Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Arphaxad builds Ecbatana; he is conquered by Nebuchadnezzar king of Nineveh, who, made proud by victory, solicits all nations to surrender; but when they resist, he resolves to subdue them all by war.
Vulgate Text: Judith 1:1-12
1. Arphaxad therefore king of the Medes had subjugated many nations to his empire, and he himself built a most powerful city, which he called Ecbatana, 2. from squared and cut stones: he made its walls seventy cubits in breadth, and thirty cubits in height: and he set its towers at a height of one hundred cubits. 3. And each side of them in their square extended a space of twenty feet, and he set its gates at the height of the towers: 4. and he gloried as one powerful in the might of his army, and in the glory of his chariots. 5. Therefore in the twelfth year of his reign: Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians, who reigned in Nineveh the great city, fought against Arphaxad, and defeated him 6. in the great plain which is called Ragau, near the Euphrates and Tigris and Jadason, in the plain of Arioch king of the Elicians. 7. Then the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar was exalted, and his heart was lifted up: and he sent to all who dwelt in Cilicia and Damascus and Lebanon, 8. and to the nations that are in Carmel and Cedar, and the inhabitants of Galilee in the great plain of Esdraelon, 9. and to all who were in Samaria and beyond the river Jordan unto Jerusalem, and all the land of Jesse, as far as the borders of Ethiopia. 10. To all these Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians sent messengers. 11. But they all with one mind refused, and sent them back empty, and rejected them without honor. 12. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king, indignant against all that land, swore by his throne and his kingdom that he would avenge himself on all these regions.
Verse 1: Arphaxad Therefore King of the Medes
1. ARPHAXAD THEREFORE KING OF THE MEDES. — The word 'therefore' is partly a mark of the beginning of a history, or book; for this is what the Hebrew vav denotes, that is, 'and therefore,' as I said on Ezekiel 1, 1. Thus Cicero likewise begins his letters: 'You therefore, you indeed, I indeed;' partly it signifies that this history was taken and excerpted from the ancient diaries, or chronicles of the Hebrews, in which this history was connected to the histories of earlier times, and through the word 'therefore' was linked to them. So Serarius.
Arphaxad here, or Arcapad, is the same as Arbaces. Hence Serarius and others by Arphaxad understand Arbaces, who having killed Sardanapalus made himself king of Media, about which more at verse 5.
Others with Bellarmine and Salianus think Arphaxad is Diocles or Dejoces, who ruled the Medes in the time of Manasseh king of Judah. For Dejoces was succeeded by Phraortes, says Herodotus, Phraortes by Cyaxares, Cyaxares by Astyages the grandfather of Cyrus, although Ctesias in Diodorus assigns other and more kings of the Medes.
Furthermore, Dejoces built Ecbatana, as Herodotus, Eusebius and others attest, although Genebrardus by Arphaxad here understands Cyaxares, and Salianus Phraortes.
Third, others who think this history took place under Xerxes, think Arbaces was a prefect of Media, who from Nineveh, or from Darius Hystaspes, obtained the name and title of royal dignity; for all the kings of Media received their name from the first king Arbaces, and were surnamed Arbaces, or Arbacids, just as the Roman Emperors from Julius Caesar were called Caesars; the Egyptians from the first Ptolemy, Ptolemies; the Greeks from the first king Seleucus, Seleucids; the Parthians from the first Arsaces were called Arsacids.
Furthermore, 'Arphaxad' in Hebrew means the same as 'weakening,' as if 'depopulation,' says Pagninus, and this is fitting. For he himself by his proud buildings and chariots weakened, exhausted, and as it were depopulated the people, and therefore was despoiled and subjugated by Nebuchadnezzar.
HE HIMSELF BUILT A MOST POWERFUL CITY WHICH HE CALLED ECBATANA. — The name Ecbatana is used as though indeclinable. That this city existed before is established. Hence Diodorus, book II, asserts that it existed before Semiramis, saying that after Babylon was built she came there, raised magnificent palaces there, and since the city also suffered from a lack of water, she brought an abundance of water to it by boring through Mount Orontes, which is twelve stadia distant.
