Ezechias, his mourning and prayer. God’s promise of protection. The Assyrian army is destroyed. Sennacherib is slain.
King Ezechias requesteth the prayers of Isaie the prophet, 6. who assureth the king of Gods helpe. (8. In the meane time the enimies threatening and blaspheming, 14. King Ezechias prayeth) 21. God promiseth to protect Ierusalem: 36 and by an Angel killeth in one night an hundred eigtiefiue thousand Assirians. 37. Their king returneth to Niniue and is slaine by his owne sonnes.
1And it came to pass, when king Ezechias had heard it, that he rent his garments and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.E quando il re Ezechia ebbe udito, stracciò le sue vesti, e si involse nel cilicio, ed entrò nella casa del Signore.AND it came to passe, when king Ezechias had heard it, he rent his garments, and was wrapped in sackcloth, & entred into the house of our Lord.Et factum est, cum audisset rex Ezechias, scidit vestimenta sua, et obvolutus est sacco, et intravit in domum Domini. 2And he sent Eliacim who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and the ancients of the priests covered with sackcloth, to Isaias the son of Amos the prophet.E mandò Eliacim prefetto della casa, e Sobna dottor della legge, e gli anziani de' sacerdoti vestiti di cilizio ad Isaia figliuolo di Amos profeta,And he sent Eliacim which was ouer the house, and Sobna the scribe, and the ancients of the priestes couered with sackclothes to Isaie, the sonne of Amos the prophete,Et misit Eliacim, qui erat super domum, et Sobnam scribam, et seniores de sacerdotibus, opertos saccis, ad Isaiam, filium Amos, prophetam, 3And they said to him: Thus saith Ezechias: This day is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.E questi gli dissero: Ezechia dice: Giorno di tribolazione, e di gastigo, e di bestemmia egli è questo: i figliuoli sono stati condotti fino al parto, e manca la forza per partorirli.and they sayd to him: Thus sayth Ezechias: This day is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemie: because the children are come euen to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.et dixerunt ad eum: Hæc dicit Ezechias: Dies tribulationis, et correptionis, et blasphemiæ, dies hæc; quia venerunt filii usque ad partum, et virtus non est pariendi. 4It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabsaces, whom the king of the Assyrians his master hath sent to blaspheme the living God, and to reproach with words which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up by prayer for the remnant that is left.Se il Signore Dio tuo ha udite le parole di Rabsace mandato dal re Assiro suo signore a bestemmiare il Dio vivo, ed a schernirlo con que' discorsi, che il Signore Dio tuo ha sentiti: alza adunque tu la tua orazione per que', che ancora rimangono.If by any meanes our Lord thy God wil heare the wordes of Rabsaces, whom the king of Assyrians his Lord hath sent to blaspheme the liuing God. & to vpbraide with words which our Lord thy God hath heard: lift vp prayer therfore for the remnant that are left.Si quomodo audiat Dominus Deus tuus verba Rabsacis, quem misit rex Assyriorum dominus suus ad blasphemandum Deum viventem et exprobrandum sermonibus quos audivit Dominus Deus tuus: leva ergo orationem pro reliquiis quæ repertæ sunt.
5And the servants of Ezechias came to Isaias.E andarono i servi di Ezechia da Isaia:And the seruāts of Ezechias came to Isaie.Et venerunt servi regis Ezechiæ ad Isaiam. 6And Isaias said to them: Thus shall you say to your master: Thus saith the Lord: Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me.E Isaia disse loro: Dite questo al vostro padrone: Il Signore dice: Non ti faccian paura le parole, che hai udite, colle quali i servi del re degli Assirj mi hanno bestemmiato.And Isaie sayd to them: Thus shal you say to your master: Thus saith our Lord: Feare not at the face of the wordes, which thou hast heard, where with the seruants of the king of the Assyrians haue blasphemed me.Et dixit ad eos Isaias: Hæc dicetis domino vestro: Hæc dicit Dominus: Ne timeas a facie verborum quæ audisti, quibus blasphemaverunt pueri regis Assyriorum me. 7Behold, I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a message, and shall return to his own country, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own country.Ecco, che io darò a lui uno spirito, e gli sarà recato un avviso, e tornerà al suo paese, e farollo perire di spada nel suo paese.Behold, I wil geue him a spirit, and he shal heare a message and shal returne to his countrie, and I wil make him fal by the sword in his owne countrie.Ecce ego dabo ei spiritum, et audiet nuntium, et revertetur ad terram suam, et corruere eum faciam gladio in terra sua. 8And Rabsaces returned, and found the king of the Assyrians besieging Lobna. For he had heard that he was departed from Lachis.E se v'andò' Rabsace, che aveva udito come il re degli Assirj era sloggiato da Lachis, e trovollo, che faceva assedio di Lobna,And Rabsaces returned, and found the king of Assyrians fighting agaynst Lobna. For he heard that he was departed from Lachis,Reversus est autem Rabsaces, et invenit regem Assyriorum præliantem adversus Lobnam: audierat enim quia profectus esset de Lachis. 9And he heard say about Tharaca the king of Ethiopia: He is come forth to fight against thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Ezechias, saying:E udì novelle intorno a Taraca re dell'Etiopia, come questi veniva per combatterlo. La qualcosa poiché ebbe udita, mandò ambasciadori ad Ezechia, dicendo:and he heard of Tharaca the king of Aethiopia, them that sayd: He is come forth to fight agaynst thee. Which when he had heard, he sent messengers to Ezechias, saying:Et audivit de Tharaca rege Æthiopiæ, dicentes: Egressus est ut pugnet contra te. Quod cum audisset, misit nuntios ad Ezechiam, dicens:
10Thus shall you speak to Ezechias the king of Juda, saying: Let not thy God deceive thee, in whom thou trustest, saying: Jerusalem shall not be given into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.Direte ad Ezechia re di Giuda: Non t'inganni il tuo Dio a cui tu ti affidi col dire: Non sarà data Gerusalemme in potere del re Assiro.Thus shal you say to Ezechaias the king of Iuda, speaking: Let not thy God deceiue thee, in whom thou hast confidence, saying: Ierusalen shal not be geuen into the hand of the king of the Assyrians.Hæc dicetis Ezechiæ regi Judæ, loquentes: Non te decipiat Deus tuus in quo tu confidis, dicens: Non dabitur Jerusalem in manu regis Assyriorum. 11Behold thou hast heard all that the kings of the Assyrians have done to all countries which they have destroyed, and canst thou be delivered?Ecco, che tu hai sentito tutto quel, che han fatto i re Assiri a tutte queste regioni, le quali eglino hanno sterminate; e tu potrai liberartene?Loe thou hast heard al thinges the kinges of the Assyrians haue done to al countries, which they haue subuerted, and canst thou be deliuered?Ecce tu audisti omnia quæ fecerunt reges Assyriorum omnibus terris, quas subverterunt: et tu poteris liberari ? 12Have the gods of the nations delivered them whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozam, and Haram, and Reseph, and the children of Eden, that were in Thalassar?Hann'eglino forse gli dei delle genti salvato quegli, a' quali portaron rovina i padri miei, Gozan, e Haram e Reseph, e i figliuoli di Eden, che erano in Thelassar?Why, haue the goddes of the nations deliuered them, whom my fathers haue subuerted, Gozam, and Haram, and Reseph, and the children of Eden, that were in Thalassar?Numquid eruerunt eos dii gentium quos subverterunt patres mei, Gozam, et Haram, et Reseph, et filios Eden qui erant in Thalassar ? 13Where is the king of Emath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Ana, and of Ava?Dov'è il re di Emath, e il re di Arphad, e il re della città di Sepharvaim, di Ana, e di Ava?Where is the king of Emath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the citie of Sepharuaim, of Ana, & Aua?Ubi est rex Emath, et rex Arphad, et rex urbis Sepharvaim, Ana, et Ava ? 14And Ezechias took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it, and went up to the house of the Lord, and Ezechias spread it before the Lord.E prese Ezechia la lettera dalle mani degli ambasciadori, e la lesse, e andossene alla casa del Signore, e la distese dinanzi al Signore.And Ezechias tooke the letters of the hand of the messengers, and read them, and went vp into the house of our Lord, and Ezchias layd them open before our Lord.Et tulit Ezechias libros de manu nuntiorum, et legit eos, et ascendit in domum Domini, et expandit eos Ezechias coram Domino:
15And Ezechias prayed to the Lord, saying:E fece orazione Ezechia al Signore, dicendo:And Ezchias prayed to our Lord, saying:et oravit Ezechias ad Dominum, dicens: 16Lord of hosts, God of Israel who sittest upon the cherubims, thou alone art the God of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth.Signore degli eserciti, Dio d'Israele, che siedi sopra i cherubini; tu solo se Dio di tutti i regni della terra tu facesti il cielo, e la terraO Lord of hostes God of Israel, which sittest vpon the Cherubs, thou art the onlie God of al the kingdomes of the earth, thou hast made heauen and earth.Domine exercituum, Deus Israël, qui sedes super cherubim, tu es Deus solus omnium regnorum terræ: tu fecisti cælum et terram. 17Incline, O Lord, thy ear, and hear: open, O Lord, thy eyes, and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to blaspheme the living God.Porgi Signore le tue orecchie, ed ascolta: apri Signore gli occhi tuoi, e vedi, ed ascolta tutto quello, che manda a dire Sennacherib bestemmiando il Dio vivo.Incline ô Lord thine eare, and heare: open ô Lord thine eies, and see, and heare al the wordes of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to blaspheme the liuing God.Inclina, Domine, aurem tuam, et audi; aperi, Domine, oculos tuos, et vide: et audi omnia verba Sennacherib, quæ misit ad blasphemandum Deum viventem. 18For of a truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid waste lands, and their countries.Vero è, o Signore, che i re degli Assirj han disertate le genti, e i loro paesi.For in verie deede, ô Lord, the kinges of the Assyrians haue made landes desolate, and the countries of the same.Vere enim, Domine, desertas fecerunt reges Assyriorum terras, et regiones earum, 19And they have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the works of men’s hands, of wood and stone: and they broke them in pieces.Ed han dati alle fiamme gli dei loro: perocché non erano dei, ma opere delle mani degli uomini, legni, e sassi: e gli hanno fatti in pezzi.And they haue geuen their goddes to fyre: for they were not goddes, but the workes of mens handes, wood & stone: & they brake them in peeces.et dederunt deos earum igni: non enim erant dii, sed opera manuum hominum, lignum et lapis, et comminuerunt eos. 20And now, O Lord our God, save us out of his hand: and let all the kingdoms of the earth know, that thou only art the Lord.Ma tu adesso, o Signore Dio nostro, salvaci dalle mani di lui; e i regni tutti della terra conoscano, che tu se solo il Signore.And now ô Lord our God saue vs out of his hand: and let al the kingdomes of the earth knowe, that thou onlie art the Lord.Et nunc, Domine Deus noster, salva nos de manu ejus, et cognoscant omnia regna terræ quia tu es Dominus solus.
21And Isaias the son of Amos sent to Ezechias, saying: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: For the prayer thou hast made to me concerning Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians:E Isaia figliuolo di Amos mandò a dire ad Ezechia: Il Signore Dio d'Israele dice così: Quanto a quello, che tu mi hai pregato di fare riguardo a Sennacherib re degli Assirj:And Isaie the sonne of Amos sent to Ezechias, saying: Thus sayth our Lord the God of Israel: For the thinges that thou praied me concerning Sennacherib the king of Assyrians:Et misit Isaias, filius Amos, ad Ezechiam, dicens: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus Israël: Pro quibus rogasti me de Sennacherib, rege Assyriorum, 22This is the word which the Lord hath spoken of him: The virgin the daughter of Sion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn: the daughter of Jerusalem hath wagged the head after thee.Ecco quello che ha detto il Signore contro di lui: Egli ti ha disprezzato, e ti ha insultato, o vergine figlia di Sion: ha scosso la testa dietro a te, figliuola di Gerusalemme.this is the word which our Lord hath spoken vpon him: The virgin daughter of Sion hath despised thee, and scorned thee: the daughter of Ierusalem hath wagged the head after thee.hoc est verbum quod locutus est Dominus super eum: Despexit te et subsannavit te, / virgo filia Sion; / post te caput movit, / filia Jerusalem. 23Whom hast thou reproached, and whom hast thou blasphemed, and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thy eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.Chi hai tu oltraggiato, e chi hai tu bestemmiato, e contro di chi hai alzata la voce, e il superbo tuo sguardo? Contro il Santo d'Israele.Whom hast thou vpbrayded, and whom hast thou blasphemed, and vpon whom hast thou exalted voice, and lifted vp the height of thine eies? To the holie one of Israel.Cui exprobrasti ? et quem blasphemasti ? / et super quem exaltasti vocem, / et levasti altitudinem oculorum tuorum ? / ad Sanctum Israël. 24By the hand of thy servants thou hast reproached the Lord: and hast said: With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the height of the mountains, to the top of Libanus: and I will cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir trees, and will enter to the top of its height, to the forest of its Carmel.Per mezzo de' servi tuoi hai oltraggiato il Signore, ed hai detto: io colla moltitudine de' miei cocchi sono salito sugli alti monti, su' gioghi del Libano: troncherò i suoi cedri più alti, e gli scelti suoi abeti, salirò alla ultima cima di esso, ed entrerò nella boscaglia del suo Carmelo.By the hand of thy seruants thou hast vpbrayded our Lord: and hast sayd: In the multitude of my chariotes haue I climed the height of mountaynes, the toppes of Libanus: and I wil cut downe the high cedres therof, & the chosen firre trees therof, and wil enter to the toppe of the height therof, to the forest of his Carmel.In manu servorum tuorum exprobrasti Domino, / et dixisti: In multitudine quadrigarum mearum / ego ascendi altitudinem montium juga Libani; / et succidam excelsa cedrorum ejus, / et electas abietes illius, / et introibo altitudinem summitatis ejus, / saltum Carmeli ejus.
