Ezechiel xv.
Notes & Commentary:
Ver. 2. Wood. Small branches or tendrils. The vines of that country were probably small. (Calmet) — The wild vine (Sanctius) grows very large, and the wood is durable, so that statues, pillars, and ladders were formed of it. (Pliny, [Natural History?] xiv. 1.) — Strabo (ii., and xi.) mentions the trunk of a vine which two men could hardly clasp, and the bunch of grapes was two cubits high. But the prophet speaks of the small branches, which are fit only for the fire. (Calmet) — God’s Church is often compared to a vine on account of its fruit, and the branches separated form her resemble the useless cuttings. (St. Augustine, tr. lxxxi. in John) (Worthington) — See Ward’s Tree of Life, where this is set in a very striking light. In every age the Church makes fresh conquests, while heretics leave and persecute her. (Haydock)
Ver. 3. Thereon. Isaias xxii. 23. (Calmet) — The Turkish lords have no furniture in their rooms, but hang their arms, saddles, &c., upon such pins, or on strings. (Roger. ii.)
Ver. 4. Ashes. It is not even solid enough for fuel. (Calmet) — When a faggot is consumed in the middle, the ends are also put into the fire; so not one shall escape who dies out of the Church. (Worthington) — The wicked Jews shall surely suffer, ver. 6. (Haydock)
Ver. 7. From fire. If they escape one misery they shall fall into another, as the event shewed. (Calmet) — They shall be thrown back into the fire. (Menochius)
Bible Text & Cross-references:
As a vine cut down is fit for nothing but the fire: so it shall be with Jerusalem, for her sins.
1 And *the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
2 Son of man, what shall be made of the wood of the vine, out of all the trees of the woods that are among the trees of the forests?
3 Shall wood be taken of if, to do any work, or shall a pin be made of it, for any vessel to hang thereon?
4 Behold it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire hath consumed both ends thereof, and the midst thereof is reduced to ashes: shall it be useful for any work?
5 Even when it was whole it was not fit for work, how much less, when the fire hath devoured, and consumed it, shall any work be made of it?
6 Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: As the vine-tree among the trees of the forests which I have given to the fire to be consumed, so will I deliver up the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
7 And I will set my face against them: they shall go out from fire, and fire shall consume them: and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have set my face against them.
8 And I shall have made their land a wilderness, and desolate, because they have been transgressors, saith the Lord God.
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1: Year of the World 3411.