CCC Cross Reference:
Gn 15:2-3 2570; Gn 15:2 2374; Gn 15:5-6 762; Gn 15:5 146, 288; Gn 15:6 146, 2571
Ps 105:3 30
Mt 7:15 2285; Mt 7:20 2005
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Reading 1
Gn 15:1-12, 17-18
The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:
“Fear not, Abram!
I am your shield;
I will make your reward very great.”
But Abram said,
“O Lord God, what good will your gifts be,
if I keep on being childless
and have as my heir the steward of my house, Eliezer?”
Abram continued,
“See, you have given me no offspring,
and so one of my servants will be my heir.”
Then the word of the Lord came to him:
“No, that one shall not be your heir;
your own issue shall be your heir.”
He took him outside and said:
“Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can.
Just so,” he added, “shall your descendants be.”
Abram put his faith in the Lord,
who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.
He then said to him,
“I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans
to give you this land as a possession.”
“O Lord God,” he asked,
“how am I to know that I shall possess it?”
He answered him,
“Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat,
a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
Abram brought him all these, split them in two,
and placed each half opposite the other;
but the birds he did not cut up.
Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses,
but Abram stayed with them.
As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram,
and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.
When the sun had set and it was dark,
there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch,
which passed between those pieces.
It was on that occasion that the Lord made a covenant with Abram,
saying: “To your descendants I give this land,
from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River the Euphrates.”
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9
R. (8a) The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Give thanks to the Lord, invoke his name;
make known among the nations his deeds.
Sing to him, sing his praise,
proclaim all his wondrous deeds.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Glory in his holy name;
rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord!
Look to the Lord in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
You descendants of Abraham, his servants,
sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!
He, the Lord, is our God;
throughout the earth his judgments prevail.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He remembers forever his covenant
which he made binding for a thousand generations(
Which he entered into with Abraham
and by his oath to Isaac.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Gospel
Mt 7:15-20
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing,
but underneath are ravenous wolves.
By their fruits you will know them.
Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Just so, every good tree bears good fruit,
and a rotten tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit,
nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down
and thrown into the fire.
So by their fruits you will know them.”
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
First reading Genesis 15:1 – 18
It happened some time later that the word of the Lord was spoken to Abram in a vision, ‘Have no fear, Abram, I am your shield; your reward will be very great’.
‘My Lord,’ Abram replied ‘what do you intend to give me? I go childless...’ Then Abram said, ‘See, you have given me no descendants; some man of my household will be my heir’. And then this word of the Lord was spoken to him, ‘He shall not be your heir; your heir shall be of your own flesh and blood’. Then taking him outside he said, ‘Look up to heaven and count the stars if you can. Such will be your descendants’ he told him. Abram put his faith in the Lord, who counted this as making him justified.
‘I am the Lord’ he said to him ‘who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to make you heir to this land.’ ‘My Lord,’ Abram replied ‘how am I to know that I shall inherit it?’ He said to him, ‘Get me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon’. He brought him all these, cut them in half and put half on one side and half facing it on the other; but the birds he did not cut in half. Birds of prey came down on the carcasses but Abram drove them off.
Now as the sun was setting Abram fell into a deep sleep, and terror seized him. When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, there appeared a smoking furnace and a firebrand that went between the halves. That day the Lord made a Covenant with Abram in these terms:
‘To your descendants I give this land,
from the wadi of Egypt to the Great River,
the river Euphrates.’
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 104(105):1-4,6-9
The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or
Alleluia!
Give thanks to the Lord, tell his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples.
O sing to him, sing his praise;
tell all his wonderful works!
The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or
Alleluia!
Be proud of his holy name,
let the hearts that seek the Lord rejoice.
Consider the Lord and his strength;
constantly seek his face.
The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or
Alleluia!
O children of Abraham, his servant,
O sons of the Jacob he chose.
He, the Lord, is our God:
his judgements prevail in all the earth.
The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or
Alleluia!
He remembers his covenant for ever,
his promise for a thousand generations,
the covenant he made with Abraham,
the oath he swore to Isaac.
The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel Matthew 7:15 – 20
Jesus said, ‘Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep but underneath are ravenous wolves. You will be able to tell them by their fruits. Can people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, a sound tree produces good fruit but a rotten tree bad fruit. A sound tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a rotten tree bear good fruit. Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown on the fire. I repeat, you will be able to tell them by their fruits.’
Readings and Commentary from the Navarre Bible
Wednesday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
God's Covenant with Abram
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[1] After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." [2] But Abram said, "0 Lord God, what wilt thou give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" [3] And Abram said, "Behold, thou hast given me no offspring; and a slave born in my house will be my heir." [4] And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, "This man shall not be your heir; your own son shall be your heir." [5] And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be." [6] And he believed the Lord; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness.
[7] And he said to him, "I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess." [8] But he said, "O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?" [9] He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a she-goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." [10] And he brought him all these, cut them in two, and laid each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. [11] And when birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
[12] As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram; and lo, a dread and great darkness fell upon him.