25I have digged, and drunk water, and have dried up with the sole of my foot, all the rivers shut up in banks.Io ho scavato, ed ho bevuto le acque, e dovunque ho posti i piedi, ho asciugati tutti i rivi correnti tralle loro ripe.I haue digged, and drunken the water, and haue dried vp with the steppe of my foote al the riuers of the rampiers.Ego fodi, et bibi aquam, / et exsiccavi vestigio pedis mei / omnes rivos aggerum. 26Hast thou not heard what I have done to him of old? from the days of old I have formed it: and now I have brought it to effect: and it hath come to pass that hills fighting together, and fenced cities should be destroyed.Ma non hai tu udito, che io già tempo ordinai queste cose; Io già ab antico le concepii; ed ora le ho poste ad effetto; e sono eseguite, talmente chè sono distrutte le rocche, che fan resistenza, e le munite città.Why, hast thou not heard, what I haue done to him of old? from ancient daies haue I formed it: and now I haue brought it to effect: and it is made to the rooting out of litle hilles bickering together, and of sensed cities.Numquid non audisti quæ olim fecerim ei ? / Ex diebus antiquis ego plasmavi illud; / et nunc adduxi, / et factum est in eradicationem collium compugnantium, / et civitatum munitarum. 27The inhabitants of them were weak of hand, they trembled, and were confounded: they became like the grass of the field, and the herb of the pasture, and like the grass of the housetops, which withered before it was ripe.Gli abitatori di queste come monchi tremarono, e si spaurirono, son divenuti come lo strame de' campi, e il fieno de' pascoli, e l'erba dei tetti, che secca prima di esser a maturità.The inhabitants of them with shortened hand haue trembled, and are confounded: they are become as hay of the field, and grasse of the pasture ground, and herbe of the house toppes, which hath withered before it was ripe.Habitatores earum breviata manu / contremuerunt, et confusi sunt. / Facti sunt sicut fœnum agri, / et gramen pascuæ, / et herba tectorum, / quæ exaruit antequam maturesceret. 28I know thy dwelling, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.Lo conobbi il tuo stare, e l'andare, e 'l venire, e la stoltezza tua contro di me.I haue knowen thy habitation, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy madnes agaynst me.Habitationem tuam, et egressum tuum, / et introitum tuum cognovi, / et insaniam tuam contra me. 29When thou wast mad against me, thy pride came up to my ears: therefore I will put a ring in thy nose, and a bit between thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.Quando tu infuriavi contro di me, pervenne alle mie orecchie la tua arroganza: io pertanto metterò alle tue narici un anello, ed un freno alle tue labbra, e ti rimenerò per quella strada, per cui venisti.When thou didstrage agaynst me, thy pride ascended into mine eares: therfore I wil put a ring in thy nosthrels, and a bitte in thy lippes, & wil bring thee backe into the way, by which thou camest.Cum fureres adversum me, / superbia tua ascendit in aures meas. / Ponam ergo circulum in naribus tuis, / et frenum in labiis tuis, / et reducam te in viam / per quem venisti.
30But to thee this shall be a sign: Eat this year the things that spring of themselves, and in the second year eat fruits: but in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.Ma tu (o Ezechia) ecco il segno, che avrai: Mangia per quest'anno quello, che spontaneamente darà la terra; ed il secondo anno viverai di pomi: il terzo anno poi seminate, e mietete, e piantate vigne, e mangiatene i frutti.But to thee this shal be a signe: eate this yeare the thinges that grow of themselues, and in the second yeare eate fruites: but in the third yeare sow and reape, & plant vineyards, and eate the fruite of them.Tibi autem hoc erit signum: comede hoc anno quæ sponte nascuntur, et in anno secundo pomis vescere; in anno autem tertio seminate et metite, et plantate vineas, et comedite fructum earum. 31And that which shall be saved of the house of Juda, and which is left, shall take root downward, and shall bear fruit upward:E quel, che si salverà, e quello, che rimarrà della casa di Giuda, getterà all'ingiù le sue radici, e fruttificherà in alto:And that which shal be saued of the house of Iuda, and which is leaft, shal take roote downeward, and shal beare fruite vpward:Et mittet id quod salvatum fuerit de domo Juda, et quod reliquum est, radicem deorsum, et faciet fructum sursum: 32For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and salvation from mount Sion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.Perocché di Gerusalemme usciranno gli avanzi, e dal monte di Sion i salvati: lo zelo del Signor degli eserciti farà tal cosa.because out of Ierusalem there shal a remnant goe forth, and saluation from mount Sion: the zele of the Lord of hostes shal doe this.quia de Jerusalem exibunt reliquiæ, et salvatio de monte Sion: zelus Domini exercituum faciet istud. 33Wherefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of the Assyrians: He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow into it, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a trench about it.Per la qual cosa così dice il Signore riguardo al re Assiro: Ei non porrà il piede in questa città, né getterà qua una saetta, né la scalerà il soldato coperto di scudo, né egli alzerà terra all'intorno.Therfore thus sayth our Lord concerning the king of the Assyrians: He shal not enter this citie, and he shal not shoote arrow there, and shilde shal not occupie it, and he shal not cast rampier about it:Propterea hæc dicit Dominus de rege Assyriorum: Non intrabit civitatem hanc, / et non jaciet ibi sagittam, / et non occupabit eam clypeus, / et non mittet in circuitu ejus aggerem. 34By the way that he came, he shall return, and into this city he shall not come, saith the Lord.Per la strada, per cui venne, ritornerà, e non entrerà in questa città, dice il Signore.In the way that he came, by the same he shal returne, and into this citie he shal not enter, sayth our Lord.In via qua venit, per eam revertetur, / et civitatem hanc non ingredietur, dicit Dominus.
35And I will protect this city, and will save it for my own sake, and for the sake of David my servant.Ed io proteggerò questa città, affin di salvarla a causa mia, e a causa di Davidde mio servo.And I wil protect this citie, that I may saue it for myne owne sake, and for Dauids sake my seruant.Et protegam civitatem istam, ut salvem eam / propter me, et propter David, servum meum. 36And the angel of the Lord went out and slew in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And they arose in the morning, and behold they were all dead corpses.Venne adunque un angelo del Signore, e percosse negli alloggiamenti degli Assirj cento ottantacinque mila uomini: e la mattina alla levata, ecco che tutti questi, eran morti cadaveri.And the Angel of our Lord came forth, and stroke in the campe of the Assyrians an hundred eightie fiue thousand. And they arose in the morning, and behold, al were carcasses of dead men.Egressus est autem angelus Domini, et percussit in castris Assyriorum centum octoginta quinque millia. Et surrexerunt mane, et ecce omnes cadavera mortuorum. 37And Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians went out and departed, and returned, and dwelt in Ninive.E partissi, e se v'andò, e tornò Sennacheribbe re degli Assirj a posarsi in Ninive.And he went out, and departed, and Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians returned, and dwelt in Niniue.Et egressus est, et abiit, et reversus est Sennacherib, rex Assyriorum, et habitavit in Ninive. 38And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the temple of Nesroch his god, that Adramelech and Sarasar his sons slew him with the sword: and they fled into the land of Ararat, and Asarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.Ed avvenne, che mentre adorava nel tempio Nesroch suo Dio, Adramelech, e Savasar suoi figliuoli lo uccisero a colpi di spada, e fuggirono nel paese di Ararat, e regnò in luogo di lui il figliuol suo Asarhaddon.And it came to passe, when he adored in the temple of Nesroch his god, Adramelech and Sarasar his sonnes stroke him with the sword: and they fled into the land of Ararat, & Asarhaddon his sonne reigned for him.Et factum est, cum adoraret in templo Nesroch deum suum, Adramelech et Sarasar, filii ejus, percusserunt eum gladio, fugeruntque in terram Ararat; et regnavit Asarhaddon, filius ejus, pro eo.
37:1
Year of the World 3294, Year before Christ 710.
Worthington
Sackcloth. Emblems of repentance. Sennacherib's boasting (ver. 13.) was chastised, ver. 36. (Worthington)
37:7
37:18
Kennicott
Lands. Hebrew, "all the lands and their land." The parallel text is more correct, "the nations and their land." (Kennicott)
37:24
Challoner
Carmel. See 4 Kings xix. (Challoner)
37:25
Calmet
Shut, etc. Hebrew matsor, (Haydock) "of Egypt," where Sennacherib had been. (Calmet)
37:29
Calmet
Lips, and treat thee like some ungovernable beast. (Haydock) (Ezechiel 29:4., and 38:4.) (Calmet)
37:30
Thee. He directeth his speech to Ezechias.
37:35
Worthington
Servant. Hence it plainly appears that God protects the living for the sake of the saints departed. To evade this proof, Protestants (Bible 1603) explain, "for God's promise sake made to David." But God never made any such promise to him; otherwise the city would never have been destroyed. (Worthington)
37:36
37:24
Carmel.... See these figurative expressions explained in the annotations on the nineteenth chapter of the fourth book of Kings.
37:1
Renting of cutting of garments was a•• ceremonie to shew internal sorow;
And sackcloth was an habite of ponitents for sinnes.
Concordance 4. Reg. 19.
37:2
Concordance 2. Par. 32.
37:13
That which happened to al these infidel kinges, fel also vpon Sennacharib king of Assyrians shortly after he had thus bragged, or rather greatter ruine and miserie. v. 36. & 38.
37:30
He turneth his speach to Ezechias.
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•5. For Dauids sake.] VVe haue here a manifest example that the merites of Merites of Sainctes do profite the liuing. Sainctes departed forth of this world, do profite the liuing: God protecting Ierusalem not only for his owne, but also for his seruant Dauids sake. Against which plaine sense, Protestantes denying merites and prayers of Sainctes, seme The Protestantes euasion. to haue no better quasion, then this sillie shift, •e•ned without vvarrant of holie Scripture, or ancient Father; to interprete these vvordes, for Dauids sake to signifie, for Gods promise sake made to Dauid. But if they be demanded, vvhere Bible 160•. and when God promised to Dauid, that he vvould protect and saue the citie of Ierusalem from sacking by enimies, or from ruine, they can neuer shevv it. God made Dauid conquerour of Ierusalem, extirpating there the Iebusites, who vntil his time kept the tovvre of Sion (2. Reg. 5. v. 7.) & protected the same citie God promised to protect the citie of Ierusalem from certaine dangers, but not perpetually. al his time, and long after. And in certaine particular dangers, promised to Achaz a vvicked king (Isaie. 7.) and to this good king Ezechias here •& 4. Reg. 19. • that he vvould saue and deliuer Ierusalem, from oher particular distresses vvherin it vvas at those times, but he promised not this to king Dauid. Neither did God make a general promise to protect that citie perpetually. For if he had so promised, it should not haue bene subdued, brought into captiuitie, & defaced as it was by the Babylonians. And therfore this glosse of Protestants 4. Reg. 25. is built vpon false ground. And the vvordes are as manifest, as if the kings Maiestie The Protestants glosse is il grounded. should say: I vvil protect the •••• of London, that I may saue it for myn ovvne sake, and such my former subiectes sake, that haue faithfully heretofore serued their kinges. Or if he should say: I vvil protect such a noblemans chiefe. Manour place for myn owne sake, & for such his progenitors sake, who This similitude doth not proue but explaine the truth otherwise proued. serued me loyally. VVherby is plainely signified, that the king do•• this •ouour not only forth is ovvne sake, but also for the merites of some that liued there and deserued vvel before. Neither do vve produce this similitude: to proue that is in controuersie, but to explaine the Catholique doctrine, apparent by this text, and approued by the ancient Fathers, and the vvhole Church of God.
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Concordance Iob. 1. Eccli 48. 1. Mac. 7. 2 Mac. 8.
