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*H Now Phassur the son of Emmer, the priest, who was appointed chief in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremias prophesying these words.
Ver. 1. Son, or descendant. His father was Melchia. C. xxi. 1. and 1 Par. ix. 12. C. — Chief: high priest, (Theod.) or rather a chief officer, (C. xxix. 25.) or prince, (Matt. xxvi. 27. Tolet. Grot.) whose duty it was to take up impostors. He treated Jeremias in this light. C. — See Lu. xxii. 52. H.
*H And Phassur struck Jeremias the prophet, and put him in the stocks, that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, in the house of the Lord.
Ver. 2. Struck, or seized. Grot. — Upper gate, nearer the temple. C.
*H And when it was light the next day, Phassur brought Jeremias out of the stocks. And Jeremias said to him: The Lord hath not called thy name Phassur, but fear on every side.
Ver. 3. Phassur. This name signifies, increase and principality; and therefore is here changed to Magor-Missabib, or "fear on every side," to denote the evils that should come upon him in punishment of his opposing the word of God. Ch. — Aquila renders Posseur, "a stranger," and S. Jer. "blackness of visage." H. — It may also mean, "one who causes paleness." C. — Mogur may signify "fear or distress." Sept. and Syr. "an exile." H. — He deserved to be thus treated. v. 6. C. — He would be terrified by many enemies. W.
*H But thou Phassur, and all that dwell in thy house, shall go into captivity, and thou shalt go to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and there thou shalt be buried, thou and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied a lie.
Ver. 6. Lie. He was therefore a false prophet, and vexed that Jeremias should contradict him. C.
*H Thou hast deceived me, O Lord, and I am deceived: thou hast been stronger than I, and thou hast prevailed. I am become a laughingstock all the day, all scoff at me.
Ver. 7. Thou hast deceived, &c. The meaning of the prophet is not to charge God with any untruth; but what he calls deceiving, was only the concealing from him, when he accepted of the prophetical commission, the greatness of the evils which the execution of that commission was to bring upon him. Ch. — Heb. "thou hast enticed me," when I declined the office. T. — God never promised that he should suffer no persecution. H. — Jeremias might also have supposed that he was to be sent to the Gentiles. C. i. 5. S. Jer. in C. xxv. 18. — The oriental languages are much more lofty than ours, and express common things in the strongest manner. C. — We may perceive the different emotions of fear and joy (D.) with which the prophet was actuated, like S. Paul, and our Saviour himself. The saints evince the weakness of man and the power of divine grace. C. — Heb. "If thou, Lord, hast deceived me, I am," &c. Tournemine.
*H For I am speaking now this long time, crying out against iniquity, and I often proclaim devastation: and the word of the Lord is made a reproach to me, and a derision all the day.
Ver. 8. Day. They keep asking where are these enemies from the north, the plagues? &c. C. — He is sorry to see the word of God despised, (Theod.) and is guilty of a venial pusillanimity, concluding that his words had no good effect. M.
*H Then I said: I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name: and there came in my heart as a burning fire, shut up in my bones, and I was wearied, not being able to bear it.
Ver. 9. And there, or "for," &c. I was grieved continually. Sanctius. — I could not however refrain from speaking. Acts xvii. 16. and 1 Cor. ix. 16. Job xxxii. 18.
*H For I heard the reproaches of many, and terror on every side: Persecute him, and let us persecute him: from all the men that were my familiars, and continued at my side: if by any means he may be deceived, and we may prevail against him, and be revenged on him.
Ver. 10. Side, seeking an opportunity to ruin me, as the Pharisees did our Saviour. Ps. xl. 10. C. — Prot. "familiars watched for my halting, saying, peradventure he," &c. H.
* Summa
*S Part 3, Ques 72, Article 1
[II-II, Q. 72, Art. 1]
Whether Reviling Consists in Words?
Objection 1: It would seem that reviling does not consist in words. Reviling implies some injury inflicted on one's neighbor, since it is a kind of injustice. But words seem to inflict no injury on one's neighbor, either in his person, or in his belongings. Therefore reviling does not consist in words.
Obj. 2: Further, reviling seems to imply dishonor. But a man can be dishonored or slighted by deeds more than by words. Therefore it seems that reviling consists, not in words but in deeds.
Obj. 3: Further, a dishonor inflicted by words is called a railing or a taunt. But reviling seems to differ from railing or taunt. Therefore reviling does not consist in words.
_On the contrary,_ Nothing, save words, is perceived by the hearing. Now reviling is perceived by the hearing according to Jer. 20:10, "I heard reviling [Douay: 'contumelies'] on every side." Therefore reviling consists in words.
