Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Jezebel threatens Elijah with death; he flees and, fed by an Angel under a juniper tree, proceeds to Mount Horeb; where, in verse 10, he is asked by God what he is doing there, complains that the prophets have been killed and that he too is sought for death; then God, appearing in the whisper of a gentle breeze, commands him to anoint Hazael as king of Syria, and Jehu as king of Samaria, and Elisha as the prophet to succeed him; he soon carries this out, verse 19, and casting his mantle upon Elisha, he adopts him as his companion.
Vulgate Text: 3 Kings 19:1-21
1. Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2. And Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying: May the gods do this to me and more, if by this hour tomorrow I have not made your life like the life of one of them. 3. So Elijah was afraid, and arising he went wherever his will carried him; and he came to Beersheba of Judah and left his servant there. 4. And he went into the desert, a day's journey. And when he had come and sat under a juniper tree, he asked for himself that he might die, and said: It is enough; take my life, O Lord, for I am no better than my fathers. 5. And he cast himself down and fell asleep in the shade of the juniper tree; and behold, an Angel of the Lord touched him and said to him: Arise and eat. 6. He looked, and behold, at his head there was a cake baked on coals and a vessel of water; so he ate and drank, and fell asleep again. 7. And the Angel of the Lord came a second time and touched him, and said to him: Arise, eat; for a great journey lies ahead of you. 8. And when he had arisen, he ate and drank, and walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, to the mountain of God, Horeb. 9. And when he had come there, he stayed in a cave; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and said to him: What are you doing here, Elijah? 10. And he answered: I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant; they have destroyed Your altars, they have killed Your prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it away. 11. And He said to him: Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord; and behold, the Lord passes by, and a great and strong wind rending the mountains and shattering the rocks before the Lord; the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake; the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12. And after the earthquake, fire; the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, a still small voice. 13. And when Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his mantle, and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave; and behold, a voice came to him saying: What are you doing here, Elijah? And he answered: 14. I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant; they have destroyed Your altars, they have killed Your prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it away. 15. And the Lord said to him: Go, return on your way through the desert to Damascus; and when you arrive there, you shall anoint Hazael king over Syria. 16. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat, who is of Abel-meholah, you shall anoint as prophet in your place. 17. And it shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. 18. And I will leave for Myself in Israel seven thousand men whose knees have not bowed before Baal, and every mouth that has not worshipped him by kissing its hands. 19. So departing from there, Elijah found Elisha the son of Shaphat, plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he was one of those with the twelve yoke of oxen who were plowing; and when Elijah came to him, he cast his mantle upon him. 20. And he immediately left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said: Let me kiss my father and my mother, I pray, and then I will follow you. And he said to him: Go, and return; for what was mine to do, I have done to you. 21. And returning from him, he took a pair of oxen and slaughtered them, and with the plow of the oxen he cooked the meat, and gave it to the people, and they ate; and rising up he went and followed Elijah, and ministered to him.
Verse 3: Elijah Was Afraid
3. SO ELIJAH WAS AFRAID (of the fury and power of Jezebel, about which see verse 4; see Abulensis, Question III), AND HE LEFT HIS SERVANT — that is, his attendant, so that he might flee alone and in secret and hide.
Verse 4: He Went into the Desert
4. HE WENT INTO THE DESERT, ETC., AND WHEN HE HAD COME, HE SAT UNDER A JUNIPER TREE. — For the "juniper" loves hot and dry places; hence it abounds in Syria, and especially in the desert. Hence Pliny, book XVI, chapter XXX: "The juniper," he says, "has the same properties as the cedar." And chapter XL: "Cypress, cedar, ebony, lotus, boxwood, yew, and juniper do not suffer rot or old age." Hence juniper berries are hot, strong, and effective for warming, drying, and strengthening the stomach, like pepper and mustard. Such is a zealous man, of whom you may truly say that proverb of the Arabs: "A grain of pepper (or juniper) is worth more than ten melons." For a zealous man, like a small grain of pepper or juniper,
if broken or rubbed, exhales the fires of divine love, by which he stimulates, prods, and inflames his hearers toward the good. Fittingly therefore Elijah rested under the shade of a juniper tree; for the juniper berries, which burn like pepper, represent the ardor and zeal of Elijah; but this had to be tempered by the shade of patience and humility; for the juniper, being small, gives a small and humble shade. Such was Brother Juniper, one of the first companions of St. Francis, of whom we read thus in the Annals of Wadding, year of the Lord 1210, number 35: "At that time (St. Francis) also admitted to his society Blessed Juniper, a man of such humility and simplicity that he was thought by the ignorant multitude to be a fool. The things he did and said for his own utter abasement seem almost incredible, and no other man was as eager for honor as this one was for reproach. Therefore when he was assailed with insults by anyone,