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Novatian † AD 258 A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity 30
… “I am the first and the last, and beside me there is no God who is as I.” And, “Who hath meted out heaven with a span, and the earth with a handful? Who has suspended the mountains in a balance, and the woods on scales?” And Hezekiah: “That all may know that Thou art God alone.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 On Patience 15
… her brow serene contracted by no wrinkle of sadness or of anger; her eyebrows evenly relaxed in gladsome wise, with eyes downcast in humility, not in unhappiness; her mouth sealed with the honourable mark of silence; her hue such as theirs who are without care and without guilt; the motion of her head frequent against the devil, and her laugh threatening;
St Dionysius of Alexandria † AD 265 Containing Various Sections of the Works 2.2
… “Mine eyes did see Thy work, being till then imperfect.” But when they assert now that all those things of grace and beauty, which they declare to be textures finely wrought out of atoms, are fabricated spontaneously by these bodies without either wisdom or perception in them, who can endure to hear
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 1.32
… If the life, and good works, and fasting without virginity can merit the advent of the Holy Spirit, she might well have been the mother of our Lord. Let us hasten to the rest:
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 12.8
… and there was none that moved the wing or opened the mouth, or made the least noise;” the other, “I am become like a solitary pelican; I watched and became as a sparrow alone upon the roof.” The one says, “I have dried up with the sole of my foot all the rivers shut up in banks;”
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Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus 181
… His idea was, so it is said, to throw the imperial city into confusion by attacking true doctrines a second time, and to charge your holiness with supporting them. But God saw and did not overlook it. “He put his hook into his nose and his bridle into his lips,”
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 21.24
… For with very few exceptions, and these either men who from their insignificance were disregarded, or from their virtue manfully resisted, being left unto Israel, as was ordained, for a seed and root,
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 26
… and that which was said of Abraham, we find God saying the same of this man also; or rather, much more of the latter. For with respect to the patriarch it is said, “I remembered my covenant with Abraham;” but here He saith not “the covenant,” but how? “I will defend this city for my servant David’s sake.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 32
And they called Him “Son of David,” because the name was thought to be honorable. In many passages, for instance, did the prophets
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1. He was wrapped in sackcloth, — in haircloth. For this was the garb of penance and the clothing of those in mourning. See what is said at Gen. xxxvii, 34. Moreover, this sackcloth was either worn next to the bare flesh, or over other garments, as in Rome during Lent many wear sackcloth over their clothes. these prophecies were to be referred to, the more so because other prophecies were mixed in with the discourse of Isaiah, whether concerning the Messiah or concerning the fates of the Jewish people and neighboring nations; thirdly, the Prophet indeed opened up what awaited the Assyrians in the future as they waged war, but his prophecy perhaps had not yet been committed to writing, and was known to the Jews only in general terms, so that they could not examine it in detail. Thus Berthier. Which things do not seem sufficiently proven to us, so as to give a reason for the terror of the people themselves and of the king, endowed with such great faith and piety from another source, unless it be said that on account of excessive fear of the approaching Assyrian army all collapsed in spirit. was, he covers with the name of blessing, so that he might draw them more to himself. Thus the demon also acts. Secondly, Forerius says that blessing, that is, abundance, liberality, as if to say: Do not be sparing toward me, but deal with me magnificently and liberally, namely without fear, come to me confidently; entrusting your care to me and to my faithfulness: which if you do, each one shall eat, etc., that is, you shall remain masters of your possessions, you shall freely go to your fields, and shall pluck your figs, grapes and fruits, and shall experience me as a father and protector instead of an enemy. Thirdly, others say, as if to say: Do me a favor in this matter. Hezekiah announces to Isaiah the threats and blasphemies of Rabshakeh: Isaiah, verse 6, commands him to be of good courage and not to fear the Assyrian whom God shall cast down. Secondly, verse 9, Sennacherib, about to go against the Ethiopians, again sends threatening letters to Hezekiah, so that he might surrender himself, and not hope to escape from his hand by the help of God. Hence thirdly, Hezekiah, verse 14, offers these letters to God in the temple, and prays that He might come to the aid of him and his people. Whence fourthly, verse 21, in the name of God Isaiah again frees him from fear, and rebukes the blasphemous Sennacherib, and predicts all things adverse to him, and, verse 30, gives a sign, namely provisions for three years. Then, verse 36, an Angel strikes the camp of Sennacherib, who, fleeing, is slain by his sons. 1. And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, he rent his garments, and was wrapped in sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. 2. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and the ancients of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaias the son of Amos the prophet, 3. and they said to him: Thus saith Hezekiah: A day of tribulation, and of chastisement, and of blasphemy, this day: because the children are come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4. If so be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rabsaces, whom the king of the Assyrians his master hath sent to blaspheme the living God, and to reprove with the words which the Lord thy God hath heard: offer up thy prayer for the remnant that is left. 5. And the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaias, 6. and Isaias said to them: Thus shall you say to your master: Thus saith the Lord: Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me. 7. Behold I will give him a spirit, and he shall hear a message, and shall return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land. 8. And Rabsaces returned, and found the king of the Assyrians fighting against Lobna. For he had heard that he was departed from Lachis, 9. and he heard concerning Tharaca king of Ethiopia, saying: He is come out to fight against thee. Which when he heard, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying: 10. Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Juda, saying: Let not thy God deceive thee, in whom thou trustest, saying: Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of the Assyrians. 11. Behold thou hast heard all that the kings of the Assyrians have done to all lands, how they have destroyed them, and canst thou be delivered? 12. Have the gods of the nations delivered them, whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozam, and Haram, and Reseph, and the children of Eden that were in Thalassar? 13. Where is the king of Emath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Ana and Ava? 14. And Hezekiah took the letters from the hand of the messengers, and read them, and went up into the house of the Lord, and Hezekiah spread them before the Lord. 15. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying: 16. O Lord of hosts God of Israel, who sittest upon the Cherubim, thou art God alone of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth. 17. Incline, O Lord, thy ear, and hear; open, O Lord, thy eyes, and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to blaspheme the living God. 18. Truly, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid waste the lands, and their regions. 19. And they have given their gods to the fire: for they were not gods, but the works of men's hands, wood and stone: and they have destroyed them. 20. And now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand: and let all the kingdoms of the earth know that thou art the Lord alone. 21. And Isaias the son of Amos sent to Ezechias, saying: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Because thou hast prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of the Assyrians: 22. this is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Sion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn: the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head after thee. 23. Whom hast thou reproached, and whom hast thou blasphemed, and against whom hast thou lifted up thy voice, and raised up thy eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel. 24. By the hand of thy servants thou hast reproached the Lord: and thou hast said: With the multitude of my chariots I have ascended the height of the mountains, the sides of Libanus: and I have cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof, and I have entered into the height of the top thereof, the forest of Carmel thereof. 25. I have digged, and drunk water, and have dried up all the rivers of the besieged places with the sole of my foot. 26. Hast thou not heard what I have done to it of old? From the days of old I formed it, and now I have brought it to pass, that thou shouldest lay waste fenced cities, and turn them into heaps. 27. The inhabitants thereof were weak of hand, and were afraid, and confounded: they became as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the tops of houses, which withered before it came to maturity. 28. Thy dwelling and thy going out, and thy coming in I know, and thy rage against me. 29. Because thy fury against me is come up into my ears, I will put my ring in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest. 30. And this shall be a sign unto thee: Eat this year the things that spring of themselves, and in the second year eat wild fruits; but in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. 31. And that which shall be saved of the house of Juda, and that which shall be left, shall take root downward, and shall bear fruit upward: 32. for out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and salvation from mount Sion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this. 33. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of the Assyrians: He shall not come into this city, and shall not shoot an arrow into it, and a shield shall not come before it, and he shall not cast up a rampart against it. 34. By the way that he came, he shall return, and into this city he shall not enter, saith the Lord: 35. And I will protect this city, and will save it for my own sake, and for David my servant's sake. 36. And the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And they rose in the morning, and behold they were all dead corpses. 37. And he departed, and went away, and returned, and Sennacherib king of the Assyrians went back, and dwelt in Ninive. 38. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the temple of Nesroch his god, that Adramelech and Sarasar his sons slew him with the sword: and they fled into the land of Ararat, and Asarhaddon his son reigned in his stead. 1. He was clothed in sackcloth, — in haircloth. For this was the garb of penance, and the raiment of those mourning. See what is said Gen. xxxvii, 34. Moreover this sackcloth was either upon the bare flesh, or over other garments, as in Rome during Lent many put sackcloth over their garments.
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3. Days of tribulation, and correction, and blasphemy. — First, St. Jerome and Sanchez refer tribulation to the people, correction to God, blasphemy to Rabshakeh, that is to say: This day warns of tribulation impending upon the people, and of correction from God, who wishes to punish our sins, who also heard the arrogance of the impious king and the blasphemy of the shameless legate Rabshakeh, by which he said that God could not deliver the Jews from the hand of Sennacherib, just as the gods of other nations could not. Secondly, Vatablus: He says, he remarks, days of correction, or rebuke, or accusation: because the Jews were being accused by Sennacherib of breaking the covenant, as covenant-breakers. Thirdly and more plainly, he calls it a day of correction: because Rabshakeh had rebuked Hezekiah, in that he trusted in God, whose high places he had taken away, and in that he did not have two thousand horses, nor was he able to resist, and the people, in that unless they surrendered, they would be reduced to such straits that they would be forced to eat their own dung and drink their own urine: these therefore were the rebukes or reproaches of Rabshakeh. The children have come even to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. — It is a proverb, that is to say: We have come into the utmost peril, pain and anguish, so that like women in labour striving to wage a pious and necessary war, for the defence of the holy city against the blasphemous Sennacherib, we are unable to bring it forth into the light because of weakness and lack of strength; but we shall be overwhelmed by it, unless God miraculously succours us for the sake of His glory. Thus Theodoret, Procopius, Eucherius, Abulensis, Cajetan and Vatablus either here, or in the Fourth Book of Kings, chapter nineteen.
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4. If by any means He will hear. — Supply, that is to say: Pray for us, if perhaps God will hear, etc., as Forerius and Vatablus translate from the Hebrew.
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6. From the face of the words, — from the words and threats: for by prosopopoeia the Hebrews give face to these. Before the legates of Hezekiah came to Isaiah, God had already revealed to him their coming and what should be answered to them, says St. Jerome: whence as soon as they came, Isaiah answered them without prayer and recourse to God.
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7. I will put a spirit in him, — an adversarial one, says St. Jerome. Secondly, Haymo and Forerius, "spirit," that is wind, that is to say: There will come through the air a messenger or rumour like the wind, that is most swiftly and unexpectedly, and as if from an uncertain source this rumour will come, as if it were borne by the wind. Forerius: What if some spirit from among the angels were sent for this purpose, to bear such a message? Thirdly, Vatablus, "spirit," that is the impulse and will of returning to his homeland. Fourthly, Leo Castrius, "spirit," that is corrupted and inflamed air, namely plague: for Berosus teaches that the Assyrians perished by this, in Josephus, book X of Antiquities, chapter 1. Fifthly and most rightly, Lyra and Sanchez: I will send into him a "spirit" of fear and perturbation, and as it were a panic terror, and a message of the coming of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, who might remove him from the siege of Jerusalem, so that he might fight against him: which being done, returning he shall be struck down by an Angel, and therefore he shall flee to his own in Assyria, and there shall be slain. God sent a similar fear and consternation of mind upon the Canaanites, lest they should pursue Jacob, Genesis xxxiii, 5; and lest they should resist the Hebrews coming upon them, Exodus xxiii, 27; and upon the Syrians besieging Samaria, Fourth Book of Kings vii, 6. Thus when Saul surrounded David on all sides, so that no escape appeared, God sent him a message saying that the Philistines were breaking in upon the borders of Israel: wherefore he was called away from David, and forced to return to his own borders to defend them. How marvellous is God's providence towards His own! how faithful His keeping!
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13. Ana and Ava. — The Septuagint merged these two into one, Anaveava; whence it has already crept in corruptly into the Septuagint as Anagugava. Ana was a royal city of the Lydians (whose king was later Croesus, in the time of Cyrus), before Sardis were founded and raised to the metropolis of the kingdom by Asarhaddon son of Sennacherib, or by Sardanapalus, as some think: whence they seem to have taken the name from the same, so that Sardis are called as it were the city of Sardon, that is of the lord and prince. Some think "Sepharvaim" was the royal city of the kingdom of Pontus and Bosporus, concerning which Strabo, situated near the Cimmerian Bosporus and the Euxine Pontus: whence the Maltese (who use many Syriac and Arabic words) call "Semarbaim" the crossing, or the swimming of animals, namely the Bosporus. For Bosporus is called as it were from the Greek βοὸς πορεία, that is the passage and way of an ox, because namely in it are such straits of the sea, that an ox can swim across them. Thus the Maltese Fathers assured me of this in Rome.
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14. Books, — that is the letters of Rabshakeh: for this is what the Hebrew word ספר sepher signifies.
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16. Thou that sittest upon the Cherubim, — thou sittest upon the mercy seat above the ark, which is as it were thy throne overshadowed by two Cherubim, from which thou givest answers in the Holy of Holies: by which it is symbolically signified that thou hast all the hosts and choirs of Angels subject to thee, and dost as it were ride upon them. See the sayings in Exodus xxv, 18.
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22. Virgin daughter of Zion. — That is, O Jerusalem! See Canon XVIII. Hath shaken her head at thee, — as if mocking and threatening.
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23. Against (that is, against, as Vatablus translates) the Holy One of Israel, — as if to say, What is this mad blasphemy and pride of thine, O Sennacherib! that thou hast dared to provoke God, and as it were to challenge Him to combat? Knowest thou not that He Himself is the Holy One, the keeper and protector of Israel, who will not suffer thy holy city and temple to be polluted and defiled by thee, but His wrath, avenging and fierce, shall rise up against thee. Note, Morally, learn here how God burneth against blasphemers, and punisheth them most severely. Holofernes, being indignant that Achior had commended the power of the God of heaven, said, Judith vi, 2: "Because thou hast prophesied unto us, saying, that the people of Israel are defended by their God,... I will shew thee that there is no God but Nabuchodonosor, when we shall have smitten them all, as one man." But afterwards his head was cut off by the hand of a single woman. The blasphemous and proud Antiochus was smitten with an incurable and invisible plague. So also the Jews often vomited forth blasphemous words against the Son of God, and therefore were cut off by Titus. The wicked thief fixed to the cross also blasphemed, when he said: "If thou be the Son of God, save thyself," and straightway therefore perished. On account of blasphemy St. Paul delivered Alexander and Hymenaeus to the devil to be tormented. In the year of our Lord four hundred and ninety-four, on the eighth day before the Kalends of January, a marvellous, terrible and singular thing occurred, at which the ears of those hearing it were astounded. When Euthymius, a defender of the Arian faction, summoned a leaping runner in the baths of the palace of Helena, there came to him a flatterer named Olympius, and perceiving certain men who were bathing who were ὁμοούσιοι (that is, asserters that the Son is of the same substance with the Father), he compelled them with words of this sort: "What indeed is the Trinity, or why is it not inscribed on a wall? Behold (said he obscenely), I too have a trinity." Wherefore those who were there present were moved to kill him; but they were prevented by a certain priest. But the vengeance of God seized upon him: for when he had descended into a cold bath, he straightway came out, crying: "Have mercy," and was tearing his flesh with his nails, rending it from his bones. Those who stood around seized him, wrapped him in linen, and laid him down, faint from cold. But when they asked what had befallen him, Olympius answered: "I saw a man clothed in white garments, who, walking upon Nerophorus, poured three buckets of hot water upon me, saying: Do not curse." Those therefore who were connected with him by kinship carried him to another bath, which belonged to the Church of the Arians. But when they wished to take him out of the linen, they tore all his flesh to pieces; and thus dying he gave up the ghost. Thus Damascenus, Ado, Platina, Vasaeus, and from them Baronius, in the year of Christ 494. Julian, the Apostate Emperor, in the war which he waged against the Persians, being grievously wounded, when he had drawn blood from the wound in the hollow of his hand, and cast it toward heaven, as if seeing Christ, thus referring the cause of his death to Him, is said to have cried out thus: "Thou hast conquered, O Galilean, thou hast conquered;" and as he was losing blood: "Satisfy thyself, O Nazarene," he exclaimed. Thus the Tripartite History, lib. IX, cap. xxv. In the Life of St. John Chrysostom it is related that, when St. Chrysostom was praising the Holy Trinity, which furnisheth us with annual fruits, Anthemius answered him: Not Christ, but the elements of the world produce them in their seasons by the providence of the gods. His discourse had not yet ended, when, possessed by an evil spirit, and dashed to the ground, he lay miserably roaring, a cause of tears and fear alike to those who were present, his eyes being turned back, his teeth gnashing, and most foul foam pouring from his mouth. Gregory of Tours, lib. IV of the History of the Franks, cap. xi, vol. XIII, lib. IV, and our d'Auroult in Examples, cap. On Blasphemy, whose work is unknown to many outside Belgium, would that it were known and well-worn!
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24. In the hand of his servants, — through thy servants, Rabshakeh and his companions. See Can. XXIII. I have ascended the height of the mountains, — as if to say: The steep and precipitous paths of the mountains, so that scarcely could a horseman or footman pass, I have levelled by cutting down trees and rocks, so that I have ascended their summits with my chariots. Vespasian did the like in the defiles of Lebanon, when he led his forces through them into Judaea, as Josephus testifies, lib. III of the Wars, cap. v. Thus Sanchez. So Hannibal made a way for his army through the Alps: hear Juvenal, Satyr. 10: Nature opposed the Alps and snow; He split the rocks asunder, and broke the mountain with vinegar. Moreover by Lebanon he understands all Judaea and Syria: for Lebanon was its beginning and as it were a wall and bulwark. It is a synecdoche. The forest of Carmel his. — Vatablus understands the temple, which was situated as it were a forest on Carmel, that is in a fertile field, whose priests, he says, are as trees in a forest. Others understand Jerusalem; others, any fortified cities of Judaea situated on high ground. Most simply take Carmel as it sounds, namely the mountain of Judaea most fertile in vines, olives and other fruitful and fragrant trees, in which Elias and Eliseus dwelt, and afterwards the first Carmelites: for this Order took its name from Carmel, as if to say: As I shall lay waste Lebanon, so also his Carmel. He says "his," namely of Lebanon, for this preceded: because Carmel pertains to Lebanon. For by Lebanon he understands all Judaea: and Carmel is a part of Judaea. Note on forest: hence it appears that there was a forest or wood on Mount Carmel. Thus Adrichomius.
