First Reading — Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12
Rashi
On 47:1
Then he brought me back into the Inner Court.
To the entrance of the House. And the water was descending from under the right side of the House, flowing from under the threshold, which was in the center of the east[ern side] and [going] diagonally toward the right, and going out of the Court at the south of the altar, and proceeding out of the city. In Tractate Yoma we learned (77b): Said Rabbi Phinehas in the name of Rab Huna of Sepphoris: The fountain emanating from the Holy of Holies at first resembles the points of rocks. As soon as it reaches the entrance of the Hall, it becomes like a woof thread. When it reaches the entrance of the Heichal, it becomes like a warp thread. When it reaches the entrance of the Court, it becomes like the mouth of a small jug.
On 47:2
And he took me out of the Inner Court to the Outer Court through the northern gate.
and led me around around the inner wall within the outer one.
to the...Gate The outer [gate] that faces eastward.
water was trickling [Heb. מְפַכִּים,] buient in O.F., dripping, trickling, as wide as the width of the mouth of a jug. So did our Sages explain it, as above.
On 47:3
he measured one thousand cubits outside the wall. For those thousand cubits, the stream did not swell to the extent of being deep up to the אֳפְסָיִם ; the ankles, called chevilles in Fr.
On 47:4
And he measured one thousand another [one thousand cubits], and they deepened up to the knees, and another thousand, and they deepened up to the loins. From here on, it was a stream that I could not cross. From here we learn that one should not enter water from the loins and higher, lest the water over power him. As soon as he came to the water reaching the loins, he went out upon the bank of the river and measured another thousand before him, a stream that cannot be crossed, and his feet were standing on dry land. This is what is written (v. 6): “and he brought me back [upon] the bank of the stream,” i.e., near the bank of the stream that is where he had been standing.
On 47:5
for the water was so high [Heb. גָאוּ,lit. became haughty,] like גָדְלוּ, became large.
water for swimming [Heb. שָׂחוּ,] noer in O.F., to swim, water that one must swim in and not cross by foot lest it overpower him. שָׂחוּ means swimming, like (Isa. 25:11): “as the swimmer spreads out [his hands] to swim הַשׂחֶה לִשְׂחוֹת.”
On 47:7
and behold, upon the bank of the stream, etc. While he led me and brought me back, a very great profusion of trees had grown on the banks of the stream on each side. profusion of trees [Heb. עֵץ,] abres; erbeiz in Old French, trees, vegetation.
On 47:8
to the...frontier [Heb. הֳגְלִילָה,] la marche, frontier (province).
the eastern [Heb. הַקַּדְמוֹנָה,] the eastern. Our Rabbis taught in the Tosefta of Succah (3:3): Where do they flow? To the Sea of Tiberias (Kinnereth), the Sea of Sodom (Dead Sea), and to the Great Sea, to heal their salty waters and to sweeten them.
[“Will descend upon the plain”] this is the Sea of Tiberias.
[“And come to the sea”] this is the Sea of Sodom.
to the sea that is brought out This is the אוֹקיַינוּס ocean, which is brought out from civilization to encompass the world.
And [it will come] to heal the waters of their saltiness. The Midrash Aggadah [says] Yerushalmi Shekalim (6:2): Why does he call them הַמוּצָאִים (in the plural)? Because of the two times that they went out.
On 47:9
wherever the two streams will go This stream, which divides into many streams, sweetens the seas into which it mingles, and their fish, which swarm in them, are alive and sweet.
On 47:10
And it will be [a place] beside which fishermen will stand etc., nets [Heb. לַחֲרָמִים,] for nets
their fish will be of many kinds לְמִינָה.] This does not have a “mappik hey,” and it means that its fish will be of many kinds of many kinds.
of many kinds [Heb. לְמִינָה,] a form of the word to denote a profusion of kinds, as in (Exod. 7:21): “And the fish וְהֲדָּגָה in the river”; (Isa. 21:2): “All sighs (אָנְחָתָה) have I brought to an end.”
On 47:11
Its marshes [The marshes] of the sea, as in (Job 8:11): “Can papyrus shoot up without a marsh (בִצָה)?” This is maresc in Old French, a marsh.
and its pools [Heb. וּגְבָאָיו,] like (II Kings 3:16): “This valley will be full of pools.” The בִּצִים are the marshes around it, and the גֵבִים are ditches in which water is gathered.
will not be healed to be turned sweet. Why? Because “they will be set aside for salt [mines].”
וְלא יִרָפְאוּ This “vav” is subordinate and superfluous.