spreading out the edges of his poor cloak, he would say to him: Friend, throw them in here generously, fill the lap with those precious stones, fill it, do not fear — calling insults and reproaches "precious stones." When he returned home, he would have this kind of conversation with himself: O useless brother, with what face do you return to the fathers? Under what title will they admit you? Certainly if they take you under their roof out of hospitality, and give you a little bread and a little water, they will be doing a great thing, greater than your merits deserve; surely they will justly reject you as unworthy of their company. St. Francis, admiring his simplicity, would say to those present: Would that, brothers, we had an entire forest of such Junipers!" — alluding to the etymology and property of the name, because as Blessed Isidore testifies, just as the ash of the juniper keeps the coals of the same wood burning for a very long time, so this man kept the fire of love burning in his sacred breast. And just as the juniper is covered with thorns, and according to Jerome always blooms, always brings forth new fruits, and never loses its greenness, so this man, through the compunction and austerity of penance, nourished in himself the greenness of divine charity. For "juniper" in Hebrew is rothem, which the Septuagint, retaining it, translate as Ratham, as the Complutensian edition has, or Rathmon, as the Roman edition has; hence some have thought rothem to be the buckthorn (rhamnus). Hear St. Methodius, tract On Chastity, in Photius' Library: "The buckthorn denotes virginity (for because it is thorny and pricks, it denotes the austere life and mortification, which is the parent and nurse of chastity); for the buckthorn is a chaste tree, and perhaps from a similar nature with the virgin this plant is called agnos; 'rhamnus' indeed on account of its strength and fortitude against pleasures; 'agnos' however, because it is in every part chaste and pure. Hence they say that Elijah, fleeing from the face of Jezebel the woman, came first to the Buckthorn, and was heard there and received food; because for those fleeing the sting of the flesh and woman and pleasure, the wood of chastity sprouted as a refuge and covering, which was planted by Christ, the author of virginity, for those who embrace virginity."
And so he explains that passage of Judges IX, 14: "All the trees said to the buckthorn: Come and rule over us," because when the fig tree, that is, the law of nature in paradise, and the vine, that is, the law of nature given to Noah after the flood (who discovered the vine and wine), and the olive tree, that is, the law of Moses and the Prophets (for these were anointed with oil) had been unable to heal the festering wounds of men: "God sent a fourth time the buckthorn, that is, chastity, to rule over them, which, having overcome pleasures, also threatened them for the remaining time that unless all obeyed it and sincerely came to it, all would be consumed by flames; for no other law would follow after this, but judgment and fire. Hence man began to cultivate justice, and to adhere constantly to God through faith, and to separate himself from the devil." Thus far St. Methodius.
Allegorically Rupert, book V, chapter X, by the juniper understands the holy and life-giving cross of God, to which the faithful flees when he is assailed by fear or any other temptation: there he embraces death, there he desires to die together with Christ, because he submits himself entirely to His cross, and desires to be conformed and crucified together with Him.
HE ASKED FOR HIMSELF (that is, for himself; it is a Hebraism) THAT HE MIGHT DIE. — Whence such great fear, such great consternation in Elijah, who shortly before had fearlessly contended with Ahab and the Baalites and overcome them? I respond first, because God withdrew from him the strength He had given, so that Elijah might recognize that it had been a gift of God, and that he himself was by nature timid, as other men are. For this reason God customarily subjects the saints who have accomplished great deeds to fears and temptations, in order to preserve them in humility, lest they be puffed up, but be compelled to have recourse to God. So St. Chrysostom, homily On Elijah and Peter, which is found in Surius on August 1: "God," he says, "wished to declare that those miracles which had been shown were done not by Elijah, but by His own power. See what happens: during the time when God Himself was operating, Kings, Princes, and peoples yielded to Elijah; but when God withdrew, even one woman seemed terrible to that prophet. God withdrew, and human nature was reproved.
And shortly after: "For not one or two, but forty days he fled, and betook himself to a completely deserted region, carrying with him no sustenance, no food at all; for like a man drunk with fear, he cared for nothing else, but followed only the deserted regions." Angelomus and Rabanus say almost the same here: "Holy men," they say, "when the Spirit lifts them up, are carried to the heights; but as long as they are in this life, they are repressed by temptations lest they become proud."
St. Chrysostom adds that God wished by this fear to punish the cruelty of Elijah, by which he had killed the 850 false prophets. But this is improbable, since he did this by God's command out of zeal, to destroy idolatry.
Second, because Jezebel, seeing all her prophets killed by Elijah, raged against Elijah, to tear him to pieces most cruelly, and she had at her disposal King Ahab her husband, through whom she could send countless soldiers against Elijah. Therefore Elijah feared Jezebel more than Ahab and the Baalites. For, as Ecclesiasticus says, chapter XXV, verse 23: "There is no head more wicked than the head of a serpent, and there is no anger above the anger of a woman." Hence St. Ambrose, epistle 23, says that the temptations of women are graver than those of men, since brave men have been conquered and overthrown by them. So also St. Bernard, sermon 64 among the smaller ones. Hence St. Peter, who had fought against the entire cohort and cut off Malchus' ear, feared a maidservant, and out of fear of her denied Christ.