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25. I have dug, and drunk water, — that is to say, I, abounding in a multitude of soldiers, through them in arid places have dug wells, and thus provided sufficient water for the whole army: this was done by Caesar, Scipio, and other most excellent commanders, and this must be done by the leader of the camp, as Vegetius teaches, lib. IV, cap. x. And I have dried up with the step of my foot (that is, wherever my army set its step) all the streams of the embankments. — By "streams of the embankments" he calls both rain waters and spring waters, which in the field enclosed by embankments, as if in a fish-pond or reservoir are preserved; so that it is the same as what is said of the same thing, IV Kings xix, 24: "And I have dried up with the steps of my feet all the waters that were shut up:" or rather thus he calls flowing streams, which on both sides are enclosed by banks as if by embankments. Thus St. Jerome, that is to say, I, with my army so numerous and strong, wherever I advanced, partly turned aside rivers and made them shallow and passable; partly drank them up. A similar account is recorded: A certain Leo, it is said, of Poitiers, who according to his name was most savage as a lion in every cruelty, is reported to have said on a certain occasion that the Confessors of the Lord Martin and Martial had left nothing useful to the strength of the treasury: but immediately struck by the power of the Confessors, he became deaf and dumb, and died out of his mind: for the wretched man had come to the basilica of St. Martin of Tours, and celebrated vigils, gave gifts, but the accustomed power did not regard him: for with the very infirmity by which he had come, he returned. St. Gregory the Pontiff, lib. IV Dialog. cap. xviii, relates of a boy five years old, accustomed to blaspheme God, snatched away by a demon from his father's bosom. Justinian the Emperor condemned to the ultimate punishment one who swore by some member of God, or by hairs, or those blaspheming God, as is evident in the Authentics, Coll. VI, tit. v. Philip Augustus, King of the Franks, crowned during his father's lifetime, his first edict was against blasphemers, who brought the name of Christ into testimony in a contemptuous and shameful manner, and for the assertion of any most trifling thing, whom he deemed should be drowned in a river without delay. His second was against pipers, actors, parasites, and that sort of pleasure-seeking craftsmen, to whom he forbade the court. Consonant with these is the Canon which is found, dist. xxii, where it is thus read: "If anyone shall have sworn by the hair of God or his head, or in any other way used blasphemy against God, if he is in the Ecclesiastical order, let him be deposed; if a layman, let him be anathematized." And in the Authentics, tit. Ut luxurientur contra naturam, it is sanctioned: "Let no one swear by the members of God or hairs, or in any other way blaspheme God: for by these crimes both famine, and earthquakes, and pestilences come. We therefore command that such be apprehended, and subjected to the ultimate punishments." To Robert, King of the Franks, son of Hugh Capet, once while praying in the city of Orleans for peace and the tranquility of his kingdom, Christ appeared, and gave answer that he would not have peace in his kingdom, until he should have rooted out blasphemies and notorious crimes. Nor is it a wonder: for these seem to proceed from contempt, or from hatred toward God: but hatred of God is the greatest sin of sinners. Nicholas Boerius relates this, Decis. 301. In the year of salvation 1569, two garrison soldiers among the Strasbourgers were thrown into chains, one blaspheming against God, the other injurious to the Prefect of the cohort. For the former, on account of observed fortitude, the best men interceded, for the latter, none. The prudent Senate, deeming it unworthy that a violator of God should be in a better condition than a calumniator of man, having committed the examination of the case to those to whom it was fitting, where it learned that a horrible blasphemy, although committed by a drunken and disturbed man, had been admitted; judging that more was to be attributed to divine Majesty than to human favor and intercession, affected the blasphemer with capital punishment, the tongue extracted through the neck. Thus the Theatre of Human Life relates it. rivers of Greece, concerning which Juvenal, Satyr. 10: We believe the lofty rivers have failed, and the rivers drunk up by the Mede dining. Thirdly, it can be turned with Vatablus clearly, now I bring it, so that I may reduce fortified cities into heaps of ruins; or, as Forerius, and it will be that he causes to fall (God) or dashes the waves contending and fighting against fortified cities; the Syrian and Arabic versions turn it, and now I have brought it, so that it be into destruction and desolation.
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26. Did you not hear what I did long ago (that is, what I decreed to do, according to Canon XXIX) to it (the nation of the Jews)? From ancient days I formed it (in Hebrew 'יצרתי' iassarti, that is, I shaped, fashioned, that is, I conceived the form of the thing to be done, I ordained, I prescribed) — as if to say: Did you not hear, O Sennacherib! that which you glory in having done to Judaea and other provinces, namely that you laid them waste and subdued them, this very thing I had long ago thought out beforehand, predefined, and prescribed in all its parts, as is evident from Isaiah x, and now I brought it about and completed it in deed, so that cities fortified should be reduced to ruins by you; yet so that you would not capture Jerusalem, but would be slain there? Do not therefore ascribe your victories to yourself, but to me: for by my guidance you obtained them, and therefore, that I may show this to you, ungrateful and proud as you are, I will stop them, indeed I will turn them into defeats. Thus Forerius, Vatablus and others. And it came to pass in the eradication of the hills fighting. — St. Jerome and Adam, by hills fighting, understand princes at variance with one another. Secondly and more plainly, Sanchez: hills fighting, that is contending (for this is in Hebrew nitsim) and warring (as is found in IV Kings xix) with the Assyrians, are the cities of Judaea and of other nations situated on hills, and therefore fortified, as follows, as if to say: By the nod of God it came to pass that Sennacherib eradicated, that is, overthrew, the lofty and strong cities which fought fiercely with him and contended: for that he did this is evident, cap. xxxvi, vers. 1.
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27. Their inhabitants, with shortened hand, trembled. — St. Jerome takes hand, that is, the help of God, as if to say: The Jews were conquered by the Assyrians, because God shortened and contracted His hand from them, and extended it to the Assyrians, giving them courage and strength, and prosperous success in war to subjugate the Jews. Whence the Arabic version renders it, they left them from their hands (that is, cast them away), and they were broken. Secondly and better, you should take hand, that is, the power and strength of the Jews, as if to say: The Jews trembled at the coming of Sennacherib, because their hand, that is, their power, was shortened by God, that is, cut off. Whence in Hebrew it is קצרי יד kitsre iad, that is, shortened of hand, or short of hand, and, as Our version renders it, IV Kings xix, "humble of hand," that is, weak, unwarlike and as it were maimed Jews trembled before the Assyrians. Thus Forerius, Vatablus and others. Whence the Syriac version renders it, the inhabitants relaxed their hands in them, broken and confused. They became as the hay of the field, etc. — He compares the weak Jews, and immediately prostrated by the enemy, to hay, grass, and herb growing on roofs, which, burned by the sun or frost, or trampled by feet, or lacking moisture, withers and dries up: in like manner all the strength of the Jews immediately at the coming of the Assyrian withered and dried up.
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28. Your dwelling and your going out and your coming in I have known. — These three things signify all the motions, positions and actions of man, which elsewhere are called going in and going out: here a third is added, namely sitting or dwelling, as if to say: I foreknew, foresaw and predisposed, O Sennacherib (for to him he turns)! all your acts which you designed; whether when you dwelt in Assyria, or when you returned thence, and victorious entered Assyria. The same phrase is in Psalm CXXXVIII: "You have known my sitting (in Hebrew it is the same verb יָשַׁב iashab, which here is rendered dwelling) and my rising," in Hebrew קוּמִי humi, that is, my rising to go out or to go in.
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29. I will put a ring. — I will lead you about like a mule or buffalo, as if with a ring or bridle fastened upon you, and bring you back into Assyria, from whence I brought you forth. Sanchez notes that the king is punished with a just and fitting penalty, who had mocked the Jews by contemptuously turning up his nose to God, distorting his mouth, and impudently sticking out his tongue: for God fastens a ring in his nose, and puts a bridle upon his mouth and tongue. Tropologically, St. Gregory, in the twenty-third book of the Morals, chapter ten, explaining that passage of Job xli, 21, concerning Leviathan: "Wilt thou put a ring in his nose?" teaches that this ring is the omnipotence of God, by which He restrains and checks the cunning or strength of the devil, lest he tempt us as much as he wishes and is able: "I will put," he says, "a ring in thy nostrils," as if openly saying: By thinking of snares thou breathest; but being unable to accomplish what thou desirest, thou bearest the ring of my omnipotence in thy nostrils, so that, while thou yearnest more ardently for the death of the good, thou mayest be left empty of their life. Further, it can be translated with Vatablus clearly, now I bring it, so that I may reduce the fortified cities to heaps of ruins; or, as Forerius holds, and it shall be that God causes to fall or dashes the waves contending and clashing against the fortified cities; the Syriac and Arabic versions translate, and now I have brought her, so that she may be in destruction and desolation.
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30. And this shall be a sign to thee. — He turns to Hezekiah besieged by Sennacherib, and assigns him sustenance in the danger of famine, and gives him a sign of the future full liberty of the Jews and the slaughter of the Assyrians. Eat this year the things that spring up of themselves. — Hence and from verse 9 it is gathered that Sennacherib, having heard of the coming of the king of the Ethiopians against him, deferred the siege of Jerusalem, so as to meet the king: meanwhile, however, he laid waste the sprouting grain round about, either by trampling it down or by reaping it, so that he might thus press the city with famine: moreover, he left a garrison of soldiers in the cities of Judea captured by him, who would harass the field of Jerusalem, so that they could not sow; but God by His providence met this, and promised the Jews that in the first year He would nourish them with grain springing up of itself, that is, from the roots of the trampled or cut down crop soon bursting forth again: in the second year, however, from the fruits of trees. Thus it came to pass. In the third year, the Ethiopian being conquered, Sennacherib returned to the siege of Jerusalem, and then, his army being slain by an Angel, the Jews were given the opportunity to sow and reap. Thus Abulensis, Cajetan, Torniellus, and others in IV Kings xix. For a whole two years, therefore, Sennacherib was absent from Jerusalem, occupied with the Ethiopian war, as I said in chapter xx. In the second year eat the things that spring up of themselves, — and the crop which shall have grown up from the fallen grains of the preceding year. Whence Our author, in IV Kings chapter xix, translates: "And in the second year eat the things that spring up of themselves," namely, either from the tree, or from the fallen grains, not, however, from the sowing and sprouting that was cut off and burst forth again, as was said of the first year. Josephus Scaliger, in book V of his Emendation of Times, in the chapter entitled: On the Beginning of Hezekiah, thinks that this second year was a sabbatical year, in which the land ought to rest according to the law of Leviticus xxv, 4, so that it could neither be sown nor reaped. For by the same words which Scripture uses here, namely, that they would not sow nor reap, but eat the things that spring up of themselves, etc., the sabbatical year is described, Leviticus chapter xxv, 4. But what kind of sign would this have been of the future liberation of the Jews and the overthrow of the Assyrians? For without the prophecy of Isaiah, Hezekiah would have known what year would be the sabbatical year, says Torniellus, who asserts that not the 14th, but the 13th and 17th years of Hezekiah were sabbatical. But it could be answered that the sign given here is not the sabbatical year, but what was said a little before, namely, first, that God in that sabbatical year, in such a great incursion of enemies, would liberally nourish the Jews; second, that in the third year they would be satisfied and would reap, of which there was then no hope, since all feared devastation and destruction from the Assyrians. But other exact chronologists deny that the 14th year of Hezekiah was sabbatical. Rabbi Solomon fables that the Assyrians cut down trees and crops, so that no fruit could be hoped for from them; but that God produced fruits from the cut-down trees, and grain from the cut-down crops: and that this was a sign or miracle, as he himself interprets it, given to Hezekiah.
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31. And he shall send that which shall be saved. — Note that "saved" and shortly after "salvation" are called the remnants of the Jews, which were preserved from the invasion of Sennacherib: concerning these he predicts that God will cause them to flourish wonderfully, to grow and to spread like trees, which put down roots widely and deeply, and therefore raise up and extend their branches and foliage upward, so that they can neither wither nor be torn down by the wind, as easily happens to the contrary with those which have small and narrow roots, as Pliny testifies in book XVI, XXXI. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, and Theodoret. Allegorically, Eusebius in book II of the Demonstration, chapter xlviii, and Leo Castrius refer these things to the Apostles and other remnants which were saved from Israel in the time of Christ. Morally, St. Gregory in book XII of the Morals, chapter xxii: "When," he says, "we direct our thought to compassion for the needy neighbor, as it were we put down a root downward, so that we may produce the fruit of recompense upward." The same, in book VIII of the Morals, chapter xxix: "To put down a root downward," he says, "is to multiply good thought in hidden places. But to produce fruit upward is to show by the efficacy of the work what it has rightly thought."
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33. He shall not enter this city, and he shall not shoot an arrow there. — From this it is gathered that the camp of Sennacherib, as soon as he returned to the siege of Jerusalem, before he raised up siege works and prepared other things necessary for the assault, was destroyed by an Angel. Whence in IV Kings xix, 35, they are said to have been destroyed "in that night," namely the night in which Sennacherib returned to besiege Jerusalem. Thus Cajetan there.
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36. The Angel of the Lord. — From this it appears that this Angel, the slayer of the Assyrians, was good, for example Gabriel or Michael, the protector of the Synagogue. Thus Abulensis, although others think that both this one and the one who struck the firstborn of Egypt (as is suggested in Psalm lxxvii, 49) was a demon. Smote. — The Hebrews relate, and from them Cajetan and Abulensis, that the Assyrians were smitten by an Angel with fire, that is with pestilence, as Josephus says. Whence Isaiah x, 16, says: "His burden shall be kindled as a fire of burning;" and elsewhere he threatens them with fire: whence also in Tophet and in the valley of Josaphat (where the general judgment shall take place, and all the reprobate, of whom the Assyrians were a type here, shall be punished with death and eternal fire) they relate that these same were destroyed, as I said in chapter XX. The Gentiles remembered this calamity of the Assyrians; such as Herodotus and Berosus, but they mix in fables, as I said in chapter xx. In this calamity Sennacherib was preserved, so that the proud king might see God's hand and vengeance upon his people, and so that fleeing shamefully he might be killed more ignominiously by his own sons: just as Pharaoh perished last in the Red Sea, not by one but by multiple death, namely both his own and that of all his whom he saw drowned before him. Thus St. Jerome.
