Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Solomon in his old age, seduced by foreign women, worships their idols. Wherefore, verse 11, God threatens him with the loss of the kingdom, and verse 14, raises up against him Hadad the Edomite as an adversary, and verse 23, Rezon the Syrian; finally verse 25, Jeroboam the Hebrew, to whom God through Ahijah, tearing a garment into twelve parts, of which he gave ten to the same, promises the kingdom of ten tribes, so that only two, namely Judah and Benjamin, remain loyal to Solomon's son, namely Rehoboam.
Vulgate Text: 3 Kings 11:1-43
1. Now king Solomon loved many foreign women, besides the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabites, and Ammonites, Edomites, and Sidonians, and Hittites, 2. of the nations concerning which the Lord said to the children of Israel: You shall not go in to them, neither shall any of them come in to yours; for they will most certainly turn away your hearts to follow their gods. To these therefore Solomon clung with most ardent love. 3. And he had seven hundred wives as queens, and three hundred concubines, and the women turned away his heart. 4. And when he was now old, his heart was depraved by the women, to follow strange gods: nor was his heart perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. 5. But Solomon worshipped Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, and Moloch the idol of the Ammonites.
6. And Solomon did what was not pleasing before the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as David his father. 7. Then Solomon built a shrine to Chemosh the idol of Moab, on the hill that is over against Jerusalem, and to Moloch the idol of the children of Ammon. 8. And in this manner he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense, and offered sacrifice to their gods. 9. Therefore the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his mind was turned away from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 10. and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not follow strange gods, and he did not keep what the Lord commanded him. 11. The Lord therefore said to Solomon: Because you have had this in you, and have not kept My covenant, and My precepts which I commanded you, rending I will rend your kingdom, and will give it to your servant. 12. Nevertheless in your days I will not do it, for David your father's sake: from the hand of your son I will rend it. 13. Neither will I take away the whole kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David My servant, and Jerusalem which I have chosen. 14. And the Lord raised up an adversary to Solomon, Hadad the Edomite, of the royal seed, who was in Edom. 15. For when David was in Edom, and Joab the general of the army went up to bury those who had been slain, and killed every male in Edom 16. (for Joab remained there six months, and all Israel, until he had slain every male in Edom), 17. Hadad himself fled, and certain Edomites of his father's servants with him, to go into Egypt: and Hadad was then a little boy. 18. And when they had risen out of Midian, they came to Paran, and they took men with them from Paran, and they entered Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, who gave him a house, and appointed him provisions, and assigned him a land. 19. And Hadad found great favor before Pharaoh, insomuch that he gave him his wife's own sister as wife, Tahpenes the queen. 20. And the sister of Tahpenes bore him his son Genubath, and Tahpenes brought him up in the house of Pharaoh: and Genubath dwelt in Pharaoh's house with his children. 21. And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the general of the army was dead, he said to Pharaoh: Let me depart, that I may go to my own land. 22. And Pharaoh said to him: Why, what is it that you lack with me, that you seek to go to your own land? But he answered: Nothing; yet I beseech you to let me go. 23. God also raised up against him an adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, who had fled from Hadadezer the king of Zobah his lord; 24. and he gathered men against him, and he became a captain of robbers, when David slew them of Zobah: and they went to Damascus, and dwelt there, and they made him king in Damascus. 25. And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon; and this is the mischief of Hadad, and his hatred against Israel, and he reigned in Syria. 26. Jeroboam also the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, a servant of Solomon, whose mother was named Zeruah, a widow, raised his hand against the king. 27. And this is the cause of his rebellion against him: Solomon built Millo, and filled up the breach of the city of David his father. 28. And Jeroboam was a valiant and mighty man; and Solomon seeing the young man to be of good character and industrious, had made him ruler over all the tribute of the house of Joseph. 29. So it came to pass at that time, that Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the Shilonite prophet found him in the way, clad in a new garment: and they two were alone in the field. 30. And Ahijah taking hold of his new garment which he was clad in, tore it into twelve pieces. 31. And he said to Jeroboam: Take to yourself ten pieces; for thus says the Lord God of Israel: Behold I will rend the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and will give you ten tribes. 32. But one tribe shall remain to him, for the sake of My servant David, and Jerusalem the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel; 33. because he has forsaken Me, and worshipped Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, and Chemosh the god of Moab, and Moloch the god of the children of Ammon; and has not walked in My ways, to do justice before Me, and keep My precepts, and judgments as did David his father. 34. Neither will I take away the whole kingdom from his hand, but I will make him prince all the days of his life, for David My servant's sake, whom I chose, who kept My commandments and My precepts. 35. But I will take away the kingdom from the hand of his son, and will give you ten tribes. 36. And to his son I will give one tribe, that there may remain a lamp for David My servant before Me always in Jerusalem the city, which I have chosen that My name might be there. 37. And I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel. 38. If therefore you will hearken to all that I shall command you, and will walk in My ways, and do what is right before Me, keeping My commandments, and My precepts, as David My servant did: I will be with you, and will build you a faithful house, as I built David a house, and I will deliver Israel to you. 39. And I will afflict the seed of David for this, yet not forever. 40. Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam: who arose and fled into Egypt to Shishak the king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon. 41. And the rest of the words of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom: behold they are all written in the Book of the words of the days of Solomon. 42. And the days that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel, were forty years. 43. And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.
