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From: Amos 9:11-15

Conclusion: Messianic Restoration

[11] “In that day I will raise up
the booth of David that is fallen
and repair its breaches,
and raise up its ruins,
and rebuild it as in the days of old;
[12] that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations who are called by my name,”
says the Lord who does this.
[13] “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,
“when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper
and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and all the hills shall flow with it.
[14] I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.
[15] l will plant them upon their land,
and they shall never again be plucked up
out of the land which I have given them,” says the Lord your God.

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Commentary:

9:11-15. This oracle of benediction contrasts with the recriminations that have
been the main feature of the book. It begins by referring to “that day”, the day of
the Lord, but it focuses on its positive side — the salvation of the righteous. The
oracle could be a later addition, for what it says implies that the kingdom of Ju-
dah and the city of Jerusalem have collapsed — the “fallen booth” of David, which
the Lord promises to restore (v. 11) in the sight of “Edom and all the nations” (v.
12). The features of the restored Israel are: the fruitfulness of the land (vv. 13-14),
the return of those sent into exile (v. 14), and the promise that they shall never
again be uprooted (v. 15).

Although the oracle announces an era of well-being, one that is in some way
definitive, there is no mention here of a messiah as such. However, the apostles
read this passage as an announcement of the universal scope of salvation. This
is what St James says at the council of Jerusalem: “After they finished speaking,
James replied, ‘Brethren, listen to me. Symeon has related how God first visited
the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And with this the words
of the prophets agree, as it is written, “After this I will return, and I will rebuild the
dwelling of David, which has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up, that
the rest of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my
name, says the Lord, who has made these things known from of old.” Therefore
my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God
[…]’” (Acts 15:13-19). In James’ remarks, the Fathers found continuity between
the New Testament and the promises contained in the Old: “it is clear that they
do not proclaim [the existence of] another Father; rather, they announce the New
Covenant of freedom to those who return to their belief in God through the power
of the Holy Spirit” (St Irenaeus, Adversus haereses, 3, 12, 14).

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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 9:14-17

The Call of Matthew (Continuation)

[14] Then the disciples of John (the Baptist) came to Him (Jesus), saying, “Why
do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” [15] And Jesus
said them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with
them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and
then they will fast.” [16] And no one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old gar-
ment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. [17]
Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; if it is, the skins burst, and the wine
is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins,
and so both are preserved.”

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Commentary:

14-17. This passage is interesting, not so much because it tells us about the
sort of fasting practised by the Jews of the time — particularly the Pharisees
and John the Baptist’s disciples — but because of the reason Jesus gives for not
requiring His disciples to fast in that way. His reply is both instructive and pro-
phetic. Christianity is not a mere mending or adjusting of the old suit of Judaism.
The redemption wrought by Jesus involves a total regeneration. Its spirit is too
new and too vital to be suited to old forms of penance, which will no longer apply.

We know that in our Lord’s time Jewish theology schools were in the grip of a
highly complicated casuistry to do with fasting, purifications, etc., which smo-
thered the simplicity of genuine piety. Jesus’ words point to that simplicity of
heart with which His disciples might practise prayer, fasting and almsgiving (cf.
Matthew 6:1-18 and notes to same). From apostolic times onwards it is for the
Church, using the authority given it by our Lord to set out the different forms
fasting should take in different periods and situations.

15. “The wedding guests”: literally, “the sons of the house where the wedding
is being celebrated”—an expression meaning the bridegroom’s closest friends.
This is an example of how St. Matthew uses typical Semitic turns of phrase,
presenting Jesus’ manner of speech.

This “house” to which Jesus refers has a deeper meaning; set beside the para
ble of the guests at the wedding (Matthew 22:1 ff), it symbolizes the Church as
the house of God and the body of Christ: “Moses was faithful in all God’s house
as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ was
faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are His house if we hold fast our
confidence and pride in our hope” (Hebrews 3:5-6).

The second part of the verse refers to the violent death Jesus would meet.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.