Ezekiel
Verse 2. Wood. Small branches or tendrils. The vines of that country were probably small. Calmet.—The wild vine (Sanct.) grows very large, and the wood is durable, so that statues, pillars, and ladders were formed of it. Pliny 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 from her resemble the useless cuttings. Saint Augustine tr. lxxxi. in Jo. 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. Bible.