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38. His sons struck him. — Why? It is uncertain. Lyra relates from Rabbi Solomon that Sennacherib, having received such a great calamity, in order to soften the minds of those of his people who had lost sons, brothers or relatives in that calamity, vowed a victim of his sons to his god Nisroch: his sons, having smelled this, anticipated their father and immolated him himself in the temple of Nisroch. Note: Sennacherib was not killed immediately upon his flight to Assyria; for returning indignant he pursued and killed Jews; whence Tobias fled from his anger and escaped. For thus we read in Tobias 1, 21: "When king Sennacherib returned, fleeing from Judaea from the plague, etc., and being angry killed many of the children of Israel, Tobias buried their bodies. But when it was reported to the king, he commanded him to be killed, and took all his substance. But Tobias with his son and with his wife fleeing, lay hid naked, because many loved him. But after forty-five days his sons killed the king, and Tobias returned to his house, and all his substance was restored to him." Into the land of Ararat. — The Chaldean and the Septuagint, into Armenia, through which the river Araxes flows, says St. Jerome, at the foot of Mount Taurus.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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In parte ista ostendit quomodo Ezechiæs contra blasphemiæs humilitate et orationibus pugnavit: et circa hoc tria facit. Primo recitat quomodo petitit orationis locum, assumens humilitatis habitum, Et obvolutus est sacco.
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Jonæ 5: « Pervenit verbum » ad regem, et surrexit de solo suo, et abject ve stimentum suum a se, et indutus est sacco, et « sedit in cinere. » Secundo non praesumens per se orationem Deo effundere, petit orationis suffragium per nuntios a propheta; ubi recitat nuntiorum missionem, Et misit Eliacim. Supra 8: « Num « quid non populus a Deo suo requireret visionem? » Exponunt nuntii tribulationem. Et debet sic legi: Et venerunt, et dixerunt: Dies tribulationis, idest quam patimur in exterioribus tribulationibus, et angustiae, quantum ad cordis dolorem, correctionis, divinae, et blasphemiae, hostium.
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Venerunt filii, idest conceptiones consiliorum, pariendo, explendi. Vel, ita dolemus sicut parturientes.
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Sophonia 1: « Dies irae dies illa, tribulationis et angustiae. » Porrigunt petitionem, ut sic ordinetur: Leva ergo orationem pro reliquiis. Si quo modo. Jer. 42: « Ora pro nobis ad Dominum Deum tuum pro « universis reliquiis istis. » Tertio ostendit prophetæ responsum: Et dixit ad eos: in quo excludit regis timorem: Ne timeas. Jer. 1: « Ne timeas « a facie eorum, quia ego tecum sum. » Et prædicet regis Senacherib mortem, Ecce ego. Apoc. 15: « Qui in gladio occiderit, oportet eum gladio oc « cidi. » Reversus est autem. Hic ponit reditum Rapsacis ad Senacherib. Et planum est. Et audivit de Tharaca rege Aethiopiæ. Hic recitat quomodo offendit eos comminando per epistolas; et circa hoc tria facit.
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Primo ponit superbam illius comminationem, Et audivit de Tharaca, quia egressus in auxilium Aegyptiorum, observavit exitum. Quod cum audisset, occurrit ei obviam, dimittens Judæam; et antequam recederet, scripsit. Et Babyloniam postmodum vadens, et obsidens Pelusium in Aegypto, veniente rege Aethiopiæ, noluit cum eo pugnare, dicens eum esse sacerdotem Plutonis, de risorie propter nigredinem: vel quia mures cordas arcuum corrodentes | er exevertium ejus illum immunem dimiserunt. Supra 10: « Quomodo in « venit manus mea regna idoli? » Secundo ponit Ezechiæ orationem, præmittens receptionem epis tolæ: in qua oratione confitetur Dei potentiam, per subjectionem Angelorum: Domine Deus exerci tuum. Job 25: « Numquid est numerus militum « ejus? » Per cultum Judæorum; Deus Israel, qui sedes super Cherubim: quia propitiatorium,
quod erat quasi sedes Dei, unde etiam dabat responsa, erat super alas Cherubim. Ps 79: « Qui « sedes super Cherubim, manifestare coram Ephraim, Beniamin et Manasse. »
Sed cum tabernaculum sit dispositum secundum exemplar cælestis curiæ, ut sumitur Exod. 25; videtur quod male dicatur sedere super Cherubim, sed magis super Thronos.
Et dicendum, quod sedet super Cherubim et Thronos, quia super Seraphim, qui sunt ultra eos. Vel secundum Gregorium et Dionysium, posside tur ibi singulariter; sed quod est inferiorum, attribuitur etiam superioribus eminenter. Unde proprietatem Thronorum eminentius habent Cherubim. Vel dicendum, quod sedet super Thronos, sicut super sedem judicii; super Cherubim, sicut super cathedram magistri: quia Cherubim interpretantur fusio scientiæ. Et ob hoc congrue inde dic bantur dari responsa. Etiam ostendit Dei potentiam per dispositionem regnorum: Tu es Deus solus. Dan. 5: « Donec cognoscatur qui potestatem ha « bet super omnia regna. » Probat etiam per productionem creaturarum, Tu fecisti. Ps. 145: « Qui fecit cælum et terram, mare et omnia « quæ in eis sunt. » Accusat etiam Senacherib blasphemiam, Inclina Domine; Judith 6: « Domine « Deus cæli, intuere superbiam eorum, respice ad « nostram humilitatem; » probans cum hoc blasphemias stultitiam: Vere enim Domine. Ps. 115: « Simulacra gentium argentum et aurum, opera « manuum hominum. » Petiit etiam tertio in hac oratione salutis miserichordiam, Et nunc Domine.
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Judith 9: « Omnes gentes cognoscunt quia tu es « Deus, et non est alius præter te. » Tertio pro pheta promittit orationis exauditionem per nuntios: Et misit Isaias. Et circa hoc duo facit.
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Primo promittit hostium destructionem; secundo civitatis li berationem, ibi, Propterea haec dicit Dominus de Rege Assyriorum. Circa primum tria. Primo ponit comminationem: et primo destructionis interitum; secundo ponit signum, ibi, Tibi autem hoc erit signum; tertio ostendit destructionis fructum, ibi, Et mittet quod salvatum fuerit de domo Juda. Circa primum duo. Primo comminator poenam confusionis contra contemptum Judæorum, Despectit, quando tibi noluit respondere; movebit, in futuro, quando aliis occisis, cum paucis fugies. Supra 55: « Qui spernis, nonne et ipse sperneris? » Job 22: « Videbunt justi et lætabuntur, et inno « cens subsannavit eos. » Secundo commina tur interitum destructionis contra culpam quam in Deum commiserat: et circa hoc tria facit. Primo ponit culpam; secundo assumit divinam potentiam, ibi, Numquid non audisti quæ olim fecerim ei? tertio concludit poenam ibi, Ponam ergo circulum in naribus tuis. Circa primum arguit ipsum de duobus peccatis.
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Primo de blasphemia: Cui exprobrasti? verba Ezechiæ ad Senacherib: quasi dicat: Non mihi, sed Deo. Infra 57: « Super quem lusistis, « super quem dilatastis os, et ejecistis linguam? » Secundo arguit ipsum de superbia, quam conceperat ex magnitudine rerum factorum. Et dixisti. In multitudine, quasi mea, et non Dei virtute.
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Juga Libani, summitates montium, idest potentiam. Deut. 52: « Manus nostra excelsa, « et non Dominus fecit haec omnia. » Ex magnitudine propositorum: Et succidam excelsa, potentes in Judaeis, altitudinem, domum Domini; saltum, populum. Zachar. 11: « Aperi Libane portas tuas, « et comedet ignis cedros tuos. » Ex multitudine pugnatorum, Ego fodi; quasi dicat: Tantum habeo exercitum quod non sufficit mihi aqua quam invenio, nisi puteos fodiam. Vel metaphorice: Consolationes omnium gentium ego siccavi. Joel 2: « Qua- « si hortus voluptatis terra coram eo. »
Nota super illo verbo, Leva ergo orationem: quia levatur oratio primo per eminentem contemplationis. Ps. 120: « Levavi oculos meos in montes, unde veniet auxilium mihi. » Secundo per fervorem affectus. Thren. 5: « Levemus corda nostra cum manibus ad Dominum in caelo. » Tertio per lacrymas compunctionis. Ps. 6: « Lavabo « per singulas noctes lectum meum, lacrymis meis « stratum meum rigabo. » Quarto per studium bonae operationis Ps. 140: « Elevatio manuum « mearum, sacrificium vespertinum. »
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Numquid non audisti quae olim fecerim ei? Hic assumit divinae potentiam, loquens in persona ipsius Dei. Et primo quantum ad aeternam praordinationem: Quae olim, ab aeterno, fecerim, idest proposuerim facere. Et de exaltatione et de destructione, Illud, malum poenae, quod per ipsum inferre praevidi et praedeterminavi. Secundo quantum ad aeterni propositi temporalem executionem, Et nunc adduxi. Collum, principum, compugnantium, ad invicem. Breviata, idest retracta, manu mea ab auxilio eorum; vel diminuta manu ipsorum a sui auxilio.
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Et herba tectorum. Ps. 128: « Fiant sicut fenum tectorum, quod priusquam evellatur exaruit. » Tertio quantum ad omnium factorum cognitionem, Habitationem, idest sedem regni. Introitum, in terram Judaeorum.
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Job 54: « Oculi ejus super vias hominum. et omnes gressus « sus corum considerat. » Ponam ergo circum in naribus tuis. Hic concludit poenam. Circulum sicut bubalo, frenum sicut equo, idest potentia divinitatis refrenando Job 50: « Pharetram suam « aperuit: et afflixit me, et frenum posuit in os « meum. »
Nota super isto verbo, Ponam frenum, quia est frenum primo discretionis. Jacobi 3: « Si quis in « verbo non offendit, hic perfectus est vir. » Secundo divinae gubernationis. Infra 48: « Laude « mea infrenabo te, ne intereas. » Tertio diabolicæ deceptionis. Supra 50: « Frenum erroris, quod « erat in maxillis popularum. » Quarto aeternae damnationis. Psalm. 51: « In camo et freno ma-
« xillas eorum constinge. » Quinto temporalis afflictionis. Job 50: « Pharetram suam aperuit, et « afflixit me, et frenum posuit in os meum. »
37:30
Tibi autem hoc erit signum. Comede hoc anno quae sponte nascuntur. Hic ponit signum. Venierat enim exercitus Assyriorum imminente messe. Unde fructus non potuerunt tunc colligere, et fuerunt in terra usque post tempus seminationis: unde etiam seminare non potuerunt. Sic ergo eis dicitur, quod illa anni parte residua, eunte Senacherib in Aegyptum, comedant quae sponte nascuntur, ut 4 Reg. 20, scilicet ex granis conculcatis ungulis equorum et quadrigis. Vel quaecumque repereris in horreis prius anie obsidionem congregata. Vel quae severas, secundum Septuaginta, i. dest quae remanserunt conculcata in agris. In secundo anno, existente eo in Aegypto, quia per annum stetit, quia nihil recolliges, cum nihil seminaveris, pomis, Vel quae sponte nascuntur, ut in lib. 4 Reg. 20. Et in isto secundo anno destruetur Assyrium; et sie in tertio anno habebis potestatem seminandi et congregandi. Vel, secundum Andream, hoc est consilium. Et hoc erit signum: refertur ad praecedentia. Et mittet, Hic ponit destructionis fructum: primo ponens similitudinem arboris, quae multos fructus affert, si in terra profundantur radices. Jer. 17: « Erit quasi lignum... « quod ad humorem mittit radices. » Secundo ponit expositionem: Quia de Jerusalem.
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Infra 46: « Dabo in Sion salutem, et in Jerusalem gloriam « meam. » Tertio assignat rationem: Zelus Domini exercitum faciet istud.
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Propterea haec dicit Dominus de rege Assyriorum. Hic promittit liberationem. Non introibit sicut proposuit. Supra 8: « Intite consilium, et dissipabitur; loquimini verbum, et non « fiet. » Et assignat rationem: Et protegam propter me.
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Infra 48: « Propter me faciam, ut non blasphemetur. » Et propter David. Psal. 151: « Propter David servum tuum non avertas faciem « Christi tui. » Egressus est autem Angelus Domini. Hic ponit poenam quam a Deo sustinuit. Et primo quantum ad exercitus occasionem, Et percussit. Supra 53: « A voce Angeli fugerunt populi, « et ab exaltatione tua dispersae sunt gentes. » Secundo quantum ad residuorum perturbationem et fugam, Et surrexerunt.
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Supra 17: « Ecce turba tio. » Tertio quantum ad ipsius occasionem: Et factum est cum adoraret... Adramelech, et Sasaras, primogeniti ejus, invidentes fratres minori, quem substituere volebat, qui erat ex alia matre natus. Et sic justus de angustia liberatus est.
