Synopsis of the Chapter
The Jews in fasting and sackcloth confess their sins to God. The Levites celebrate the ancient benefits with which God contended against the misdeeds of the people: and they renew the covenant between God and the people.
Verse 1: And Earth Upon Them ¶
1. AND EARTH (that is, dust and ashes) UPON THEM. — Note here three offices of penance, as well as their symbols. The first is to sprinkle ashes on the head, as if confessing that we are lowly and ashen, being formed from ashes and destined to return to ashes, according to that saying in Genesis III, 19: "Dust you are and to dust you shall return." The second is public and solemn fasting. The third is sackcloth or haircloth.
Verse 2: Separated from Every Foreigner ¶
2. The seed of the children of Israel was separated from every FOREIGN CHILD — that is to say, they separated themselves from their Gentile wives, and the sons whom they had begotten from them, they separated from the sons whom they had begotten from Israelite wives, in the manner that I described in I Ezra X, 3.
Verse 3: They Rose Up to Stand ¶
3. AND THEY ROSE UP (the Levites) TO STAND — in a higher place, from which they could be seen and heard by the people. And four times they confessed — that is, at each reading they sang psalms and hymns to God, by which they celebrated God's beneficence, and confessed the misdeeds of the ungrateful people, and humbly begged pardon for them from God.
Verse 6: The Heaven of Heavens ¶
6. THE HEAVEN OF HEAVENS (that is, the highest, most vast, and most excellent heaven, namely the empyrean); AND ALL THEIR HOST — namely all the angels and all the stars.
Verse 7: You Chose Abram ¶
7. YOU CHOSE ABRAM, AND BROUGHT HIM OUT OF THE FIRE OF THE CHALDEANS. — You will say: The Hebrew and the Septuagint have, "from Ur of the Chaldeans," and so our translator renders it at Genesis XI, 31, and elsewhere. I answer: Ur or Ura, as Josephus has it, is the proper name of a city of the Chaldeans, from which God brought Abraham, which Eupolemus, quoted by Eusebius (Book IX, Preparation, chapter IV), calls Camirine. It seems to have been named from the worship of fire (for this is what ur means in Hebrew), which, according to St. Jerome (Questions on Genesis), the Chaldeans worshipped as God. Just as Heliopolis in Egypt was named from the worship of the sun: for "Heliopolis" means the same as "city of the sun"; and therefore our translator, to interpret the Hebrew name ur, renders it as "fire." Hence some Bibles write the word "fire" in this place with a capital I, as if it were the proper name of a city; for there is clearly an allusion here to Genesis XI, 31, where it says: "I brought them out of Ur of the Chaldeans;" for so also elsewhere our translator often interprets the etymologies of the proper names of the Hebrews, because some mystery, or force and significance, lies hidden in them, as in Judges XV, 19; Genesis XXVI, 20 and 22.
Hence secondly, the word ur can be taken not as a proper name but as a common noun, signifying fire, that is, pressure and affliction: as also in Psalm XVI, 3, and Psalm LXV, 12; for Josephus testifies (Book I, Antiquities, VIII) and St. Augustine (Book XVI, City of God, chapter XIII) that Abraham suffered many afflictions from the Chaldeans because he refused to worship fire, which they, like the Persians, worshipped as God. Indeed, it is a tradition of the Hebrews that for this reason Abraham was cast into fire, but was miraculously delivered by God, which tradition St. Jerome approves (Questions on Genesis). Nor is it surprising that Josephus did not mention this matter, nor Philo, nor St. Paul in Hebrews XI (which Pererius objects), because those authors generally report only what is found in the Scriptures, as Josephus often professes of himself. See what is said at Genesis XI, 31.
Verse 10: Signs and Wonders Against Pharaoh ¶
10. AND YOU PERFORMED SIGNS AND WONDERS AGAINST PHARAOH — namely the ten plagues with which God struck Pharaoh, to compel him to release the Hebrews to go to Canaan. The Levites here celebrate the magnificence and beneficence of God, recounting all that God did for the Hebrews in Egypt and Canaan; namely that for their sake He afflicted Egypt with ten plagues, that He gave them a pillar of fire as a guide on the way, likewise manna, the law, water from the rock, the land of Canaan. Hence they likewise confess the ingratitude of the people who were disobedient to God. And so this confession and prayer of theirs is, as it were, a compendium of the books of the Pentateuch, Judges, and Kings.
Verse 15: Bread from Heaven ¶
15. And bread from heaven You gave them — namely manna, concerning which see Exodus XVI. YOU RAISED YOUR HAND — that is, You swore. For we swear with hand raised, as if invoking God as witness.
Verse 17: They Set Their Head ¶
17. AND THEY SET THEIR HEAD. — Vatablus renders: so that they chose, that is, they wanted to choose a leader who would bring them back to Egypt to their former slavery (Numbers XIV). More simply, secondly, "they set their head to return," that is, with stiffened neck, as was previously stated, and with hardened head they resolutely wanted to return to Egypt. So in verse 29 it is said: "They gave a withdrawing shoulder and hardened their neck."
Verse 32: Do Not Turn Your Face ¶
32. DO NOT TURN YOUR FACE (but continually look upon us with kindly eyes, that You may have compassion and mercy on us) FROM ALL THE HARDSHIP (all our troubles), FROM THE DAYS OF THE KING OF ASSYRIA — who in the sixth year of Hezekiah carried away the ten tribes captive into Assyria.
Verse 33: You Have Acted in Truth ¶
33. YOU HAVE ACTED IN TRUTH — that is, You truly fulfilled, truly bestowed the rewards that You had promised, and the punishments that You had threatened against transgressors.
Verse 37: The Fruits Are Multiplied for the Kings ¶
37. The fruits are multiplied for the kings — that is to say, Judea indeed produces many crops, but not for us: rather for the kings of the Persians, to whom we are compelled to pay them as tribute.
Verse 38: We Make a Covenant ¶
38. Therefore because of all these things — that is to say: Therefore because of all these things, that You may have mercy on us, behold, by a new promise and covenant we pledge ourselves, having renounced idols and crimes, henceforth to serve You alone faithfully, constantly, and perpetually. AND WE WRITE — the terms of this covenant which we make with You, and we shall have it subscribed and sealed in the name of all by our Princes, whose names will be listed in the following chapter.