[17] When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. [18] On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates."
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Commentary:
15:1-21. God rewards Abraham for his generosity towards Mechizedek and for his renouncing of the riches offered him by the king of Sodom. He appears to him in a vision and promises his help, many descendants and the land of Canaan. Here all that is required of Abraham is that he believe in the promise that God himself, through a rite of covenant, undertakes to fulfill. This passage emphasizes the gravity of God's promise and speaks of the faithfulness of God, who will keep his word.
15:2-3. Abraham does not understand how God can keep the promise he made to him in Haran (cf. chap. 12). The fact that he has no children is a severe test of his faith; and anything else God may give him means little by comparison. This is the first time Abraham speaks to God, and their conversation shows the deep intimacy between them. He makes his concerns known to God: because Lot has left him and Abraham has no son of his own, he needs to appoint an heir who will take over leadership of the clan in return for serving Abraham in his lifetime. This is the first friendly dialogue the Bible records between God and a man since the dialogue God had with Adam in paradise (cf. 3:9-1.2). It is a conversation between friends and the first example, therefore, of a prayer of friendship and filiation, for to pray is to speak to God.
"Of Damascus": this is the translation most frequently given for a word which is very unclear (the original text is unrecoverably corrupt). It does not seem to mean that Eliezer was a native of Damascus, for he was a slave or servant born in Abraham's house (v. 3); therefore, it must be some other sort of title whose meaning escapes us.
15:4-6. Once more Abraham is asked to make an act of faith in the word of God, and he does so. This pleases God and is reckoned righteous. This makes Abraham the father of all those who believe in God and his saving word.
In the light of this passage St Paul sees Abraham as the model of how a person becomes righteous in God's eyes--through faith in his word, the definitive word being the announcement that God saves us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. In this way, Abraham not only becomes the father of the Jewish people according to the flesh, but also the father of those who without being Jews have become members of the new people of God through faith in Jesus: "We say that faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he was circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received circumcision as a sign or seal of the righteousness which he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but also follow the example of the faith which our father Abraham had before he was circumcised" (Rom 4:9-12).
Abraham's faith revealed itself in his obedience to God when he left his homeland (cf. 12:4), and later on when he was ready to sacrifice his son (cf 22:1-4). This is the aspect of Abraham's obedience which is given special emphasis in the Letter of St James, inviting Christians to prove the genuineness of their faith with obedience to God and good works: "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works, and scripture was fulfilled which says, 'Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness'; and he was called the friend of God" (Jas 2:21-23).
15:7-21. The strength of God's resolve to give the land of Canaan is vividly demonstrated by his ordaining a rite of covenant to externalize the commitment undertaken by both parties. According to this ancient rite (cf. Jer 34:18), the action of the two parties--"passing between" the pieces of the victims-indicated a readiness to be similarly cut in pieces if one were guilty of breaking the pact. The text makes the point that God (represented by the flaming torch: cf Ex 3:2; 13:21; 19: 18) "passes between" the bloody limbs of the victims, to ratify his promise.
This is how the book of Genesis portrays the people of Israel's right to the land of Canaan and explains how the land came to belong to it only in recent times, after the Exodus. During the ceremony Abraham is given advance information about the afflictions the people will suffer before the promise is fulfilled. An explanation is also given as to why God will take the land away from the Canaanites (here described as Amorites): their evil-doing will have gone too far. God emerges here as the Lord of the earth and of nations. On the sojourn of the people of Israel in Egypt, cf. the note on 37:2-50:25.
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From: Matthew 7:15-20
False Prophets
----------------------
(Jesus said to His disciples,) [15] "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. [16] You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? [17] So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. [18] A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. [19] Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. [20] Thus you will know them by their fruits."
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Commentary:
15-20. There are many references in the Old Testament to false prophets; perhaps the best-known passage is Jeremiah 23:9-40 which condemns the impiety of those prophets who "prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray"; "who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes; they speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord [...]. I did not send the prophets, yet they ran. I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied"; they "lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them; so that they do not profit this people at all."
In the life of the Church the Fathers see these false prophets, as of whom Jesus speaks, in heretics, who apparently are pious and reformist but who in fact do not have Christ's sentiments (cf. St Jerome, "Comm. in Matth.", 7). St John Chrysostom applies this teaching to anyone who appears to be virtuous but in fact is not, and thereby misleads others.
How are false prophets and genuine prophets to be distinguished? By the fruit they produce. Human nobility and divine inspiration combine to give the things of God a savor of their own. A person who truly speaks the things of God sows faith, hope, charity, peace and understanding; whereas a false prophet in the Church of God, in his preaching and behavior, sows division, hatred, resentment, pride and sensuality (cf. Gal 5:16-25). However, the main characteristic of a false prophet is that he separates the people of God from the Magisterium of the Church, through which Christ's teaching is declared to the world. Our Lord also indicates that these deceivers are destined to eternal perdition.
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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. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
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