Cornelius a Lapide

Ecclesiasticus XLVII

Table of Contents

Synopsis of the Chapter

Encomium of Nathan, then of David, from verse 2 up to verse 14; then of Solomon and Rehoboam, partly praise and partly blame, to the end of the chapter.

Vulgate Text: Ecclesiasticus 47:1-31

1. After these things Nathan the prophet arose in the days of David. 2. And as the fat is separated from the flesh, so was David from the children of Israel. 3. He played with lions as with lambs, and with bears he did likewise as with lambs of the flock, in his youth. 4. Did he not slay the giant, and take away the reproach from his nation? 5. In lifting up his hand, with the stone of the sling he cast down the exultation of Goliath: 6. for he called upon the Lord Almighty, and He gave strength to his right hand to strike down a man mighty in war, and to exalt the horn of his nation. 7. So He glorified him among ten thousands, and praised him in the blessings of the Lord, in offering him a crown of glory. 8. For he crushed enemies on every side, and extirpated the Philistines, his adversaries, even to this day: he crushed their horn forever. 9. In every work he gave praise to the Holy One and the Most High with words of glory. 10. With all his heart he praised the Lord, and loved God who made him: and He gave him power against his enemies; 11. and he made singers stand before the altar, and by their voices he made sweet melodies. 12. And he gave beauty to the celebrations, and adorned the solemn times even to the end of his life, that they should praise the holy name of the Lord and magnify the sanctity of God from early morning. 13. The Lord purged his sins, and exalted his horn forever: and He gave him the covenant of the kingdom, and the throne of glory in Israel. 14. After him arose a wise son, and because of him He cast down all the power of the enemies. 15. Solomon reigned in the days of peace, to whom God subjected all enemies, that he might build a house in His name, and prepare a sanctuary forever: How you were instructed in your youth, 16. and you were filled as a river with wisdom, and your soul covered the earth. 17. And you filled up riddles with comparisons: and your name was spread abroad to far-off islands, and you were beloved in your peace. 18. In songs, and proverbs, and comparisons, and interpretations the lands wondered at you, 19. and in the name of the Lord God, whose surname is God of Israel. 20. You gathered gold as brass, and you amassed silver as lead, 21. and you bowed your loins to women: you had power over your body, 22. you gave a stain upon your glory, and profaned your seed, to bring wrath upon your children and to have your folly provoked, 23. so that you made the kingdom divided in two, and out of Ephraim a harsh rule to govern. 24. But God will not forsake His mercy, and He will not corrupt nor destroy His works, nor will He cut off the posterity of His elect from the stock: and the seed of him who loves the Lord He will not destroy. 25. And He gave a remnant to Jacob and to David from his own stock. 26. And Solomon had an end with his fathers. 27. And he left behind him of his seed the folly of the nation, 28. and one diminished in prudence, Rehoboam, who turned away the nation by his counsel: 29. and Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, and gave the way of sinning to Ephraim, and their sins overflowed exceedingly. 30. They turned them far from their land. 31. And he sought out all wickedness, until the defense came to them and freed them from all sins.

First Part of the Chapter. Encomium of Nathan

1. AFTER THESE THINGS NATHAN THE PROPHET AROSE IN THE DAYS OF DAVID. — For "prophet," our translator with the Complutensian reads in the Greek ho prophetes; but the Roman, Tigurine, and others read propheteuein, that is, "to prophesy." Again, for "after these things," the Greek reads meta touto, that is, "after this," or meta touton, that is, "after this one," namely Samuel. Whence they translate: After this one Nathan arose, to prophesy in the days of David; Vatablus: After this one Nathan arose who, in the time of David, performed the prophetic office; the Syriac: After him Nathan the prophet arose, to make heard (or to command, to forewarn, to foretell) before David.

Sirach, just as in the preceding chapter he placed Samuel before Saul, so here he places Nathan the prophet before David: because, just as Samuel was the cause of right governance and every good for Saul, so too was Nathan for David. Hence we learn politically that the safety and happiness of kings and kingdoms consists in this: that they have not only counselors who are politically just and sincere, but also prophets, that is, holy bishops, preachers, confessors, religious men and divines, who announce to them from God what they ought to do and what to avoid; and therefore kings and princes ought to seek out such men with every effort, listen to them, and obey them, if they wish to provide for their own conscience and the salvation of their subjects. So Constantine the Great summoned St. Sylvester, Theodosius St. Ambrose, Arcadius St. Chrysostom, Clovis St. Remigius, Hermenegild and the other kings of Spain St. Leander, St. Isidore, St. Ildephonsus, and similar holy and God-taught bishops, by whose counsels and admonitions their kingdoms flourished in faith, virtue, and piety no less than in wealth, victories, and every abundance.

Now Nathan was an outstanding prophet, and therefore given by God as a remarkable gift to David, to be his monitor and director. Hence "Nathan" in Hebrew means the same as "given" or "gift"; for he was given to David to succeed the now deceased Samuel, who had anointed David as king, in prophesying — both properly, that is, in predicting the future, as he predicted to him a continuous and perpetual royal posterity (2 Samuel 7); and metaphorically, that is, in teaching, admonishing, counseling, and exhorting David, as with great freedom and fortitude of spirit he warned and rebuked him for the murder of Uriah and the adultery with Bathsheba, and brought him back to repentance and a sound and holy mind (2 Samuel 12). Therefore David on his deathbed commanded that his son Solomon be anointed king by Nathan the prophet and by Zadok the high priest (1 Kings 1:32). Finally, Nathan's integrity and sincerity is clear from the fact that when, asked by David about building the temple, he had assented and urged him from God to build it, as soon as he heard the contrary from God he retracted his opinion (2 Samuel 7:5). Therefore all interpreters agree that Nathan the prophet was very familiar with and constantly present to King David, and that his counsel was weighty and faithful, since David was accustomed to share his cares with him and deliberate on the most important matters. And Scripture sufficiently indicates this (2 Samuel 7), and Sirach here, when he says that Nathan arose to be a prophet in the days of David, that is, to be the king's companion, helper, indeed pedagogue, monitor, and teacher in governing, as our Pineda teaches (On the Affairs of Solomon, bk. 1, ch. 19, n. 6). For, he says, since a king placed at the summit and on slippery ground is in danger, and is subject to many diseases of the soul, as much as anyone, he needs a prophet who will sustain the king, who will hold up the one who has fallen, who will apply the salutary medicine of counsel and correction to the ailing one. Nor indeed was it said without reason in Sirach 47:1: "Nathan the prophet arose in the days of David." For this is not said to indicate in what time he flourished, or under what king, so as to establish credibility for his prophecy — as at the beginning of the prophets the time and age of secular princes is noted, since indeed no further word about Nathan is added — but so that both the king's need might be signified, and the most laborious burden imposed by God on the prophet of assisting the king, living with him, and admonishing, correcting, and caring for him. So St. Epiphanius (On the Life and Death of the Prophets): "Nathan," he says, "the prophet, instructed David in the law of the Lord."

Second Part of the Chapter. Encomium of David

2. AND AS THE FAT IS SEPARATED FROM THE FLESH, SO WAS DAVID FROM THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. — For "separated," some read "saturated" from the flesh; because fat is nourished by and as it were saturated from the flesh: for the finer, more tender, and better part of flesh and blood is converted into fat; hence fat is in flesh what fine flour is in grain, marrow in bone, flower on a tree, yolk in an egg, pure myrrh in myrrh, the choicest drop in wine. But the Greek is aphorismenon, that is, "separated from the salutary offering," namely from the peace offering, which was offered for the safety of a person, family, or kingdom (Leviticus 3), which Vatablus accordingly calls a "happy sacrifice"; for this is what is referred to here, as if to say: Just as the fat from the peace offerings was separated from the flesh by the priest to be burned for God, so David was selected and beloved by God from among all the Israelites; for in the salutary or peace offering, the fat alone and in its entirety went to God and was burned, while the remaining flesh went partly to the priests, partly to those offering. Hence Rabanus reads: As the fat of the salutary offering (that is, of the peace offering) separated from the flesh; by which he shows, he says, that he was filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, and in his conduct and life was separated and estranged from the company of carnal and sinful men. For thus the Greek reads: As fat separated from the salutary offering (from the peace offering), so David (was separated and set apart) from the children of Israel. This is the first praise of David, that like fat he was selected and chosen by God. The Arabic: As the excellence of fat over the holy (in Syriac, over the divided and cut flesh, which was holy, that is, sacred and consecrated to God), so David excelled over Israel. Hence from the Arabic and Syriac you may translate: As fat is more excellent than the holy (that is, the holy flesh offered to God), so David is more exalted than Israel.

Tropologically, our Alvarez de Paz (Treatise on Obedience, bk. 5, part 2, ch. 4) understands by the fat separated and consecrated to God a Religious, since he has dedicated his whole self to God: A secular person who is holy, he says, is like the sacred flesh offered to God in the peace offering, which partly went to the use of the priest, partly was eaten by the one offering it with thanksgiving. But the obedient Religious is like fat, much more sacred, which fire entirely consumed in honor of God. And so the life of the obedient person is a true and pure holocaust, and obedience makes him truly blessed; because it makes him like the blessed spirits, and wholly devoted to God for all time, and consecrated to Him. Such a fat offering was St. Anselm, who says (On Similitudes, ch. 84): "Lord, until now it was in my power, and whatever pleased me, whether good or evil, I did. But because I ought to be entirely Yours, and bear fruit in good works for You alone, I surrender my whole self to Your power, so that henceforth I may bear fruit for You. And so that I may do this better for You, I will submit myself to one of the prelates of the Church, who, guarding me, may teach me to do only those works that he knows are more pleasing to You."

Now David is rightly compared to the fat of the peace offering: first, because just as fat is the best and most savory part of the flesh, so David was the best of the Israelites. Second, just as this fat was dedicated to God while the remaining flesh went to men, so David dedicated his whole self to God, to God's will, love, and praise. Hence God boasts of him: "I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will" (2 Samuel 13:22). Third, fat on account of its whiteness is a symbol of purity; on account of its separation from the flesh, of angelic holiness, which was in David: for David did not seek what was his own, as others did, but only what was God's; hence he spent and overspent his whole self on God's love and service. Therefore St. Chrysostom (Homily on David and Saul), when he contemplates David "separated from the flesh," pictures to himself an angel illustrious in heaven, illustrious on earth, and asserts that he attained the summit of evangelical philosophy through moderation of soul; that he deserved the crown of martyrdom a thousand times over, since he refused to kill Saul, his bitterest enemy who daily sought his throat, for God's sake; and finally that a man in human nature led an angelic life.

Pineda adds (On the Affairs of Solomon, bk. 1, ch. 2, n. 3) that through the fat separated from the flesh, the admirable holiness of David is amplified, because, as Galen testifies (On Natural Faculties, bk. 2, ch. 3), fat is bloodless even though it is generated from blood; since blood, being more moist and a kind of nourishment and irrigation for life, is poured upon the nervous and membranous parts, namely to moisten the drier and thinner parts with that native richness, lest they quickly harden when dried out by fasting and exercise. Moreover, it is always similar to itself, without pain, without feeling. You see here represented the purity of life beyond human nature of the praying king: "Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God, my God"; and: "That his heart might be made spotless"; and finally: "Not yielding to flesh and blood." You see the royal meekness, and the kindness of the most tender affections poured out upon the poor and lowly, sustaining, lifting up, and refreshing the weary: always the same toward God, toward men, whether in prosperity or adversity; and finally, toward Saul his enemy and his foes, with so upright, cheerful, and beneficent a spirit, as if without any injury—

and evils he felt no pain and had no awareness of human affairs. What, in such great holiness, is more like holy fat separated from flesh? Fourth, fat is a symbol of the best king and prince; for if you transfer the uses of fat in medicines beneficial to human life to the duties of the best and most holy prince toward the commonwealth, what will you not find in David that contributes to the safety and welfare of the people subject to him? Whatever is well nourished, says the physician, obtains fat. Therefore where the prince has the virtue of fat, the people are well nourished, well fed; where he performs the office and role of fat for his subjects, the commonwealth does not grow lean; it contracts no diseases or pains that cannot be relieved, softened, and healed by the benefit and work of the prince, that is, of the fat. Finally, just as fat is the richest part, and indeed the entire richness of the flesh, so David excelled in burning charity, overflowing devotion, piety toward God and mercy toward neighbors alike (for fat is a symbol of both), as is evident from his Psalms, which breathe nothing but devotion to God and love for neighbor. Moreover, properly speaking, the fat dedicated to God from any sacrifice signified that the intention in every work should be directed toward God, so that the work be done purely for the honor and glory of God, as I explained on Leviticus 3:17, which David performed above all others. Therefore he received his very name from love and affection; for "David" in Hebrew means the same as "beloved." Hence also his son Solomon was called Jedidiah, that is, "beloved of the Lord, because the Lord loved him" (2 Samuel 12:25); although St. Augustine (Against Faustus, bk. 22, ch. 87, and on Psalm 34) interprets David as "strong of hand" or "desirable."

