Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Because of the idols and crimes of Ahaz, God delivers Judah to be plundered: 1st, by the Syrians; 2nd, by the Israelites, who slaughtered 120,000 warriors from Judah, but released the captives at the admonition of a prophet; 3rd, by the Edomites; 4th, by the Philistines. The pious son Hezekiah succeeds the impious Ahaz.
Vulgate Text: 2 Paralipomenon 28:1-27
1. Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord, as David his father had done; 2. but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and moreover cast images for the Baals. 3. He is the one who burned incense in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom and passed his sons through the fire according to the rite of the nations whom the Lord had destroyed at the coming of the sons of Israel. 4. He also sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree. 5. The Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria, who defeated him and took a great plunder from his dominion and brought it to Damascus; he was also delivered into the hands of the king of Israel, who struck him with a great blow. 6. Pekah the son of Remaliah killed one hundred twenty thousand from Judah in a single day, all warriors, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. 7. At the same time Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king's son, Azrikam the commander of the palace, and Elkanah who was second to the king. 8. The sons of Israel took captive from their brethren two hundred thousand women, boys, and girls, and an immense plunder, and brought it to Samaria. 9. At that time there was a prophet of the Lord there, named Oded, who went out to meet the army coming to Samaria and said to them: Behold, because the Lord God of your fathers was angry with Judah, He delivered them into your hands, and you have killed them with a cruelty that has reached to heaven. 10. Moreover, you intend to subject the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to yourselves as slaves and handmaids, which ought by no means to be done; for you have sinned against the Lord your God in this. 11. But hear my counsel and send back the captives whom you have brought from your brethren, for a great fury of the Lord hangs over you. 12. So some of the chief men of the sons of Ephraim stood up — Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Hezekiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai — against those who were coming from battle, 13. and said to them: You shall not bring the captives in here, lest we sin against the Lord. Why do you want to add to our sins and heap up our old offenses? For the sin is great, and the fierce anger of the Lord hangs over Israel. 14. So the warriors released the captives and all that they had taken before the princes and the whole assembly. 15. The men named above rose up and took hold of the captives, and clothed all who were naked from the spoils; when they had clothed them, shod them, fed them with food and drink, anointed them because of their hardship, and cared for them — those who could not walk and were weak of body they set on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren; then they returned to Samaria. 16. At that time King Ahaz sent to the king of Assyria, requesting help. 17. The Edomites came and struck many from Judah and took great plunder. 18. The Philistines also spread through the cities of the lowland and the south of Judah; they captured Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Sochoh, Timnah, and Gimzo with their villages, and dwelt in them. 19. For the Lord humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Judah, because he had stripped it of help and held the Lord in contempt. 20. He brought against him Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, who afflicted him and ravaged him with none to resist. 21. So Ahaz, having plundered the house of the Lord and the houses of the kings and princes, gave gifts to the king of Assyria; yet it did not help him. 22. Moreover, in the time of his distress he increased his contempt of the Lord — he, King Ahaz himself — 23. and sacrificed victims to the gods of Damascus, his conquerors, and said: The gods of the kings of Syria help them; I will appease them with sacrifices and they will help me — whereas on the contrary they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. 24. So Ahaz, having seized and broken all the vessels of the house of God, shut the doors of the temple of God and made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. 25. In all the cities of Judah he also built high places for burning incense, and provoked the Lord God of his fathers to anger. 26. The rest of his acts and all his deeds, first and last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27. Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of Jerusalem; for they did not receive him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.
I have explained this chapter in 4 Kings (2 Kings), chapter 16.
Verse 5: The King of Syria
5. THE KING OF SYRIA. — This was Rezin, who was raised up by God as king to be the scourge of the kingdom of Judah and to punish its idols and crimes.
Verse 15: They Clothed and Fed the Captives
15. WHEN THEY HAD CLOTHED THEM AND SHOD THEM AND FED THEM. — See here the remarkable humanity and mercy of the Israelites toward the Jewish captives, though their enemies, set forth as an example for all Christian princes and commanders to imitate. For in turn they will draw God's mercy upon themselves, if they are merciful to enemies they have captured; indeed, "clemency can do more than violence," as Antigonus king of Macedon said, according to Plutarch in the Apophthegms, so much so that Darius wished for the clemency of Alexander the Great, and that Alexander, though his enemy, might succeed him in his kingdom. So merciful to their enemies were Julius Caesar, Augustus, Vespasian, Titus, and Aurelian.
Verse 23: He Sacrificed to the Gods of Damascus
23. HE SACRIFICED VICTIMS TO THE GODS OF DAMASCUS, HIS CONQUERORS, AND SAID: THE GODS OF THE KINGS OF SYRIA HELP THEM; I WILL APPEASE THEM WITH SACRIFICES, AND THEY WILL HELP ME — WHEREAS ON THE CONTRARY THEY WERE THE RUIN OF HIM AND OF ALL ISRAEL. — For these gods were demons, who strive only to harm Israel, that is, the faithful people. Similar was the folly of the pagan Romans, who invoked the gods of their enemies, so that, called forth from the hostile land, they might migrate to Rome and give the Romans victory over their enemies, as St. Augustine relates in book 4 of The City of God.
Verse 24: He Shut the Doors of the Temple
24. HE SHUT THE DOORS OF THE TEMPLE — so that no one could worship God in it or sacrifice to Him; but all were forced to go to the shrines of idols and of their gods, to invoke them. This was a remarkable act of malice and wickedness of Ahaz, which no one else is recorded to have committed.