THAT HE MIGHT DIE. — You will say: Elijah was fleeing from Jezebel who wished to kill him; he was therefore fleeing death. Why then does he here wish for death? I respond first, because
in the flight and its difficulties, and the hardships of the journey, the toil increased, and from it the pain and grief of Elijah, which so depressed him that he wished for the death he had previously fled,, in order to escape so many and so great calamities. So we see those who have escaped plague and death, if they afterwards fall into graver tribulations and dangers, wish and say: Would that I had died with my companions, would that the plague had taken me with the rest. Such were the Greeks who, returning after the capture of Troy and tossed by a most severe storm, wished they had fallen in the siege of Troy:
What can fate do? Pyrrhus envies his father; Ulysses envies Ajax, the younger Atrides envies Hector; Agamemnon envies Priam. Whoever lies at Troy Is thought fortunate, (says Seneca in Agamemnon).
The second and more important reason was that Elijah feared being killed by Jezebel, not because he feared death, but lest he seem to have been overcome and conquered by Jezebel, and with him the true religion of God. For Jezebel would have boasted that she had killed Elijah, and with him had overthrown the faith and worship of God. He therefore wishes God to send him death, lest it be inflicted by Jezebel, not so much upon himself as upon the worship and religion of God. So Herodias killed St. John the Baptist, the antitype of Elijah, and Eudoxia killed St. Chrysostom. See St. Peter Damian, volume II, sermon 2 On St. Vitalis.
Allegorically, Elijah represents here the weakness of Christ trembling in the garden. So Rupert, book V, chapter X.
IT IS ENOUGH FOR ME, O LORD (to have lived until now, and to have been adorned with so many and so great benefits from You. It is enough for me to have conquered Ahab and to have killed the false prophets). TAKE (therefore) MY LIFE — lest Jezebel take it with disgrace and infamy both to me and to You. FOR I AM NO BETTER THAN MY FATHERS — both the ancient ones, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc.; and the recent ones, namely the prophets already killed by Jezebel before me, whom I venerate as my elders and fathers, indeed as martyrs.
Verse 5: He Fell Asleep under the Juniper Tree
5. AND HE CAST HIMSELF DOWN AND FELL ASLEEP IN THE SHADE OF THE JUNIPER TREE — from the weariness of the journey and from sadness of spirit. Moreover the shade of the juniper is scanty, since the juniper has thorns instead of leaves, and is harmful. For as Virgil says, Eclogue 10: "Heavy is the shade of the juniper;" therefore this shade rather increased than diminished the headache and sadness in Elijah. Hence this shade is a type of human supports, which although they are vain and harmful, men nonetheless flee to them, when they should rather flee to the shade and protection of God and Christ as useful and solid, with the bride who says in Canticles chapter II, verse 3: "Under the shadow of him whom I had desired I sat, and his fruit was sweet to my palate." And with Jeremiah, Lamentations IV, 20: "The breath of our mouth, Christ the Lord, was taken in our sins, to whom we said: Under Your shadow we will live among the nations." "For Christ," as St. Bernard says, sermon 2 on the Missus Est, "does not cease to protect those little ones who flee to Him under the shadow of His wings, whether from the heat of carnal desires, or from the face of the wicked who afflict them. Good and desirable is the shade under the wings of Jesus, where there is safe refuge for those who flee, and welcome refreshment for the weary." Hence again Jeremiah, chapter XVII, verse 5: "Cursed," he says, "is the man who trusts in man, etc. For he shall be like the tamarisk in the desert, and shall not see when good comes. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord."
Verse 7: A Great Journey Lies Ahead of You
7. A GREAT JOURNEY LIES AHEAD OF YOU — to Mount Horeb, so that there you may see and hear God, verse 11, as Moses saw and heard Him. So for each faithful person a great journey remains to the summit of sanctity and perfection, and a greater journey remains to the empyrean heaven.
Verse 8: He Walked Forty Days to Mount Horeb
8. HE WALKED IN THE STRENGTH OF THAT FOOD FORTY DAYS AND FORTY NIGHTS TO THE MOUNTAIN OF GOD, HOREB. — From this it is clear that a wonderful virtue had been placed by God in this food and bread, so that Elijah's strength would suffice for making the journey without any other nourishment for 40 days and nights. Hence the Author of the Marvels of Sacred Scripture, book II, chapter XIX, asserts that this bread was miraculously made by the hands of Angels, although Abulensis thinks it was natural and common bread, to which God gave this power to strengthen Elijah, so that he would not need other food.
St. Bernard has the tropology of the entire history in his entire sermon 64 among the smaller ones.
