HAYDOCK CATHOLIC BIBLE COMMENTARY ON THE OLD TESTAMENT

ISAIAS 64

CHAPTER LXIV.

Ver. 1. Presence, as at Sinai. Ex. xix. 16. Judg. v. 4. Judas continues to pray. C. --- The faithful sigh for Christ's coming. H. --- All good people desired it most fervently. W.

Ver. 2. They. Sept. "As wax melts before the fire, so also fire will burn the adversaries, and thy," &c. H. --- Burn. Sparks of fire seem to proceed from it.

Ver. 3. Bear. Ex. xx. 18. Heb. "expect." Judas appeared victorious, when the nation was prostrate.

Ver. 4. Thee. Never was deliverance more unexpected or miraculous. S. Paul quotes this passage, to shew the wisdom manifested in the incarnation. 1 Cor. ii. 9. It is commonly applied to the glory of heaven.

Ver. 5. Thee. The little band of Judas was sincerely attached to the Lord. 2 Mac. i. 3. --- Sinned. This excited thy anger. Yet thou wilt shew mercy. Sin is often put for punishment. C. --- Vau means also, "for, and, yet." Prot. "for we have sinned." But we follow S. Jer. and the Vulg. W.

Ver. 6. Unclean: leper. Grot. Lev. 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. Ch. --- The justice which is under the law is stated uncleanness, when compared with evangelical purity. Phil. 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." S. Jer. --- 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 S. 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 S. James. Thus the apostles explain each other. H. --- Woman. Sept. "of one sitting down;" like Rachel. Gen. xxxi. 35. Sym. "lying-in." Aq. "of proofs." Grot. "like a plaster on a sore, which is thrown away." Such were Alcimus, &c. C. --- To practise (H.) the Jewish rites would now be sinful. M.

Ver. 7. Of thee; to remove thy indignation, like Moses, Jeremias, (vii. 15.) &c. See Ezec. xiii. 5.

Ver. 10. Desolate, under Antiochus Epiphanes. 1 Mac. i. 31. and iv. 38. C.