On 47:12
month after month its fruits will ripen From month to month its fruits will ripen.
for a cure [Heb. לִתְרוּפָה.] Our Sages of blessed memory explained: to unlock the mouth (לְהָתִיר פֶה) of the dumb and the mouth [of the womb] of the barren (Men. 98a), but its apparent meaning is a word for healing, as in (Jer. 6:14): “And they healed (וַיְרַפְאוּ) the breach of My people easily.” And so did Menahem connect it.
Responsorial Psalm — Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9
Basil of Caesarea
On 45:2
Do not flee what you do not need to flee, and do not have recourse to him to whom it is unnecessary. But one thing you must flee: sin; and one refuge from evil must be sought: God. Do not trust in princes; do not be exalted in the uncertainty of wealth; do not be proud of bodily strength; do not pursue the splendor of human glory. None of these things saves you; all are transient, all are deceptive. There is one refuge, God.… God is the true aid for the righteous. Just as a certain general, equipped with a noble, heavy-armed force, is always ready to give help to an oppressed district, so God is our helper and an ally to everyone who is waging war against the wiliness of the devil, and he sends out ministering spirits for the safety of those who are in need.
On 45:5
Some give the definition that a city is an established community, administered according to law. And the definition that has been handed down of the city is in harmony with the celestial city, Jerusalem above. For there it is a community of the first-born who have been enrolled in heaven, and this is established because of the unchanging manner of life of the saints, and it is administered according to the heavenly law. Therefore, it is not the privilege of human nature to learn the arrangement of that city and all its adornment. Those are the things "eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the human heart, what things God has prepared for those who love him," but there are myriads of angels there, and an assembly of saints and a church of the firstborn that are enrolled in heaven. Concerning that David said, "Glorious things are said of you, O city of God." To that city through Isaiah God has promised, "I will make you to be an everlasting glory, a joy unto generation and generation, and there shall not be wasting nor destruction in your borders, and salvation shall possess your walls." Therefore, having raised the eyes of your soul, seek, in a manner worthy of things above, what pertains to the city of God.
On 45:5
Since God is in the midst of the city, he will give it stability, providing assistance for it at the first break of dawn … sending out equal rays of his providence from all sides to the limits of the world. Preserving the justice of God, he apportions the same measure of goodness to all.… Now, the perceptible sun produces among us the early morning when it rises above the horizon opposite us, and the Sun of justice produces the early morning in our soul by the rising of the spiritual light, making day in him who admits it. "At night" means we are in this time of ignorance. Therefore, having opened wide our mind, let us receive "the brightness of his glory," and let us be brightly illumined by the everlasting Light, "God will help it in the morning early." … For those on whom the spiritual light will rise, when the darkness that comes from ignorance and wickedness is destroyed, early morning will be at hand. Since, then, light has come into the world in order that he who walks about in it may not stumble, his help is able to cause the early morning … who on the third day, early on the morning of the resurrection, gained the victory through death.
On 45:8
Our protector, he says, is not another God besides him who was handed down by the prophets. But [he is] the God of Jacob, who spoke in an oracle to his servant, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob."
On 45:9
Just as … great distances make the perception of visible objects dim, but a nearer approach offers a clear knowledge of the objects seen, so also in the case of objects of contemplation in the mind, he who has not drawn near to God is not able to see his works with the pure eyes of his mind. Therefore, "Come," first approach, then see the works of the Lord, which are prodigious and admirable.… He who has heard the call and has approached and cleaves to the One commanding will see him who through the cross made all things peaceful "whether on the earth or in the heavens."
Second Reading — 1 Corinthians 3:9c-11, 16-17
Clement of Rome
On 3:13
Take up the epistle of the blessed Apostle Paul. What did he write to you at the time when the gospel first began to be preached? Truly, under the inspiration of the Spirit, he wrote to you concerning himself, and Cephas, and Apollos, because even then parties had been formed among you. But that inclination for one above another entailed less guilt upon you, inasmuch as your partialities were then shown towards apostles, already of high reputation, and towards a man whom they had approved. But now reflect who those are that have perverted you, and lessened the renown of your far-famed brotherly love. It is disgraceful, beloved, yea, highly disgraceful, and unworthy of your Christian profession, that such a thing should be heard of as that the most steadfast and ancient church of the Corinthians should, on account of one or two persons, engage in sedition against its presbyters. And this rumour has reached not only us, but those also who are unconnected with us; so that, through your infatuation, the name of the Lord is blasphemed, while danger is also brought upon yourselves.