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13, 5); v. 2 et misit Eliacün qui erat super domum et Sobnam scribam et seniores de sacerdotibus opertos saccis ad. Isaiam filium Amos prophetam,
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v. 3 et dizerunt ad eum : haec dicit Ezechias : dies tribulationis et correptionis et blasphemiae dies haec, quia venerunt filii usque ad. partum. et virtus non est pariendi » ; — legationem mittit omnino honorificam et nobilem, ut ostendat quo loco habeat prophetam Domini; iam tot videre viros nobiles habitu lugentium, et magnam denotat calamitatem et ad commiserationem et dolorem animos permovet. Verbis ipsis aperte declaratur, iam esse impleta quaecumque Isaias de instanti tribulatione, de inanitate auxilii humani, de defectu prudentiae humanae praedixerat (cf. "1, 11; 8, 8. 91. 22; 98, 18; 29, 10 seq. 32, 9 seq.). Hanc enim impo- "tentiam quam maxime ob oculos ponunt comparatione adhibita ; « periphrasis est Hebraeis forma proverbiali, qua et summos dolores et ingentia pericula resque fere desperatas significant; accedente enim ad exitum foetu et ad arctiorem locum perveniente, orificium videlicet matricis, quod cedit vi ac plane disrumpitur (unde et fracturae nomine 02v2 Hebraeis significatur), maxime tunc necessarii sunt nixus ac vires parturienti, quibus deficientibus iamiam mors exspectanda est » (For.). Est secundum S. Hier. dies tribulationis nostrae, correptionis Dei, blasphemiae hostium ; ad correptionem Dei bene referuntur ea quae Isaias toties iis qui contra indolem civitatis theocraticam conspiraverant minatus erat (cf. 30, 1. 43 seq. 31, 1 etc.). In hisce angustiis iam unicum opitulatorem Deum esse confitentur v. 4 « si quo modo audiat Dominus Deus tuus verba Rabsacis, quem misit rex Assyriorum dominus suus ad. blasphemandum Deum viventem et. exprobrandum | sermonibus quos audivit Dominus Deus tuus; leva ergo orationem pro reliquiis quae repertae sunt » ; — bene appellant Deum viventem ; « hanc habemus ultionis fiduciam, quoniam vivens Deus blasphematur 'a cultore idolorum mortuorum » (S. Hier.); vocant Deum twn, ut peculiaris muneris prophetici ratio qua propheta reliquis propius et intimius .ad Deum accedit et os Domini evadit, cum laude efferatur; pro hac sua dignitate theocratica et singulari illa cum Deo familiaritate causam agere populi apud Deum et potest et debet. Aliter Mald. : « vocat Deum omnium Deum Isaiae, ut eius sanctitatem commendet; est enim Deus specialiter eorum qui sancti sunt ». Rogant ut Deus verba blasphemiae audiat tamquam iudex et ultor; ita enim in hebr. forsan audiet... et castigabit pro verbis quae audivit. Cernitur h. l. prophetae dignitas eminens quia eum et rex et sacerdotes qui ipsi quoque in dignitate theocratica constituti sunt supplices adeunt ut prophetae intercessione res ipsorum Deo commendentur; orare eum iubent pro paucis qui relicti sunt; hoc dicunt « ut Isaiam ad pietatis lacrimas excitarent, quo vehemeutiores precationes "underet » (Pint.). Et cum de reliquiis loquantur, fatentur impleta esse quae minatus erat (cf. 28, 18; 29, 4; 30, 13 seq.). Non erit inutile perpaucis indicare quid ex hoc agendi modo vere et pie consequatur. Audi S. Cyr. : « Ezechias valde pius adiutorem rogat fieri eum qui apud Deum in pretio est, videlicet prophetam. Utile igitur ad genua accidere Deo sanctis viris assistentibus ; annuit enim propter eos et saepe miseretur lacrimae etiam ignavorum ». Et For. : « Deum propitium rex optabat, sed et eum quem mediatorem atque intercessorem inter Deum et populum noverat ad misericordiam quoque movere volebat. Nonne sufficiebat Deus ? quorsum ad hominem mittit? Nihil nobis cum haereticis commune est. Sanctos viros tam viventes quam defunetos interpellabimus et veluti mediatores, ut rem nostram apud Deum agant, deprecabimur. Interim mecuni considera quanta sit viri sancti dignitas eliam in hae vita, quem rex tanti facit ». Et Estius mouet Ezechiam inter mala, quibus tam ipse quam populus et civitas afficiebatur, etiam illud commemorandum ac deplorandum apud prophetam censuisse quod Deus blasphemiis impeteretur ; « ita et catholici inter mala quae ab hostibus Ecclesiae patiuntur, praecipuum hoc ducere debent, non bonorum rapinam aut oppressiones miserorum, sed blasphemiam in Deum et sanctos eius » etc. « Confirmat et recreat Deus nec ita multo post, immo statim ac confestim eum qui ipsi confidit spemque ei ostendit auxiliarem, nec caruit praemio quod ad Domini domum properavit et simul cum precibus doloris lacrimas emisit » (S. Cyr.) ;
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v. 9 « et venerunt. servi regis Esechiae ad Isaiam ;
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v. 6 et dizit ad, eos Isaias : haec dicetis domino vestro ; haec dicit Dominus : ne timeas a facie verborum quae audisti quibus blasphemaverunt pueri regis Assyriorum me ;
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v. 1 ecce ego dabo ei spiritum et audiet nuntium et revertetur ad terram suam, et corruere eum faciam gladio in terra sua » ; —ne timeas, idem ei dieitur quod Achaz (1, 4); Deus rem tamquam suam causam tuendam suscipit, quare solius blasphemiae factae fik mentio ; non sine contemptu legati regis Assyriorum — ires nominantur 4 Reg. 18, 11 — "73 vocantur, quae vox praeter aetatem infantilem et puerilem famulum frequenter dicit maxime iuvenilem vel etiam militem gregarium (cf. Ges. Thes. p. 894). Promittit Deus se ei aliud consilium esse inditurum ; dare spiritum aliam mentem ei indere, internum quendam impulsum (cf. 19, 14 ; 28, 6), est enim cor regis in manu Dei et quocumque voluerit inclinabit illud ; rumorem quippe audiet talem ut satius ducturus sit reverti domum. Iam qualis nuntius vel rumor erit intelligendus ? Plerique nuntium explicant: de Tharaca cum exercitu appropinquante (cf. Sanct. Mald. Sasb. Pint. Lap. Loch, Rohl. Kn. Drechsl. Naeg.) ; at non perspicitur, quomodo iste nuntius valuerit ad id ut revertatur in terram suam, et tamen inter nuntium et reditum nexus quidam verbis prophetae assignari omnino videtur. Nuntio vero de Tharaca id solum effectum est, ut novo conatu urbis Ierusalem deditionem extorquere niteretur. Quare nuntius de cladeexercitui Assyriorum divinitus inflicta, de qua infra v. 36, erit intelligendus (ita Thenius quoque ad 2 Reg. 19. Bred. Troch.) ; neque valet quod obiicit Kn. regem ipsum apud illam exercitus partem adfuisse, ergo non potuisse nuntium afferri ; nam utrum adfuerit necne, res est incerta ; Si adfuit, cur ei non potuerit nuntius afferri in suo tabernaculo mane commoranti, tot milites mortuos iacere, nullatenus intelligitur. « Duo pariter quae optabat Ezechias audit se obsidione et periculo liberandum et inimicum iratumque regem in terra sua esse moriturum » (S. /lier.), ergo praesens periculum iri depulsum neque in posterum ab eo rege quidquam esse timendum. Plus Deus concedit quam petebatur pro sua divina in plos ac ipsi confidentes liberalitate.
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v. 8 « Reversus est autem Rabsaces et invenit regem Assyriorum proeliantem adversus Lobnam ; audierat enim quia. profectus esset de Lachis »; — urbem Lachis captam fuisse ex monumentis assyriacis scimus ( vide ad 36, 2); unde maxime probabile est ea demum expugnata regem ad aliam urbem oppugnandam, ad Lobnam, perrexisse. Lobna, vel hebr. Libna in regione eleutheropolitana ( secundum Onomasticum) ab aliis censetur esse idem oppidum quod medio aevo Alba Specula, hodie Tell es-Safieh appellatur, ab aliis magis meridiem versus situm fuisse, ubi hodie Hora (Hawara) inveniatur (cf. Kn. Del. Schenkel, Dibellex. s. v.); erat urbs olim regia Chananaeorum, tum urbs sacerdotalis (cf. Ios. 42, 15; 91, 13. 1 Par. 6, 31). Quanti interfuerit regis Assyriorum, ne urbs Ierusalem penes Ezechiam relinqueretur, ex altera apparet legatione quam mittit, sed cum iterum solum postulationem et minas proferat, colligendum erit ei vel copias defuisse quibus urbem. - oppugnaret aut urbem adeo bene et arte et natura munitam fuisse ut de expugnatione fere desperaret eamque non fieri posse nisi post tempus longius sibi persuaderet. Quare alia via sibi utendum esse satius duxit ;
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v. 9 « el audivit de Tharaca rege Aethiopiae dicentes : egressus est ut pugnet contra te; quod cum audisset misit nuntios ad. Ezechiam dicens :
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v. 10 haec dicetis Ezechiae regi ludae loquentes : non te decipiat Deus tuus, in quo tu confidis dicens : non dabitur Ierusalem in manu regis Assyriorum »; — Tharaca bene vocatur rex Aethiopiae, quia eo tempore in Aegypto inferiore adhuc regnum obtinebat Schabataka, quo demum sublato an. 692 Tharaca dominium Aegypti obtinuit; secundum Manethonem erat rex tertius dynastiae vigesimae quintae. Uti ex v. 14 elucet, simul'eum nuntiis misit literas, in quibus ea quae legati dicebant scripta legebantur. iam tempore neminem potuisse Assyriis resistere et fato quodam omnia iis subdi constet (cf. 36, 19) i. e. omnes deos subiici numini potentiori Assur. Gozam, Gozan regio est Mesopotamiae (Dastavisz apud Ptolemaeum 3, 18, 3. 4); in inscriptionibus cuneiformibus Guzana (cf. Delitzsch, Wolagdas Paradies? p. 184) affertursimul eum Nasibina (Nisibis?) Haram, hebr. Charan (cf. Gen. 11, 31) urbs antiquissima est Mesopotamiae septemtrionalis ad occidentem vergentis ; fleseph, "Psiox apud Ptolemaeum (5, 18, 6) infra Thapsacum in valle Euphratis ez-Zor hodie Rusafa appellari perhibetur (cf. Del.); utraque urbs frequenter quoque in cuneiformibus inscriptionibus nominatur Charran, Rasappa (cf. Delitzsch, Wo lag das Paradies? p. 184. 291). Filii Eden, Bene Eden, apud Assyrios vocati Bit Adini i. e. domus Adini, habitabant in parte quam maxime occ:dentali Mesopotamiae ad utramque Euphratis ripam ea fere regione, ubi hodie sitae sunt urbes Aintab et Urfa; Thalassar forma Tilassuri vel Tilasurri (collis Assur ?) saepius inveuitur apud Assyrios (cf. Delitzsch l. c. p. 4. 264seq.). De Emath et Arphad cf. 10, 9; Sepharvaim vide ad 36, 19. De Ana et Ava, 25, v, vix coniecturae fieri possunt. Unam afferre sufficiet quam Delitzsch l. c. p. 2:9 habet, designari fortasse urbem quae in cuneiformibus Anat vocatur sita in insula Euphratis et urbem Havatu, in eadem [forte regione, non procul nomina interpretati sunt sed ávecvázocs xax évaxsvoce, transmigrare fecit et in captivitatem abduxit. « Contra Sennacherib regis blasphemias solita Ezechias arma corripuit » (S. Ilier.) ;
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v. 44 « et tulit Ezechias libros de manu nuntiorum et legit eos et ascendit in domum Domini et expandit eos Ezechias coram Domino » ; — explicat epistolam coram Domino, ut « ipsum universorum Dominum quasi testem faceret eius audacis ac duri oris ac procacitatis » (S. Cyr.). Atque haec expansio literarum vehemens est ad Deum supplicatio, ut videat et iudicet tantasque. blasphemias non impune abire permittat; « gestus hic magnam vim habet ac si diceret : tua haec causa est, tuum nomen proscinditur, haec in te immanissima blasphemia est, tu eam vindica » (Malv. ad 4 Reg. 19, 14); cf. 1 Mach. 3, 48. Hac actione symbolica in quantas inciderit angustias declarat vultque ut ipsae voces literarum ad coelum quasi clament vindictam expostulantes. Animum vere pium autem expandit oratione ad Deum fusa
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v. 18 « et oravit. Ezechias ad. Dominum dicens :
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v. 46 Domine ezercituum, Deus [srael, qui sedes super cherubim; tu es Deus solus "omnium regnorum Lerrae, tu fecisti coelum et terram » ; — Deum iis compellat nominibus quibus eius potentia et peculiaris ad Israel habitudo designatur, quae duo pro praesenti necessitate elTerri oportuit; Deum invocat cui praesto sunt agmina coelestia et terrestria et qui pro arbiirio ea dirizere potest (vide Os. 12, 5. Mich. 4, 4); Deum Israel vocat qui ut talis. populum suum et suam gloriam hostibus prodere nequit ; qui in media urbe thronum suum habet, ibi in templo super cherubim quae alis suis expansis arcam contegebant peculiarem suam praesentiam quandoque in nebula et nube. manifestabat; unde sedere super cherubim dicitur (cf. 1 Reg. 4, 4. 2 fteg. 6, 2); inde quoque Deus de medio duorum cherubim praecipere et loqui per Moysen ad filios Israel constituerat (Ex. 23, 22). Cherubim autem symbolice ostendunt Deum angelos habere ministros ad providentiae suae consilia exsequenda (cf. Stimmen aus Maria-Laach 1879, t. 17. p. 219 seq.). Contra errorem a Rabsace et aliis legatis prolatum suos cuique regioni esse deos (36, 18. 20; 31, 12) Ezechias unum lahve omnium esse Deum quia omnia creaverit cum emphasi effert. Hanc ig:tur gloriam suam ut Deus vindicet simul ab eo efflagitat. Talem ergo Deum poteatissimum qui ut est solus omnium Deus ita peculiari vinculo iam ex patriarcharum tempore populo suo est coniunctus et in eo thronum suum erexit, maximo implorat fervore
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v. 471 « inclina Domine aurem. tuam et audi, aperi Domine oculos tuos et vide et audi omnia verba Sennacherib quae misit ad. blasphemandum Deum viventem!
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v. 18 vere enim, Domine, desertas fecerunt reges Assyriorum terras et regiones earum,
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v. 19 et.dederuwt deos eorum igni, non enim erant dii, sed opera manuum hominum, lignum et lapis, et comminuerunt eos ;
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v. 90 et nunc, Domino D:us noster, salva nos de mamu eius, et cognoscant omnia regna terrae quia tu es Dominus solus »; — Dei causam agi ad Deum commovendum repetito indicat; praeclare quoque ex Isaiae oraculis dilicit Dei iudicia in id demum tendere, ut ipsius maiestas et gloria late per orbem agnoscatur (cf. 18, 1; 14, 32; 30, 30; 31, 1; 34, 1 etc.). Vim sententiae bene expendit S. Cyr. : « tu serva nos! Iloc enim certo argumento erit fidemque faciet universo orbi terrarum, ut firmam conc:piant fiduciam quod tu solus sis Deus. Quemadmodum enim quod caperentur ragiones gentium, testimonium erat contra falso nuncupatos deos quod omnino nihil sint, sic etiam quod effugiat eiusque evadat manus lerusalem quae tibi subest et tua est, testatam quoque et perspicuam faciet omnibus undique hominibus liberaüonem tuae potentiae et absolutissimae gloriae, quodque solus tu sis ipse Deus et in coelo et in terra ». Illud enim in v. 18 in hebr. apud Syruw et Chald. non adest; adest apu1 LXX et S. Hier. et polest explicari ; etenim Sennacherib glorixtus est. quia terras vastavit, haec aulem gloriitio simul blasoheria evasit, quia Dominum parem fecit idolis ; uti 4 Rog. 19, 17 legitue : dissip erunt g2nfes et terras omnium, ita verba quoque textus nostri intelligen là suut; at textus hehr. v3sIaverunt omn?s terras et terram eorum quamvis idem ha35eatur apu 1 LXX corruptus videtur et legi oportabit vastav?runt gontes et terras earum. Nam quol aliquibus in mentem venit Assyrios suam ipsorum regionem vaslasse et bellis gestis ab hominibus fere vacuum reldidisse (Drechsl.), id minim» congruit contextui, quia Ezechias orsus a particula DiOx ea affort quie Sennacaierib iactaverat eaque revera faeta esse concedit; praeterea satis mirum esset Assyrium loquentem facere de vastation2 suae ipsius regionis. Syrus aliter iungit : vastaverunt omnes terras et terràm eorum et deos eorum cremaverunt igni; Chald. habet: provincias et terras fecerunt desertas. — Solebant idola gentium subieetarum in captivitatem abducere vel delere, ut victoriam de diis tutelaribus esse reportatam coustaret ; vide quae notavi ad Nah. 3, 4 (Proph. min. II p. 37 not. 1).
