1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible
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| II Kings 5:14 | *Then he went down, and washed in the Jordan seven times: according to the word of the man of God: and his flesh was restored, like the flesh of a little child, and he was made clean. Luke 4:27. | Clean. If bathing seven times in the Jordan had been an infallible remedy, there would soon have been no lepers in the land; and our Saviour plainly intimates that the cure was miraculous, Luke 4:27. The leprosy of Naaman, though inveterate, was cured in an instant. To bathe in a rapid stream, is allowed to be very salutary for removing the diseases of the skin. (Calmet) (Vales. 38.) --- The fathers discover in this miracle, a figure of the Gentiles called to the faith by the Synagogue, which is in servitude, Galatians 4:25. Baptism cleanses us from all the seven capital sins, (Tertullian, contra Marc. 4.) so that no vestiges remain. (St. Ambrose, etc.) (Calmet) |