From: Ezra 1:1-6
The exiles return from Babylon
[1] In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth
of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of
Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it
in writing:
[2] Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of Heaven, has given me
all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at
Jerusalem, which is in Judah. [3] Whoever is among you of all his people, may
his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and re-
build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel – he is the God who is in Jerusalem;
[4] and let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men
of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill
offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.”
[5] Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the
priests and the Levites, every one whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild
the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem; [6] and all who were about them
aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with
costly wares, besides all that was freely offered.
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
1:1-6:22. The second book of Chronicles closed with an account of the fall of the
fall of Jerusalem as a consequence of the city’s repeated unfaithfulness to God
(cf. 2 Chron 36:17-21), and with the news of Cyrus’ calling, in God’s name, for the
rebuilding of the temple and the return of the exiles (cf. 2 Chron 36:22-23). The
book of Ezra starts by covering the same ground (1:1-4) and then goes on to de-
scribe how Cyrus’ decree was implemented. It deals with the preparation for the
return to Jerusalem (1:5-11), and who these repatriates were (2:1-70); how the
first thing they did at Jerusalem was to build an altar and start offering sacrifices
9(3:1-6), and about how, when they began to rebuild the temple, they met with
opposition from the people in the land (4:1-5), who petitioned the Persian king,
with the result that the rebuilding had to cease (4:6-24). But, encouraged by the
prophets Haggai and Zechariah, those who had returned set about their task
again (5:1-2) and kept at it, in the hope that the ban on building would be lifted
(5:3-5). The authorities then sent a new letter to King Darius (5:6-17), who de-
creed that the Jews be allowed to build the temple in peace, as Cyrus had already
instructed (6:1-12). This meant that they were able to finish the building and
dedicate it to the Lord (6:13-18), and then celebrate joyfully their first Passover in
their homeland (6:19-22).
The first part of the book shows how devout and tenacious these repatriates
were – fully committed to the worship of the Lord and the reconstruction of his
temple. But it also reveals the animosity shown towards them by those living in
the country. Only God’s will, expressed in decrees of the Persian kings, made it
possible for this enterprise to succeed. The chosen people were springing up
again in the promised land.
In Christian tradition, in the light of Jesus Christ’s message, these pages are read
as having a spiritual meaning to do with the advancement of the Church: just as
the people of God in the Old Testament, was able to reconstitute itself after the
bitter experience of the exile, and survived despite difficulties of all sorts, so too
the new people of God manages to survive over the course of the centuries even
though it encounters all kinds of obstacles. “If you do not trust words, believe in
deeds. How many tyrants have tried to oppress the Church? How much boiling
oil! How many pyres and sharp teeth and raised swords . . . ! And they have not
triumphed! Where are they now, those who waged ware against her? And where
is the Church? She shines brighter than the sun. The power of her enemies is
spent, but the strength of the Church is endless. Even when there were very few
Christians, the Church was not overcome; now that her faith and piety have
spread throughout the world, do you think you can defeat her? ‘Heaven will pass
away but my words shall never fail’; it is clear: God loves the Church more than
heaven itself. He did not take for himself a heavenly body but an ecclesial one.
Heaven exists for the Church, not the Church for the sake of heaven” (St John
Chrysostom, Sermo antequam iret in exilium, 2).
1:1-4 Cyrus was king of Persia from 559 to 529 BC. History portrays him as a
ruler tolerant of the traditional customs of his subject peoples and respectful of
their religious practices. When he entered Babylon in triumph in 539 BC, he
established the cult of Marduk there, and when he heard about the position of the
deportees from Jerusalem he facilitated their return to their country to rebuild the
temple of their God.
But the sacred book, which looks beneath the surface of events, points out that
Cyrus’ decisions in favour of the Jews derived not just from the king’s good dis-
position but from God himself. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus (v. 1) and
the heads of the houses of Judah and Benjamin (1:5) so as to bring about in this
new stage of salvation history the rebuilding of the temple and to re-establish the
people in Jerusalem. God uses a pagan king to achieve his saving purpose for
the chosen people. That is what Isaiah 45:1 means when it calls Cyrus “the
Lord’s anointed”, even though the king does not realize he is forwarding the
Lord’s plans: “though you do not know me” (Is 45:4). Moreover, the “seventy
years” of exile prophesied by Jeremiah (cf. 2 Chron 336:21) are shortened by
Cyrus’ decree which causes the return from exile to happen in 538 BC. It all goes
to show that God is above kings and nations and that he is merciful to his people.
