Selected Questions on Difficult Passages of Holy Scripture (on the Books of Kings and Chronicles)

let us leave incomplete. ^A And the reason for this obscurity is also the eagerness of the interpreters to render the translation word for word; the very same thing happens to those who translate words from the Latin tongue into Greek. For those [translations] too are full of great obscurity. First, however, I will state the subject matter of the history. There have been many prophets, whose books we have not found, but whose names we have learned from the history of Chronicles. Each of these was accustomed to record whatever happened to occur in his own time. Hence it is that the first book of Kings, both among the Hebrews and among the Syrians, is called the prophecy of Samuel, which is easy for anyone who wishes to read the aforementioned book to know. Those, therefore, who wrote the book of Kings, having taken their material from those books, wrote long after. ^B For how could it be possible for someone who lived with Saul, or who flourished with David, to record the things that happened in the time of Hezekiah and Josiah, and the military expedition of Nebuchadnezzar, and the siege of Jerusalem, and the enslavement of the people, and the migration to Babylon, and the death of Nebuchadnezzar? It is clear, therefore, that each of the prophets recorded the events that took place in his own time. And certain other people, having collected those things, composed the book of Kings. And again, there were certain other historiographers of the things that had been omitted by them; these called the book written about them "Chronicles" [Paralipomenon], as teaching the things that had been omitted by the earlier writers. ^C

IN THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS

^D

INTERROGATION I.

RESPONSE.

Core, and the descendant was Elkanah, the father of Samuel. Samuel, therefore, is the fifteenth from Levi. He was of the family of Kohath; which had been preferred over the others, because from it the high priests had blossomed; wherefore it was also assigned to them to carry the holy vessels. ^A

INTERR. II. Why did Elkanah have two wives?

The law neither commanded men to be joined lawfully to two or more wives, nor yet did it forbid them; granting the lesser, that it might prevent the greater. For it measured the laws according to the capacity of those who received them. The divine Apostle also says this: "For the law brought nothing to perfection." ^B

INTERR. III. What is the meaning of: "The Lord closed her womb"?

This speech teaches those who read it not to trust in marriage, but to call upon the Creator for aid. For just as it is the property of the farmer to sow the seeds, but of God to bring to completion those things that are sown, so the property of marriage is the union, but the property of God is to give his consent to nature, so that it may fashion and form the living creature. Hannah knew this quite clearly; for although she had lived for a long time with her husband and had brought forth no fruit, she fled to the Creator himself, and by earnest prayer and tears, she healed her mutilated womb and opened that which was closed. ^C And it is worth the effort to admire also the moderation of her character. For being insulted as though she were drunk, she bore it meekly, and having dispelled the false suspicion, she explained the distress from which she suffered, and attained the high-priestly blessing. For she heard: "Go in peace: may the Lord God of Israel give you all your petition, which you have asked of him." And she heard the blessing with such faith, that she cast away all sorrow, and with confidence returned to her husband, and cohabited, and conceived. And when she had given birth, she fulfilled her promise. For she preserved his hair, and taught him the drinking of water; for this is the law of the Nazarites. And immediately after she weaned him, she offered him to God, and along with him a calf of equal age, which he received as a sacrifice and priestly offering instead of him. ^D

She also received from God other children: three sons and two daughters. For the Lord is generous and bounteous toward those who are mindful of former graces.

Her hymn, too, is worthy of admiration. For not only did she celebrate the Giver with praises for what she had received, but she also seasoned the hymn with prophecy and partook of the grace of the child. For having conceived a prophet, she prophesies after giving birth. For the words, "The Lord will make her adversary weak," ^A signify the overthrow of the devil. And the words, "The Lord ascended into the heavens, and thundered," ^B foretell the assumption of our Savior, the descent of the most Holy Spirit, and the magnitude of the apostolic preaching. Moreover, she also predicts the second appearance of the Lord Christ: "For He himself," she says, "will judge the ends of the earth, for He is just." She further predicts his ancestors according to the flesh, who lasted from David until the captivity: "For He will give," she says, "strength to our kings." Then, to indicate the reason why they obtained such care from God, she added: "And He shall exalt the horn of His Christ." Besides this, she taught us not to trust in riches, not in wisdom, nor in power, but only in Him who is able both to grant life and to inflict death, and to change prosperity into adversity, and success into misfortune. Moreover, the words, "The barren has borne seven," ^C proclaim the fruitfulness of the Church. For the number seven is indicative of a multitude; for in seven days the whole of time revolves, and the children of the Church have filled the inhabited world. "But she who had many children became weak." For Judea, once prolific in children and having borne many prophets and righteous men, now suffers from barrenness.

QUESTION IV. From what family was Eli the high priest? From the family of Ithamar; but because of the wickedness of his children, his entire lineage was deprived of the high-priestly honor. For history teaches what great crimes and outrages they dared to commit.

QUESTION V. What is an ephod? Aquila ^D called this an "eximium superindumentum" (an excellent over-garment). We have already said, while interpreting Exodus and also Judges, that through it the Lord God signified many of the things that were previously unknown.

^A

INTERR. VI. Why, being a Levite, did Samuel use an ephod, even though it was assigned only to the high priest?

It is probable that Heli, having seen divine grace flourishing in him, and since he was born miraculously, and promised before his birth, and was being raised within the tabernacle as a holy person, a Nazirite, and one asked of God (for this is what the name Samuel signifies), bestowed this honor upon him while he was still quite young. [Diodorus] It was God’s dispensation that Samuel, though called by Him, should go to Heli, thinking he was being called by him, once, twice, and a third time. For since God was about to predict evil things to Heli through Samuel, in order that Samuel might not be thought to have invented the revelation, God so arranged that he, thinking he was called by Heli, should go to him; so that when Heli realized that it was God calling Samuel, and Samuel subsequently ^B reported what had been told him by God, he would not be suspected of having invented the revelation, but would be believed, that God had truly announced a revelation to him.

INTERR. VII. Why did Heli pay the penalty for his sons, even though he had admonished them as was fitting?

The iniquity of the sons did not require mild remedies, but the most severe and harsh ones. It was necessary, therefore, since they persisted in their wickedness after the first and second admonition, to expel them from the precincts of the temple. For not only were they transgressing the law themselves, but they were also becoming a model of lawlessness for others. ^C Since, however, he valued nature more than the Creator, he was deprived of the God-given grace. God indicated this to him through the prophet: "For why," He says, "have you looked upon my incense and my sacrifice with an impudent eye, and honored your sons above me, to bless the first-fruits of every sacrifice of Israel before me? Therefore says the Lord God of Israel: I said, your house and the house of your father shall walk before me forever. But now, not so, says the Lord; it shall not be to me. But those who glorify me I will glorify, and those who despise me shall be despised." And the prediction does indeed appear to deprive his lineage of the priesthood; however, those threats silently ^D signify the cessation of the Jewish priesthood. "For I said," He says, "your house and the house of your father...

shall walk before me forever." ^A This, however, He did not promise to Ithamar, but to Aaron. Therefore He did not speak against their entire tribe. The things seen now bear witness to this. For ever since the Lord Christ was crucified, their temple has been destroyed, the Holy of Holies has been made desolate, and they have been deprived of both the priesthood and prophecy. This is also signified by the words that follow: "For behold, days are coming, and I will utterly destroy your seed, and the seed of the house of your father, and there shall not be an old man in your house. And he shall see ^B my firmament in all things in which I shall do good to Israel. And there shall not be an old man in your house all the days."

Now, by "firmament" He refers to the God who is. "For I am," He says, "He who is." And Jeremiah, "You who are, Lord Master." He has called the priesthood which is according to the order of Melchizedek the "firmament" of this One. And this He explained more clearly a little later: "For I will raise up for myself," He said, "a faithful priest, who will do all things that are in my heart and in my soul: and I will build him a faithful house, and he shall walk before my anointed ^C ones all the days." These things, however, befit no man, but only our Lord Jesus Christ, who was named our High Priest according to His humanity. "For having," He says, "an awesome High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus our Lord." And again, "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses; but one who has been tempted in all things according to our likeness, apart from sin." And the phrase "all the days" does not befit mortal men who live for a short time. He called the holy apostles and those who succeeded them in their teaching "anointed," or Christs. Therefore, ^D the prophecy properly concerns the Savior Christ; but according to history, it concerns Zadok, who, tracing his lineage from Eleazar, received the priesthood through Solomon.

QUESTION VIII. How is one to understand, "The lamp of God before it was fashioned"?

The discourse signifies that immediately after evening, when people had begun to sleep, the Lord God appeared to Samuel. For in the evening they were accustomed to light the holy lamp, and around midnight they would place oil in it. The time...

said that the lamp had not yet been prepared.

INTERR. IX.

INTERROGATION X.

^A For He taught the Hebrews to live lawfully and to trust in God's providence, while He did not permit those who transgress the law to trust either in Him or in the untouchable ark; for why indeed should they, when transgressing, drag to their aid that which contained the law laid up within it? And so, they received this benefit from it. But the foreigners, who had indeed trembled and cried out when the ark appeared to the Hebrews, but later, after the victory, had despised it and dedicated it as a kind of spoil to their own idols, learned by experience the power of God. For first, they saw their own god fallen before the ark, showing the appearance of adoration. Then, having raised him up, they found him the next day crushed and stripped of all his extremities. ^B After this, since they did not want to recognize the difference, and did not pay the proper honor to the ark, they fell into various illnesses. For as the Seventy interpreted it, "They were struck in their seats," and as Aquila says, "They laboured with an eating ulcer." Josephus, however, taught that it was the disease of dysentery. But let no one think that these different versions are at variance with one another. For the disease of the seat followed the dysentery; the frequent excretion inflamed those parts of the evacuation, and in time, they contracted a consuming ulcer. They suffered the disease of the seat because they had impiously placed the divine ark beside their falsely-so-called god. The Azotians were the first to suffer this punishment. But the Gittites, conjecturing that the plague was not sent by God, but was a disease arising from a pestilential condition, transferred the ark of God to the city of Gath; but they were immediately subjected to the same calamities. ^C And as to the words, "The Gittites made for themselves golden seats," the others interpreted it thus: "And their seats were dissolved on all sides." When the Gittites attempted to transfer the ark to Ascalon, those people opposed them, fearing the divinely-sent plagues. Then, when no city dared to receive the ark, they left it outside in the open air. For the historiographer taught this: "For it came to pass," he says, "that the ark of God was in the field of the Philistines for seven months." After they thought that, the ark remaining outside, they were freed from the plagues sent by God, he brought in

^A even to inanimate objects punishment from God ^B and the Lord. For he sent a multitude of mice into the vines and the crops, which destroyed all their fruits. By these things, he taught that he himself had also brought various plagues upon the Egyptians. For that they had a fresh memory of those things, they themselves testify by what was said by them. For when they saw the ark in the war, they were filled with fear, and weeping they cried out: "Woe to us, who shall deliver us from the hand of this mighty God? This is the God who struck Egypt with every plague." ^C But after they had experienced these evils, their priests and diviners told them to send back the ark with gifts: "That the Lord," they said, "may lift his hand from you and from your gods and from your land. And why do you harden your hearts, as Egypt and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? Is it not true that when he mocked them, he sent away his people, and they departed?" But when those impious men had pondered these things and had shown the weakness of their own gods (for first God crushed them, then he chastised those who worshipped them, and then he sent mice upon the produce of the earth), they wished to learn by experience whether the plague had been sent by God or had happened by some chance. For having constructed a new cart, and having yoked cows that had recently brought forth young, having separated them from their calves, they placed the ark upon it, together with as many golden mice and seats as there were cities, as gifts to the God who had chastised them. They placed these in a certain vessel, which the Seventy called *boergaz* ^D, but Josephus calls a coffer. Having released the cows without a driver at a crossroads, they waited to see whether they would turn back to the lowing of the calves, or would turn aside to another way, abandoning the road that led to the Hebrews: so that if either of these two things occurred, they might condemn the ark as powerless. But if the cows, leaving other paths and spurning their calves, went to the land of Israel, they would truly know that those plagues had been sent by God. Wherefore they also followed from a distance, and did not cease until those who lived on the borders of the Hebrews saw the new and

strange sight—a wagon guided by no human hand, yet carrying the ark as its burden and driver—and ran to it gladly, and marveled at the victory of God.

INTERR. XI.

INTERROGATION XII.

^A places they worshipped God. But we learn from this also that God, knowing the propensity of the people toward impiety, limited the divine worship to one place. For to the pious, who understand the aim of the law, every place was consecrated for the worship of God. Indeed, the great Elias, even when the divine temple called everyone to itself according to the law, built an altar on Carmel and offered sacrifice.

INTERR. XIII. Why did Samuel not pay the penalty for the wickedness of his sons? The things done by them were iniquities, not impieties. For they did not violate marriages, nor did they bring shame upon the divine tabernacle with such lusts; nor did they assign the firstfruits of the sacrifices to their own bellies, overturning the order of the sacrifices. The history accuses them only of being corrupted by ^B bribes; and the prophet did not even know of this, as he lived far away from them. For he himself inhabited Armathem, while they lived in the city of Bersabee (98).

INTERR. XIV. Wherefore did he grieve when the people asked for a king? Because the petition was contrary to the divine law. For the Lord God fulfilled the duty of both God and king; the prophet was a minister, like some prefect, or commander, or tribune of the people. And God made this clear to him by saying: "Hearken to the voice of the people: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them, according to all their works which they have done unto me, from the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even unto this day," and so forth.

INTERR. XV. How did he call Saul good? He did not bear witness to the virtue of his soul, but to ^C his form and stature. For he says this: "There was not a good man among the children of Israel superior to him; taller and higher was he than all the earth" (99) ^D.

[alt-version omitted]

NOTES (98) Armathem and Bersabee. In the Greek Bibles, it is commonly read Armatham or Armathim, and Bersabee. (99) Above all the people. It is better to read the reading of some ancient manuscripts, "above all the people," as in chap. x, 23.

Question XVI.

Quest. XVII.

Quest. XVIII.

Quest. XIX.

the least of the tribes, and my kinsfolk the least of all the families of Benjamin?" ^A For this reason, He confirms the promise of the kingdom through predictions concerning everything. And first, he brings those who bring him the good news about the donkeys. Then those who are going to Bethel to worship God, and who offer to him the firstfruits of those things which are being offered to God. "For they will ask you," He says, "concerning peace, and will give you the firstfruits of bread, and you shall receive them from their hand." ^B Then the choir of prophets, and the company of those dancing with them, using flutes and a lyre, and harps, and timbrels, and the grace of the Spirit leaping forth from there, causing him also to prophesy.

Quest. XX. What is: "And God gave him another heart"? Since he was a rustic, knowing only how to till the earth, when He had appointed him king, He gave him a kingly mind.

Quest. XXI. What is: "He ceased to prophesy"? He did not have the gift of prophecy perpetually; but to declare and demonstrate the spiritual gift, he prophesied at that time. So also the seventy elders whom the great Moses chose ^C were immediately, upon being chosen, deemed worthy of the prophetic operation. But after this, they did not at all prophesy; but having been rendered wise by the divine gift, they settled the disputes of the people.

Quest. XXII. Why, when Samuel had anointed Saul, and had heard from the God of all that he ought to create him king, did he command the tribes to cast lots? Those who lived in wickedness did not even believe the divine prophets. In order, therefore, that they might not suspect that the choice was one of human favor, he commanded that lots be cast. Then, when the lot had fallen upon the tribe of Benjamin, and it had again been divided into ^D families, and houses, and men, the lot fell upon Saul. But when he attempted to hide (for he saw that the power exceeded his own dignity), he was pointed out to the prophet by God, and received his election by the entire people.

^A QUES. XXIII. For what reason did Nahas the Ammonite gouge out the right eyes of the Israelites? Wishing to render them useless for war. For he who holds up a shield with his left hand covers his left eye with it, while he watches the enemy with his right. Therefore, one who has had his right eye removed becomes vulnerable when fighting.

QUES. XXIV. Why did He give Saul to them as their first king? Because they asked for a king to be chosen for them for the sake of performing bravely in wars, and not for the sake of piety, so that they might be instructed by him in divine matters. Therefore, He chose the greatest of all, because they admired not the virtue of the soul, but the magnitude of the body. ^B

QUES. XXV. For what reason does the prophet, after gathering the people, remind them of his own administration? Being judge, he was stepping down from authority and handing it over to the king. It was therefore consistent that he should recount the things done by himself, and make the people give their consent to the praiseworthy administration, teaching them of that legitimate authority.

QUES. XXVI. How should that which is said, "Saul was a son of a year" (8) when he began to reign, be understood? Symmachus has rendered it thus: "Saul was a full year old when he began to reign." This signifies the simplicity of the soul which Saul possessed when he received the election to the kingdom. ^C But he did not use this for very long. Whence the historian added, "And he reigned over Israel for two years," which is to say, "He reigned for two years with this simplicity; then, having declined toward wickedness, he was stripped of divine grace." Whence the remaining time during which he continued to reign is reckoned to the administration of Samuel (9).

QUES. XXVII. How should that which is said, "Jonathan struck the station (10) of the foreigners which was on the hill," be understood? The foreigners, having conquered the Hebrews, established garrisons in the stronger places. ^D Therefore, he called the garrison a station. This was the one that Jonathan utterly destroyed.

^A However, as for "the servants have rebelled," Aquila interpreted it as "Let the Hebrews hear."

INTERROGATION XXVIII. What is, "And he waited seven days for the testimony, as Samuel said?" Samuel instructed Saul to wait for him for seven days, and then, having performed the sacrifices, to draw up the battle line. Saul, however, seeing the foreigners gathered, did not wait for the prophet according to the instructions. When the prophet caught him sacrificing, he rebuked him very severely, and announced to him the deprivation of his kingdom. "For the Lord," he says, "will seek for Himself a man according to His own heart, ^B and the Lord will appoint him as ruler over His people, because you did not keep what the Lord commanded you." Hence that glorious victor Stephen drew that phrase, "I have found David the son of Jesse, a man according to My heart, who will do all My will." For the most divine Samuel had foretold these things prophetically. And Gabaa, the land that is in Sabaim, the land that is in the valley of gazelles, Aquila interpreted.

INTERROGATION XXIX. For what reason did Israel not have iron? Having overcome them, the foreigners had taken all the iron, and prevented them from acquiring any other, ^C whence they made the agricultural implements among themselves. And Symmachus interpreted "tooth" as the plowshare, but Aquila as the plow. Moreover, they called the shekel a stater. For by weight, the shekel was of the weight of a half-ounce; but by money, it was of twenty obols.

INTERROGATION XXX. Why did Jonathan, wishing to rush upon the enemies, give certain signs to his armor-bearer? He did not give them symbolically, but as a believer he wished to know the will of God, and gave signs to himself regarding the divine will: so that if they were called by them, in

^A their attack, it might be clear that God was offering assistance. For he said, "And we shall ascend, because the Lord has delivered them into our hands; this shall be the sign for us." "But," says he, "if they say to us, 'Depart there,' we shall not ascend against them." That he gave himself over into visible danger trusting in God, the words testify: "For come," he says, "let us cross over to the station of these uncircumcised, whether the Lord will do something for us, since it is not difficult for the Lord to save by many or by few." These words are those of a soul trusting in God. And having trusted in this way, he was not disappointed of his hope. For immediately upon attacking, and casting a javelin, and throwing stones, he threw the enemy's camp into confusion. For those men, being collected from different cities, did not know one another and treated each other as enemies, slaying one another. Saul, having watched this from afar, and having learned of the victory through the priestly vestment, he himself also made an attack against the foreigners; then, seeing them turned to flight, he foolishly and very thoughtlessly subjected to anathema whoever should consume food or drink before evening.

INTERR. XXXI.

INTERROGATION XXXII.

^A dispensation. It is like what He commanded when Saul was chosen for his body, which was worth seeing: not that He Himself is delighted by great bodies (for He is the Creator of both the great and the small), but He was showing favor to the people, who used only their sensible eyes. For that He often prefers small bodies to large ones, and young men to old, Zacchæus is a witness, who, though small, welcomed the Lord; Samuel is a witness, who, being young, was deemed worthy to have the Lord appear to him; David is a witness, who in body and age was preferred to his older brothers. When God wished to choose him as king, and to preserve the kingdom for his seed, because of the King of the creation who was to be born from him according to the flesh, He used human words while speaking with humans, and said: "I have repented that I have made Saul king," instead of saying, "I choose to give the power of the kingdom to another, and to cause this one to cease from his rule." ^B

INTERR. XXXIII. Why, then, did He strip him of the kingdom because of His own benevolence?

He foresaw his future iniquities, and the ambushes against those who had served him well, the slaughters of the priests, the transgressions of oaths, the journey to the ventriloquess. But the transgression of the commandment concerning Amalec is enough by itself to bring the ultimate punishment upon him. For it behooved the senseless man to understand that one drop of divine benevolence and clemency overcomes all human goodness. But the wretch, when God commanded him to punish, had mercy, ^C and when God had passed the sentence of death, he, as he thought, bestowed life; and when God had commanded him to take nothing as profit from the spoils, he returned 377 bearing very many of the most beautiful things from the flocks and herds and all else. And although he himself had decreed with an anathema that no one should take food or drink, he wished to kill the one who had transgressed the decree through ignorance; yet, when the God of all had subjected Amalec to anathema, not on account of the impiety towards Himself, but on account of the malevolence towards the people, he took not some few and small things, but very many from the anathema. Nor did the example of Achar school him. The sin, therefore, was not small, but ^D very great. And the prophet reminded him of the words spoken before his kingship, saying thus: "Were you not small in your own eyes, as a head of

scepter of Benjamin, of the smallest tribe of Israel (21); "Didst thou not say," he says, "I am a Benjamite, of the smallest tribe among all the tribes of Israel?" Yet the Lord anointed thee king over all Israel; and the Lord sent thee on the way. Then he mentions what commandments He had given him, and how he had transgressed them by rushing upon the spoils. For the Lord did not condemn him so much for the mercy he employed contrary to the law, as for his greed, his insatiability for having more, and his passion for money, by serving which he transgressed the commandment. But Saul used the words of Adam. For he said, "Because I listened to the voice of the people." For so also did he say: "The woman whom Thou gavest with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." ^B And since he said that he had brought the herds and the flocks for sacrifice, he hears from the prophet: "Behold, the Lord does not desire burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as listening to His voice. For behold, listening is better than sacrifice, and obedience is better than the fat of rams; for 'augury' is sin, and 'wickedness' is provocation; and 'teraphim' bring pain and labors. Because thou hast made nothing of the word of the Lord, the Lord has made nothing of thee, that thou shouldst not reign over Israel."

Aquila translated "teraphim" as "worship" and "subtraction" (24). But as for "augury," I think it hints at the foolishness of some. For it is likely that some people suspected evil from an omen, namely, because he who had conquered would not profit from the spoils. He also put "teraphim" for "observation." For just as the ephod was dedicated to God, and by it the thing to be done was indicated to those who inquired; so by the teraphim, the predictions of idols were indicated. For in imitation of the former, this was dedicated to the latter. We have explained this more clearly in the book of Judges. From the edition of Aquila, however, one may also understand something else, namely, that to worship God is to fulfill His commanded precepts, not to offer gifts. For a worship that is performed contrary to His counsel is unacceptable and the cause of calamities. And in order to teach that the sentence of God is unalterable, the prophet added: "The Holy One of Israel shall not turn, nor shall He be moved to repentance (28), for He is not as a man that He should repent."

From this, therefore, the phrase "It repenteth me" must be understood.

[INTERR. XXXIV.] *Why did the prophet kill Agag?* As Phinehas killed Zimri. For whatever is commanded by God is pious.

[INTERR. XXXV.] *Why did the prophet fear to go and anoint David?* Because he was not only a prophet, but also a man. For if the Master of the prophet, our Lord Jesus Christ, when accepting the saving passion, showed the human nature through fear, who is so free from passions as to be angry with the prophet for fearing?

[INTERR. XXXVI.] *Some dare to criticize God, as if He taught the prophet to lie. For He says: “Take in your hand a heifer of the herd, and you shall say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.”* But this is not a lie. For he truly performed the sacrifice. It was fitting, then, for him to conceal the primary work, and to speak of that which was secondary.

[INTERR. XXXVII.] *On what account did the prophet not know the one chosen?* Because he was not God, but a man. For it belongs to God to know all things; but it belongs to the prophet to show only what is revealed by God. Furthermore, the ignorance of the prophet revealed the divine decision. For if he had gone straight to David, he would have fallen under the suspicion of having done so because of some pre-arrangement. But because he came to the first, and the second, and the third, and in turn to the seventh, they knew that it was God who rejected these, but chose that one. For if, even after the election had been made in this manner, his brothers revealed their envy when seeing their brother in the battle line, what would they not have done if it had not been done in this way?

[INTERR. XXXVIII.] *How is it to be understood, "An evil spirit from the Lord was choking Saul"?* When the divine Spirit had departed, the malevolent spirit received place. From this, however, we are taught to cry out with David: "Take not thy holy spirit from me." Thus, when the apostolic grace had left Judas, the devil entered into him.

|| ^A QUESTION XXXIX. How did the evil spirit rest when David was chanting? David had received the grace of the Divine Spirit. Therefore, because He was acting through David, the evil spirit rested.

QUESTION XL. What is that: "You shall take their Ersuba (1 Sam. xvii, 18)"? Symmachus interpreted it: "Whatever they lack you shall know, and you shall learn their intent."

QUESTION XLI. Why does Saul, when all others decline single combat with Goliath, discourage David who is eager to perform this feat? He was a youth of fifteen or sixteen years. For he died when he was seventy years old, and he reigned for forty years. Therefore he was thirty years old when Saul was killed. But it was said above that Saul, having reigned lawfully for two years, was stripped of divine grace. Throughout all the remaining time, therefore, he continued to wage war against David. Yet David persuades Saul to be confident of victory. For he was forced to declare how, when he was pasturing his flock, he had strangled a lion and a bear that were attacking him. "And it shall be," he says, "this uncircumcised foreigner, as one of ^B these; shall I not go and strike him, and remove today the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised man, that he has reproached the ranks of the living God?" Nothing, he says, does a man who lives in impiety and is stripped of divine aid differ from a beast. But I trust in His help. For he added this: "For the Lord, who rescued me from the mouth of the lion and from the hand of the bear, He shall rescue me from the hand of this uncircumcised foreigner." Having set out with this faith, he was not frustrated in his expectation; but although he was unarmed, he defeated the one who was fully armed.

And he who pastured sheep defeated him who was trained in wars and trophies; and he who was small and young defeated him who boasted of such great size. ^A For, he says, "Goliath saw him and despised him, because he was a boy, and he himself was reddish, with beautiful eyes." For the eyes of the body imitated the eyes of the soul. For the latter saw sharply and contemplated Him who does not fall under the gaze. Therefore he said: "I come to you in the name of the Lord Sabaoth, the God of the host of Israel, whom you have reviled today; and the Lord will shut you up this day into my hands, and I will slay you, and I will take your head from you, and I will give your limbs, and the limbs of the camp of the aliens, this day to the birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth; and all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save by spear or by sword; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will deliver you into our hands."

But as he was being drawn up in line of battle, he prophesied and foretold the knowledge of God throughout all the world: "For all the earth," he says, "shall know that there is a God in Israel." And while his mouth pours forth oracles, his hand acts bravely and kills the alien with a stone, since he praises that Stone which was cut from Him according to the flesh. "For the stone," he says, "which the builders rejected, the same became the head of the corner." ^B And using the sword of the alien, he cut off his head, prefiguring the victory of Him who blossomed from him according to the flesh. For when the devil had nailed our Master to the cross, he fell from his tyranny through the cross. And just as when David had been victorious, the army of Israel scattered and routed the troop of the aliens, so, when our God and Savior had overcome the devil, those who had believed in Him scattered and routed the phalanx of the demons.

QUES. XLII.

QUES. XLIII.

did not perceive him playing the lyre; or that envy incited him to learn exactly where he was from. ^B

QUES. XLIV. What is a *mandyas*? It is a certain type of outer garment. I believe it to be either an *arcadicum*, or what is called by many a *mantion*. For, regarding what the Seventy said concerning the man who announced the slaughter of the sons of Eli, that he had his garments torn and rent, Aquila said: "a *mandyas* torn and rent." Also, the king of the Ammonites shaved the beards of those who had been sent to him by the blessed David, and cut their *mandyas* in half, up to the garment covering their buttocks.

QUES. XLV. What is, "His soul loved him as the soul of one who loved him"? Aquila said: "According to his soul." This the divine law also enjoins: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

QUES. XLVI. How are we to understand, "The evil spirit struck Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of his house"? Pseudoprophets, being moved by an evil spirit, are like those driven by the madness of the Corybantes. Saul also suffered this while vexed by the demon. However, he used "prophesied" as a homonym. For they used to call pseudoprophets "prophets," and those who are falsely called gods, "gods." But whereas he was stripped of divine grace, David enjoyed it abundantly; and by singing, he would soothe the frenzy of that demon, though he could not calm the envy of Saul. ^C For the more he was benefited, the more Saul hastened to slaughter him. And when he cast the spear at him and missed, he indeed recognized that the Lord was with him, yet he continued to wage war. But concerning David, the divine Scripture says: "He was intelligent in all his ways; and the Lord Almighty was with him." Thus did it name the most holy Spirit. For he was gifted with this grace.

^A INTERR. XLVII. *Why, though envying David and being very hostile to him, did he betroth his daughter to him?*

The history has taught us his purpose. For it says that Saul said: "Let not my hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him" (I Reg. xviii, 17). And again: "I will give her to him, and she shall be a stumbling block to him, and the hand of the Philistines shall be upon him" (ibid. 21). Therefore, the marriage was a matter of treachery, not of benevolence.

INTERR. XLVIII. *For what reason did he ask not for heads, but for foreskins?* (ibid. 25).

Thinking wickedly, he conjectured that if he [David] killed some of his own kinsmen, he would bring their heads; for this reason, he ordered foreskins to be brought. For the foreskin denotes the foreigner. He was moving every stone, contriving the slaughter of his benefactor; and he neither respected his benefits, nor did he fear his oath. For he had sworn to Jonathan that he would not kill him. "For he swore," it says, "Saul saying: As the Lord lives, he shall not be killed" (I Reg. xix, 6).

INTERR. XLIX. *What is to be understood by the "cenotaphs" and the "liver of the goats"?*

Aquila interpreted "cenotaphs" as "effigies" (16), and the "liver of the goats" (47) as "a multitude of garments and a rounding of hair." For since Saul had transgressed the oath he had sworn and had thrust his spear at David, and David, having dodged the impulse of the spear, had retreated to his house; Michal, knowing her father's treachery, advised him to flee, and indeed let him down through the window. She arranged his bed in the likeness of a sick person, throwing over it a multitude of garments, and placing under the garments a rounding of hair, so as to imitate the head. Some have understood "effigies" to mean a likeness of David, and said that this was covered with garments, except for some parts of the face, and that the liver of the goats was placed underneath so that, when it was moved, it would make the fiction seem plausible. For they say that the liver of goats continues to move for a long time. ^B Such was the intensity with which he burned with a constant desire for slaughter,

^A even when he had learned that he was ill, he ordered him to be brought for slaughter. But when he knew of his flight, just like hunter's dogs following a trail, he kept investigating him.

QUESTION L.

QUESTION LI.

But the phrase, "Tertiabis" ("You shall third"), is used for, "You shall wait three days." For on the new moon, Saul having conjectured that David had refused the banquet because he was not cleansed, nor purified, he kept silence. "For Saul said nothing," he says, "on that day, because he said: 'It seems something has happened, that he is not clean, because he has not been ^D cleansed.'" But on the second day he asked: "Why has the son of Jesse not arrived, both yesterday and today, at the table?" On the third day, before the city, Jonathan signaled the things aforementioned. And "trisseuso" (I shall third) is for "I shall shoot three arrows." But Aquila translated it as "darts." But "amataran" in the interpretation of Hebrew names...

^A I found placed thus: among the Greeks, "taphron" (ditch); among the Romans, "fossatum" (trench); but among the Syrians, "scopum" (mark), toward which those who are exercising are accustomed to send their arrows. But Aquila interpreted "Argun" as "by the southern place." But I believe that some hollow place was called by this name. For the history says: "And David rose up from Argun, and fell upon his face to the ground."