Allegorically, by this bread of Elijah the Fathers understand the Eucharist, by whose power for 40 days, that is, for our whole life, which is for us a time of fasting and penance, we walk "to the mountain of God, Horeb," namely to see "the God of gods in Zion." So Paschasius Radbertus, book On the Blood and Body of the Lord, chapter X; Algerus, book II On the Sacrament of the Altar, chapter I; Rupert, book V, chapter X; Rabbi Samuel of Morocco, book On the Coming of the Messiah, chapter XX.
Anagogically, this bread represents the most sweet refreshment of the Saints in heaven, by which not for 40 days, but for all eternity, without food they will remain healthy, strong, joyful, and glorious. So Rupert.
FOR FORTY DAYS — without other food, and therefore fasting. The journey from Beersheba to Mount Horeb is a matter of a few days, namely four or five; especially since Elijah walked both night and day, and fear gave him wings, says Serarius. Hence it is clear that, struck by fear, terror, grief, and anguish, he wandered about, turning this way and that, wherever his will carried him, and did not keep a straight course; and perhaps he had not even fixed in his mind the destination of his journey, namely to go to Horeb. So Abulensis.
Note here that Elijah fasted for 40 days, just as Moses did, and afterwards Christ, in imitation of whom the Church instituted the Lenten fast.
St. Ambrose wrote a book On Elijah and Fasting, in which he shows the benefits of fasting, and presents various examples from Sacred Scripture on this subject, as well as the harms of drunkenness and intemperance.
HOREB. — "Horeb" is Mount Sinai, as I showed in Exodus chapter XVII, verse 6, on which Moses, receiving the law from God, conversed with Him, Exodus XIX, so that on the same mountain Elijah, suffering and fighting for God's law, might converse with the same God and receive from Him the method for defending it.
Verse 9: He Stayed in a Cave
9. HE STAYED IN A CAVE. — In this cave (as it seems) Moses, covered by God, Exodus XXXIII, 22, saw the back and glory of God passing by; and therefore in the same cave Elijah here saw the same, but in a different manner. For Moses saw it in the form of an immense light and splendor. But Elijah in the form of the whisper of a gentle breeze; so Rabbi Solomon, Lyranus, and others. Hence this cave was in great veneration among the ancients, and Josephus, book II of Antiquities, chapter XII, relates that before the age of Moses, that place was considered so sacred by the ancients that shepherds were restrained by a certain religious scruple from driving their flocks to that mountain, because they suspected that something divine was there.
Symbolically St. Gregory, book II on Ezekiel, homily 13: "Elijah," he says, "is described as having stood at the entrance of his cave when he heard the voice of the Lord speaking with him, and as having veiled his face; because when through the grace of contemplation the voice of heavenly understanding sounds in the mind, the whole man is no longer within the cave, because the care of the flesh does not possess his soul, but he stands at the entrance, because he is pondering how to escape the straits of mortality. But he who stands at the entrance of the cave and perceives the words of God in the ear of his heart must necessarily veil his face; because when we are led through heavenly grace to understand higher things, the more sublimely we are raised, the more we must always through humility press ourselves down with our understanding, lest we attempt to know more than it is fitting to know." And after some intervening passages: "For to strain the ear and to cover the face is to hear the voice of the inner substance through the mind, and yet to turn the eyes of the heart away from every bodily image, lest the mind fashion for itself anything corporeal in that which is everywhere whole and everywhere circumscribed."
Verse 10: I Have Been Very Zealous for the Lord
10. I HAVE BEEN VERY ZEALOUS FOR THE LORD GOD OF HOSTS — to remove the worship of Baal and idols, and therefore I killed their 850 high priests. It can also be translated with Vatablus: I am seized with a wonderful jealousy for the Lord God, as if to say: I am tormented in the honor of God by a kind of jealousy, and as if I bore the person of God; I am tormented when I see the synagogue, which is the bride of God, falling away from Him and passing over to Baal as to an adulterer.
THEY HAVE DESTROYED YOUR ALTARS. — For besides the altar established by God in the temple at Jerusalem, many who were far from it had erected altars to the true God on neighboring mountains, which were called "high places," and on them they sacrificed. Although these pleased God less, yet He did not wish them to be overthrown in a heretical and impious spirit, as if they were altars of a false god, not a true one. So Abulensis and Serarius.
Verse 11: Go Out and Stand on the Mountain
11. AND HE SAID (the Angel, God's representative) TO HIM: GO OUT AND STAND ON THE MOUNTAIN BEFORE THE LORD; AND BEHOLD, THE LORD PASSES BY, AND A GREAT AND STRONG WIND OVERTURNING MOUNTAINS, AND SHATTERING THE ROCKS BEFORE THE LORD: THE LORD WAS NOT IN THE WIND; AND AFTER THE WIND, AN EARTHQUAKE. THE LORD WAS NOT IN THE EARTHQUAKE; AND AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE, FIRE; THE LORD WAS NOT IN THE FIRE; AND AFTER THE FIRE, A STILL SMALL VOICE. — In Hebrew, a whisper, or a silent voice, that is, low and thin. The Septuagint adds kai ekei Kyrios, that is, and there (in the whisper) was the Lord.