Verse 1: Now King Solomon Loved Many Foreign Women
1. NOW KING SOLOMON LOVED MANY FOREIGN WOMEN, Gentiles namely and Canaanites, who worshipped their own gods and idols, and led Solomon their husband to worship the same. See here how dangerous it is to marry unfaithful or heretical wives.
2. OF THE NATIONS CONCERNING WHICH THE LORD SAID TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL: YOU SHALL NOT GO IN TO THEM. This law is found in Exodus 34:16, and speaks only of the Canaanites, as is there evident, such as were the Sidonians and Hittites: therefore Solomon sinned against the law by marrying them. Otherwise the law permitted Hebrews to marry women of other nations, provided that they first abjured their idols and converted to the true God and the religion of the Hebrews. In this too Solomon sinned, because he married them while they persisted in their idolatry; whence he was drawn by them to worship their idols. So Abulensis.
Verse 3: And He Had Seven Hundred Wives as Queens
3. AND HE HAD SEVEN HUNDRED WIVES AS QUEENS AND THREE HUNDRED CONCUBINES, that is, a thousand in all. The "queens" are called the primary wives, who were daughters of kings and princes, and therefore used royal honor and title: the "concubines" were secondary wives, being commoners. Though St. Jerome, epistle 132, calls them "harlots."
Pitiable was this fall of Solomon, a man most wise and most holy, by which he fell into six grave crimes. First, his crime was that he married foreign women and idolaters against the law. Second, that he married too many, namely a thousand. For the law of Deuteronomy chapter 17, verse 17, commanded and said to the king: "He shall not have very many wives." Third, that he gave them permission to worship their idols, and indeed built them shrines on the Mount of Olives. Fourth, that he himself worshipped the same. Fifth, that by his example he drove many Hebrews to worship the same. Sixth, that he imposed monstrous tributes on the people, because immense wealth was needed to adorn and magnificently support so many queens. And this is the heavy yoke about which in the following chapter the Hebrews complain to Rehoboam his son, and therefore make a schism from him. In Solomon one can see how true is that old saying:
Fine clothing, jesting, drink, food, leisure, sleep, Enervate the mind and foster luxury.
AND THE WOMEN TURNED AWAY HIS HEART; from the true God they turned his mind and will to idols.
4. AND WHEN HE WAS NOW OLD, HIS HEART WAS DEPRAVED BY THE WOMEN, TO FOLLOW STRANGE GODS. Hence it is clear that Solomon truly worshipped idols, and therefore it is strange that Robert Stephanus denies this very thing here. For the same is affirmed by St. Irenaeus, book IV, chapter 45, Justin, Dialogue Against Trypho, Tertullian, book V Against Marcion, St. Basil, epistle to Chelidonius, St. Augustine, book XIV of The City of God, chapter 11. He worshipped them, however, not because he thought there was anything of divinity in them, but to humor his concubines. Hear St. Augustine, book XI On Genesis Literally, chapter 42: "Thus Solomon, a man of such great wisdom, is it to be believed that in the worship of images he thought there was any benefit? But he could not resist the love of women drawing him to this evil, doing what he knew ought not to be done, lest he sadden those deadly delights of his for which he was dying and melting away." He confirms this with the example of Adam, adding: "So also Adam, after the woman, deceived, had eaten of the forbidden tree, and had given to him to eat together, did not wish to sadden her, whom he believed could waste away without his consolation; if he were alienated from her in spirit, and she would utterly perish through that discord. Not indeed conquered by the lust of the flesh, which he had not yet felt in the law of his members resisting the law of his mind: but by a certain friendly goodwill, by which it very often happens that God is offended, lest a man make an enemy from a friend; that he ought not to have done this, the just outcome of the divine sentence showed."
