Because he has loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also cast off restraint before me.
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George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
For he. Protestants, "Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me "(Haydock) being no longer under any restraint. Sometimes it was customary to put bits into the mouth of a person who was led to execution, Isaias xxxvii. 29. (Calmet)
The Hebrew plural, have put, insinuates the plurality of persons in God, (Worthington) though it may be as well referred to the enemies of Job.
By these same words the time of holy church is set forth, when it is openly derided by the lost; when the wicked are gaining ground, faith becomes a reproach. Truth becomes a ground of accusation. So much the more contemptible shall each individual be in proportion to his righteousness. The worse object of abhorrence, the more worthy object of praise. Therefore the holy church of the elect in the time of calamity “becomes a proverb” to the wicked.… “They abhor me, they flee away from me; they do not hesitate to spit at my face.” All the wicked “flee away” from holy church, not by the paces of footsteps but by the characters of their practices. They fly far not in place but desert, whereas, pride gaining ground, they condemn the church with open upbraiding. For “to spit at his face” implies not only to speak evil of the good in their absence but also to openly defy the just in their presence. And these then while the wicked by openly deriding put them down, they let out insults upon the...
46. What is denoted by ‘the quiver’ of God, but secret counsel? Now the Lord casts the arrow from the quiver, when from His secret counsel He sends forth an open sentence. For that any man is scourged, we know, but for what cause the scourge comes, we know not. But when after the scourge amendment of life follows, the actual power of counsel is itself disclosed as well. So the quiver shut is hidden counsel. But we are chastened by an open quiver, when by that which follows after the scourge, we see with what counsel we are stricken. When the Lord beholds sins, and yet does not move the hand to vengeance, He as it were holds the quiver shut, but by striking He shews, how greatly that displeased Him in us, which He bore long beholding it. Therefore let the Holy Church of the Elect being pressed by tribulations say, For He hath opened His quiver, and afflicted me. Which same on meeting with the insolent voices of her adversaries, when she sees that her preaching is not received, giving ov...
