Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Elisha gives water to the army of the king of Israel suffering from thirst, and victory against Moab. Whence at verse 26, the king of Moab, besieged on all sides, sacrifices his own son; therefore the king of Israel, indignant, withdraws from him.
Vulgate Text: 4 Kings 3:1-27
1. Now Joram son of Ahab reigned over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned twelve years. 2. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like his father and his mother: for he removed the statues of Baal which his father had made. 3. Nevertheless he clung to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, and did not depart from them. 4. Now Mesha king of Moab raised many sheep, and paid to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams with their fleeces. 5. And when Ahab had died, he broke the treaty which he had with the king of Israel. 6. Therefore King Joram went out from Samaria on that day and mustered all Israel. 7. And he sent to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying: The king of Moab has revolted from me; come with me against him to battle. And he answered: I will go up; what is mine is yours: my people are your people; and my horses are your horses. 8. And he said: By which way shall we go up? And he answered: Through the desert of Edom. 9. So the king of Israel and the king of Judah and the king of Edom set out, and they marched around by a route of seven days, and there was no water for the army nor for the beasts that followed them. 10. And the king of Israel said: Alas, alas, alas, the Lord has gathered us three kings together to deliver us into the hands of Moab. 11. And Jehoshaphat said: Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may entreat the Lord through him? And one of the servants of the king of Israel answered: Elisha son of Shaphat is here, who poured water over the hands of Elijah. 12. And Jehoshaphat said: The word of the Lord is with him. And the king of Israel went down to him, and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and the king of Edom. 13. And Elisha said to the king of Israel: What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and of your mother. And the king of Israel said to him: Why has the Lord gathered these three kings together, to deliver them into the hands of Moab? 14. And Elisha said to him: As the Lord of hosts lives, in whose presence I stand, were it not that I respect the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not have paid attention to you nor looked at you. 15. But now bring me a minstrel. And when the minstrel played, the hand of the Lord came upon him, and he said: 16. Thus says the Lord: Make this streambed full of ditches. 17. For thus says the Lord: You shall not see wind, nor rain, and yet this streambed shall be filled with water, and you shall drink, you and your households and your cattle. 18. And this is a small thing in the sight of the Lord: He will also deliver Moab into your hands. 19. And you shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and shall cut down every fruitful tree, and stop up all the springs of water, and cover every good field with stones.
20. And it came to pass in the morning, when the offering is usually made, that behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the land was filled with water. 21. And all the Moabites, hearing that the kings had come up to fight against them, assembled all who were girded with a belt and upward, and stood at the border. 22. And rising up early in the morning, with the sun now shining upon the waters opposite them, the Moabites saw the waters as red as blood. 23. And they said: This is the blood of the sword; the kings have fought against each other and slain one another; now forward to the spoil, Moab. 24. And they went to the camp of Israel; but Israel rose up and struck Moab, and they fled before them. And those who had conquered came and struck Moab. 25. And they destroyed the cities, and each one casting stones filled every good field: and they stopped up all the springs of water, and cut down all the fruitful trees, so that only the walls of baked brick remained: and the city was surrounded by slingers and largely destroyed. 26. And when the king of Moab saw that the enemy had prevailed, he took with him seven hundred men drawing the sword, to break through to the king of Edom, and they could not. 27. And he took his firstborn son, who was to reign in his place, and offered him as a burnt offering upon the wall: and there was great indignation in Israel, and immediately they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.
Verse 1: Joram Son of Ahab Reigned Over Israel in Samaria
1. NOW JORAM SON OF AHAB REIGNED OVER ISRAEL IN SAMARIA IN THE EIGHTEENTH YEAR OF JEHOSHAPHAT KING OF JUDAH. You will say: This verse seems to conflict with verse 17 of chapter I, where it says that Joram king of Israel began to reign in the second year of Joram son of Jehoshaphat, who certainly reigned after his father Jehoshaphat: how then is he said here to have begun to reign in the 18th year of Jehoshaphat? I answer that Joram in Judah began to reign with his father Jehoshaphat in the 17th year of his reign: therefore the 18th year of Jehoshaphat was the second year of the reign of his son Joram, in which Joram son of Ahab began to reign in Israel. For Jehoshaphat, setting out to war with Ahab against the Syrians, as recounted before the last chapter of book III, appointed his son Joram as his substitute and established him as king in Judah, both so that in his absence the kingdom would not be without a king, and so that it would not lack a successor, should he happen to die in battle, as often happens. So say Abulensis, Cajetan, Salianus, and others.
