CCC Cross Reference:
Mt 7:1-5 678
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Reading 1
2 Kgs 17:5-8, 13-15a, 18
Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, occupied the whole land
and attacked Samaria, which he besieged for three years.
In the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel
the king of Assyria took Samaria,
and deported the children of Israel to Assyria,
setting them in Halah, at the Habor, a river of Gozan,
and the cities of the Medes.
This came about because the children of Israel sinned against the Lord,
their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt,
from under the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
and because they venerated other gods.
They followed the rites of the nations
whom the Lord had cleared out of the way of the children of Israel
and the kings of Israel whom they set up.
And though the Lord warned Israel and Judah
by every prophet and seer,
“Give up your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes,
in accordance with the entire law which I enjoined on your fathers
and which I sent you by my servants the prophets,”
they did not listen, but were as stiff-necked as their fathers,
who had not believed in the Lord, their God.
They rejected his statutes,
the covenant which he had made with their fathers,
and the warnings which he had given them, till,
in his great anger against Israel,
the Lord put them away out of his sight.
Only the tribe of Judah was left.
Responsorial Psalm
60:3, 4-5, 12-13
R. (7b) Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.
O God, you have rejected us and broken our defenses;
you have been angry; rally us!
R. Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.
You have rocked the country and split it open;
repair the cracks in it, for it is tottering.
You have made your people feel hardships;
you have given us stupefying wine.
R. Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.
Have not you, O God, rejected us,
so that you go not forth, O God, with our armies?
Give us aid against the foe,
for worthless is the help of men.
R. Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.
Gospel
Mt 7:1-5
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Stop judging, that you may not be judged.
For as you judge, so will you be judged,
and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye,
but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?
How can you say to your brother,
‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’
while the wooden beam is in your eye?
You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first;
then you will see clearly
to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.”
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
First reading 2 Kings 17:5 – 18
The king of Assyria invaded the whole country and, coming to Samaria, laid siege to it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah on the Habor, a river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
This happened because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the grip of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshipped other gods, they followed the practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed for them.
And yet through all the prophets and all the seers, the Lord had given Israel and Judah this warning, ‘Turn from your wicked ways and keep my commandments and my laws in accordance with the entire Law I laid down for your fathers and delivered to them through my servants the prophets.’ But they would not listen, they were more stubborn than their ancestors had been who had no faith in the Lord their God. They despised his laws and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the warnings he had given them. They pursued emptiness, and themselves became empty through copying the nations round them although the Lord had ordered them not to act as they did. For this, the Lord was enraged with Israel and thrust them away from him. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 59(60):3-5,12-13
Hear us, O Lord, and help us.
O God, you have rejected us and broken us.
You have been angry; come back to us.
Hear us, O Lord, and help us.
You have made the earth quake, torn it open.
Repair what is shattered for it sways.
You have inflicted hardships on your people
and made us drink a wine that dazed us.
Hear us, O Lord, and help us.
Will you utterly reject us, O God,
and no longer march with our armies?
Give us help against the foe:
for the help of man is vain.
Hear us, O Lord, and help us.
Gospel Matthew 7:1 – 5
Jesus said, ‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged; because the judgments you give are the judgments you will get, and the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given. Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the plank in your own? How dare you say to your brother, “Let me take the splinter out of your eye”, when all the time there is a plank in your own? Hypocrite! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye.’
Readings and Commentary from the Navarre Bible
Monday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time
From: 2 Kings 17:5-8, 13-15a, 18
Samaria is invaded and its capital falls
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[5] Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years be besieged it. [6] In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the city of the Medes.
Thoughts on the fall of Samaria
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[7] And this was so because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods [8] and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs which the kings of Israel had introduced.
[13] Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets." [14] But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. [15a] They despised his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and the warnings which he gave them. [18] Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight; none was left but the tribe of Judah only.
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Commentary:
17:5-41. The Northern kingdom comes to an end with the fall of Samaria. Undoubtedly that event was traumatic for the chosen people. But the sacred writer focuses mainly on the religious aspect of the drama. For one thing, he offers an explanation of it in terms of the overall relationship between God and his people: the events he describes are a lesson for Judah to learn (vv. 7-23). Also, he uses the situation created by the Assyrian takeover to show that the Samaritan population of his own time can no longer be regarded as part of the chosen people (vv. 24-41).
