From: Deuteronomy 26:16-19
Israel, the People of the Lord
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Commentary:
26:16-19. The main part of Moses’ second discourse (chaps. 5-26) ends with
a new, solemn proclamation of the Covenant between the Lord and his people,
on which their mutual relationship is based. Israel is the people — property of
God, chosen by him from among all nations. And the Lord, for his part, is the
God and Lord of Israel, whom he has solemnly promised to protect.
Verses 17 and 18 begin with turns of phrase typical of the language of con-
tacts and pacts: one contracting party has the other declare or swear some-
thing. This gives the passage great beauty and strength: through the wording
of the Covenant, Israel makes the Lord undertake to be its God and protector,
while God calls on Israel to testify that it will be faithful to his commandments.
The wording of the Covenant is extolled in other passages of the Old Testa-
ment. Thus, Hosea 2:25 uses the imagery of love to express the dialogue be-
tween God and Israel: “You are my people. [...] Thou art my God.”
By treating man in this way, God shows himself to be both near to man and far
above him. The mutual commitment of God and men in the Covenant is not a
simple business-like transaction; it is something enduring, something which is
being renewed all the time: for man, and particularly for the Christian, every day
is a renewal of the Covenant, a new beginning (cf. Is 43:19). St. J. Escriva writes
“Committed. How much I like that word! We children of God freely put ourselves
under an obligation to live a life of dedication to God, striving that He may have
complete and absolute sovereignty over our lives” (”The Forge”, 855).
As regards the structure of Deuteronomy in its present form, vv. 16-19 act as
both a summing up of Moses’ second discourse and as a preparation for chap-
ter 28, the end of that discourse, consisting of “Blessings and Curses” exhor-
ting Israel to be faithful to the Covenant it has made with the Lord.
*********************************************************************************************
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. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
Please pray for this ministry and support it through this PayPal link. For other
options (check, money order, etc.) please contact the Listowner directly.
“Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” — St Jerome
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Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
For: Saturday, February 23, 2013
1st Week of Lent
Optional Memorial: St Polycarp, Bishop
(Preference Given to Liturgical Season)
From: Deuteronomy 26:16-19
Israel, the People of the Lord
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
26:16-19. The main part of Moses’ second discourse (chaps. 5-26) ends with
a new, solemn proclamation of the Covenant between the Lord and his people,
on which their mutual relationship is based. Israel is the people — property of
God, chosen by him from among all nations. And the Lord, for his part, is the
God and Lord of Israel, whom he has solemnly promised to protect.
Verses 17 and 18 begin with turns of phrase typical of the language of con-
tacts and pacts: one contracting party has the other declare or swear some-
thing. This gives the passage great beauty and strength: through the wording
of the Covenant, Israel makes the Lord undertake to be its God and protector,
while God calls on Israel to testify that it will be faithful to his commandments.
The wording of the Covenant is extolled in other passages of the Old Testa-
ment. Thus, Hosea 2:25 uses the imagery of love to express the dialogue be-
tween God and Israel: “You are my people. [...] Thou art my God.”
By treating man in this way, God shows himself to be both near to man and far
above him. The mutual commitment of God and men in the Covenant is not a
simple business-like transaction; it is something enduring, something which is
being renewed all the time: for man, and particularly for the Christian, every day
is a renewal of the Covenant, a new beginning (cf. Is 43:19). St. J. Escriva writes
“Committed. How much I like that word! We children of God freely put ourselves
under an obligation to live a life of dedication to God, striving that He may have
complete and absolute sovereignty over our lives” (”The Forge”, 855).
As regards the structure of Deuteronomy in its present form, vv. 16-19 act as
both a summing up of Moses’ second discourse and as a preparation for chap-
ter 28, the end of that discourse, consisting of “Blessings and Curses” exhor-
ting Israel to be faithful to the Covenant it has made with the Lord.
*********************************************************************************************
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
Leviticus 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 interpre-
tation which understood “neighbors” as meaning “Israelites”. Our Lord corrects
this misinterpretation of the Law: for Him everyone is our neighbor (cf. the para-
ble 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 sin-
ners who rebel 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 collec-
tion 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 au-
thorities; 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,
including the Beatitudes. Strictly speaking, it is quite impossible for a created
being to be as perfect as God. What our Lord means here is that God’s own per-
fection 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 Crea-
tor. 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.