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Isaias lxii.
Notes & Commentary:
Ver. 1.
Rest, as long as God grants me life, or till I behold the Saviour; or Cyrus, the figure of Christ. (Calmet) --- True
preachers will not be silent on account of any threats, but will labour for the Church, 2 Timothy ii. (Worthington)
Ver. 2.
One. No profane historian mentions what Cyrus did for the Jews; but all the world knows how much Christ has favoured
his Church. (Calmet) --- Name. Thou shalt be no longer the rebellious Jerusalem, but the spouse and chosen people,
the Church of Christ. (St. Ignatius of Antioch, ad Magnesians) (St. Jerome)
Ver. 3.
Hand. Chaldean, "before." Hebrew, "by the protection."
Ver. 4.
Forsaken. Yet the synagogue was again rejected, at the death of Christ. The promises naturally relate to his Church.
(Calmet) --- Inhabited. Protestants retain the Hebrew words Chephtsi-bah, "my delight in her," and Beulah,
(marginal note) "married." (Haydock)
Ver. 5.
Dwell. Hebrew, "marry." They shall be attached to their country. --- Thee. He shall love thee as a bridegroom
does one whom he has lately married. Christ never abandons his virgin spouse. (Calmet) --- Isaias speaks of some state of
the Jews which has not yet taken place. (Houbigant)
Ver. 6.
Watchmen; priests and prophets, (Matthew ii. 1., and Psalm cxxxiii. 2.; Calmet) or angels. (St. Jerome; St. Bernard)
--- The synagogue has been long destitute of guides, but the Catholic Church has an uninterrupted succession of watchful pastors.
--- Mindful whose duty it is to remind him of his promises, and to recite the Church office. (Calmet) --- Hebrew mazcirim,
monitors, 2 Kings viii. 16. (Haydock) --- In these faithful watchman the Church is always visible. (Worthington)
Ver. 8.
Hand; inviolably, Deuteronomy xxxii. 40. The Persians deemed this oath most sacred. (Calmet) --- Darius, just expiring,
said to Polycrates, "By thee I give this right hand to Alexander," (Plut.[Plutarch?]) that he may revenge my death. --- Wine.
The Church cannot be deprived of her faith or of her God.
Ver. 10.
People, that they may return to Judea, and be converted to Christ. (Calmet)
Ver. 11.
Work the redemption of mankind. (Haydock) --- Though Cyrus was a figure of Christ, he was as much beneath him as earth
is below heaven, Zacharias ix. 9. (Calmet)
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Bible Text & Cross-references:
The prophet will not cease from preaching Christ: to whom
all nations shall be converted: and whose Church shall continue for ever.
1 For Sion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for the sake of Jerusalem,
I will not rest, till her just one come forth as brightness, and her Saviour be lighted as a lamp.
2 And the Gentiles shall see thy just One, and all kings thy glorious
one: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.
3 And thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal
diadem in the hand of thy God.
4 Thou shalt no more be called forsaken: and thy land shall no more be
called desolate: but thou shalt be called My pleasure in her, and thy land inhabited. Because the Lord hath been well pleased
with thee: and thy land shall be inhabited.
5 For the young man shall dwell with the virgin, and thy children shall
dwell in thee. And the bridegroom shall rejoice over the bride, and thy God shall rejoice over thee.
6 Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen all the day,
and all the night; they shall never hold their peace. You that are mindful of the Lord, hold not your peace,
7 And give him no silence till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem
a praise in the earth.
8 The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength:
Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thy enemies: and the sons of the strangers shall not drink thy wine, for
which thou hast laboured.
9 For they that gather it, shall eat it, and shall praise the Lord: and
they that bring it together, shall drink it in my holy courts.
10 Go through, go through the gates, *prepare the way for the people,
make the road plain, pick out the stones, and lift up the standard to the people.
11 *Behold, the Lord hath made it to be heard in the ends of the earth,
tell the daughter of Sion: Behold, thy Saviour cometh: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
12 And they shall call them, The holy people, the redeemed of the Lord.
But thou shalt be called: A city sought after, and not forsaken.
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*
10: Isaias lvii. 14.
11: Zacharias ix. 9.; Matthew xxi. 5.
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