Gospel — John 2:13-22
Origen
On 2:14
(tom. x. in Joan. c. 16) Should it appear something out of the order of things, that the Son of God should make a scourge of small cords, to drive them out of the temple? We have one answer in which some take refuge, viz. the divine power of Jesus, Who, when He pleased, could extinguish the wrath of His enemies however innumerable, and quiet the tumult of their minds: The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought. (Ps. 32, 33:10) This act indeed exhibits no less power, than His more positive miracles; nay rather, more than the miracle by which water was converted into wine: in that there the subject-matter was inanimate, here, the minds of so many thousands of men are overcome.
On 2:14
(tom. x. in Joan. c. 17) John says here that He drove out the sellers from the temple; Matthew, the sellers and buyers. The number of buyers was much greater than of the sellers: and therefore to drive them out was beyond the power of the carpenter’s Son, as He was supposed to be, had He not by His divine power put all things under Him, as it is said.
On 2:14
(tom. x. in Joan. c. 16) By the temple we may understand too the soul wherein the Word of God dwelleth; in which, before the teaching of Christ, earthly and bestial affections had prevailed. The ox being the tiller of the soil, is the symbol of earthly affections: the sheep, being the most irrational of all animals, of dull ones; the dove is the type of light and volatile thoughts; and money, of earthly good things; which money Christ cast out by the Word of His doctrine, that His Father’s house might be no longer a market.
On 2:15
(tom. x. in Joan. c. 16) It is possible even for the dweller in Jerusalem to incur guilt, and even the most richly endowed may stray. And unless these repent speedily, they lose the capacity wherewith they were endued. He finds them in the temple, i. e. in sacred places, or in the office of enunciating the Church’s truths, some who make His Father’s house an house of merchandize; i. e. who expose to sale the oxen whom they ought to reserve for the plough, lest by turning back they should become unfit for the kingdom of God: also who prefer the unrighteous mammon to the sheep, from which they have the material of ornament; also who for miserable gain abandon the watchful care of them who are called metaphorically doves, without all gall or bitternessh. Our Saviour finding these in the holy house, maketh a scourge of small cords, and driveth them out, together with the sheep and oxen exposed for sale, scatters the heaps of money, as unbeseeming in the house of God, and overthrows the tables set up in the minds of the covetous, forbidding them to sell doves in the house of God any longer. I think too that He meant the above, as a mystical intimation that whatsoeveri was to be performed with regard to that sacred oblation by the priests, was not to be performed after the manner of material oblations, and that the law was not to be observed as the carnal Jews wished. For our Lord, by driving away the sheep and oxen, and ordering away the doves, which were the most common offerings among the Jews, and by overthrowing the tables of material coins, which in a figure only, not in truth, bore the Divine stamp, (i. e. what according to the letter of the law seemed good,) and when with His own hand He scourged the people, He as much as declared that the dispensation was to be broken up and destroyed, and the kingdom translated to the believing from among the Gentiles.
On 2:18
(tom. x. in Joan. c. 20) Both those, i. e. both the Body of Jesus and the temple, seem to me to be a type of the Church, which with lively stones is built up into a spiritual house, into an holy priesthood; according to St. Paul, Ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. (1 Cor. 12:27) And though the structure of stones seem to be broken up, and all the bones of Christ scattered by adversities and tribulations, yet shall the temple be restored, and raised up again in three days, and stablished in the now heaven and the new earth. For as that sensible body of Christ was crucified and buried, and afterward rose again; so the whole body of Christ’s saints was crucified with Christ, (each glorying in that cross, by which He Himself too was crucified to the world,) and, after being buried with Christ, hath also risen with Him, walking in newness of life. Yet have we not risen yet in the power of the blessed resurrection, which is still going on, and is yet to be completed. Whence it is not said, On the third day I will build it up, but, in three days; for the erection is being in process throughout the whole of the three days.
On 2:18
(tom. x. in Joan. c. 23) Our Lord’s Body is called the temple, because as the temple contained the glory of God dwelling therein, so the Body of Christ, which represents the Church, contains the Only-Begotten, Who is the image and glory of God.
On 2:18
(t. x. c. 27) But (in the mystical interpretation) we shall attain to the full measure of faith, at the great resurrection of the whole body of Jesus, i. e. His Church; inasmuch as the faith which is from sight, is very different from that which seeth as through a glass darkly.
On 2:20
(tom. x. c. 22) Or some will reckon perhaps the forty and six years from the time that David consulted Nathan the Prophet on the building of the temple. David from that time was busy in collecting materials. But perhaps the number forty may with reference to the four corners of the temple allude to the four elements of the world, and the number six, to the creation of man on the sixth day.