Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy
Ver. 18. Created. Septuagint, "gave thee food." Hebrew, "of the rock that begat thee, thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee, (Haydock) or praises thee," the source of thy felicity. (Calmet) --- Calvin (Institutes i. 11. 9[19?],) to insinuate that Catholics adore pictures, as the Israelites did the golden calf, pretends that they could not have forgotten that God delivered them out of Egypt. Thus he contradicts the Scriptures! (Worthington)
Ver. 19. Daughters. The women of Israel, who were not less addicted to idolatry than the men. (Haydock)
Ver. 20. From them. The Jews themselves acknowledged, in the siege of Jerusalem, that God had abandoned and given up to destruction his once beloved people. (Josephus, Jewish Wars vii. 8.) (Calmet) --- Consider, or look on their utter ruin with indifference, or rather with complacency. (Haydock) --- I will laugh at your destruction, Proverbs i. 16. (Calmet) --- God loves without seeing any preceding merit in his creatures, but he never abandons them till they have first proved unfaithful. (Worthington)
Ver. 21. Vanities. Septuagint, "idols." (Haydock) --- Nation. The Gentiles were of this description, when they were called to the true faith. This excited the indignation of the Jews, as they would neither enter heaven themselves, nor suffer others to obtain that happiness, Romans i. 19. (Theodoret, q. 41.) "An association bound together by law, constitutes a nation. A multitude which has no laws, or bad ones, is unworthy of the name." (Grotius) --- The Jews looked upon all others with sovereign contempt. (Calmet) --- Now, in their turn, they are despised. (Worthington)
Ver. 22. A fire. He alludes to the destruction of Sodom, (Calmet) which may be considered as a figure of that which will overtake the whole world at the last day, and excruciate both the souls and the bodies of the reprobate in the flames of hell. (Haydock) --- Fire also denotes war, the horrors of which overwhelmed the Jews both at the first and the last sieges of Jerusalem. (Calmet)
Ver. 23. Arrows. Pestilence, famine, war, sickness, and death, are termed the arrows of God.
Ver. 24. Birds. This refers in a particular manner to those who are deprived of sepulture, and hung on a gibbet, chap. xxvii. 26. Josephus (Jewish Wars vi. 12,) informs us, that the multitude of Jews who were to be crucified, was so great, that sufficient wood could not be procured to make crosses for them, nor was there place for them to stand. Hebrew, "they shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat;" (Haydock) or with the disease called the carbuncle. (Calmet) --- But the Septuagint and Chaldean explain it of "birds." (Haydock) --- Bite. Septuagint, "with a painful contraction of the nerves." Chaldean, "infested with evil spirits." --- Beasts. Thus God forced the people of Samaria to obey his law, 4 Kings xvii. 25. --- Fury, "venom." (Pagnin) (Menochius)
Ver. 26. Men. Hebrew, "I said I will disperse or exterminate them." Samaritan, "my fury shall consume them." We may translate, "I had resolved to destroy them; 27. But," &c., (Calmet) or Protestants, "I said I would scatter them into corners, and would....were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy," &c. --- Where are they? in the mouth of God, shews an utter destruction, so that no vestiges of them remain. Their memory is perished. (Haydock) --- God sometimes defers punishing the sinner for just reasons. (Worthington)
Ver. 27. Wrath. The enemies of the Israelites wished nothing more than their destruction. If therefore God had gratified this desire, by punishing his people, as they deserved, the enemy would have presently insinuated, that He had not been able to drive them out, or that (Haydock) he was fickle, &c. --- Mighty. (excelsa;) "lifted up." This expression shews the pride and insolence of those who make use of it, as if they despised God and all his laws. Procopius mentions this wicked inscription, to be still seen at Rome, "I lift up my hands to (or against) God, who destroyed me, though innocent, in the 20th year of my age." Pos. Procius, (Calmet) who seems to have been a woman, quæ vixi, &c. (Haydock)
Ver. 28. Wisdom. Interpreters generally explain this and the eight following verses, of those nations whom God employed to scourge his people, though some understand it all of the Israelites. (Calmet) --- The words may be applied to all who transgress the law of God, as this is a sure mark of folly and impiety, and the Lord earnestly wishes that all should be converted, ver. 29. True wisdom reflects on the past, present, and future, (Worthington) in order to make provision for the last great conflict. (Haydock)
Ver. 30. Thousand. In the battles which the Israelites had fought, the hand of God had appeared so visibly in their defence, giving them the victory over nations much more numerous, (Calmet) that all must confess their defeat must be in punishment of some former transgression, and that it is not the mighty hand of the enemy, but God himself, who chastises his people, as he had foretold, chap. xxviii. 7, 25, 49. (Haydock) --- Of this the neighbouring nations were convinced, as Achior declared to the Holofernes, Judith v. 17. When the Hebrews neglected the law of God they were oppressed, and their conversion was presently rewarded with liberty, (Calmet) and a profusion of blessings.