Abulensis here discusses, Question XXI, whether it is fitting for religious, such as Elisha was, to frequent the courts of Princes, and answers that it is fitting if they are of great and solid prudence and virtue, as were Elijah and Elisha whom God sent to kings, to instruct them in the worship of God, reprove their vices, and suggest sound counsel. Thus Plutarch wrote a treatise with this title: "A philosopher should especially converse with men who are princes." Hence Pericles employed Anaxagoras, Dionysius the Tyrant of Sicily employed Plato, the Princes of Italy employed Pythagoras, Cato employed Athenodorus, Scipio employed Panaetius. Moreover it is useful to send religious of proven virtue to military camps, to instruct and restrain soldiers, and administer the sacraments; whence many soldiers are saved through them, who without them would be damned, as is evident from military missions in Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, etc. Add that the examples of holiness, prayers, and sacrifices of religious are of great benefit to armies, as Elisha was beneficial here. However, religious who court royal courts for the sake of honor, liberty, or vanity, ruin both the courts and themselves, and create great troubles for their religious Superiors, so that it would be better for them to be seculars than religious, as experience teaches.
Verse 2: He Removed the Statues of Baal
2. FOR HE REMOVED THE STATUES OF BAAL, that is, he took away and removed from Samaria and the kingdom of Israel the idols and worship of Baal; because he had seen his father Ahab slain in battle on account of his worship.
Verse 3: He Clung to the Sins of Jeroboam
3. NEVERTHELESS HE CLUNG TO THE SINS OF JEROBOAM, etc., worshipping the golden calves erected by Jeroboam, and driving the people to their worship, lest they should defect from him to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, if they went to Jerusalem, his capital, to worship the true God in the temple. Great was the perversity of judgment, blindness, and obstinacy of the kings of Israel in maintaining these idols of calves, and therefore they all perished and were cut off.
Verse 5: When Ahab Had Died, He Broke the Treaty
5. AND WHEN AHAB HAD DIED, HE BROKE THE TREATY, that is, the king of Moab rebelled, as the Chaldean translates, against Joram king of Israel, and refused him the customary tribute; because he despised him on account of his youth, and on account of the fall of his father Ahab in battle.
Verse 8: Through the Desert of Edom
8. THROUGH THE DESERT OF EDOM. This was an imprudent answer and counsel. For a "desert" is an arid place, where there is no water for such great forces as were in the three armies, namely of the king of Judah, the king of Israel, and the king of Edom: whence the soldiers soon suffered from thirst and gave out, as follows.
God permitted this in order to punish Joram king of Israel the idolater, and to pave the way for the miracle of the abundant waters to be given through Himself and Elisha; so that from this the king might recognize Him as the true God and renounce the idols of the calves.
Verse 11: Elisha Is Here
11. ELISHA IS HERE, etc., WHO POURED WATER OVER THE HANDS OF ELIJAH, that is, who served Elijah as a minister: for it is the duty of servants to pour water over the hands of their masters, when they wash them in the morning or before a meal.
Verse 13: What Have I to Do With You
13. WHAT HAVE I TO DO WITH YOU, as if to say: What fellowship or communion have I with you? For you worship golden calves, while I worship the true God: "Go therefore to the prophets of your father," namely the priests and worshippers of the calves, whom you have hitherto taken as counselors: consult them now also, since they will not be able to give you an oracle and counsel in matters where nature fails; therefore in these you have recourse to me and to the true God, whom you have hitherto despised. Remarkable was this freedom of speech and of reproving the king in Elisha, worthy of so great a prophet, and to be imitated by apostolic men, when they are summoned by heretical princes for temporal advantages. See examples of Moses, Elijah, Paul, and others on this subject, which St. Gregory recounts, VII Moralia, XV.