Verse 5: Solomon Worshipped Astarte and Moloch
5. BUT SOLOMON WORSHIPPED ASTARTE THE GODDESS OF THE SIDONIANS. This was Venus, about whom I spoke at Judges chapter 2, verse 13.
AND MOLOCH, or "Milcom," to whom they sacrificed children by burning them, about which I spoke at Leviticus 18:21. Whence Pineda and Salianus think that Solomon also sacrificed and burned his own son or sons to the same.
Verse 7: Then Solomon Built a Shrine to Chemosh
7. THEN SOLOMON BUILT A SHRINE TO CHEMOSH. "Chemosh" is komos, god of drunkenness, namely Bacchus; whence from him reveling (comessatio) is named. See what was said at Romans 13:13, on the words: "Not in reveling."
The cause of so great a fall was the excessive prosperity, opulence, delights and lusts of Solomon. The proximate cause was his wives, whom he loved most ardently: for they drove him mad according to that: "Wine and women make the wise apostatize."
Learn here how much women are to be avoided; for the love of them is unconquerable, and it extorts from lovers anything however precious and wicked: flee them therefore, because you are neither wiser than Solomon, nor stronger than Samson, nor holier than David; all of whom fell through women. Wisely Eucherius says here: "Those to whom this age is prosperous, who are struck by no adversities of this world, are to be warned, because Solomon is described as having fallen after receiving wisdom all the way to idolatry, because nothing of adversity is recorded as having befallen him in this world before he fell: but he utterly abandoned his granted wisdom, because no discipline of even the slightest tribulation guarded him, until after he abandoned God, and knew himself to be abandoned by God."
And St. Bernard, book II of On Consideration to Eugenius, near the end: "Observe, he says, how rare it has always been for someone not to relax his spirit even a little from self-guard and discipline in prosperity. When has this not been to the incautious in discipline what fire is to wax, what the ray of the sun is to snow or ice? David was wise, Solomon was wise: but when favorable circumstances flattered too much, the one was partly foolish, the other entirely so. Great is he who, falling into adversity, does not fall even a little from wisdom. Nor less great is he whom present prosperity smiled upon, but did not mock. Although you will more easily find those who retained wisdom when fortune was against them, than those who did not lose it when it was favorable."
Verse 11: Because You Have Had This in You
11. BECAUSE YOU HAVE HAD THIS IN YOU, because you have brought into your mind to apostatize from Me and worship idols. Or, because in you has been found the crime of apostasy and idolatry.
I WILL REND YOUR KINGDOM (into two; namely into the kingdom of Judah and Israel, that is, of the ten tribes); AND WILL GIVE IT TO YOUR SERVANT. Jeroboam, whom I will make king of Israel, chapter 12.
13. ONE TRIBE I WILL GIVE TO YOUR SON, "one," that is, besides his own, meaning: besides the tribe of Judah, from which because David sprang, it is therefore considered the proper tribe of his descendants, I will add also one other tribe, namely Benjamin. So Abulensis; or, as Cajetan says, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin were considered one and the same, and were called "the kingdom of Judah."
Moreover Abulensis, Torniellus and Salianus think God said these things to Solomon, not in person nor through an Angel, because Solomon was unworthy of that, but through Ahijah the Shilonite, of whom verse 29 speaks. Pineda however, book III, chapter 2, number 5, thinks God here appeared to Solomon in person for a third time; for this is what the words simply signify, when it is said in verse 11: "The Lord therefore said to Solomon." Finally Solomon gave God no answer, whence he seems to have persisted in his crime.
You may ask whether Solomon was damned or saved. This question is an ancient one. That he was damned is the view of Tertullian, book II of The Prescription, chapter 2; Cyprian, epistle 7; St. Augustine, book XVII of The City of God, chapters 8 and 20; St. Chrysostom, sermon On Penance; Bede in book III of Kings chapter 6; Rabanus in IV Kings chapter 23; Isidore, On the Life and Death of the Prophets chapter 24; Lyranus, Abulensis, and others here.