Yet here it is said that Arphaxad built it, because he enlarged and adorned it with new palaces, towers, and walls. Hence the Greek text has: He built in Ecbatana walls all around from cut stones.
Thus Nebuchadnezzar says he founded Babylon, that is, adorned and enlarged it, Daniel IV, 27. For the first to found the tower of Babel and Babylon was Nimrod with his companions, Genesis chapter X. Thus Romulus is said to have founded Rome, although Virgil says, Aeneid VIII: Then King Evander, founder of the Roman citadel.
2. From squared and cut stones. — The Greek adds: three cubits in width; six in length.
HE MADE ITS WALLS SEVENTY CUBITS IN BREADTH (this was a monstrous breadth of walls, on which therefore many chariots could advance and race simultaneously), AND THIRTY CUBITS IN HEIGHT. — The Greek has 50.
Verse 3: And Each Side of Them
3. AND EACH SIDE OF THEM (the towers) IN THEIR SQUARE EXTENDED A SPACE OF TWENTY FEET, — that is, each side of the towers with its opposite and facing side, that is, each of the four sides of the towers was twenty feet. For it was a geometrical square, whose all sides are equal. Instead of twenty feet, the Greek has sixty cubits.
Verse 4: And He Gloried as One Powerful
4. AND HE GLORIED AS ONE POWERFUL. — This was the cause of the war, namely pride and the lust for domination, such as belonged to the ancient monarchs of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans: hence the civil war arose between Pompey and Julius Caesar, because Pompey would not have Caesar as his equal, and Caesar would not have Pompey as his superior. Similar is the boasting of that braggart Thraso in Seneca: 'And like one greater than the stars, and above all, / Touching the high heavens with my proud head; / I dismiss the gods above; I have reached the summit of my desires. / O me, the most exalted of heaven's inhabitants, / And king of kings! I have surpassed my own prayers.'
5. Therefore in the twelfth year (this war began, but was finished in year 17, if we believe the Greek text, which says this war lasted six years) of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar. — You ask who this Nebuchadnezzar was? First, Zonaras and Genebrardus think he was that great Nebuchadnezzar who destroyed Jerusalem with its temple and carried the Jews off to Babylon. But he reigned in Babylon, not in Nineveh, as is said here, and he conquered the Jews, whereas here he was conquered by them through Judith.
Second, Bellarmine and Salianus think he was Merodach Baladan (whom Ptolemy in the Almagest calls Mardocempad), who indeed reigned in Babylon; but having conquered Esarhaddon king of Nineveh, he fixed the seat of his kingdom in that same Nineveh, just as the Turk did in Constantinople after he captured it. For Nebuchadnezzar was a common name among the kings of the Chaldeans. Hence Nabonassar in the Alphonsine tables, and by Albategnius, is always called Nebuchadnezzar. See Serarius here, question IV. For each name is the same, or nearly the same: hence some think this Nebuchadnezzar was the father of that Nebuchadnezzar who was the father of Nebuchadnezzar the Great, who carried the Jews off to Babylon.
Third, Serarius likewise thinks this Nebuchadnezzar was the son of Esarhaddon, who succeeded his deceased father in the kingdom of Nineveh and of the Assyrians. Serarius adds, and Genebrardus, Pererius and others agree, that Esarhaddon, or Sarphedon, as the Septuagint has, is Sardanapalus: therefore this Nebuchadnezzar was the son of Sardanapalus, who wishing to avenge his father's death, subdued by war Arbaces the prefect of Media, who had driven his father to death and self-immolation, and deprived him of his kingdom and life. Therefore Arbaces is here called Arphaxad, while by Diodorus and Ctesias he is called Diocles.