Verse 14: As the Lord Lives
14. AS THE LORD LIVES (that is, I swear by the Lord) IN WHOSE PRESENCE I STAND (whom I always have before my mind as present to me, revere, worship, and love, just as my master Elijah did, from whom I learned this) WERE IT NOT THAT I RESPECT THE PRESENCE OF JEHOSHAPHAT KING OF JUDAH (who worships the true God with me) I WOULD NOT HAVE PAID ATTENTION TO YOU NOR LOOKED AT YOU, but would have despised you, nor would I have deigned to give you an answer, much less an oracle, because you neglect and despise my God. For he who has God present fears or cares for no one's presence. Therefore Sextus the Philosopher in his Sentences (which are extant under the falsely attributed name of Pope Sixtus), number 293: "In all your actions," he says, "invoke God as witness." And number 278: "Take God as your starting point in action. And have God in your mouth and mind before you breathe." And number 277: "The souls of the wise are insatiable in the love of God." And number 304: "The wise man is a partaker of God." And number 430: "The wise mind is a mirror of God." And number 368: "He best honors God who makes his mind as like God as possible."
Verse 15: Bring Me a Minstrel
15. BUT NOW (in honor of and for the help of the faithful and pious king Jehoshaphat) BRING ME A MINSTREL, who may strike a musical instrument with his hand (for this is what the Hebrew מנגן menaggen means); whence the Chaldean translates: bring me a man who knows how to play the harp. Elisha commanded the minstrel to play, so that by the sweet sound and harmony of music, he might collect and calm his spirit, somewhat disturbed by indignation against the king of Israel, and raise it to God in prayer, and dispose it to receive prophecy from God. For this minstrel was a Levite, says Theodoret, who was accustomed to sing the pious Psalms composed by David. So say Rupert, Abulensis, and others.
Hear St. Gregory, homily 1 on Ezekiel: "When Jehoshaphat asked him (Elisha) about the future, and the spirit of prophecy was lacking in him, he had a minstrel brought, so that through the praise of psalmody the spirit of prophecy might descend upon him and fill his mind with things to come. For the voice of psalmody, when it is carried on with the intention of the heart, prepares through it a way to the heart for the almighty Lord, so that He may pour into the attentive mind either the mysteries of prophecy or the grace of compunction." Thus St. Francis, hearing the harmony of a lyre, was lifted up in mind to God. St. Augustine confesses the same of himself in his Confessions when he heard psalmody.
AND WHEN THE MINSTREL PLAYED, THE HAND (that is, the operation and illumination) OF THE LORD CAME UPON HIM, as if to say: While the minstrel played and sounded, God illuminated the mind of Elisha and revealed the future to him, and promised water and victory. Thus often of Ezekiel and other prophets, when they prophesy, it is said: "The hand of the Lord came upon him," that is, God gave him the prophetic light.
Verse 16: Make This Streambed Full of Ditches
16. MAKE THIS STREAMBED FULL OF DITCHES, as if to say: Make many and deep ditches in the bed of this stream, so that in them you may receive the abundance of water which God is about to give you shortly.
Verse 20: It Came to Pass in the Morning
20. AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THE MORNING, WHEN THE OFFERING IS USUALLY MADE, so that we may understand, says Cajetan, that the power of the morning sacrifice, which by law Jehoshaphat continually offered to God in the morning in the temple, cooperated in this miracle.
AND BEHOLD, WATER (brought by Angels) CAME BY THE WAY OF EDOM, to the camp of Jehoshaphat and the allied kings, so that from it they might quench their thirst.