Note that the purpose and aim of this vision was that God might console, calm, and instruct Elijah, who was inflamed with anger, weariness, and grief at the license, impunity, and crimes of Jezebel and the Baalites. First then, to his eyes and senses He presents a most powerful wind, so strong that it seemed about to overturn mountains and shatter rocks; then a great earthquake; then a burning and blazing fire, as if to say: I have at My hand, O Elijah, winds, earth, fires, and all the elements, and all creatures high, middle, and low, to destroy the idolaters and Jezebel; but this mode of My providence and clemency is not the ordinary and usual one, nor is it fitting; and therefore I do not wish to use it, hence it says: "The Lord was not in it." Fourth and finally, God offers to Elijah's ears a gentle breeze, or a spirit and whisper representing Himself and His clemency and providence; for this gentle spirit signifies God's patience and longsuffering in punishing sins, which Elijah and every apostolic man ought to imitate and put on. So St. Irenaeus, book IV Against Heresies, chapter XXXVII: "The prophet," he says, "who was rather agitated and impetuous for vengeance, was being taught to act more mildly." And Tertullian, book On Patience, chapter XV: "There sits on the throne His spirit (that is, God's), most mild and most gentle, which is not gathered in a whirlwind, nor darkened in a cloud, but is open and simple with tender serenity, which Elijah saw the third time; for where God is, there also is His nursling, namely patience." And St. Macarius, homily 6: "Behold," he says, "the still small voice, and in it the Lord. It is therefore clear that the Lord's rest is situated in peace and tranquility." And Theodoret, Question LVII: "By this," he says, "showing that gentleness, kindness, and clemency alone is pleasing to God; but each of the others is drawn out by the wickedness of men."
St. Chrysostom, homily 1 On Elijah, at the end asserts that God quickly snatched away Elijah, lest, if he lived longer, the world would be destroyed by his fire and zeal; but Chrysostom is rather severe regarding the severe zeal of Elijah. So also Procopius.
Second, this gentle spirit or whisper carried the voice of God to Elijah, by which God instructed him who was excessively disturbed, faint-hearted, and thinking himself the only remaining worshipper and prophet of God; hence He says: "I have left for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee before Baal," Romans chapter XI, verse 4.
Third, this subtle spirit signified God's power, efficacy, and vengeance penetrating all things. Hence He indicated to Elijah the mode of vengeance to be exercised upon the Baalites through Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha, not through wind, earthquake, and fire. So Cajetan and Antonius Fernandius in the Visions of the Old Testament, vision 9.
Therefore this gentle spirit was at the same time subtle and sharp. For God and God's wisdom and providence operates and chastises as powerfully as gently. Therefore God by this vision did not wish to disapprove of Elijah's zeal for vengeance, but only to moderate it, so that it would not proceed from anger and agitation of mind, as it was in Elijah, but from gentleness and love of justice. Hence He immediately prescribes to him the method and manner of vengeance, namely that he should anoint Hazael and Jehu as kings, and Elisha as prophet, so that they might carry it out.
Moreover all these things were done through Angels, as God's ministers, as the Apostle says, Hebrews chapter I, 14. Hence the Chaldean translates: Behold the glory of the Lord is revealed, and before Him there was an army of Angels of wind rending mountains and shattering rocks before the Lord; the majesty of the Lord was not in the army of Angels of wind; and after the army of Angels of wind there was an army of Angels of commotion (causing an earthquake); the majesty of the Lord was not in the army of Angels of commotion; and after the army of commotion, an army of Angels of fire; the majesty of the Lord was not in the army of Angels of fire; and after the army of Angels of fire, a voice of those singing in silence, as it were soothing Elijah's grieving and troubled spirit.
Symbolically, by this vision was signified the nature and majesty of God, which is not wind, nor earth, nor fire, nor any other body, but the most subtle, most gentle, and most pure spirit. This apparition of God was therefore like a scintillation of divinity, as Tertullian speaks, which wrests reverence for itself from us. Again, here is signified the character of God, whose proper quality is gentleness and clemency. God thunders, strikes with lightning, flashes, shakes the mountains, but He does this in a certain way unwillingly and "touched with sorrow of heart within," because it is proper to Him to have mercy and to spare; and therefore He is said not to dwell in the whirlwind and fire, because these suggest something terrible and harmful to human well-being, but in a gentle breeze, which refreshes and restores the weary spirit, says Sanchez from Theodoret, etc. So also St. Gregory, book V of the Morals, chapter XXVI, whose words I shall presently quote.
