Verse 8
Come and behold ye the works of the Lord: what wonders he hath done upon earth, Making wars to cease even to the end of the earth.
Venite, et videte opera Domini, quae posuit prodigia super terram, auferens bella usque ad finem terrae.
He exhorts all the nations to think upon the wonderful works of God, and especially on what will come to pass in the last days when, all His enemies having been removed, or rather, having become the footstool of Christ, there will be an end to all wars and God alone will reign, with none resisting or rebelling against Him. This is the reign we expect and pray for when we say each day in the Lord’s prayer: “Thy kingdom come.” “Come and behold ye,” that is, come through faith, and with the eyes of the mind contemplate and consider “the works of the Lord: what wonders he hath done upon earth,” that is, consider the works which God hath done (here the praeterite is used for the future, in a prophetic manner) upon earth, which are to be so admired and wondered at as to be called wonders. He will perform these wonders “Making wars to cease even to the end of the earth,” and truly it is wondrous that He could remove wars from the furthest ends of the earth, and to remove them in such a way that they could never be renewed. Instead of what we read as
what wonders he hath done upon earth, St. Jerome translates the Hebrew as
what great devastation he will perform on earth : and the meaning is the same; for, from the devastation of the whole earth and the transfer of the righteous into heaven, and the expulsion of the wicked into hell, there will dawn a cessation of wars throughout the whole of the earth. Now the Hebrew word
shammoth means either
devastations or
wonders and
marvels: for
shamam means
to be wondered at or
to be devastated; the Septuagint translators rightly translated this as
wonders, because the Hebrew signifies this, although it can also mean
devastations.
Verse 9
He shall destroy the bow, and break the weapons: and the shield he shall burn in the fire.
Arcum conteret, et confringet arma, et scuta comburet igni.
He speaks further about what he said regarding
Making wars to cease; he says this will come to pass because the Lord will destroy weapons, such as weapons of offence, like the bow and the lance, as well as those used by soldiers for defence, such as shields: without weapons it will not be possible to wage war. In Hebrew, instead of the word
arma / weapons, it has
chanith,
spear, or
lance; but the Septuagint translators preferred the word
arma / weapons because the Prophet clearly wanted to signify all weapons of offence; and so the sense is, He shall destroy the bow, and break the remaining weapons. For the word
scuta / shields, the Hebrew uses
currus / chariots, and indeed the
sense is the same, because it is prophesied that both shields and military chariots, and other similar instruments of war, will be destroyed by fire; it should be realised that the Hebrew word
hagaloth means
currus / chariots, because they are round(ed); and this word properly means roundness. Now because shields are also round, and shields are more usually associated with lances and bows rather than chariots, the Septuagint translators wisely chose the translation as
shields. Some explain these lines as being about a particular time in history, under Augustus or Constantine; but they are far more suited to the eternal peace which will come to be at the end of the world, when the Church will cease being militant and will begin to be triumphant, all her enemies having been vanquished.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam
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