Diodorus supports this, book III, chapter 1, saying that Sardanapalus, when he saw destruction threatening himself and Nineveh from Arbaces, sent his sons out of Nineveh to Paphlagonia to its prefect Cottus, to escape the hands of Arbaces. Hear Diodorus: 'When the king (Sardanapalus) was besieged in the city (Nineveh), many nations, desirous of liberty, defected to Arbaces. The king, seeing his kingdom in great danger, sent three sons and two daughters with a great quantity of gold and silver to Cottus the governor of Paphlagonia.' Among these three sons was this Nebuchadnezzar, who aided by the prefect of Paphlagonia recovered Nineveh and his father's kingdom by armed force, and conquered and killed Arbaces. Certainly if we say the history of Judith happened before the Babylonian captivity under Manasseh, this opinion seems very probable: for then Esarhaddon reigned, who if he was Sardanapalus, then certainly Arbaces also reigned in Media at that time; for after defeating and killing Sardanapalus, he made himself king of Media. But if we say the history of Judith (as I said in the introduction) happened after the Babylonian captivity, then it must consequently be asserted that this Nebuchadnezzar was either Cambyses son of Cyrus, as St. Augustine, Eusebius, Bede and others think — hence the Alexandrian chronicle says: 'They say that Cambyses was called the second Nebuchadnezzar among the Hebrews,' because they were afflicted by both — or Darius Hystaspes, as Sanchez holds. For Xerxes was so puffed up with his forces and strength that he thought he could command not only the land, but also the waters and the sea. Hear Herodotus, book VII: 'The crossing from Abydos to the further continent is seven stadia, which a great storm attacked when it had been joined by bridges, and all those destroyed and wrecked them. When Xerxes heard this, he bore it with indignation and ordered three hundred lashes to be inflicted on the Hellespont, and a pair of shackles to be dropped into its waters. I have also heard that he sent along with these even men to brand the Hellespont with marks, saying in barbarous words: 'The lord inflicts this punishment upon you, because you have injured him.' Valerius Maximus reports the same, book III, chapter II, and adds that he threatened darkness upon the sky, because it had been hostile and injurious to him. What could be more foolish, insolent and arrogant? But because Xerxes reigned in Persia, not in Nineveh, and was a friend and benefactor to the Jews, as Josephus attests, so much so that his son Artaxerxes sent Esdras and Nehemiah to Judea to rebuild Jerusalem; which he certainly would not have done if his father Xerxes had been so shamefully defeated in the person of his general Holofernes by the Jews. It certainly seems more likely that this Nebuchadnezzar was one of the princes and prefects of Xerxes, to whom on account of his merits, strength and power, Xerxes, or rather the father of Xerxes, Darius Hystaspes, had granted the kingdom of Nineveh and Assyria, but under tribute and tax. When he saw Xerxes defeated by the Greeks, he refused this tribute, made himself an absolute king, and gradually growing in arms, strength and peoples, he invaded and overcame Arphaxad king of Media. By origin and nation he seems to have been a Babylonian (for this is indicated by his name Nebuchadnezzar, which is Chaldean), and he was perhaps a grandson, or rather great-grandson, or kinsman of Nebuchadnezzar the Great, and therefore adopted his name.
Furthermore, 'Nebuchadnezzar' in Hebrew means the same as 'constricting a generation with distress,' says Pagninus in the Hebrew Names, and this is fitting. For he himself constricted the Jews and other nations and reduced them to extremities, as is clear from what follows. NEBUCHADNEZZAR KING OF THE ASSYRIANS, WHO REIGNED IN NINEVEH. — This is added to distinguish him from Nebuchadnezzar the Great, who reigned in Babylon, and therefore transferred the monarchy from Nineveh and the Assyrians to Babylon and the Chaldeans: although Nineveh was close to Babylon, and the Assyrians to the Chaldeans, and therefore the Chaldean monarchy arose from the Assyrians, so that it is considered as one and the same. Hence the name Nebuchadnezzar is partly Chaldean, partly Assyrian. For Nabo was the name of a Chaldean idol; Asar was the name of Assyrian kings, as is clear in Shalmaneser, Tiglath-pileser, Esarhaddon, which are formed from Asar.
HE FOUGHT AGAINST ARPHAXAD, AND DEFEATED HIM, — that is, he captured him and pierced him with javelins. For the Greek text reads: In his war Nebuchadnezzar was strengthened, and he overthrew all the power of Arphaxad, and all his cavalry, and all his chariots; and he became master of his cities, and reached even to Ecbatana, and took possession of its towers, and devastated its streets; and he reduced its adornment to its disgrace. And he captured Arphaxad in the mountains of Ragau, and pierced him with his javelins, and utterly destroyed him, and exterminated him unto that day. He deserved this destruction by the proud boasting of Arphaxad in his forces and chariots: for, as Seneca says in the Hercules: 'God follows the proud as an avenger from behind.' The same in the Thyestes: 'You, to whom the ruler of sea and land / Has given the great right of death and life, / Put aside your puffed up and swollen faces; / And: He whom the fleeing day saw proud, / The fleeting day saw lying low: / Let no one trust too much in prosperity.'