INTERROGATION LII How did David permit himself to be a partaker of the holy loaves?

Not even then was he reproved, but even the Lord in the holy Gospels showed him to be free from reproach; for He told this narrative for the defense of His disciples. Moreover, while he becomes a partaker of those things which were assigned to the priests alone, he prefigures the mystical table that is to be set forth for all the pious. For not only they who are consecrated are partakers of the Lord's body and blood, but all who have obtained holy baptism.

INTERROGATION LIII What is: "If this way is profane, it shall be sanctified today by my vessels"? ^B

When the priest asked him whether he was chaste on that day, he said that he had been chaste for three days; and he added that because of the proposed journey, he must necessarily be a partaker of the sacred food, so that, strengthened by it, he might rightly accomplish what was proposed. But he called it "profane," not in the sense of "unclean," but of "not sacred." For that is not profane which is holy—that which is assigned to the priests; but that is profane which is attributed to all others. Whence also Aquila did not say "profane," but "lay." This is: Even if I am not a priest, yet I have obtained prophetic grace. For I believe that the words, "It shall be sanctified by my vessels," signify this. For His vessels and armor ^C were a spiritual gift.

INTERROGATION LIV What is: "Who was held fast by neasar before the Lord"?

I found this name, "tentationem lentam angustiæ" (sluggish temptation of distress), explained in the Book of Hebrew Names. ^D

^A It is therefore clear that Doeg was troubled by some demon, or suffering from some disease, and for this reason sat by the divine tabernacle. But the villain not only reported to Saul all the things that had been said and given by Abimelech, but also killed all the priests. This slaughter by Saul was more impious than all his other sins. For although God had commanded him to utterly destroy the Amalekites, he not only spared Agag, but also their flocks, herds, vineyards, and all other things worth possessing. But when anger alone moved him, he not only killed the priests, but also destroyed their city, men and all, ordering that not even a youth, an infant, or a woman be spared. Saul’s guards, however, are worthy of praise; for even when the king commanded it, they could not endure to stain their hands with the slaughter of the priests. But Doeg dared to commit this impious murder, and slaughtered the three hundred and fifty priests. It is added furthermore: "All wearing an ephod," ^B for the greater condemnation of the audacious crime. For they were not Levites, but drew their lineage from the priestly root.

QUESTION LV. Why did David feign epilepsy?

He fled to the city of Gath while escaping Saul, not thinking that he would be recognized. But when he perceived that they knew he was the one who had killed their great champion, he feigned madness and escaped the danger of death. The divine Scripture reveals his piety; for he was always inquiring of God, and thus would both draw up his battle line and remain quiet. For instance, having learned that Saul was coming and knowing that he was staying ^C in Keilah, he asked whether they would surrender him—those who had been saved through him—and upon learning that they would surrender him, he moved to another place. The phrase, "They walked wherever they walked," signifies his wandering; for sometimes they dwelt in Judea, and sometimes in the wilderness. As for the phrase, "David settled in the desert of Meseram," the other interpreters have rendered it, "In the fortified caves." ^D Moreover, Jonathan was clearly disposed most affectionately toward David. For when his father was breathing slaughter against him and desiring to hunt him down, he could not bear the sting of his longing; but he went to where he was staying, and after encouraging him with the prophecy of the kingdom, confirmed the covenants.

^A Aquila, moreover, interpreted «the new» as «a forest»; and «Gabaad» as «a hill»; and «in the wilderness, in the desert» as «in the plains». ^B The Lord also showed His own care, for when David was about to be hunted down, by the incursion of the foreigners He shackled the course of the pursuit against David. For having learned of this, Saul turned back.

QUESTION 56

^A it, he might understand his philosophy and revere the kindness. For this is what he said: «Know and see today, that there is no malice in my hand, nor contempt, nor impiety; and I have not sinned against you.»

QUESTION LVII. How should the following be understood: «From the wicked shall go forth wickedness, and my hand shall not be upon you»?

He made both himself and his affairs dependent upon the divine judgment. For he said, «May the Lord judge between me and you; but my hand shall not be upon you.» Then he added a parable. This signifies that it is the way of the wicked to commit sin, but it is the way of those educated in philosophy to endure committed wrongs. Having used measureless moderation, he calls himself a «dead dog» and a «flea,» that by such excess of humility he might soften a hardened heart. Immediately, therefore, he having been struck, confessed the benefit. For he ^B said to David: «You are more righteous than I: for you have repaid me with good, while I have repaid you with evil.» And what follows pertains to his praises, and after the praises, he predicts for him the power of the kingdom. «For I know,» he said, «that you will surely reign, and the kingdom of Israel will stand in your hand.» He also asked that his lineage might obtain the same protection which he had experienced. «Swear to me, therefore,» he says, «by the Lord, that you will not destroy my seed after me, and will not blot out my name from the house of my father. And David swore to Saul.» Such is the weakness of malice! He who commanded so many thousands was begging a fugitive; and he who was [present] with a multitude of soldiers, was begging him who was fleeing to impart kindness to him. ^C

QUESTION LVIII. Why did he who showed such great patience in the matters concerning Saul, attempt to kill Nabal?

Nabal also had received many benefits. For by abiding with his shepherds in the wilderness, he [David] not only prevented his own men from taking anything belonging to him, but also fended off damages that were coming upon him from elsewhere. For the shepherds taught Abigail this, [saying]: «The men were very good to us, ^D

and they did not hinder us, nor did they command anything of us all the days we were with them; and when we were in the field, they were like a wall around us, both by day and by night, all the days we were with them and tending our flocks.» The kindness, then, was this great; but the request was moderate, and signifying the scarcity of necessary things. «Let thy young men,» he says, «find grace in thy sight, for we have come on a good day. Give, then, whatever thy hand may find to the young men of thy son David.» How do these words differ from the words offered by beggars? But that beastly man not only did not give, but also insulted them in return. ^B «Who,» he says, «is David, and who is the son of Jesse? Today, slaves who are running away, each from the presence of his own master, have multiplied.» David, therefore, remembering those benefits, and having heard these insults, came armed. For he reasoned that while Saul had power and the jealousy of the kingdom as an incentive for his injustice, this man, having no occasion for arrogance, used the most extreme insults against him.

QUESTION 59.

Now, Aquila interpreted the *hyphi* [as] *sata*. And we have learned from the prophecy of the divine Ezekiel that the *gomer* is equal to the measure of the *hyphi*. The name Nabal, if translated into the Greek language, signifies foolishness. This, indeed, Abigail also declared, as did the book of the interpretation of Hebrew names. But Aquila spoke thus: «Nabal is his name, and with him is an efflux.» And it has the same meaning: for when the power of reason flows away and is extinguished, the passion of foolishness succeeds it. Regarding the [passage]: «As the Lord ^D kept thee from coming to innocent blood, and from saving thy hands

for thee, Aquila said: «That thou mayest not pollute thyself,» instead of: «That thou mayest not be filled with abomination from slaughter.» And that: «It shall be no abomination to thee, and a stumbling-block of heart to my lord;» for abomination, Aquila translated «compunction» (he understands the prickings of the conscience); but Baruch says, «Blessed be the Lord.» As for what is said by David: «Blessed art thou, who hast prevented me today from coming to bloodshed, and to save my hand for myself,» I suppose this to be a scribe’s error. For the other translators said, «to not be polluted,» instead of: «to not partake of filth.» Moreover, Eusebius of Caesarea said that Carmel here is not the mountain, but a certain village still called by that name, situated to the south of Jerusalem, in which they say Nabal lived. ^B

QUESTION LX

What is meant by: «Saul was sleeping in the [Greek: λαμπίνη (lampine)]»?

A [Greek: λαμπίνη (lampine)] is a type of carriage, just as is a [Greek: ἀπήνη (apene)]. But Aquila did not say [Greek: λαμπίνη (lampine)], but [Greek: στρογγύλωσις (stroggylesis - roundedness)]. The phrase signifies that the king was lying in the middle of the people and was hedged in on every side by the shield-bearers; and I think this is more true. For he says, David said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, saying: «Who will come down with me into the camp unto Saul?» Therefore the ^C passage has shown that the king was sleeping in the middle of the army. Yet he entered boldly, but spared [him] moderately, and finding the king entangled in sleep, he did not kill him; and he even prevented Abishai, who wished to do this. «For he said,» he says, «to him: Do not destroy him, for who shall lay his hand ^D upon the Lord’s anointed, and be innocent?»

^A INTERR. LXI. How is it to be understood: «Unless the Lord shall strike him, or his day shall come and he shall die,» and the rest?

That which says, «The Lord shall strike him,» signifies a plague sent by God, such as the firstborn of the Egyptians endured, and the people in the desert many times, and Nabal the Carmelite. But that which says, «or his day shall come,» signifies death according to nature, which is wont to happen either from abundance, or from deficiency, or from some one of the humors that are within us becoming excessive. That which happens in war is more violent; for those who are strong in body are slain. ^B Yet the admirable David took the spear and the cruse of water, that he might again demonstrate the benefit that had been conferred. Everywhere, however, the writer proclaims divine Providence. For when he had said that all were sleeping, he added: «A stupor from the Lord fell upon them.» Admirable also are the very words of the prophet. For he shows what care he bore for the impious king: «For the Lord lives,» he says, «that you are sons of death, who do not keep your lord, the king, the anointed of the Lord.» And in addition to these things, having said that «someone of the people came in to kill my lord the king,» he pointed to the spear and the cruse. But when Saul, ^C double-minded and utterly wicked, having recognized the voice, said: «Is this your voice, son David?» the divine man, taking him up, said: «It is my voice, my Lord, your servant, my Lord king.» And he who had obtained the royal consecration, and had received spiritual grace, called himself the servant of him who was deprived of grace and who thirsted for blood. Then he gently reproves his desire for slaughter: «Why does my lord the king pursue his servant? What have I sinned, or what evil has been found in me? And now let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the Lord stirs you up against me, let your sacrifice be smelled. But if the sons of men, may they be cursed before the Lord.» He also stated the cause for which he cursed them: ^D «Because they have cast me out today, that I should not be confirmed in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go and serve other gods.» And this they did not say by words, but by deeds.

^A For by driving him out from every side, they brought upon him the necessity of taking refuge in the cities of the aliens as if they were fortified. He also returned the spear and the cruse, and committed his own judgement to the just Judge.

INTERFACE LXII. Why, when he had previously written about the death of Samuel, did he mention it again? Since he was about to narrate the events concerning the ventriloquist, he was compelled to mention the death of Samuel.

INTERFACE LXIII. How is the narrative concerning the ventriloquist to be understood? Some say that she truly brought up Samuel. Others have refuted this argument; they say that a certain demon, a deceiver of the people, showed the figure of Samuel and spoke what he had often heard Samuel say, but that he was ignorant of the time of Saul’s death. ^B For my part, I consider the first view both wicked and impious. For I do not believe that necromantic women or anyone else can bring back a soul, much less that of a prophet, and such a great prophet at that. For it is clear that souls dwell in some other place, awaiting the resurrection of their bodies. Wherefore it is highly impious to believe that ventriloquists possess such power. The second (view), however, savors more of folly than of impiety. For in trying to overthrow that impious opinion, they supposed that the prediction was false, and therefore they attributed it to the demons, teachers of falsehood. But I, having read the book of Chronicles, found that he who wrote the history says this: «And Saul died in his iniquities, in which he had dealt wickedly against the Lord, according to the word of the Lord, because he did not observe it, and because Saul inquired of the ventriloquist to seek (her counsel); and Samuel the prophet answered him. ^C And he did not inquire of the Lord; and He slew him.» It is therefore evident from this that God himself, the Lord of all, having fashioned the form of Samuel as He willed, delivered the sentence, since the ventriloquist was not able to do this, but God (did it), who brought forth the decision even through adversaries. For we hear Him saying: «And if he goes to a false prophet, I, the Lord, will answer him.» Thus also through Balaam He blessed the people, and through…

^A that godless seer foretold things to come, and heralded the salvation of the world, not by the unclean spirit speaking, but by the divine and all-holy Spirit working. Since, however, some have deemed the prediction false, I think it profitable to discuss this also briefly. The writer had said previously: «In those days, the aliens gathered their camps to go to war against Israel; and they went out, and pitched their camp in Shunem. And Saul gathered all the men of Israel, and they pitched camp in Gilboa. And Saul saw the camp of the aliens, and he was afraid, and his heart was greatly terrified; and Saul asked through the Lord, and the Lord did not answer him, neither by dreams, nor by manifestations, nor by the prophets.» By manifestations he meant the answers which were signified through the ephod. «And Saul said to his servants: Seek for me a woman with a familiar spirit.» It is clear, therefore, ^B that when the Hebrews and the aliens had pitched their camps, Saul sought out the woman with the familiar spirit; for it says: «And he saw the camp of the aliens, and was afraid, and his heart was greatly terrified.» And having departed to the woman with a familiar spirit, and having received the sentence from God, he immediately collapsed, having eaten nothing either at night, when he had secretly left the army to go and consult the woman with a familiar spirit, nor throughout that whole day. Finally, at the woman’s urging, he ate, and by night arrived back at the army. For the story taught this: «And she set it before Saul and before his servants, and they ate, and rose up, and went away that night.» Then, when the light had dawned, the battle took place. The prediction, therefore, was true: «Tomorrow you shall die, and Jonathan your son with you; and the Lord will deliver the camp of Israel ^C into the hands of the aliens.» Yet Samuel had predicted nothing of these things while he was still alive, but only the deprivation of the kingdom; and of Jonathan he had made no mention at all. Here, however, he predicted both his own destruction and that of Jonathan, and the slaughter of the people, and the victory of the aliens. But many suspect that several days had intervened, and that the writer, according to the custom of Scripture, had resumed the narrative of the war. They do not wish to consider that, although the historiographer had previously related the death of Samuel, he said again after many narrations: «And Samuel died, and all Israel lamented him. And they buried him in Armathaim, his city.» He repeated this account, as I said, ^D according to the idiom of Scripture, to resume the narrative concerning the war; and...

to narrate about the ventriloquist. He also requested regarding the war ^A that he might teach how the satraps of the foreigners prevented David from going down with them into the battle; and how, when he came to Ceilah, he found it devastated; and that, having pursued the Amalekites, he overcame them decisively and, except for a few, struck them all down; and that he brought back all the spoil, both his own and theirs. When he had finished this narrative, he returned to his established account about the war against the foreigners, and he taught how Jonathan and Saul were slain. The beginning of the second book of Kings also provides testimony to the timing: "And it came to pass," he says, "after Saul was dead, and David had returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had stayed two days in Ziklag. And it came to pass on the third day, that, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head." ^B But I think it necessary to summarize the words themselves once more. When the army of the foreigners was gathering, the satraps saw David with Achish and, being displeased, persuaded him to dismiss David as an enemy. Returning, he found Ceilah devastated. Setting out immediately, he overcame by force the Amalekites found lusting after their spoils, and with his own men brought back their wealth. These things having happened, Saul left the camp and went to the ventriloquist. Having received the oracle, and finished his meal in sorrow, he traveled through the whole night, and in the morning arrived at the army: then, the battle having been joined, he was slain. The prediction, therefore, was true; for it was divine, and not ^C brought about through Samuel, as I believe. For she spoke of the figure which she had seen. But Saul conjectured from the figure that it was Samuel. The history, however, calls the one who was seen "Samuel," because he himself had believed it. Likewise, the Lord also called "men" those angels who appeared to Abraham, and their Lord, since the patriarch, thinking this to be the case, set a table before them. In the same way, our Lord, who is above all gods, calls those who are not gods "gods." Thus also here, he called him who was seen in the figure of Samuel—whether it was an angel or a spectrum bearing the figure of Samuel before it—Samuel, so that, having faithfully received the verdict, he might depart from life lamenting. II Kg. 1, 1, 2. ^D

^A

INTERR. LXIV. Whence did the ventriloquous woman recognize Saul? It was easy for the demon who deceives the people to make known who it was that was speaking. However, I consider that David not being in battle with the Philistines was of divine dispensation. For he would not have neglected the perishing people, but would have taken every care for both the people and Saul.

INTERR. LXV. Why did God permit their wives and children to be led into captivity? So that, being afflicted with grief, they might mount an expedition against the Amalekites and, according to the divine prediction, utterly destroy them; and furthermore, so that, having obtained much plunder, he might send it to the Philistines and draw them to greater benevolence. The Hebrew calls the troop *gaddur* (^B), which elsewhere is usually translated as a band of pirates: for this is what a company of robbers is called. Aquila says that two hundred men, who were weak from the course of the journey, remained behind, to whom certain wicked men did not wish to allot a suitable share. But the most righteous king not only gave it then, but also established a law that those who carry baggage and equipment, and stay with them, should have an equal share with those who are in the line of battle. It must be known, however, that Aquila, who follows the Hebrew, did not separate the ^C second book of Kings from the first, but made one out of the two. ^D

ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS

^A INTERROGATIO I. Some criticize David for having put to death the man who had announced to him the death of Saul.

RESPONSIO. It is proper to admire, not to criticize, the prophet and king. For he lamented upon hearing of the slaughter of a man who was ill-disposed toward him; and he did not only lament, but also bitterly mourned. But the man who had brought the news, having suffered no injury, mocked at the death—and this not only with Saul having fallen, but also Jonathan, who was worthy of praise, and the greatest part of the army together with them. Furthermore, he added a lie to his words, naming himself the slayer of Saul. In addition to these things, he was also an Amalekite, against whom the Lord of all things had long ago passed the sentence of death. Indeed, the very words of the prophet are worthy of admiration: "How," he says, "were you not afraid to lay your hand upon yourself to destroy the Lord's anointed? Your blood be upon your head, because your mouth has answered against you, saying, 'I have put the Lord's anointed to death.'" ^B

INTERR. II. What is a *chlidon*?

It is a golden ornament, which is placed upon the arms or the wrists of the hands. He has also signified this here, and the *chlidon* that was upon his arm. Whence Aquila has called it a "brachial" (arm-ornament).

INTERR. III. For what reason did the prophet mourn?

Many things brought about the lamentation. The longing for Jonathan, the affection for the people, the victory of the ungodly foreigners, and in addition to these, the slaughter of Saul. For him whom he respected while he was living, he pitied much more now that he was dead. And history teaches this, saying: "And they beat their breasts, and wept, and fasted until evening, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son," ^C and for the people of Judah, and for the house ^D of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

INTERROGATION IV. What is the "Book of the Upright"?

INTERROGATION V. How is it to be understood, "Act with urgency, O Israel, concerning your dead who are wounded"?

INTERROGATION VI. Wherefore did he curse the mountains of Gilboa?

INTERROGATION VII. Some find fault with what is said of Jonathan: "Thy love fell upon me, as the love of women."

QUESTION VIII. Why did God command David to go up first to Hebron?

The truth of this is known to Him who commanded it; but I myself think it is because the patriarchs both lived in that city while they were alive and were deemed worthy of burial there after they died. Furthermore, there is another reason: the most divine David was of the tribe of Judah; and at that time, Hebron was the metropolis of this tribe, for the Jebusites still held Jerusalem. The tribe of Judah preferred David above others, as one who was from that tribe. That Hebron held first place among the other [cities], history teaches: "For they went up," it says, "and dwelt in the cities of Hebron." And that the other point is also true, what follows shows: "And the men of Judah come, and they anoint David there to reign over the house of Judah." He used "anoint" in place of "elect," for Samuel the prophet had already anointed him with divine oil. Abenner, however, made Memphibosteth, the son of Saul, king—whom other interpreters call Isbaal—and leaving Rama and Gabaon, the dwellings of Saul, he crossed the Jordan and made what were called the camps into a royal city.

QUESTION IX. How is what was said by Abenner to be understood: "Let the lads arise before us, and let them play"?

He proposed a warlike contest to the elite among the young men. He called their clash a game and a sport, comparing this particular contest with the common and greatest battle. Equal numbers from each army were gathered from the tribes. The slaughter of these did not stop the clash of the struggle, but provoked it. When the rout occurred and the army of Abenner was fleeing rapidly while that of Joab was pursuing with great force, Azael, the youngest of the brothers of Joab, being very swift and competing with the speediest ^D of animals, pursued no one else, but desired only to strike down Abenner. And even he, while being pursued, mildly and in a friendly...

manner admonished him to pour out his anger upon some other of the fleeing soldiers: and he urged him not even to kill that one, but only to take his armor so that he might have some fruit of his labor. But when he saw that he would not obey, he threatened him calmly: "Turn aside from me, lest I strike you to the ground: and how then shall I lift up my face to Joab your brother?" ^A Since he saw him desiring to slay him, striking him with the hind part of the spear, he both stopped his course and took away his life.

QUESTION X.

QUESTION XI.

The law commanded that she who had been dismissed by her husband and joined to another should not return to her former husband. For God had signified this also through Jeremiah the prophet. For He said thus: "If a man put away his wife, and she go, and become another man's wife, shall he return to her any more? Shall not that woman be greatly polluted? But you have prostituted yourself with many shepherds, and have returned to me, says the Lord." ^C But King David had not dismissed Melchol; rather, her father had unjustly snatched her from her husband and given her to another. It was force, therefore, not matrimony.

^A For this reason, the divine Apostle also said: "So then if, while her husband lives, she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress." But she had been joined to another against her will. David, therefore, did not transgress the law, but rather the one who joined her to another. For that which was contracted unlawfully was not matrimony; and David, showing indulgence toward the father’s violence, took his wife back.

INTERROGATION XII

INTERROGATION XIII

^A in his grief, mourned, and this mourning increased the goodwill of the people.

INTERROGATION XIV.

He himself has indicated the reason in these words: "For these men, the sons of Sarvia, are sterner than I." Therefore, he surrendered them to God: "The Lord will compensate the evildoer according to his wickedness." For where it is easy for him to exercise just wrath, he uses no delay. Immediately, in fact, those who had murdered Memphibosthes and had brought his head, he mutilated their extremities and crucified them, even though they thought that by the slaughter of him who was their king, they were bringing the whole kingdom of Israel to him. Those he destroyed in this way; but the head of the enemy he honorably committed to the grave.

INTERROGATION XV.

He was judged worthy of the kingly anointing through Samuel; but history calls the elections of the people "anointings." For first, the tribe of Judah elected him. Seven years later, other tribes also received him as king. History also points this out: "And they anoint David as king over all Israel." Then it adds: "David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron, over Judah, seven years and six months; and in Jerusalem, thirty-two years and six months, he reigned over all Israel and Judah."

INTERROGATION XVI.

A certain Hebrew said that the words, "Everyone who strikes the Jebusite, let him touch with a dagger," were rendered by Aquila as "Let him touch at the conduit," saying by this that David, sparing the walls of the city, ordered the soldiers to enter the city through the water duct. For the Jebusites until that time were holding Jerusalem. As soon, therefore, as the civil war had ceased, the king led his army against them for the first time. But they, despising the army, placed those lame and maimed in body upon the walls, bidding them to mock, and saying that it would be... ^D

^A impossible for David to enter the city. David, therefore, having taken the citadel—for he refers to this as the "perioche" (stronghold)—pressed the enemy with all his might, inciting his soldiers to fight strenuously, and commanding them to pierce everyone through with weapons, in accordance with the judgment formerly decreed by God. Having won the victory, and having liberated the city from the foreigners, David called it the City of David. Now this is how he names Zion—that is to say, the upper city. For the history also says this: "And David sat in the stronghold, and this city was called the City of David. And he built the city round about from the citadel, and his own house" (94). Then he teaches also of the help of God: "And David was walking and becoming great, and the Lord Almighty was with him." This statement refutes the blasphemy of those who ^B attempt to diminish the Holy Spirit. For the Lord is often called Almighty. ^C

INTERR. XVII. What "valley of the Titans" does he mean? They used to name the giants "Titans," but the Hebrew called them Raphaim. Now both Hebron and Geth had men of this kind; and of these was also Goliath, and certain others whom the writer mentioned when summarizing the heroic exploits of David. It is reasonable, therefore, that at some time in the past there was a battle of some of these in this place, and that the place received its name from them.

INTERR. XVIII. Why is it that God sometimes commands David to join battle with the foreigners, and other times forbids it? As a most wise master of training, He exercises him in virtue, and persuades him not to trust in his own power, but to wait for His help. Whence He also gives him signs of His own appearance: "For when," He says, "you shall see the woods moving of their own accord without wind, then descend to the war, because then the Lord shall go forth before you to strike the foreigners in the war." ^D

INTERR. XIX. For what cause did Ozan die, struck by God? Some say that he paid the penalty for his rashness,

^A as he attempted to bring aid to the Ark, which, while it protected the whole people, had no need of the assistance of others. Josephus, however, says that he paid the penalty because, not being a Levite, he dared to touch the Ark. But it is clear that this is false; for he was the son of Aminadab, to whom the Bethsamites gave the Ark when it was released by the foreigners. And this man was of the Levitical tribe, as the history itself teaches: "For He sanctified," it says, "his son Eleazar, to guard the Ark of the covenant of the Lord." And that this man ^B was also a son of Aminadab, the history teaches: "And they placed the Ark of God upon a new wagon, and they carried it out of the house of Aminadab which was on the hill; and Ozan and his brothers, the sons of Aminadab, were leading the wagon with the Ark of God. And Ozan and his brothers were walking before and at the sides of the Ark." It was not, therefore, from another tribe, as Josephus says, but he was indeed a Levite. Nor did he pay the penalty on account of rashness. For when the wagon tilted, he was required to put out his hand to support it; but he paid the penalty for a different transgression. For since God had commanded ^C that the priests should carry the Ark upon their shoulders, they brought it on a wagon contrary to the law. Yet they were deceived by the fact that, when sent away by the foreigners in this manner, it had harmed no one. But they ought to have considered that the foreigners neither knew the law, nor were there priests present to carry it in accordance with the law. That this is true, the things that follow teach. For when Ozan had fallen, the king, being afraid, did not bring the Ark into the palace, where he had constructed a divine tabernacle, but into the house of Abeddara. And after he saw that house filled with every kind of blessing in three months, he immediately transferred it to the palace, not using a wagon, but ^D the priests, in accordance with the law. "For there were with him," he says, "those carrying the Ark of the Lord, seven choirs, and a sacrifice of a calf and a lamb; and David played upon harmonic instruments before the Lord; and he himself was clothed in an excellent vestment," so he named the variegated vestment. The book of Chronicles taught this more clearly: "For they carried," it says, "the Ark, as Moses commanded according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, upon staves, as it is written, on their shoulders."

^A QUES. XX. Why did Melchol deride David? She thought it unbefitting for a king to lead the chorus publicly, for she knew not the goads of divine love. Hence the king rebuked her more severely: "Before the Lord," he says, "I will dance and play. The Lord lives, who chose me above thy father and above all his house, to appoint me leader over all his people, Israel." And the following verses have the same meaning. Then the history taught that to Melchol, daughter of Saul, there was no child unto the day of her death. But she remained barren not only for this reason; but also so that none of his seed should reign. For it was likely that the people would have preferred one who shone with nobility from both sides over the others.

^B QUES. XXI. Nathan, being a prophet, how did he not know the will of God, and commanded David to build the divine house? I have already said that the prophets did not know all things, but as divine grace revealed to them. Thus Samuel was ignorant of whom it was proper to anoint; thus Elisha was ignorant of the suffering of the Shunamite: "Let her be," he said, "for her soul is bitter, and the Lord has hidden it from me." So too Nathan, having praised the king's intention, thought that the work was pleasing to the God of the universe. Whence he said: "All things that are in thy heart, go and do, for God is with thee." ^C But when the Lord God appeared to him by night, he said these things to Nathan: "Go, and say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Thou shalt not build me a house to inhabit, for I have not inhabited a house from the day I brought the sons of Israel out of Egypt, unto this day." And first, indeed, he consoled him with the appellation of servitude: "Say, he says, to David my servant"; for it is the highest honor to be called a servant of God. Then he taught him the self-sufficiency of his own nature: "For I have not dwelt, he says, in a house." And that which says, "From the day I brought the sons of Israel out of Egypt," is said for this, that for all the time I was with you, both in the desert and in this land, it is implied that neither before this

^A time did he [Israel] possess a temple, as the ancient histories teach. Then, showing his infinite power and benevolence, he added: "And I was walking in a tent, and in a tabernacle, in all places through which I passed with all Israel." And he added that he had neither commanded any of the Judges, who were from different tribes, to build a temple, nor had he reproached them for not having done so. For he said this: "If I spoke to one tribe of Israel, which I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying: 'Why have you not built me a cedar house?'" Then, having used the name of benevolence, and having called him his servant, he recalled to his memory the keeping of sheep and his other poverty. He also signified the height of the kingdom and the liberality of his other providence toward him: "For I was with you," he says, "wherever you went; and I destroyed all your enemies before your face, and I made for you a great name, according to the name of the great ones who are on the earth." These things he said for the ^B confirmation of his piety and good order, so that, mindful of his benefits, he might honor his Benefactor. He also promised to take care of the people: "For I will set," he says, "a place for my people Israel, and I will plant him, and he shall dwell by himself." For, living according to the divine law, he was separated from the other nations. And that part, "The son of iniquity shall no more humble him," is explained by what follows: "As from the beginning," he says, "and from the days in which I appointed judges over my people Israel." For since, in the time of the Judges, they served sometimes the Ammonites and Moabites, and sometimes the Midianites and foreigners, he promised that he would keep their kingdom whole and deliver them from these frequent changes. Then he promised ^C worship provided with reason, and that he himself would build a divine and saving temple for them. "For the Lord will announce to you," he says, "that he will build a house to himself." And that he himself also built the flesh taken from the holy Virgin, and called it a temple, John the Evangelist taught us, having inserted in the book of the holy Gospels the questioning of the Jews and the answer of the Lord Christ. For when the Jews had said: "What sign do you show us that you do these things?" the Lord, answering, said: "Destroy this temple, and in three ^D

days I will raise it up." ^A Since the Jews thought that these things were spoken concerning the inanimate temple, the evangelist added: "But he was speaking about the temple of his body. And when he was raised from the dead, his disciples realized that Jesus had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken." The divine Apostle also called the gathering of the faithful the house of God: "For Christ," he says, "as a Son over his own house, whose house we are." The prophet foretold these things: "And the Lord will announce to you that he will build a house for himself." ^B Concerning the temple made by hands, he spoke thus: "And it shall be, when your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, who shall be from your belly; and I will prepare his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name." Having said these things concerning Solomon, he intermingled into the prediction those things which pertain to the Lord Christ: "For I will establish his throne until the age, and I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son." That these things were spoken concerning the Lord Christ, the divine Apostle is witness, speaking thus in the Epistle to the Hebrews: "For to which of his angels did he ever say, 'You are my Son; today I have begotten you'? And again, 'I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son'?" Then he teaches how much care and providence, on account of this Son, his progenitors according to the flesh enjoyed, even [when] transgressing the law: ^C "For if they sin," he says, "I will indeed rebuke them and discipline them; but my mercy I will not take away from them, as I took it away from those from whom I took it." But that which is said, "With the stripes of the sons of men," he placed instead of "the chastisements by men," since both ictus and human slaughter occur by hands. And the things that follow next, indeed, do not fit the kings of Israel in the least; but in the Lord Christ alone is their truth demonstrated. "For," he says, "his house shall be faithful, and his kingdom until the age before me, and his throne shall be established for the age." But Solomon did not even have the longevity of other men, nor did he attain the old age of his father; and a common end awaited all who descended from him. Therefore, of the two, it is necessary ^D that one be true: either these things fit the Lord Christ, or we must say that the prediction of the God of the universe is false. But this is

^A impious and unholy. It is necessary, therefore, even if the Jews are unwilling, to accept the other alternative. Hearing these things, the king sang the praises of the Lord, the bountiful Giver; and first he acknowledged his own lowliness: "Who am I, O Lord my Lord, and what is the house of my father, that Thou mightest love me up to this point?" By this, the discourse shows the magnitude of the gifts. Then, teaching the omnipotence of the Master, he added: "And these small things have appeared small in Thy sight, O Lord my Lord." I was amazed, he says, at the excess of the things promised, when looking at myself; but these are small, when compared to Thy power. Then, extending the hymn, and entreating that the promises be confirmed, he added: "And now, O Lord my Lord, let the word which Thou hast spoken concerning Thy servant, and concerning his house, be verified forever." ^B That he is suppliant for that promise to be confirmed is witnessed by what follows: "For Thou, O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, hast uncovered the ear of Thy servant, saying, I will build that house for Thee." Thou, he says, hast taught me, who knew it not, that Thou wouldst build that house, through which I shall be illustrious before all men: I ask for this promise to be confirmed to me.