_I answer that,_ Reviling denotes the dishonoring of a person, and this happens in two ways: for since honor results from excellence, one person dishonors another, first, by depriving him of the excellence for which he is honored. This is done by sins of deed, whereof we have spoken above (Q. 64, seqq.). Secondly, when a man publishes something against another's honor, thus bringing it to the knowledge of the latter and of other men. This reviling properly so called, and is done by some kind of signs. Now, according to Augustine (De Doctr. Christ. ii, 3), "compared with words all other signs are very few, for words have obtained the chief place among men for the purpose of expressing whatever the mind conceives." Hence reviling, properly speaking, consists in words: wherefore, Isidore says (Etym. x) that a reviler (_contumeliosus_) "is hasty and bursts out (_tumet_) in injurious words." Since, however, things are also signified by deeds, which on this account have the same significance as words, it follows that reviling in a wider sense extends also to deeds. Wherefore a gloss on Rom. 1:30, "contumelious, proud," says: "The contumelious are those who by word or deed revile and shame others."
Reply Obj. 1: Our words, if we consider them in their essence, i.e. as audible sounds, injure no man, except perhaps by jarring of the ear, as when a person speaks too loud. But, considered as signs conveying something to the knowledge of others, they may do many kinds of harm. Such is the harm done to a man to the detriment of his honor, or of the respect due to him from others. Hence the reviling is greater if one man reproach another in the presence of many: and yet there may still be reviling if he reproach him by himself, in so far as the speaker acts unjustly against the respect due to the hearer.
Reply Obj. 2: One man slights another by deeds in so far as such deeds cause or signify that which is against that other man's honor. In the former case it is not a matter of reviling but of some other kind of injustice, of which we have spoken above (QQ. 64, 65, 66): where as in the latter case there is reviling, in so far as deeds have the significant force of words.
Reply Obj. 3: Railing and taunts consist in words, even as reviling, because by all of them a man's faults are exposed to the detriment of his honor. Such faults are of three kinds. First, there is the fault of guilt, which is exposed by _reviling_ words. Secondly, there is the fault of both guilt and punishment, which is exposed by _taunts_ (_convicium_), because _vice_ is commonly spoken of in connection with not only the soul but also the body. Hence if one man says spitefully to another that he is blind, he taunts but does not revile him: whereas if one man calls another a thief, he not only taunts but also reviles him. Thirdly, a man reproaches another for his inferiority or indigence, so as to lessen the honor due to him for any kind of excellence. This is done by _upbraiding_ words, and properly speaking, occurs when one spitefully reminds a man that one has succored him when he was in need. Hence it is written (Ecclus. 20:15): "He will give a few things and upbraid much." Nevertheless these terms are sometimes employed one for the other. _______________________
SECOND
*H And thou, O Lord of hosts, prover of the just, who seest the reins and the heart: let me see, I beseech thee, thy vengeance on them: for to thee I have laid open my cause.
Ver. 12. Let me see, &c. This prayer proceeded not from hatred or ill-will, but zeal of justice. Ch. — He expresses in a human manner a future punishment.
*H Sing ye to the Lord, praise the Lord: because he hath delivered the soul of the poor out of the hand of the wicked.
Ver. 13. Sing. God having shewn that his prayer should be heard, he gives thanks, (C.) and thus shews that what he is going to say proceeds not from impatience. Theod.
* Footnotes
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Job
3:2
And he said:
*H Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day in which my mother bore me, be blessed.
Ver. 14. Cursed, &c. In these and the following words of the prophet, there is a certain figure of speech to express with more energy the greatness of the evils to which his birth had exposed him. Ch. — The wicked would deem the day of his birth cursed, or unlucky. M. — Jeremias was now in prison, (Grot.) and people in pain express themselves forcibly, particularly in the East. v. 7. Job iii. 2. C. — Perhaps no man had announced the tidings of his birth, or he might be no longer living to feel the effects of a curse: as the day was certainly irrevocably past. H.
*H Let that man be as the cities which the Lord hath overthrown, and hath not repented: let him hear a cry in the morning, and howling at noontide:
Ver. 16. Repented, his decree for the ruin of Sodom being fixed. — Noon. This is more extraordinary than at midnight. Let him always be terrified with dismal sounds. C.
*H Who slew me not from the womb, that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb an everlasting conception.
Ver. 17. Who. Sept. "because he (the Lord. D. T.) slew me not in my mother's womb." H. — Syr. Grot. &c. explain the Heb. in the same sense, though it may also agree with the Vulg. from the womb, or as soon as I was born. O that I had never seen the light! C. — He abstracts from the effects of original sin. T. — It is better not to exist than to be in constant misery. Mat. xxvi. S. Jer. W. — The prophet bewailed the abuse which was made of God's word, by unbelievers. v. 8. H.