world. Bar. v. 6.

Ver. 5. Glory. God will rescue his people. Christ will redeem mankind.

Ver. 6. Field. On the downfall of the empire of Babylon, the Jews were liberated.

Ver. 9. Thou, female. How beautiful are the feet of those who announce good tidings! Rom. x. 15. H. --- Thus a feminine noun is applied to Solomon. Eccle. i. Prophets make known to all the coming of the Saviour. C. --- Christ preaches from the mountain, and his apostles over the world. W.

Ver. 10. Him. Christ will reward and punish. Jer. xxxi. 16. Lu. ii. 34.

Ver. 11. Young, or have lately had young lambs, fÅ“tas. Jesus is the good shepherd. Jo. x. 14.

Ver. 12. Who. He now proceeds to shew the difference between God and idols. --- Fingers, is not expressed in Heb. which may denote the epha. Ps. lxxix. 6. C. --- God's power and goodness in the works of the creation, shew what he will do for man. W.

Ver. 15. Dust. Heb. caddak, (H.) "as dok fallen." Sym. --- It may signify an atom. S. Jer. --- If all nations be only like a drop, what portion of it do I occupy? C. v. 17.

Ver. 18. Image. Catholics never pretend to represent the Deity, when they depict the Father as a venerable old man, &c. The do not adore pictures, as our adversaries would insinuate. If we were disposed to cavil, we might bring the same charge against them. For a few weeks ago, "a beautiful altar-piece, painted and presented by the lady of major general Cheney, was put in Horn-sea church, representing Christ blessing the bread and wine." But Protestants can confine such things to their proper use, and Catholic must adore them. H. --- "Such things the Jew, Apella, may believe: not I." Horace.

Ver. 19. Silver. Is God like these idols? H. --- Who knows not that the workman is better than they are? Wis. xiii. 11. C.

Ver. 20. Wood. Heb. hamsuccan, (H.) which Sept. Chal. and S. Jerom explain of a sort of wood used for idols. Moderns take it to be "a rich," or rather "a poor man. He who is mean in his offering, chooses wood that," &c. C. Prot.

Ver. 21. Beginning, by the light of nature, and (W.) has not Moses declared that God alone created the world? H. --- His power and goodness herein convince us that he will not deny grace. W.

Ver. 22. Locusts, compared with the greatest animals. --- Nothing. Heb. "a curtain." Sept. Syr. "vault, (C.) or chamber," kamaran.

Ver. 23. Searchers. Heb. "princes to nothing." Prot. H. --- Philosophers know nothing independently of God, nor can they subsist without him. W.

Ver. 26. Host of heaven, the stars, &c. Gen. ii. 1. Ps. cxlvi. 4.

Ver. 27. Judgment, or conduct, (Gen. xl. 13. C.) as if God minded not our affairs.

Ver. 31. Eagles, who grow young, when they get new feathers. Ps. cii. 5. S. Jer. --- In this and the following 26 chapters the prophet chiefly comforts his people, as he had rebuked them for their crimes in the first part. W.