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5, 16) ; v. 21 « Et misit Isaias filius Amos ad Ezechiam dicens : haec dicit Dominus Deus Israel : pro quibus rogasti me de Sennacherib rege Assyriorum,
« Non longe abest opitulator, sed in propinquo et quasi ad pedes orationis ac pet:tionis adest exitus » (S. Cyr.) ; multum quippe valet iusti deprecatio assidua (lac.
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v. 22 hoc est verbum quod. locutus est Dominus super eum : despexit te el subsannavil te virgo filia Sion; post te caput movit filia Ierusalem,
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v. 23 cui exprobrasti et quem blasphemasti el. super quem. exaltasti vocem et levasti altitudinem oculorum tuorum? Ad. Sanctum Israel » ! — iniuria effertur theocratiae eiusque vindici Deo illata ; quare primo loco nominatur Sion, in quo colle arx regia erat collocata (cf. Mich. 4,:8); noto hebraismo incolae urbis tamquam matris urbis filia considerantur; virgo appellatur quia nondum capta neque ab hostibus violata vel subacta: erat (cf. Sanct. Mall. Lap.). Effertur superbia et arrogantia. quam Assyrius verbis et ipso clamore vocis et oculis totoque habitu prae se tulit; verum hisce maledicta congessit in Sanctum Israel (cf. 6, 3) qui est in flammam (10, 177), qui convicia in se iacta pro sua sanctitate et sua pro theocratia aemulatione ulcisei debet. Quare statim v. 22 partes iam mutari et par pari esse referendum docet : lerusalem enim iam subsannans movebit caput i. e. irridebit et despectui habebit Assyrium qui mox fuga praecipite regionem relinquet; cf. ler. 18, 6. Lament. 9, 45. Cur virgo appelletur Sion, aliis alias afferre placet rationes; vel « quia cunctis gentibus simulacra adorantibus, haec sola conservet castitatem religionis Dei et unius divinitatis cullum » (S. Hier. sim. S. Cyr.) vel ob tenerum Dei in urbem amorem (Susb.) vel quia urbes et regua sedulo custodiri ae servari solent vel propter opes ct decorem (Lap. can. 18 pr«phetis facem praefer.). Sed bene iam advertit Sanct. Ierusalem revera idola coluisse, immo genlilicas sordes in templum invexisse v. g. sub Achaz ; tum ctiam regiones a'ias quae impense idolorum cultui vitiisque studuerint eodem compellari nomine, uti Babylon, Sidon, Aegyptus (ef. 23, 19; 47, 1) ; unde talem esse exquirendam explicationem quae omnibus locis conveniat. Haec autem est quam assignavi. Superbia Assyriorum et pompa ac magnificentia ulterius describitur
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v. 24 « in manu s^rvorum tuorum erprobrasti Domino et dixisti : in multitudine quadrigarum mearum ego ascendi altitudinem montium, iuga. Libani, et succidam excelsa. cedrorum eius et electas abietes illius et introibo cltitudinem summitatis eius, saltum Carmeli eius »! — carineli i. e. regionis amoenae eius vel paradisi eius; vox est intelligenda appellative; cf. 29, 17. Expeditionem in Palaestinam describit uti in regionem montanam quasi ascensum Libani i. e. terrae illius cui adiacet Libanus; et cum multas iam urbes occupaverit, dicit se montium altitudinem ascendisse, immo se iam penetrasse intimum, summum Libanum (hebr.) i. e. terrae partes praecipuas. Haec iam praestitit. Quid ultra efficere velit, declarat et succidam... introibo (2 Reg. 19, 23 hebr. cum ^! paragogico) ; ibi ergo consistens proceritatem cedrorum et lectissimas quasque abietes succidere vult i. e. urbem praecipuam lerusalem occupare, et penetrare in alüitudinem eius quasi extremam, in locum quam maxime amoenum i. e. ipsum templum arcemque regiam expugnare sibique subiicere. Bene habet vulg. et succidam et introibo; haec enim vere tempore futuro esse accipienda probatur loco parallelo 2 Reg. 19, 23, quo in altero introibo adest he exhortationis; ergo Assyrius ex parto iam successu se ipsum excitat ad ulteriora agzredienla. lta sermo bene conformatur, simul jue exprimitur quomodo exprobraverit Domino, eo scil. consilio quo urbem, arcem regiam, templum etiam invito Domino se capturum confidit. Verba intelligenda esse ait S. Hier. « vel de cunctis gentibus gszagopuxog principibusque earum, vel de Ierusalem quae interpretatur Libanus, ut cedros eius atque abietes ad potentes quosque et optimates, altitudinem vero summitatis illius saltumque carmeli referamus ad templum »; sim. S. Cyr. Theod. Mald. Pint. Malv. Sa, Mar. ; recentiores quoque de Palaestina et lerusalem interpretantur. Alii tamen verba sensu proprio accipiunt, ascendisse Assyrium Libanum et vastasse ; at quomodo ascendit in multitudine quadrigarum ? dein obstat modus loquendi quo se exhortatur ad excidendas cedros ; neque opus est rem in universum ita intelligere, ut Assyrius dicat omnia obstacula a se esse superata, immo invia quoque et inaccessa ipsi non fuisse impedimento (cf. For. Lap. Men. Tir. Drechsl.. In verbis enim istis contineri debet exprobratio Domini, quae ex sermonibus antecedentibus eo consistit, quod gloriatur urbem non posse a Domino liberari (36, 14; 31, 10) ; haec autem in ea explicatione deesset. Uti v. 24 ex successu iam parto ulteriorem sibi promittit prosperitatem, ita
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v. 25 « ego fodi et bibi aquam, exsiccavi vestigio pzdis mei omnes rivos aggerum »; — hebr. et ezsiccabo planta pedum meorum omnes rivos Aegypti ; iterum primo effertur quid bene cesserit : itinera exercituum deserto vel aquae penuria non impediebantur; ubique ei quasi ad imperium aderant venae aquarum; fodi et bibi quasi dicat : simulac aqua indigui, eius aderat copia. Unde optimum pro futuro colligit augurium : si loca deserta mihi non obfuerunt, multo facilius Aegyptum superabo; thrasonica hyperbole (Malv.) se aquas Aegypti exsiccare facillime posse, sola sua in- Aegyptum irruptione omnes opes omneque commercium se funditus sublaturum minatur. Vel generatim : ego viribus meis et industria perfeci, ut in regionibus etiam aridis et ab omni cultu derelictis opibus affluerem rebusque omnibus abundarem ; eodem modo Aegyptum fertilem vastabo et pedibus conteram. Hebr. "2 Aegyptus; cf. 19, 6; vocem S. Jlicr. appellative vertit modo a consuetudine aegyptiaca haud alieno; nam « rivos aggerum vocat aquas quae in agro aggeribus conclusae quasi in vivario aut piscina servantur » (Lap. sim. Sanct.). Huic iactantiae et praesumptioni respondetur a Domino ita ut responsio advertente For. ad idem tendat ad quod supra 10, 15 : numquid gloriabitur securis contra eum qui secat ea ? quae enim Assur perfecit, tamquam instrumentum perfecit in Dei manu (cf. S. Cyr.);
37:26
v. 26 « numquid non audisti quid olim fecerim ei ? ex diebus antiquis ego plasmavi illud et nunc adduai, et factum est in eradicationem collium compugnanlium et civitatum munilarum »; — hebr. a longinquo feci tllud... et nunc adduazi ut sis ad vastandum $n acervos dirutos urbes munitas; cf. 10, 5; bene explicat S. Ilier. : « haec ex persona Dei contra verha Assyrii sentienda sunt, quod ad blasphemiam eius sic responderit Dominus : num ignoras quod haec quae fecisti mea feceris voluntate et ego haec futura praedixerim ac per te facienda mandaverim? itaque quod olim decrevi, hoc expletum est tempore, ut colles et civitates munitissimae me contrahenté manum nec solitum praebente auxilium eradicarentur »; sim. S. Cyr. Sanct. Colles compugnantes explicat S. Ilier. de principibus qui inter se antea pugnabant; « ego non inepte mihi expositurus videbar, si per colles compugnantes et civilatles munitas idem significari crederem, nam civitates illae munitae plerumque in collibus sitae erant; compugnantes dicuntur quia facile pugnare possunt e superiore.lcco et hostiles impetus non solum sustinere sed frangere » (Sanct.). Sed planior est textus hebr. — Similiter ut in urbes munitas, Deus dedit Assyrio potestatem in incolas v. 9'] « habitatores earum breviata manu contreneuerunt et confusi sunt, facti sunt sicut fenum agri el gramen pascuae et herba tectorum, quae ezaruit antequam maluresccret » ; — i. e. facti sunt imbelles, veluti manci, im[otes ad agendtm, pugnandum. Impotentia triplici comparatione describitur; tam facile devicti sunt Deo volente, sicut gramen succiditur; tam cito virtus emarcuit sicuti herba tectorum exarescit cum non adsit hvmus sufficiens. In hebr. gramen tectorum et arvum ante culmum i. e. sicut ager antequam spicae assurgant in culmos, antequam maturescant, vel uti in loco parallelo legitur ut «redo ante culmum»! i. e. quasi vento urente segetes corruptae sunt antequam maturescerent; Assyrius ergo sicut ventus urens florem populorum enecuit et populi facti sunt ut. herbae tactae et corruptae urediae. Erat igitur Assur revera virga in manu Domini ad castigandas gentes. Sed demum virga ipsa confringetur et abiicietur a Domino. Ratio redditur eadem quae 10, 7. 12: Deus novit et punit arrogantiam et superbiam ;
37:28
v. 28 « habitationem tuam, egressum. tuum el introitum. tuum cognovi et insaniam luam contra me » ; — hebr. proprie sedere tuum, egredi el ingredi (uum i. e. « per haec tria omnia significantur quae ab homine fieri possunt; dicit ergo Deus nih;l sibi esse non exploratum quod molitus fuerit Sennacherib » (Sanct.) ; hac enim formula, ut notat For., solent Hebraei universas hominis actiones, mores et vitam circumscr.bere ; cf. Deut. 28, 6. 3 Reg. 3, "1. Ps. 1290, 8; 138, 2. [nsaniam explica ex hebr. furorem, animum in Deum concitatum, cum eodem modo Domino minatus sit, sicuti idolis. Sed eo maior erit humiliatio
37:29
v. 29 « cum fureres adversum me, superbia tua ascendit in, aures meas ; ponam ergo circulum in naribus (uis et frenum n labiis tuis et reducam te in viam per quam venisti » ; — hebr. ponam circulum meum et frenum meum i. e. tamquam fera bestia domabitur et re infecta domum reducetur; « dignum sane supplicium insolentis animi, ut qui se supra homines esse putat ad muti et ignob.lis bruü similitunem abiiciatur » (Sanct.). Mabes eo exemplo quomodo Deus superbis resistat et potentes deliciat de sede. Praeclare nunc patet, quomodo v. 92 Ierusalem irridere possit regem Assur ; ridendus sane qui post talem iactantiam ut capta bestia annulo in nares immisso et freno imposito dometur. More prophetico quid Deus facturus sit et ad quem tandem exitum res sint adducendae, uno quasi conspectu proposuit; at non adeo subito neque statim omnem depulsum iri calamitatem ex iis discimus quae Ezech'ae regi dicuntur
37:30
v. 30 « tibi autem hoc erit sigmum : comede hoc anno quae sponte nascuntur et in anno secundo pomis vescere, in anno autem terlio seninale et metite et. plantate vineas et comedite fructum earum » |! — signum et pignus oraculi antecedentis eiusque impleüonis eo datu rquod quid proximo tempore futarum sit praedicitur ; cum haec igitur mox fiant, simul robur oraculo priori conciliant'. Hoc anno quo loquitur propheta, ex agris colligent quae sponte nascuntur T'EDi. e. effusum, id quod nascitur ex granis quae decidunt in messe (Mald.), quae fortuito excussa sunt !. Ergo praecelente autumno sementis fieri non poterat propter invasionem Assyriorum ; hac vero aestate regio ita erit tuta ut hanc qualemcumque messem colligere liceat. Unde simul patet oraculum hoc verno tempore esse editum. Cum in sequenti anno pomis vesci (ita S. IIier. ex Sym.), D"T$ ? vesci d:cantur i. e. iis quae sua sponte recreverint e radicibus resectis seu ex semine sponte nascentis anterioris anni (Mald.), tempore autumni iterum fore regionem longe lateque a copiis Assyriorum infestandam asseritur. Tertio demum anno iam ab omni infestatione hostili liberis omnino libere suis rebus frui licebit. Fuerunt qui secundum hune annum censerent fuisse sabbaticum annum, in quo quiescere iuxta legem (Lev. 25, 4: debebat terra, ut nec seri nec meti posset ; iisdem enim verbis quae hic legantur scil. quod non sererent neque meterent sed comederent sponte nascentia deseribi annum sabbatieum (cf. Lev. 25, 6. Ex. 293, 11 ; ita Scaliger, Vitringa; vide quoque apud Lap. Mulv. Dveechsl.); alii annum sabbaticum quem simul subsecutus sit annus iubila2i adfuisse volunt ; nam comedere quae sponte nascuntur esse indicium anni sabbatici, et cum pro insequente anno etiam non adsit messis, colligendum esse annum iubilaei (cf. Net.). Verum haec indicia satis suut dubia. Nam cur eiusmodi rebus uti debeant, explicatur non ex ratione anni vel sabbatici vel iubilaei, sed ex invasione et vastatione per Assyrios facta. Signum quidem etiam constirot in hac hypothesi anni sabbatici et iubilaei, cum in eo sit constitutum quod illa sitem colligere et ex agris et vineis inferre possint, quod izitur tempore illo regio sit ab hostibus libera futura — id quod veri nominis praedictionem habet — ; attamen nescio an non ipse loquenli modus, quo novum quid et inusitatum indicatur, illam excludat hypothesin. , Uti supra iam saepius, ita hic quoque felicem quandam populi conditionem post cladem assyriacam esse secuturam vates praedicit
37:31