3. HE PLAYED WITH LIONS AS WITH LAMBS, AND WITH BEARS HE DID LIKEWISE AS WITH LAMBS OF THE FLOCK, IN HIS YOUTH. — In Greek: He played with lions as with kids, and with bears as with lambs of the flock, just as lions and bears are dispatched by a hunter with a javelin. Hence the Arabic translates: He slew lions with bears like lambs, as a giant in his youth; the Syriac: He killed lions like kids, and bears like lambs in his childhood. As if to say: David as a youth, tending sheep, was so strong, swift, and courageous that without effort or fear, as if jesting and playing, he killed the lion and bear that attacked the flock (1 Samuel 17:34). There is an enallage of number: "with lions," that is, with a lion; "with bears," that is, with a bear; but he says "with lions" and "with bears," both to heighten the praise and the verse, and because with the same ease with which he could kill one, he could kill many, and as it appears, he did in fact kill many, as is implied in 1 Samuel 17:34, where David says to Saul: "Your servant was tending the flock of his father, and a lion or bear would come and take a ram from the midst of the flock, and I would pursue them and strike them." These words signify that this was done not just once but repeatedly and as a matter of habit, as our Sanchez and Abulensis note there. He also adds that this strength was not so much natural as miraculously implanted in David when he was anointed king by Samuel; for then "the Spirit (of fortitude as well as wisdom) of the Lord was directed upon David from that day forward" (1 Samuel 16:13), and immediately after, in chapter 17, David's contest with the lion and bear is narrated.

Note the catachresis, by which "play" is used for combat and fighting; for this is the play of soldiers and the brave. Thus in 2 Samuel 2:14, Abner says to Joab: "Let the young men arise and play before us; let them play," that is, duel; for a duel is the play of spectators. So the wolf plays with sheep, the dog with the hare, the cat with the mouse, when it tears and devours it. Moreover, the word "played" signifies not only David's virtue and youthful strength, but also his singular dexterity and energy: since he "in the manner of one playing, with easy effort and pleasurably, killed the lion, as if he had killed a lamb; and with bears he did likewise as with lambs of the flock," say Hugo and Dionysius.

Allegorically: "Christ strangled the lion and the bear when, descending to the underworld, He freed all from their jaws," says St. Augustine (Sermon 197, On the Seasons). Here applies the apophthegm of Rabbi Judah in Pirke Avoth, that is, in the Sayings of the Fathers: "You must be bold as a leopard, swift in running and nimble of foot like a deer; like the royal eagle, the solar bird, penetrating all things through agility of body; and finally, like a certain lion, brave and warlike, strong and magnanimous in carrying out the will of God and of your father."

In a similar way, men outstanding in obedience, innocence, and holiness have played with lions. John the Anchorite, ordered by his abbot as a joke to bring a lioness, immediately approached her, saying: "My abbot commands me to bind you and lead you to him." So he seized her, bound her, and led her to the abbot. This is the power, this is the play of obedience. So Rufinus (Lives of the Holy Fathers, bk. 3, n. 27). Gerasimus (some falsely attributed this to St. Jerome, deceived by the similarity of the name), an abbot, by pulling a thorn from a lion's paw, so tamed him that he carried pack saddles on his back like a donkey; and when Gerasimus died and was buried, the lion, lying upon his grave, mourning and wailing, died with him and was buried together with him as with his master, indeed his father. So John Moschus (The Spiritual Meadow, ch. 197). When St. Anthony wished to bury St. Paul, the first hermit, two lions ran to him and dug a grave with their claws in which Paul might be buried, and bowing their heads, begged a blessing from Anthony, and having obtained it, returned happily to their lairs. So St. Jerome (Life of St. Paul). The same Moschus (ch. 58) narrates that Julian the Stylite commanded a lion that was causing much damage to the province to leave the province, and the obedient lion immediately departed. St. Sabbas the Abbot, entering at evening a cave in which a lion was nursing its

cubs, commanded the lion either to remain with him or, if he did not wish to, to yield the place to him. The lion yielded and with its cubs withdrew to another cave. So his Life records. Simeon Priscus, as if playing, assigned two lions as guides to guests who had strayed from the road, who accordingly led them safely along the right path. When the same Simeon ordered a lion in a cave to yield its place, it yielded, and even brought a cluster of dates. So Theodoret (Philotheus, ch. 6).

Thus the Saints play with lions, wolves, and wild beasts, and command them as servants of the Lord, of God, of their friend, indeed their father. Such is the power of innocence and holiness, from which Adam originally, and whoever afterwards approached primeval integrity, commanded and ruled over beasts and wild animals as over their servants, in God's stead.

So St. Francis played with birds and wolves; for at Gubbio he tamed a wolf that was marvelously troublesome to the people by making a pact with it, as if it were a rational animal, that it would harm no one while alive, and in turn the citizens would be obliged to feed it. Thus the agreement was made in the public square between both parties, preceded by a sermon in which the holy man showed that these fierce animals are sometimes sent by God to remind a sinning people of their duty and bring them back to an upright life. For two years the wolf lived among them, going in and out, content with the daily meal provided him by the citizens; at the sight of him all were stirred to praise God and to greater reverence for St. Francis, who by custom called him Brother Wolf; for on account of the creation common to all, he called all creatures brothers and sisters, as children of one God the Creator. So Wadding (Annals of the Friars Minor, year 1222, n. 18), who also adds that a sow cursed by St. Francis because it had killed a little lamb immediately began to sicken and died on the third day.

4. DID HE NOT SLAY THE GIANT, AND TAKE AWAY THE REPROACH FROM HIS NATION? IN LIFTING UP HIS HAND, WITH THE STONE OF THE SLING HE CAST DOWN THE EXULTATION OF GOLIATH. — The Syriac: He moved his hand with the sling and crushed all the pride of Goliath. As if to say: David as a youth killed the giant Goliath, who taunted the camps of Saul and the weakness and cowardice of the Hebrews, and challenged each of them to single combat; and he did this swiftly and easily, namely by merely raising his hand and whirling the sling, with which he hurled the stone so powerfully and skillfully that he fixed it in Goliath's forehead, and so struck him down, and cut off his head with his own sword. Note: For "exultation," the Greek has gauriama, which signifies both pride, as Vatablus translates, and boasting, as well as exultation. For Goliath came forth to the duel against David exulting and boasting, despising David's youth, as if certain of victory, and about to slay him immediately; but David checked his arrogance and exultation, both by voice, boldly threatening him with death — "Come to me," he said, "and I will give your flesh to the birds of heaven and the beasts of the earth" — and by the stone with which he cast him to the ground.

Here note, first, the military prudence in David; for since, being small and unarmed, he was no match for Goliath, a giant and armed, nor could he engage him in close combat, he conducted the affair from a distance and brought down the enemy with a cast of a stone, just as musketeers do now, who, though weak, fell the strongest bodies of the enemy with a lead ball. Notice: Instead of "Goliath" he says "the exultation of Goliath," as if in that man there was nothing but arrogance, and he had more pride and haughtiness than flesh, size, and strength. Therefore David seems to have cast down and slain not the giant, but the giant's arrogance and haughtiness. Goliath, a more monstrous giant by his wicked and proud judgment,

however, some think that Goliath was killed by the very blow of the stone; because David hurled the stone with such force into Goliath's forehead that, with the bone broken, it stuck fast in his brain and likewise shattered and destroyed it; and with the brain shattered, the man necessarily dies. So think Theodoret, Abulensis, and our Salianus (History of David). The first opinion is more favored by Scripture, 1 Samuel 17:50, which says: "He took his sword and drew it from its sheath and killed him." Therefore Goliath was killed by the sword, not the stone — so that he who had proudly boasted in the same weapon would miserably perish by it. Thus David played with Goliath as he had played with the lion and bear; and so that contest with wild beasts was a specimen and prelude to this one with the giant. Beautifully St. Augustine says (Confessions, bk. 8, ch. 3): "The victorious Emperor triumphs, and he would not have conquered unless he had fought. And the greater the danger in battle, the greater the joy in triumph."

5. So far Scripture on David. Let generals and soldiers imitate David by invoking God's help before battle; likewise let all the faithful, when they fight in temptation against the world, the flesh, and the devil; for prayer gives strength for victory. If they use this strength and cooperate vigorously with it — if, I say, with as much courage as David they attack their own Goliath, that is, their own capital vice, whether it be pride, or gluttony, or sloth, they will certainly overcome and cut it down. So St. Wenceslaus, king of Bohemia, challenged to a duel by Radislaus, Duke of Curmia, who was invading Bohemia, accepted it so that he might redeem the war by a duel and the danger to his people by his own personal risk. Having therefore humbly invoked God, the holy man mounted his horse; and soon his adversary saw a spear being offered to him by an angel, and himself being warned by the same angel with these words: "Do not strike." Terrified at this sight, he leapt from his horse and fell at the feet of the Saint asking pardon, finding him more ready to forgive than to avenge. So his Life of St. Wenceslaus records.

From this it is clear that David's duel with Goliath was lawful and holy, both because it was entered into at God's instigation, and because it was undertaken by the authority of King Saul for the necessary defense of the commonwealth. It is otherwise with duels that are taken up by private authority for the vindication of a private injury; for these are plainly illicit, unjust, and criminal, and therefore punished with the most severe penalties by the sacred canons and the Council of Trent.

6. FOR HE CALLED UPON THE LORD ALMIGHTY, AND HE GAVE STRENGTH TO HIS RIGHT HAND TO STRIKE DOWN A MAN MIGHTY IN WAR (Syriac: He gave in his hand strength to slay the warlike giant), AND TO EXALT THE HORN OF HIS NATION. — "He gave in his right hand," namely kratos, as the Greek has, that is, strength. From this it is clear that David brought down Goliath not by his own strength but by God's; for invoking God before the duel, he drew from Him such strength that with the blow of a single stone he brought down the tower of flesh (for so St. Chrysostom calls Goliath, Homily 45 to the People), and removed him from the midst, and by this means exalted the "horn," that is, the strength, forces, camp, honor, and glory "of his nation," namely the Hebrews. From this passage it is clear that David before the duel invoked God's help with a humble and fervent prayer, and distrusting his own strength and trusting in divine strength, eagerly ran into battle — even though this is not mentioned in the book of Kings. And this was the cause both of the strength added to him and of the victory obtained through it. Add to this: That public declaration of David, when advancing against Goliath he said: "You come to me with sword, and spear, and shield; but I (unarmed) come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted today, and the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you" (from which words it is clear that David had received from God the promise of victory, and therefore fearlessly entered a duel in which he was so outmatched) — this was an implicit invocation of God and divine aid. Finally, the Rabbis report, or fable, that David inscribed on the stones with which he brought down Goliath the name of God and of the Patriarchs — Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and his own — and thus overcame him. The same is related by Philo, or rather Pseudo-Philo, in the Biblical Antiquities.

7. SO HE GLORIFIED HIM AMONG TEN THOUSANDS, AND PRAISED HIM IN THE BLESSINGS OF THE LORD, IN OFFERING HIM A CROWN OF GLORY. — So read the Roman editions, also the Complutensian and Roman Greek, namely houtos, that is, "so"; that is, for this reason, on account of Goliath's defeat. Similar is John 4:6: "Jesus therefore, being wearied from the journey, was sitting thus by the well" — "thus," that is, for that reason, namely on account of fatigue he was sitting. For "so," the Tigurine reads houtos, that is, "this one," namely laos, that is, the people or nation that preceded, or God; hence it translates: This one gave him the glory of ten thousands (of the slain, says Vatablus), and by the commendations of the Lord, that is, his own, rendered him praiseworthy, and conferred on him a diadem of glory. The sense is, as if to say: The people, and God through the people (that is, moving and inciting the people to this), glorified David for the slaying of Goliath "among ten thousands," that is, as if he had struck down ten thousand Philistines; for one Goliath was valued so highly, because he had struck the entire Hebrew camp with terror of him, while he challenged each of them to single combat — which no one dared to accept except David alone, who by felling him freed the entire Hebrew camp from fear and shame, and raised it to a sure hope of victory.