Allegorically, it was represented that the spirit of Christ the Savior coming into the world would be different from, and opposite to, the spirit of Moses, Elijah, and the old law. For God on Horeb, or Sinai, giving the law to Moses, caused thunder to be heard, lightning to flash, fires to blaze, and the mountain to tremble, Exodus XIX and XX, in order to terrify the stubborn Jews with fear of Himself and His law. Elijah did the same here, when through him he wished to restore the violated law and worship of God. But when the Son of God descended into flesh, He came in the spirit of gentleness and meekness, according to that passage of Isaiah XLII, 1, which St. Matthew cites, chapter XII, 19: "He shall not contend, nor cry out, neither shall anyone hear His voice in the streets; the bruised reed He shall not break, and the smoking flax He shall not quench." Hence, when John and James wanted Christ to hurl fires and thunderbolts from heaven upon the Samaritans who did not receive Him, as Elijah had done, He Himself restrained them and said: "You do not know of what spirit you are. The Son of Man did not come to destroy souls, but to save them," Luke IX, 55. So St. Irenaeus, book IV, chapter XXXVII: "The coming of the Lord," he says, "after the law that was given through Moses, was signified as mild and tranquil, and the rest of His kingdom as gentle and meek." And Rupert: "The end was not in the various captivities of the Jews," he says, "the Messiah had not yet come; but in the spirit of the gentle breeze, that is, His coming was hidden and secret, whom the Virgin Mary conceived as it were from a gentle breeze, that is, from the Holy Spirit." This spirit of gentleness Christ commended and impressed upon St. Peter, Paul, and the other Apostles and faithful. Hence this is the spirit of the law of grace and of the New Testament, which is far more powerful and effective than the spirit of fear and terror of the Old Testament. To this end there is the fable of the East Wind competing with the sun as to which was more powerful, namely which could strip a traveler of his cloak. Certainly the East Wind did not strip it off; indeed the traveler, when the East Wind blew, wrapped himself all the more in his cloak to resist it; but the sun, by its warmth and heat making him sweat, wrested it from him. In a similar way, gentleness avails more, is more powerful than violence; love more than fear, ardor more than terror. Blessed Peter Damian recounts this fable at greater length, book I, epistle 16 to Pope Alexander II, and adds: "If Rehoboam, yielding to the counsel of the elders, had answered the people mildly, he would have subjected all Israel to the rule of his authority; but because he trusted the pride of his contemporaries, by separating ten tribes from himself, he made the lofty power of the kingdom humble. Even the rhinoceros, which with its swiftest speed despises the raging mouths of pursuing dogs, does not fear being captured in the lap of a gentle maiden."
Moreover St. Gregory, book V of the Morals, chapter XXV, explaining that passage of Job chapter IV: And I heard a voice like a gentle breeze: "What," he says, "is designated by the voice of a gentle breeze if not the knowledge of the Holy Spirit? Who nevertheless, coming upon the Apostles, is demonstrated through an outward sound as through a vehement wind, when it is said: Suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a rushing mighty wind. For the Holy Spirit, when He insinuates Himself into the awareness of human weakness, is expressed both by the sound of a mighty wind and by the voice of a gentle breeze, because coming He is both vehement and gentle; gentle, because He tempers His knowledge to our senses so far as it can be known in any way; vehement, because, however much He tempers it, yet by His coming He disturbs the blindness of our weakness by illuminating it.
Tropologically there is signified here, first, the manner in which God exercises and disposes penitents and those zealous for perfection, in order to lead them to perfection and intimacy with Himself. For first He strikes and pierces them with the terror of death, judgment, and hell, as with a most powerful wind, earthquake, and fire, which draws out tears, and then like a gentle breeze He soothes, adopts, refreshes them, and lifts them to the lofty summit of contemplation. Hear St. Gregory, book V of the Morals, chapter XXVI: "The wind before the Lord overturns mountains and shatters rocks, because the dread that rushes in at His approach both casts down the loftiness of our heart and melts its hardness; but the Lord is said not to be in the wind of commotion and fire; yet He is not denied to be in the whisper of the gentle breeze. For indeed when the mind is suspended in the sublimity of contemplation, whatever it is able to see perfectly is not God. But when it sees something subtle, this is what pertains to the incomprehensible substance of eternity. For we perceive as it were the whisper of a gentle breeze when in sudden contemplation we taste the flavor of the uncircumscribed truth."
God granted the same to Elijah, when, after the terrors, struggles, and battles with the Baalites, He snatched him up in a fiery chariot to heaven, where he enjoys a gentle breeze, that is, full peace of mind and body. In a similar way therefore, he who is agitated by temptations should not lose heart, but should know that "the spirit of a gentle breeze" will follow, that is, consolation, rest, and joy.
Second, there is taught here the form, says Sanchez, which apostolic men and Prelates ought to observe in correcting or punishing transgressors of the divine law; namely that one should imitate what is most violent in nature, the wind that shakes and overturns mountains, and fire that consumes and dissipates all things with incredible speed, nor should one assume the gentleness of a thin and cooling breeze, until one sees God arriving, whom the wind, earthquake, and fire precede as it were as road-preparers and forerunners to prepare His lodging.
Verse 13: Elijah Covered His Face
13. AND WHEN ELIJAH HEARD IT. — For he heard the wind loudly roaring, the earthquake shaking the place, the gentle breeze whispering; but the fire he partly heard, as it was crackling, and partly saw, as it was shining.