The first reason is that Scripture, commemorating his fall so grave, does not add his repentance, as it does add in the fall of David. Secondly, because he himself did not destroy his shrines built for idols: for Josiah finally destroyed them. Some answer that he himself closed them up, or destroyed them down to the ruins, which having been rebuilt by the impious, are called "the high places of Solomon;" but they say this without proving it. Thirdly, because God seems to have heaped all good things on Solomon in this life for this purpose, that He might reward his merits in this life, and punish his crimes in the next, according to that of Abraham to the rich glutton: "Son, remember that you received good things in your life, and Lazarus likewise evil things: but now he is comforted, and you are tormented." Fourthly, because the burning love of women, strengthened by long habit, is almost unconquerable: and such was Solomon's love, who was surrounded on every side by his many lovers passionately loved, so that even if he wanted to repent, he could not. To this pertains what happened a few years ago in Italy to one of our Society. He was called to be present at the death of a certain man living with a concubine. He was present, and with all his strength urged him to repentance, to say farewell to illicit loves, now coaxing, now threatening the approaching judgment of God and hell. But even the concubine, weeping, begged him to repent, and in dying to take care of the salvation of his soul: they all sang in vain to a deaf man. For he said that he neither wished nor could renounce his mistress so long beloved. Wherefore impenitent he breathed out his miserable soul.
On the other hand, that he repented and was saved is the opinion of the ancient Rabbis, and following them St. Jerome, St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, Rupert, Pineda, Salianus, Barradius, Serarius, Sanchez, Bellarmine and others, who assert that after his fall he wrote Ecclesiastes, in which as one repenting he exclaims that he had devoted himself to vain loves and idols: "Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity." This argument would be strong if it were established that Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon after his fall, not before, about which matter I spoke in the introduction to Ecclesiastes: for his sayings and writings are reviewed at the beginning of this book in chapters 4 and 5, before his fall; but his fall in old age is narrated only in this chapter 11.
They prove it firstly, because God in 2 Kings 7 had promised David that if Solomon sinned, He would correct him "with the rod of men," with which men are usually chastised so that they may be amended.
Secondly, because in Proverbs chapter 24:23, the Septuagint adds: At last I also repented, and looked back to choose discipline.
Thirdly, because Solomon was Jedidiah, that is, beloved of God, a type of Christ and a canonical writer of so many sacred books. Pineda proves this at greater length, book VIII On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter 1, section 6. I expressed my own opinion at Sirach 47:22, on the words: "You set a stain upon your glory." At Rome a certain distinguished preacher publicly asserted during a sermon that it had recently been revealed to a certain holy person that Solomon had undergone severe punishments in purgatory up to these times, but had now been released from them and gone to heaven. But these revelations must be examined, and women asserting them should not be easily believed.
Verse 14: The Lord Raised Up an Adversary to Solomon
14. AND THE LORD RAISED UP AN ADVERSARY TO SOLOMON, HADAD THE EDOMITE, from the south, just as from the north He raised up Rezon as an enemy against him, verse 23. This punishment was inflicted by God on Solomon while still living; the former, namely the rending of the kingdom, was imposed on him after death.
How God raises up enemies against Israel and the faithful, I explained at Judges 3:8.
Moreover Pineda, book VII, chapter 18, number 7, thinks these threats of God about the rending of the kingdom were directed at Solomon in the 32nd year of his reign, so that for the remaining eight years he might endure the greatest troubles both in mind and body. The same author however, in his Chronology, places this rebuke at the end of the 37th year of Solomon. In the 38th he says adversaries were raised up against Solomon, in the 39th that he came to his senses, and in the 40th that he died: which seems the distribution most consonant with reason, says Salianus.
Verse 15: Joab Went Up to Bury Those Who Had Been Slain
15. AND JOAB WENT UP TO BURY THOSE WHO HAD BEEN SLAIN. It is probable, as Cajetan thinks, that at that time it happened that the garrison soldiers of David left in Edom, which he had subdued, were killed by the Edomites after his death: and so Joab went there to bury them, and to avenge their death: whence he killed all the males of the Edomites, except perhaps the little children, who are excepted by the law of Deuteronomy 20:14.