He alludes to what the people exclaimed to David returning in triumph from the duel: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands" (1 Samuel 18); hence the Syriac: Therefore the women praised him among ten thousands: He fought a little and crushed the enemies surrounding him on every side. Again, God through the people "praised David in the blessings of the Lord," that is, His own (this is a Hebraism frequent and common in Scripture), that is, with immense, divine blessings worthy of God, when namely He offered "him a crown of glory," that is, the royal dignity and crown, by making him king of Israel; for this offering of the kingdom was a great praise and blessing of David; for then the people, praising, exclaimed to David: Long live King David, long live the conqueror of Goliath, long live the subduer of the Philistines. He alludes to Psalm 20:4, where the people literally congratulate David on his safety and victory, and allegorically Christ for the redemption of mankind. So St. Augustine, Jerome, Athanasius, and Eusebius, in the same place. For it says: "For You have anticipated him with blessings of sweetness: You have set upon his head a crown of precious stone." The sense is: We Israelites congratulate David our victor and king: "For You, O Lord, have anticipated him with blessings," that is, benefits, "of sweetness," in Greek chrestotetos, that is, of goodness and benignity, namely of God. As if to say: With the most benign and sweet benefits of the most benign and sweet God, You anticipated David before his merit, indeed before he asked; when You caused the abundance of all good things to come to him spontaneously, and especially when You made him king and placed upon his head the royal crown adorned with precious gems. This is the fourth praise of David, namely the glorious acclamation of the people, and the offering of the kingdom; for the kingdom was conferred upon him by the whole people.

8. FOR HE CRUSHED ENEMIES ON EVERY SIDE, AND EXTIRPATED THE PHILISTINES, HIS ADVERSARIES, EVEN TO THIS DAY: HE CRUSHED THEIR HORN FOREVER. — The Syriac: "to this day"; the Greek, omitting "for," reads thus: He crushed enemies round about, and exoudenose, that is, destroyed, extirpated, and reduced to nothing the Philistine adversaries; to this day he crushed their horn. This is the fifth praise of David, namely that he suppressed, indeed crushed, the Philistines who dominated Israel and taunted them for the death of King Saul; not that he killed them all, but that, having slain their strongest men, he subjugated the rest to himself and Israel, and so wore down their "horn," that is, their strength, kingdom, and glory, that they could no longer rule over the Hebrews. Our translator more forcefully adds "for"; for it signifies the reason why the people so glorified David as to create him their king — namely because he felled Goliath, and by continual battles and victories wore down the strength of the Philistines, who were perpetual enemies of Israel; for by these deeds he deserved to be made king. Hence, once made king, he pursued what he had begun and utterly routed them, according to 2 Samuel 8:1: "David struck the Philistines and humiliated them, and David took the bridle of tribute from the hand of the Philistines."

Therefore you may attribute to David the same and more praises that Stanislaus Roscius recently attributed to Stephen Batory, the unconquered king of Poland, subduer of the Muscovites and terror of the Turks, in his Life of Cardinal Hosius, bk. 3, at the end of ch. 10: "A king," he says, "most worthy of the memory and proclamation of all ages. Plainly abounding in the praises and examples of all royal and heroic virtues for imitation. In the Church of God more than a priest. In the republic more than a king. In the army more than an emperor. In battle more than a soldier. In judgment more than a jurisconsult. In rendering verdicts more than a senator. In bearing adversity more than a man. In defending public liberty more than a citizen. In cultivating friendships more than a friend. In companionship more than a familiar. In the hunt more than a lion."

9. IN EVERY WORK HE GAVE PRAISE TO THE HOLY ONE AND THE MOST HIGH WITH WORDS OF GLORY. — The Syriac: Therefore he gave words in the voice of praise and honor, that is, of thanksgiving and praise. Vatablus: In every work of his he ascribed praise to the supreme deity with honorific speech. This is the sixth praise of David, as if to say: David attributed all his strength, every victory over Goliath and the Philistines, all his brilliant deeds, not to himself but to God; therefore in every work he "gave praise," that is, glory, "to the Holy One." As if to say: He ascribed all the praise of his work to God, not to himself; to God, I say, who is holy by essence, and therefore the font, source, and cause of all holy and heroic works that David and the Saints perform. "And to the Most High with words of glory": as if to say, David assigned the glory of all his brilliant and lofty works not to himself but to God Most High; and therefore he praised and glorified Him with magnificent and glorious hymns and words, as he does in the Psalms, where he frequently celebrates God with these titles: "The Lord is my light and my salvation; I will love You, O Lord, my strength; The Lord is my firmament, my refuge, and my deliverer; My protector, and the horn of my salvation, and my support; The Lord governs me and I shall want nothing," etc.

Let us learn from David to refer all praise of the good works we do to God, so that we may say

with Isaiah 26:12: "All our works You have wrought for us"; and with the Psalmist, Psalm 113:9: "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give the glory"; and with St. Paul: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and spotless in His sight in love" (Ephesians 1:3); and Ephesians 2:10: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Moreover, David was an express type of Christ. Hence all that David did for the Synagogue of the Jews — forming, adorning, and defending it against temporal enemies — the same Christ accomplished far more brilliantly, and continues to do for the Church of Christians, founding, adorning, and protecting it against spiritual enemies. So Rabanus and others throughout.

10. WITH ALL HIS HEART HE PRAISED THE LORD, AND LOVED GOD WHO MADE HIM: AND HE GAVE HIM POWER AGAINST HIS ENEMIES. — The Syriac: With all his heart he loved his Creator. This is an amplification, as if to say: David praised God not with his lips only, not partially, not coldly, not half-heartedly, but with "all," that is, his whole "heart," saying: "I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart." Now the cause of this praise was love, because namely with "all," that is, with his whole heart he loved God, and this for two reasons and titles. The first is that God "made," that is, created "him." David therefore, as a creature, referred his entire being, his entire good, however great it was, to God the Creator. Hence Vatablus translates: With his whole heart he sang to his Creator and loved Him. The second is that the same God who made him gave "him power against enemies." As if to say: David with his whole heart loved God as his war leader, conqueror, and triumpher, saying: "Blessed be the Lord my God, who teaches my hands to fight and my fingers to wage war" (Psalm 143:1). And with Paul: "Thanks be to God, who always triumphs (causes us to triumph) in Christ Jesus" (2 Corinthians 2:14). Therefore St. Chrysostom (Homily on David and Goliath): "This most holy man," he says, "according to God's heart, carries out whatever God thinks, accomplishes whatever He conceives in His mind. For since he joins his own heart to God's heart and binds his own mind to His mind — that is, so as to will what God wills and not will what He does not will — so the Lord loved him with an inseparable love and united charity." And Irenaeus (bk. 4, ch. 45), speaking of David: "He did," he says, "all things according to the counsel of the Spirit, and he pleased God."

Therefore St. Chrysostom truly says (on Psalm 50): "David," he says, "in the royal eminence imitated the life of a monk." And in Homily 30 on Genesis: "In purple and diadem he surpassed the life of monks." Imitating David, the Emperor Theodosius "so arranged his palace that it was not unlike a monastery," says Socrates (bk. 7, ch. 22). Hence in it St. Pulcheria with her sisters, as well as with Theodosius, continually served God in virginity and the praises of God. On which see our Raderus in The Royal Court.

Morally, learn here that the perfection of David, and of any Saint, consists in continual love and praise of God, so as to love and praise God with the whole heart; and this not only when one is occupied with God in prayer or psalmody, but also when one attends to and manages the external affairs of the kingdom, the family, neighbors, as well as one's own business. For the love of God accomplishes all these things from God and by the spirit of His charity most excellently and most sweetly, so that the mind fixed on God extends itself without distraction to carrying out external affairs, as an instrument of God who governs and directs both it and all its works. By this it comes about that the soul, trusting in God and distrusting itself, is wholly united to God and depends on Him, and consequently, without being torn away, calmly and easily extends itself to providing for the salvation of neighbors; for it provides for these things as the business of its God, whom it intimately loves and serves; and this from the strength and spirit that God supplies to it. A similar thing occurs with a compass: for one foot of the compass holds

remains fixed at the center, while the other revolves and describes a circle; so David's heart was fixed in God as in its center, the same remaining virtually present, just as the power of food or generous wine remains after it has been converted by the stomach into the substance of the one eating; for by this power food nourishes, increases, strengthens, and gladdens a person. Christ does the same in the Eucharist, for there He is our food. Therefore let the priest converse familiarly and continually with Christ — either personally or virtually present and existing in his soul — venerating Him, loving Him, adoring Him, presenting to Him his own and others' miseries, indeed those of the whole world, asking for grace and help. Thus, always after the manner of Enoch and Noah, he will walk not only with angels but with God Himself, loving Him alone with the whole affection of his heart, worshipping, venerating, praising, and glorifying Him.

Sirach here sets up David as a living and outstanding example of perpetual praise and love of God. For David, to say nothing of his deeds described in the books of Kings, does nothing else in the Psalms than sing praises — that is, praise God and express his extraordinary love and affection for Him. Hence he repeatedly exclaims: "I will love You, O Lord, my strength; Love the Lord, all you His saints; I have loved, because the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer; How lovely are Your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord; How I have loved Your law, O Lord! It is my meditation all the day," etc. From all of which it is clear that David's heart was full of the love and praise of God; for from this fullness he continually burst forth into these jubilations, loves, and sighs toward God, and from this he wisely, bravely, gently, and successfully governed and ruled the whole kingdom of Israel for forty years under God's guidance. For this reason David is called by Euthymius (Preface to the Psalms) "a divine Orpheus" — namely, calming the tumults of souls and restraining the waves of thoughts through his psalms, says St. Basil (Homily 1 on Psalm 1).

St. Augustine follows David, especially in his books of Confessions. Hear him (bk. 10, ch. 28): "When I shall cling to You with all my being, there will be no pain or toil for me anywhere, and my life will be alive, wholly filled with You. But now, since the one whom You fill, You lift up — since I am not full of You, I am a burden to myself. My joys that should be wept over contend with my sorrows that should be rejoiced over, and on which side victory stands I know not. Alas for me, Lord, have mercy on me!" And in chapter 29: "O love, who ever burns and is never extinguished! O charity, my God, set me on fire! You command continence; give what You command, and command what You will."

11. AND HE MADE SINGERS STAND BEFORE THE ALTAR, AND BY THEIR VOICES HE MADE SWEET MELODIES.

In Greek mele, that is, modulations and melodies. The Complutensians add: And every day they praised in their canticles. Vatablus: He appointed singers before the altar who would produce sweet songs by their sound and who would give praise daily with their canticles. The Syriac: Every day he always sang his praises (his canticles) before the altar; he composed great praises (canticles) each year. This is the seventh praise of David: that he not only praised God himself with his whole heart, but also established public singers who would praise God daily in the name of the whole people and sing psalms together before the altar of holocausts, and by this means would invite and by their example incite all to praising God; moreover, that he composed psalms most full of affections of love and doxology, and handed them over to the singers to be chanted with voice, organ, and other instruments. Hence "by their voices he made sweet melodies" — both because he ordained that the singers should chant the psalms with the sweet melody of voices and instruments, and because he himself, personally and through his musical directors, invented sweet modes and tones of singing and prescribed them for the singers to use, just as in the Latin Church St. Gregory the Pope reduced ecclesiastical chant to fixed modes and tones. That David did this is evident from the titles of Psalms 4, 5, 6, 7, and others in the Hebrew. Hence David is rightly called the Royal Psalmist. See 1 Chronicles 25.

Hear St. Jerome, writing to Paulinus on all the books of Sacred Scripture: "David," he says, "our Simonides, our Pindar and Alcaeus, our Horace too, Catullus, and Serenus — he sounds forth Christ on the lyre, and on the ten-stringed psaltery raises the Risen One from the dead." And Blessed Peter Chrysologus (Sermon 18): "By song," he says, "Blessed David delighted and soothed his dear flock in the pastures; by song he learned to overcome the hardships of wars; by song he merited to lead peoples to salvation; by song he was able to call the Gentiles, bring back the Jews, put demons to flight, and summon the children of God to the obedience of their heavenly Father." To sing psalms together in the temple he trained four thousand singers — you would call it an army, and truly a choir of the camps. But today the universal nations of the world are the choir for singing his psalms everywhere, and the world itself is the temple in which David alone sings the divinity with an eternal spirit. God therefore, through David, composed the psalms and the manner of singing them, which not only the Synagogue of the Jews but also the Church of Christians everywhere among all peoples, through all ages, would adopt and follow. For the Holy Spirit dictated the Psalms to David in such a manner and mode that they would be suitable for all ages, all nations, all states of life, every sex, every age, and every class of humanity. Hence from the beginning in the Church the people sang psalms together with the clergy indiscriminately, and responded "Amen" to the priest who collected the prayer. This is what Jerome says (Preface to Book 2 of the Epistle to the Galatians): "Like heavenly thunder, 'Amen' resounds." And Ausonius, in his Ephemeris: "Harmonious songs celebrate Him whom David's modulated strains proclaim, And 'Amen' strikes the air with answering voices."

