From: 1 Kings 21:17-29
Naboth’s Vineyard, a further intervention by Elijah (Continuation)
[20] Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” He answered, “I
have found you, because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of
the Lord. [21] Behold, I will bring evil upon you; I will utterly sweep you away, and
will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel; [22] and I will make your
house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha
the son of Ahijah, for the anger to which you have provoked me, and because you
have made Israel to sin. [23] And of Jezebel the Lord also said, ‘The dogs shall
eat Jezebel within the bounds of Jezreel.’ [24] Any on belonging to Ahab who dies
in the city the dogs shall eat; and any one of his who dies in the open country the
birds of the air shall eat.”
[25] (There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord
like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited. [26] He did very abominably in going af-
ter idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the Lord cast out before the people of
Israel.)
[27] And when Ahab heard those words, he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth
upon his flesh, and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went about dejectedly. [28]
And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, [29] “Have you seen
how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself be-
fore me, I will not bring the evil in his days; but in his son’s days I will bring the
evil upon his house.”
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
21:17-24. Having defended belief in the true God against idolaters, Elijah now de-
fends human rights in the name of God himself. He acts very much in the same
style as Nathan did towards David when the latter had someone murdered to dis-
guise his affair with Bathsheba (cf. 2 Sam 12). Because Ahab allowed injustice
to be done, he is judged to have been as guilty as Jezebel. The first punishment
that the prophet announces is in line with the law of vengeance (v. 19; Ex 21:23-
25), and we see it applied in 22:38. But then he changes his focus and announ-
ces that Ahab’s whole dynasty is going to pay for his transgression (vv. 21-22).
Jezebel, being a foreigner and evil in the extreme, dies a horrible death (in 2
Kings 9:30-37).
21:25-28. Despite his reprehensible conduct (summed up here in an aside; vv.
25-26), Ahab gives evidence of his repentance and is rewarded for it: his son will
be allowed to succeed him (v. 28).
The figure of Ahab, a sad and humbled king, contrasts with that of Naboth, only
a vassal, yet a happy man. That is how St Ambrose of Milan sees them in his
book commenting on the passage – on Naboth. The same saint says elsewhere,
“Naboth was happy, even when he was [being] stoned by the rich man, for al-
though he was poor and weak in comparison to the powerful king, he was made
rich in loyal feeling and piety by not accepting the king’s money in exchange for
the vineyard that belonged to his family; and because he defended the rights of
his people at the cost of his own life, his actions were irreproachable. Ahab, on
the other hand, was a sinner – even in his own estimation – because he had sen-
tenced a poor man to death in order to take control of the vineyard” (De officiis, 2,
5, 17). In Naboth, too, we can see a figure of Christ, who was crucified after false
witness was laid against him, yet he was the Son of God, the Lord of the vine-
yard, that is, Israel (cf. Mt 21:23).
*********************************************************************************************
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: Matthew 5:43-48
Jesus and His Teaching, the Fulfillment of the Law (Continuation)
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
43. The first part of this verse—”You shall love your neighbor”—is to be found in Le-
viticus 19:18. The second part—”hate your enemy”—is not to be found in the Law
of Moses. However, Jesus’ words refer to a widespread rabbinical interpretation
which understood “neighbors” as meaning “Israelites”. Our Lord corrects this mis-
interpretation of the Law: for Him everyone is our neighbor (cf. the parable of the
Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37).
43-47. This passage sums up the teaching which precedes it. Our Lord goes so
far as to say that a Christian has no personal enemies. His only enemy is evil as
such—sin—but not the sinner. Jesus Himself puts this into practice with those who
crucified Him, and He continues to act in the same way towards sinners who re-
bel against Him and despise Him. Consequently, the saints have always followed
His example—like St. Stephen, the first martyr, who prayed for those who were
putting him to death. This is the apex of Christian perfection—to love, and pray for,
even those who persecute us and calumniate us. It is the distinguishing mark
of the children of God.
46. “Tax collectors”: the Roman empire had no officials of its own for the
collection of taxes: in each country it used local people for this purpose. These
were free to engage agents (hence we find reference to “chief tax collectors”: cf.
Luke 19:2). The global amount of tax for each region was specified by the Roman
authorities; the tax collectors levied more than this amount, keeping the surplus
for themselves: this led them to act rather arbitrarily, which was why the people
hated them. In the case of the Jews, insult was added to injury by the fact that
the chosen people were being exploited by Gentiles.
48. Verse 48 is, in a sense, a summary of the teaching in this entire chapter, in-
cluding the Beatitudes. Strictly speaking, it is quite impossible for a created be-
ing to be as perfect as God. What our Lord means here is that God’s own perfec-
tion should be the model which every faithful Christian tries to follow, even though
he realizes that there is an infinite distance between himself and his Creator.
However, this does not reduce the force of this commandment; it sheds more
light on it. It is a difficult commandment to live up to, but along with this we must
take account of the enormous help grace gives us to go so far as to tend towards
divine perfection. Certainly, perfection which we should imitate does not refer to
the power and wisdom of God, which are totally beyond our scope; here the con-
text seems to refer primarily to love and mercy. Along the same lines, St. Luke
quotes these words of our Lord: “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful”
(Luke 6:36; cf. note on Luke 6:20-49).
Clearly, the “universal call to holiness” is not a recommendation but a command-
ment of Jesus Christ.
“Your duty is to sanctify yourself. Yes, even you. Who thinks that this task is on-
ly for priests and religious? To everyone, without exception, our Lord said: ‘Be ye
perfect, as My Heavenly Father is perfect’” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 291). This
teaching is sanctioned by chapter 5 of Vatican II’s Constitution “Lumen Gentium”,
where it says (40): “The Lord Jesus, divine teacher and model of all perfection,
preached holiness of life (of which He is the author and maker) to each and every
one of His disciples without distinction: ‘You, therefore, must be perfect, as your
Heavenly Father is perfect’ [...]. It is therefore quite clear that all Christians in any
state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection
of love, and by this holiness a more human manner of life is fostered also in earth-
ly society.”
*********************************************************************************************
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.