Therefore Artabanus, king under Xerxes (under whom these things happened, and whom indeed Sanchez thinks was Nebuchadnezzar), gave this prudent warning: 'Do you see how God strikes with lightning the overly great animals, and does not allow them to become insolent in their thoughts; but the small ones He does not even touch? Do you see how He always hurls such bolts against the greatest buildings and trees? For God loves to cut down, or truncate, all things that tower above.' And the reason is added: 'For He does not allow anyone to think highly of himself, except Himself.'
What Nebuchadnezzar did after gaining this victory, the Greek narrator thus relates: He returned with them (his forces to Nineveh) and the whole army that had joined him, a very great multitude of warriors, and he was there at leisure, giving himself to feasting, both he and his army, for one hundred and twenty days.
Verse 7: Then the Kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar Was Exalted
7. THEN THE KINGDOM OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR WAS EXALTED AND HIS HEART WAS LIFTED UP, — so that thinking himself stronger than all, he aspired to monarchy and resolved to subjugate all nations to himself. Truly Seneca says in the Troades: 'Cannot be restrained by reins / Both anger, and the burning enemy, and victory, / And the fortunate sword, whose maddened / Lust is once stained.'
AND HE SENT TO ALL, — legates, who demanded that all nations submit to the victorious Nebuchadnezzar. This is narrated differently in the Greek, namely that Nebuchadnezzar before his victory over Arphaxad sent messengers to all neighboring nations requesting help against Arphaxad; when this was refused by the nations, he swore he would destroy them; then he fought with Arphaxad in the seventeenth year of his reign; and defeated him, pierced him with javelins, and overthrew Ecbatana; then returned in triumph to Nineveh, and there gave himself to leisure and luxury for 120 days. But the authentic text for us must be the Latin Vulgate edition, and the Greek must either be reconciled with it, if possible; if not possible, it must be rejected. In this passage it can be reconciled. For Nebuchadnezzar could have sent messengers twice, namely first before the battle, as the Greek has; second after the battle, as the Vulgate has.
Verse 8: And to the Nations That Are in Carmel and Cedar
8. AND TO THE NATIONS THAT ARE IN CARMEL AND CEDAR, AND THE INHABITANTS OF GALILEE. — The Greek enumerates more nations. From this it is clear that Nebuchadnezzar was not Xerxes. For most nations obeyed Xerxes as their monarch, and especially the Galileans: for from Esdras and Nehemiah it is established that Darius the father of Xerxes and Artaxerxes the son of Xerxes sent Nehemiah and other leaders to Judea, to govern the Jews in their name.
Verse 11: They All With One Mind Refused
11. THEY ALL WITH ONE MIND REFUSED, AND SENT THEM BACK EMPTY, AND REJECTED THEM WITHOUT HONOR (indeed with ignominy, as the Greek has). — This means: the pride of Nebuchadnezzar, growing insolent from victory, deserved even more, so that just as he himself had struck down the arrogance of Arphaxad, so his own insolence too would be laid low by Judith, and he would be mocked by the nations.
Verse 12: He Swore by His Throne and His Kingdom
12. HE SWORE BY HIS THRONE AND HIS KINGDOM THAT HE WOULD AVENGE (that is, take vengeance for) HIMSELF. — For he thought that a great injury and disgrace had been inflicted upon him by the nations, and therefore to recover and defend his honor, which had been harmed by them, he must avenge this affront by both war and destruction: just as today many think that to defend their honor, they must take vengeance and kill those who have injured it by some insult. But this is a fallacy of the world, and the lying spirit of the devil. Thus 'to defend' is taken for 'to avenge,' chapter IX, verse 2, and by the Apostle, Romans XII, 19: 'Not defending yourselves,' that is, not avenging yourselves, 'dearly beloved.' See what was said there.