HE COVERED HIS FACE WITH HIS MANTLE — to show reverence to God who was manifesting Himself by these signs, as one unworthy to look upon Him and gaze at Him.
Verse 14: They Have Killed Your Prophets
14. THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS WITH THE SWORD (because they opposed the worship of Baal), AND I ALONE AM LEFT (a prophet and zealot of the true religion, who strongly oppose it), AND THEY SEEK MY LIFE — to kill me; therefore with me killed, no prophet will remain, no zealot to defend Your worship and oppose the Baalites. It is therefore all over with the true religion, with Your worship, with the entire Synagogue; the impious Jezebel occupies everything; everywhere Baal is worshipped; everywhere treachery and idolatry overflow. This is the cause of my grief and sorrow, of my flight and exile, so that I prefer to die rather than live and see so many evils of my nation and the people of God. Thus Elijah, consumed with grief, anger, and zeal.
15 AND 16. YOU SHALL ANOINT HAZAEL KING OVER SYRIA, AND JEHU THE SON OF NIMSHI YOU SHALL ANOINT KING OVER ISRAEL; AND ELISHA, ETC., YOU SHALL ANOINT AS PROPHET IN YOUR PLACE — so that these may in reality carry out the just vengeance upon the Baalites which you, O Elijah, so greatly desire. Hence in the praises of Elijah it is said in Ecclesiasticus chapter XLVIII, verse 8: "Who anoints kings to repentance," that is, to punishment and vengeance upon the impious, so that they may be avengers of the divine worship. "You shall anoint a king," that is, you shall designate a king, you shall confer the kingdom upon him. It is a catachresis: for because kings were created by anointing, hence "to anoint" means to create a king. For Hazael was not anointed by Elijah, but was designated king by Elisha, to whom Elijah sent him; Jehu however was anointed king over Israel by one of Elisha's disciples, as is clear from IV Kings VIII, 13 and following. And so Elijah carried out these commands of God through Elisha, whom he therefore appointed as his successor by God's command. Likewise we do not read that Elisha was anointed, but that he was designated prophet by Elijah casting his mantle upon him, verse 19. So Theodoret, Rabanus, Dionysius, Abulensis, Salianus.
Sanchez however takes "you shall anoint" in the proper sense, and judges that all these three were anointed by Elijah, although Scripture does not narrate this as done. For it seems that Elijah by God's command returned through the desert to Damascus, which was a longer and more unpleasant route, so that there he might anoint Hazael as king; for although Hazael was afterwards anointed again by another, yet nothing prevents him from having been first anointed by Elijah. For thus David and Saul were anointed twice. This opinion is probable, and takes this verse properly and literally.
WHO IS OF ABEL-MEHOLAH. — This was a city in the tribe of Manasseh on this side of the Jordan. Therefore Elisha was of the tribe of Manasseh, just as Elijah was of the tribe of Gad. So St. Jerome, Salianus, Adrichomius, and others; although St. Epiphanius and Isidore in the Life of Elisha say he was originally from the tribe of Reuben, and they also add that at the birth of Elisha one of the golden calves that Jeroboam had made bellowed, and its bellowing was heard in Jerusalem, and from this a certain prudent priest conjectured that on that day someone had been born who would be the destruction of all graven images and idols.
Verse 17: Whoever Escapes the Sword of Hazael
17. AND IT SHALL BE THAT WHOEVER ESCAPES THE SWORD OF HAZAEL, JEHU SHALL KILL. — How Hazael and Jehu killed the idolaters, we shall hear in what follows. AND WHOEVER ESCAPES THE SWORD OF JEHU, ELISHA SHALL KILL — not with a bodily sword, but a spiritual one, namely the sword of his tongue, with which he will sharply rebuke them and threaten them with present and eternal death, say Angelomus, Rabanus, and Hugo. More plainly you may take these words of a bodily sword and death; for with that sword Hazael and Jehu killed idolaters, and to them Elisha is here compared. For Elisha killed 42 boys, the sons of idolaters, who insulted him, saying: "Go up, bald head," IV Kings II, and it is probable that he, in the manner of his master Elijah, according to this oracle killed many other idolaters, even though Scripture does not mention it. So Abulensis, Lyranus, Cajetan, Sanchez, and others.
Verse 18: I Will Leave Seven Thousand in Israel
18. AND I WILL LEAVE FOR MYSELF IN ISRAEL SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHOSE KNEES HAVE NOT BOWED BEFORE BAAL. — God opposes seven thousand to what Elijah had said in verse 14: "I alone am left," as if to say: You are mistaken, Elijah, you are not alone. Behold, Elisha comes to you; behold seven thousand God-worshipping men, whom "I will leave." In Hebrew hisarti, that is, I will cause to remain, I will preserve, I will guard, lest they be killed by Jezebel, or be perverted and led to the worship of Baal.
