Verse 14
14. Shutteth up a man In the sense of closing over. This is explained by the nature of the prisons among the Hebrews, which were subterranean excavations, whose mouth was covered with a stone. Lamentations 3:53. The Chaldee renders it, “He shuts man up in the grave, and it cannot be opened.”
Saint Gregory moralizes upon this clause: “Evil deeds build a prison for man in the depths of his conscience. Habit bars the doors, and blindness of understanding darkens the windows. Thus God shuts him in. If ever the desire arise to break forth from his dungeon, he is not able.” But all this tends to depreciate the grace of the gospel, which is powerful to break any prison bar that habit or appetite has forged.
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