Moreover, Judah said: 'The strength of him who carries has given out, and the rubble is too great, and we will not be able to build the wall'. By 'Judah' he means the tribe of the descendants of Judah. He complains that the wall cannot be built because too much rubble had been piled up in the place where the wall was to be built that first had to be cleared away so that the foundations of the wall could be established on living ground. This accords with the parable of the house in the Gospel,1 whose builder dug deep and having removed a heap of earth, laid the foundations on rock which no onrush of waters or winds could throw down. For first we must remove from our heart the rubble of earthly desires and next build upon the foundation of faith the sturdy and invincible wall of good works, for whoever strives to erect an edifice of holy action on the rubble and debris of base thoughts is deceiving himself; and instead of a house or a city he will discover, as soon as a storm of temptation beats against it, that he has built a ruin.