v. 31 « ef mittet id quod salvatum | fuerit de domo Iuda et quod reliquum est radicem deorsum et. faciet. fructum sursum » ; — cf. 99, 19; 30, 23; 32, 1; 33, 16; « reliquiae tantam recipient rerum omnium abundantiam ac felicitatem, ut instar arboris alta radice fundatae pomis densissimis impleantur » (S. Ifier.). Illos habitaturos esse tuto ac secure et tranquillitatem illam fore perpetuam, ex imagine proposita S. Cyr. colligit. Solatur ergo Ezechiam et cives qui moerere ac conturbari iure optimo poterant, cum civitates luda captas et civibus orbatas esse intelligerent, dicens illos qui reliqui fuerint aleo strenuos ac felices fore, ut collapsa erigere, ruinosa instaurare, rem denique iudaicam varie concussam ad antiquum splendorem revocare possint (Sanct.). Atque cur eiusmodi instauratio atque innovatio concedatur, ratio sita est in firmo Dei consilio quo salutem suam in Ierusalem reponi statuerat
37:32
v. 32 « quia de lerusalem | exibunt reliquiae et salvatio de monte Sion ; zelus Domini exercituum ' faciet istud » ; — cf. 10, 20. 21 reliquiae salvae erunt ; pro iis autem constituitur centrum lerusalem et Sion, ex quo nova illa felicitas ac prosperitas in reliquam regionem erit derivanda. Ita liquet, cur urbs non tradenda sit hostibus; cf. 28, 16 ; et Ierusalem in simili quadam dignitate cernitur, sicut. 2, 2; 4, 3. 4-6. Quanto autem studio Deus verba sua sit impleturus, sollemni asseveratione confirmatur zelus Domini exercituum ; cf. 9, 1. Zach. 1, 14. Cum repetito sermo inferatur de reliquiis, de evasione (hebr.), Iudaeos magnis cladibus fuisse affectos apparet, quibus ea completa sunt quae Isaias de prostratione peccatorum saepius annuntiaverat (cf. 28, 41 ; 29, 20 ; 30, 13). Confirmationis gratia post oraculum sublimiore dicendi genere editum repetitur vaticinium verbis propriis eiusque summa denuo proponitur, quemadmodum [Isaias saepius solet sermones longiores una alterave sententia addita summatim recolere (cf. 16, 13; 17, 14; 19, 22; 22, 93); simul qualis sit zelus Domini et quid sit effecturus, clarius proponitur
37:33
v. 33 « propterea haec dicit Dominus de rege Assyriorum : non intrabit civitatem hanc et non iaciet ibi sagittam et non occupabit eam clypeus et non mittet in circuitu eius aggerem ;
37:34
v. 94 in via qua venit per eam revertétur et. civitatem hanc non ingredietur, dicit Dominus ;
37:35
v. 38 el protlegam civitatem istam, ul salvem eam propter me et propter David servum meum » ; — quanti solatii haec verba fuerint pro Ezechia, facile concipitur; nunc enim verbis maxime claris et perspicuis edocetur summam fore securitatem urbis. Sed quis post minas illas regis Assyriorum non exspectasset fore ut urbs obsidione cingeretur et repetitos impetus. hostis experiretur ? Deus autem ipse vult esse propugnator urbis, ut illam ab hostili periculo defendat, tum propter se, cuius in hoc rerum articulo honor intercedit (Sanct.) tum propter David ; agitur enim Dei honor (v. 20) et Deus suam gloriam ac fidzlitatem manifestare vult. (cf. 98, 5. 16. 21. 29; 29, 22; 30, 18; 33, 22) ; propter David, ei enim promissus est thronus aeternus (i. e. ex eius posteris orietur Messias), ergo civitas et domus David peculiari tutela a Domino
37:36
30, 271; 31, 8; 32, 19; 33, 19. 23) ; v. 36 « Egressus est autem angelus Domini et percussit ?n castris Assyriorum centum octoginta quinque millia; et surrexeruut mane et ecce omnes cadavera morluorum ;
Jam subditur qua demum ratione subito et inexspectato vires Sennacherib ita sint fractae, ut re infecta relire cogeretur. lta illa demum ruina refertur, quam prophetice toties nec sine verborum pompa praedixerat vates (cf. 10, 16. 33; 14, 95; 17, 12; 18, 5. 6; 29, 5;
37:37
v. 91 et egressus est eL abiit el reversus est Sennacherib rez Assyriorum et habitavit in Ninive» ; — rem effert praecipuam ouiissis quae interea gesta sunt et de quibus aliqua innuuntur v. 30. Ex inscriptionibus cuneiformibus docemur, regem Sennacherib prope Altaqu pugnam iniisse cum rege Aegypti et rege Aethiopum. Cum igitur isti appropinquarent, Sennacherib sese ex Lobna recepit versus Altaqu (i. e. Elthece, Ios. 19, 44) urbem in tribu Dan inter Acron et Gebb»thon. Ibi « confisus in Assur domino meo cum iis pugnavi eisque cladem intuli; aurigam et filios regis aegyptiaci cum auriga regis de terra Miluchi (Aethiopiae) ego manu mea medio in certamine cepi. Urbes Altaqu et Timnath aggressus sum, eas cepi et earum spolia abstuli » (cf. Schrader, Vigourouzx |l. c.). Sed cum contra consuetudinem alias observatam nec spolia quae ceperit a regibus nec numerus captivorum recenseatur, victoria illa forte non adeo magna erat. Utrum Sennacherib bellum intulerit ipsi Aegypto necne potest quaeri. In inscriptionibus nihil de tali expeditione contineri videtur. De illa autem refert Berosus quem affert Josephus (Antiq. 10, 1, 4) et Herodotus (2, 141). De tempore cladis per angelum inflictae h. 1. nihil refertur. In 4 Reg. 19, 35 leg:tur quidem : factum est ?gitur in nocte illa, venit angelus Domni etc. unde aliqui concluserunt cladem in nocte post vaticinium succedente iam fuisse inflictam (cf. Naeg. RoAl.). At hoc non potest conciliari cum v. 30 quo spatium longius calamitatis assyriacae supponitur. Unde nota cum Men. : « in hac eadem prophetia clades tertio (?) anno futura indicatur, itaque illu! relativum positum est ad emphasin addendam, ut in illa nocte idem sit quoJ in celebri illa nocte » vel cum Sanct. : « haec accicervnt b:ernio aut triennio circiter post illud vaticinium, narpe postquzm uro anno cemedit populus quae sponte nascuntur et altero victitavit [comis ». Quantum tcmporis intercesserit, definiri nequit ;certum est Assyrios diutius quom pcr unum annum in Palaestina versatos esse ; id piaeter v. £0 cttm rcLus illis gestis suadetur, quae in inscripticnilus cuneiformilus referuntur et longius temporis spatium postulant. Peste quadam quae subito exorta ipsa sua strage immensa miraculum divinitus patratum prae se ferat interempta esse tot millia militum, satis probabile videtur; nam 2 Reg. 24, 13. 16 pestilentia dicitur a Deo i mmissa in Israel, ea autcm ita describitur, ut angelus percutiat populum, cui Dcminus ut pestilentiae finis imponatur dicit : sufficit, nunc contine manum tuam, et quem David cucque cernit caedentem populum; cf. Ex. 12, 23. Illam cladem accidisse sin minus prope ipsam urbem, saltem in terra Iudaea, ex 10, 82-24; 14, 25; 18, 4 non poterit in dubium vccari, et ita erat inflicta, ut gloriam Domini eiusque opus alii quoque populi agnoscerent (cf. 48, "i. 9 Par. 32, 23). Angelus dicitur egredi, nam « cum Deus vel invisibilis crcatura aliquid quod sensu percipitur operatur, egredi dicitur in s. literis » (For.). Sennacherib statim re infecta abiisse, non sine verLorum quacam pompa quasi in morem exsultantis ezécmque ad laetitiam declarandam ingeminantis in v. 37 narratur. Illud Acbitare in. Ninive ita solum intelligendum est, ut ab omni contra Palaestinam expeditionein posterum abstinuerit ; quae postmedum Lella gessit, quorum quinque in monumentis assyriacis (post annum '/00 a. Ch.) ccr memorantur, contra Elam, Pabylonem, Susianam etc. gessit. Propheta historiem sacrem scribens id unum | efferre vult regcm in suis f'niLus regrcqve ita se continuisse ut Iudaeam iam non aggrederetur. Verbum Dei erat impletum : Deus eum reduxit per viam qua venerat ; iam non est reversus. Verbum Dei impletum esse « corruere eum faciam gladio in terra sua » v. ^ reliquis omnibus omissis quae ad sacram historiam et theocratiam non pertinent, demut narratur
37:38
v. 38 « ef factum est cum adoraret in templo Nesroch. deum suum, Adramelech et. Sarasar filii eius percusserunt eum gladio, fugeruntque in terram Ararat et. regnavit Asarhaddon filius eius pro eo » ; — ex monumentis assyriacis Sennacherib regnum tenuit usque ad an. 681; ergo longum temporis intervallum adest inter v. 31 et 38; id quod nobis argumento esse potest etiam quae narrantur in v. 36 non ita subito evenisse post editum vaticinium, quamvis immediate adiungantur. Nomen Nesroch (Nisruk) explicant benignum, largitorem (cf. Schrader l. c.) ; Adramelech assyriace Adarmalik (sublimis est rex) 4 Reg. 11, 31 nomen est idoli in Sepharvaim culti (Adar est rex); nomina propria Assyriorum sicut et Hebraeorum divinis componi nominibus, res est frequentissima. Sarasar explicatur Sarusur. Cum Abydenus (apud Euseb. arm. chron. ed. Mai p. 25) tres nominet filios Sennacherib : Adramelum, Nergilum, Axerden, et Adramelus idem aperte sit cum Adremelech et Axerdes non longe absit ab Asarhaddon, etiam Nergilum esse vocarique Sarusur coniecerunt vel potius eius filii nomen fuisse integrum Nirgal-sar-usur i. e. Nirgal regem proteget, quod nomen Graeci efferunt Neriglissor (cf. Schrader, Vigourouz |l. c.). In nominibus propriis nomen dei quandoque omitti, exempla adsunt apud Assyrios ; unde Sarusur ita esse omissione ortum haud improbabile est ; nomen autem integrum eo modo esse efformandum, eo suadetur quod Abydenus nomen illud Nergili uti alia nomina ex certa quadam narratione hausit ; est autem Nergal assyriace Nirgal idolum Chutaeorum (4 Reg. 11, 30) et numen exhibet imagine leonis repraesentatum. De occisione Sennacherib monuments assyriacis nihil proditur, nisi forte indicium quoddam eum fuisse vi sublatum eo cernere vis, quod referente Layard eius imagines in palatio Kuyyundschick videantur data opera partim erasae partim foedatae (cf. Stimmen aus Maria-Laach 18713, t. 4 p. 148). Scriptoribus autem profanis quoque eum a filiis esse interemptum notum erat. lua refert Alexander Polyhistor, eum duodeviginti annos in imperio vixisse et per insidias quas illi parasset filius Ardumusanus e vita excessisse (cf. Richter, Bsrosi Chald. hist. quae supersunt p. 63). Terra Ararat, assyriace Urartu, intelligitur Armenia, regio campestris Araxis fluvii. « Contemptor veri Dei in fano falsi sui numinis trucidatur, nec angeli perit gladio quod erat commune cum pluribus, sed parricdio filiorum » (S. Ilier.). Ill De argumento prioris parta libri. IV De Isaia auctore libri. e *. V De praecipuis in lsaiam commentariis. à) Populi ingralitudo ac scelera exagitantur 1, 2-9. b) Impiorum sacrificia reprobantur 1, 10-90. 'Y. — PRIMA VATICINIORUM SERIES Cap. 2-5.
37:2
Isaias (HEB. JĒŠA-JĀH[Ā] "SALVATION [IS] YAHWEH", SEPTUAGINT 'HESAIAU)
… Son of Amoz (not to be confused with the prophet of the same name), he was born in all probability in Jerusalem, which was the theater of his activity (Is. 7:3 ff.; 8:2; 22:15 ff.; 37:2 ff.). …
37:8
… Chron. 25:27). In the time of Isaiah, under Hezekiah, in 702, the Assyrian king Sennacherib besieged it (2 Kings 14:19; 2 Chron. 32:9; cf. Mic. 1:13) and from there sent messengers to Jerusalem to demand its surrender (2 Kings 18:17; 19:18; Isa. 36:2; 37:8). A century later Nebuchadnezzar besieged L. (Jer. 34:7) and took it in 589-588 B.C. After the Babylonian exile L. was again inhabited by Jews (Neh. 11:30).
Lebna (Heb. Libhná; Gr. Lechna, Lochna)
took on his return from Lachish (2 Kings 19:8; Isa. 37:8). It was the birthplace of the mother of Jehoahaz and of Zedekiah, kings of Judah (2 Kings 23:31; 24:18).
37:11
… Except that such must also have been the law of war among the other Semitic peoples, apart from any divine intervention, as appears from some passages of the same Bible (IV Reg. 19, 11; Is. 37, 11) and from other profane sources and inscriptions. …
37:12
1) a region on the Euphrates, east of Aleppo (II Kings 19:12; Is. 37:12; Ez. 27:23; Am. 1:5): it is the Bīt-Adini of the Assyrian monuments; 2) a Levite descended from Gershon, from the time of King Hezekiah (II Chron. 29:12; 31:15).
… In the subsequent period of Aramaic dominion (11th-9th centuries B.C.) the sanctuary of Sin exercised ever more its influence over all Syria, so that, when "the fortress H." fell again under the impetus of Assyrian expansion (9th-7th centuries B.C.; cf. Is. 37, 12), it came to be the residence of an Assyrian governor, and Assyrian emperors did not disdain to be crowned in the temple of Sin or to consult its oracle. …
37:16
Cherubim (Hebrew Plural Hērubhîm)
… From there, from the place "between the c.," God gave his oracles (Ex. 25:18-22; 37:7-9; Num. 7:89) and was therefore called "He who sits above the c." (I Sam. 4:4; II Sam. 6:2; Isa. 37:16; Ps. 80:2; 99:1). When he manifests himself in the storm "he rides upon the c." (Ps. 18:11). They were introduced into Solomon's temple: two, standing at the two ends of the ark, …
Sometimes the Bible deals in a practical manner with the problem of God's existence and resolves it with the principle of causality (Heb. 11:3; Rom. 1:20; Wis. 13:1-15:19; Ps. 18:2; Job 12:7 ff.; Jer. 10:11; Is. 37:16; 40:7). Usually the demonstration is based on the cosmological argument. …
37:28
… E. Kautzsch understands it as "sons of wrath," that is, "irascible" (the Hebrew-Aramaic rgs means "wrath": Is. 23:11; 32:11; 37:28 ff.; Dan. 3:13; etc.). …
37:36
… But the subject matter of certain "psalms of A." betrays a later origin: 73 (74) and 78 (79) refer to the destruction of Jerusalem (587); 75 (76) fits the deliverance from Sennacherib's siege (Is. 37:36 ff.); 79 (80) reveals a great national tribulation; 82 (83) seems to allude to the coalition of Moab and Ammon against Jehoshaphat king of Judah (II Chron. 20:1). Perhaps such compositions …
37:38
… This geographical name from the Old Testament (Gen. 8:4; 2 Kings 19:37; Isa. 37:38; Jer. 51:27) corresponds roughly to the Urartu of the Assyro-Babylonian documents and to present-day Armenia.
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.