Verse 21: He Said to Pharaoh: Let Me Depart
21. HE SAID TO PHARAOH: LET ME DEPART, THAT I MAY GO TO MY OWN LAND. Here seems to be the sequence of the history which Scripture here briefly summarizes. Hadad, of the royal seed of Edom, as a boy fled, or rather was carried away by servants to Egypt, when David was laying waste to Edom. In Egypt he found favor with Pharaoh, so much so that Pharaoh gave him his wife's sister as wife. When he heard that David the devastator of Edom was dead, he asked Pharaoh for permission to return to his own kingdom in Edom, which Pharaoh finally granted. Therefore in the third year of Solomon he returned to Edom, being about thirty years old, as Abulensis says, where with the good will of Solomon, through the mediation of Pharaoh, who had joined both to himself by marriage alliance, he seems to have reigned in Edom as a tributary on the same terms and conditions of tribute that David had imposed; for nothing from that time is found to have been changed or disturbed in Edom. In the last years of Solomon, seeing him effeminate, infatuated and made contemptible, he refused tribute to him, and rebelling vindicated himself and his Edom to freedom. So Abulensis, Salianus and others (1).
Verse 23: God Also Raised Up Against Him an Adversary
23. GOD ALSO RAISED UP AGAINST HIM AN ADVERSARY, REZON, who, as follows, having become a captain of bandits, made himself king of Damascus. Just and fitting was this punishment, that as Solomon rebelled against God, so both his subjects and those conquered in war would likewise rebel against him. Thus God raises up adversaries against a sinner, to goad him and compel him to return to God.
Verse 25: He Was an Adversary to Israel
25. AND HE (Rezon) WAS AN ADVERSARY TO ISRAEL ALL THE DAYS OF SOLOMON: AND THIS IS THE MISCHIEF OF HADAD, AND THE HATRED AGAINST ISRAEL, AND HE REIGNED IN SYRIA. Josephus, Cajetan and others thus explain, meaning: Hadad joined himself with Rezon, and strengthened by his help rebelled against Solomon, and made himself king of Syria. But they err: for it was Rezon who made himself king of Syria, namely of Damascus, as was said in the preceding verse. Hadad however, as the son of the king of Edom, reigned in his own Edom.
The meaning therefore is, that Rezon was an adversary of Israel and Solomon, and thus increased the evil of Hadad's hostility against Israel, "and he reigned in Syria," namely Rezon himself, not Hadad. Whence the Chaldean translates: and (Rezon) was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, and with the evil that Hadad did, he rebelled against Israel, and reigned over Aram, that is Syria, meaning: Rezon with Hadad rebelled against Solomon, and afflicted Israel, and made himself king of Syria. So Vatablus, Pineda and Salianus. The Roman Septuagint clearly signifies this, which transposes these words and joins them to verse 22, where it reads thus: And Ader returned to his own land; this is the evil that Ader did, and he oppressed, or afflicted Israel, and reigned in the land of Edom: For Aram some read Edom: for the letters daleth and resh are very similar, so that one is often substituted for the other; just as here the Septuagint reads Ader for Adad. Scripture therefore concludes by joining the two enemies of Solomon, namely Hadad and Rezon, and adding a third and greatest in the following verse, namely Jeroboam. Finally both opinions can be reconciled by saying that Hadad first reigned in Edom, then from there, as it was mountainous and barren, he migrated to Syria, as rich and fertile, and upon the death of Rezon his companion in rebellion, succeeded him in the kingdom of Syria. For his son Ben-hadad was king of Syria, as is evident in 3 Kings 20:1, and indeed from Hadad the rest of the kings of Syria after him were called Ben-hadad, that is, sons and successors of Hadad, and therefore hostile to Israel. So St. Jerome on chapter 1 Amos, the Rabbis and Vatablus, at 4 Kings chapter 6, verse 28.
26. JEROBOAM ALSO THE SON OF NEBAT, AN EPHRATHITE. This was the third enemy of Solomon. The Hebrews, according to St. Jerome in the Traditions, think "Nebat" was Shimei, who cursed David, and was therefore killed by Solomon, and that his son Jeroboam conceived a deep hatred, as if inherited from his father, against David and Solomon, and therefore rebelled against him. But they err: for Shimei was of the tribe of Benjamin, while Jeroboam was an "Ephrathite," that is, of the tribe of Ephraim, which tribe was arrogant, a rival of Judah, and avid for power. Whence in Jeroboam it seized that power, and held it for almost the entire time of the kings of Israel. Salianus shows the arrogance and turbulent character of the Ephraimites with many examples at the year of the world 3057, number 22.
A WIDOW WOMAN. So the Hebrew, Chaldean, and Septuagint here; but in the following chapter the Roman Septuagint has: a woman fornicator, or harlot: and so reads Lucifer of Cagliari, book On Apostate Kings.