INTERR. XXII. How is it to be understood: "And David struck Moab, and measured them with a chord, laying them down upon the ground"? ^C Such was the might of the victory, and such was the multitude of those who had been taken alive, that it was not possible to reduce them to a number. For he ordered them to be cast prone upon the ground, having divided them into three parts: and he slew two parts, and took one alive, and ordered it to bring tribute. Aquila, moreover, interpreted the "neck-ornaments" of the Syrians as "golden collars"; and "Emath" as "the Epiphany of Syria."

INTERR. XXIII. On what account did he break up the most of the chariots of the Syrians? The divine law commands kings not to use many horses, so that they might not trust in them, but in divine power. This ^D

law he observing, he destroyed most of the chariots. It is possible also to hear him in the Psalms chanting and saying: ^A “A king is not saved by much power, and a giant shall not be saved by the multitude of his strength. A horse is a deceitful thing for safety, and in the multitude of its power it shall not be saved” (Ps. XXXII, 16, 17). He fulfilled also the blessing of the patriarch Isaac given to Jacob: “For become,” he said, “lord of thy brother” (Gen. XXVII, 29). He himself struck Edom, and placed a garrison in it. Now the phrase, “In all Edom he placed stationaries” (II Reg. VIII, 14), signifies that he placed garrisons in every city. For those whom some call *egkathetous* (planted), he named *estelomenous* (stationaries). Then he added: “And all the Edomites,” he says, “became servants to David” (ibid.). He therefore put an end to the ancestral prophecy. ^B Now the writer, intending to relate the lawlessness into which the divine man fell, thought it necessary first to show the man’s virtue, so that we might know that his transgression was not of his own will, but of circumstance. For, he says, “David was doing judgment and justice to all his people” (II Reg. VIII, 15). Then he mentions the magistrates, that this indeed to that magistrate was entrusted, and to that one another. He also made mention of the priests, namely, Zadok and Abiathar. But here I think there is a scribal error. For not Achimelech was the son of Abiathar, but Abiathar the son of Achimelech. He calls the Phelethi and the Cherethi the slingers and the archers (II Reg. VIII, 18). But he who was kind and clement even toward his enemies was not, clearly, going to forget his friends. ^C Whence he asked, “Is there yet any one left to the house of Saul, that I may do mercy with him for the sake of Jonathan?” (II Reg. IX, 1). For because of his good will toward him, he overlooked the ill will of the other. Then he asks regarding Memphibaal (II Reg. IX, 7), treating him with care, having declared him to be the master of all the possessions of Saul, and having ordered him to continually be with him, and to eat from his table at all times.

^A

INTERR. XXIV. How, having said earlier that Adraazar had been struck down, did he say that he came to bring aid to the Ammonites?

He said that Adraazar was defeated, but not killed. And what is now said agrees with what came before: “For Adraazar sent,” he says, “and brought out the Syrian who was beyond the river Chalamas.” And if he had had his own forces, he would not have needed others. How much calamity, and affliction, and anxiety profit us, even from this history we learn. For the divine David, when Saul was pursuing him, conducted himself wisely in all things; and when he was in the line of battle, and was exercising his mind with the cares of war, he governed his life according to the divine laws. But obtaining small truces, he suffered that fall: “And it happened,” he says, “at the time of the afternoon, that David arose from his bed, and walked upon the roof of the royal house, and saw from the roof a woman who was bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold.” ^B Truly great and violent is the war, [when there is] relaxation, and luxuries, and kingdom, and power, and the beauty of the body, and the assault after the satiety of food: at which time even for the religious the spark is ignited, as that which receives nourishment as if by an irrigation of oil.

It is clear, however, that he had by nature a more vehement affection of desire. For he would not have made use of many wives, had not nature forced him to do that. But that, indeed, no law prohibited; this, however, the divine law clearly prohibited. When, therefore, he had looked simply, and not with curiosity,—“he saw the woman who was bathing.” But he did not escape the sight, which was truly perilous, but having been enticed by the beauty of her form, he swallowed the hook of ^C sin. And this sin was indeed procured for him by desire, but the second one by shame. For when he had learned that the woman was with child, he feared lest he should be convicted; and he moved every stone so that he might, in the second

instance, ^A avoid falling into injustice. For he sent for Uriah, supposing that after such a long time he, having returned to the city, would desire to have relations with his wife. But when he displayed his temperance, his courage, and his loyalty toward him (for he slept in the portico of the palace with the bodyguards), he did indeed summon him the next day; yet he rebuked him because he did not think fit to take the comfort appropriate to his body. But he said, “I do not consider it just, when the commander and the entire army are suffering in war and siege, for me to bring any sort of comfort to my body,” and he confirmed this statement with an oath. But the king, having ordered him to remain again, entertained him and compelled him with frequent and liberal invitations to drink beyond measure, so that the wine, having watered his desire, might incite him to intimacy. ^B But when he saw that all the sophistries were weak (for he slept again in the portico of the palace with the royal guards), stung and compelled by shame, he dictated letters to the commander. And he, knowing nothing of what had been written, went away carrying the sword of his own slaughter. Then, after his death and the woman's mourning, the marriage took place. But the physician of our souls did not allow the malady to be incurable, nor did he overlook the unjust slaughter; nor, because of David’s other virtue, did he leave the one who had suffered the injury unavenged. “For the act,” he says, “appeared evil in the sight of the Lord.” ^C Therefore, the prophet Nathan was sent, wearing a mask becoming to an accusation. For we perceive sin in others in one way, and we view our own evils in another. Hence, we do not judge ourselves and others alike. For in the case of others, we pass a just sentence—and often we even inflict a harsher blow. But when we ourselves are the ones committing the wrong, we either cast off the awareness of the mind entirely, or, seeing the sin, we offer forgiveness. For this reason, the prophet composed the drama of the rich man and the poor man; and on the one hand he described the wealth of the former, while he ^D lamented the extreme poverty of the latter in a pitiable and tragic manner. “For he had,” he says, “nothing else but one little ewe lamb, which he had acquired, and had kept, and had reared; and it lived with him, and with his children together, in the same place. It ate of his bread, and drank of his cup, and slept in his bosom, and was to him as a daughter.” He narrates all these things, wishing to reveal the uttermost iniquity. In the following parts, however, he attaches a certain defense to his speech.

For he called the evil desire a traveler, as one who visits now this person and now that. ^A Again, he named it a guest, as something unaccustomed and altogether unknown to David. For this fact caused him to obtain pardon. For he had not been reared in evil pursuits, nor did he receive this wound by design of mind, but by a chance occurrence; and the sin was one of negligence, not of malice. But in the things which follow he increased the accusation. For he ought to have sacrificed from his own, and not from another’s, and especially not the only ewe lamb. Since the accusation had been made in this way against another person, the judge gave a just sentence: “For the Lord lives,” he said, “that the man who has done this is worthy of death; and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he did not spare.” ^B Since, therefore, the one who was being accused had brought the decision against himself, then eventually the prophet threw off the mask and showed the face of the accused, laid bare. For he said, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul; and I gave you all the things of your lord, and his wives into your bosom, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah.’ ” Then he manifested the measurelessness of his generosity: “And if these things are few, I will add such as these.” Before the cutting, healing; before the punishment, consolation: “And if these things are few, I will add such as these.” Then, the proof of the accusation: “And because you have despised the Lord, to do evil ^C in his sight.” You despised my laws, you did not think that I look upon the actions of men. You were pampered with my good things, and you leaped against me who gave them. “You struck Uriah the Hittite with a sword, and you took his wife to be your wife, and you killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon.” Him who had been so well-disposed toward you, you delivered to the enemies, and for the sake of a small pleasure you trampled two laws. Then the punishment: “And now the sword shall not depart from your house for ever, because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” By silence, however, the speech signifies that the Lord God was more angered on account of the marriage ^D than on account of the previously committed adultery. For the latter was indeed of a most vehement desire, which had brought upon reason a kind of numbness; but this other has even the assent of reason itself, which after the iniquitous slaughter one ought to have lamented and

to mourn, and not to consent to a wicked marriage. Thereafter He threatens severe punishments, which made the glory of the admirable king even more resplendent. For the divinely sent blows drove out that disease and restored his former health. It is for this reason that the physician of souls brought them upon him. And to the threats He added: ^A “You did it in secret; but I will do this thing before all this people.” You wanted to remain hidden, He says, and having plotted the murder by deceit; but I will make your sin manifest to all. When David heard these words, he was not indignant as if being rebuked by a poor man. For he knew the One who was speaking through him, and he cried out: “I have sinned against the Lord.” But immediately the prophet, having received the confession of sin and trusting in the kindness of God, added: “And the Lord has taken away your sin, you shall not die.” He owed a double death; for both the adulterer and the murderer were to be put to death according to the Law, but the confession of sin ^B dissolved the sentence of death. Furthermore, like a most wise physician, He subjected him to all kinds of castigations: for this is what the history teaches. For when the prophet had said, “You shall not die,” he added, “Nevertheless, because by doing so you have caused the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme.” This Aquila has interpreted more clearly: “By provoking, you have provoked the enemies of the Lord.” For, stripped of divine care, he caused the foreigners to conquer and to act arrogantly against the God of all. Yet, first of all, God struck the child born of adultery. Now Uriah seems to have originated from among the foreigners, but to have become a proselyte: for the God of all called him a Hittite; ^C and He showed that He neglects no one who suffers injury, but even if the one who suffers injury is a foreigner, while the one who commits the injury is a Hebrew, He brings aid to the former, but punishes the one doing the injury.

INTERR. XXV

^A caring for the pious king, the Lord did not let it live.

INTERR. XXVI What does Ieddidi mean? Aquila interpreted it as, "for the sake of the Lord," but Symmachus as, "set apart for a king."

INTERR. XXVII Some find fault with David as being cruel and harsh, because he punished the Ammonites with such torments. One must remember what they dared to do against Israel. For they gouged out their right eyes, and the prophets teach of their other cruelties. Therefore, they paid a penalty equal to what they themselves had dared to commit.

INTERR. XXVIII Why did he call Jonadab, the son of Samea, prudent, when he had given such advice? ^B Even Moses thus said that the serpent was the most prudent of all the beasts that are upon the earth. It must be known, therefore, that divine Scripture is not accustomed to assign "prudent" to praise in every instance. For "they are wise," it says, "to do evil." And "God chose the foolish things of the world that he might shame the wise." And Solomon was "wiser than all the wise men of Egypt," yet the wise men of Egypt were impious. Here, divine Scripture did not praise the counsel of Jonadab, but his intellect, which had been apt for discerning what ought to be done. But he did not use his natural ability for what was necessary; rather, he helped the licentiousness of Amnon and became a participant in the dared atrocity: "For if you saw a thief, you would run with him, and set your portion with an adulterer." ^C And as for the long-sleeved tunic, Aquila interpreted it as having fruit-work, instead of having fruits woven into it. The others today call this *plumaricon*. Josephus, however:

^A says it reached to the ankles. This incident regarding Thamar was—in a sense—the beginning and root of the calamities of the royal house. For the king, when he learned of the lawlessness, was indeed grieved; yet, being affectively disposed toward Amnon as his firstborn son, he did not exact punishment for the wicked deed. But his brother by the same mother, being otherwise arrogant and bold, hid his anger for the moment; ^B yet when two years had passed, he called the brothers together for the shearing of the sheep and slew Amnon. Then he fled to his maternal grandfather; for Maacah his mother was the daughter of Talmai, who reigned over Geshur. The king mourned greatly for both—both him who had killed and him who had been killed.

When three years had passed, and his anger had been quenched by time, the commander of the army devised such a scheme. He suggested to a wise woman that she construct a story capable of drawing the king to pity. Coming to the king, as the commander of the army had suggested ^C to her, she said that she was a widow and had given birth to only two sons. She said that these, when they had come to manhood, fell into a grievous quarrel; and from the quarrel, a fight had been born. And because no one was willing to settle it, one having been struck by the other, he met his end. "But," she said, "those who were unwilling to settle their quarrel are now gathered and demand that the other be handed over to them. And if this were to happen, I shall continue to lament not only my widowhood, but also the bereavement of my children; the spark of my family will be entirely extinguished, and the memory of my husband will be delivered to oblivion." By these things she was implicitly pointing to the king, who had neither punished Amnon nor dispersed the melancholy ^D of Absalom; and now that the matter had become an irreparable injury, he was angry in vain.

When the king had nevertheless been mollified by these words and promised to command the commander of the army to quiet the fury of the tribesmen, the woman again used soothing words, charming the hearing of the king. And since the king had sworn, "As the Lord lives," he said, "not a hair of your son shall fall to the ground," the woman immediately added that it was not possible for her son to escape death unless the king’s son first returned from exile. "For that," she said, "will be a precedent for this. If that is not done, the tribesmen will speak against [it], having a just cause [in] the exile of the king's son." For this is what it says: "And the woman said: Why is it so thought upon the people of the Lord, and in that the king transgresses this word, when the king has hardened himself not to bring back the exiled[?]"

^A For how, she says, are you able to deliver my son from slaughter, while not bringing back your own son? After this, she consoles him concerning the dead man. Your son is dead, and like water poured upon the ground, it shall not be gathered up, and the soul will not hope in him. You cannot, she says, raise him from the dead: why then do you hasten to slay this one also, in order that, being deprived of both, you might live in grief? Having thus introduced the topic concerning Absalom, she appears again to be speaking about her own suffering, so that she might not seem to have said these things with that intent. ^B "And now, for the sake of which I have come to speak this word to the king, and the people will see me, and your maidservant will say, Let my maidservant now speak to my lord the king, if perhaps the king might perform the word of his handmaid; for the king will hear, and he shall deliver me from the hand of the man who seeks to destroy me and my son together from the inheritance of the Lord. And your handmaid will say, Let the word of my lord the king become a sacrifice; for as the angel of the Lord, so also is my lord the king, to hear the good and the evil; and the Lord your God shall be with you."

Having spoken these things, the woman, the king understood the subject of the drama, and he asked the woman if Joab had used these words by his counsel. She confessed that Joab had suggested each of these things, saying: "That he might circumvent the face of this speech, your servant Joab did this word." For it was not permitted, she says, to entreat you by a direct path; wherefore he suggested that I use this circuit of words, in order that, seeing in a feigned case the remedy which you were about to apply to me, you might apply this to yourself; and the help which you promised to bestow upon my son, you might bestow upon your own. ^C The king, yielding to these words, ordered Absalom to return, indeed, but forbade him to see him. Later, however, he performed this also, moved by the exhortation of Joab. But when four years had passed, having acquired tyranny for himself through the blandishments of his words, under the pretext of offering sacrifice, he came to Hebron; and there he seized his father's kingdom, and contrived the slaughter of his father. Upon the king learning this, he left the capital, thinking the best course was to flee for a time. The body of the guards and the spearmen followed him.

^A And there followed him also Ittai the Gittite with six hundred picked men, who had but recently left his own country and had become a proselyte along with his subjects. The king tried to persuade him to return, so that he might not, immediately upon settling down with them, become a wanderer again. "Why," he says, "do you go with us? Return and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner, and you have migrated from your own house. You arrived only yesterday, and should I today make you wander about going with us? I will go wherever I may go." He means: it is a necessity for me to migrate, but it is not right for you, having just arrived, to endure the hardship with us.

It is worthy to admire David's gentleness. For although being pursued and warred against by his most wicked son, he did not call him a parricide, nor a fratricide, but a king. And though he had great need of aid, he took care for the safety of the proselyte: "Return," he said, "and take your brothers back with you, and may the Lord act with you in mercy and truth." But by how much greater care the king showed for him, by so much the more did he show devotion to the king. For he says: "As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, my lord the king, in whatever place my lord the king shall be, whether for death or for life, there will your servant be." Each of these things was written down for our instruction, that we might learn that we ought not to associate with friends when they are prosperous, only to abandon them if they fall into adversity. ^{B C}

INTERR. XXIX.

^A For those men were indeed slaughtered, but it—the ark—was given as booty to the foreigners. Being taught by this, he said to Zadok the priest: "Take back the ark of God into the city, and let it stay in its place. If I find grace before the Lord, and He brings me back, I shall see it and its beauty; and if He says to me, 'I have no pleasure in you,' look, I am here, let Him do to me what is well-pleasing before Him." "I cannot," he says, "carry the accuser about with me. Within, I hear the law crying out: 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder.' But I have trampled upon both laws. When the Lawgiver has cleansed the eyes of my soul for me, then shall I be able to behold its beauty; but if He strips me entirely of His own care, He is the Master, and I am the servant submissively subjecting myself to His chastisements." The divine man was saying these things with tears, ^B clothed in the guise of mourning; for he had covered his head and was walking with bare feet, and his army was sharing in his mourning. Thus fleeing, he learned of the treachery of Ahithophel; but he immediately took refuge with his own Master, not asking that he be struck by thunderbolts, but that his counsel be rendered empty and vain. For he says: "O Lord my God, frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel." And the phrase, "frustrate," Aquila has rendered as "make foolish," meaning, "show him to be a fool and senseless." And the word "Ros" he calls the "summit." For he says that when he had ascended to Ros, that is, to the summit (he refers to the Mount of Olives, from whence ^C the Lord Christ was taken up), he worshipped God there, looking, as is probable, toward the tabernacle and the ark which was lying within it.

Interrogation XXX

Some do not commend the fact that Hushai lied. One must examine the aim of both good and evil deeds. For if we judge in this way, we will find that even the truth can be held as an accusation. For Herod, he says, because of his oaths and because of those who sat at meat with him, killed John. But no one is so foolish as to praise that truth which was brought forth for the sake of murder. For it would have been better not to have sworn; but once he had sworn, a lie would have been preferable to murder. Therefore, in this [case] ^D

^A the pretense was not for the sake of monetary gain, nor for the harm of others, but [was done] out of zeal for the prophet and the pious king.

INTERR. XXXI.

^A having long held ill-will against me; and it is reasonable for some to say that, having found an opportunity, he laid bare his enmity. But my son, whom I brought forth and reared, and who has attained such an age and honor, who has made war against me? It is clear, therefore, that the decree has been brought forth from above, and He who foretold these things brings them to their end. I, however, endure both those who offer insults and those who seek my life, so that by this means I might appease the divine wrath. Such, then, were the things spoken by this holy man. But it is necessary to know that neither the unlawful ^B union of Amnon, nor the fratricide of Absalom, nor the madness that occurred against the father, is of divine operation; but the house, stripped of divine Providence, was like a ship lacking a pilot, and it received the tempestuous billows of wicked demons.

INTERROGATION XXXII.

Most wicked men conceal their own depravity while living among the good; but if they find someone who delights in their own pursuits, they lay this bare, and they speak things that are fitting for those who listen. Such a man was he also. For he used to offer to the divine David suggestions and counsels which were appropriate for his excellent purpose, and he counseled Absalom in things that were in accordance with his habits. Fearing that nature might reconcile them again, ^C and that then, once reconciliation had occurred, he would pay the penalty for his treachery, he suggested that most extreme iniquity, so that no access for reconciliation might remain. But he immediately paid the penalty for that impious and wicked suggestion; and because he had armed the son against the father, he in return armed his own hands against himself. And by fastening a noose to his neck with these, he endured a most miserable end. For when he was able to foresee the outcome of events, since his suggestion was not accepted, he knew of the future victory of David; and fearing the treachery, he took his own punishment with his own hand. The divine Scripture taught that God brought aid to Hushai: ^D “For the Lord,” it says, “commanded to frustrate the good counsel of Ahithophel,” instead of that which is conducive to tyranny. For this reason, the blessed David, singing psalms, said, “Behold, he has travailed with injustice, he has conceived pain, and brought forth iniquity. He has dug a pit and deepened it, and he shall fall into the pit which he has made.”

^A

Q. XXXIII. What is, “And now shall the land be taken away from us by ten thousands (45)?”

The commander of the army prevented the king from wishing to participate in the battle, both fearing lest something might happen to him (for it was likely that the enemies would advance against him alone), and being anxious lest, if he were victorious, he might take pity on the tyrant. They said, therefore, “If we are defeated and flee, our life is a sufficient consolation; but if anything happens to you, the calamity will proceed against all, for you alone are worth more than myriads of myriads of us all.” Symmachus has set forth this meaning: “And you are as we are in ten thousands.” The just Judge allowed these calamities to be brought upon David, applying a remedy to the lawlessness that had been committed; but from that wicked man, he exacted worthy punishments. For as he was driving through the forest, He prepared for him to go under a tree ^B which had two branches bent and growing horizontally, not far apart from each other. As the mule passed from there, his head became stuck between the branches, and he hung entirely; but the rustling of the leaves urged the mule on, and he remained suspended, a most pleasant spectacle to the pious, and demonstrating the verdict of the Providence that administers all things. Someone of the other soldiers, seeing this, did not dare to inflict the wound upon him, for he feared the law of the king. But the commander of the army, leaving it to the father to exercise his compassion, fixed the spears into his most detestable heart. Then, after taking him down and casting him into the nearby deep valley, ^C he commanded all the people to stone him, so that his punishment might be his tomb.

Q. XXXIV. Why does the writer say above that he had three sons and one daughter, but now declares the opposite, that he erected a pillar, as though having no son, intending it to be a memorial for himself?

Both are true; for it is likely that he both begat children, and that the children died. Josephus (46) says that he did this because his children could not last a long time, but the building was better able to preserve his memory. ^D

QUESTION XXXV. For what reason did David weep so greatly for his most wicked son?

QUESTION XXXVI. Why did he promise Amasa that he would make him commander of the army, when Joab had endured many labors and dangers for his sake?

QUESTION XXXVII. How is the saying to be understood: "I have ten parts in the king"?

QUEST. IN II REG. CAP. XX.

^A INTERR. XXXVIII. Why did David shut up his concubines, who had lain with the tyrant against their will? He deemed it impious to have intercourse with them after the execrable cohabitation with his son. For the law also expressly forbade this. He did not join them to another, lest this, too, should become a pretext for tyranny; besides, such a union would not even have been a valid marriage. For while the husband survives, she is termed an adulteress if she becomes another man’s wife, as the divine Apostle says. And if the law did allow him who hated his wife to give her a bill of divorce, here it was not hatred that caused the separation, but the son’s unlawful cohabitation. For this reason, he transferred them to another house, while providing for all their needs.

^B INTERR. XXXIX. How is one to understand: "Have they ceased that the faithful of Israel have established?" When Sheba had usurped the tyranny and then fled, he took refuge in the city of Abel; this is a city of Palestine, now named Abela. When the commander of the army brought his forces to besiege it, the most wise woman reminded him of the divine laws. For the divine law commanded that an embassy be sent first, and only then should battle be joined against those who resisted. She said this, too: "Have they ceased that the faithful of Israel have established?"—that is to say, must not the things prescribed by the laws be fulfilled? Then she added: "But I am the peaceful one of the pillars of Israel; yet you seek to put to death a city and mother-city in Israel; and why do you submerge the inheritance of the Lord?" Since you, she says, did not use the embassy according to the divine law, I teach you that the city’s intent is not hostile, but that it seeks peace. Do not, therefore, overthrow a city that is not of another race, but of your own race, and subject to the same God and Lord. Having heard these words, the commander of the army said he was possessed by no desire for war or siege, but only wished to bring into his power the one who had used tyranny against the king. Therefore, when the most wise woman had learned the cause of the siege, she persuaded the leaders of the ^C city not to subject the city to the danger of war, but to be mindful of the piety and justice of the king, and in the war

of virtue, and that thanks to his labors they enjoy a lasting peace. Having used these words, she cast the tyrant's head into the camp, and dissolved the siege. ^A

INTERR. XL. What is: "Upon the brick-mold, and upon the mighty" (II Kings 20:23)?

I believe that what external writers call a "parallelogram" is meant here by "brick-mold." This is a type of military formation that has a square shape. Just as, therefore, the one now called *magister* among the Romans commands those infantry who are around the emperor—namely, the shield-bearers and the spearmen—and has been entrusted with the command, so ^B Benaiah was in charge of the royal bodyguards, while the rest of the army was subject to Joab, the commander of the army.

INTERR. XLI. How is one to understand: "Zadok and Abiathar were priests, and Ira the Jetherite (II Kings 20:26) was David's priest"?

Zadok and Abiathar held the high-priestly dignity. But he, being a priest, lived within the palace, always attending to the divine Ark and offering the royal sacrifices. ^C

INTERR. XLII. Why, when Saul had put the Gibeonites to death, was the people punished after his death?

The entire people had made a covenant with the Gibeonites; and participated in the oaths were also Eleazar the priest and Joshua the prophet. It was therefore necessary for the descendants of those who swore not to transgress the covenants that had been made, but to persuade even the king who was acting contrary to the law to keep the oath. For this reason, even after his death, they endured the punishment of famine. ^D By these things, He who wisely governs all things teaches us that even if, through long-suffering, He does not immediately inflict a penalty for the transgression of the law, yet later He exacts just punishments. Just as, indeed, even then, when forty years had already passed, He bound the travail of the clouds, and subjected the earth to the affliction of barrenness, and punished its inhabitants with famine. But the king, ignoring the cause of the plague sent by God, asked the righteous Judge. Since then he knew that on account of the iniquitous slaughter of the Gibeonites...

^A punishment was being exacted, he used the very people who had been wronged as judges. For, he says, David said to the Gibeonites (II Reg. xxi, 3): "What shall I do for you, and wherewith shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord?" But the Jews do not heed these words, because the seed of Abraham had need of the blessing of the Canaanites; instead, they pride themselves on their ancestors and are unwilling ^B to perceive that virtue is far more illustrious than the nobility of ancestors. And, according to the divine Apostle (Rom. ii, 27), the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfills the law, will judge those who, even with the letter and circumcision, are transgressors of the law. Just as, therefore, the Israelites who had sinned at that time had need of the blessing of the Canaanites, so too those who crucified the Master fell away from the nobility of their ancestors, and have need of the doctrine of those from the nations who have believed. ^C Furthermore, one must note in addition to these things that Saul, urged by zeal, slew the Gibeonites along with the other Canaanites. For the divine Scripture teaches this: "For they were not," it says, "the Gibeonites of the sons of Israel, because they were of the remnant of the Amorites; and the sons of Israel had sworn to them not to destroy them: and Saul sought to smite them in his zeal for Israel and Judah" (II Reg. xxi, 2). The account therefore teaches us not to transgress the covenants made before God with oaths, even if the transgression occurs for the benefit of others. The Gibeonites, however, requested seven men of Saul's kin, ^D equal in number to the days in which time revolves. "For there is not to us," they said, "silver or gold with Saul, and with his house; and it is not for us to put to death a man out of all Israel. But the man who consumed us, and who pursued us, and кто deceived us to destroy us utterly, we will destroy him, so that he may not stand in any border of Israel. And let there be given to us seven men from his sons, and we will make atonement with them to the Lord in the hill of Saul, the elect of the Lord" (ibid. 4-6). The metropolis of the Gibeonites was called Gabaon; when this name is translated into the Greek tongue, it is called "hill." In that place, therefore, they fastened to the stake the men who had been delivered to them, in the place where 446 he had dared to commit iniquitous slaughters. For the phrase "they exposed them," Aquila said: "They fastened them." These, moreover, were two of Saul’s illegitimate sons and five of his grandsons. Subsequently, the pious king granted them burial as well.

^A Once this retribution had taken place, the Master was appeased; he released the clouds from their birth-pangs, and ordered the earth to produce its fruits in the customary way. From this, we learn that the Master knows no distinction of lineage, but justly defends those who have been harmed, even if they are foreigners.

QUESTION XLIII. How did it come about that David fainted in the battle? ^B He was an old man, but his eagerness of mind overcame the feebleness of his body. When he had endured much labor in the conflict—for he was fighting in the front rank of the phalanx—he fainted, unable to bear the strain. Having come into danger of being killed by the champion of the aliens, he was saved beyond all expectation because Abishai shielded him and killed that great enemy. From this, therefore, it is possible to learn that they called "giants" those who possessed bodies of great size. For this man, too, was a descendant of giants, as the historian has taught. ^C When the army learned of the king's danger, it swore that it would no longer allow him to be a participant in the fighting; for it was right and expedient for him to yield to old age and, sitting within, to direct the army. The historian also mentioned other giants, whom they called by that name at that time because of their strength and size of body, and not as impious, as some have said, nor as those who had lived for a long time.

After these wars, the divine David composed a triumphal hymn to God. ^D It is in harmony with the seventeenth psalm; or rather, it is the same, having only a few changes in names. I, having interpreted this along with the other psalms, thought it superfluous to compose a second interpretation. It also contains a prophecy concerning the Savior Christ: "For you have delivered me," he says, "from the people; you have set me as a light for the Gentiles. A people whom I did not know served me; at the hearing of the ear they obeyed me." Now, the light of the Gentiles was not David, but he who was to be born from David according to the flesh, both the Lord and son of David. But let us grant that David also became a light to the Gentiles, insofar as his melody illuminates those who have believed in Christ the Lord. For throughout all the Churches on earth, the spiritual melody of David illuminates the souls of the pious. Since, however, the Jews call Him a prophet...

as he who clearly foretold concerning our Saviour and the faith of the nations, let them hear him saying: "Faithful is David, the son of Jesse, the faithful man, whom God raised up as Christ, the God of Jacob" (59). And beautiful is the psalm of Israel: "The Spirit of the Lord spoke in me, and His word was upon my tongue. The God of Jacob said to speak in me." If then the Spirit of the Lord spoke in him, and the God of Jacob was pleased for Him to speak, he is therefore a prophet, and a prophet of the highest order, because God revealed to him the uncertain and hidden things of His wisdom.

How much, however, discipline profited him, history teaches. For having learned by experience of what misfortunes desire is the cause, he longed for cold water, and remembered that which was in Bethlehem. But three of those who were accustomed to distinguish themselves in the battles against the foreigners, who had encamped around Bethlehem, strove—even though the king had not ordered it—to bring the water. ^B And having passed through the midst of the enemy's army, they drew the water and returned with all speed, while none of the foreigners attempted to attack them; for they feared the excess of their boldness. But the king, who was excellent in all things, could not bear to partake of that water which he had desired, but by a pious reflection he overcame his desire. For he called it the blood of those who had brought it, because, preferring the king's service to their own safety, they had recklessly broken through the ranks of the enemy and were miraculously saved. Whence he offered it as a libation to the God who had saved them. To such a degree did discipline lead him to philosophy.

Quest. XLIV

^A And, having often spoken of his bravery, he added that he was glorious beyond the three, yet he did not attain to the three. For, although he was lacking in the strength of the three, he was glorious, as he had been entrusted with the king's guard; for David made him, he says, over the guard.

INTERR. XLV. Why, when David had numbered the people, did the people receive the punishment?