Moreover, the holy Fathers assign many and great uses, purposes, and fruits to psalmody. St. Chrysostom,

(Preface to Psalm 12): "Nothing," he says, "so equally lifts the soul, frees it from the earth, releases it from the chains of the body, imbues it with love of wisdom, and assists it to despise all things pertaining to this life, as measured verse, a divine canticle composed in rhythm, etc. Therefore God constructed the Psalms so that from this thing both profit and pleasure might be obtained at once." For the subject matter of the Psalter is to review by way of praise all things done in the Old Testament and to be done in the New. The Psalter therefore is a compendium and breviary of all Sacred Scripture, an epitome and register of the Bible, the consummation of the entire theological page. This is the definition of the great Dionysius the Areopagite (On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, ch. 3). The book of Psalms, says St. Basil in the Proem to the Psalms, embraces everything useful found in the Prophets, the Law, and the historical books; it foretells the future, narrates histories, prescribes laws for living, gives precepts for action, and — to say it in a word — is a common storehouse of teaching and instruction. And further on: "The Psalm is the tranquility of souls, the arbiter of peace, restraining the tumults and waves of thoughts, softening anger. The Psalm is the conciliator of friendship, the union of the estranged, the reconciliation of enemies; for who will regard as an enemy the one with whom he raises one voice to God? Therefore, that which is the greatest of all goods — charity — the harmonious singing of psalms provides. The Psalm puts demons to flight and summons the aid of angels; in the terrors of the night it is security, in the labors of the day it is rest; for children it is protection, for youth it is consolation, for women the most honorable adornment; it makes wildernesses famous; it is the foundation for beginners, the growth for those advancing, the firmament for the perfect. The Psalm is the voice of the Church and makes feast days more illustrious and fills them with joy. The Psalm is the work of angels, the function of the commonwealth, a spiritual incense." So far St. Basil.

St. Augustine agrees almost word for word with St. Basil: "The Psalter," he says, "is a kind of common treasury of doctrine and comes to the aid of all the passions of the soul that vex human souls in various ways; the Psalm is the standard-bearer of peace, a spiritual incense, a heavenly exercise; it represses luxury, suggests sobriety, moves to tears." These things and more St. Augustine says in his Preface to the Psalms. He also professes that he himself experienced this very thing (bk. 9 of the Confessions, ch. 6): "How greatly," he says, "I wept at Your hymns and canticles, keenly moved by the voices of Your sweetly sounding Church! Those voices flowed into my ears, and Your truth was distilled into my heart, and from it the affection of piety surged, and tears flowed, and it was well with me in them."

St. Gregory narrates (Dialogues, bk. 4, ch. 47) that Merulus, a religious man assiduously devoted to psalmody, was crowned from heaven: "To him," he says, "it was said in a nocturnal vision: 'Be prepared, for the Lord has ordered you to depart.' And when he said that he did not have the means for departing, he immediately heard the response, saying: 'If it is about your sins, they are forgiven.' When he heard this and was still trembling with great fear, on another night he was admonished with the same words. Then after five days, seized with a fever, with all the brethren praying and weeping, he died. Another brother also in the same monastery was called Merulus, earnestly devoted to tears and almsgiving. Psalmody from his mouth never ceased at any time, except when he gave food to his body or his limbs to sleep. To him it appeared in a nocturnal vision that a crown of white flowers descended from heaven upon his head. He was soon seized with bodily illness and died with great security of mind and cheerfulness. When Peter, who now presides over the monastery, wanted to make a burial place for himself at his tomb fourteen years later, such a fragrance of sweetness emanated from that same tomb, as he attests, as if the perfumes of all flowers had been gathered there. From which it was manifestly evident how true was what he had seen in the nocturnal vision."

12. AND HE GAVE BEAUTY TO THE CELEBRATIONS, AND ADORNED THE SEASONS EVEN TO THE END OF LIFE, THAT THEY MIGHT PRAISE THE HOLY NAME OF THE LORD, AND FROM EARLY MORNING MAGNIFY THE HOLINESS OF GOD.

That is, in the celebrations of feasts: for this is what the Greek heortais signifies. For "beauty" the Greek has euprepeian, that is, comeliness, beauty, appearance, adornment. As if to say: David added beauty to the celebrations and feasts by ordaining that in them the Levites should sing psalms to God in alternating modulated choirs, and by adding to them outstanding singers who would make the same resound with beautiful harmony of voice as well as organs, cymbals, and other musical instruments; just as we now see that the beauty of feasts consists in distinguished music and organs. And by this means he adorned the seasons of the feasts as long as he lived — that is, until death — ordaining that the Levites and singers should praise the holy name of the Lord, "and magnify" — that is, by singing celebrate, magnify, and exalt (in Greek megalynein), that is, sound forth and resound "the holiness of God." For among all the attributes of God, God's holiness is to be worshipped, adored, and celebrated with hymns and praises; for the Godhead is uncreated and immense holiness, and an essentially holy and sacred majesty, to be supremely venerated, praised, and glorified by all men and angels. Hence Isaiah (ch. 6) saw the Seraphim crying out to God: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts." Hence the Saints, who participate in God's holiness, participate also in His veneration; and so, just as we worship God with latria, so the Saints with dulia, and the Blessed Virgin Mother of God and Queen of the Saints with hyperdulia.

Others translate: so that from the early morning the sanctuary would resound with the praises and hymns of God; for the sanctuary in Hebrew is called codesh, that is,

holiness — because this place was most holy, inasmuch as it was the temple, the house, and the throne of God. Thus Solomon too is said to have "prepared holiness" (verse 15), that is, to have built the sanctuary, or holy temple for God. He alludes to 1 Chronicles 23, where David ordained: "That the Levites should stand every morning to give thanks and sing to the Lord, and likewise in the evening, both in the offering of holocausts, and on sabbaths, new moons, and the other solemnities."

From what has been said it is clear how great and how outstanding David's holiness was, and how great his grace and merit before God. For, to pass over other things in silence, the Psalms composed by David show that his heart and breast were full of desires, ardors, praises, zeal, piety, and every heroic virtue toward God. Therefore our Pineda (on Solomon, bk. 1, ch. 2, no. 8) concludes that in David's age no one among the Israelites, much less among the Gentiles, was David's equal or near-equal in holiness; indeed, that David was not less in holiness than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moreover, that David was holier than Abraham is expressly taught by Abulensis (Matthew 22, Questions 135 and 154), Salmeron (tome 3, treatise 16), and St. Chrysostom is favorable (Homily 2 on Matthew 1). That he was holier than Josiah, Hezekiah, and the other kings is taught by Barradius (bk. 3 of his Concordance, ch. 15), and the rest agree.

Note here the astonishing frailty of David and of any holy person. For David, a man after God's own heart, the angel of his age, equal in holiness to any of the Patriarchs and Prophets — behold, at the sight of one woman he falls into the enormous sins of adultery and murder. Who would not be stupefied? Who would not tremble? Who, however holy, would presume upon perseverance? Assuredly God permitted this, and still permits it from time to time in outstanding men, for the purpose of crying out to each one that word of Paul (Philippians 2:12): "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to accomplish according to His good will."

On the other hand, note the clemency and grace of God, which raised David — who had fallen so profoundly — through Nathan, and restored him to his former degree of holiness, indeed elevated him higher, and strengthened him with a greater sense of fear and humility.

AND HE EXALTED HIS HORN FOREVER. — "Horn" is the symbol of strength, kingdom, victory, and glory, as I showed at Daniel 7:8. For God gave these things to David forever: first, because David possessed them in his posterity for as long as the Synagogue and commonwealth of Israel lasted, up to its destruction by the Chaldeans; second, because mystically he possesses them far more excellently in perpetuity in Christ, born from him. Hence the angel said to the Mother of God concerning Christ: "The Lord God will give Him the throne (of the kingdom) of David His father, and He will reign in the house of Jacob forever" — namely, in the Church militant through grace, in the Church triumphant through eternal glory (Luke 1:32). This is therefore a tacit promise of Christ to be born from David, which was the ninth and greatest praise, honor, and glory of David.

AND HE GAVE HIM THE COVENANT OF THE KINGDOM, AND A THRONE OF GLORY IN ISRAEL. — That is, as others translate: And he gave him a pact of kingship and a throne of glory in Israel. As if to say: God by a pact promised David a kingdom, and that his posterity would continually succeed him in the glorious kingdom of Israel. Glorious, I say, because Israel alone was the people and Church of God, honored and glorified by Him with holy Patriarchs, Prophets, the law, the temple, the true religion, sacrifices, miracles, riches, prosperity, glory, etc. Hence Vatablus translates: By a covenant He covenanted a kingdom to him, and a throne of majesty in Israel. For "kingdom," our translator with the Complutensians and Romans reads basileias; others read basileon, that is, "of kings" — namely, that kings in continuous succession would descend from David and succeed him in the kingdom. Therefore the meaning comes to the same thing.

13. THE LORD PURGED HIS SINS.

The Syriac has "forgave"; Vatablus, "abolished." For "the Lord," Rabanus, Jansenius, and others read "Christ," and explain it thus: Christ purged David's sins — both as God (for it belongs to God alone to forgive sins) and as man, because through the future merits of Christ foreseen by God, God forgave the sins of David and the other Saints of the Old Testament. Hence Christ is called "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8). Again, others read "spirit" for "Christ" — namely, from Christos, by an easy bending and lapse of neighboring letters, Christos (that is, Christ) was corrupted, which, since scribes did not understand it (because Christ had not yet been born in the time of David), they substituted "spirit" for "Christ."

But the correct reading is Kyrios, that is, "the Lord," for so read the Romans and the Greek Complutensians and the rest. The meaning is: the Lord purged the sins of the murder by which David killed Uriah and of the adultery by which he committed fornication with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, by sending the prophet Nathan to him, who by rebuking him turned him to repentance, so that David, stricken with compunction, said: "I have sinned against the Lord." Whence he immediately heard from Nathan: "The Lord also has taken away your sin" (2 Kings 12:13). This is the eighth praise of David: that God so loved him that He forgave him his grave sins, and did not on account of them cast him off as He cast off Saul, but established the kingdom for him and his posterity up to the destruction of Jerusalem. Therefore David's repentance and reconciliation with God benefited not only himself but also Solomon and his other posterity. Hence St. Ambrose (bk. 1, Apology for David, ch. 2): "His fall," he says, "brought no hindrance, but rather heaped up incentives of speed, and he rose up more eager for the race."

Third Part of the Chapter Praise and Censure of Solomon and Rehoboam

14. After him (he reads with the Complutensian edition, μετὰ τούτου; now the Roman edition reads, μετὰ τοῦτον, that is, with him) there arose a wise son (the Syriac has, a strong king dwelling in peace); AND ON ACCOUNT OF HIM (David) HE CAST DOWN ALL THE POWER OF THE ENEMIES — that is to say, on account of the merits and holiness of David, God cast down every assault of the enemies, so that no one dared to oppose Solomon, the son of David, but he reigned freely and extended his empire far and wide. Hence the Greek has: καὶ δι᾽ αὐτὸν κατέλυσεν ἐν πλατυσμῷ, that is, on account of him he dwelt, or, as Rabanus has it: he rested in breadth, both of mind (that is, in great confidence and security of mind), of which it is said in III Kings IV, 29: "God gave Solomon wisdom, etc., and breadth (that is, magnanimity and magnificence) of heart, like the sand that is on the seashore;" and of the kingdom, which Solomon held as most vast and ample, as is evident from III Kings IV. Hence Vatablus translates: A wise son succeeded him, who through him came into ample possession. Again, τὸ κατέλυσεν may be translated, he destroyed in breadth, that is, far and wide, which our Translator rendered: "He cast down all the power of the enemies," for καταλύειν signifies both to destroy and to dwell.

He is called "wise" or sapient, because when God gave Solomon the choice of asking for whatever he wished, he asked for wisdom, and obtained it: "Because you have asked this thing, behold, I have done for you according to your words, and I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so much so that there was none like you before you, nor shall any arise after you. And even these things which you did not ask for, I have given you: namely riches and glory, so that there was no one like you among the kings, in all former days," III Kings III, 11.

