Chapter 14
Summary of those who cast out the foreign wives they had taken.
[Ezra 10:18] -- And there were found among the sons of the priests those who had taken, etc. The Hebrews apply to this place the prophecy of Zechariah: And the Lord showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him (Zech. III). And a little later: And Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And he said to him, See, I have taken away your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes. And put a clean turban on his head (Ibid.). They say rightly, Satan stood at his right hand to oppose him because the accusation was true, as he too, along with the others, had taken a foreign wife. But what is said, that Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, is interpreted in three ways: either because of the unlawful marriage, or because of the sins of the people, or because of the squalor of captivity. The angel, before whom Joshua stood, commanded the other angels in the person of the Lord to remove from him the filthy garments, which we mentioned. When they had completed the command, the same angel again speaks to Joshua: See, I have taken away your iniquity from you; these are the filthy garments; and I will clothe you with rich robes, that is, I have united to you an Israelite wife. And what follows: Put a clean turban on his head; which many call a mitre; in this they understand the dignity of the priesthood, that with the stains of sins cleansed, he has a pure priesthood. But we should note that Ezra does not write that Jesus himself had taken a foreign wife, but says that some of his sons and brothers were defiled with this crime. Although the guilt of the sons reflects on the father, he cannot be perfectly righteous who neglected to correct his delinquent sons while he could. Whence some say that the aforesaid prophecy about Joshua is not to be referred to the son of Jozadak but to the Lord the Savior. Who, though He is the brightness of glory and the express image of God’s substance, accepted filthy garments for a time out of compassion for our frailty, as Isaiah says: But He was wounded for our iniquities and bruised for our sins (Isa. LIII); to whom Satan stood at the right hand to oppose Him, always seeking to oppose His right hand and His virtues, as the sacred history of the Gospel reports. And the apostle says: He was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin (Heb. IV). From whom the filthy garments are removed, and He is clothed with rich robes, when He cleansed us from our sins in His own blood, so that what the apostle says may be fulfilled: For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Or He who had filthy garments in His passion, received rich robes in His resurrection, so that we may truly say of Him: Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer (II Cor. V). He also received the turban on His head, for He was proven to have an eternal priesthood, according to the Psalmist: You are a priest forever (Ps. CIX). As for what Ezra says, that the brothers of Joshua the son of Jozadak also took foreign wives, we should understand them not as his carnal brothers, but as relatives according to the custom of Holy Scripture; nor could his brethren in the flesh have lived until then and devoted themselves to pleasure, since more than a hundred years had passed since Cyrus began to reign and sent Joshua and Zerubbabel with the captivity of Judah and Benjamin to rebuild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. It follows:
[Ezra 10:19] -- And they gave their hands, to cast out their wives, etc. First, they reject the illicit wives from themselves, and thus they offer a ram for themselves, so that, with the crime removed, they could approach the altar in purity. Indeed, it is difficult for the sacrifice of him to be accepted by God, who has not first endeavored to abandon the fault for which he offers, as Isaiah says: Cease to do evil, learn to do well (Is. 1). And because the sons or brothers of the high priest, who were the first to sin, rightly offer a ram from the flocks for the punishment of the crime, so that by such a sacrifice they might indicate that they were offering themselves, who appeared to be the teachers of the people and leaders like the leaders of following flocks, from their former life, to slaughter and purify themselves and offer worthy penance to God through a better life. It is noteworthy how skillfully the devil always battles against the faithful, never leaving them a secure time without combat. Behold, those who could not be overcome by adversities are overcome by blandishments; they overcame public enemies by building the temple of the Lord and dedicating it, but they were overcome by the love of foreign women, so they might not keep the temples of their hearts or bodies, dignified for the indwelling of God. Of which matter the figure was completely fulfilled in our times, since we see the minds of the faithful much more dangerously tempted inwardly now, drawn and enticed by their own desires, than they were once outwardly, when the fierce adversary raged against their steadfastness with iron and fire. But the piety of the Lord will