HE RAISED HIS HAND AGAINST THE KING, after he had received from Ahijah the prophet the ten pieces of the torn garment, and through them the promise of the kingdom of the ten tribes from God, as follows; for he then seems to have solicited the ten tribes through the revelation of this prophecy, to defect from Solomon, so harsh an exactor of tributes, to himself as likely to be more mild: perhaps he also openly rebelled against Solomon and invaded the kingdom, as these words imply. So Josephus, Pineda and Salianus; although Abulensis and Torniellus think Jeroboam rebelled even before Ahijah's prophecy.
In this he sinned: for God here only promised him through Ahijah the kingdom of the ten tribes, but did not actually give it to him now, but only after the death of Solomon under Rehoboam. Therefore unjustly and unrightfully Jeroboam rose up against Solomon his king. So Abulensis. Just as when Samuel secretly anointed David as king, he did not thereby give him the right to the kingdom, but to reign after the death of Saul: whence David, while Saul lived, attempted nothing regarding the kingdom.
Finally Salianus thinks Jeroboam likewise attempted nothing against Solomon, but is only said to have "raised his hand against the king" because he was designated as king against Solomon by Ahijah, and accepted this designation of Ahijah's. For in common speech one who accepts someone's kingdom, even when offered to him, is said to rebel against the king; Serarius however says he "raised his hand" against Solomon, because he raised it against Rehoboam, Solomon's son.
But that he soon plotted something against Solomon is what Scripture properly signifies with this phrase, and it confirms this by adding: "And this is the cause of his rebellion against him." He therefore rebelled against Solomon himself. Whence Josephus, book VIII, chapter 2: "Raised by these words of the prophet to great hopes, Jeroboam, since he was of a restless and ambitious character, as soon as he arrived in his province, not forgetful of the prophetic prediction, began to solicit the people to defect from Solomon and to confer the leadership on him." Torniellus, Pineda, Abulensis and others follow Josephus.
Verse 31: Take to Yourself Ten Pieces
31. TAKE TO YOURSELF TEN PIECES, so that by this you may know that under Rehoboam you will take from the twelve tribes of Solomon's kingdom, and claim for yourself ten tribes of Israel, as Ahijah presently explains.
Symbolically, these ten pieces signified that the kingdom of the ten tribes would be torn into ten dynasties succeeding one another, and divided ten times, says Rupert. For this was the order and succession of the kings of Israel, that is, of the ten tribes. The first tearing of the ten tribes from the two was done by Jeroboam. His son, says Rupert, book V, chapter 4, named Nadab, was struck down by Baasha. This was the second tearing of the kingdom of Israel. The son of this same Baasha, Elah, was killed by Zimri, who reigned in his place. Zimri burned himself in the palace when Omri was besieging him, and Omri reigned in his place. After him Ahab reigned, and after him his son Ahaziah, and after him his brother Joram. But Jehu killed this one, and reigned in his place through the fourth generation. The fifth from him was struck down by Shallum, who reigned in his place. But Menahem also struck down this one, and reigned in his place. The son of this one, Pekahiah, was struck down by Pekah the son of Remaliah, who reigned in his place, but against this one also Hoshea conspired, and struck him and killed him, and reigned in his place. Against this one the king of Assyria came up and carried Israel away to Assyria. This was the tenth tearing. For in Jeroboam the first, in Baasha the second, in Zimri the third, in Omri the fourth, in Jehu the fifth, in Shallum the sixth, in Menahem the seventh, in Pekah the son of Remaliah the eighth, in Hoshea the ninth, in the king of Assyria, who divided by place those already divided from God and David their king, transferring them to Assyria, is rightly counted the tenth."
Tropologically, Jeroboam the first schismatic represents heretics, who tear apart the Church with their heresy: and especially princes, who in order to invade the kingdom of their orthodox king, introduce heresy and call heretics to their aid, as Jeroboam did (the same thing we have seen in Belgium) who therefore lost his kingdom, as God here threatens by foretelling. Hence aptly, says Angelomus, "Jeroboam in Hebrew is interpreted as 'judging the people.' For heretics also seem to judge the people, when they make them followers of their error." For then that is fulfilled: "Take to yourself ten pieces." So also Rupert, book V, chapter 5, Eucherius, Bede and others.
Verse 32: But one tribe
32. But one tribe (Judah with Benjamin associated to it) SHALL REMAIN TO HIM, namely to Solomon, that is, to Rehoboam, Solomon's son and successor.