The people paid the price for their own iniquity. For, having abandoned the pious king, they served under an impious tyrant and a parricidal son who was plotting the murder of a pious father and prophet, who had received the inauguration of his kingdom from the God of all. ^B And their crime is increased by the fact that they did not abandon Saul—even when he had been condemned and stripped of divine grace—until he had reached the end of his life, and this despite David having been anointed by a prophet; while him who had been the cause of countless benefits to them, and had broken the insolence of the foreigners, and had delivered the Amalekites to utter destruction, and had subdued and enslaved the Idumeans, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Syrians on both sides, and had forced them to pay tribute, and who possessed the prophetic grace—him they not only abandoned, but even stood against in battle and acted with hostility, and brought aid to a murderous, impious, and lawless son. For these things, therefore, the just Judge exacted penalties from them, and exacted them through David, since they had done injury to him. ^C This, too, the history teaches: "And the anger of God burned against Israel." He did not say, "Against David," but, "Against Israel." Therefore, the numbering that took place was the pretext for the punishment; "For it incited," he says, "David against them, saying: Go, number Israel and Judah." But he was not commanded by words; for had this been so, when the penalties were exacted from him for the numbering, he would have said, "You yourself ordered the number to be taken." But he did not say this, but confessed that he had sinned. Therefore, He did not command by word ^D

action, he said, just as You commanded ^A that they be numbered. But he did not say this; rather, he confessed that he had erred. He did not, therefore, command the numbering of Israel by any rational dictate, but allowed the thought to be used by David. For the Lord and God, being merciful, hinders thoughts that will not prove beneficial. Indeed, when he wished to build the divine temple, He made it known through the prophet Nathan that he should not conceive such a plan, but should reserve the care of the construction for his son. And that this thought came to him not by operation, but by concession, the Book of Chronicles has shown more clearly. For it speaks thus: "And Satan stood up against Israel, and incited David to number Israel." And it did not say, "Satan stood up against David," but "against Israel." Now the Hebrew tongue calls the adversary or apostate "Satan." Since, therefore, such a thought ^B was contrary to the divine promises (for to Abraham the God of the universe had said, "I will make your seed as the sand which is by the seashore, which shall not be numbered for the multitude"), for this reason he named such a thought "Satan," as being contrary to the divine promise; but for the sake of punishing Israel, this thought arose. For, it says, "Satan stood up against Israel, and incited David to number Israel and Judah." So also here: "And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He incited David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah." But if He Himself commanded it, why then is He angry? Therefore, He has manifested the divine permission by means of these words. But if the Lord God commanded this to be done, why does David repent, who had fulfilled the divine command? For "David's heart," it says, "struck him ^C afterwards, because he had numbered the people; and David said, I have sinned against the Lord in doing this thing. And now, O Lord, take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have been very foolish." It is clear, therefore, that he called the permission a command; since, though He could have prevented it, He did not prevent it, wishing by this means to chasten the lawless. And first, indeed, He wished to recall to their memory the promise made to the fathers, and to show its truth; then, to teach how from one Jacob so many thousands had arisen, and yet those who had been affected by such a great benefit had always displayed an evil mind. For that reason He allowed them to be numbered first, ^D and then truly punished them. But He sent the prophet Gad to

the one who had numbered them, offering three choices: either famine measured out by three years, or an incursion of enemies for three months overcoming and pursuing them, or death from pestilence occurring in three days. ^B Having said these things to the prophet and king, the prophet urged him to receive the answer: "Now therefore," he says, "know and see what word I should answer to Him who sent me." But the most wise and most just king, considering that he himself would be able to escape the famine, as a king who had much corn stored up, while the punishment would fall upon the poor alone; and that in war he could escape the hands of the enemies, firstly because he used most fortified and impregnable strongholds, and secondly because he was surrounded by those most valiant men, did not think it right to care for his own safety, but to be a partaker of the inflicted punishments with the people. For the pestilence is of such a kind that it knows no distinction between poor and rich, nor between coward and brave, nor between slave and master, nor between private citizen and king, but attacks all alike. For this reason he preferred this punishment to the others, of which He Himself who punishes is the distributor. "For David," he says, "said to Gad: 'These three things make me very anxious. But let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for very great are His mercies; but let me not fall into the hands of men.' And David chose death for himself," and he was not disappointed in his hope. ^C For God, having threatened death for three days, brought about death in only six hours. But if the days are counted with the nights, only the twelfth part of the threat is found to have been inflicted upon the people. Thus the kind and merciful Lord used greater threats, frightening those who sin; but He inflicts punishments far less than the threats. For from the nine hundred thousand who were found in Israel and the four hundred thousand of Judah, that is to say of those who were of military age, excluding of course those who had not yet reached that age or who had exceeded it, and besides these the women, the Levites also and the tribe of Benjamin (for when David was moved to repentance, they were not numbered), there were only seventy thousand destroyed by the angel; and this when all could have...

been destroyed in a moment. For the avenging angel needed no time. In a moment he slew both the firstborn of the Egyptians and the hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians. The time, therefore, was one of benevolence, not of inability. Straightway, then, as the angel mounted over Jerusalem, he was seen by David, having a drawn sword, in order that he might seek pardon. ^B And these words of the king are themselves worthy of admiration: "Behold, I," he says, "have sinned, and I, the shepherd, have done wrong, but these, who are the flock, what have they done? Let thy hand, I pray thee, be against me and against my father's house" (II Reg. xxiv, 17). Not knowing the cause, he called what had happened his own sin; and he supplicated that the just sentence be carried out upon him and upon his kin, using the words of the Good Shepherd and imitating his Son and Lord, who laid down His life for the sheep.

Having heard the supplication, the Good Lord commanded an altar to be built in that place where the divine mercy had stayed the punishment. As for the words, "The Lord repented" (ibid. 16), it is redundant to interpret them. We have often stated their meaning, and that it signifies a change ^C in the dispensation. Straightway, therefore, the king ran and asked Ornias the Jebusite (67) to sell him the threshing floor. But when he promised to give both the threshing floor, and the oxen, and the wood of the plows for nothing—so that he might build the altar there, and sacrifice the oxen, and apply the fire to the wood—the king said it was right not to offer gifts to God from others' goods, but from his own.

Having learned this from him, his son Solomon exhorts us, saying: "Honor the Lord from your righteous labors, and offer to Him the first fruits of your fruits of righteousness" (Prov. iii, 9). Fulfilling these things, the king bought [it], built the altar, offered the sacrifice, and propitiated God. It must be known that it was in that ^D place that the wise Solomon built the temple. For the history also teaches this: "For he added," it says, "Solomon, to the altar which was at first small" (II Reg. xxiv, 25). Afterwards, the historiographer narrates those things which concern Ornias, or Adonias (for he was of a double name); how he aspired to tyranny, and how he prepared a splendid banquet, having as primary guests Joab the commander of the army and Abiathar the priest. He celebrated the banquet at a certain fountain which flowed before the city, where the royal garden flourished. For so Josephus speaks. But Symmachus interpreted "Ain" as "fountain," which the Syrian also calls "Aina."

at the latest, that there was a little in the beginning [68]; after [69] this, the historian wrote down the events concerning Ornias, or Adonias (for he was known by two names); how he plotted a tyranny, and how he prepared a brilliant banquet, ^A having as the most honored guests at the banquet the general Joab and Abiathar the priest. He held the banquet by a certain spring, which bubbled up before the city, by which a royal park had flourished. For thus Josephus [71] said, and Symmachus also translated the "Ain" as a spring [72], and the Syrian also calls it "Aina" [73].

INTO THE THIRD BOOK OF KINGS

^A INTERROGATION I. Some suppose that Nathan was annoyed that he had not been invited to the banquet, and for this reason arranged for Bathsheba to report to the king what had happened.

RESPONSE. Those who suspect this are very foolish. For the prophet knew the verdict of God; for through him He had made known to the king: "You shall not build a house for me to dwell in; but behold, a son is born to you; he shall be a man of rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about. Solomon is his name; and I will give peace and rest to Israel in his days. He shall build a house to my name" [II Reg. vii, 13; III Reg. v, 5]. Knowing these things, the prophet, having seen that Ornias had seized the kingdom contrary to the divine will and ^B counsel, reminded the king through Bathsheba of the divine prediction; then he entered and confirmed her words.

INTERROGATION II. Whom does he call Geon [b]? Geon is named the Nile; for it is one of the rivers.

[c] [This page ends mid-sentence; the translation will continue on the next page.]

from the four rivers. And God Himself taught this openly through Jeremiah, saying: "And now what hast thou to do with the way of Egypt, to drink the water of Geon?" ^A They also named Siloam "Geon," either calling it thus ironically—as it is very small—or because it too emerges from hidden subterranean passages, just like the Nile. Zadok the high priest and Nathan the prophet were commanded to anoint Solomon. The high priest is placed before the prophet, and the prophet before the commander of the army. And the slingers and archers were also sent forth; for these he calls Cerethi and Phelethi.

INTERROGATION III.

Why did the princes, in blessing the young king before his father, wish for him to become more renowned and illustrious than his father? "God," they said, "grant that the name of thy son Solomon be better than thy name, and magnify his throne above thy throne." ^B They knew that no one who possesses fatherly affection is jealous of their children; and that it is inherent in fathers to desire to see their children more illustrious than themselves. For only Arius and his sons suffer from this madness. But David was so gladdened by what had been said by the princes that, even though his old age prevented him from rising, he bowed and worshipped God, who had brought the promises to their conclusion: "Blessed," he said, "be the Lord God of Israel, who has given one of my seed today to sit on my throne, and my eyes see it." ^C He offered this hymn to God, but to the son who was to succeed him on the throne, he entrusted the keeping of piety untarnished. First, he showed him the common end: "I," he said, "am going the way of all the earth; but thou shalt be strengthened, and shalt be a man of power, and thou shalt keep the charge of the Lord God of Israel, to walk before Him, to keep His way, and His commandments, His righteous ordinances, and His judgments, His precepts, and His testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses." And do not dare to transgress even the slightest of those things written. For this is what is signified by: righteous ordinances, and judgments, and testimonies, and commandments, and precepts. And he immediately shows the profit that arises from this: "That all things may succeed for thee as thou shalt do, and whithersoever thou shalt turn thy eyes ^D

For he says that if these things are done by you, our good Lord will establish the promise that was made by Him to me, that "there shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel."

INTERR. IV. Why, since he himself did not punish Joab, did he command his son to do this?

Primum quidem eum est reveritus, ut qui fuerat laborum et periculorum socius. Postea vero suspectam habuit ejus audaciam. Hoc enim significavit per hoc quod dixit: "The sons of Sarvia are sterner than I." ^B Furthermore, having learned that he was assisting Ornia in preparing and constructing a tyranny, he feared lest, using his accustomed malice, he should despise the youth of Solomon and do one of two things: namely, that he might either kill him by using a pretext of benevolence, just as he slew Abner and Amasa; or that he should openly draw up a battle line and divide Israel. He also taught him of the benevolence of Berzellai, and commanded that he should take every care of his children, confessing that he owed this debt to him.

INTERR. V. Why, when he had granted pardon to Semei, did he command Solomon to punish him?

He knew the man to be tyrannical and exceedingly bold; and, providing for his son's safety, he instructed him in what he had dared to do, that he might guard himself against the man's wickedness. He also knew, as a prophet, that he would perish if he transgressed the commands of Solomon. For the man was wicked and the instigator of seditions.

INTERR. VI. What is the city of David?

Holy Scripture calls Sion the city of David. ^C Thus also the upper city used to be called; but the whole is now named Jerusalem. Josephus says that he himself was buried in it, as were the kings who came after him; but that the monument is near Siloam, and that it has an antresque shape and is built with royal magnificence. He says also that a great deal of gold was buried with him by his son Solomon; and that this was made clear by what occurred later. For Hyrcanus the high priest, when the city was besieged by Antiochus the son of Demetrius, broke into the monument and ^D took out three thousand talents from there. Now, king David, seventy years of age...

^A arrived at the end of his life. For he began to reign at thirty years of age, and finished forty years in his reign.

The Greek manuscripts attribute the preceding to Book II, and from this point onward begin Book III of Kings (81).

INTERR. VII.

INTERR. VIII.

INTERR. IX.

^A

INTERROGATION X.

By mutual comparison, the historiographer wished to demonstrate his wisdom. For this reason, he mentions the ancient sages who once existed indefinitely, and he added the Egyptians, as those who were regarded as being wise above all others. For, as the Greeks relate—Pherecydes the Syrian, Pythagoras the Samian, Anaxagoras the Klazomenian, and Plato the Athenian—they traveled to them, hoping to learn from them a more accurate theology and philosophy. The divine Scripture also, relating the matters concerning Moses the lawgiver, said that he was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. All these, it says, Solomon eclipsed, as one who had received the gift of wisdom from God. Yet, to the praise of his wisdom, he joined a reprehension. For he openly transgressed the law laid down concerning marriage, which forbade union with women of foreign nations. For he himself was the first to take the daughter of Pharaoh as his wife.

INTERR. XI.

He was in charge of those who were transporting the stones and the timber. The book of Paralipomenon called these "bearers," but the men of our time call them "omophoroi," that is to say, those who carry on their shoulders. The history demonstrates that the promise of God attained its end. ^B For He had promised to give to Israel the land from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates: "For Solomon," it says, "ruled over all the kings from the river, even to the land of the foreigners, and to the borders of Egypt."

INTERROGATION XII.

He does not here reproach them for sacrificing to idols, but for offering sacrifices to God in the high places contrary to the law. For the law commanded that God be worshipped in one place. Yet they obtained pardon, since the divine temple had not yet been built. For the history itself has shown this: "For they were burning incense and sacrificing in the high places, because the house had not been built to the name of the Lord until that time."

^{C D} [alt-version omitted]

^A From this, then, we must understand what is recounted about the other kings—that they removed the groves and shattered the pillars of Baal, but did not remove the high places. For both Asa and Jehoshaphat, and some others, forbade sacrificing to demons and tore down their temples, yet they did not cease offering sacrifices in the high places. To Hezekiah and Josiah, however, the divine Scripture bears witness to this perfection. That they were offering sacrifices to the God of all in the high places, what follows testifies: "For Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the commandments of David his father; yet he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places," that is, not before the tabernacle, nor before the ark, as the divine law commanded. That it was not to idols, however, but to God that he was then offering the hundreds and thousands of victims, the history clearly teaches us: "For he went," it says, "to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the highest and great one, capable of receiving a thousand burnt offerings. And Solomon offered upon the altar that was in Gibeon, and the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and said to him, 'Ask what I shall give thee.'" ^B Now, if he had offered sacrifices to idols, God would not have rewarded him with every kind of gift. For when he had chosen wisdom more than all things that are or seem good in life, the munificent God gave him grace of wisdom as much as his nature could contain, and wealth and power, and a kingdom in peace, above all the kings of that time, so that his fame coursed through the whole inhabited world. And his words of prayer are also worthy of admiration. For having brought to mind the good things that had come to his father, and having praised the One who had provided them, he offered a petition for himself: "And now, O my Lord, Lord, thou hast made thy servant king in place of David my father; and I am a young child, and I know not my entrance and my exit. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people whom thou hast chosen, a great people, as the sand of the sea, which shall not be numbered for multitude, and shall not be recounted. And thou shalt give to thy servant an understanding heart, to hear and to judge thy people in righteousness, that he may discern between good and evil." ^C By these things he showed the weakness of his nature, the imperfection of his age, ^D and the necessity of wisdom, and the prudence of his petition. Quamobrem Dominus Deus, laudata

the petition, both granted it and added other things as well. ^A This the Lord also established in the holy Gospels: "Seek," he says, "the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you." These gifts, moreover, God gave to Solomon, and furthermore promised to take all care of him: "For if you walk," he says, "in my way, so that you keep my commandments and my precepts, in which David your father walked, I will also prolong your days."

INTERROGATION XIII.

INTERROGATION XIV.

INTERROGATION XV.

INTERROGATION XVI.

INTERROGATION XVII.

whence he also makes mention of them by name. ^A Ethan and Æman were among the psalmists, praising God with citharas, lyres, and cymbals.

QUESTION XVIII. How is that saying to be understood: "He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Libanus unto the hyssop that comes out of the wall," and the rest? He says that by philosophizing, he discoursed upon the nature and powers of herbs, and trees, and even brute animals; so that, I think, those who have written books on medicine have borrowed a great deal from this. They have arranged the order of hot and cold, and dry and moist things, and how much any given herb is hotter or colder than another, and of this animal, what part is a medicine for what disease; for example, the gall of a hyena, or the fat of a lion, or the blood of a bull, or the flesh of vipers. For wise physicians have written concerning these things, receiving from those things written by Solomon the first principles for writing. ^B

QUESTION XIX. What is, "And Pharao sent them as gifts to his daughter, the wife of Solomon"? The cities which he had taken, he gave to her as a dowry when he betrothed her to Solomon.

QUESTION XX. How is that saying to be understood: "Chiram, king of Tyre, sent his servants to anoint King Solomon in place of David his father"? He called the election an anointing; not that a foreigner anointed the king of Israel, but as a friend of his father, he approved the kingdom by his vote. ^C

QUESTION XXI. What does *machir* mean? It is explained as a measure. "For Solomon," he says, "gave to Chiram twenty thousand *cori* of wheat, *machir* for his house, and twenty thousand *beth* of beaten oil." ^D Those *beth* others have interpreted as a *bath*. Now, a *bath* is

a measure of the Palestinians, which ^A contains, as Josephus says, seventy-four *choas*, or *congii*.

INTERR. XXII. *Why did he not begin to build the temple as soon as he became king, but in the fourth year?*

He first prepared the materials, then laid the foundations. This the historiographer also taught: "And he prepared the stones and the wood for three years to build the house."

INTERR. XXIII. *If he built the temple with stones not cut by axes, why was there need for so many stonecutters?*

He built the temple itself of uncut stones, because divine Providence willed that such stones should be found naturally in that state, so that there was no need for any iron to join them; rather, they were fitted together ^B in a manner surpassing all the art of masonry. But with the hewn stones he built the perimeter of the temple, the palace, the wall of the metropolis, and other cities, which he rendered more fortified.

In summary, I shall describe the building of the temple. Its length was sixty cubits, and the width twenty. It was not turned toward the east, so that those who prayed might not adore the rising sun, but the Lord of the sun. And let no one be surprised if, while Scripture has stated a length of forty cubits and a width of twenty, I have said the length is sixty. For a little later it also mentions another twenty, commemorating the Holy of Holies. It also calls this *Dabir*. Therefore, the remaining part of the temple was forty cubits, ^C and the Holy of Holies was twenty cubits. With the temple, other small rooms had also been built on the outside, so that they might both hold the building together and ensure that none of the Levites would touch the walls of the temple. For it was permitted only to the priests to enter the first temple, which was called the *Holy Place*; but into the inner, secret sanctuary, which it named the *Holy of Holies*, it was not permitted even for them to enter. For only the High Priest was commanded to dare to touch things that were not to be touched; and not even he always, but in the seventh month, on the day of propitiation. Now, in those small rooms which were ^D around the temple...

the vessels of the divine ministry were stored. The vestibule of the temple, which in the Hebrew tongue is called Elam, had a length equal to the breadth of the temple, and a width of ten cubits. The temple also had windows, wide on the inside but very narrow on the outside, and covered with perforated stones. For this is what is signified by the verse, "And for the temple he made windows with hidden lattices." ^A He calls "small rooms" those built in a circuit around the temple. And let no one marvel if those on the ground floor were five cubits, those on the second story six, and those on the third seven. For the walls were wider at the bottom, so as to bear the weight of the structure. When the width was gradually removed, one cubit was added to the second story, and two to the third. The historian has also taught us this, that he provided a space in the wall around the house, so that they might not touch the walls of the house. Josephus, however, says that the temple itself was of two stories, and that its entire height was one hundred and twenty cubits. This, the book of Paralipomenon also teaches. ^B

INTERR. XXIV.

How is it to be understood that "neither hammer nor axe, nor any iron tool, was heard while the temple was being built"?

I have already said that he built the temple from naturally shaped stones; but as for the cut stones, with which he constructed the circuit of the temple, he ordered them to be polished and fitted together on the mountain, so that they would need no further work. And here, too, the writer hinted that the temple had upper stories. "For," he says, "there was a winding ascent to the middle, and from the middle to the third stories." ^C For the wall, being very thick, had an ascent like a screw; for this is what he called "winding." He covered the whole interior with cedar boards, and again covered the boards with gold. And he called the ligaments "contignations." He said that they were constructed of cedar, according to the five

^A courses of stone; to these the entire structure was bound. That the temple was sixty cubits, it is easy to understand from this. Having already said that the length was forty cubits, he afterwards added again: "And he built twenty cubits, from the edge of the wall, one side, from the floor to the beams, and he made up to the Dabir the wall of the Holy of Holies. And the temple itself that was in front of the Dabir was forty cubits; in the middle of the house within, to place there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in its height, and he enclosed it with gold covered over." Therefore the so-called Holy place was forty cubits, and the Holy of Holies was twenty. These were also called Dabir. One may see this more clearly in what follows. "For he made," he says, "an altar in front of the Dabir." For the altar of incense was situated before the veil, having the table on one side, and the lampstand on the other. Then he taught us again that he calls the Holy of Holies "Dabir." "For he made," he says, "two Cherubim for the Dabir." Each of these was ten ^B cubits, so that one of the wings touched the walls, while the ends of the other wings joined one another and covered the ark. Everything, however, had been covered with gold: both the ceiling, and the floor, and the Cherubim, and the walls, and the doors; so that no other material could be seen within. And just as the internal parts were divided into two, so too were the outer courts. For of these, some were accessible to all the people, while others were for the priests and the Levites. A perimeter wall, not very high, separated ^C these from the others, so that those who were excluded from the inner areas could still see from the outside the performance of the sacrifices. He also constructed two columns made of bronze, notable in both appearance and size. For the height, excluding the capitals, was eighteen cubits, and the circumference was fourteen. He placed upon them capitals of the same material, and very large lily-work on the capitals, and also, hanging from a certain net-like ornament, pomegranates. These adorned the vestibule, supporting a *melathron* made of the same material. He called it *melathron*, which is now named by some an *epistylium* (architrave). The history also shows this, saying: ^D "The *melathron* as an addition upon the thickness of each column." He also made a bronze laver, which because of its magnitude

he called the sea. It had the form of a hemisphere, with a diameter of ten cubits. The circumference was thirty-three cubits, since its thickness was measured as a span. For if one measures two spans—one from here and one from there—along with the diameter, they are found to be eleven cubits. When tripled, these make thirty-three. Twelve ^A calves carried it, looking toward each of the winds. The rim of the laver was inclined outward, imitating the leaves of a lily. The book of Chronicles calls these things *mechonoth* [lavers]; Josephus, however, said that the *mechonoth* were the bases, and the *chytrogauloi* [bronze vessels] were the lavers placed upon the bases. In these they washed the sacrificial animals, both their interiors and their feet. For the book of Chronicles has clearly taught this: "For the washing, it says, of the works of the whole burnt offerings in them, and for rinsing in them. And the sea was for the priests to wash themselves in." He said that the bases of the lavers, which he termed *mechonoth*, were constructed as squares, having wheels underneath them, similar to chariot wheels. They also had ^B cast relief-works of hands on top, bearing a crown-like circle upon which the laver was placed. He called *thermastres* the heaters, in which we are accustomed to heat water. He also constructed ten golden lampstands, which he placed in the temple opposite the *Dabir*, that is, the Holy of Holies.

INTERROGATION XXV.

How is the following to be understood: "Solomon brought in the holy things of David his father, and all the holy things of Solomon"?

He called "holy things" those which had been dedicated to God, and those brought as first-fruits from the wars—such as when Joshua, the son of Nun, placed Jericho under the ban, and dedicated all the gold and silver to God. Therefore, he called "holy things" those [items] set apart for the God of all.

INTERROGATION XXVI.

^C What does he call the "house of the forest of Lebanon"?

He built a very great house in the palace, of the

vestibule. Its length was one hundred, the breadth fifty cubits. It had truly one hundred and thirty-five cedar columns. I think, however, that it was called the "house of the forest of Lebanon" ^A because it had a multitude of cedar columns, imitating the grove of Lebanon. And again he called the portico "Elam," whose length was of a measure equal to the breadth of the house; for the length was fifty, and the breadth thirty cubits. That this house was joined to the judgment hall, history teaches, saying: "And the Elam of the thrones, where he shall judge there. The Elam of the judgment hall, and their house, in which he shall sit there," ^B and the rest. That he used quarried stones for these buildings, the things which follow teach. "For all these," it says, "were carved from precious stones, from the interval on the inside, and from the foundations even to the cornices." That he calls "Dabir" the Holy of Holies, we learn more clearly from the history. For when the writer had said that when the building had received its end, he gathered the people to celebrate the festival of the dedication, he subjoined: [c] "And the priests bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord into its place, into the Dabir of the house, into the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the Cherubim."

INTERROGATION XXVII. How is that to be understood: "Which you have spoken in your name, and with your hands you have fulfilled, as this day?" By the tongue we bring forth words; but by the hands we perform work. Therefore, using words in a human way, he said: "Those things which you have spoken, you have brought to an end." ^D For when you had promised to my father, who was also your servant, both that you would appoint a king [to be born] of him, and that through him you would build your temple, you showed the truth of your words. For having an incomprehensible nature, and being contained neither by the heaven which is seen, nor by that which is above, you constructed for yourself a hand-made temple—not as if you were circumscribed in it, but making your own appearance in it. For this is what he meant by those words: "That your eyes may be open upon this house day and night: so that both one praying by himself, and the people praying in common...

may obtain what they ask; and not only the natives, but also those who arrive from elsewhere and are in need of your goodness, may overflow with your gifts. I also pray that you may favor those who are sinning but are using repentance, and who are praying diligently, and may you provide them with the streams of your mercy. And if your people, having been defeated in war on account of the transgressions they have dared to commit, should end up as prisoners of war, and then, while in servitude, should come to a realization of their faults, and should pray to obtain pity while looking toward this temple, do you look down from heaven from that sacred temple of yours, and restore to them, as they pray, the liberty of their forefathers. These things, both concerning wars and concerning other divinely-sent plagues, he requested from the compassionate Lord, so that those who reside in their native land and hasten to the divine temple and pray fervently may obtain pardon; and that those who are far away, and who turn toward the path that leads to this place, and who call upon God, ^B may be liberated from adverse circumstances and obtain the things that are pleasing to them.

QUESTION XXVIII.

How is the following to be understood: "He set the sun in heaven, and said that he would dwell in darkness"?

The blessed David, chanting, said, "Clouds and darkness are round about him." And elsewhere, "He bowed the heavens and came down, and darkness was under his feet. And he mounted upon the cherubim, and flew: he flew upon the wings of the winds, and made darkness his hiding place." Darkness and gloom implicitly signify that the divine essence does not fall under visual perception. Solomon therefore said that, having placed the sun in heaven so that people might enjoy the light, He Himself said that He would dwell in darkness. I believe that ^C here he is implicitly referring to the temple. For it had very small windows, since it also had other little rooms built around it on the outside. For this is what he added: "Build me a house, a house worthy of yourself, for dwelling in," as it is written. For He Himself did not have need of such a building, but He commanded it to be built for the sake of the needs of men. We must know, however, that the holy David had given to Solomon the plan of the building, and the measurements, and the gold, and the silver, and the number of the holy vessels. For the book of Chronicles also states these things: "And David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the temple, and of its houses, and of its upper ^D rooms, and of its inner chambers, and of the mercy seat; and the pattern

^A of all the things which were in his spirit, and of the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the storerooms round about, of those for the treasuries of the house of the Lord, and of the treasuries of the holy things; and the divisions of the courses of the priests and of the Levites, for all the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and of the treasuries of the vessels for the services of worship of the house of the Lord; and the gold, and the weight of its measure for all the vessels. And next he enumerates also the lampstands, and the tables, and the fire-pans, and the meat-forks, and the bowls; and that He showed him also the pattern of the form of the Cherubim that were spreading out their wings and overshadowing the ark of the covenant of the Lord. All things in writing, by the hand of the Lord, did David give to Solomon. It is therefore ^B clear that just as God showed the great Moses the pattern of the tabernacle, and said to him, 'You shall make all things according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain,' so too did the grace of the Spirit teach blessed David the form of the building, and he himself showed this to his son. It must be noted that he calls the most Holy Spirit 'Lord.' For when the writer had said that he gave him the pattern of all the things which he was revolving in his mind, shortly after he added: 'All things in writing, by the hand of the Lord, did David give to Solomon.' And as the book of Chronicles ^C again taught, the temple was also adorned with marbles. 'For I have prepared,' he says, 'onyx stones, and stones of filling, and choice stones, and every precious stone, and Parian stones in abundance.'

INTERR. XXIX. What is: 'Behold, is this not written in the book of the Canticle?' I have often said that there were many prophetic books; and this, God willing, we shall show more accurately when we interpret the book of Chronicles.

INTERR. XXX. How is it to be understood: 'Rejoicing and praising before God seven days, and fourteen days, and on the eighth day he sent away the people'? He called the people together ^D at the feast of Tabernacles. They celebrated the feast, therefore, for fourteen days: seven indeed of the dedication, and seven of the feast of Tabernacles. He calls the 'eighth day' that which followed the last seven days. But after the end of the feast,

^A again finds the Sovereign God admonishing Solomon regarding the things that make for salvation. For, lest he should be freed from care and fall into sluggishness, He necessarily recalled the law to his memory, and promised that He would hold as firm and established the promise made to his father, and threatened destruction to those who should transgress the law, and that He would leave the sanctified temple desolate on their account. "For if," He says, "you and your children turn away from Me, and do not keep My commandments 38 which Moses gave before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them: then I will remove Israel from the land which I have given them, and this house, which I have sanctified for My name, I will cast out of My sight; and Jerusalem shall be a ruin and a byword among all peoples: and as for this high house 39, everyone who passes by it shall be astonished and hiss," and the things that follow, which show also the reason for the hissing. "For those who ask," He says, "why Israel has suffered these things, will learn that it is because they forsook the Lord their God, who delivered them from the servitude of the Egyptians and bestowed this land upon them."

INTERR. XXXI. What is Gasion Gaber? As Josephus (29) said, it is what is now called Berenice. It is a maritime city of the Ethiopians who border on Egypt.

INTERR. XXXII. What is Sophera (50)? It is a certain region of India, which geographers call the golden land. ^B

INTERR. XXXIII. What is the nation of Saba? Ethiopian. From thence, they say, those who dwell on this side of the Indian Sea are situated. And they call them Homeritae. They are opposite to the Auxumites; and between them and these is the sea. Of these there was queen that wonderful woman, whose zeal the Sovereign Christ praised in the holy Gospels. ^C For having heard what was commonly bruited about the wisdom of Solomon, she traveled a path of very many days, and deemed the labor to be gain, and preferred this to the delights which she enjoyed in the palace, and through Solomon she praised the Giver of wisdom. "For may," she said, "the Lord thy God be blessed, who delighted to set thee upon the throne ^D of Israel, to establish him for ever."

of Israel, that you might establish him forever: and he set you as king over them, so that you might exercise judgment in righteousness and in his judgments.” I, however, remembered the apostolic teaching, which praised those who were justified without the law: “For when,” it says, “Gentiles who have not the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law unto themselves.” ^B For she, being a foreigner and having neither received the divine law nor enjoyed the prophetic cultivation, was content with the law of nature, and admired justice, and commended the just judgment, and through the one who received the gift of wisdom, praised the giver of wisdom.

INTERR. XXXIV. What is the difference between the nabla and the cithara? Both this one and that one have ten strings. But they say that the nabla is played with the fingers, and the cithara with a plectrum.

INTERR. XXXV. What does he call undressed wood? I think it means smooth, straight, and freed from branches. Josephus, however, said they were pine, but pine unlike that which is among us, for he said they were whiter, smoother, and stiffer than fig wood.