Ver. 31. Judges. The Egyptians, Amalecites, &c., had witnessed the miracles which God had now wrought for 40 years' time, in favour of his people. (Haydock) --- They knew also how the Israelites had been punished for their sins. (Menochius) --- Though they followed a false religion themselves, they could discern the beauty of the true one. (Worthington) --- Video meliora proboque---Deteriora sequor. (Ovid)
Ver. 32. Bitter. The enemies of Israel, were of an accursed progeny. (Haydock) --- They imitated the vices of those wicked cities. Moses cautioned his people to beware of the root of bitterness, chap. xxix. 18. (Calmet) --- If they should neglect the admonition, and become like the Chanaanites, they knew what they had to expect. (Haydock) --- Their works being hateful to the Lord, (Menochius) he would surely punish them. The fruits which grow near the lake of Sodom, though sometimes fair to the eye, (Haydock) are full of dust, "black and empty, they fall to ashes," in cinerem vanescunt. (Tacitus v.; Josephus, Jewish Wars v. 5.) Growing on a bituminous soil, they could not but have a disagreeable taste. (Calmet) --- The authors of the Universal History call in question what the ancients have reported concerning the fruits of Sodom. (Haydock)
Ver. 34. Treasures. Whether we refer to the preceding remarks to the faithless Israelites, whose corruption was less pardonable, as they had received so many favours from above, or to their proud and cruel enemies, who exceeded the bounds of moderation in their wars, God keeps an exact account of all, and will shortly punish both, according to their deserts. (Haydock)
Ver. 35. Time. Men are eager to punish their enemies, for fear lest they should escape. But God defers his chastisements frequently in this world, designing to make his enemies feel the weight of his indignation for all eternity. How consoling it is for the just, to think they have God for an avenger. "If thou, says Tertullian, remit the injury, which thou hast received, into his hands, he is the avenger....How much ought patience to endure, in order to make God a debtor." Adeo satis idoneus patientiæ sequester Deus. --- That. Septuagint, "when" (Calmet) they shall fall and come to ruin. (Menochius)
Ver. 36. People who have been guilty, that he may spare them, when they repent. (Menochius) --- "He will give judgment in favour of his people," &c. (Houbigant) --- Servants. He will not involve the innocent in the ruin of the rebellious. (Menochius) --- But, at the same time, he will have them to be convinced that their salvation came not from themselves. He will assist them when all human aid has proved abortive, (Haydock) and when they are reduced to the utmost distress. See Isaias xxxv. 3., and 3 Kings xxi. 21. Those who may have thought themselves secure in their sins, will not escape punishment. (Worthington)
Ver. 38. Wine. Hence the Jews abhor the wine of Christians, whom they consider as the greatest enemies of God. The pagans were accustomed to make libations to their idols, even in their ordinary repasts. (Calmet) --- The fat was always sacred to God, Leviticus iii. 17. (Menochius)
Ver. 40. For ever. God can swear by no one greater than himself, Hebrews vi. 13.
Ver. 41. Lightning, equally terrible and penetrating: fulminis acta modo. (Virgil, Æneid ix.) (Calmet) --- Judgment, to punish with rigour my declared enemies. (Haydock) --- These verses seem to regard the idolatrous nations, (Menochius) though God will not fail to punish the guilty, wherever they may be found. (Haydock)
Ver. 42. Enemies. I will tear the crown from off their head. Chaldean, I will destroy the king, as well as the meanest captives. Protestants, "from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy." At the very first I will completely destroy them. (Haydock) --- I will punish them for the slaughter and captivity of my people, whom they have shaved, as a mark of their servile condition. (Menochius) --- Their bare head, or vain counsels, will be detected and punished. (Worthington)
Ver. 43. People. Though God afflicted the Israelites for a time, he was always disposed to receive them to his favour again, upon their repentance; and he will even receive them into his Church, before the day of judgment, Romans xi. 25. (Calmet) --- This decided predilection for them, would naturally induce other nations to praise them. Grabe's Septuagint reads, "Rejoice ye heavens with him, and let all the sons of God adore him, and let all the angels of God strengthen them, because He revengeth the blood of his sons; and he will continue to do so, and he will punish his enemies, and will render to those who hate him; and the Lord will purify the land of his people." (Haydock) --- In some editions of the Septuagint, after Let all the angels of God adore him, (cited [in] Hebrews i. 6.; Cappel.) they read, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people, which St. Paul quotes, Romans xv. 10; and then they add, "And Moses wrote this canticle on that day, and he taught it to the children of Israel; (Calmet) 44. and Moses came forth to the people, and spoke all the words of this law, in the ears of the people, he and Jesus, the son of Nave," by which name they designate Josue, the son of Nun. (Haydock) --- He assisted Moses in singing the canticle, as his colleague in office, to whom the obligation of withdrawing the people from idolatry would henceforth devolve. (Menochius) --- God always preserved some of the Jews from the general corruption, till the time of the Messias. (Worthington)