17:5-6. Assyrian chronicles attribute the overrun of Samaria to Sargon II, who succeeded Shalmaneser V in December 722 BC, and they record that 27,290 Israelites were deported, which would have been ten per cent of the population. This would mean that the deportation took place in 721 BC. Assyria's policy was to deport the upper classes, who would have been best placed to organized resistance.
The date of the fall of Samaria connects with the last year of Hoshea's reign: he ceased to be king in 724 BC. During the three-year siege Samaria had no king.
17:7-23. The fall of Samaria is described very briefly, whereas the causes of its downfall are reported at length. The sacred writer wants to show that sin was the cause of the catastrophe -- a very grave sin when set against the generosity of God's gifts.
Now, only the tribe of Judah survives -- not that it has proven faithful to the Lord (vv. 18-19). For the sacred writer the fall of the Northern kingdom marks the end of a long process which began with Jeroboam and the making of the two golden calves (cf. 1 Kings 12:25-33). By turning their backs on the house of David, the Northerners became estranged from the presence of God. By explaining things in this way, the sacred writer's message is that God has promised salvation and, specifically, continuity of the Davidic dynasty (2 Sam 7:14). The Northern kingdom cut itself off from the house of David, and now it has ceased to exist. But Judah endures; even though it, too, sinned, it puts its trust in God to keep his promise. The redactor of the books of the Kings is well aware that Jerusalem, too, will be destroyed and that the people of Judah will be sent into exile (cf. 1 Kings 9:7-9), yet God will still be present among them: the people of Judah will not disappear, for God is faithful to the promise he made to the house of David.
The fall of the Northern kingdom was certainly a lesson for Judah, a lesson it failed to learn (cf. Jer 16:10-13). But it is also a lesson for all men, in all ages: abandoning God and distancing oneself from Christ, the Son of David, puts man in danger of eternal perdition. Commenting on the downfall of the two kingdoms, St Macarius drew a spiritual lesson: "Alas for the soul deprived of the loving care of Christ that causes it to bear the good fruits of the Spirit!; because, knowing itself to be abandoned, full of thorns and thistles, instead of producing fruit, it ends up on the bonfire. Alas for the soul in which Christ the Lord does not live!, because, feeling abandoned, it becomes the seed-bed for all vices" (Homiliae spirituals, 28, 2).
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From: Matthew 7:1-5
Various Precepts: Do Not Judge
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(Jesus said to His disciples,) [1] "Judge not, that you be not judged. [2] For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. [3] Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? [4] Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? [5] You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."
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Commentary:
1. Jesus is condemning any rash judgments we make maliciously or carelessly about our brothers' behavior or feelings or motives. "Think badly and you will not be far wrong" is completely at odds with Jesus' teaching.
In speaking of Christian charity St. Paul lists its main features: "Love is patient and kind [...]. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Corinthians 13:4, 5, 7). Therefore, "Never think badly of anyone, not even if the words or conduct of the person in question give you good grounds for doing so" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way", 442).
"Let us be slow to judge.--Each one sees things from his own point of view, as his mind, with all its limitations, tells him, and through eyes that are often dimmed and clouded by passion" ("ibid"., 451).
1-2. As elsewhere, the verbs in the passive voice ("you will be judged", "the measure you will be given") have God as their subject, even though He is not explicitly mentioned: "Do not judge OTHERS, that you be not judged BY GOD". Clearly the judgment referred to here is always a condemnatory judgment; therefore, if we do not want to be condemned by God, we should never condemn our neighbor. "God measures out according as we measure out and forgives as we forgive, and comes to our rescue with the same tenderness as He sees us having towards others" (Fray Luis de Leon, "Exposicion Del Libro De Job", chapter 29).
3-5. A person whose sight is distorted sees things as deformed, even though in fact they are not deformed. St. Augustine gives this advice: "Try to acquire those virtues which you think your brothers lack, and you will no longer see their defects, because you will not have them yourselves" ("Enarrationes In Psalmos", 30, 2, 7). In this connection, the saying, "A thief thinks that everyone else is a thief" is in line with this teaching of Jesus.
Besides: "To criticize, to destroy, is not difficult; any unskilled laborer knows how to drive his pick into the noble and finely-hewn stone of a cathedral. To construct: that is what requires the skill of a master" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way", 456).
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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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