INTERR. XXXVI. What city is Tharsis? ^C Here he named a certain Indian region. But those who interpreted Ezekiel called it Carthage, which presides over Libya. Solomon, however, the most celebrated one, who was deemed worthy of so many gifts from God, and had neighboring kings as tributaries, and imposed taxes on those dwelling from the Euphrates to the Nile, forgot the divine gifts. For having become most lustful, he consorted with many women; nor was he content with those of the land, but beyond the law, he also took foreign wives. First the daughter of Pharaoh, then Moabites, and Syrians, and Idumeans, and Amorites, with whom God forbade entering into marriages, lest the love ^D for them might compel him to serve their gods. For this also happened to him. He built

^A a high place to Chamos, the idol of Moab, and to Melchol, the idol of the children of Ammon, and to Astarte, the abomination of the Sidonians. And he did so for all his foreign wives. He burned incense and sacrificed to their idols. Other interpreters, however, have rendered this as "they burned incense and sacrificed." The sense is clear: he himself built the holy places for them, but they worshipped the idols. But not even so was he free from the accusation. For, he says, Solomon did what was evil before the Lord, and did not walk after the Lord, as David his father. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because he turned his heart away from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this matter, to never go after foreign gods, and to keep and perform what the Lord had commanded him. His heart was not perfect with the Lord according to the heart of David his father. ^B And to emphasize the accusation, he mentions the divine revelation which took place twice. For he says that he did not show him what had to be done through another prophet, but he himself, before all things, forbade him the worship of the falsely named gods; then he also ordered him to keep the other laws. However, since through wantonness he declined into impiety, and his lust became the procuring cause of the worship of idols, He stripped him of His own protection. "I will tear," He said, "the kingdom from your hand, and give it to your servant." Then He shows His measureless goodness: "Only in your days I will not do these things, for the sake of David your father; from the hand of your son I will take it." For you indeed have your father ^C helping you, but he is stripped of paternal assistance. "Only I will not take the whole kingdom. One tribe I will give to your son, for the sake of David my servant, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen." I shall add, He says, Benjamin to the tribe of Judah. And he joined the two tribes most reasonably; for the royal lineage belonged to the tribe of Judah, but the divine temple to the tribe of Benjamin. For the lot of Jerusalem belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. From this point on, he describes the enemies who rose up against Solomon, that as long as he enjoyed divine providence, he lived in peace and tranquility, having all men subject to him, and bringing very great tribute. But after he was stripped of this, he became easily assailable by his enemies ^D.

INTERR. XXXVII. Whom does he call Satan?

INTERR. XXXVIII. What is, "That the will of David my servant may remain before me all the days in Jerusalem, the city which I chose for myself, to put my name there?"

INTERR. XXXIX. What is, "My littleness is thicker than my father's loins?"

^A QUES. XL. How should one understand the passage: "And the king did not listen to the people, because the change was from the Lord," and what follows? As in the passage: "The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh." For when, he says, God abandons someone, he is carried along like a boat without a helmsman. Yet, by using those foolish words, he caused the decree of God to be fulfilled. When these things had been said, the ten tribes indeed withdrew and chose Jeroboam as king; but Rehoboam reigned only over the two tribes, and those of the others who lived with them, being from the remaining tribes. Then, when he wished to make war against the ten tribes, he was prevented by the prophet Semaiah: "For let everyone," he said, "return to his own house, because this matter has come from me." The historiographer also reveals the ancestry of Rehoboam’s mother, in order to convict the iniquity of him who begat him: "For the name," he says, "of his mother was Naamah, daughter of Anan, son of Naash, king of the children of Ammon." This is sufficient to shame the absurdity of the Jews, who boast of the nobility of their lineage and call those who from the Gentiles have believed in the Savior "aliens." For even their royal line is discovered to be from an alien race; and Rehoboam emulated his father’s iniquity.

QUES. XLI. Why does the historiographer say the same things twice, and often place later events before earlier ones? For even here, he placed the decree against Jeroboam’s son before his reign. ^B It is necessary to say the same things again and again, because he is writing about the two divided kingdoms; and sometimes, after setting forth many narratives concerning one of them, he then passes over to the other and is forced to repeat what had already been said earlier, so as to preserve the order. Now the illness of the child, and the judgment passed against him, clearly took place after the impiety. For after the prophet had foretold the death of the child, he also passed judgment against the entire lineage. For Jeroboam did indeed send his wife to the prophet with gifts. But the old man, growing dim in his eyes while sitting inside, perceived her coming from afar ^D and, sending a minister, quickly

^A commanded her to enter, as one who was to hear unpleasant things. And first he censured the gifts: "Why (50) have you brought me bread, and grapes, and cakes, and a jar of honey?" By pointing out what had been brought, he persuaded her to believe what was about to be said. Then, having announced the death of the child, he added: "Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will utterly destroy Jeroboam’s one who makes water against the wall." He predicted not only the slaughter for them, but also that they would remain unburied after the slaughter, and be set out as a feast and food for birds and wild beasts. Then he adds the reason: "Because there was not (51) found in him any good word concerning the Lord." He calls one who makes water against the wall a person who is infirm, and one who cannot stand at all without leaning against the wall.

QUESTION XLII

These things happened twice. For Ahijah indeed, while Solomon was still living, and Jeroboam was serving, tore the garment. Whence Jeroboam, with good hope, fled into Egypt. But Shemaiah the Elamite, after the death of Solomon and the return of Jeroboam, did this same thing, calling to his memory the divine prediction, so that he might learn ^C that the kingdom had been given by God, and might adorn the authority with divine laws. But the wretch and thrice-unhappy man, having received the power from God, attempted to maintain it by human and impious devices. For having reasoned that the law of sacrifices forced everyone to run to the metropolis, and that those ascending, as they associated with one another, could be led to be subjected to the Davidic kingdom, he fashioned two golden calves ^D and placed them at the borders of the kingdom, so that—those on one side coming to this, and those on the other to that, and not being in the least annoyed because they were near—they might gladly accept the fact that they did not have to go to the metropolis. The border of the kingdom of the ten tribes was Bethel on the south, and Dan on the north. But the witless man should have understood that He who had given the kingdom was able to confirm it. He also drove out the priests and the Levites who were living in the ten tribes, and he chose from those who happened to be around the priests for the calves. Which indeed he did as the only thing in accordance with reason; for it was not fitting for the priests of God to worship gods that are not.

INTERR. XLIII.

If Jeroboam celebrated the festival of Judah in Bethel, how did the writer say, "In the festival which he devised out of his own heart"? ^A On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, they were accustomed to celebrate the feast of Tabernacles according to the Law; but he performed the festival of the calves on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. But not even so did the kind and merciful Lord overlook him in his wandering. For He sent a prophet, having commanded him to say nothing to him, but to bring forth the sentence against the inanimate altar: "Altar, altar, thus says the Lord: Behold, a son is born to the house 487 David, Josiah by name; and he shall sacrifice upon you the priests of the high places, and those who sacrifice upon you, and he shall burn the bones of men upon you." ^B Then, by a miracle, He brings the matter to an end, demonstrating that what was said was not false: "For behold," He said, "the altar shall be rent, and the fat upon it shall be poured out." But that most wicked man, when it was fitting for him to be amazed at the prophet's miracle and to fear Him who had sent him, stretched out his hand and ordered the prophet to be arrested; but his hand remained in the shape of the extension, with the muscles and nerves dissolved. And that which had happened to the altar did not strike him with fear, but that which happened to his hand troubled him greatly. Yet, being very foolish, he besought the prophet to ask for him of the Sender, not for the forgiveness of his wickedness, but for the healing of his withered hand. And the prophet showed his gentleness, and God His loving-kindness. For he asked, and God gave the healing. ^C But the prophet, having been deceived, fell into grievous evils. For when the king asked him to be a guest at his table, he did not persuade him. For he said that the Sender had commanded him not to take food or drink in that land. But another prophet, whom some consider a false prophet, persuaded him with smooth and deceitful words to take food. But I conceive the other one to have been a prophet of God as well, but that he used false words before the man of God, not that he might harm him, but that he might himself receive a blessing from him. For this is what the history teaches. For it did not say absolutely, "A prophet and an old man dwelt in Bethel," but rather, "Another old prophet dwelt in Bethel." ^D And it shows that he was a prophet, and not a false prophet, in that God also spoke through him to the man of God that which

^A was to come to pass, and that, moreover, he believed the things that were foretold concerning Josiah, and that he commanded his sons so that, when he had died, he might be buried with his body. When he heard his sons telling of those things which had been done concerning the altar of the calves, he first changed his countenance, having been struck with astonishment at the divine miracles; then, truly, when he had learned by what road he had made his journey, he saddled his donkey, and completed the journey as quickly as possible. He overtook him sitting under the shade of an oak tree, and having inquired who he might be, and having learned what he desired, he entreated him to return and to partake of food with him. When he again said those things which God had commanded, and that it was not possible for him to transgress the divine law (for he had been commanded neither to partake of food nor of drink in that land), he replied ^B and said, “I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” Then the historian also added, “And he lied to him.” In this, indeed, I say that the old man sinned, and in this alone was a false prophet, in that he fabricated divine voices. Yet I do not think that the man used any malice, but rather that, on account of a desire for a blessing, he embellished the speech with a lie. “But after he had returned and partook of food, the word of the Lord came,” he says, “to the prophet who had brought him back, and he said to the man of God who had come from Judah: Thus says the Lord Almighty: Because you have provoked the word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, and have returned, and have eaten bread, and drunk water in this place, in which I spoke to you, saying, ‘Do not eat bread, and do not drink water,’ your body shall not come into the sepulcher of your fathers.” Since, therefore, the divine Scripture calls him a prophet, and teaches that God delivered the judgment against the other prophet through him, I think it is rash to call him a false prophet. For for what reason did God not punish him as he did the other, if indeed He knew him to be a false prophet and that he had used malice against the prophet? For perhaps God, looking also at his intent, granted forgiveness for the lie.

^A The man of God, having immediately departed, encountered a lion. And the beast indeed killed him, yet it did not dare to bury its teeth in the body; but it stood by, guarding both the donkey and the corpse, so that no other beast or bird of prey dared to despoil it. When this was announced, the prophet ran back. His words also reveal his piety. "For he said," he relates, "This is the man of God, who provoked the word of the Lord." Then, running, he found the body of the prophet dead, but the donkey unharmed, and the lion standing by as a kind of guard; for having seen that he had arrived, it withdrew, as if the body no longer required guarding. Then, having transported it, and having performed the due rites, he ordered his sons ^B to place both bodies in one tomb, as the divine prophecy had reached its end. From this account we learn that from the great, great things are required. For it was not fitting for him who had heard the divine voice to trust a human being saying the contrary, but to wait for the One who had commanded it to resolve what He had commanded to be done. I, however, also believe that this punishment occurred for the confirmation of the prophecy concerning the altar. For it was not possible for the story of such a man to be concealed; and for those who heard it, it was enough to strike fear within them. For if taking food contrary to the divine command, and that not from pleasure but having occurred from deception, brought such punishment upon a just man, what kind of penalties will they undergo who have abandoned the God who made them, and worship the images of irrational ^C animals? Yet God honored him even after his death. For He appointed the killer as his guard; by this means honoring him as a prophet, but by that punishing him as a transgressor; and striking fear into those of that time, and those of the present, so that they might not despise even the small commands of God. Moreover, the suffering of the prophet communicates the resurrection of the dead. For He who delivered him living to the beast, but after he died rendered him honor—and honored not the soul, but the body alone—it is clear that He will not despise it when dissolved and decayed, but will raise it up and restore the instrument of the soul, through which it served the Creator. However, not every prophet is called a "man of God," but those who possess perfect virtue, ^D like Moses and Elias, and if anyone is similar to them. Therefore, the appellation declared that he [the man of God] was far more honorable than the old prophet.

INTERR. XLIV. How is that which is said, "He who wished, filled his hand," to be understood? The following words show: "And he became a priest of the" III Reg. XIII, 26. P ibid. 53.

^A high places"; that is, he was performing the priestly office, and offering incense with his hands 38.

INTERR. XLV. Provident God, seeing that the people would be impious, why did He allow the division to happen? For what did it profit Judah and Benjamin to have the temple of God? For they too dared the same transgression; for "They built for themselves," it says, "high places, and pillars, and groves, upon every high hill, and under every leafy tree" [(53)]. "And there was a confederacy in the land." He put "confederacy" in place of "defection." For Jezebel, when she had learned of the death of Joram, and of Jehu's election as king, cried out, "Confederacy, confederacy," which is to say, defection and tyranny [(54)]. And the following words also show this: "And they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out from before the presence of the children of Israel." Therefore, the ten tribes did not slide into impiety because of the division of the kingdom, but because of their own lawlessness. Thus, the prophets ^B make even greater accusations against the tribe of Judah. For the prophet Hosea was commanded to take a harlot as his wife, to rebuke the manifest impiety of the ten tribes (for the unchastity of a harlot is manifest), but an adulteress as a type of Judæa; because, while she seemed to be joined to God through the temple, she was secretly worshipped idols. The prophet Jeremiah says: "Backsliding Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah [(55)]." And the prophet Ezekiel called not only Samaria, but also Sodom, a sister of Jerusalem. Having abandoned true piety, they were stripped of divine Providence. For Shishak, the king of the Egyptians, captured many of the cities of the Judæans, as the book of Chronicles taught; and he entered into Jerusalem, and plundered not only the royal treasuries, but also the ^C sacred ones [(56)]. He also took the golden arms, which King David had taken from the Syrians, and which Solomon had made.

INTERR. XLVI. What is, "And they stored them in the Thecue of the swift ones"? In the interpretation of Hebrew names, I found "Thecue" written, meaning "beating" and "sound of a trumpet." But the book of Chronicles teaches these things thus: "And King Rehoboam made in their stead ^D bronze shields, and placed them..."

^A in the hands of the captains of the guard who kept the doors of the king's house. And it came to pass that when the king was entering into the house of the Lord, those who were keeping watch would enter, and the runners would go before, and those who were returning to meet the runners would take the shields and restore them to the order of the runners." It was given, he says, to the spear-bearers and shield-bearers who were about the king, who stood by the doors of the palace and guarded the entrances. As the king proceeded, some went before, while others ran alongside. But when he arrived at the temple, those who were returning from the house—that is, the temple guards—would meet [the king's guard], and they would receive these [shields] from them, and they themselves, holding them, would stand before the gate of the temple, so that the weapons might remain before the door, and those who carried them might worship God along with the king. It is also ^B probable that a house existed before the doors, so that when the king arrived, the armor-bearers could deposit their weapons there.

QUESTION XLVII

How is one to understand the text: "God gave him a remnant for David's sake, to establish his children after him"?

Having recounted the impiety of both Rehoboam and Abijah ^C, he used these words, teaching how, for the sake of the ancestor from whom they had derived their lineage, He preserved the kingdom for the descendants for a long time. Then, having praised the virtue of David, he made mention of the one sin: "For David did," he says, "what was right in the sight of the Lord, and did not turn aside from all that He commanded him all the days of his life, save in the matter of Uriah the Hittite." But the book of Chronicles praised the first things concerning Abijah, yet blamed the latter things in a similar manner. We shall declare these things more clearly, God willing, when we interpret that book. But the book of Kings praised ^D the first things of Asa's reign: "For Asa," it says, "did what was right in the sight of the Lord, as did David his father; and he took away the pillars from the land, and removed all the practices which his fathers had performed, and he removed Maakah his mother from being princess, inasmuch as she had made an assembly in her grove; and Asa cut them down, and all her shrines, and burned them with fire in the torrent of Cedron. But the high places he did not take away." Again, here too he shows that the worshippers of idols...

he ^A destroyed, and he cut down their shrines by the roots, but the altars dedicated to God in the high places he left remaining. And this, with the divine grace assisting, we shall demonstrate more clearly when we interpret the narrative concerning Hezekiah. He showed, however, both his zeal for God, and by depriving his mother of power, because of the assembly and the festival which she celebrated in the shrine, he cut that [shrine] down, and all her idolatrous places he destroyed, and delivered them to fire. He added, moreover, that also the pillars, which both he and his father had constructed of silver and gold, having brought forth from the house of the kingdom silver and gold, both coined and uncoined, and holy and magnificent vessels, and dedicated to the Lord God; and yet he called him imperfect. For he said: "Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was not perfect with the Lord all his days." And this the history of the Chronicles ^B teaches more clearly. For, having prayed faithfully, he overcame the hundred myriads of the Ethiopians, and utterly overthrew them all. But when Baasa, the king of the ten tribes, attacked him, and attempted to fortify Rama, having abandoned God, he embraced the alliance of the Syrians.

QUESTION XLVIII.

he says, "Baasa, king of Israel, the whole house of Jeroboam, and he did not leave any breath in Jeroboam, until he had destroyed them all according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by the hand of his servant Achias the Silonite." Baasa suffered these same things, for he himself had also embraced the same impiety and lawlessness. And Ceila, his son, received the strike from Zambre. But he, in turn, according to the prediction that had been made, destroyed the entire house of Baasa. And when the people had chosen Zambre as king, being besieged, Zambre set fire to the house in which he was living, and burned along with it, he died. We are taught by these things that the Master God punishes those who live in wickedness through one another, and hands over the wicked man to a more wicked man, having used them as if they were executioners.

Since some ask whence the Samaritans have this appellation, it is easy to learn this from the history set before us. ^B "For he bought," he says, "Zambre, the mountain of the Semerons from Semer, his lord, for two talents of silver, and he built the mountain, and he called the name of the mountain which he built by the name of Semer, the lord of the mountain of Somoron." Therefore, from Semer, the mountain was named Somoron, and from the mountain, the city of Samaria. And Samaria is what is now called Sebaste. In it was the royal palace of the ten tribes. And when the ten tribes had been taken captive, and that land had become deserted, the kings of the Assyrians brought across some from the eastern regions into those cities. And these were named Samaritans from Samaria. Having said these things about Zambre, he passed on to Juda; and he admired Josaphat among others, and said that he had done what was right before the Lord. ^C He reproved him, however, because he had not only failed to stop the worship carried out in the high places, but had also embraced the kinship of Achaab. The book of Paralipomenon taught these things more clearly, for which reason even the one who wrote this history directed us to it.

INTERR. XLIX. How is it to be understood: "Behold, are these things not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Juda?" And from this it is clear that all things that were happening at that time were recorded; and out of those books, partly this writer, and partly those ^D who wrote the book of Paralipomenon, taught us. For which reason the history directed us to that [book].

QUESTION L. With whom does he identify Baal?

^A As Josephus says, this was the god of the Tyrians, and Astarte was the goddess of the Sidonians. He taught this also previously, writing about Solomon, that he built a temple to Astarte, the abominable idol of the Sidonians. They also used to dedicate groves planted for her. Astarte is the one who is called Aphrodite among the Greeks, that is, Venus.

QUESTION LI. Does not that which was said by Elijah seem too bold: "There shall not be rain upon the earth these years, except by my mouth"?

It is too bold to admit such thoughts against spiritual men. For he was a prophet, and the chief of the prophets, and was inflamed with divine zeal. And he said these things while the divine Spirit was at work. Whence he also obtained the end.

QUESTION LII. How did he, being holy and living according to the law, eat the food brought to him by ravens?

The Lawgiver himself brought this to him through the ravens. For he both ordered him to hide in the torrent of Chorran, promising that he would send him sustenance through ravens, and he fulfilled the promise. ^B For the ravens brought him bread in the morning, and meat in the evening. Through these things, however, the Lawgiver teaches us that he had imposed such laws on account of the weakness of the Jews, which he himself sometimes commanded to be transgressed. For he ordered Joshua the prophet, and Eleazar the high priest, and the priests and Levites who were with him, and the entire people, to encompass Jericho seven times on the Sabbath; and now he orders the great Elijah to receive the food brought to him by the ravens. ^C Sometimes, however, he does not rebuke those who had transgressed such laws. For Samson, indeed, was deprived of grace on account of drunkenness and lust, but when he had eaten of the honeycomb which the bees had fashioned within the dead lion, he underwent no rebuke. ^D

QUESTION LIII.

This again teaches the reasons for laws of this kind. If He had known the mind of the Jews to be firm and their faith stable, He would not have commanded them to avoid association with aliens; but on the contrary, He would have commanded them to live together and to preach piety and true religion to them. For the very reason for the law teaches this. For when it had said: "You shall not give your daughters to the sons of aliens, nor their daughters to your sons," it subjoined: ^B "Lest their sons lead your daughters into fornication, and their daughters lead your sons to follow after the Lord your God." But as for the prophet, since he was able to benefit them, He not only did not forbid him, but even commanded him to go. I also believe that, wishing to show him human nature being consumed by famine, He first led him to the brook; then, when it had dried up, He led him to a widow who had nothing left but a small amount of food sufficient for one day. "For as the Lord thy God liveth," she said, "I have not a cake, but only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a cruse; and behold, I will collect two sticks, ^C and I will go in and prepare it for myself and my children, and we shall eat and die." She says, "I have only this final food, after which I await the blow of the famine." But I admire the gentleness of the woman's response. For she did not take it ill that food was asked of her in such great calamity, but merely showed her extreme poverty. But that great and righteous man promised her sources of meal and oil, yet commanded her first to make and bring the bread to him. And she, in turn, did not take it ill, even though she was worn out by the cares of poverty, widowhood, and the rearing of children; but having received the promise faithfully, ^D she brought the food, and this even though she did not know the man; for she was an alien, and had received no experience of prophetic power. I believe that in her, the Church from the Gentiles is prefigured. For she faithfully received one whom the Israelites were persecuting, just as the Church received the Apostles who had been driven out by those very same people.

^A

INTERR. LIV. What is the reason God permitted the son of the widow to die?

The prophet, enjoying food in abundance, had forgotten the calamity of other men. For this reason, God armed the widow's lamentations against him. But he himself also recognized the cause: "Woe is me," he says, "Lord, who are witness to the widow with whom I am staying; you have afflicted her, to the point of inflicting death upon her son." ^B Remarkable indeed are the words of the widow: "For you came in to me, she says, to bring my sins to remembrance, and to put my son to death." By your light, she says, my hidden transgressions were laid bare. And she did not say, as one would expect from a foreigner, "You have become a bad omen to me, your arrival has brought evil upon me," but rather assigned what had happened to her own sins. So much did the prophet's teaching profit her. Therefore, the death of the child happened even for her sake, that by witnessing the resurrection which occurred contrary to nature, she might receive a firm piety. The prophet prayed to the Lord regarding the dead child, and after the prayer, having breathed into the lad three times, he brought him back to life. The number signifies the ^C Trinity, which is to be worshiped; but the breathing signifies the creation of the soul that was fashioned in the beginning. However, the prophet, in breathing, did not create another soul, but brought back the one that had been separated from the body. But God, who is kind and merciful, seeing the human race perishing, and the prophet unwilling to ask for mercy—on the one hand taking pity on them and hastening to offer mercy, and on the other hand honoring him, and not enduring to rescind the sentence that had been passed against his will—the Lord himself comes as a legate to his servant, the Creator to the clay, and persuades him to loose the restraint of the clouds with the tongue that had bound them: "And it came to pass," he says, "after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying: Go, and show thyself unto Ahab, and I will give rain upon the face of the earth." ^D

INTERR. LV. How is that saying to be understood: "Is there a nation or kingdom whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee, and they said, He is not there?"

Since the prophet had said to Ahab, "As the Lord God lives, these years there shall be neither rain nor dew, except by the word of my mouth," Ahab, having received proof of the truth of the words, was necessarily seeking the one who had shut up the clouds with his tongue, in order that he might do one of two things: either persuade him to open them, or destroy him if he were not persuaded. Now Obadiah was one of those who were exceedingly pious.

^A And this is taught not only by his words, but also by his deeds. For, first, seeing the prophets being slain by Jezebel, he not only hid them, but also fed them—and not three, nor four, nor five, nor ten, but one hundred, split into two groups. Nor did he fear the cruel butchery of her who held power, but he preferred piety before all things. ^B Afterward, when he saw the great Elijah, he fell on his face and said: "Are you yourself, my lord Elijah?" And the things that follow show his piety. "It shall be," he says, "when I have gone from you, that the Spirit of the Lord will carry you to a land I do not know." For these are the words of a man who meditates upon divine things and understands the power of the divine Spirit.

INTERROGATION LVI

INTERROGATION LVII

INTERROGATION LVIII

they had accomplished nothing: for the idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of the hands of men, they have ears and do not hear, the prophet said, holding them up to ridicule: "Call him all together with a loud voice: perhaps he has some conversation, or some business of money, or he is sleeping, and he will be awakened ^A." It is, he says, likely that he is sleeping, or administering some other thing, or is occupied with other matters, whereby it happens that he does not hear when called by one. It is necessary, therefore, for all to shout at once, so that the magnitude of the clamor may drive away sleep. The foolish were led by these words, and they sent forth a clamor together, and they cut themselves with swords and lances even to the shedding of blood. For since demons breathe the slaughter of men, they delight in the blood of men. Therefore, the priests worshipped them in this way. The writer indicated this, saying: "They were cut after their custom." When he had exposed their fraud, both by yielding the first parts and by conceding almost the whole day to them, around the setting of the sun (for the history indicated this: "It was," he says, "around the time ^B of the ascent of the sacrifice"), he gathered the whole people: and ordering twelve stones to be brought, equal to the number of the tribes, not ten, he built the altar which had been destroyed, and placed the victim upon the piled-up wood. Digging in a circle, he made a receptacle for water. The Hebrew indeed called this a *thaala*. Josephus, however, a *dexamenē*. He applied not fire to the wood, but water. For when he had again ordered jars to be brought equal to the number of the tribes, and had filled them with water, he poured it over the sacrifice. He did this not once only, nor twice, but three times, again indicating the number of the adorable Trinity. ^C Using a clamor, he supplicated the God of the fathers to show the difference, and to convert the deceived people, and to make the sacrifice a holocaust with divine fire. Before the prayers were even finished, fire descended and consumed not only the wood and the sacrifice, but also the dust and the water and the stones: lest the divine altar be affected by injury if those impious ones offered sacrifices to demons upon it. This miracle having been done, he ordered the prophets of falsehood to be killed, and then he caused ^D the rain which the clouds were laboring to bring forth to pour down.

INTERROGATION 59

Furthermore, the fear was a matter of divine dispensation. For lest the greatness of the miracle should lift up his spirit, grace permitted nature to receive fear, so that he might acknowledge his own weakness. For this reason, the Lord also made known to him that seven thousand had remained free from impiety. ^A Besides this, He taught him with how much gentleness and long-suffering He determined to rule and administer the human race; and that it was easy for Him to send lightning bolts and thunderclaps upon the impious, and to shake the earth, and to make it an improvised grave for them, and to destroy them all utterly with violent winds. For this is what He said: “And a great and strong wind, and breaking mountains, and grinding rocks before the Lord: not in the wind is the Lord; and after the wind, a shaking: not in the shaking is the Lord; and after the shaking, fire: and not in the fire is the Lord; and after the fire, the voice of a gentle breeze.” By these things, He showed that long-suffering and benevolence alone are pleasing to God, while every other thing is drawn on by the wickedness of men. ^B

INTERROGATION 60 Cur jussus ungere Azaelem, et Jehu, et Elisam, solum unxit prophetam?

If he anointed the prophet, and imparted to him spiritual grace, he also anointed the others through him. For Elisha, having received the prophetic grace through him, brought the gift to them and imparted [that] spiritual grace to them.

INTERROGATION 61 Quid est: “Benedixit Naboth Deo et regi”? ^C

506 The wicked Jezebel wove the calumny, and first indeed ordered he should be accorded his customary honor and sit before the others. Then [she ordered] calumniators to come and heap charges of blasphemy upon him. For she used a good word, putting "blessed" (benedixit) for "blasphemed." Moreover, she commanded a fast to be held, so that by this means she might show that he had been killed justly.

INTERROGATION 62 Quomodo Achab cupiens vineam, et ægre ferens quod eam non acceperit, propter Nabothi cædem doluit? ^D

Levis erat infelicissimus ille, et facile huc et

^A was being transferred there. Whence it happened that the wicked little woman cast him into the abyss of impiety. For the history also teaches this: "For Ahab was sold for nothing," it says, "to do evil before the Lord, as his wife Jezebel perverted him: and he became very abominable, so that he went after all the abominations, according to all that the Amorite did, whom the Lord destroyed from the sight of the children of Israel." But he calls the Amorite here, not a nation, but all the Canaanites. For the Amorite is also named in the Hebrew tongue as one who dwells. But the Lord God, the abyss of goodness, threatened destruction because of the slaughter: but because of the lamentation which he made on account of the slaughter, He granted a delay of punishment. For when the Syrians had already ^B gathered many thousands against him, and were roaring, and saying: "Will the dust of Samaria suffice for the handfuls of my foot soldiers?" (these things they said, threatening the mounds of a siege), God sent a prophet, and dissolved the fear of the unhappy king, using these words: "You have seen this great noise at all. Behold, I give it into your hands: and you shall know that I am the Lord." But he very aptly named the sound of threatening words a noise: for it was dissolved in a short time by the nod of divine aid.

INTERROGATION 63

illuc ferebatur. ^A Since a struggle had occurred in the plain, Israel struck down a hundred and twenty thousand of their adversaries. But so that both they and others might know that the plague was sent by God, a wall fell upon those who had fled and taken refuge in the city of Aphek and buried twenty-seven thousand.

INTERROGATION 64. Why do the prophets use parables when they deliver divine predictions?

So that those who hear such words, not knowing that they are pronouncing sentence against themselves, may judge justly. For we see sin differently in ourselves and differently in others. Nathan also did this. For he did not immediately bring a rebuke to David, but first related the calamity of the poor man; then, seeing him pass a just sentence, he revealed the person of the accusation. The prophet did this here as well. For, covering his face with a bandage and concealing his eyebrows, he approached Ahab. Then he taught him that a certain man captured in war had been handed over to him, ^B with the one who had handed him over ordering him to guard him and threatening that if he escaped, he would be punished with death. But, he says, while I was watching the battle, he escaped, having taken the opportunity. When Ahab heard this, he called him a murderer: "For look," he says, "you who are judge have committed murder before me; for you released a hostile man, so that he might once again commit many murders." Then, having unfastened the bandage, the prophet showed who he was and brought forth the divine sentence: "Thus says the Lord: Because you released from your hand a ruinous man, behold, your life shall be for his life, and your people for his people."

INTERROGATION 65. And why was punishment demanded for humanity?

Because it is necessary to mingle justice with humanity. But this man, having used cruelty against the prophets and having wished to destroy them all utterly, and having removed all whom he had captured, showed gentleness toward the enemy of Israel. ^C That he sinned greatly on account of the instability of his mind, what follows bears witness: "And the king of Israel departed," he says, "oppressed and weeping." For having had experience of divine predictions—for he had won twice according to the divine oracles—he feared the threatened curses, but immediately returned again to his own impiety.

^A INTERROGATION 66. How is it to be understood: "Strike me according to the word of the Lord"?

I do not, he says, command you, but the Spirit that is in me. For this reason, clearly, He brought death through the lion upon him who had disobeyed; but another, being ordered to do this, faithfully obeyed, and striking, he crushed—that is, he wounded.

INTERROGATION 67. How is it to be understood: "As you are, so am I; as your people, so also my people"?

Jehoshaphat, being asked to enter into an alliance for war, promised that he would do this. I will do, he says, the same things as you; as you will take your stand in the battle line, so will I, and as your people will wage war, so also will my people. He showed his piety, however; for he deemed it necessary first to inquire of the God of all. For he says, he said to Ahab: "Let us inquire of the Lord." And when that man had gathered the prophets of Baal, Jehoshaphat again loathed them, but piously sought a divine prophet: "Is there not," he says, "a prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of the Lord through him?" And when he said that there was, and that he was called Micaiah, but that he hated him ^B because he did not prophesy pleasant things, Jehoshaphat answered piously: "Let not the king say so." And in these things, indeed, he is worthy of praise. But his piety was corrupted by friendship and kinship; for this the book of Chronicles has explained to us. But the prophet Micaiah, even though the eunuch who had been sent to him exhorted him to announce good things, did not bring his mind to gratify the king by falsehood: "For the Lord lives," he said, "that whatever the Lord shall say to me, these things I will speak."

INTERROGATION 68. For what reason, when asked by Ahab, "Shall I go up to Ramoth-Gilead?" did he say, "Go up, and the Lord will give success into the hand of the king?"

He waited to be compelled by an oath, and only then to speak the truth. For since Ahab supposed that the prophet ^C was predicting distressing things out of hatred, he first spoke the things that were agreeable. Then, being compelled by an oath, he made known the divine things. For since Ahab had said: "How often do I adjure you, that you speak the truth to me in the name of the Lord?"—and "how often" is placed instead of "many times" ^D.