Note the phrase on account of him; for from this it is again clear that the holiness and merits of David were such that on account of them God granted Solomon and his posterity so powerful and happy a kingdom. See Pineda, book I, On the Affairs of Solomon, ch. II, no. 10, where he shows that all the power, riches, glory, wisdom, etc. of Solomon, and indeed whatever God bestowed on Solomon and the later kings, was entirely either the benefit or the reward of that extraordinary holiness of David. Hence when Jerusalem, in the time of Hezekiah, was besieged and brought to despair by Sennacherib, God came to its aid on account of the merits of David: "I will protect this city, He said, and I will save it for My own sake, and for the sake of David My servant," IV Kings XIX, 34; namely because God had placed His seat in the temple, and David had placed his royal seat on Zion. See St. Chrysostom, Homily 8 to the People. Again, whatever honor and dignity God bestowed on the tribe of Judah above the rest, St. Augustine, in Psalm LXXVII, 70, on the words He chose David His servant, considers was bestowed on account of David. The same author, book XVII, On the City of God, ch. III, notes that David was the first holy king in the earthly Jerusalem, which is a shadow of the future one, and that this was the distinguished privilege, honor, and glory of David.

15. SOLOMON REIGNED IN THE DAYS OF PEACE, TO WHOM (he reads with the Roman edition ᾧ, that is, to whom; the Complutensian reads ὡς, that is, since) God subjected all enemies, THAT HE MIGHT BUILD A HOUSE IN HIS NAME (God through Solomon), AND MIGHT PREPARE A SANCTUARY FOREVER — that is to say, God granted Solomon the utmost peace, and subjected all enemies to him, for this purpose: that he might build a house which he would name after God, and dedicate to God, so that it would be called and be the temple of God; and that he might prepare and adorn a "sanctuary" (for this in Hebrew is called קדש, that is, holiness, because it is the most holy place) to endure forever — not absolutely, but relatively, that is, for as long as the commonwealth and Synagogue of the Jews would endure, namely until their destruction by the Chaldeans.

Note first: From this supreme peace the king was called "Solomon," that is, "peaceful"; for שלום shalom in Hebrew means peace. Moreover, peace for them signifies wealth, prosperity, and abundance of things, such as Solomon had for the building of the temple; for peace produces all these things. After Solomon, the Turkish Emperors called themselves Selim and Suleiman, as if they were the Solomons of their age and nation; and the Germans called themselves Frederick, for Frederick in German means the same as rich in peace, or abounding in peace. Finally, the wars of David created this peace for Solomon; for peace must be won by war, especially against infidels and heretics. In like manner, David prepared for Solomon the resources and materials necessary for the building of the temple, the magnitude of which is evident from the magnificence of the temple, III Kings VI; indeed David left and handed on to Solomon the plan of the entire temple and all its parts. Hence it follows: "As you were instructed from your youth," which many refer to the preceding words, as if to say: You built the house of God in the manner, form, and plan which you learned and received from your father David, I Paralipomenon XXIX, 1 et seq. But it is better, with the Roman and Greek editions, to refer these words to the following verse.

Note, secondly: For to whom God subjected the enemies, the Greek Complutensian has: Since God made peace round about him; the Roman: Why God gave rest round about, namely because "He subjected the enemies to him," as our Translator explains. Again, some add καὶ ἐδοξάσθη, that is, and he was glorified. Hence Vatablus: Solomon reigned in a peaceful time; and he attained glory after God had made the surrounding places peaceful, so that in His name he might establish a temple and prepare a perpetual sanctuary.

Note, thirdly: Solomon's name was given by God's command. For thus God said to David, I Paralipomenon ch. XXII, 9: "The son who shall be born to you shall be a most quiet man: for I will make him rest from all his enemies round about: and for this reason he shall be called Peaceful (that is, Solomon): and I will give peace and quiet in Israel all his days."

15 and 16. HOW YOU WERE INSTRUCTED IN YOUR YOUTH, AND YOU WERE FILLED AS A RIVER WITH WISDOM. — The word "how" is not one of comparison but of admiration; for in Greek it is ὡς, that is, how wise you were in your youth, and you were filled with understanding like a river. Thus "how" is used for an exclamation of admiration, as in Psalm XXXV, 8: "How (St. Jerome and the Chaldean have, how greatly) You have multiplied Your mercy!" The Syriac has: How wise you were in your boyhood, O Solomon! and wisdom flowed like a river, in your understanding, and in the loftiness of the glory of the king; the Arabic has, of kings, as if to say: O Solomon, with how great a wisdom infused by God you were endowed in your youth (for in old age you went astray and worshipped idols): namely, just as a river is filled with an abundance of waters, so you were filled by God with an abundance of wisdom and eloquence. For rightly is a flowing and wise speech of eloquence compared to a river; and this attracts and carries away all people, even those far distant, as happened with Solomon.

Note here that Solomon was wise from his youth, and almost from boyhood, and this from the instruction both of God and of David and his teachers. For that saying of Plutarch in his book On the Education of Children is true: "For the education of a boy three things are required, namely nature, instruction, and practice. For nature, he says, without training is blind; training, if deprived of nature, is defective; practice, if these two are removed, is imperfect. And just as for agriculture there is first required good soil, then a skilled farmer, and finally fruitful seeds: so clearly nature corresponds to the soil, the teacher to the farmer, and precepts to the seed."

Moreover, how great and how ample the wisdom was that God bestowed on Solomon, Solomon himself teaches in Wisdom VII, when he says: "He Himself (God) gave me true knowledge of the things that are: that I might know the disposition of the whole world, and the virtues of the elements, the beginning, and the ending, and the middle of times, the alterations of their courses, and the changes of seasons, the revolutions of the year, and the positions of the stars, the natures of animals, and the rages of beasts, the force of winds, and the thoughts of men, the differences of plants, and the virtues of roots, and all such things as are hidden and unforeseen, I learned: for the maker of all things taught me wisdom." From which it is clear that Solomon was a distinguished natural philosopher, cosmographer, astrologer, physician, and indeed had mastered the entire encyclopedia of all the sciences.

AND YOUR SOUL UNCOVERED THE EARTH. — First, some understand this of Ophir and the Indies, which Solomon discovered and made accessible by his ships; after long ages, around the year of Our Lord 1490, Christopher Columbus by sailing discovered and opened up the West Indies, and Vasco da Gama the East Indies.

Secondly, others explain it as if to say: Solomon uncovered the earth by digging from its bowels gold, silver, and hidden treasures. So Dido, warned by her deceased husband Sychaeus, in Virgil, Book I of the Aeneid: She unlocks from the earth ancient Treasures, an unknown weight of silver and gold.

Thirdly, "uncovered" means covered, wrapped over, concealed, for this is what the Greek ἐπεκάλυψεν signifies, as if to say: You were so full, abundant, and overflowing with wisdom that, like a river or sea overflowing, you overwhelmed and filled the whole earth with it, as Vatablus reads, so that the inhabitants of the whole earth might know and celebrate it. Again, Solomon covered the whole earth with his parables, that is, with his parables he encompassed all the herbs and trees of the earth. Hence the Queen of Sheba came from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to hear the wisdom of Solomon, III Kings X, and from this the kings of Ethiopia or Abyssinia, namely the Prester Johns, boast and glory that they are the sons of Solomon; as being descended from the Queen of Sheba, whom Solomon made pregnant, although this is difficult to believe. This is what is said in III Kings IV, 34: "They came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who heard his wisdom." However, because the word retexit in Latin does not mean to cover and conceal, but the contrary, namely to open and uncover; hence our Translator, instead of ἐπεκάλυψεν, seems to have read ἀπεκάλυψεν, that is, he opened, uncovered, disclosed.

Fourthly, therefore, and genuinely, the meaning is, as if to say: Solomon by his wisdom "uncovered," that is, detected, opened up, dug out, revealed the earth, that is, those things that were secret and hidden from men in the earth — he laid bare the secrets of nature and the hidden properties of things, and especially of those things that lie beneath the earth, such as metals, gems, and roots; for these Solomon brought into the open, both by digging them out and by explaining and describing them, according to III Kings IV, 33: "He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon, to the hyssop that grows out of the wall: and he discoursed of beasts, and birds, and reptiles, and fish." So Dionysius, Palacius, Jansenius, and Pineda, book IV, On the Affairs of Solomon, ch. XXII, at the end. This meaning is demanded by what follows:

17. AND YOU FILLED RIDDLES WITH COMPARISONS. — that is to say, in your parables you "filled," that is, you heaped up full, meaning very many, "riddles." Thus "to fill" is used to mean to bring forth things fully and abundantly, as by St. Paul, Romans XV, 19, when he says: "So that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have filled (that is, I have fully preached) the Gospel of Christ." II Timothy IV, 17: "That through me the preaching might be fulfilled," and elsewhere.

Moreover, "riddles" are obscure and difficult sayings, consisting of the weightiest maxims, or even of similitudes and comparisons drawn from the hidden properties of things. Hence the Greek has: Your soul covered the earth, and you filled (the earth) with parables of riddles; Vatablus: Your mind opened the whole earth, and filled it with allegorical riddles. For from all parts people were sent who proposed riddles and obscure questions to Solomon (as Josephus testifies that Hiram, king of Tyre, did, Antiquities VIII, II): all of which he explained so clearly and solidly that everyone was astonished.

YOUR NAME WAS SPREAD ABROAD TO THE DISTANT ISLANDS, AND YOU WERE BELOVED IN YOUR PEACE. — Vatablus: And in your peace you were gracious; others translate, dear, as if to say: O Solomon, on account of your wisdom, peace, and magnificence you became famous throughout the whole world, so that even islanders celebrated and glorified you. For the Hebrews, when they wish to designate remote, hidden, and unknown lands and peoples, name them islands; both because islands, surrounded on all sides by sea, are separated from all land and its inhabitants; and because the Jews, being inexperienced in ships and navigation before Solomon, considered those who dwelt in the sea — that is, on islands or across the sea — to dwell far from Judea in another climate and as if in a new world. Hence the verse: "The kings of Tarshish and the islands shall offer gifts," Psalm LXXI, 10, as if to say: Remote kings, who rule across the sea, as well as islanders separated from the Jews and other inhabitants of the earth, will submit themselves to Christ, as the true Solomon, and will offer Him gifts. And Isaiah, ch. LX, 9, foretelling the conversion of remote nations to Christ and the Church: "The islands, He says, wait for Me, and the ships of the sea in the beginning, that I may bring your sons from afar."

AND YOU WERE BELOVED IN YOUR PEACE — that is, on account of your peace, as if to say: Because you procured peace for your kingdom and cultivated peace with neighbors, and even with remote nations, such as those in Ophir, and reigned peacefully, therefore you were dear both to your own Jews and to all nations, kings, and princes whatsoever, so that what was said flatteringly to Nero might be said truly of Solomon: "No single man was ever so dear to any one man as you are to your empire." Hence Solomon was called by Nathan "Jedidiah," that is, beloved of God as well as of men; for all love peace and the peaceful, since it is a mark of great virtue and wisdom so to act and govern as to have peace with all. Hence Solomon, as a peaceful king, was loved and celebrated throughout the whole world, because he administered his kingdom in peace not by arms, but by a wonderful prudence and gentleness arising from magnanimity. And this was the cause of such great power, and of so ample a kingdom of Solomon; for nothing avails so much for conquering enemies and winning the hearts of foreigners as concord and peace. On this matter the laws of the Visigoths speak beautifully and truly, book I, title II, ch. VI: "Just as the modesty of princes is the moderation of laws, so from the concord of citizens comes the victory over enemies. For from the gentleness of princes arises the proper ordering of laws, from the ordering of laws the formation of morals, from the formation of morals the concord of citizens, from the concord of citizens the triumph over enemies; and so the good prince, governing internal affairs and conquering external ones, while he possesses his own peace and cuts short foreign strife, is celebrated both as a ruler among his citizens and as a conqueror among his enemies." On the contrary, "the cruelty of princes is war," that is, a cause of war, says Seneca, book I, On Clemency, ch. V. For, as the same author says, ch. VII, "There is no other appearance of a peaceful and moderate government than that of a serene and shining sky. A cruel kingdom is troubled and obscured by shadows, amid people trembling and frightened by sudden noise, and even he who disturbs everything is not himself undisturbed."

18 and 19. IN SONGS, AND PROVERBS, AND COMPARISONS (in Greek, parables), AND INTERPRETATIONS, THE LANDS MARVELED AT YOU, AND IN THE NAME OF THE LORD GOD, WHOSE SURNAME IS GOD OF ISRAEL. — The Syriac has: They wait, or hope, to hear you interpreting proverbs, and wisdom in a book, and in prophecy you amazed the peoples, and you were called by the name of God, to whom is honor, who was invoked over Israel; the Greek: In songs, and proverbs and parables, and interpretations the regions admired you, in the name of the Lord God of the whole earth, who is called the God of Israel; Vatablus: The regions marveled at you on account of songs and proverbs, together with allegories and interpretations, and the name of God, who is surnamed the God of Israel. The Complutensian adds your: Who, they say, is surnamed your God of Israel.