36. THAT THERE MAY REMAIN A LAMP FOR DAVID MY SERVANT. The "lamp" means the posterity of king David, not any kind, but the royal, splendid and glorious kind. For just as the light of the sun propagating itself scatters new light in the air, and just as one candle or lamp lights another, and this one another and another; so likewise David the king begot Solomon the king, and Solomon
begot Rehoboam the king, and so of the rest of his posterity. "Lamp" therefore here means the royal succession of the posterity of David, which was like a lamp and like a certain remnant of light, that is, of the splendor and glory of David shining in Jerusalem. So Cajetan.
Verse 37: And I Will Take You
37. And I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel. 38. If therefore you will hearken to all that I shall command you, and will walk in My ways, and do what is right before Me, keeping My commandments, and My precepts, as David My servant did: I will be with you, and will build you a faithful house, as I built David a house, and I will deliver Israel to you. 39. And I will afflict the seed of David for this, yet not forever. 40. Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam: who arose and fled into Egypt to Shishak the king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon. 41. And the rest of the words of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom: behold they are all written in the Book of the words of the days of Solomon. 42. And the days that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel, were forty years. 43. And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.
Verse 38: I Will Build You a Faithful House
38. I WILL BUILD YOU A FAITHFUL HOUSE, that is, a royal family, continuous and stable, so that your descendants may succeed in a continuous line in the kingdom of the ten tribes. It is remarkable that Jeroboam and princes like him do not believe these words and promises of God, who is the first truth; but by contrary means through impiety, fraud and crimes try to secure for themselves the stability of their kingdom and royal line; by which it happens that they rouse God against themselves, and are therefore utterly destroyed by Him, as happened to Jeroboam, and to all the kings of Israel his successors.
Verse 39: I Will Afflict the Seed of David for This
39. AND I WILL AFFLICT THE SEED OF DAVID FOR THIS, that is, on account of this, namely on account of you, if you are faithful to Me, meaning: if you serve Me faithfully, I will exalt you, and I will humble and bring low the posterity of David, your rivals.
YET NOT FOREVER. The Rabbis in Seder Olam, chapter 15, refer this to the reign of Asa, king of Judah, who greatly elevated the kingdom of Judah. Salianus and others refer it to Hezekiah; for in his sixth year the ten tribes were carried away to Assyria, and then the kingdom ceased, and the kings of the ten tribes who were rivals of the kings of Judah. Mystically, this was most fully realized by the Messiah, namely by Christ, who as the son of David reigned again over all Israel, and the entire world, and is worshipped by it as God, Messiah and King of kings. So Cajetan, Abulensis, Serarius and others. Whence from Christ about to ascend into heaven the disciples were asking: "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?" Acts 1.
Moreover God so earnestly impresses upon Jeroboam the true religion and worship of Himself, because He foresaw that he would make a schism from God and the temple for the sake of the kingdom, although God wished through him to repair the schism from God's worship that had been made by Solomon. But why did God, foreknowing this, nonetheless make him king? I answer, to punish the people, and to give to the impious a similar, namely an impious king, just as He had already before given the same people the impious Saul, says Rupert, and following him Salianus. For the people was now largely corrupted, both by imitation of the king and by their own malice, to which leisure, delights, and the abundance of all things had driven them. Therefore God, wishing to chastise the impious people, gave them king Jeroboam, who would comply with the people's desires and cravings to worship idols, and thus would become the cause of so many calamities, and finally of their ultimate destruction, according to that of Job 34:30: "Who makes a hypocrite (that is, an impious man) to reign because of the sins of the people."
Verse 40: Solomon Therefore Sought to Kill Jeroboam
40. SOLOMON THEREFORE SOUGHT (the matter having been understood, namely that Ahijah had conferred the kingdom of the ten tribes on Jeroboam) TO KILL JEROBOAM, as the rival and invader of his kingdom. The Chaldean adds, at Canticle chapter 8, verse 12, that he also wished to kill Ahijah, because he had conferred the kingdom, and therefore Ahijah likewise fled to Egypt: but about Ahijah Scripture says nothing here; yet this is probable. For kings are sensitive, and they persecute even saints, whoever tries to introduce other kings, as guilty of treason; for whoever touches the kingdom touches the apple of their eye. But this, says Dionysius, was a great blindness, ambition and impatience of Solomon, as though he wished and could impede the purpose of God concerning the division of the kingdom.
Verse 41: In the Book of the Words of Solomon
41. IN THE BOOK OF THE WORDS (that is, deeds or acts) OF SOLOMON, namely in the Diaries, Chronicles and Annals of Solomon.
