Verse 1

Barachias adopted him, (1 Esdras v. 1.) or rather Addo was his grandfather.

Verse 2

Angry, as he has severely chastised them. (Calmet)

Verse 3

Turn ye. Such expressions admonish us of our free-will, and when we answer, convert us, &c., (Lamentations v. 11.; Calmet) we confess that God's grace preventeth us. (Council of Trent, Session vi. 5.) (Worthington) --- We may resist the Holy Spirit, (Haydock) and reject his graces. The prophet exhorts the people to lay aside all former negligence, (Calmet) and proceed with the temple. (Haydock) --- It had been commenced about two months before, Aggeus ii. 1, 16.

Verse 5

Always. He seems to hint, that after Malachias prophets would be sent no more till Christ should appear; or, that God's word should be fulfilled (ver. 6.) though the prophets were dead. (Calmet)

Verse 6

Fathers. They felt their effects. (Haydock) --- Returned; being converted by the sight of God's judgments, Osee iv. 1., and 2 Esdras i. 6.

Verse 7

Sabath. These names were brought from Chaldea. The month was lunar, and corresponded sometimes with parts of our December and January, at other times with January, or with that and the following month. (Calmet)

Verse 8

A man. An angel in the shape of a man. It was probably St. Michael, the guardian angel of the Church of God. (Challoner) --- It is plain that he was an angel, ver. 11. (Worthington) --- He appears in obscurity, to shew the distress of the nation. (Calmet) --- Among. Septuagint, "between two shady mountains." (Haydock)

Verse 10

These are they, &c. The guardian angels of provinces and nations. (Challoner) --- The Jews believed that each nation had such an angel, who had to give an account to one in higher authority. God proportions his revelation to their ideas.

Verse 11

Rest. All the country under Michael's care enjoyed peace, (Calmet) in the second year of Darius. (Haydock) -- The red horse implies slaughter, Apocalypse vi. 4. It was now repressed. (Tournemine)

Verse 12

The seventieth year; viz., from the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem, in the ninth year of king Sedecias, to the second year of king Darius. These seventy years of the desolation of Jerusalem and the cities of Juda, are different from the seventy years of captivity foretold by Jeremias; which began in the fourth year of Joakim, and ended in the first year of king Cyrus. (Challoner) --- Of these Daniel (ix.) speaks. The temple had also been destroyed now seventy years, (Worthington) and the angel prays, (Haydock) while the prophet begs that the people may be inspired to rebuild it. (Worthington) --- Michael takes occasion from the angels' report, to beseech the Lord to perfect what had been so well begun. He speaks not expressly of the temple, as Aggeus had prevailed on the people to commence that edifice. They had excused themselves that the time was not come, as they probably dated from the burning of the temple; though its desolation began with the siege, thirty months before. See Jeremias xxv. 11., and xxix. 10. (Calmet)

Verse 13

Answered. We have here a proof of the intercession of angel, and of its good effects. (Haydock) --- In me; revealing God's will. (St. Jerome) --- Yet it seems to be St. Michael, chap. iv. 1. (Chaldean; Theod.[Theodotion or Theodoret]) (Calmet)

Verse 14

Zeal. I will again treat her as my spouse. (Haydock)

Verse 15

Nations, represented as four horns, ver. 18, 19. --- Evil, through malice, and thus deserved themselves to be punished, Osee i. 4.

Verse 16

Line. Soon after Nehemias came to rebuild the city. (Calmet)

Verse 18

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Four horns,...four smiths. The four horns represent the empires, or kingdoms, that persecute and oppress the people of God: the four smiths or carpenters (for faber may signify either) represent those whom God makes his instruments in bringing to nothing the power of persecutors. (Challoner) --- The Ammonites, &c., on the east, the Philistines on the west, the Idumeans and Egyptians on the south, and the Assyrians and Chaldeans on the north, had much molested God's people, and were therefore punished. (Worthington) --- The princes of Assyria and of Babylon, the kings of Persia and of Egypt, had all treated them ill; and these four empires have or will be destroyed by four chariots, (chap. vi. 1.) Nabopolassar, Cyrus, Alexander, and Antiochus, Daniel vii. 1., &c. St. Jerome, and many who usually follow him, understand the empires of the Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, to be designated by the horns, as the workmen mean the angels who have chastised those nations.

Verses 18-20

Four horns,...four smiths. The four horns represent the empires, or kingdoms, that persecute and oppress the people of God: the four smiths or carpenters (for faber may signify either) represent those whom God makes his instruments in bringing to nothing the power of persecutors. (Challoner) --- The Ammonites, &c., on the east, the Philistines on the west, the Idumeans and Egyptians on the south, and the Assyrians and Chaldeans on the north, had much molested God's people, and were therefore punished. (Worthington) --- The princes of Assyria and of Babylon, the kings of Persia and of Egypt, had all treated them ill; and these four empires have or will be destroyed by four chariots, (chap. vi. 1.) Nabopolassar, Cyrus, Alexander, and Antiochus, Daniel vii. 1., &c. St. Jerome, and many who usually follow him, understand the empires of the Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, to be designated by the horns, as the workmen mean the angels who have chastised those nations.

Verse 21

Every. Hebrew, "at pleasure; none shall lift," &c. These kingdoms shall no longer prove formidable. (Calmet) --- Fray, or "terrify." Septuagint, "to sharpen them in their hands. The horns are nations," &c. (Haydock)

Verse 24

CHAPTER I.