Solomon was therefore extraordinary and admirable: first, in composing songs, that is, canticles and poems, of which some portion and, as it were, remnants survive in the Song of Songs. Recently also Ludovicus de la Cerda with his Adversaria published the Solomonic Psalter, namely eighteen psalms of Solomon, whether composed by Solomon himself or rather by someone else under Solomon's name; for none of the ancients mentions these psalms of Solomon, and these eighteen psalms were recently found in Greek manuscripts on ancient parchments of the Augsburg Library. Add that each of these psalms is prefaced with this title: A Psalm of Solomon; as though these psalms were attributed to him because the author introduces Solomon as the speaker and singer in them.

Secondly, in proverbs, of which some portion survives in the Book of Proverbs. Thirdly, in parables, that is, comparisons and similitudes, in which the Syrians delight. Hence after Solomon, Christ frequently used them, according to the verse: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world," Psalm LXXVII, 2; Matthew XIII, 35.

Fourthly, in interpretations, by which Solomon interpreted and explained both riddles and obscure sayings, and the recon-

dite natures of hidden things, and their secret properties. Fifthly, in the name of the Lord God, that is, in the power, help, protection, and beneficence of God. For men marveled, even the Gentiles, that God had bestowed upon Solomon, as upon His son, such great wisdom, peace, wealth, happiness, glory, and an abundance of all good things; so much so that He was called the God of Solomon, as the Complutensian has, as well as of Israel; and conversely Solomon was called the firstborn son of God, according to the verse: "I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to Me a son," II Kings VII, 14: "And I will make him My firstborn, exalted above the kings of the earth," Psalm LXXXVIII, 28.

Again, the phrase in the name of the Lord signifies that Solomon invoked the name of the Lord in all things, and attributed to Him his wisdom, glory, and all good things received, not to himself and his own powers — which was indeed a remarkable lowliness and humility of mind at such a height of station. Hence, invoking God for wisdom, he said: "Send her from Your holy heavens, and from the throne of Your majesty, that she may be with me and labor with me, that I may know what is acceptable before You," Wisdom ch. IX, 10.

Note the Hebraism: To marvel in songs, proverbs, parables, in the name of the Lord, is the same as to marvel at the songs, proverbs, parables, and the name, that is, the power of God assisting Solomon and heaping so many good things upon him; for the beth of contact is well known to those skilled in Hebrew. So Vatablus.

He alludes to III Kings X, 1: "And the Queen of Sheba also, having heard the fame of Solomon in the name of the Lord," as if to say: Having heard the fame of the wisdom given by God to Solomon, and of the things Solomon did by the help of the Lord. Hence Vatablus translates: On account of the name of the Lord, she came to test him with riddles. And when she heard Solomon's answers, she exclaimed in verse 9: "Blessed be the Lord your God, in whom You were well-pleased, and who placed you upon the throne of Israel, because the Lord loved Israel forever."

In all these things Solomon was a type of Christ, who brought peace to the world, whence He is called the "Prince of Peace," Isaiah IX, 6; as well as true wisdom, riches, and glory, not earthly but heavenly. So Rabanus.

20. YOU GATHERED GOLD LIKE BRASS, AND YOU FILLED UP (that is, you multiplied, as I said at verse 16) SILVER LIKE LEAD. — "Brass" means red copper gleaming like gold; in Greek it is: You gathered gold like tin, and you multiplied silver like lead; the Syriac: You gathered gold like lead, and silver like earth. For silver is nothing other than white earth, and gold red earth, says St. Bernard. From wisdom he passes to the riches of Solomon, which God gave him in so immense and almost miraculously astonishing a measure. It is a fitting hyperbole, inasmuch as like things are compared with like: namely gold with brass, silver with lead. However, in price there is a great dissimilarity: for one pound of gold is worth five hundred pounds of copper, or

of brass; for one pound of gold is worth ten pounds of silver, and one pound of silver is worth 50 pounds of copper: multiply ten by 50, and you will have five hundred. He alludes to III Kings X, 21: "Silver was not esteemed, nor was it accounted of any value in the days of Solomon." And verse 27: "And Solomon made silver to be in Jerusalem as plentiful as stones." And II Paralipomenon I, 15: "And the king made silver and gold to be in Jerusalem as common as stones." Some think that Solomon is censured here for his excessive zeal in accumulating riches, which God forbade to the kings of Israel, Deuteronomy XVII, 17. But I say: Solomon is praised here for his riches, just as he was praised for his wisdom; but riches were to him enticements to pride, avarice, gluttony, and lust, through which he gradually slipped further and at last fell into the abyss of idolatry. Riches, therefore, are good for the one who uses them well, but bad for the one who misuses them; and it is easy to misuse them, difficult to use them well: "Riches," says Diogenes, in Dio, Oration 4, On Kingship, "are the slaves and servants of every desire and passion." See Pineda, book VII, On the Affairs of Solomon, ch. XIII, where he shows when and how much Solomon sinned in accumulating riches.

Moreover, how great the riches of Solomon were, you may conjecture from this alone: that David at his death left him, for the building of the temple, one hundred thousand talents of gold, which amount to one thousand two hundred million gold coins; and one thousand thousand talents of silver, which amount to the same: for one pound of gold was formerly worth ten pounds of silver. He left him, therefore, in total two thousand million, plus an additional four hundred million gold coins. See Villalpando at the end of volume II on Ezekiel, part II, book V, disputation 3, ch. XLIII and following, where he proves that David and Solomon in their annual revenue and riches surpassed the tributes and wealth not only of the Romans, but also of the Chaldeans, Persians, and all kings and monarchs; although other learned men hold the contrary, namely that the promises of God concerning the preeminence of Solomon are to be understood in an accommodated sense, namely with respect to the other kings of Israel, but not to foreign rulers. And thus Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander, Caesar, and Augustus were equal to Solomon in wealth and glory, indeed even superior.

21. AND YOU BOWED YOUR LOINS TO WOMEN (and with your loins your mind, wisdom, holiness, and glory; for Solomon subjected all these to the lust and will of women, and therefore squandered and lost them): YOU HAD POWER OVER YOUR BODY. — that is, you had a strong body, and were capable of so many women, says Lyranus and Dionysius. Secondly and better, as if to say: You abused your body at your pleasure, so that contrary to God's precept you freely used it to satisfy your lusts. For the subject here is not the strength of nature, but the vice of the soul, by which Solomon abused his body at will; although the body was not his but God's, as the Apostle says, I Corinthians VI, 14 and 19. In Greek it is ἐξου-

σιάσθη, that is, you were brought under the power of your body, as if to say: You made yourself the slave of your flesh and concupiscence, as well as of the women whom you insanely loved, so much so that "the constant wantonness of the flesh reached the point of servitude to the flesh," says St. Gregory, XII Moralia XII. For loins he reads λαγόνας; others read σπλάγχνα, that is, bowels: whence they translate: You inclined your flanks to women, and your body was brought under another's power; Vatablus: You applied your loins to women, and you allowed yourself to be conquered in your body, as if to say: You allowed yourself to be conquered by a woman, which is most shameful; for you bowed your neck to a woman, and humbled your whole body; which is the posture of a defeated and triumphed-over man. Others explain it thus, as if to say: Kneeling humbly and falling on your knees, you subjected your body to feminine power; namely, riches led Solomon to pleasures, pleasures to insatiable lusts, which nevertheless, strictly speaking, were not mortal sins in Solomon's case, because they were exercised within the bounds of marriage; for his concubines were secondary wives. They were, however, mortal sins on other grounds: both because these passions were so great and ardent in him that he preferred to abandon God and worship idols rather than offend his lusts and his mistresses — "He did, says St. Augustine, book XV, On Genesis Literally, ch. XLII, what he knew ought not to be done, so as not to sadden the pleasures on which he doted and to which he was addicted" — and because they were excessively great in number and many, contrary to the precept of the Lord, Deuteronomy XVII, 17, for Solomon had 700 queens and three hundred concubines, III Kings XI, 3; and because most of these wives were foreigners from the nations neighboring Judea, with whom God had strictly forbidden the Jews to enter into marriage, on account of the danger of idolatry, Exodus XXXIV, 16. Finally, the Syriac clearly translates: You gave women your strength, and you gave them power over your body, or you set them over your body.

Note that "power" here can be taken either actively, as if to say: You usurped excessive power over your body, since you made it serve not God's law, but your own lust; or passively, as if to say: You admitted an alien power, namely that of the women who dominated you, over your body; you permitted them to exercise power over you, you voluntarily submitted to their yoke and authority, and you were compelled to obey their lust, even when they commanded things unjust, unbecoming, and arrogant. For so Hercules obeyed his mistress Omphale, and feared her whip and threats, about whom Deianira says in Ovid: You are said, wretch, to have trembled at the lash of her whip, And to have feared the golden threats of your mistress.

So love drives mad, casts down, and prostrates manly spirits. This meaning is required by the Greek ἐξουσιάσθη, that is, "you were brought under power." So the Apostle, I Corinthians XI, 10: "Therefore a woman ought to have power over her head." Power, namely passive, that is, a veil, by which she testifies that she is subject to the power of her husband: on the contrary, Solomon subjected himself and his body to the power of women, like another Sardanapalus. How true is the saying: "To love and to be wise is denied even to the wise man," indeed to the wisest Solomon. See our Pineda, book VII, On the Affairs of Solomon, ch. VII.

22. You placed a stain upon your glory (Vatablus, you branded your glory with a stain), AND YOU PROFANED YOUR SEED. — The Syriac: You placed a stain on your honor, and you covered your bed with disgrace, as if to say: You stained, disfigured, and disgraced your great glory with the foul and indelible stain of shameful lust, and consequently of idolatry: just as a white garment is soiled by ink thrown upon it, and purple by excrement. With the same stain Pepin stained his glory, as did Constantine Monomachus, Henry VIII, King of England, and many other kings and princes. Ecclesiasticus truly said, ch. XIX, 2: "Wine and women make wise men fall away." Thus many illustrious men dishonored the white robe of their youth with the shameful stain of old age, like Solomon: namely, Origen brought this stain upon his glory, as did Tertullian, Hosius of Cordoba the president of the Council of Nicaea, when in his dotage he yielded to the Arians; and Constantine the Great, when, among other things, seduced by the Arians, he expelled St. Athanasius from his Church. Hence there was justly affixed to his palace this verse: "Who would desire the age of Saturn? These times are golden, but Neronian," as Sidonius Apollinaris, Baronius, and others report. But properly, it is lust that casts a stain upon a man; for this brings shame and dishonor, just as, on the contrary, chastity brings brightness and honor. Hence St. Leocadia, appearing to St. Ildephonsus, who had celebrated the inviolate and eternal purity of the virginity of the Blessed Mary, Mother of God, said: "O Ildephonsus, through you the glory of my Lady lives."

For stain, the Greek is μῶμον, which secondly can be translated as blame, censure; for there is nothing in a lustful man that is not worthy of censure, and that Momus would not criticize. For his riches are spent on shameful uses, his body is polluted by lust, his entire mind is defiled by foul images, and finally all the powers of his soul and body serve lust. So Pineda, book VII, On the Affairs of Solomon, ch. VII. Therefore Cyril of Jerusalem wisely warns, in Catechesis 4: "Do not, he says, sell a great dignity for a small pleasure." St. Bernard says excellently, epistle 129, to the Genoese, on Perseverance: "If the caution of Samson and the devotion of Solomon had retained perseverance, the one would certainly not have been deprived of his strength, nor the other of his wisdom." The same author, book II, On Consideration, ch. XII, warns Pope Eugenius that in such great honor, glory, and happiness of the pontificate he should guard himself carefully, lest he fall into sin, as David and Solomon fell: "There is indeed, he says, if you pay close attention, how rare it has always been to find anyone who did not even slightly relax in prosperity from his own cus-

tody and discipline. When has this not been to the careless what fire is to wax, what a ray of the sun is to snow or ice? David was wise, Solomon was wise; but when fortune smiled too much, the one partly, the other entirely, lost his senses. Great is he who, falling into adversity, does not fall away, or falls only a little, from wisdom; nor is he less great to whom happiness, if it has smiled, has not made a mockery. Although you will more easily find those who retained wisdom when fortune was against them, than those who did not lose it when it was favorable. He is to be preferred and is truly great to whom, in the midst of prosperity, at least no unseemly laughter, or arrogant speech, or excessive care for clothing or body has crept in."

