1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible

Presents commentary in a tabular format for ease of reading.Click to learn more.

Deuteronomy 20:5

And the captains shall proclaim through every band, in the hearing of the army: *What man is there, that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go, and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.

1 Machabees 3:56.

Captains. Hebrew, "shoterim, (Septuagint grammateis,) shall proclaim to the people." Whether these were the chief officers, or only heralds, does not appear. (Calmet) --- They were probably the priests attached to the army, ver. 2. See Deuteronomy 1:15. (Haydock) --- Dedicate it. Hebrew, "begin to use it," on which occasion a feast was made. (Jansenius) --- Psalm xxix seems to have been intended for such a solemnity. At the dedication of the walls of Jerusalem, great rejoicings were made, 2 Esdras 12:27. Josephus and the Rabbins allow a whole year for the occupation of the house, before the builder or new owner, could be obliged to go to war, in like manner as that term is specified for a person who had lately married a wife, Deuteronomy 24:5. The ancient Greeks deemed it a great misfortune to leave a house unfinished and a new wife desolate, which was the case of Protesilaus. (Homer, Iliad I.)