43. AND SOLOMON SLEPT (the sleep of death) WITH HIS FATHERS, at the age of 60, say Lyranus, Abulensis, etc. Zonaras and Cedrenus relate that his tomb burst apart and collapsed under the Emperor Hadrian, and that this event portended Jewish disturbances and tumults. So also Dio in his Life of Hadrian, book 69, discussing the Jewish revolt, on account of which almost all of them were killed by him, and the whole of Judea was desolated: "This had been announced to them, he says, before the war was waged, from the fact that the monument of Solomon, whom they worship with the highest reverence, had spontaneously split apart and collapsed."
The figure and form of Solomon from Canticle 5:10: "My beloved is white and ruddy," etc. So Pineda gathers, book VI, chapter 4, and from him Salianus. Solomon was of a white and ruddy complexion, of warm and moist temperament, but somewhat warmer, with thick hair; his locks golden-tinted and slightly curling, like the fronds of palms; eyes of proper size, filling their orbs, bright and blue-grey, with a gentle and placid gaze; cheeks blooming and cheerful, like lilies mixed with roses; his lips thin and soft, like the red lilies of Syria; his mouth itself breathing the breath of sweet fragrance; hands delicate, soft, well-jointed, as if shaped on a lathe; fingers longer, arms more slender; chest and torso fair, like an ivory vessel, of moderate size and shape; his legs like marble columns, or the whitest Parian marble; feet like most elaborate golden bases, of moderate size; gait firm and steady; stature tall and erect; voice most sweet: worthy to represent Him who is beautiful in form beyond the sons of men. But the arriving years and vices took away most of these from Solomon: and especially unbridled lust and the diseases, sorrows and anguish sent upon him by God in his old age on account of idolatry: whence Sirach, chapter 47, concludes his praises with this lamentable catastrophe and threnody: "And you bowed your loins to women: you had power over your body, you set a stain upon your glory, you profaned your seed to bring wrath upon your children, and to stir up your folly, so that you made a divided kingdom." See what was said there.
Around the twentieth year of Solomon's reign Homer was born, the wisest of Greek poets, whom Virgil, the prince of Latin poets, imitated everywhere and followed in Latin verse. Therefore seven cities of Greece contend for Homer's birthplace, namely "Smyrna, Rhodes, Colophon, Salamis, Chios, Argos, Athens:" Indeed the Ietae, that is, the inhabitants of the island Io, built an altar to Homer and sacrificed to him as to a god, Gellius testifies, book III, chapter 11. Hesiod was Homer's contemporary and near-equal.
Thus it was fitting that under Solomon, the wisest of the Hebrews, indeed of all mortals, wisdom should be born among the Greeks, and thence be transferred to the Latins. So from St. Cyril, book VII Against Julian, and others, Salianus at the twentieth year of Solomon, which was the 168th year from the fall of Troy, 460 before the founding of Rome; at that time also the sixth king Silvius, son of Aeneas Silvius, was reigning in Latium, and Dido founded Carthage, says Eusebius in the Chronicle.
Finally Josephus, book VIII, chapter 3, places this epitaph on Solomon: "Solomon died, the most fortunate, the richest and the most prudent of all kings, except for the sin to which, now growing old, he was dragged by women." He had already proclaimed before, and preached to the whole world: "Vanity of vanities and all is vanity," and yet the vanity and vain appearance of women drove him mad in his old age, and made him vain, so that he made himself the supreme mirror of vanity. For his wisdom vanished, his holiness vanished, his power vanished, his happiness and glory vanished, and finally his health and present life vanished, would that not his eternal life. What is a man, even the wisest, richest, most powerful, if he abandons God, and is abandoned by God? Surely nothing else than a slave of vanity, an image of foolishness, a prey of death, an abyss of miseries. Oh! if Solomon were permitted to return to life, what penance he would perform, what life he would lead, what would he cry out to mortals! Surely the words of St. Salvius, recalled from death to life, found in Gregory of Tours, book VII of the History, chapter 1: "Hear, children of Adam, and understand, that there is nothing that you see in this world; but all is vanity. Despise all things therefore as vain, that you may deserve to attain the true glory of God in heaven." Vain are scepters, vain are tiaras, vain is Venus, vain are riches, vain is wine, vain is the whole world. "O the cares of men, O how much emptiness is in things!" Nothing is true, nothing is good, nothing is great, unless it is eternal. Think on eternal things, seek eternal things: that God may bless you for eternity, through all the ages of ages. Amen.