And St. Augustine, book XVII, On the City of God, ch. XX, speaking of Solomon: "This man, he says, from good beginnings came to bad ends. For prosperity, which wearies the minds of the wise, harmed him more than wisdom itself benefited him, even though that wisdom is memorable now and forever, and praised far and wide."

And you profaned your seed. — First, "you profaned," in Greek ἐξεζήλωσας, that is, you polluted, stained, contaminated "your seed" through impure lusts and eternal disgrace. It is a catachresis. For profane is used to mean unclean, Acts X, 14 and 15, because the Jews considered foods common to themselves and the Gentiles to be profane and unclean.

Secondly, properly, "you profaned your seed," which was pure and holy, as that of a faithful, wise, and holy man, when you mixed it with unfaithful, foolish, and impious women. For, as the Apostle says: "He who cleaves to a harlot becomes one body with her," I Corinthians VI, 16. For the seed of Israel was holy, Isaiah ch. VI, verse 13, but that of the nations was profane and sacrilegious. Hence that saying of Daniel to the wicked elders: "You seed of Canaan, and not of Judah," Daniel XIII, 56.

Thirdly, "you profaned your seed," that is, your sons, when you begot them from idolatrous and impious women, who raised them in their idolatry and impiety.

Fourthly, "you profaned your seed," because perhaps, after the manner of idolaters, you consecrated it to the idol Moloch; for to him they were accustomed to offer human seed, and even to immolate and burn their own sons, as I said at Leviticus ch. XVIII, verse 21; for the wives of Solomon worshipped Moloch, and led him to worship the same, III Kings ch. XI, 5 and 7. Hence Palacius conjectures that Solomon immolated his sons to Moloch, as does Pineda, book VII, On the Affairs of Solomon, ch. XI, no. 3, at the end, who adds a further conjecture: For, he says, we read of no other son of Solomon than Rehoboam, and besides two daughters, so that if he fathered others (as seems likely) from so many wives and concubines, the insane religion of the father, and the accursed fire of Moloch, appears to have destroyed them wretchedly.

Fifthly, "you profaned your seed," because you were the origin and cause that your idolatry even after your death spread and raged among the Hebrews, III Kings XIV, 22. This is what Sirach adds: "To bring wrath upon your children." Hence even the shrines built by Solomon to the idols and gods of the nations remained for many centuries until Josiah, who destroyed them, IV Kings XXIII, 13.

From this passage and from III Kings ch. XI, many authors, together with St. Prosper, book II, On Predictions, ch. XXVII; St. Cyprian, epistle 7, On Observing Discipline; St. Gregory, II Moralia, ch. II; Lyranus, on II Kings ch. VII; Abulensis, III Kings ch. XI, last question; Andreas Vega, book XI on the Council of Trent, ch. II; Bellarmine, book I, On the Word of God, ch. V, heresy 6; Blessed John Capistrano, book On the Authority of the Pope; Pererius on the Epistle to the Romans, ch. VIII, question XXVII; and at length Johannes Cognatus, in his book on this subject, ch. XVIII and following, hold that Solomon is damned. First, because Sirach assigns the fall of Solomon, but is silent about his repentance, which he did not pass over in silence regarding David's fall, saying in verse 13: "The Lord purged his sins." Scripture does the same, III Kings ch. XI. Secondly, because if Solomon had truly repented after his fall, he certainly ought to have destroyed the idols and shrines he had built: but this he did not do; for they remained until Josiah, as I have already said. Therefore he died in sin and impenitent. Thirdly, because God granted Solomon so many riches, pleasures, honors, and all the glory of the world for this reason: to reward him in this life, but to punish his so enormous crimes in the next. Hence St. Augustine, in Psalm CXXVI, near the beginning, asserts that Solomon was reprobated: for just as it is a sign of predestination to be afflicted in this world, so it is a sign of reprobation to abound in the goods of the world and to immerse oneself intemperately in them, as Solomon did. Hence Blessed Nilus, who flourished with a reputation for great holiness in the year of Our Lord 976, when asked "whether Solomon is saved?" answered: "Concerning Solomon we read nowhere in Sacred Scripture that he did penance after his sin, as Manasseh did. Who then can say of him that he is saved?" So his Life relates, and from it Baronius, at the year of Christ 976.

Others, however, together with St. Jerome, book II, Against Jovinian; St. Ambrose, book II, Apology for David, ch. III; Hilary, on Psalm LII; Cyril, Catechesis 2; and Baccharius, who was a contemporary of St. Augustine, in his epistle to Januarius, speak more mildly, and confidently hope well regarding Solomon's repentance and salvation, and bring forward probable conjectures. So our Delrio; Preface to the Song of Songs, Barradius, volume I, book V, ch. IX, and at length Pineda, book VIII, On the Affairs of Solomon, ch. I and following.

Finally, a third group walks a middle path between both opposed opinions, and doubts regarding Solomon's salvation, being unwilling to incline to either side. These are Hugh of St. Victor, Hostiensis, Panormitanus, Innocent the Archdeacon, Torquemada, Fevardentius, Pamelius, and others, whom our Lorinus cites and nearly follows, in his Preface to

Ecclesiastes, ch. II. He presses the second promise of God concerning Solomon: "But My mercy I will not take away from him," II Kings VII, 15, Psalm LXXXVIII, 34. But this mercy is understood not of Solomon's salvation, but of the continuation of his kingdom and royal line. For He adds: "As I took away from Saul, whom I removed from My presence;" lest he should reign before Me, substituting for him King David, pleasing in My eyes; and preceding this: "And I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." For on account of the merits of David, God had promised that He would perpetuate his posterity in the kingdom; and that He would not rescind this promise on account of Solomon's demerits.

Be that as it may, God willed that the salvation of Solomon should be uncertain and doubtful to men, in order to strike holy fear into all, and to teach them to flee the pleasures and pomps of the world as dangerous and enticing to sin. Perhaps God, in His secret clemency, having mercy on the soul of Solomon on account of his earlier merits and the merits of David his father, and expiating it for expiation, imposed upon him this public penance: that he should endure these censures of the Doctors, and that he should suffer all men to doubt his salvation, many even to despair of it, and to assert that he is damned. For this disgrace, so long and continuous, certainly afflicts and punishes Solomon. Hence Blessed Mechtild, around the year of Our Lord 1300, received this revelation concerning Solomon: "Being asked, she says, by a certain brother, I sought the Lord in prayer: Where were the souls of Samson, Solomon, Origen, and Trajan? The Lord replied: What My piety has done with the soul of Samson, I wish to remain unknown, so that men may more greatly fear to take revenge on their enemies. What My mercy has done with the soul of Solomon, I wish men not to know, so that carnal sins may be more avoided by men. What My kindness has accomplished with the soul of Origen, I wish to remain hidden, so that no one trusting in his learning may dare to be puffed up. What My generosity has decreed concerning the soul of Trajan, I wish men not to know, so that the Catholic faith may be all the more exalted thereby; for although he excelled in all virtues, he nonetheless lacked the Christian faith and baptism."

22 and 23. TO BRING WRATH UPON YOUR CHILDREN, AND TO BE STIRRED UP IN YOUR FOLLY, THAT YOU MIGHT MAKE THE KINGDOM DIVIDED, AND FROM EPHRAIM TO RULE A HARSH DOMINION. — So the Roman edition, as if to say: By your sins, O Solomon, you harmed not only yourself, but also your posterity: for you brought the wrath and vengeance of God upon them, so that in them He might punish you, especially because they followed your impiety and idolatry. For to be stirred up, others erroneously read in the rest; for which others have corrupted it worse, reading in harps; for in Greek it is κατανυγῆναι, that is, to be pricked with compunction. The meaning is, as if to say: God, justly punishing you, caused your folly to be stirred up against itself, and to be pierced with sorrow, when you, who had always lived in peace, understood that God had raised up your servant Jeroboam against you, who

at last under your son Rehoboam made himself king of Israel, that is, of the ten tribes, and left only two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, to Rehoboam. Hence came "the divided kingdom," so that some were kings of Israel, others kings of Judah; and "from Ephraim" there ruled "a harsh dominion." For Jeroboam, descended from the tribe of Ephraim, established a kingdom of Israel that was harsh, in Greek ἄπολιν, that is, rebellious, contumacious; because the kings of Israel stubbornly rebelled against Rehoboam and the kings of Judah to the very last, and tenaciously defended and fought for their kingdom and schism.

Hence Vatablus translates: You have ground down your children with offense, and from your folly you have reaped sorrow: whence the kingdom was divided in two, and a rebellious kingdom arose from Ephraim; others render it thus: So that you brought wrath upon your children, and were pierced with compunction in your madness: and the kingdom was divided, and from Ephraim a contumacious kingdom obtained the rule. The history of the event is narrated at length in III Kings XI and XII. The Greek corrected at Rome, for you were pierced with compunction, reads in the first person, I was pierced with compunction at your folly, as though these were the words of Sirach grieving over the fall of Solomon. Again, for divided kingdom, our Translator reads with the Greek commonly δίχα τυραννίδα: but the Complutensian reads δίχα τυραννῶδος; whence they translate: So that you would be without sovereignty (for δίχα signifies double, divided in two, and with the genitive signifies without): because when Rehoboam, Solomon's son, lost the ten tribes, and only retained for himself the tribe of Judah with Benjamin, he was stripped, as it were, of the greater part of the kingdom, and thus virtually of the kingdom itself. Finally, the Syriac translates: To bring (or by bringing) iniquity upon the sons of your sons, so that they groan upon their couch, that they be divided into two kingdoms, from the house of Ephraim a heathen kingdom (so also the Arabic) or a foolish one.

24. BUT GOD WILL NOT ABANDON HIS MERCY, AND HE WILL NOT CORRUPT NOR DESTROY HIS WORKS, NOR WILL HE DESTROY FROM THE STOCK THE DESCENDANTS OF HIS CHOSEN ONE: AND THE SEED OF HIM WHO LOVES THE LORD HE WILL NOT CORRUPT — as if to say: God, though angry with Solomon and his posterity, will nevertheless not entirely reject them from the kingdom, as He rejected the posterity of Saul, but will fulfill the mercy promised to David, "nor will He destroy His works," that is, the covenants and promises about perpetuating the kingship in his line: hence "He will not destroy from the stock," that is, He will not utterly and from the root uproot or destroy "the descendants of His chosen one," namely David: "And the seed of him who loves," in Greek, who loved the Lord with his whole heart, namely of the same David; "He will not corrupt," but will cause his posterity to reign by perpetual succession in the tribe of Judah, which was the chief, royal, greatest, and strongest of all the tribes; and this He will do on account of Christ, to be born from David and the tribe of Judah, in whom the kingdom of David will be perpetuated for all eternity.

Indeed, for this very reason God permitted, as a punishment for the sins of Solomon, the ten tribes to withdraw from the tribe of Judah and the kingdom of Solomon, so that the tribe of Judah, sep-

arated from the rest, might better and more purely serve the one God, and alone might possess the Christ promised to it, and with certainty testify and demonstrate to the other tribes and nations that He was born from it according to the promises God made to David. Therefore this mercy pertains not so much to Solomon, as though God had mercy on him and saved him, as some wish, but rather to his posterity, that they might succeed in the kingdom, and it was bestowed on them on account of the merits not of Solomon but of David. Hence Vatablus translates: Yet the Lord did not omit His mercy, nor did He destroy from His works: He by no means abolished the descendants of His chosen one, nor did He take away the posterity of His beloved one (David); but He gave remnants to Jacob and to David a root from him; which last part our Translator renders thus: And He gave a remnant to Jacob, and to David from the same stock; the Syriac: But God did not abandon His mercy, and He will not cast His words upon the ground, and He will not destroy the seed of His friends, and He will not consume the sons of His righteous ones: and He will give deliverance to Jacob, and to David a great kingdom, that is, a most great one.

25. AND HE GAVE A REMNANT TO JACOB AND TO DAVID FROM THE SAME STOCK. — For remnant the Greek has κατάλυμα, that is, remnants, or the surviving stock and line. Moreover, "Jacob" and "David" are dative cases, as is clear from the Greek article τῷ. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: Out of the mercy promised by God to David, about perpetuating his royal line, it came to pass that God, although angry on account of the idols of Solomon and the Israelites, nevertheless on account of the pledge given to Jacob and David, did not entirely reject Israel, but preserved from it for Himself the tribe of Judah, in which faithful kings descended from the stock of David would continually reign.