AND EVERY MOUTH THAT HAS NOT WORSHIPPED HIM BY KISSING ITS HANDS — repeat "I will leave," that is, I will guard and preserve in life. The meaning of the whole verse is, as if to say: And I will guard seven thousand men who have not bent their knees before Baal, nor worshipped him by kissing their hand; for this was a twofold kind of adoration, genuflection and kissing of the hand. "Kissing hands," in Hebrew "kissing him," namely Baal, to greet and adore him with this kiss, as their God and Lord. Our translator renders "kissing hands," to note the rite and manner of adoring, which was to kiss the hand of the idol, or one's own hand with that rite and gesture as if kissing the hand of the idol, when it was far off or placed at a distance. Job suggests this rite, chapter XXXI, verse 26: "If I beheld the sun when it shone, and the moon proceeding brightly, and my heart rejoiced in secret, and I kissed my hand with my mouth." External authors also mention this custom: Pliny, book XXVIII, chapter II: "When adoring, we bring the right hand to our lips." Minucius in the Octavius: "Caecilius, upon seeing a statue of Serapis, as the superstitious populace is wont, bringing his hand to his mouth, pressed a kiss upon his lips."
Verse 19: He Found Elisha Plowing
19. HE FOUND ELISHA THE SON OF SHAPHAT PLOWING WITH TWELVE YOKE OF OXEN. — Elisha was therefore a prosperous farmer, inasmuch as he had twelve yoke of oxen and cultivated a large field with them. For it is clear from the last verse, where he himself slaughtered a pair of oxen for the feast at which he bade farewell to his people, that these oxen were his own. AND HE WAS ONE OF THOSE WITH THE TWELVE YOKE OF OXEN WHO WERE PLOWING. — For each yoke of oxen, or pair of oxen, had its own driver and plowman; therefore there were here twelve yoke of oxen and likewise twelve plowmen, of whom Elisha was one.
HE CAST HIS MANTLE UPON HIM — to call him to follow him, and to make him his companion and participant in his institute, just as now novices in a Religious order are given the cloak, or garment of that same Religious order. In a similar way, a bridegroom used to cover the bride he was courting with his own cloak. Hence that passage of Ruth, seeking the marriage of Boaz, chapter III, verse 9: "Spread your cloak over your handmaid;" and Ezekiel XVI, 8: "I spread my garment over you." By this ceremony therefore Elisha was instituted as prophet, companion, and successor of Elijah, and his heart was entirely changed by God, and from a layman he became a Religious, from a farmer a Prophet, from an uneducated man one taught by God. Hence he immediately left the oxen, his home, his parents, and followed Elijah. Sanchez adds that he was anointed by Elijah; for God had commanded this, verse 16. The anointing, he says, made Elisha a Prophet (for prophets were accustomed to be anointed); but the mantle made him the companion and monk of Elijah.
Verse 20: What Was Mine to Do, I Have Done
20. FOR WHAT WAS MINE TO DO, I HAVE DONE TO YOU — as if to say: I only touched you with my mantle; but God touched your heart, and made it from carnal to spiritual and heavenly, so that you might leave all things, and eagerly follow me, and contend as I do against the idolaters.
Verse 21: He Took a Pair of Oxen and Slaughtered Them
21. HE TOOK A PAIR OF OXEN AND SLAUGHTERED THEM, AND WITH THE PLOW OF THE OXEN HE COOKED THE MEAT, AND GAVE IT TO THE PEOPLE AND THEY ATE. — Elisha, because he was hastening and eager to follow Elijah at once, therefore used the plow for firewood, to cook the meat of the oxen. He therefore gave us a type and example that we should follow God's calling immediately, resolutely, and constantly, as Cajetan and Abulensis note. For he celebrated a banquet at which he bade farewell to his people, to show that he was leaving the oxen, the plow, the field, and all things, and joyfully following Elijah. Hence Abulensis gathers that he was a young man and unmarried, that is, without a wife and celibate; otherwise he would have asked Elijah for permission to greet his wife and children as well as his father and mother. Again, Elisha, says Abulensis, wished nothing to remain for himself in the world, so that he might pass over entirely to the Lord, free and unencumbered; therefore he consumed the plow and the oxen, in which matter he gave an example to Religious to do the same. Hence also St. Ignatius, epistle to the Philadelphians, asserts that Elisha was celibate and a virgin; for Elisha, by the prompting of God who called him, was now superior to all earthly desire. For, as St. Cyprian says, tract On the Lord's Prayer, on those words: "Thy kingdom come: He who has already renounced the world is greater than its honors and kingdom; and therefore he who dedicates himself to God and Christ does not desire earthly, but heavenly kingdoms;" indeed God Himself, "because in Him we shall reign." And St. Ambrose, book VI On the Sacraments, chapter V: "If God reigns in us, the adversary can have no place. Guilt does not reign, sin does not reign; but virtue reigns, chastity reigns, devotion reigns.