"—Micah added: ^A "Not so," meaning "I did not say those things rightly." For I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains like sheep which have no shepherd. By these things he shows that his wickedness is the cause of the slaughter; for if they had had a good and pious shepherd, they would have overcome the enemies with force. Then he also shows the way to obtain salvation: "For the Lord said," he says, "if they belong truly to God, let each one return to his own house in peace." If you believe in God and wish to learn from Him what must be done, disband the army. But when Ahab had said to Jehoshaphat, "Did I not tell you that he does not prophesy good things to me, but evil?" the prophet said, "Not I; hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord God of Israel sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven stood about Him on His right hand and on His left, and He said: 'Who shall deceive Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up to Ramoth-Gilead, and fall there?' And one said one thing, and another said another. And He said, 'You shall not prevail.' And a spirit came forth and stood before the Lord and said: 'I will deceive him.' And the Lord said to him, 'In what way?' And he said: 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets, and I will deceive him.' And He said: 'You shall prevail, go out and do so.'" ^B This is a certain prosopopeia.

VARIAE LECTIONES FROM THE CATENA LIPSIENSIS

^A And he said: "You shall prevail; go out and do so." This ^B is a personification, teaching the divine permission. For the true God and teacher of truth, who had said through the prophet, "If they are truly directed towards God, let each man return to his own house in peace," did not command Ahab to be deceived. Through these things, therefore, the prophet taught that the spirit of deceit, using impious men as its instruments, falsely promises victory. This happens by the permission of God; for though He could have prevented it, He did not, since Ahab was unworthy of divine care. Josephus, moreover, said that this was Micaiah, who had previously used a disguise and who had prophesied painful things to Ahab, inferring this from Ahab’s saying, "I hate him, for he does not speak good of me, but evil." And even now he had sent him to prison, ordering that he be given very little food, by which he merely intended to prevent him from dying of hunger. Yet not even so did the prophet cease to speak freely, but cried out: "If you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken through me." Having heard these words, he set out for war; and Jehoshaphat went with him, doing things unworthy of his own piety. For although he had sought out a prophet, had dismissed the false prophets, and had learned from Micaiah what was to be done, he preferred friendship over piety. Nevertheless, because of his other virtue, he was an object of divine providence. For when the Syrians, judging from his royal garments that he was the king of Israel, rushed against him, he indeed invoked the help of God, and God promptly provided him with safety.

But the divine prediction reached its end. For the wounded Ahab remained a long time in his chariot, so that his flight might not cause the army to be put to rout. But the flowing blood became fixed to the chariot. The charioteer washed this at a spring near the city; and the dogs licked it. ^C But the harlots came at dawn to wash themselves, according to usage, not intentionally wishing to wash in blood, but in the spring water as they were accustomed; yet that [water] was stained with blood.

QUESTIONS ON THE FOURTH BOOK OF KINGS

IN THE BOOK OF THE IV KINGS

^AINTERROGATION I. How is that which is said, "Moab rebelled against Israel," to be understood? ANSWER. The Moabites paid tribute to Ahab as subjects; but when he died, they despised his son and did not wish to acknowledge him as their lord.

^BINTERROGATION II. What is the "reticulated upper chamber"? It was a house suited for the summer season, having many windows constructed like a net, which many call "perforated."

INTERROGATION III. What is the meaning of "to be offended"? Divine Scripture is accustomed to call idols "offenses" and "abominations." For they are full of abomination and worthy of hatred. For "to be offended" signifies hatred. Thus, Isaac also said: "I have been offended in my soul because of the daughters of the Canaanites," that is, I have hated. And the blessed David said: "He hath stood in every way not good, but with malice he was not offended," that is, he did not hate malice. ^C But the madness of the impious is truly to be lamented. For they not only worshipped the greatest of animals as gods, but even the smallest and most contemptible and those full of filth. For what is more odious than a fly? And yet they proclaimed even its image to be a god; and having forsaken the true God, they inquired about life from the image of a fly, and the thing which they drove away with fans when it was living, its figure they called God.

^DINTERROGATION IV. Some have accused the prophet of cruelty, because he delivered the two captains of fifty with their subordinates to heavenly fire. Those who accuse the prophet, against God [the prophet...]

for it was He who sent the fire—move their tongues. ^A It is, therefore, of exceeding audacity to resent divine dispensations. For one must know the justice of divine providence, and that He justly punishes sinners and confers benefits upon His servants. The captains of fifty and their subordinates were clearly in agreement with the intention of him who sent them. Whence they also endured the divinely-sent punishments. For the third ^B captain of fifty, adorned with equity and faith, and having learned by experience of the prophet's power, made use of gentle words and escaped the punishment.

QUESTION V

INTERROGATION VI

QUESTION VII.

QUESTION VIII.

QUESTION IX.

QUESTION X.

QUESTION XI.

^A to the king of Israel one hundred thousand lambs and one hundred thousand rams with their wool. As a mark of praise, however, they said concerning Elisha that he used to pour water upon the hands of Elijah. They held that great prophet in such high admiration. But necessity also compelled the impious kings to flee to the most renowned Elisha. He, however, using the freedom of speech of his master, said, "What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother." Necessity even makes the bold gentle. Immediately, therefore, Joram, answering mildly, said, "Has the Lord called these three kings to deliver them into the hands of Moab?" But not even thus did he persuade the prophet not to rebuke his impiety. For he said, "As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, if I did not have respect for the face of ^B Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would not have looked at you, nor seen you." Thus, when necessity had brought down the pride of power, the rebuke was applied at a timely moment.

INTERR. XII. How is "Bring me a minstrel" to be understood?

The most divine David, who was endowed with both royal and prophetic grace, wisely also ordered the priestly ministry, and he commanded the priests to use trumpets in accordance with the Mosaic Law, but the Levites to use lyres, and harps, and cymbals, ^C and other instruments. They, however, used the spiritual melody of David. From among these, the prophet commanded one to be summoned. While he was playing, the grace of the Spirit signified what was to be done; for in the torrent he commanded huge trenches to be dug, so that when the water flowed from afar, the trenches might be filled with water and provide necessary use for the army. It must be noted, however, that he called the spiritual grace "the hand of the Lord." For it says, "The hand of the Lord was upon him, and he said, 'Thus says the Lord.'"

INTERR. XIII. How is "And there was great indignation against Israel" to be understood?

When the Moabites were being utterly destroyed, their king tried to flee. But because a strong and valiant ^D cohort did not allow him, he burned his firstborn son, whom he had as the heir to the kingdom, upon a tower. When the multitude of the enemies saw this, they pitied that misfortune and raised the siege.

^A

INTERROGATION XIV.

INTERROGATION XV.

INTERROGATION XVI.

^A He, therefore, not knowing, asked: "Why do you go to him today? It is neither new moon nor Sabbath." For they were accustomed to keep festival on the Sabbaths and new moons. But she said, "Peace." "I wish," she says, "to speak to him." Now when the prophet saw her from afar, he asked through Giezi how she herself was, and her husband, and their child. For this is what "Peace to you? Peace to your husband? Peace to the child?" signifies—in place of, "Are you well? Are you in good health?" She indeed said to Giezi, "Peace," but having seized the prophet's feet, she revealed the affliction, and her tears showed her grief. But when Giezi tried to make her rise, the prophet said, "Let her be, for her soul is in bitterness, and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me." From this, therefore, it is clear ^B that prophets did not know all things, but those things which divine grace revealed to them.

QUEST. XVII. For what reason, when sending Giezi to raise the boy, did he command him: "If you find anyone on the way, do not salute him; and if anyone salutes you, do not answer him"? He knew him to be ambitious and vainglorious, and that he would tell those he met on the way the reason for his journey; but vainglory is wont to be an impediment to the working of a miracle. ^C

QUEST. XVIII. What does "He bowed himself upon him" signify? Other interpreters have said this means "He breathed into him." For just as the Creator of all things, having fashioned the body of Adam, through the infusion imparted the soul, so the prophet, having breathed into him, raised the lad. But the Creator, by breathing, created a soul that was not; the prophet, however, brought back the soul that already existed into its own body. And the words "he breathed into him," others have interpreted as "he covered him." He applied the organs of his own senses to that one's organs—eye to eye, mouth to mouth, hands to hands—in order that the dead man might partake of the life of the living one, that is, of the spiritual grace which grants life. ^D

^A Q. 18. What is "to gather *arioth*?" ^B Others interpreted these as wild herbs. Those who gathered them, unaware, had mixed in colocynth; but the prophet quenched the power of the poison, ordering flour to be cast into the cauldron. He quenched it, however, not by the nature of the flour, but by the grace of the prophet. Thus, also, it was not the salt that changed the barrenness of the waters into fruitfulness, but the power of the prophetic spirit. History, moreover, teaches us of the destitute life of the prophets. For he who was their leader sometimes feasted them on wild herbs, and at other times set before a hundred men twenty barley loaves, which had been brought by others. Yet he imparted such a great blessing to them that it satisfied the hundred, and after their fill, much remained over. So great, too, was the power of that poverty that the king of the Syrians stood in need of its grace, and sent Naaman, the commander of the army, so that he might be delivered from his leprosy through the prophetic prayer. And indeed the king of Israel, having read the letter of the Syrian, was of two minds and rent his garments. But the poor prophet was angry with him, and commanded that Naaman be sent to him. And he did not even endure to see him himself, being a leper, observing the law as one who lived under the Law; but he ordered him to wash seven times in the river Jordan. For the leprosy was of the body. Now, this consists of the four elements, and in seven days the present life revolves. The purification of the soul, however, is accomplished according to the number of the holy Trinity. But Naaman at first resisted, saying that the rivers of Damascus were better, yet having accepted the advice of his own people, he went, and, delivered from the disease, ^C he came to the prophet. And first he offered him precious gifts; but the prophet preferred to all wealth the poverty he so greatly desired, and fulfilled the evangelical legislation before it was brought forth. "For freely," he says, "you received, freely give" (Matt. x, 8). But that admirable man...

QUEST. XIX

^A believing that the very land of Israel itself was sanctified, asked for two mule-loads of earth from it, so that upon this alone he might offer the customary sacrifices to the Lord God. "For your servant," he says, "will not make burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods, but to the Lord alone. And concerning this matter may the Lord show mercy to your servant, and when my lord enters the house of Reeman to worship there, for he himself is accustomed to rest upon my hand; and when he worships in the house of Reeman, I will worship with him to the Lord God, and may the Lord show mercy to your servant concerning this matter." "It is necessary for me," he says, "to enter in with the king who desires to worship the falsely-named god. But I am going to worship the true ^B God; I implore to obtain forgiveness, that because of royal necessity I am compelled to enter to the falsely-named god." This he has made clear by having said: "May the Lord show mercy to your servant concerning this matter." But these words accuse the Jewish crowd, because, although they had the law, and prophets, and priests, and saw miracles and divine signs, they preferred the worship of idols to the worship of God.

But it is right to admire the prophet, both for the power of his grace and for the justice of his judgment. For he knew the theft of Giezi, and assigned to him the leprosy of Neeman: "Did not my heart," he says, "go with you, when Neeman leapt from his chariot to meet you? And now you have taken the silver, and the garments, and you will take for yourself gardens, and olive groves, and vineyards, and flocks, and ^C herds, and men-servants, and maid-servants; but the leprosy of Neeman shall cling to you, and to your seed forever." But while he, being taken by the love of money, was turned into a leper, the choir of the prophets embraced extreme poverty. For they did not even have houses, but used huts. Wherefore they besought that great prophet to go with them as they cut wood to construct them. They lived in such poverty that they did not even deign to possess an axe. Immediately, therefore, when one had fallen into the river, he who had received it on loan said, "O Lord, and it was itself given on loan." Let no one, however, think this expression to be blasphemous. For the prophet David also said in spiritual melody, "O Lord, save me: O Lord, grant prosperity" (Ps. cxvii, 25). But the prophet brought up the iron in an admirable way. For by casting in a piece of wood, he caused the iron to float. And this signifies again the dispensation of our Savior. How...

^A For just as the light wood was submerged, while the very heavy iron floated, so the descent of the divine nature brought about the ascent of the human nature.

INTERR. XX. What is: "In this place, Phelmuni"?

As one might say: "In this very place"; for this is what Phelmuni signifies. ^B Yet in this too the prophet is worthy of admiration. For by hunting he caught the hunters, and having brought blindness upon their eyes, he led them into the city. Then, having besought God to dispel the blindness, he caused them to know that they had been taken within the nets; and that those who had attempted to capture others had themselves been captured. This, too, of his is worthy of praise. For when the king of Israel attempted to kill them, he said: "You shall not strike those whom you have not captured with your sword and your bow. Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and return to their own lord." ^C If they should be slaughtered, he says, the magnitude of the miracle will not be recognized; but if they should return in health to him who sent them, he too will learn the power of our God.

INTERR. XXI. To what use was the dung of doves put?

The necessity of the siege, and the magnitude of the famine, compelled them to use dung instead of salt.

INTERR. XXII. Why did the prophet command the door to be shut, and him who was sent by the king to be detained? ^D

The foolish king, having emulated the bloodthirsty spirit of his father and mother, commanded that the prophet’s head be cut off; and this even while he was clothed in sackcloth and contending with God in prayer that He might loosen and disperse that horrible and clamorous cloud. And when he ought to have besought the prophet to offer intercession to God on his behalf, he did not do this, but threatened to kill him as one who was neglecting or willfully overlooking the extent of the calamity. But immediately, led by repentance, he hastened

^A with the murder. This is what the prophet also signified saying: “See, for he said, that the son of a murderer has sent to take my head? See when the messenger comes, shut the door, and press him in the door: is not the sound of his lord's feet behind him?” Yet, even though the prophet suffered these things, he pleaded with the Master, and suddenly dissolved the blockade. After this narrative, the one who wrote the history taught us how the prophet had foretold for the Shunammite the famine that was to come. He also indicated the time: “For the Lord,” he says, “has called for a famine upon the land, and it shall come ^B upon the land for seven years.” The text also implies that Israel received the punishment of the famine. For this reason, he instructed the Shunammite, saying: “Arise and go, you and your son, and your house; and dwell where you can find [a place].” If the famine had been common to the entire earth, he would not have sent her elsewhere. It is clear, therefore, that Israel was being disciplined by plagues sent by God, as he was living impiously after so much care had been taken for his sake. From this we also learn that the prophet had received a double grace; for the duration of this famine is double.

QUERY XXIII.

The God of all commanded the great Elijah to anoint Elisha as prophet, ^C and Hazael as king of Syria, and Jehu as king of Israel. But he anointed Elisha as he had been commanded, yet he did not anoint the kings; for he was taken up beforehand. But Elisha, having received the double grace of that man, first went to Damascus to anoint Hazael. So Ben-hadad (for it is one name, "son of Ader"), having learned of the prophet's arrival, sent Hazael with magnificent and precious gifts, in order to learn if he would be delivered from his sickness. When Hazael had arrived, the prophet foretold to him both his own kingship ^D and the death of the one who had sent him. However, he told him not to declare the death, so that he would not depart from life in sorrow. Yet when the prophet saw Hazael, he shed streams of tears; for he foresaw the calamities that were to come upon Israel through him. For he had already signified this to him earlier.

^A

QUESTION XXIV.

How is the passage to be understood: *And he took a coverlet, and dipped it in water, and spread it over his face, and he died*? Josephus said that Hazael did this, and brought a violent death upon him; for he was impious, savage, and breathing slaughter. For he himself said: *The God of the mountains is the God of Israel, and not the God of the valleys*; and having been saved by Ahab, he became ungrateful to his benefactor. But history has taught us the harm that a bad marriage brings. For another Joram, the king of the tribe of Judah, was indeed born of Jehoshaphat, a pious man; but, having been led astray by the words of his wife, he became a partaker in her impiety: *For he walked, it says, in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, because he had taken the daughter of Ahab to be his wife; and he did evil before the Lord.*

QUESTION XXV.

How is the passage to be understood: *And he smote Edom, and the people that compassed him about, and the captains with the chariots, and the people fled to their tents*? The king of the tribe of Judah ruled over the Idumeans; but, in accordance with the prophecy of the patriarch Isaac, they cast off the yoke of servitude. *For there shall be, he says, a time when you shall break and loose his yoke from your neck.* Therefore, having made an expedition against them, they slew them and returned to their own land. But the Idumeans, though conquered, would no longer endure to be ruled. ^{B C}

QUESTION XXVI.

For what reason did Elisha anoint Jehu through another prophet? It was expedient that this be done secretly, so that Joram might be quickly removed; for if he had foreseen it, he would have drawn up an army. But in a battle, it would have been necessary for many to fall on both sides.

QUESTION XXVII.

Why did he command him to flee as soon as he had anointed him? So that if he were caught, he would not be in danger. For the Lord God wishes us to make use of human caution and prudence as well. For those who are endowed with reason must use reason for what is appropriate.

QUESTION XXVIII.

Why did they call the prophet an epileptic? ^D As impious men, they offered insults to the servants of God; and they called them mad, because they spoke with boldness. But Jehu did not call him a babbler for the sake of offering an insult.

but wishing to conceal the things that had been spoken. But when he saw that he was being pressed by them, he disclosed it.

^A INTERR. XXIX. *What is: "And every man took his garment, and put it under Jehu upon a step"?*

The following words explain the obscurity of the passage: "He led him to a step." Now, since they knew of the divine appointment, they bestowed upon him the honor as upon a king. He called ^B *Aramin* the Syrians; for *Arama* is Syrian. And thus also others have interpreted it.

INTERR. XXX. *How is it to be understood: "And the driving, the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for the unevenness drove him"?*

The watchman, seeing from afar that those who had been sent did not return, and that the leader of the multitude appeared to be Jehu (for this is what the manner/habit signified), reported what he saw. However, some copies have, "And he who drives was driving Jehu," that is, God.

INTERR. XXXI. *What is: "And the Lord spoke concerning him this burden"?*

They called prophecies and visions "burdens." For of the prophets, some saw things either through dreams or while awake; and this kind was called a vision. But others spoke and predicted the future through the divine Spirit working through them; this they called a *burden*. ^C Jehu was thus recalling the prediction of that great Elijah, that where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, there they would lick the blood of Ahab. For this reason he also ordered the body of Joram to be thrown there. And when he was informed that the body of Jezebel also had been consumed by the dogs, Jehu marveled at the truth of the prophecy. "For in the portion," he said, "of Jezreel, the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jez-^D

^Aabel," and what follows.

Question XXXI

Question XXXII

Question XXXIII

Question XXXIV

^A wishing that no one should escape the slaughter, used those words so that all might have confidence and come together. And that none of the divine priests might become partakers in the punishment, he ordered them to be cast out as if they were unworthy of the feast; and then in this way he pierced them all. He also burned the statue of Baal, and cut down the groves, and delivered all the land of Israel from the other idols. But he continued to worship the golden heifers. And he called the shrine of Baal, Baalim. [H]

INTERR. XXXV. Why did Athaliah destroy even her own descendants?

INTERR. XXXVI. Whom does he call "the runners" (prope currentes)?

INTERR. XXXVII. What is the meaning of: "Keep the watch of the house of Messah"?

14. ^B

INTERR. XXXVIII: What is the meaning of "He gave upon him the sanctification and the testimony"?

The Book of Paralipomenon has it thus: "And he gave upon him the royal insignia, and the testimony; and they made him king, and Jodae and his sons anointed him, and they said, Vivat rex." It is clear from this that he called the anointing "sanctification," and the royal crown "testimony," as it is an indication of the kingdom. They were accustomed to call tyranny "colligation." Such was indeed the wickedness of Gotholia, that having seen her grandson reigning, she tore her garment and cried out, "Colligation, colligation!" But the wisest priest also commanded the centurions to put her to death "outside the sacred enclosures." While the Book of Kings has "outside the *saderoth*," the Book of Paralipomenon has "outside the house." ^C

INTERR. XXXIX: How is the following to be understood: "And Jodae the priest made a covenant between the Lord and between the people, that they should be the people of the Lord"?

Elsewhere, other interpreters have called the "covenant" an agreement or league. He established, he says, both decrees and laws for the king and the people, so that they might serve the Lord alone and live according to His laws. How much a pious teacher helps is taught by history itself: "For he did," it says, "what was right before the Lord all the days that Jodae the priest instructed him." And the historiographer taught the shortcoming of both this king and the people. For he added: "But they did not depart from the high places; the people were still sacrificing and burning incense in the high places." I think, however, that even now not those of the false-named...

^A gods, but those sacrifices made contrary to the Mosaic law outside the temple of God, are being condemned.

INTERR. XL. *What is: "The silver of the valuation of a man, the silver of the valuation of souls"?* We have explained the sense of these words while interpreting Deuteronomy. For the Lord ordained how many shekels those who promise to offer a price for themselves to God the Savior ought to give. King Joas, therefore, commanded the priests to receive all the money that was being offered, and that they themselves should provide the appropriate care for the temple. For this is what he says: "They shall confirm the *bedek* of the house of the Lord, for everything that shall be found there." Now he calls the repair of corrupted stones or wood *bedek*. The book of Chronicles, instead of "to make the *bedek*," says ^B "to repair the house of the Lord," and again, "to care for and repair the house of the Lord."

INTERR. XLI. *What is: "And the Lord repented, and had compassion on them for the sake of His covenant with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob"?*

Joachaz, the son of Jehu, the king of the ten tribes, declining into impiety, had the people as a participant and companion in the worship of idols. God, therefore, exacting penalties from them, delivered them into the hands of Azael, whom, as he was creating him king of Syria, the great Elisha wept over bitterly, as he foresaw the destruction he was about to bring upon the ten tribes. For he so consumed them that only fifty horsemen were left to them, and ten chariots, ^C and ten thousand footmen. Yet they had often possessed more than one million. But God again had compassion on them, and returned their own cities to them. This the author of the book called "repentance"—that is, a change from adverse circumstances to favorable ones.

INTERR. XLII. *For what reason, when the prophet was about to die, did he signify the coming victory to Joas, the son of Joachaz, by means of a bow and arrow?*

They did not believe the words as much as they believed the predictions made through deeds. For that reason, he ordered him to string the bow and place the arrow upon it. Thinking ^D as...

^A and that it would happen that it would lay down many [arrows] of its own accord, he said to the one first sent: "The arrow of salvation for the Lord, and the arrow of salvation in Israel (39), and you shall strike Syria in Aphek even to the end." But since he sent only three, the prophet was greatly indignant, as Syria was only to be defeated three times and not yet suffer total destruction. And even after he was dead, the prophet raised the dead man who had approached him, so that this miracle too might testify that he had received twice the grace of his master.

^B INTERR. XLIII. What does the parable of the thistle and the cedar mean? Amessias, having conquered the Idumeans by the law of war, hoped that he would also conquer the ten tribes, and he challenged their king to battle. But he answered back, representing how the thistle meant towards the cedar that he should betrothe his daughter to his son. And while they were speaking about the marriage, passing beasts trampled and ruined the thistle. Through these words, he likened himself to the cedar, but Amessias to the thistle. For this is what the following words mean: "For striking, you have struck Idumea, and your heart has lifted you up (40); be glorified, be glorified and sit in your house. And why do you argue in wickedness? Both you shall fall, and Judah with you." This admonition, although arrogant, was beneficial, as the end showed. For Amessias was not persuaded and drew up a battle line; but having been defeated ^C and taken prisoner, he was forced to bring the enemy into the royal city. And the one who had become master of Jerusalem tore down four hundred cubits of the walls of the city, and having plundered the divine and royal treasures, he turned back. He also took the sons of the mixtures of abominations, that is to say, the priests of the falsely-named gods.

INTERR. XLIV. What city is Ailon (42)? Which they now call Aila. It is situated at the mouth of the Arabian Gulf, which they call the Red Sea.

INTERR. XLV. The prophecy of Jonah which is in the books of Kings (b), we do not find in the book of Jonah. He wrote in it only those things which were done in the city

^A of Nineveh: for that reason he did not append another prophecy to them.

INTERR. XLVI. *Why was Uzziah made a leper?*

The Book of Chronicles wrote of him more clearly. Interpreting that, therefore, if God wills, we shall state the cause. Now the phrase, "He sat in the house of Aphphusoth" — others have translated as "in secret," that is, in a chamber, seen by no one. Yet his son Jotham directed the kingdom, and this, when Uzziah had reigned for fifty-two years. And when his father had passed away, he became the heir to the kingdom; and he indeed freed the people from other impiety, and he built the high gate of the temple of God. But his praise was not perfect and complete in every respect, because he did not suppress the worship of idols which was taking place on the high places. Now Ahaz, his son, obscured the impiety of others by the excess of his own impiety. ^B

INTERR. XLVII. *How is that to be understood, "He made his sons pass through the fire"?*

Josephus indeed said that he even offered one of his sons as a whole-burnt offering to Baal. But I think that the statement tacitly signifies a kind of error which has reached even our own day. For I have seen in some cities, once a year, fires being lit in the squares, and some jumping over them, and leaping, not only boys, but even men; and infants being carried through the flames by their mothers. This seemed to be a certain expiation and purification. I think this was also the accusation against Ahaz. ^C

INTERR. XLVIII. *To whom did Ahaz order the altar to be built in the temple of God?*

I do not think he built it to the God of the universe, but to one of those who are falsely called gods. For the Book of Chronicles hints at this. It speaks thus: "And Ahaz added to depart from the Lord, and King Ahaz said, I will seek the gods of Damascus that strike me; and he said, that the gods of the king of Syria strengthen them. Therefore I will sacrifice to them, and they will assist me. And they became a stumbling block to him, and to all Israel." And the things that follow ^D next signify this. And Ahaz removed...

the vessels of the house of the Lord, and cut them in pieces, and shut the doors of the house of the Lord, and made himself an altar in every corner of Jerusalem. ^A These things and the things consequent to them he perpetrated. And the book of Kings itself also indicates this. "For it says, king Ahaz went to meet Theglathphalasar king of the Assyrians toward Damascus: and he saw the altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest the measure, and the similitude, and the symmetry of it, according to its entire disposition." And now, indeed, he also removed the bronze altar, which Solomon had constructed, and set up another recently made one in its place. And that the *mechonoth* were bases, the things that follow next teach. "For it says, king Ahaz cut the frames of the *mechonoth*, and removed the laver from them." He dared to commit another impiety also: for he transferred the gate of the royal house inside into the divine temple, making a passage through the sacred courtyards. And this, moreover, the history teaches us, that Adrammelech the Ethiopian dwelt in Egypt. And the others interpreted *Manaa* as gifts.

QUES. XLIX.

In every place, he says, he built altars to the demons, and not only in cities and villages, ^B but also in towers that are on the road, in which a few are accustomed to keep watch. Here, however, he called the high places the temples of the idols. "For they built for themselves high places in all their cities; and the children of Israel set up for themselves pillars and groves, on every high hill, and under every shady tree; and they offered incense there in the high places, as the nations which the Lord removed from before them." But I think that by partners is meant the agreement with the nations, and those who originate from them, and who taught the laws of impiety. For the things that follow next hint at this: "And they made partners, ^C and began to provoke the Lord, and served idols, concerning which the Lord said to them, Ye shall not do this thing." But everywhere the others interpret *grove* as Astaroth. And this signifies Astarte, or Aphrodite.

^A As regards the phrase: "They made an ephod and ^B theraphim," the ephod was composed in imitation of the priestly vestment, while the theraphim were suited for magic predictions. But that no one might bring forward as an excuse for Israel that the division of the kingdom, and the fact that they lived far from Jerusalem, were the cause of their impiety, he necessarily demonstrated the impiety of the tribe of Judah. For he spoke thus: "And even Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord his God, but walked in the statutes of all Israel which they made, and they thrust the Lord away from them." That the Book of Kings was written at a later time from the matters written by the prophets in their own respective times, this passage also teaches: "For," he says, "Israel was removed from his land to the Assyrians until this day." And he who wrote the history has frequently said this. ^C He also taught about those who are now called Samaritans, whence they migrated, and how they were compelled to keep the Mosaic law. For when they were being consumed by wild beasts, they implored that one of the Israelite priests be sent to them, so that he, teaching them the law of the land, might deliver them from the impending injury. For they presumed the Creator of all to be a local god. But yet, when the priest was sent and taught them the law, "They feared," he says, "the Lord, and served their own gods according to the custom of the nations. Whence He removed them from thence until this day." Thus they were doing according to their custom from the beginning. Having spoken these things about the Samaritans, he passed to the tribe of Judah, and praised Hezekiah, as one who, like David, had worshipped the God of all. For he not only crushed the statues and cut down the groves, but also removed the high places, ^D which no one before him had done. He also crushed the bronze serpent which the great Moses had fashioned, not that it might be worshipped, but that it might prefigure the saving passion: "To it," he says, "the people continually offered incense, and they called it Neesthan." I found this set forth in the interpretation of Hebrew names: "This is bronze." But others have interpreted Neesthan as "Naas." From this I think the Ophites, which is a most impious heresy, are also called Naasenes. [alt-version omitted]

QUESTION L. What is the meaning of "At the end of three years"?

QUESTION LI. Why did Hezekiah promise to send gifts to Sennacherib?

QUESTION LII. Why, while striving to appease the Divine, did he provide the tribute from the sacred funds?

^A For he used the Hebrew language to make his speech; wherefore the princes immediately requested him to speak in Syriac, so that the people might not understand what was being said. But he, perceiving that the princes were distressed that the people were grasping what was being said, used the Hebrew language and dared to utter those impious blasphemies, likening the true God to gods falsely so-called. But the most wise king did not set up weapons against his blasphemies, but rather prayers, and tears, and sackcloth; and he entreated the prophet Isaiah to become his intercessor. His words, too, are worthy of praise. “For this day,” he said, “is a day of affliction and of reproach and of rebuke, and of provocation to wrath, for the sons have come as far as the birth-pangs, and there is no strength in the one who is bringing forth.” ^B We are inflamed, he says, and we are kindled with anger, having heard those unspeakable blasphemies, but we are not able to punish those impious men. Whence we beseech the Master, who has heard those blasphemies, to teach the unholy ones that He is not one of those who are called gods. And immediately the philanthropic God, having received the supplication, dispersed the fear of the king. “Behold, for,” He said, “I give a spirit in him, and he shall hear an evil report, and shall return into his own land; and I will cast him down with the sword in their land.” ^C But as for the phrase, “Behold I give a spirit,” I think it signifies fear. For the divine Apostle said thus: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear.”

VARIOUS READINGS FROM THE LEIPZIG CATENA

^A The narrative reaches its conclusion immediately. For when the rumor was spread that the king of the Ethiopians had launched an expedition, Sennacherib, being afraid, retreated, having sent a letter full of every impiety. But the most wise king, having unfolded this in the temple, uttered that admirable cry: “O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, who sittest upon the Cherubim, thou art God alone over all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.” ^B They, he says, think you to be one among the many who do not exist; but I know you alone to be the Creator of all. “Incline, O Lord, thy ear, and hear; open thy eyes, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, which he has sent to reproach the living God.” ^C That phrase, “Incline and hear,” he used in a human way, begging that his prayers might be accepted with favor. “For truly, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid waste the nations and their land, and have delivered their gods to the fire. For they were not gods, but works of the hands of men, wood and stone, and they have destroyed them.” ^D This, he says, moved this impious man to impiety. For he imagined you to be similar to the gods that do not exist; but let him learn by experience, O Lord, how great is the difference between the true God and the false. Moreover, I consider it superfluous to say the same things, for I have already explained these matters when interpreting the prophet Isaiah. I will therefore speak briefly. The Lord, having heard the supplication, by night in a moment [struck] one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians.

VARIOUS READINGS FROM THE LEIPZIG CATENA

^A for I consider it superfluous to say the same things. For I unfolded these things when interpreting the prophet Isaiah. I will speak briefly, then, that the Master, having accepted the supplication, in a moment by night put to death one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians. But Sennacherib escaped death, in order that he might announce to all beings how great is the power of the God of the Jews. Yet he straightway received the just blow from his own children. For since he had raged against Him who had made him, he suffered slaughter at the hands of those who had been begotten by him. He called Ararat Armenia. For the prophecy of Isaiah holds this interpretation. And since I have sufficiently made clear the things concerning the sickness in the prophecy of the divine Isaiah, I consider it superfluous to perform the same interpretation twice. However, the miracle concerning the sun traveled throughout the whole earth. For the turning back of the sun became known to all. On account of which ^B the king of the Babylonians, having learned both of the destruction and of what had happened miraculously regarding the sun, sent both envoys and gifts to the king of the Jews; and those whom they were accustomed to lead away into captivity, they honored as superior. Thus did God, whom they served, render them illustrious.