Unlike other passages which report Cyrus’ decree (cf. 2 Chron 36:22-23; Ezra
6:3-12), here we are told that the king acknowledges that “the Lord, the God of
heaven” (v. 2) – apparently the title given to the supreme Persian deity Ahura-
Mazda – is one and the same as “Lord, the God of Israel who is in Jerusalem”
(v. 3). This is a profession of faith in the one true God, the God who revealed
himself to the Jewish people, but whose power extends over all the nations.
1:5-7. Although the decree of Cyrus was addressed to all those belonging to the
people of God (1:3) living in the Persian empire, already seen as “the remnant”,
the “survivors” of what was ancient Israel (1:4), now only the “heads of the houses
of Judah and Benjamin” are mentioned (v. 5) – these being the two tribes that had
made up the kingdom of the South, the kingdom of Judah. Those deported after
the fall of the Northern kingdom (cf. 2 Kings 17:6) have disappeared from the
writer’s horizon in the same way as the author of 1 and 2 Chronicles put that
kingdom out of his mind. The reconstruction of the people in this new stage of its
existence that begins now is based solely on what had been the kingdom of
Judah, including the priests and Levites who had been attached to the temple of
Jerusalem: as this writer sees things, only the men of Judah were the true people
of Israel and of these, in a special way, those Jews who gave up their position in
Babylon and embarked on the adventure of returning to Jerusalem.
*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: Luke 8:16-18
Parable of the Sower. The Meaning of the Parables (Continuation)
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
[There is no commentary available for Luke 8:16-18. The commentary for the
same parable found in Mark 4:21-25 states:]
16-17. This parable contains a double teaching. Firstly, it says that hrist’s
doctrine should not be kept hidden; rather, it must be preached throughout the
whole world. We find the same idea elsewhere in the Gospels: “What you hear
whispered, proclaim it upon the housetops” (Mt 10:27); “Go into all the world and
preach the Gospel to the whole of creation...” (Mk 16:15). The other teaching is
that the Kingdom which Christ proclaims has such ability to penetrate all hearts
that, at the end of time, when Jesus comes again, not a single human action, in
favor or against Christ, will not become public or manifest.
24-25. Our Lord never gets tired of asking the Apostles, the seed which will
produce the Church, to listen carefully to the teaching he is giving: they are
receiving a treasure for which they will be held to account. “To him who has will
more be given ...”: he who responds to grace will be given more grace and will yield
more and more fruit; but he who does not will become more and more impoverished
(cf. Mt 25:14- 30). Therefore, there is no limit to the development of the theological
virtues: “If you say ‘Enough,’ you are already dead” (St. Augustine, “Sermon” 51).
A soul who wants to make progress in the interior life will pray along these lines:
“Lord, may I have due measure in everything, except in Love” (J. Escriva, “The
Way”, 427).
[The commentary for still another similar parable found in Matthew 13: 12 states:]
12. Jesus is addressing his disciples and explaining to them that, precisely
because they have faith in him and want to have a good grasp of his teaching,
they will be given a deeper understanding of divine truths. But those who do not
“follow him” (cf. note on Mt 4:18-22) will later lose interest in the things of God
and will grow even blinder: it is as if the little they have is being taken away from
them.
This verse also helps us understand the meaning of the parable of the sower, a
parable which gives us a wonderful explanation of the supernatural economy of
divine grace: God gives grace, and man freely responds to that grace. The result
is that those who respond to grace generously receive additional grace and so
grow steadily in grace and holiness; whereas those who reject God’s gifts become
closed up within themselves; through their selfishness and attachment to sin they
eventually lose God’s grace entirely. In this verse, then, our Lord gives a clear
warning: with the full weight of His divine authority He exhorts us—without taking
away our freedom—to act responsibly: the gifts God keeps sending us should yield
fruit; we should make good use of the opportunities for Christian sanctification
which are offered us in the course of our lives.
*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.