The LORD says, “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce, with which I have put her away? Or to which of my creditors have I sold you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, and your mother was put away for your transgressions.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 1. Away. Such a one could not be received again, if she had taken another husband. Deuteronomy 24:3. Some explain this of the captives. But God restored them to favour. It seems rather to relate to the reprobation ( Calmet.) of the synagogue, which will never again become the true Church, ( Bible.) though many of Israel will be converted. Romans 11:25.—Sold you, as a father might do. Exodus 21:1. Matthew 18:15. Saint Ambrose (Tob. viii.) inveighs against such cruel parents, as the Christian religion had not then entirely repressed this inhumanity. Calmet.—God rejected the synagogue, not out of hard-heartedness or want, but because of her sins. Worthington.