Verse 22: Rising Up Early in the Morning
22. AND RISING UP EARLY IN THE MORNING, WITH THE SUN NOW SHINING UPON THE WATERS OPPOSITE THEM, THE MOABITES SAW THE WATERS AS RED AS BLOOD, from the reflection of the rays of the morning sun, which on account of the night vapors through which they passed appeared red, just as objects indeed appear red when they pass through red glass; they also appear red to us when reflected from a cloud or from the ground to the eye. For this is an optical phenomenon, as is evident from the science of optics and from daily experience. Whence the Hebrew reads: the sun shone upon the waters and they saw the waters as red. And Josephus says: "The waters appeared red, because at that time (morning) water especially glows red when struck by the rays of the sun." Therefore the waters were not truly red, but appeared red because of the reflection of the rays. So say Abulensis and others. Moreover, deceived by this redness of the waters, the Moabites thought they were reddened with the blood of enemies fighting among themselves, and therefore rushing upon them they were slain to the point of destruction.
Verse 25: Only the Walls of Baked Brick Remained
25. SO THAT ONLY THE WALLS OF BAKED BRICK REMAINED. In Hebrew: until they left its bricks in the wall of Kir-Hareseth, that is, of the clay or brick city, namely one built of bricks. So the Septuagint, Pagninus and others. Second, the Rabbis and Vatablus translate: they left only its stones in Kir-Hareseth, as if Kir-Hareseth were the chief city of Moab, which had walls of brick, to which therefore, when all the others had been devastated by the Hebrews, the king of Moab had fled with his people; whence concerning it he shortly adds: "And the city was surrounded by slingers;" both versions therefore agree, and both are true, as I said on Isaiah XVI, 7, and Jeremiah XLVIII, 31.
Verse 27: He Took His Firstborn Son
27. AND HE TOOK HIS FIRSTBORN SON, etc., AND OFFERED HIM AS A BURNT OFFERING UPON THE WALL, both so that his gods, appeased by so beloved and notable a burnt offering, might protect the wall, and so that he might move the Israelites besieging the wall to compassion, when they saw the king reduced to such straits that he would sacrifice his firstborn son, and so they would cease to besiege and pursue him, and leaving him would return home, as indeed they did. Porphyry, cited by Eusebius, book IV of the Preparation, chapter VII, relates that the kings of the Phoenicians used to do this in extreme emergencies, namely to sacrifice their most beloved possession, their son, to their god: "The Phoenicians," he says, "whenever they suffered more severely from war, famine, or even heat, would sacrifice some one of their kinsmen, devoted by common vote, to Saturn: the Phoenician history, written by Sanchoniatho in the Phoenician language, is full of such examples," etc. So say Josephus, Theodoret, Procopius, Abulensis, and others.
Moreover Rabbi Solomon and with him certain others, translating בנו beno, that is "his son," as: his son, meaning the king of Edom's, fabulously claim that the king of Moab, bursting out of the city with 700 men, captured the son of Edom, and led him captive into the city; therefore the king of Edom, in order to free his son, abandoned the siege, and being indignant with the king of Israel for pressing the siege more persistently, withdrew from him; and when he departed, the king of Moab slaughtered and sacrificed his captive son upon the wall. But this does not have the appearance of plausibility.
AND THERE WAS GREAT INDIGNATION IN ISRAEL, AND IMMEDIATELY THEY WITHDREW FROM HIM, as if to say: The Israelites were indignant at such a cruel and shameful deed, namely that the king of Moab had sacrificed his own son. And therefore they took pity on him, seeing him reduced to such necessity and misery that he would sacrifice his son. So says Josephus: "The kings," he says, "seeing this, moved to pity by such necessity, and mindful of human vicissitudes, lifted the siege and each returned to his own home." Theodoret followed him: "When the Moabites," he says, "were being utterly destroyed, their king attempted to flee. But when a strong and brave cohort did not allow him, he offered his firstborn son and successor to the kingdom as a burnt offering in a certain tower. When the host of enemies had seen this, they took pity on his misfortune and lifted the siege." So also Abulensis, Serarius, Vatablus, Salianus, and others. Therefore the Moabites afterward dug up and burned the bones of the king of Edom (because he had compelled their king to sacrifice his son), as Amos says, chapter II, verse 1. See what was said there. Now hear the opinions of others.
