And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray you, be given to your servant two mules' burden of earth? for your servant will never offer either burnt offering or sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the LORD.
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Ephrem The Syrian
AD 373
Naaman the Aramean asked for some dust from the promised land in order to cause the shame of Israel, as I think, so that they might be ashamed that a stranger believed that even the dust of their land was filled with God, while the Hebrews did not even believe that God dwells in the prophets. - "On the Second Book of Kings 5.17"
Mule; (burdonum,) the offspring of a horse and of an ass. (Menochius)
Earth, to make brick for an altar, or to inclose within a box of brass, as was done in the altar of holocausts in the desert; or, in fine, to sprinkle on some clean place, where an altar might be erected, in honour of the true God. He does not inquire what ceremonies were used in the land of Israel, (Calmet) as he was not enrolled by circumcision, among the Hebrews, as an observer of their law; but intended to serve God, like Job, and many other righteous Gentiles, who kept themselves clear of idolatry, and observed the ancient patriarchal religion with a clean heart. (Haydock)
As God had sanctified the land by the observance of his true religion, Naaman rightly judged that it was fitter for an altar than the earth of his own country. (Worthington)
The Jews had a particular veneration for it, Psalm ci. 15. They built a synagogue in Persia, with earth and stones taken from Jerusalem. (Benjamin)
Christians sometime...
