And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,
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Bede
AD 735
The literal meaning is evident, namely, that those who had remained after the capture, even though they seemed to be living at peace in view of the fact that the king of the Persians had shown himself to be their friend and not long previously had sent to them Ezra the scribe with letters in order that he should have authority over all the region beyond the river, nonetheless were in great distress because their enemies were blaming them and because the holy city still remained in ruins. But even now in the holy church, people are rightly afflicted and pricked by a salutary sense of remorse when, even though they themselves have repented of their past wrongdoings, they consider the fact that their neighbors still are subject to sins, so that, through the negligence of those who, having reformed, could have been profitable to many, the devil has free entry into the church, as through the walls of a ruined city. It is even more lamentable if those very ones who should have been profiting...
Now it came to pass that when Sanaballat heard that we were building the wall, he became very angry and, being greatly incensed, he ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his brethren and a crowd of Samaritans said, 'What are these feeble Jews doing? Are the Gentiles leaving them alone?' Obviously this is the anger of heretics, these the words of those who in vain call themselves 'Samaritans' (that is, the 'guardians of God's law')1 despite the fact that they are greatly opposed to God and his laws inasmuch as, having been long separated from the House of David (that is, from the unity of Christ and the Church) by heresies or schisms or wicked works, they “356” are afraid to see the walls of the faith being built lest their own irreverence might be attacked and excluded; this is the ridicule of all who claim that they know God, but in their deeds they deny him? for indeed the Samaritans used to serve the Lord but without repudiating their own ancient gods. Typologically, they are ...
