Click *H for Haydock Commentary. *Footnote for footnote etc.
Click any word in Latin Greek or Hebrew to activate the parser. Then click on the display to expand the parser.
*H Woe to the land, the winged cymbal, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,
Ver. 1. Cymbal. Or sistrum, commonly used in Egypt. Sept. "ship sails." — Ethiopia, or Chus, lying between the Nile (the branches of which are styled rivers) and the Red Sea. He alludes to the kingdom of Tharaca. 4 K. xix. 8. C.
*H That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, and in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters. Go, ye swift angels, to a nation rent and torn in pieces: to a terrible people, after which there is no other: to a nation expecting and trodden underfoot, whose land the rivers have spoiled.
Ver. 2. Ambassadors. Heb. "images," (Bochart) in honour of Adonis; (S. Cyr.) or rather Ezechias, or Tharaca send to demand troops. C. — Bulrushes. Lit. "paper." H. — Formed of rushes which grow on the banks of the Nile. Pliny vii. 56. and xiii. 11. — Angels. Or messengers. — Pieces. With factions after the death of Sabacon, or by the inroads of Sennacherib. — Other. He derides the vanity of the Egyptians. C. — Expecting the overflowing of the Nile. H. — Heb. "of line," (C.) with which they marked out each person's property, after the waters had subsided. Strabo 17. — Foot. They worked their dough with their feet, and sent swine to trample on the seed, which required no more cultivation. Herod. ii. 14. and 36. — Spoiled. The Nile made considerable alterations.
* Summa
*S Part 3, Ques 13, Article 3
[II-II, Q. 13, Art. 3]
Whether the Sin of Blasphemy Is the Greatest Sin?
Objection 1: It would seem that the sin of blasphemy is not the greatest sin. For, according to Augustine (Enchiridion xii), a thing is said to be evil because it does harm. Now the sin of murder, since it destroys a man's life, does more harm than the sin of blasphemy, which can do no harm to God. Therefore the sin of murder is more grievous than that of blasphemy.
Obj. 2: Further, a perjurer calls upon God to witness to a falsehood, and thus seems to assert that God is false. But not every blasphemer goes so far as to say that God is false. Therefore perjury is a more grievous sin than blasphemy.
Obj. 3: Further, on Ps. 74:6, "Lift not up your horn on high," a gloss says: "To excuse oneself for sin is the greatest sin of all." Therefore blasphemy is not the greatest sin.
_On the contrary,_ On Isa. 18:2, "To a terrible people," etc. a gloss says: "In comparison with blasphemy, every sin is slight."
_I answer that,_ As stated above (A. 1), blasphemy is opposed to the confession of faith, so that it contains the gravity of unbelief: while the sin is aggravated if the will's detestation is added thereto, and yet more, if it breaks out into words, even as love and confession add to the praise of faith.
Therefore, since, as stated above (Q. 10, A. 3), unbelief is the greatest of sins in respect of its genus, it follows that blasphemy also is a very great sin, through belonging to the same genus as unbelief and being an aggravated form of that sin.
Reply Obj. 1: If we compare murder and blasphemy as regards the objects of those sins, it is clear that blasphemy, which is a sin committed directly against God, is more grave than murder, which is a sin against one's neighbor. On the other hand, if we compare them in respect of the harm wrought by them, murder is the graver sin, for murder does more harm to one's neighbor, than blasphemy does to God. Since, however, the gravity of a sin depends on the intention of the evil will, rather than on the effect of the deed, as was shown above (I-II, Q. 73, A. 8), it follows that, as the blasphemer intends to do harm to God's honor, absolutely speaking, he sins more grievously that the murderer. Nevertheless murder takes precedence, as to punishment, among sins committed against our neighbor.
Reply Obj. 2: A gloss on the words, "Let . . . blasphemy be put away from you" (Eph. 4:31) says: "Blasphemy is worse than perjury." The reason is that the perjurer does not say or think something false about God, as the blasphemer does: but he calls God to witness to a falsehood, not that he deems God a false witness, but in the hope, as it were, that God will not testify to the matter by some evident sign.
Reply Obj. 3: To excuse oneself for sin is a circumstance that aggravates every sin, even blasphemy itself: and it is called the most grievous sin, for as much as it makes every sin more grievous. _______________________
FOURTH
*H For thus saith the Lord to me: I will take my rest, and consider in my place, as the noon light is clear, and as a cloud of dew in the day of harvest.
Ver. 4. Place. God rules all with ease. — Harvest. The allies shall comfort my people, (C.) or Sennacherib shall threaten ruin. H. — But I will frustrate his evil designs. His army shall perish unexpectedly. v. 5. C. — The Egyptians had sent messengers to assure the Israelites that they would come to assist them: but the prophet informs them of their own ruin. W.
*H And they shall be left together to the birds of the mountains, and the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall be upon them all the summer, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
Ver. 6. Them. Their bodies shall lie unburied.
*H At that time shall a present be brought to the Lord of hosts, from a people rent and torn in pieces: from a terrible people, after which there hath been no other: from a nation expecting, expecting and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, to mount Sion.
Ver. 7. Sion. Egypt shall send presents to the Lord. 2 Par. xxxii. 23. C.