HAYDOCK CATHOLIC BIBLE COMMENTARY ON THE OLD TESTAMENT

ISAIAS 50

CHAPTER L.

Ver. 1. Away. Such a one could not be received again, if she had taken another husband. Deut. xxiv. 3. Some explain this of the captives. But God restored them to favour. It seems rather to relate to the reprobation (C.) of the synagogue, which will never again become the true Church, (H.) though many of Israel will be converted. Rom. xi. 25. --- Sold you, as a father might do. Ex. xxi. 1. Mat. xviii. 15. S. Ambrose (Tob. viii.) inveighs against such cruel parents, as the Christian religion had not then entirely repressed this inhumanity. C. --- God rejected the synagogue, not out of hard-heartedness or want, but because of her sins. W.

Ver. 2. Hear. My spouse had gone after other lovers. The people refused to hear the prophets; and the priests were become as corrupt as the rest, when the city was taken by the Chaldees and by the Romans. C. --- Sea. Babylon. C. xxi. H. --- I could work the same miracles, as I did when Israel came out of Egypt.

Ver. 4. Weary. Isaias speaks in the name of Christ, whose words carried conviction and comfort along with them. Jo. vi. 69. and vii. 46. C. --- Wakeneth. Lit. "lifteth up." Cynthius Ã¢urem---Vellit. Ec. vi. --- Hear, or obey. H. --- Christ preached more powerfully than Isaias, and continues to do so by his pastors. S. Jer. W.

Ver. 6. Spit. The greatest indignity. Job xxx. 10. Deut. xxv. 9. Yet this was the treatment of our Saviour. Lu. xviii. 31. Mat. xxvi. 67. C. --- "The great Grotius, (I wish he were great in explaining the prophets)" applies this to Jeremias. Houbigant.

Ver. 7. Rock. Christ heard the accusations of his enemies unmoved, as the had not been afraid to blame the conduct of the Pharisees.

Ver. 10. Light. The faithful are exhorted to take courage, while the Romans will destroy the rebellious Jews, (v. 11. C.) and the wicked shall dwell in hell fire. M.