Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Azariah the prophet foretells that Israel will for a long time be deprived of the worship of the true God, of the law, and of the priesthood. Moved by his oracle, King Asa utterly extirpates the idols and deposes his mother from the priesthood of Priapus.
Vulgate Text: 2 Paralipomenon 15:1-19
1. And Azariah the son of Oded, when the Spirit of God had come upon him, 2. went out to meet Asa and said to him: Hear me, O Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Lord is with you, because you have been with Him. If you seek Him, you will find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. 3. And many days shall pass in Israel without the true God, and without a priest to teach, and without the law. 4. And when in their distress they shall return to the Lord God of Israel and seek Him, they shall find Him. 5. In that time there shall be no peace for him who goes out and him who comes in, but terrors on every side among all the inhabitants of the lands; 6. for nation shall fight against nation, and city against city, because the Lord will trouble them with every kind of distress. 7. Therefore be strengthened, and let not your hands be weakened; for there shall be a reward for your work. 8. And when Asa heard these things, namely the words and prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities which he had taken, of Mount Ephraim, and he dedicated the altar of the Lord which was before the porch of the Lord. 9. And he gathered together all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them from Ephraim, and from Manasseh, and from Simeon; for many had come to him from Israel, seeing that the Lord his God was with him. 10. And when they had come to Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa, 11. they sacrificed to the Lord on that day, from the spoils and the booty which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand rams. 12. And he entered according to custom to strengthen the covenant, that they should seek the Lord God of their fathers with their whole heart and with their whole soul. 13. And if anyone, he said, does not seek the Lord God of Israel, let him die, from the least to the greatest, from man to woman. 14. And they swore to the Lord with a loud voice, with jubilation, and with the sound of the trumpet and the blast of horns, 15. all who were in Judah, with an oath; for they swore with their whole heart, and they sought Him with their whole will, and they found Him; and the Lord gave them rest on every side. 16. Moreover he deposed Maacah the mother of King Asa from her royal authority, because she had made in a grove an image of Priapus; and he broke it all in pieces, and crushing it to fragments burned it in the brook of Kidron. 17. But the high places were left in Israel; yet the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. 18. And the things which his father had vowed, and he himself, he brought into the house of the Lord, silver, and gold, and various kinds of vessels. 19. And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.
Verse 3: Many Days Without God
3. MANY DAYS SHALL PASS IN ISRAEL WITHOUT GOD, A TEACHER, AND THE LAW — that is, without the care and worship of the true God, of a divine teacher and law. He touches upon the present time, when Jeroboam introduced the worship of golden calves into Israel; for all his posterity followed him in this worship of calves, and all the kings of Israel to a man.
Verse 4: They Shall Find Him
4. AND WHEN IN THEIR DISTRESS THEY SHALL RETURN TO THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL, THEY SHALL FIND HIM. — Thus the penitent Ahab found God, and Joash to whom Elisha foretold a triple victory over the Syrians, and the penitent Manasseh, also the pious Hezekiah, Josiah, and the like.
Verse 10: In the Third Month
10. IN THE THIRD MONTH — Sivan, in which they celebrated Pentecost, to indicate that on this feast, by invoking God, they had obtained so great a victory by His help, and therefore offered Him the spoils of the enemy in thanksgiving.
Verse 17: The Heart of Asa Was Perfect
17. YET THE HEART OF ASA WAS PERFECT WITH THE LORD ALL HIS DAYS — as regards the true worship of God, that is to say: Asa throughout his whole life worshipped the true God; and never turned aside to idols, as others did. For otherwise Asa sinned in other matters and gravely offended God, as will appear in the next chapter, verses 7, 10, and 12.
Verse 19: Until the Thirty-Fifth Year
19. UNTIL THE THIRTY-FIFTH YEAR OF THE REIGN OF ASA — that is, of the kingdom of Judah, which at the death of Solomon was torn from the kingdom of Israel through the schism of Jeroboam. So the Hebrews, Sanchez, Salianus, Torniellus, and others; this will become clearer in the next chapter, verse 1.