First, Rabbi Solomon and from him Lyranus think that the king of Moab in such great necessity invoked the true God and sacrificed to Him, on the grounds that neither men nor gods could rescue him from that situation, and that he was driven to it by the example of Abraham, who wishing to sacrifice his son Isaac to God, wonderfully pleased Him and received great gifts from Him. But Abraham did this at the command of God, without which it would have been unlawful, indeed murder and parricide. So say Abulensis and Burgensis. Add: the king of Moab did not worship the true God, but idols, that is the demon who drove him to this crime; for the demon delights in human blood offered to him, and demands it from his worshippers, and therefore persuades them that when he is offended, he is appeased by such victims, and averts the calamities he has brought, and bestows the goods they desire.
Second, Burgensis says the king of Moab consulted his priests as to why the Hebrews were so strong and fortunate, and they answered that it was because they worshipped the god Moloch, and sacrificed and burned their sons to him; the king therefore wished to imitate them, and to reconcile God to himself in such great straits with a similar sacrifice of his son. But Moloch was the god of the Ammonites, while that of the Moabites was Chemosh, which priests undoubtedly commended to the king of Moab as their own and domestic god. Burgensis adds that the great indignation mentioned here was not of men, that is of the Israelites, but of God: for God, he says, was indignant with the Israelites because by sacrificing their sons to the idol Moloch, they had given the Moabites an example of doing the same. So also Lyranus understands the indignation as God's, not the Israelites'. For he says God was indignant with the Hebrews because an Angel represented to Him the sins of the Hebrews and showed them to be graver than the crimes of the Moabites; therefore God sent a plague into the Hebrew camp, so that they were forced to abandon the siege of the city of Moab.
Third, Cajetan and from him Pererius on Genesis chapter XXII, number 105, understands the indignation as that of the Israelites against each other, and explains its cause and manner thus: Because, he says, the cause of the anger is narrated as the burnt offering of the king's firstborn, and its effect is narrated as the withdrawal from the siege of the king of Moab; it may be understood that the idolatrous Israelites, seeing that burnt offering, with the devil's cooperation, valued it greatly and despaired of victory against a king fortified by the protection of so great a burnt offering. Therefore they were moved to anger against those Israelites who wished to persist in the war: finally the magnitude of the anger prevailed and caused a withdrawal from the war. Understand, however, the withdrawal as having been made after the treaty with the king of Moab was renewed concerning the tribute to be given to the king of Israel; so that the withdrawal did not take away the goal of the war undertaken.
This opinion is more probable than the two preceding ones; but the first, which I assigned at the beginning, is the most probable of all.
Finally, the Carthaginians imitated this sacrilegious and execrable rite of sacrificing children in grave calamity, being descended from the Phoenicians (whose proper rite this was, as I said a little before). For Carthage was a colony of the Tyrians. Hear Quintus Curtius, book IV: "Some were authors of reviving a sacred rite long discontinued, that a freeborn boy should be sacrificed to Saturn: which sacrilege rather than sacrifice the Carthaginians are said to have practiced, as handed down from their founders, up to the destruction of their city." And Diodorus, book XX of his History, speaking of the Carthaginians, says thus: "They said that Saturn had been angry with them, because previously they themselves sacrificed the most excellent of their sons. But afterward, secretly buying and raising infants, they sacrificed them in place of their own children." Whence Imilce, wife of Hannibal, when her son Aspar was about to be slaughtered, in Silius Italicus at the end of book IV of the Punica, laments thus:
If it is enough to have seen bulls slain before the altars; Or if the gods will and decree this wickedness; Consume me, me who bore him, with your vows, Why does it please you to strip the Libyan peoples of such a child?
Moreover against this sacrilegious and parricidal sacrifice the Fathers thunder, such as Tertullian, Apology, chapter IX; Cyril, book IV Against Julian; Lactantius, book I On False Religion, chapter I; St. Augustine, book VII of The City of God, chapter XIX; Theodoret, book VII On Providence.