INTERR. LIII. Why was King Hezekiah rebuked for having shown the treasuries to the envoys of the Babylonians?

Whereas he ought to have taught the power of God and the providence he had received, he displayed wealth which has nothing firm or stable. But that it is not nature, but the will, that holds sway in ^C people who care for earthly things, Manasseh testifies, having abandoned the pious path of his father and having walked the opposite one. “For he built,” it says, “the high places which Hezekiah his father had torn down and demolished, and he erected an altar to Baal, and he made groves, just as Ahab the king of Israel had done; and he worshipped all the host of heaven, and he served them.” He calls the sun, and the moon, and the stars the host of heaven. And what is most impious of all, “he built an altar in the house of the Lord, of which He had said: In Jerusalem I will put my name.” And not one alone, but even more.

For he built for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord; and he practiced divination, and used augury, and made ventriloquists, and multiplied those who reveal secrets. ^A Divination is observation by means of words; augury is that which is done by means of birds. And I think that those who divine by means of the liver are called revealers of secrets. ^B But the most impious thing of all was to set up in the divine temple the image ^C of a lewd and unchaste demon. “For he set,” it says, “the carved image of the grove in the house of the Lord.” And what follows teaches the extreme of impiety.

INTERROGATION LIV.

^A Josiah, when he had learned what was contained in it, sent the high priests and the rulers to Huldah the prophetess. God, however, through her, pronounced sentence against the people, the temple, and the city, because of the wickedness they had committed; but to the pious king he foretold good and favorable things: "Because," he says, "you heard my words, and your heart was softened, and you were ashamed before my face, when you heard what I spoke against this place and those who dwell in it, so that it might be destroyed: and you tore your garments, and wept before me; and I also have listened, says the Lord. Not so: behold, I shall add you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered into your tomb in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the evils that I am bringing upon this house, and upon those who dwell in it." So much do compunction and tears benefit those who employ them. A pious king brings as much good to his subjects as the impious bring destruction. ^B For just as Amon and Manasseh led the people toward impiety, planting groves and raising temples to demons, so Josiah the pious king crushed and melted down in the torrent of Kidron the vessels that had been fashioned for Baal, for Astarte, and for the other idols; and in Bethel he burned the priests of the idols. I suspect that Mazuroth is the name of a star, and I conjecture that Lucifer was so named. For it is said thus: "And they burned incense to Baal, and to the sun, and to the moon, and to Mazuroth, and to the whole host of heaven."

INTERR. LV. What house does he speak of, of those who were in the house of the Lord? ^C By homonymy he called the demons "holy." For "Kades" is interpreted as "holy." "In this house, he says, the women were weaving garments for the grove." But the grove, as I have often said, other interpreters call either Aseroth or Astaroth. This is a name for Venus, for they call her Astarte. Her image also they had set up inside the divine temple. But the most admirable king both cut down the grove and cast down the image, and delivered ^D it to the fire. However, Aquila translated it thus: "Where they were making garments..."

for those who played the harlot from the Lord" ^A (77).

That "high places" ^B were called not only the altars of idols, but also the altars built to the Lord in high places, the History teaches again. For it speaks thus: "Nevertheless, the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of God in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread in the midst of their brethren." It is clear that these were of the priestly tribe. If, however, they had worshipped idols, the pious king would not have granted them forgiveness.

INTERR. LVI.

That the one who persuaded the man of God to partake of food with him was not a false prophet, it is easy to learn from this. For it says that the bones of the older prophet who dwelt in Bethel were preserved along with the bones of the man of God who came from Judah and spoke all these things which Josiah did.

INTERROGATION LVII.

Neither did he compare the one to the other, nor the other to the one, but comparing both this one and that one to others who seemed to be pious—Asa, and Jehoshaphat, and Jotham—he proclaimed them to be better. If, however, any man should look at the bare

letter, it will be found both that this man and that man surpassed David. For concerning both it was said: "There was no king like him before him." ^A But it is clear that he did not set Hezekiah before David, nor did he declare Josiah to be better than Hezekiah and David; rather, he compared them with other pious men. If any man has assumed that Hezekiah is to be reproached, as one who possessed a lofty spirit and showed his treasures to the ambassadors of the Babylonians, he will see that Josiah also is not entirely free from blame. For when Pharaoh Neco ^B set out on an expedition against the Assyrians, he was eager to bring aid to the Assyrians; and as the book of Chronicles taught, Pharaoh said to him, "What have I to do with thee, O king of Judah? I am not come to make war upon thee today, but against the place of the war, and God has commanded me to make haste. Beware of God who is with me, that He may not destroy thee." And Josiah did not turn his face from him, but ^C took courage to fight against him, and Josiah did not listen to the words of Pharaoh Neco from the mouth of the Lord; and he came to fight in the plain of Megiddo. And the archers of Pharaoh shot at King Josiah. And the king said to his servants, "Take me away, for I am wounded sore." But Ezra says thus: "And the king of Egypt sent to Josiah, saying, What have I to do with thee, O king of Judæa? I am not sent to thee by the Lord God; for my war is at the Euphrates. ^D And now the Lord is with me, hastening; withdraw, and do not oppose the Lord." And Josiah did not turn his chariot, but attempted to wage war against him, not attending to the dictates of Jeremiah the prophet from the mouth of the Lord, but joined battle against him in the field with the wicked. He is not, then, comparing these men to one another, nor is he preferring one to the other; for to think so is of the utmost folly. Rather, he compared them with other kings. The matters concerning Jehoiakim, and Joakim, and Jechoniah, and Zedekiah, the divine Jeremiah wrote of more extensively. And that book, by divine grace, we have interpreted in its entirety. I think it superfluous, therefore, to go over the same words twice. Moreover, the divine Jeremiah calls Jehoiakim, the son of Joakim, Jechoniah, but the book of Chronicles calls him Joakim. This man Evil-Merodach released from prison and had as his guest and dining companion. For He who wounds and heals, having delivered him to his enemies, deigned to set him free again.

QUESTIONS ON THE FIRST BOOK OF CHRONICLES

ON THE FIRST BOOK OF CHRONICLES

The very name of the book of Chronicles declares its subject matter. For whatever he who wrote the books of Kings omitted, he who undertook this labor collected, having gathered it from many prophetic books. ^A And he added many things from those which were written there, that he might preserve the harmony of the history. He began the genealogy from the beginning, in order to show briefly how from one man all the races of men sprouted. Since he makes mention only of the kingdom of Judah, he teaches what their cities and villages are, and from whom they had their names. Hence we learn that Nathan—from whom the wondrous Luke traced the genealogy of our Savior and Lord—was the son of David, and a half-brother of Solomon. "For these," he says, "were born to David in Jerusalem: Samaa, and Sobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, four sons of Bersabee the daughter of Ela" (1 Paral. iii, 5). And the book also shows this, that Rechab, who is praised in many places of Scripture, was from the tribe of Judah. ^B It also teaches more clearly the reason why Reuben fell from his primogeniture, and Joseph obtained it, and the tribe of Judah enjoyed greater honor. "For the sons of Reuben," he says, "the firstborn of Israel, for he was the firstborn; but because he defiled his father's bed, he gave his birthright to the sons of Joseph, and Reuben was not reckoned as firstborn, because Judah was strong in power among his brothers, and a leader is from him, and the birthright to Joseph" (1 Paral. v, 1, 2). The account signifies that while Joseph received the prerogatives of the firstborn, Judah received the leadership on account of the Lord, who was born of him according to the flesh. ^C For the phrase "a leader is from him" hints at this. For the discourse signifies not only the kings to arise from him, but also the eternal King, who had neither beginning of days nor will receive an end. It teaches also how those tribes that were beyond the Jordan, Reuben and Gad, and...

^A the half-tribe of Manasseh, engaged in battle with the Hagarenes, the Ituraeans, and the Naphisaeans, and with those that were arrayed with them; and how, after a fierce battle had taken place, they conquered with great power and drove out the Hagarenes. He mentions also the cause of the victory: "Because," he says, "they cried out to God in the battle, and He heard them, because they trusted in Him." He also recorded the number of the spoils: "For they took," he says, "fifty thousand camels, and two hundred and fifty thousand sheep, and two thousand asses, and one hundred thousand human souls. For there were many wounded, because the war was from God, and they dwelt in their stead until the transmigration." ^B He also recounts the genealogy of the priests and the Levites; and he says that Zadok, who was high priest in the time of David, was the eleventh from Aaron; and that Azariah, who was a descendant of Zadok, was the first to perform the priestly office in the temple which Solomon built. From these also was Josedech, who was taken captive in the war and led away to Babylon with the others. His son was Joshua the high priest, who with Zerubbabel led back the captive multitude and built the temple of God. From this we learn that Korah, who stirred up ^C the sedition against Moses the great one, was a descendant of Izhar, who was indeed a son of Kohath, but a brother of Amram, the father of Aaron and Moses; he was, therefore, a cousin of the lawgiver. But while he himself paid the penalties for his attempted tyranny in the desert, his sons did not share in the father's punishment. For instance, the great Samuel traces his lineage from him. Moreover, Heman, who sang the psalms, was a grandson of the prophet Samuel, for he was the son of Joel, the son of Samuel. Asaph, however, who ^D was also one of the singers, traced his lineage from Gershon, who was a son of Levi and a brother of Kohath. Ethan, moreover (for he too was of the singers), had as his ancestor Merari, the third son of Levi. He teaches also the difference between the priests and the Levites. For he says that the Levites were appointed for all the service of the tabernacle of the house of God: "And Aaron," he says, "and his sons were burning incense upon the altar of burnt offerings, and upon the altar of incense, and for all the work of the Holy of Holies, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God commanded." It seems to me, however, that this book was written after the return from Babylon. For he mentions the captivity and teaches its cause. "For all Israel," he says, "was reckoned in genealogies, and behold they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah, and they were carried away to Babylon for the prevarication by which they...

^A transgressed. And those who dwelt before in their possessions and in the cities of Israel, even the priests, and the Levites, and the Nathinæans. These things show that this writing is later than the captivity. For no one writing history tells of things that happened later, but either things that happened before or things that happened in his own time. For it is the property of prophets to predict future events. He said, moreover, that those who had possessed that land before them were also carried into captivity with them. For many, even the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, dwelt with them, and partook of the calamity. And along with Israel, the priests and the Levites were carried away captives. Now I think the Nathinæans are called those who are termed servants of the sanctuary. For many consecrated themselves to the ministries of the priests and Levites. For it was necessary that those who were from other tribes should both carry water, and chop wood, and perform all other such tasks. For if Joshua, the all-praiseworthy, commanded the Gibeonites, who were foreigners, to be water-carriers of the tabernacle and wood-choppers, much more was such a ministry fitting for Israelites. I have found also in the interpretation of Hebrew names that this name signifies a gift of Jao, that is, of the God who is. He mentions also the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and says that these were of the sons of Judah, and Benjamin, and Ephraim, and Manasseh. He mentions also the priests and Levites, who inhabited that city. And he calls those who drew their origin from Core, Corites. From these, he says, there were also janitors of the temple of God, and that this arrangement was made by Samuel and David. ^C "For these," he says, "did David and Samuel the seer number and establish in their faith; these and their sons were over the gates of the house of the Lord and the house of the tabernacle, to guard it unto the four winds." He mentioned the tabernacle because, by Samuel and David, the divine temple had not yet been built, but they performed the sacred ministries in the tabernacle. He explained also the daily courses. For they did not succeed one another daily, but according to a number of seven days. For this he added: "And their brethren in their courts came to ^D seven days, from time to time, with them." The vessels of the ministry were also entrusted to others: "Some of them were," he says, "over the vessels of the ministry, because they brought them in according to number, and brought them out according to number. And of them were men appointed over the vessels, and over all the holy vessels, and the fine flour, and the wine, and the oil, and the frankincense, and the spices." Now the priests compounded the incense.

^A For it says, "From the priests, the perfumers of the myrrh in the spices."

Regarding the tomb of Saul, it is written more clearly here. For in the books of Kings we read that they took his bones and buried them in the field at Jabes, but here it says under the oak in Jabes. And the matters concerning the ventriloquist are also more clearly revealed here. "For Saul died," it says, "in his iniquities in which he transgressed against the Lord, according to the word of the Lord, because he did not keep it, and because Saul inquired of the ventriloquist to seek, and Samuel the prophet answered him." The account ^B shows that it was not by the jugglery of the ventriloquist that he brought up Samuel, but that while he indeed impiously and unlawfully requested that this be done through her, God brought the sentence of punishment upon him. These things openly teach that the prediction was not false, as some suppose, for it says, "And Samuel the prophet answered him."

I think the vision was so named because Saul desired to learn from Samuel what was to be done. Whether it was an angel that appeared, showing the form in the likeness of Samuel, or the soul of Samuel himself in this vision, it must be understood that this was not done by the jugglery of the ventriloquist, ^C but by the wisdom and power of God, who even through impious men has often predicted many future events: through Pharaoh, the abundance and the famine; and through Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest kingdoms of the world. But enough has been said about these things in the interpretation of the [books of] Kings. We must therefore proceed to the remainder. He said that David was anointed in Hebron according to the word of the Lord, by the hand of Samuel, because God had commanded Samuel to anoint him. But the passage, "David went on, going and becoming great, and the Lord Almighty was ^D with him," indicates the dignity of the most Holy Spirit. For it called the most Holy Spirit the "Lord Almighty."

And he said that the Egyptian whom Benaiah slew was five cubits tall. How then do some claim that there have not been those who possessed large bodies? He called the troop of the Amalekites *Gedur*, but the book of Kings called it a "band." Furthermore, the writer, listing those who gathered in Hebron, also says this: "And of the sons of Issachar, who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, two hundred; and all their brethren were with them." He held these in admiration because of their wisdom, as men who were capable and shrewd at seeing what needed to be done and at foreseeing the future—not prophetically, but prudently—and at suggesting what was expedient. When the ark was being transferred, Uzzah, seeing it tipping, put forth his hand to...

support it. He was punished because, though a Levite, he was not a priest, yet he dared to approach it; for it was the part of priests alone to carry it upon their shoulders. ^B After David, in fear, dared not bring it into the royal house, but placed it in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite—showing that God does not acknowledge a difference between an Israelite and a foreigner, but honors only piety—He caused the house of the foreigner to abound with every kind of blessing. Perceiving these fountains, David transferred the ark back into the royal palace. He recognized the cause of Uzzah’s punishment; for which reason he did not transfer it by chariot, but through the priests. “For they carried it,” he says, “as Moses commanded by the word of the Lord God of Israel, according to the writing with poles upon their shoulders” (1 Paral. xv, 15). Then he tells of the appointments of the singers, and who sang to citharas, who to lyres, and who to cymbals. ^C The difference of the musical instruments we have spoken of in the books of Kings.

INTERROGATION I.

How did David, not being a priest, wear an ephod? For it says, “David had on only an ephod” (cf. 2 Reg. vi, 14).

We have often said that Aquila interprets *ephod* as an over-garment; Symmachus, as a *superhumerale*. But there were priestly over-garments, and there were also common ones. It is evident that the great David, being a pious and God-loving man, would not have transgressed the law, nor did he dare to don priestly vestments. But the discourse teaches that when he ^D preceded the ark and danced, he was not attired in royal garments, but in an over-the-shoulder mantle alone, which they now call an *Arcadica*. That word *cherchal* we find in the books of Kings instead of *kollyrida*. The book implies that all the psalms belong to the most celebrated David. And it speaks thus: “Then David appointed at the beginning to praise the Lord by the hand of Asaph and his brethren” (1 Paral. xvi, 7). The work of hymnody was performed perpetually, sustaining the labor in alternate succession: for now these, and now those, offered praise to the Creator of all things. He says, moreover, that he also commanded Zadok the priest to offer sacrifices in Gibeon, since...

the tabernacle constructed by Moses had been fixed in that city. When, however, the death inflicted by God was brought upon the people, and he saw the angel bringing destruction, he built an altar on the threshing floor of Ornan, and offered sacrifice on behalf of the people; not as though transgressing the divine law, which ^A commanded that sacrifices be offered on the altar before the tabernacle, but because he was compelled by the punishment hanging over the people to appease God. For history also teaches this. “For the tabernacle,” he says, “of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of holocausts, were at that time in the high place which is in Gibeon; and David could not go before it to seek God, because he could not pause before the sword of the angel of the Lord.” Then he consecrated the place where he had appeased God by offering sacrifice, so that the divine temple might be built upon it. For he says, David said, “This is the house of God, and this is the altar of holocaust for Israel.” And that he was not blamed for offering sacrifice far ^B from the tabernacle, history teaches. For not fire made by hands consumed the offerings, but fire sent down from heaven: “For David cried,” he says, “to the Lord, and the Lord heard him in fire from heaven upon the altar of holocaust.” He also commanded that all the proselytes be numbered; and he made some stone-cutters, and others he commanded to carry the stones that were being cut. He ordered that the stones be hewn and polished in the quarries themselves, and then transported. Furthermore, the saying: “You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed much blood upon the earth before me,” I think was spoken for the benefit of those who commit wicked murders. For he would not have blamed the king for a just killing, he who called the just killing which Phinees performed a sacrifice. And indeed, Phinees was a praised priest. “For Phinees,” he says, “son of Eleazar, repressed my anger, ^C in that he was zealous with my zeal.” And the prophet David himself also said after many generations: “Phinees stood and appeased, and the slaughter ceased; and it was accounted to him for righteousness, to generation and generation forever.” And Moses, the lawgiver, also put to death three thousand who had consecrated themselves to the calf, having used the Levites as ministers; and the great Samuel with his own hand killed Agag; and the great Elias killed eight hundred and fifty prophets and priests of Baal. Therefore, for another reason

^A not he himself, but his son built the divine temple. For since Christ, who is son of David according to the flesh, but as God is also Lord and Master of David, was about to build churches ^B throughout the whole world, He did not allow David to build the Jewish temple; but He commanded his son to do this, whose name typified the peace of our Savior. For Solomon is interpreted as "peaceful," and our Lord is called Peace. And the blessed Paul is a witness, crying out: "He is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of the partition." [b] However, the history teaches the number of the Levites, and how many thousands were commanded to oversee the building, and how many to judge and teach the law, and how many in turn to be gatekeepers and to guard the entrances of the temple, and how many to sing and praise the Lord of all. It also tells how he joined the descendants of Moses to the Levites: "For Moses," he says, "the man of God, and his sons, were called into the tribe of Levi." [c] It also taught that Zadok the high priest was a descendant of Eleazar, and Abimelech of Ithamar, and that when more were found who traced their lineage from Eleazar, he assigned two parts in the courses to them, and one to those from Ithamar. "For David," he says, "divided them between the sons of Eleazar, princes according to the houses of their families, and he divided them by lots." [d] The blessed Luke also mentions these courses at the very beginning of the Gospel. For he says that Zacharias was of the course of Abia. [e] And this present book teaches that this Abia had drawn the seventh lot. As for Asaph, and Heman, and Idithum, the leaders of the singers, some have said that they were not called prophets of God, but of David, because they received the hymns from him and sang them with instruments. But I think that they too had shared in the prophetic gift. For the history itself also teaches this: "For David the king," it says, "and the princes of the host, set apart for the works the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Idithum, who prophesied with harps, and psalteries, and cymbals." [f] And after a little: "The sons of Asaph adhering to Asaph the prophet, adhering to the king." [g] And again concerning Idithum: "The sons of Idithum, adhering to their father Idithum, who prophesied with harps in the confession and praise to the Lord." And after a little: "All these were the sons of Heman, the seer to the king in the words of God, to lift up the horn. And God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. All these with their father sang hymns in the house of the Lord with cymbals and psalteries."

for the service of the house of God, being under the command of the king, and ^A Asaph, and Idithum, and Heman.

And the descendants of Moses the great he appointed guards of the sacred treasures. In these were stored both the spoils taken from the wars and the gifts offered to God. "For all that," he says, "which King David, and the princes of the families, and the commanders of thousands, and the centurions, and the commanders of the army sanctified, which they took from the wars and from the spoils, and sanctified from them—that the building of the house of the Lord might not lack anything—and over all the holy things of God, whatever Samuel the seer, and Saul the son of Cis, and Abner the son of Ner, and Joab the son of Saruia, and everyone sanctifying, sanctified through the hands of Salometh and his brethren."

Let no one think there is a disagreement ^B in that Banea is called in the books of Kings the prefect of the court and the king’s cousin, but here a priest. For they were of the same name, but this one was of the priestly tribe, and not of the royal tribe.

Admirable is the exhortation which David made to his son. "For know," he said, "the God of your fathers, and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing soul, because the Lord searches all hearts and knows every thought of the mind." He says that He does not accept forced service, but praises that which is voluntary, and loves perfect eagerness of mind. "If you seek him, he will be found by you; and if you forsake him, he will forsake you for ever." An evangelical promise: ^C "For seek," he says, "and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you."

And, "See, therefore," he says, "that he has chosen you to build Him a house for a sanctuary: take courage, and do it." He means, "He preferred you over me; I wished to build, and He entrusted the work to you. Therefore, with all eagerness of mind, fulfill what has been commanded." Then, as to a young man, and one ignorant of the measure and the form of the building, he gave it sketched and delineated. "For he gave," he says, "to Solomon his son the pattern of the temple, and of its houses, and of its chambers, and of the upper rooms, and of the inner closets, ^D and of the house of the propitiatory." And teaching that no human reasoning had described these, but the grace of the Spirit, he added: "And the pattern of all that he had in mind, and of the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the cells that are round about, which belonged to the chambers of the house of the Lord." He was also teaching what weight should be the golden lampstands, and what the tables. Likewise the censers, and the flesh-hooks, and the craters, and the phials; he calls certain vessels gold and silver, in which they used to mix fine flour with oil. And when he had recounted all other things, he added: "All things in writing, by the hand of the Lord, David gave to Solomon."

according to the understanding that was his for measuring/comprehending the workmanship of the pattern." ^A It must be noted that above he said the knowledge was given in the Spirit, but here, from the hand of the Lord. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is the Lord, even if those who fight against the Spirit do not wish it. Moreover, with a certain limitation, He promised him divine care. "For He will not fail you," He says, "nor will He forsake you, until you have finished all the work of the house of the Lord." For while building, he remained pious and enjoyed divine providence; but after the building, having declined into impiety, he became destitute of divine care. ^B And that the temple was also decorated with marble, the history teaches. "For stones," it says, "of onyx, and stones of filling, precious and variegated stones, and every precious stone, and Parian stones in abundance." And having shown how many myriads of talents of gold and silver he had gathered, and brass and iron beyond the calculation of men, he exhorted the princes to offer gifts willingly to the Lord God. For he said this: "And who will offer willingly to fill his hands today to the Lord?" ^C When he saw the prompt alacrity of the people's mind, he offered a hymn to the Lord God. "For who am I," he says, "and who is my people, that we have been able to offer voluntarily such things to you? For all things are yours, and of your own we have given to you. For we are sojourners before you, and strangers, as all our fathers are; and our days on the earth are as a shadow." ^D Having thus confessed the weakness of human nature, he asked for the possession of piety both for the people and for the king. "For give him," he says, "a good heart to do your commandments, and your testimonies, and your precepts." Then he instructs all the people to participate in the singing of the hymn, and for all together to bend their knees and offer worship. Then, having offered a thousand oxen and performed other sacrifices, he appointed his son king in the presence of the people. But the statement, "And Solomon sat upon the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father," is instead of the statement, "He sat upon the throne which had been given by God." The end of the previous history shows that Samuel the Seer, and Nathan the prophet, and Gad the Seer had books written.

Questions on the Book of II Chronicles

^A The second book of Chronicles teaches that the tabernacle which the great Moses constructed stood in Gabaon, but the ark was in the royal city, in another tent covered over. Now Solomon, having sacrificed a thousand victims on the Mosaic altar, as a suppliant sought from God that he might obtain wisdom and understanding. Writing to Huram, he displayed his own knowledge of God: "For who," he says, "will be able to build him a house, since heaven and the heaven of heavens will not contain him? And who am I, that I should build him a house, except to burn incense before him?" I am fulfilling my own duty, he says. For not even the higher heaven can contain his nature. But wishing to offer him the worship that I can, I am building a house made with hands. Furthermore, how much the friendship of the pious helps is shown by Huram in his reply. For thus he said: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who made heaven and earth. Who gave to King David a wise son, and one instructed in prudence and knowledge, who will build a house to the Lord." It is clear, moreover, that from the association he had with David, he learned that the God of Israel is the creator of heaven and earth. And let no one think that this book disagrees with the books of Kings because we find here the length of the temple to be sixty cubits, but there forty. For he will find in addition to the forty, another twenty of that which is called Dabir, that is to say, the Holy of Holies; and twenty added to forty makes sixty. ^B Thus, again, we find the height in the books of Kings to be twenty-five cubits, but here one hundred and twenty. Yet in the pattern, the divine David showed that the temple of God did not have only one story: "For you shall make the house and its stories [or upper chambers]." The history of the books of Kings also teaches that the house of God had not only two stories, but even three. And the city of David he named Sion. "He summoned," it says,

"all the elders of Israel, and all the princes of the tribes, and the leaders of the families of the children of Israel, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the city of David; this is Sion." Thus he calls the upper city. For having fortified it as a more secure place, he built the palace within it. "And all the men of Israel were gathered to King Solomon at the feast; this was the seventh month." He calls the feast "Scenopegia" [the feast of Tabernacles]; for this was the third feast. "And the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord into its place, into the Dabir of the house, into the Holy of Holies, under the Cherubim." From this, therefore, it is clear that ^B by "Dabir" he called the sanctuary and the penetralia, and as it were the royal chamber of the temple, which divine Scripture is wont to name the Holy of Holies. However, when Solomon had finished his prayer, and had brought the prayer to an end, fire sent down from heaven consumed the offered sacrifices. Again, however, the history teaches that the psalms belong to the most celebrated David. And it speaks thus: "And the Levites with the instruments of the songs of the Lord, which King David had made to confess before the Lord, because He is good, because His mercy is forever, with the hymns of David composed by him." And so great was the piety of Solomon ^C that he moved the daughter of Pharaoh into the newly built palace, saying: "My wife shall not dwell in the house of David, king of Israel, because this place is holy, where the ark of the Lord has entered." He also appointed the gatekeepers and the chanters, according to the ordinances of David. The wood brought for this purpose, Josephus calls pine. The book of Kings said these were the supports for the house of the Lord and the house of the king; but the history before us says they were the ascents leading to the house of the Lord and the house of the king. We learn from this, moreover, that the prophet Nathan, and Achia the Silonite, and Joel, who pronounced judgment ^D against Jeroboam, had written books. "And the rest," he says, "of the words of Solomon, the first and the last, behold, are they not written in the words of Nathan the prophet, and in the words of Achia the Silonite, and in the visions of Joel who saw concerning Jeroboam the son of Nabat?" We have learned from this, also, that the man of God who ordered the altar that was in Bethel to be broken, whom the lion crushed because he had transgressed the commandment of the Lord, was called Joel.

INTERROGATION I. How is that to be understood: "The king did not listen to the people, because there was a turning away from God, so that the Lord might establish His word, which He spoke by the hand of Achia the Silonite"? Those who enjoy divine providence understand what is

^A to be done by being instructed by God. But those who are deprived of this grace are borne along at random. For the discourse here has made it clear that it seemed good to the Master God to rend the kingdom in two because of the transgressions of the father. However, once the division had taken place, and Jeroboam had fashioned the golden calves, the priests and Levites who dwelt in the ten tribes moved over to the Davidic kingdom; for in that one was the divine temple. But here the history teaches that Jeroboam and his sons cast ^B them out as well, so that they might not serve the Lord; and he appointed for himself priests of the high places, and for the idols, and for the vanities, and for the calves which Jeroboam had made. But pious men from the other tribes also followed the priests and Levites: "For they went," he says, "after them from all the tribes of Israel, such as gave their heart to seek the Lord God of Israel." And, "They came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord the God of their fathers, and to strengthen the kingdom of Judah." But the philanthropic Master, while He handed over Jeroboam, who had acted impiously, to King Shishak, yet through the prophet Shemaiah said to him and to the princes, "You have ^C abandoned me, and I also will abandon you into the hand of Shishak." But when He saw them affected with shame and confessing their impiety, He said to the prophet, "They have been shamed; I will not destroy them, and I will give them, as it were, for a little while for salvation"—instead of saying, "I will preserve among them the spark of the blessing of the inhabited earth, and my wrath shall not drip upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak." "I will not now," He says, "hand them over to utter destruction, but I will reserve the punishment for later; for the present, however, I will impose upon them the yoke of servitude. For they shall be," He says, "his ^D servants, and they shall know my servitude and the servitude of the kingdoms of the earth." "By comparison," He says, "I will teach them how sweet My yoke is, and how heavy is the yoke of men." Again, we have been taught that there were also other prophetic books: "For the words," He says, "of Rehoboam, the first and the last, are they not written in the words of Shemaiah the prophet, and Iddo the seer, for the enrolling of the genealogy, and his deeds?" But Abijah's harangue is worthy of admiration. For when he saw eight hundred thousand from the ten tribes arrayed against him (and Jeroboam was leading them), he, having brought four hundred thousand into battle, said to his adversaries: "Is it not permitted for you to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom to David over Jerusalem forever, and to his sons, a covenant of salt forever? Ought you not to have known that the kingdom was given by God to David, and would not have an end, according to the divine promise? How therefore have you constituted"

^A a tyrant of my father, a slave? He called the kingdom a "covenant of salt" because of the firmness of the kingdom, since even Barbarians, when they eat together with enemies, maintain a firm and stable peace, remembering the salt. But my father, he says, because of his youth and timidity, yielded to the tyranny; but I rebuke you because you dare to take up arms against the divine kingdom, which the Lord of all bestowed upon the lineage of David. And you trust in your multitude and in the golden calves, on account of which you drove out the priests of God and set up others in their place, doing things similar to the nations. For they, too, appoint as priests whomsoever they wish for gods that are not. But we trust in the true God, whose priests and Levites we honor, and according to the divine law we offer sacrifices; and according to his ordinances we draw up our line of battle, signaling the war beforehand with the divine trumpets. Wherefore I warn you not to engage in battle against the Lord God, who leads our army. For you will repent if you do so. After these words were spoken, the ten tribes surrounded Judah. But they cried out and invoked divine aid. ^B And God, being called to the aid of the war, turned the audacity of the enemies into fear; and all, having been turned, fled, and five hundred thousand were slain in flight. He states also the cause of the flight: "And the sons of Judah prevailed, because they hoped in the Lord God of their fathers." They also took cities subject to them. And Jeroboam himself was delivered unto death by the God of all. He also praises the earlier piety of Asa: "For Asa did what is right in the sight of the Lord his God, and he removed," he says, "the foreign altars," that is, the altars of idols. Then he added: "And the high places." Now I think by these are tacitly signified those things which were dedicated to God on the hills contrary to the laws: "And he broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the groves." And in what follows, he continues with his praise. ^C And with this piety, drawing up his line of battle, he routed and put to flight the Ethiopians, and pursuing them, destroyed them all. He says that these were their neighbors: "For they took," he says, "many spoils, and they cut down their villages in the circuit of Gerara, because the fear of the Lord was upon them, and they plundered their cities, because there were many spoils for them. And they cut down the tents of the cattle and the Amazonim, and they took many sheep and camels, and they returned to Jerusalem." That Gerara is in Palestine, I think no one will contradict. For around what is called Eleutheropolis, from the Gerareni, Salton is so named to this day. It is therefore likely that a colony led from the Ethiopians inhabited that region, and also certain others named Amazonim, whom because ^D

they had campaigned against them, they utterly destroyed, every one. ^B However, after the victory, Azariah the son of Oded, the prophet, filled with the divine Spirit, met the army and recalled the divine assistance, and exhorted them to persist in piety. "For if," he says, "you seek him, he will be found by you; and if you abandon him, he will abandon you." He also demonstrates to them the impiety of the ten tribes: "For many days," he says, "Israel shall be without the true God, and without a priest to teach, and without a law. And they sat in distress; and they shall return in their affliction to the Lord the God of Israel; and they shall seek him, and he shall be found by them." Do not, he says, emulate the impiety of your brethren. For they do not worship the true God, but those falsely so named; and they are deprived of priests and teachers who instruct in the law of God; but they shall learn by experience what an evil impiety is. For having encountered all kinds of calamities, they will seek divine assistance, and they will obtain it because of his ineffable goodness. He also predicts the incursion of the Assyrians: "For in those times," he says, "there is no peace to him that goes out, because the fear of the Lord is upon all the inhabitants of the lands. And nation shall fight against nation, and city against city, because God has troubled them with all affliction." Then he suggests to them to keep their hope in God unshaken: ^C "But you," he says, "be strong; and let not your loins be slack, for there is a reward for your work." The king, having heard these things, pulled down whatever was remaining of the temples of the idols, and purified as many of the cities of the ten tribes as he had taken. And this history taught also this, that a great multitude from the other tribes, having learned by experience the piety of the two tribes, and the care which God exercised over them, left their own cities, and took refuge in their cities, and preferred to be sojourners in a foreign land than to dwell in their own. Gathering these with the two tribes, Asa celebrated the victory feast, and offered very many sacrifices to God, and caused all to swear that they would not depart from the legitimate institution of life, but would worship only God who had given them salvation. ^D And he so ardently embraced the divine laws that he even deprived his own mother of the kingdom, because she preferred to worship Astarte, and he burned the broken idol in the torrent of Cedron. But not

^B in all things was he perfect. For in the first place, he did not remove all the high places—that is to say, the altars situated in the high places that had been dedicated to the God of all. For it was forbidden to sacrifice elsewhere; for worship according to the law had been restricted to one place.