He alludes to II Kings VII, and Psalm LXXXVIII, 31: "If his sons forsake My law, and do not keep My commandments, I will visit their iniquities with a rod, and their sins with stripes. But My mercy I will not scatter from him, etc., and what proceeds from My lips I will not make void. Once I have sworn by My holiness, if I lie to David: his seed shall remain forever, and his throne as the sun in My sight." All of which God fulfilled in an incipient way in the grandsons and later kings descended from David, but perfectly in Christ, likewise a son of David: whose kingdom is absolutely eternal, most splendid, and most glorious.

26, 27, and 28. And Solomon came to his end (in Greek, διεπαύσατο, that is, he rested) with his fathers. And HE LEFT BEHIND HIM OF HIS SEED, THE FOLLY OF THE NATION (the Syriac: multiplying folly), AND ONE DIMINISHED IN PRUDENCE (the Syriac: lacking in knowledge; Vatablus: poor in mind; in Greek ἐλασσούμενον συνέσει, that is, destitute of understanding), Rehoboam, who turned away (Vatablus: alienated) THE NATION BY HIS COUNSEL. — In Greek, ἀπέστησε λαόν, that is, he caused the people to revolt and apostatize, both from the worship of God and from the kingdom of David: for great was the folly of Rehoboam, that when he was about to be inaugurated as king, and ought to have won the hearts of the people by kindness and clemency in order to begin his reign successfully, he by his harshness and severity completely turned them away from himself, so much so that the ten alienated tribes set up Jeroboam as their new king. But hear the folly of Rehoboam, who, setting aside the counsel of the elders, insulted the people on the advice of foolish young men: "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke: my father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions," III Kings XII, 16. What greater folly? What greater barbarity?

Note: The phrase he left behind him signifies that Solomon was the cause of Rehoboam's folly and of all the evils that followed from it: both because God willed to punish the folly of Solomon the father through the folly of Rehoboam, so that through it He might tear the ten tribes from him, as He Himself had foretold through Ahijah the prophet that He would do, III Kings XI, 31; and because Solomon taught and imprinted his folly upon Rehoboam by his own example: for since Solomon, besides 300 concubines, had 700 queens, each of whom he maintained with royal splendor, pomp, and magnificence, and was most splendid in horses, chariots, bodyguards, buildings, and everything else, Rehoboam wished to imitate this pomp and magnificence of his father. Therefore, since his father had imposed heavy burdens and tributes upon the people on account of this magnificence, he wished to impose even greater ones upon them; and from this arose the rebellion and schism of the people.

Again, the folly of Rehoboam is clear from the fact that in religion and morals he ultimately became most corrupt, so that in his time the whole kingdom lived most corruptly, as is clear from III Kings XIV, 22: "Judah," it says, "did evil before the Lord, and they provoked Him beyond all that their fathers had done in the sins which they had committed. For they also built themselves altars and statues: and there were effeminate persons in the land, and they committed all the abominations of the nations." Moreover, that he not only sinned (which was common to many others), but also did not repent (which was a sign of the most obstinate impiety), is gathered from II Paralipomenon XII, 14, where his deeds are concluded with this clause: "He did evil, and he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord," which Abulensis judges should be referred to his extreme impenitence and damnation, at the same place, verse 21. His impiety is further aggravated by that incredible attachment and love with which he pursued Maacham his wife, a most impious woman and a leader in the rites of Priapus, as is written in III Kings XV, 13, and II Paralipomenon XI, 21, as well as what Josephus writes, Antiquities VIII, ch. III, that when he saw such great increases of his kingdom, he became a scorner of the true religion, so that he even dragged the people to imitate him, lest by their zeal for justice they offend their king. So Pineda, book VII, On the Affairs of Solomon, ch. XXIV, no. 7.

Some add that Rehoboam was diminished in prudence and mental capacity, because he was begotten by Solomon in the eleventh or twelfth year of his age, as

says St. Jerome, in his epistle to Vitalis: for that age, being weak and frail, causes the son whom one begets to be equally weak and frail both in body and in mind and spirit. But it is far more probable that Rehoboam was begotten by Solomon not in his 12th but around his 18th year of age, and in the following year, the 19th or 20th, Solomon began to reign, and then carried out that wise judgment in the dispute of the harlots, III Kings III, 16, which certainly shows that he was of mature age and judgment (although St. Ignatius, epistle to the Magnesians, holds that he carried out this judgment in the eighth year of his age). It seems therefore that Solomon began his reign in the 20th year of his age, and since he reigned 40 years, he died in the 60th year of his age. For in III Kings XI, 4, he is said to have died an old man: and Rehoboam, succeeding him in the kingdom, was 41 years old; therefore he was born in the 18th or 19th year of Solomon's age. So Abulensis, on III Kings XI, 14, Cajetan at the same place, and Pineda, book VII, On the Affairs of Solomon, ch. XXIV, at the end.

29. And Jeroboam the son of Nebat (supply: Solomon "left behind him"), who made Israel sin, AND HE GAVE A WAY OF SINNING TO EPHRAIM, AND VERY MANY OF THEIR SINS OVERFLOWED — as if to say: Solomon by his sins merited that Jeroboam, raised up by him, would rebel against him: dying therefore he left behind this rival, rebel, and enemy of himself and Rehoboam, who, having been made king of Israel by the ten tribes, fashioned golden calves which he placed in Dan and Bethel and proposed for Israel to worship, and thus "gave a way of sinning to Ephraim," that is, to Israel, or the ten tribes: for among these the chief and royal tribe, and the head of the rest, was the tribe of Ephraim. From which very many sins of idolatry, gluttony, lust, and every vice overflowed. For, as the Wise Man says, ch. XIV, 27: "The worship of unspeakable idols is the cause, and the beginning, and the end of every evil." He calls it a way, meaning the occasion and material of sinning, namely the fabrication of idols or calves. Yet he says "way" because by placing them in Bethel and Dan, he taught them the way of worshipping idols, namely the way of going to Dan and Bethel to seek the help of the gods he had placed there. He alludes to III Kings XII, 29: "And he set up one in Bethel, and the other in Dan: and this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship the calf as far as Dan." Moreover the reason why he fabricated these calves is indicated at the same place, verse 26: "And Jeroboam said in his heart: Now the kingdom will return to the house of David, if this people goes up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem: and the heart of this people will turn to their lord Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me, and return to him. And having devised a plan, he made two calves (after the likeness of Apis, or the Egyptian ox, which the Hebrews worshipped in Egypt and afterwards in the desert, as I said on Exodus XXXII, 4) of gold, and said to them: Go up no more to Jerusalem: Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt."

Jeroboam was therefore the prince of politicians who, in order to stabilize their unjust position or rebellion, change the faith and religion, lest the people, stirred by the pricks of conscience through the true religion, return to their former legitimate ruler. But God, who catches the wise of this world in their own craftiness, brought it about that the very thing which Jeroboam thought to be the support of his kingdom became its ruin and overthrow: for on account of this idolatry introduced by him, he together with his whole family was cut down root and branch, as Elijah the Prophet had threatened him, III Kings ch. XIV, 14. True religion therefore stabilizes a kingdom; false religion overthrows it. The same cause is now at work in England, Scotland, and Holland, and the same effect will follow. Moreover the Syriac translates thus: And let there be no memory of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who sinned and made Israel sin, and gave the house of Ephraim a stumbling block, to lead them away captive from their region.

30. (The sins already mentioned) greatly TURNED THEM AWAY FROM THEIR LAND — as if to say: The sins of idolatry and the rest that arose from it expelled the Israelites from their land: for God, first through the Assyrians, then through the Babylonians, drove them out from the holy land on account of their crimes, as being unworthy of it and contaminating it with their wickedness. Hence the Greek, connecting these words with what precedes, clearly has: Their sins were multiplied greatly, so that they drove them from their land. See the history in IV Kings XVII.

31. AND HE SOUGHT OUT ALL INIQUITIES, UNTIL THE DEFENSE SHOULD COME UPON THEM, AND HE FREED THEM FROM ALL SINS. — "He sought," namely Israel, led astray by Jeroboam: in Greek it is ἐξεζήτησαν, that is, they sought out, namely the Israelites: the meaning therefore is the same, namely, as if to say: Once the way of sin and idolatry was opened by Jeroboam, the people, following their king and going mad after new gods, invented new idols, new sacrilegious rites, new crimes. You may ask what is the "defense" that put a stop to these iniquities of Israel.

First, Lyra understands it as the liberation of the Hebrews from Babylon accomplished by Cyrus; or as others say, by Artaxerxes Longimanus, who in the seventh year of his reign sent Ezra, I Ezra VII and following, and in the twentieth year sent Nehemiah to Jerusalem, to rebuild it, Nehemiah II, 1 and following. For the Jews, returning from Babylon to Jerusalem, returned likewise to the ancestral worship of God and to piety.

Second, Rabanus and Dionysius understand by the defense the redemption of the faithful accomplished through Christ: for Christ freed us from all sins. But this sense is allegorical rather than literal.

Third, therefore better is the view of Palacius, as if to say: Ephraim was entangled in all the iniquities of idols, until Elijah came (of whom the Author will speak immediately) who defended God's cause by performing the miracle of fire consuming the holocaust, and thus freed the people from the sins of idolatry: for seeing that miracle they said: "The Lord Himself is God," etc. You have the history in III Kings XVIII. Moreover that miracle is called a "defense," namely by which God,

by vengeance, by which God defended Himself and avenged Himself for the injury done to Him by them, which defense and vengeance freed them from all sins: that is, it put an end to their sinning, so that they could no longer provoke God with their sins in their own land, sins which they had so zealously pursued and sought out there.

But since this was not so much a liberation as a punishment and destruction of the Israelites, therefore the phrase He freed them is better explained thus, as if to say: God, avenging and punishing the Jews (with whom many from the ten tribes had mingled) by the Babylonian captivity, freed them from all sins; both because He took away from them the idols, gold, and silver which had been to them the occasion of idolatry, gluttony, lust, and other crimes; and because the Jews, seeing themselves punished by God and transferred to Babylon, returned to their senses and to God, and humbly begged pardon for their sins and sought His help: and thus, warned by this divine vengeance, they so completely came to their senses that, whereas before they had been most inclined to idols, after the Babylonian captivity they plainly changed their minds, and thereafter worshipped no idols at all, at least publicly and by common consent. Hence you may learn morally how useful is vengeance and retribution, both God's and that of rulers who imitate God: for by its terror it stops sins and frees the people from them. Hence the Psalmist wishes it upon the impious, saying: "Fill their faces with shame: and they shall seek Your name," Psalm LXXXII, 17. And the Wise Man, ch. XIV, 7: "Blessed is the wood through which justice is done." What then the rod is to the child, the cautery to the disease, the file to iron, the whip to the horse, the goad to the ox — this is punishment and chastisement to the sinner, on which matter I have said more at Exodus XXXII, 27 and following, Numbers XXV, 8 and elsewhere.

But note: For defense the Greek has ἐκδίκησις, that is, vengeance, retribution: for the ancients used "to defend" in the sense of "to avenge," as I showed at Romans III, 19, on the passage: Not defending yourselves, that is, not avenging yourselves, dearly beloved. Thus Gellius, book IX, ch. 1, takes "defendo" in the sense of "I ward off, I repel," and cites the passage: "Claudius easily defended the enemies from the battlements," that is, repelled them. The Greek therefore reads thus: They sought out every wickedness, until wrath and vengeance should come upon them. This vengeance also applies to Elijah: for he avenged the injuries done to God by killing all the prophets of Baal (hence he adds concerning him in ch. XLVIII, 7: "Who hears, etc., in Horeb the judgments of defense;" in Greek, ἐκδικήσεως, that is, of vengeance), and thus freed the people from the sins of idolatry, III Kings XVIII, 40, but only in an incipient manner: for soon afterwards, driven by Ahab, Jezebel, and other impious kings, the people returned to idols.

Fourth, therefore fully and perfectly, the "defense," that is, the vengeance, was the Assyrian and Babylonian captivity, of which we spoke above. Hence from the Greek you may clearly translate all this with Vatablus and others: Therefore their sins were multiplied, so much that they drove them from their land, indeed they sought out every crime, until indignation invaded them, and vengeance through which they would atone for all their sins. The meaning therefore is, says Jansenius: Israel, badly taught by Jeroboam, "sought out all iniquities," that is, zealously committed every kind, until God, provoked by their iniquities and no longer willing to endure them, there should come upon them God's

vengeance, by which God defended Himself and avenged Himself for the injury done to Him by them, which defense and vengeance freed them from all sins: that is, it put an end to their sinning, so that they could no longer provoke God with their sins in their own land — sins which they had so zealously pursued and sought out there. His law and religion were defended by Elijah, and shown to be true and holy. Hence the Syriac translates: And he multiplied their sins greatly, and concerning all their iniquities counsel was sought from him, until there arose a prophet like fire, namely Elijah.