assist, which, just as it then granted them the virtue of patience against the open battles of the raging ones, so it may also grant us the caution to guard against the snares of creeping flattery. Finally, through the diligent action of the industrious pontiff and all those who feared the Lord, those who had sinned were pricked in their hearts and cast away foreign wives; and thus, with the foulness of lust expelled, the honor of chastity returned, and in the city of the Lord, with the rubbish of vices cast out, the flowers and aromas of virtues were scattered. Up to this point are the words of Ezra, by which he described the deeds of Zorobabel and Jesus, and afterwards his own. And he himself also clearly held the type of the Lord Savior, in that he renewed the holy Scripture, recalled the people from captivity to Jerusalem, elevated the house of the Lord with greater gifts, appointed leaders beyond the river Euphrates, and corrected the sons of the captivity from foreign wives. For the Lord restored the sacred Scripture, which the Scribes and Pharisees had either defiled with their traditions or taught was to be understood only according to the letter, showing it as full of spiritual sense, as it was written by Moses or the prophets. And He also had the New Testament described by the apostles or apostolic men, sending the Holy Spirit from above. He led the people out of Babylonian captivity and brought them to Jerusalem and the promised land liberated, because He, having suffered once on the cross, redeemed the world with His blood, and descending to the underworld, led out those He found there as true Israelites, that is, the elect, bringing them to the walls of the heavenly city, and granted them the joys of the promised inheritance of old. And daily, gathering the faithful from the turmoil of this world, He calls them to the fellowship of the holy Church and the everlasting kingdom. He adorned the temple with gold and silver and precious vessels, which either the people of Israel or the Persian princes had sent there through him, because He never stops adorning and glorifying the Church with the faith and works of those who believe from both peoples, namely, Jew and gentile. He appointed leaders and overseers for all the people beyond the river, who knew and taught the law of God, because in the holy Church, which is also washed with the river of sacred baptism, and transcends the river of Babylon, that is, the turmoil of the fluctuating world by the sincerity of faith, He placed apostles, evangelists, pastors, and leaders. He corrected the sons of the captivity from foreign wives, because He forbade those who had renounced the world by profession of faith to serve again the enticements of the world. He also cast out the sons of such foreign mothers from the congregation of the captivity, lest, when they grew up, they might follow the faithlessness of their mothers rather than the faith of their fathers, because our works, even those that seem good to men, if they are mixed with carnal delights, or have taken their origin from the contagion of human favor, He taught to reject, nor to deem them worthy of the fellowship of those who, perfectly renouncing the world, with full mind progress to heavenly things; who do not allow themselves to be enfeebled by temporal blandishments, but rather are exercised by adversities, and prepared for eternal rest with joy. But if anyone wishes to object, saying that it is not written that the sons of the adulteresses were cast out, but only the women themselves, it is though Shecaniah, suggesting and saying: Let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and those born of them, was followed by the prompt, And Ezra rose and adjured the chiefs of the priests, Levites, and all Israel, to do according to this word, and they swore, he should understand that if they did not cast out those children born to them by foreign women, it was because they taught them to renounce maternal infidelity, and consecrated to the Lord through circumcision and a saving sacrifice, making them companions of their faith and chastity. It is clear indeed that the mystery of this matter is evident, because good works, which we do for the sake of temporal advantage, or favor, or delight, either are to be counted as among evil works, or must be distinguished by the lowest intention and done solely for heavenly recompense. For he who, for example, fasts, prays, gives alms with the intention that he may be seen and praised by men, such a one indeed, the offspring of a good deed, is as it were born of an unclean mother of a filthy conscience; hence it cannot have a part with the congregation of those who ascended from Babylon to Jerusalem, because a justice, or rather a simulation of justice, which has received its reward in the present, will lack future recompense in heaven. But if such a worker of a deed, converting his mind to better things, begins to do for heavenly reward what he did for the desire for empty praise, consecrating his offspring, even if unworthily born, to the Lord, he makes it a citizen of Jerusalem, because he corrects a work badly begun from the time, making it worthy of eternal reward in heaven.