Furthermore, when Baasha made an expedition against him and built up Ramah against Jerusalem, instead of calling to his aid Him who had been the provider of so many good things for him, he called the King of Syria to his aid, having sent him a very great amount of gold from the royal and even from the sacred treasuries. But the man-loving Lord did not leave him without correction; having sent the prophet Hanani, He exposed his unbelief, saying thus: “Because you have relied upon the King of Syria, and have not relied upon the Lord your God, for this reason the army of the King of Israel has been saved” (II Paral. xvi, 7). Or, He says, your unbelief has procured salvation for them. For if you had trusted as you usually did, you would have destroyed them utterly. ^C He also reminds him of the Ethiopians, and the Libyans, and the horses, and the chariots, and his own faith, through which he had destroyed them all; for, He says, “The eyes of the Lord look upon all the earth, to strengthen every heart that is perfect toward Him” (II Paral. xvi, 9). For everyone, He says, who calls upon Him sincerely will attain salvation. Then He reproves him more clearly: “You have behaved foolishly in this” (II Paral. xvi, 9). Then He foretells the sorrows to come: “For from now on,” He says, “there shall be war for you” (II Paral. xvi, 9).

From this it is possible to learn that the Amazinim are a Libyan tribe. For those whom He called Amazinim above, He has here called Libyans. But Asa, though he ought to have been grieved, and to have wept, and to have called upon the divine mercy, not only was angered, but even cast the prophet into prison. The people also suffered something from his transgression: “For,” it says, “Asa oppressed some of the people at that time” (II Paral. xvi, 10). He also reproves him because, when he was sick, he did not seek the Lord, but physicians. ^D Having set forth the explanation of this matter in the Fourth Book of Kings, I shall proceed to interpret what remains. History praises Jehoshaphat, as one who in the beginning emulated the virtue of David; for it says: “In his first things” (II Paral. xvii, 3). It also narrates his famous, praiseworthy deeds: “For,” it says, “he sought the Lord God of his father, and walked in His commandments, and not according to the works of Israel” (II Paral. xvii, 4). Moreover, it shows the fruit of these things also: “And the Lord made the kingdom firm in his hand, and he had much wealth and glory” (II Paral. xvii, 5). And that which says, “And his heart was lifted up” (II Paral. xvii, 6), He said not in reproach, but in praise. For He added: “In the ways of the Lord; and he removed the groves from the land of Judah.” He even set over the whole people teachers of the divine law, and priests, and Levites.

He received from the Lord God the rewards of piety: “For there was,” he says, “a terror over all the kingdoms of the earth that were round about Judah; and they made no war with Jehoshaphat.” ^A And such fear was struck into all that even foreigners and Arabs brought him tribute. Having this abundance, he built cities, and constructed houses, and fortified unwalled villages. He calls him one who offers voluntarily to the Lord, not one who offers for sins, but one who brings gifts to God. He rebukes him, however, because he contracted a marital affinity with Ahab. For he betrothed Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, to his son. He placed here also the account concerning Micaiah, and the false prophets, which we interpreted in the books of Kings. But what was omitted by that writer, ^B yet is placed here, I think it necessary to state. For when Jehoshaphat was returning from that conflict, Jehu the son of Hanani the prophet met him and said to him: “O King Jehoshaphat, if thou bringest help to a sinner, or if thou dost enter into friendship with one who is hated by the Lord, therefore the wrath of the Lord is kindled against thee; nevertheless, some good things have been found in thee, because thou didst remove the groves from the land of Judah, and didst direct thy heart to seek the Lord.” Hence we learn that deeds previously done rightly diminish the punishments for sins. ^C For the just judge, weighing both these and those in opposition, delivers His sentence. This He also did in this case. Indeed, He was angry with him on account of the kinship; but on account of his other virtue, He delivered him from the enemies who attacked and surrounded him. Therefore, we ought, having learned these things, to flee the friendship and kinship of those who are hateful to God. But the writer, having left aside the rebuke, passed on to the catalog of praises, and teaches the readers that, when the king had received the rebuke, he strove by pious labors to erase ^D the stain of the kinship: “For again,” he says, “Jehoshaphat went out to the people from Beersheba to Mount Ephraim, and he turned them to the Lord their God.” Nor did he only take care of piety, but also of other justice: “For he appointed,” he says, “judges in all the fortified cities of Judah.” Admirable also are his words which he spoke to the judges: “For see,” he says, “what you are doing: for you do not judge for man, but for the Lord, and with you are the words of judgment. Now, therefore, let the fear of the Lord be upon you. And observe and do: for there is no injustice with the Lord your God, nor is He accustomed to regard the person, or to accept gifts.” He shows them the Inspector of all, and His in-

fear He has implanted, that they may not sell justice for gifts or friendship. ^B Similarly, he instructed the judges of Jerusalem that they ought to judge justly not only for the citizens, but also to settle the disputes of those arriving from elsewhere and advise them on what is proper. “For you shall instruct them,” he says, “and they will not sin against the Lord, and there will be no wrath upon you and upon your brothers. Thus you shall do, and you shall not sin.” He set Amariah the priest over them, so that if the judges did not know how to pass judgment, they might learn it from God through him. “For behold,” he said, “Amariah the priest is leading you in every word of the Lord, and Zabadias the son of Ishmael is leading for the house of Judah in every word of the king; and the scribes and the Levites are before you.” If, therefore, you wish to ask anything of God, let this be done through the priest; but if you wish to ask the king, do it through the prince; and if you wish to learn what seems good to the Law, learn it from the Levites who teach the Law. For he called the teachers "scribes." ^C Then he added: “Be courageous, and do, and the Lord will be with the good.” He did not say simply, “with you,” but “with the good,” that is, with the one who has a good purpose and inclines toward it. Furthermore, when a very great number of enemies took up an expedition against him, he did not put his trust in the multitude of his subjects, nor in arms. But, he says, “He set his face to seek the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast in all Judah.” Then, with everyone gathered and appeasing God, he himself offered prayer on behalf of all, calling Him both Lord and God of the fathers, and Maker of heaven and earth, and Lord of all the nations. Then he calls to mind the

^A former benefits and wonders. "For You are," he says, "O Lord our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land from before Your people Israel, and gave it to the seed of Abraham Your friend." He calls to mind the forefather, so that through the promise made to him he might obtain help. He also tells how the temple was built, and how Solomon, praying, asked that if enemies should come, the people might run to the temple, and calling upon the God of that place, might enjoy help from above. "But you know," he says, "how our fathers, passing through the desert and arriving at this land, did no harm to the Edomites, nor the Ammonites, nor the Moabites, passing them by according to Your commands. But now these, having gathered together at the same point, are trying to drive us out of the inheritance which was given to us by You." Then, asking a question: "Will You not judge among them?" He also confesses his own weakness: "For there is no strength in us to stand against this great multitude that has come against us. And we do not know what we shall do, because our eyes are upon You." ^B When these things were said, the whole multitude stood, supplicating God with a shout. And the women offered prayers with wailing and lamentation. But the ever-merciful God, having used Jezeel the Levite as a minister, resolved their fear with the promise of good things: "For it happened," he says, "that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him in the assembly, and he said: Hear, all Judah, and those who inhabit Jerusalem, and King Josaphat." A distinction of honor: for he remembered the king separately, and separately those who inhabited Jerusalem. (Many, however, also from other tribes were dwelling in that city.) "Thus says the Lord to you: Do not fear, nor be dismayed before this great crowd; because the battle is not yours, but God's." Then he orders them to stand upon a certain summit, and to become spectators of the battle: "For it is not for you," he says, "to fight in this. Stand, and understand, and see the salvation of the Lord with you. Judah and Jerusalem, do not fear, nor be dismayed in going forth tomorrow to meet them, and the Lord will be with you." He gave a pledge of courage, and drove out human fear. When these things had been spoken by Jezeel, everyone worshipped; and the Levites used hymns. On the morrow, as they were going out, the king encouraged them, saying: "Hear me, sons of Judah, and those who inhabit Jerusalem, believe in the Lord your God, and be ^C faithful. Trust in His prophets, and things will go well for you." Then he ordered the army to march in front, not propagators carrying weapons, but Levites singing hymns. But He who dissipates the counsels of the nations, and makes the thoughts of peoples void, and abrogates the counsels of princes, and turns the prudent backward, and infatuates their counsel, stirred up the enemies among one another. And first, indeed, the Ammonites and Moabites destroyed the Edomites. Then, engaging with each other, they similarly destroyed one another. But the king with his subjects was watching the slaughter of the enemies. After they had all fallen, and no one escaped to report to his people what had happened, they securely spoiled the dead, and carried off all the booty. And when they had done this for three days, on the fourth day they celebrated the giver of victory with hymns. That field also received the surname of blessing: ^D for it was called the Valley of blessing. Moreover, the admirable outcome of the victory struck terror into all the neighboring kings. Yet this also was done as a very great miracle: "The people," he says, "did not direct their hearts to the Lord God of their fathers." He remembers

again ^B the history of the written prophecy of Jehu the son of Hanani. And he said as follows: "And the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, are they not written in the words of Jehu the son of Hanani, who wrote them in the book of the kings of Israel?" He blames Jehoshaphat again, because he had fellowship with Ahaziah the son of Ahab; and he added: "And he acted wickedly in doing so, to go to Tarshish; and he made ships in Ezion-Geber." And I have already said ^C that this city is situated on the Indian Sea, having Ethiopians as its inhabitants. They call it in the Greek tongue Berenice. And the physician of souls, sending Eliezer the son of Dodavahu, the prophet, to Jehoshaphat, blamed his friendship, and foretold the chastisement: "Because," he says, "you have entered into friendship and society with Ahaziah, the Lord has broken your works, and your ships are broken, and they could not go to Tarshish." And that wicked affinity is the cause of how many evils the subsequent parts of the history teach. For Joram, the son of Jehoshaphat, emulated the impiety of Ahab his father-in-law. ^D He killed all his own brothers, and walked through every kind of vice and wickedness. "For he walked," it says, in

the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab did, because the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and yet the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David on account of the covenant which He made with David, in the manner He ^A promised to him to give a lamp to him and his sons for all days. From this we are taught how much the piety of ancestors avails. For the Philanthropic One bears with even the wicked, remembering the virtue of those who have departed. He also reaped the fruits of piety. For Idumea cast off the yoke of slavery, and Libnah, which was a city of Judea, also revolted. But the Master delivered His judgment against him through Elijah the prophet. Yet the prophet himself did not arrive; rather, he gave notice of the divine decree through a letter. "For there came," it says, "a writing from Elijah the prophet, saying: 'Thus says the Lord the God of your father: Because you have not walked in the way of Jehoshaphat your father, and in the ways of Asa king of Judah, but have walked in the ways of the ^B kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit whoredom, as the house of Ahab did; and you have also killed your brothers, the sons of your father, who were better than you: behold, the Lord strikes a great plague upon your people, and upon your sons, and upon your wives, and upon all your house. And you shall be in severe sickness, an infirmity of your bowels, until your bowels come out because of the sickness from day to day.'" From this we learn that both Asa and Jehoshaphat were not altogether rejected, but even if they transgressed in some things, in most things they served God. For this man was indeed accused because he abandoned their way of life. The prophecy also reached its end. For not only did the foreigners campaign against Joram, but also the Arabs and the neighbors ^C of the Ethiopians, and having attacked, they won a complete victory, and they took the city, and made the multitude captive, and killed his sons and daughters, and seized the royal wealth. Only Ahaziah, the youngest of his children, escaped. And there also pressed upon him the suffering of the bowels, according to the prophecy, and not even after death was he deemed worthy of a royal burial. "For," it says, "the people did not make for him a funeral procession and a burning, according to the burning of his fathers, and they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings." Truly it is fearful to fall into the hands of the living God. For just as His mercy is ineffable, so also is the penalty insufferable. From this history we learn that the Amazonii are the neighbors of the Ethiopians. For previously ^D the writer taught that the enemies who invaded Joram were the neighbors of the Ethiopians. But here, when he had said that they made his youngest son Ahaziah king in his place, he subjoined that the crowd of marauders, having attacked them in the camp among the barbarians and the Amazonii, killed all those who were older. And this man, too, emulated the impiety of his father. For he had his most wicked mother as a teacher. Jehu killed him along with Joram king of Israel. However, he obtained a burial on account of his grandfather's piety, for Jehu buried him: "For," he said, "he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart." Next, he sets forth concerning Joash those things which we have interpreted in the fourth book of Kings. But we shall say whatever we do not find placed in that book. For he who wrote the Paralipomena taught that the people, inflamed with zeal by the admirable [index: entries preserved] high priest, pulled down the statue of Baal, and crushed it, and destroyed the altars from their foundations, and ground to powder the images of the demons. Moreover, he killed Matthan, the priest of Baal. He also confirmed the order of the priests and the Levites, and other things, to speak briefly, which King David had established for the worship of God. The king contributed aid toward those things that were being performed by the high priest, being enlightened by him.

^A For it says, "Joas did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jodae the priest." He also rendered to the building of the temple the care that was due it. For in the past time it had been held in neglect, because, it says, the wicked Gotholia and her sons had torn down the house of God and had consecrated all the holy things of the Lord to the Baalim. Of all these things, the wonder-worthy high priest was the primary author, who, on account of his piety and great virtue, lived for one hundred and thirty years, and was deemed worthy of a royal monument. "They buried him," it says, "in the city of David with the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house."

But when he had departed, Joas declined toward impiety, being led astray by the princes. ^B Yet the physician of souls did not cast off care for him. "For the Lord sent prophets to them," it says, "to turn them back to the Lord, and testified to them, but they did not listen." He mentions one prophet by name: "For the Spirit of the Lord," it says, "clothed Zacharias the son of Jodae the priest, and he stood over the people and said: Thus says the Lord: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord? You shall not prosper, because you have forsaken the Lord, therefore he will forsake you." But they not only resisted and gainsaid the divine words, but even overwhelmed the prophet with stones within the court of the temple. So great a crime of ingratitude did this man commit, both against him who had provided his salvation, and against God Who had been the minister of that salvation. ^C For the history teaches this: "And King Joas did not remember," it says, "the mercy which Jodae his father had shown him, and he put his son to death after him. But when he was dying, he said: May the Lord see and judge." Nor did he fail in his petition. For when the year had passed, a small army of Syrians made an assault upon them, but they were delivered by the Lord Who had been despised by them; and some they slew, while others they led away into captivity. ^D Yet he, when he had fallen into infirmity, was killed by his subjects. For the Lord passed this judgment against him, as the historiographer said: "And the Lord executed judgments against Joas, and his servants rose up against Joas because of the blood of the sons of Jodae the priest, and put him to death on his bed, and he died, and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the sepulcher of the kings." Therefore, that which was said to Noe is true: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, he shall drink it, for in place of blood his blood shall be shed, because in the image

of God I have made man." ^B And these men, too, were put to death by Amazias, the son of Joas, when he began to reign. For they did not slay them because they were kindled by divine zeal, but because they were moved by a murderous intent. But in his place, his son Amazias reigned. When he wished to make an expedition against the Idumeans, he hired a hundred thousand Israelites for as many talents. But the prophet sent to him from God said these things: "O King, let not the army of Israel go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel, all the sons of Ephraim. For if you suppose that you will be strong in this war, the Lord will put you to flight before your enemies, for it is in the power of the Lord to help and to put to flight." "The Lord is sufficient for you," he says, "for aid; you do not need a multitude when arrayed for battle, lest you take as allies those stripped of piety." When he had said this, "And what shall I do," he said, "for the hundred talents which I gave to the army of Israel?" The prophet answered him and said: "The Lord has it in His power to give you more than these." He, having believed the things said, departed and killed ten thousand, and took as many captive; but he did not ^C recognize his benefactor, having obtained divine help. For he honored the gods of those who had been defeated, whom he had brought back with the spoils, as givers of victory, and followed them with sacrifices. But God reproved his impiety through the prophet and said: "Why did you seek out the gods of a people who did not rescue their own people from your hand?" Long, he says, did the Idumeans worship them: but their worship profited them nothing, for they obtained no help from them. "But you, relying on my help, not only killed those men, but also led these away into captivity." Nothing of this profited the fool. For he said to the prophet: "Have I appointed you a counselor of the king? Take heed to yourself, lest I strike you." But the prophet said with freedom: "I know that the Lord has formed a plan to destroy you, because you have done this and have not hearkened to my counsel." Thus, stripped of divine aid, he provoked the King of the Israelites to war: but he suffered the things which we have mentioned in the books of Kings. And he had an end similar to his father's end. But the divine Scripture praises Ozias. ^D "For he sought," it says, "the Lord in the fear of the Lord in the days of Zacharias, who understood in the vision of God." It tells also of the fruits of piety. "And in his days he sought the Lord, and the Lord God directed him." Hence we learn that there were many Zacharias'. For indeed the son of Jodae, whom Joas overwhelmed with stones, was named Zacharias; and this man, who was in the time of Ozias, was called Zacharias. I suppose him to be the one of whom God spoke to

^A Isaiah: "Take unto thee faithful witnesses to record, Urias the priest, and Zacharias the son of Barachias." For Isaiah prophesied at that time: "The vision, he says, which Isaiah the son of Amos saw, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Ozias, and Joatham, and Achaz, and Ezechias, who were kings of Judah." He says, moreover, that he was valiant in wars, magnificent in buildings, and industrious and diligent in cultivating fields. He calls the inhabitants of the city of Petra, Arabs. But he did not listen to his forefather David, saying: "Do not destroy me utterly." For, led by a proud and arrogant spirit, he dared to perform the priestly office: "But after he had become strong and mighty, Ozias’s heart was lifted up to his own destruction, and he acted unjustly toward the Lord his God; and he went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense." For he did not dare to perform that act upon the altar of burnt offerings, but inside the temple. ^B Yet the high priest did not yield to him as if he were a king, but freely rebuked him: "For the high priest Zacharias went in after him, and with him eighty priests, the sons of Aaron, valiant men; and they stood around King Ozias, and said to him: It is not for you, Ozias, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are sanctified. Depart from the sanctuary, for you have revolted against the Lord, and it shall not be to your glory before the Lord God." Things intended for kings, he says, and things that belong to priests are defined by God. The priests hold the ancestral office; why do you trample the law given by God? Why do you transgress the boundaries? By seizing those things which do not befit you, you will even lose your own. But he not only did not yield, but also took the words ill, and persisted, behaving insolently in the sacred ministry. But instead of glory, he gathered disgrace. "For," he says, "leprosy arose in his forehead ^C in the house of the Lord before the priests, over the altar of incense." But immediately the priests, perceiving the anger sent by God, cast him out of the temple even against his will, and the same things happened to him as to our first parent, Adam. For he, having desired to become a god, likewise ceased to bear the image of God; and this man, having attempted to seize the priesthood, also lost the kingdom. For he dwelt inside in the chamber, as the leprosy which was on his forehead prevented him from associating with the people and speaking freely. For he carried on his forehead an argument

^A of his lawlessness. Jotham, his son, continued to govern the kingdom. For he even received the scepter upon his father's death. He too distinguished himself in wars, and forced the Ammonites to pay tribute. The writer also states the reason, viz., that he "prepared his ways before the Lord his God."

But Ahaz, his son, eclipsed all his peers in his inventions of impiety. The book of Kings has also taught this. Moreover, this history has taught what calamity he underwent. For first, they were delivered into the hands of the Syrians, and many were slain and many also carried off as captives. Then Pekah, the king of the ten tribes, slew in one conflict a hundred and twenty thousand of them, including the king's sons and the commanders of the army; and he led two hundred thousand into captivity. But the prophet Oded, meeting the victors, threatened them with the wrath of God, because they had, contrary to the law of God, led into slavery those whom they had captured in war. "Behold," he says, "the wrath of God against our fathers is upon Judah; and he delivered them into your hands, and you slew them in wrath, and it reached even to the heavens. And now you say that you possess the sons of Judah and Jerusalem as servants and handmaids. Behold, I am not with you, testifies the Lord our God. And now hear me, and ^B turn back the captive crowd which you have taken from your eyes, because the wrath of the fury of the Lord is upon us." He says the Lord God wished to exact penalties from them for their impiety. That was the cause that they both were conquered and you obtained the victory. But having obtained victory, you forgot kinship, nor did the bond of nature come to your mind; but you treated your own tribesmen as barbarians and foreigners. Nor did countless slaughters suffice for you, but you also force those who are of the same family to serve. I testify, therefore, that you will suffer heavier things. The princes yielded to the prophet and exhorted the people, and took care of the captives. For he says they clothed the naked, and anointed them, and provided them with food, and furnished beasts for the weaker ones, and led them as far as the city of Jericho. It is to be noted that he called Jericho the city of palm trees. "For them," he says, "they established in the city of palm trees, at Jericho." This history also taught that when he had persisted in impiety, they were delivered to foreigners, and enemies dwelt in their cities: "For the Lord," he says, "humbled Judah because of Ahaz, king of Judah; because he manifested impiety in Judah, and ^C defected in defection from the Lord." But the word "manifested" is put for that which is "he taught him those things which it was not fitting to perform."

^A For he introduced foreign customs and caused them to worship the gods of foreign nations. But having called the Assyrian to his aid, he failed in his purpose. For he added: "And it was not a help to him, but that he himself might be troubled." And though affected by all these punishments, he increased his impiety. For this is what he said: "Moreover, Achaz departed from the Lord. And King Achaz said: I will seek the gods of Damascus, who strike me; and he said, the gods of Syria strengthen them; therefore I will sacrifice to them, and they will defend me; but they were an ^B offense to him." For not only did they not bring him help, but they even brought upon him every kind of calamity. Yet, having reached the height of wickedness, ^C he even cut up the sacred vessels and closed the gates of the house of God. And he made for himself altars in every corner in Jerusalem. And those things which follow thereafter carry the same censure. Him, however, when he died, they did not deem worthy of the burial of the righteous kings. But Ezechias his son exercised the highest virtue. "For Ezechias, he says, did what was right before the Lord, according to all that David his father did." And first, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. And he ordered the priests and the Levites who had been sanctified to cleanse the temple of God: "They therefore immediately, he says, cast out all the uncleanness found in the house of the Lord, into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it to carry it out to the torrent of Cedron." Then, these things having been done, he offered the prescribed sacrifices, not only for the two tribes, but for the twelve. For he propitiated God, he says, for all Israel, since the king ordered that burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin should be offered for all Israel. And he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord praising with cymbals, and psalteries, and harps, according to the commandment of David the king, and Gad the seer of the king, and Nathan the prophet: "since by the commandment of the Lord was the precept by the hand of his prophets." This refutes the folly of the Jews, who do not bear to call David a prophet. For here the Scripture, making mention of the three, added: "Since by the commandment of the Lord was the precept by the hand of his prophets." But a little later it intimates that Asaph also was an author of hymns: "For King Ezechias and the princes said, he says, to the Levites, that they should celebrate the Lord with hymns in the words of David and Asaph the prophet ^D." But history teaches us again that, the priests not being sufficient to flay the whole burnt offerings, their brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was perfected.

and until the priests were sanctified; for the Levites were sanctified more readily than the priests. This ^B is something we find happening even now. For when a presbyter is absent, and necessity presses, a deacon is also constrained to offer baptism to the one in need. The king, however, being exceedingly pious, also invited those who dwelt in the cities of the ten tribes to the feast. And some used to mock those who invited them, but others, obeying, went. A very great multitude having been gathered, the feast of the Passover was celebrated. But again, the priests not being sufficient, the Levites slaughtered the victims for the multitude and offered the blood to the priests, and they poured it forth at the base of the altar. ^A He came to the ultimate degree of wickedness, and he cut in pieces the sacred vessels, and closed the doors of the divine temple, and made for himself altars in every corner in Jerusalem. And the things that follow have the same charge. When he died, they did not deem him worthy of burial with the pious kings. But Hezekiah, his son, attained to the highest virtue. For, he says, "Hezekiah did what was right before the Lord, according to all that his father David did." And first he opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and cleared them out. Then, having sanctified the priests and the Levites, he cleansed and ordered the divine temple. They, he says, "forthwith cast out all the uncleanness that was found in the house of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord; and the Levites received it to carry it out to the brook Kidron without." Then, after these things had happened, he offered the prescribed sacrifices, not only for the two tribes, but for the twelve. For, he says, "He made atonement for all Israel," because the king commanded the burnt offerings and the sin offerings to be offered for all Israel; "and he set the Levites in the house of the Lord, praising with cymbals, and with psalteries, and with harps, according to the command of David the king, and Gad the seer to the king, and Nathan the prophet; for the commandment was by the command of the Lord through his prophets." This refutes the foolishness of the Jews, who do not endure to call the great David a prophet. For here the Scripture, mentioning the three, added, "Because the commandment was by the command of the Lord through his prophets." ^C And after a little, the narrative hints that Asaph also had been a psalmodist. For he says, "Hezekiah the king and the princes said to the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the prophet." And the history teaches us again that, as the priests were not sufficient to flay the whole burnt offering, their brothers the Levites supported them until the work was accomplished, and until the priests were sanctified; for the Levites were sanctified more eagerly than the priests. ^D This is something that can be found happening even now. For when a presbyter is not present, and the need is pressing, a deacon is also forced to offer baptism to the one in need. The king, however, being exceeding pious, also summoned those who lived in the cities of the ten tribes to the feast. And some indeed mocked those who summoned them, but others, listening, went. A very great multitude having been gathered, the feast of the Passover was accomplished. Again, however, as the priests were not sufficient, the Levites slaughtered the victims for the multitude,

^A Suddenly called, they partook of the sacrifices before they were cleansed. The history also teaches this, that the greater part of the people, from Ephraim, and Manasseh, and Issachar, and Zebulun, were not cleansed, but ate the Passover contrary to the divine Scripture. Yet they obtained forgiveness because of the king’s piety. They set aside other days equal in number for the feast, the princes having generously provided the offerings. He said that such a feast had not happened since the days of Solomon. Setting out from there, they also destroyed the groves of the idols, and cut down the sacred trees, and with these ^B they tore down from their foundations the altars raised to God on the high places. He also took care of the priestly order, and strengthened that which had been established by the ancestor, and prepared the people to pay the first fruits according to the law to the priests. Then the author adds that, after these speeches and this truth, Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians came. The account shows that even when God, the God of all, is testing God-fearing men, He permits them to fall into calamities, then, helping them, He dissolves the gloom. But the king, trusting in God and contributing what was from himself, first covered the springs outside the city, so that he might not, by lingering, besiege them while having an abundance of water. Next he fortified the walls, and raised the towers to a height, and built another outer wall. Yet he trusted neither in these nor in weapons, but said to the multitude: “Be courageous, and be strong; do not fear, nor be terrified from the face of the king of Assyrians, and from the face of all the multitude with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him ^C are arms of flesh; with us is the Lord our God, to save us, and to fight our battle.” ^D Through these things he taught both the invincibility of divine help and the transitory and fleeting nature of human nature. The rest is also contained in the Fourth Book of Reigns. But the history reproaches him, that even after winning such a victory, and having been delivered from his illness miraculously, Ezechias did not render to the Lord according to what He rendered to him; but his heart was exalted, and wrath came upon Judah and upon Jerusalem, and upon him. And Ezechias was humbled from the height of his heart, he himself and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Ezechias. Truthful, therefore, is that saying, that he who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted. Thus he, on account of his piety, did not look upon sad things, but departed from life before the incursion of the enemy. Now the Gihon, as was said before, he calls Siloam. But that the king of Babylon sent to him is taught by history because of the sun, which had retreated ten steps. For when he had recounted concerning the riches which he had gathered, and concerning the treasures which he had amassed, he added: “And Ezechias prospered in all his works. Yet in the matter of the envoys of the princes of Babylon, who had been sent to him to inquire concerning the portent that had happened upon the earth, the Lord abandoned him, in order to test him, and that the things in his heart might be known.” But this account declares that it is better to glory in the Lord. For when he ought to have recounted the works of divine power, he showed off the treasures, which have nothing stable. Moreover, that saying, “in order to test him, and that the things in his heart might be known,” signifies that He wished to reveal his thoughts. For He who alone knows the hearts of all ignores not the thoughts of men; but He reveals to others those things which are hidden. But he obtained a splendid burial. For they laid him to rest with great honor and glory. Now indeed the book of Reigns has also taught the impiety of Manasseh. Inasmuch as he not only surpassed the impious kings, but even, it says, the nations which the Lord removed from the face of the sons of Israel. Yet he also paid the penalties of his impiety. For he was handed over to the king of the Assyrians, and bound and led away into Babylon. But to this man, however, the abyss of goodness imparted the fountains of mercy: “For after,” it says, “he was constrained, Manasseh prayed to the Lord his God, and was humbled greatly before the God of his fathers. And he besought Him, and He heard his voice, and led him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom: and Manasseh knew that the Lord Himself was God.” To such an extent does punishment profit those who are willing. For what he did not possess while reigning, this he obtained while serving. For after he was delivered from servitude, he removed, it says, the foreign gods, and the idol from the house of the Lord,

and all the altars which he had built on the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem; and he cast them outside of the city, and he set right the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed upon it a sacrifice of salvation and praise. ^B He also taught the people to be pious. For he said, it says, Manasses to Judah, to serve the Lord the God of Israel. But the imperfection of the people the narrative indicates again. For it adds that the people still sacrificed on the high places. And that they sacrificed to God on the high places, the history has clearly shown here; for it adds: "Nevertheless to the Lord their God in vain." The matters regarding Amon and Josiah we have interpreted in the fourth book of Kings.

But it must be asked how, when the Ark was inside in the Holy of Holies, Josiah ordered the Levites to be sanctified, to put the holy Ark in the house of the Lord. And what follows indicates this: "And they put the holy Ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, the king of Israel, had built." ^C But I think that either the Assyrian, when he took the city in the time of Manasseh, had brought the Ark outside, or one of the impious kings who reigned after Hezekiah, whether Manasseh or Amon, had done so; and afterwards Josiah, having discovered the fact, restored it to its place.

Again, after this, the history mentions the prophets Asaph, Heman, and Idithun: "According to the precepts," it says, "of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Idithun, the prophets of the king." ^D I consider the divination—which is mentioned—a class of art, because it is joined with ventriloquists, and seers, and teraphim. And so great was the virtue of this king, that Jeremiah also wrote a lamentation, and gave it to the male and female singers, so that they might sing it every year, celebrating the memory of him. As for what pertains to the remaining kings, the prophet Jeremiah has taught more fully. But we, who have also interpreted that book, with God's grace assisting, have considered it superfluous to interpret it again. That the historiographer collected these things from many prophetic books over a long time, the end of the manuscript itself shows, when it makes mention of Cyrus king of the Persians, and the return of the captives.