Richard Challoner — Commentary on Scripture

Commentary

681–700 of 799

And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me:

Perverse: Because thy inclinations are wicked in being willing for the sake of gain to curse the people of whom I am the guardian.

Numbers 25:3

And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.

Initiated to Beelphegor: That is, they took to the worship of Beelphegor, an obscene idol of the Moabites, and were consecrated, as it were, to him.

Numbers 31:16

Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.

The sin of Phogor: The sin committed in the worship of Beelphegor.

Numbers 31:17

Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.

Of the children: Women and children, ordinarily speaking, were not to be killed in war, Deut. 20. 14. But the great Lord of life and death was pleased to order it otherwise in the present case, in detestation of the wickedness of this people, who by the counsel of Balaam, had sent their women among the Israelites on purpose to draw them from God.

Numbers 33:1

These are the journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron.

The mansions: These mansions, or journeys of the children of Israel from Egypt to the land of promise, were figures, according to the fathers, of the steps and degrees by which Christians leaving sin are to advance from virtue to virtue, till they come to the heavenly mansions, after this life, to see and enjoy God.

Numbers 34:3

Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the salt sea eastward:

The most salt sea: The lake of Sodom, otherwise called the Dead Sea.

Numbers 34:4

And your border shall turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass on to Zin: and the going forth thereof shall be from the south to Kadeshbarnea, and shall go on to Hazaraddar, and pass on to Azmon:

The Scorpion: A mountain so called from having a great number of scorpions.

Numbers 34:5

And the border shall fetch a compass from Azmon unto the river of Egypt, and the goings out of it shall be at the sea.

The great sea: The Mediterranean.

Numbers 34:7

And this shall be your north border: from the great sea ye shall point out for you mount Hor:

The most high mountain: Libanus.

Numbers 34:11

And the coast shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain; and the border shall descend, and shall reach unto the side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward:

Sea of Cenereth: This is the sea of Galilee, illustrated by the miracles of our Lord.

Numbers 34:25

And the prince of the tribe of the children of Zebulun, Elizaphan the son of Parnach.

Until the death: This mystically signified that our deliverance was to be effected by the death of Christ, the high priest and the anointed of God.

Obadiah 1:12

But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.

Thou shalt not look: or, thou shouldst not, etc. It is a reprehension for what they had done, and at the same time a declaration that these things should not pass unpunished.

Thou shalt not magnify thy mouth: That is, thou shalt not speak arrogantly against the children of Juda as insulting them in their distress.

Proverbs 1:1

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;

This Book is so called, because it consists of wise and weighty sentences: regulating the morals of men: and directing them to wisdom and virtue. And these sentences are also called PARABLES, because great truths are often couched in them under certain figures and similitudes.

Proverbs 6:30

Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;

The fault is not so great: The sin of theft is not so great, as to be compared with adultery: especially when a person pressed with hunger (which is the case here spoken of) steals to satisfy nature. Moreover the damage done by theft may much more easily be repaired, than the wrong done by adultery. But this does not hinder, but that theft also is a mortal sin, forbidden by one of the ten commandments.

Proverbs 16:1

The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

It is the part of man: That is, a man should prepare in his heart and soul what he is to say: but after all, it must be the Lord that must govern his tongue, to speak to the purpose. Not that we can think any thing of good without God's grace; but that after we have (with God's grace) thought and prepared within our souls what we would speak, if God does not govern our tongue, we shall not succeed in what we speak.

Proverbs 25:27

It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory.

Majesty: Viz., of God. For to search into that incomprehensible Majesty, and to pretend to sound the depths of the wisdom of God, is exposing our weak understanding to be blinded with an excess of light and glory, which it cannot comprehend.

Proverbs 26:2

As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.

As a bird: The meaning is, that a curse uttered without cause shall do no harm to the person that is cursed, but will return upon him that curseth, as whithersoever a bird flies, it returns to its own nest.

Proverbs 26:4

Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.

Answer not a fool: Viz., so as to imitate him but only so as to reprove his folly.

Proverbs 30:1

The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal,

Gatherer: Or, as it is in the Latin, Congregans the son of Vomens. The Latin interpreter has given us in this place the signification of the Hebrew names, instead of the names themselves, which are in the Hebrew, Agur the son of Jakeh. But whether this Agur be the same person as Solomon, as many think, or a different person, whose doctrine was adopted by Solomon, and inserted among his parables or proverbs, is uncertain.

Proverbs 30:5

Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

Is fire tried: That is, most pure, like gold purified by fire.

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Who was this?

An English Catholic prelate and Titular Bishop of Doberus, he served as Vicar Apostolic of the London District during the eighteenth century. He died in 1781. His literary contributions include a significant revision of the Douay–Rheims Bible published in 1738.

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