Commentaria in III Regum
3. AND I WILL MAKE THY HOUSE LIKE THE HOUSE OF JEROBOAM,—as if to say: As by thee I utterly cut off the family of Jeroboam for the idolatry of the calves, so for the same I will root out thy offspring by Zambri, who shall rebel against thy son Ela, verse 9. Wonderful was the perversity and folly of the kings of Israel, that, although they saw by God’s command the families of the preceding kings plainly overthrown on account of the worship of the calves—nay, themselves overthrew them—they nevertheless themselves worshipped the same calves, and set them up to be worshipped by the people, lest they should return to the temple and to Asa, king of Jerusalem; though the prophets cried out against it and threatened them with destruction, the devil, namely, and ambition to reign blinded and made them mad. Hence, by the just judgment of God, it came about that they were all executioners to one another: for Baasa was the executioner of the sons of Jeroboam, Zambri was the executioner of the sons of Baasa, and Amri the executioner of Zambri; so among the Romans Julius Caesar removed Pompey, Brutus and Cassius removed Julius, and Augustus removed these. Soon after, the Senate drove Nero to death, Otho Galba, Vitellius Otho, Vespasian Vitellius, Domitian Titus, Nerva and Trajan Domitian, as Sextus Aurelius Victor relates in his Epitome of the Caesars: behold here the truth of that saying of Juvenal:
To the son-in-law of Ceres (Pluto) few kings go down without slaughter and blood, and tyrants by a dry death.
Whence Tacitus said of Galba: “By the consent of all capable of empire, had he not reigned.” But of Vespasian: “Alone of those who ruled,” he says, “changed for the better.” But on this matter the discourse will be fuller at verse 34 on Achab.
5. THEY ARE WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE WORDS OF THE DAYS OF THE KINGS OF ISRAEL,—namely in the Diaries and Annals of the kings of Israel, as I said above.
7. FOR THIS CAUSE HE SLEW HIM,—namely on account of the prophecy which threatened destruction to the idolater. Jehu was therefore here truly a prophet as well as a martyr, and prophecy made him a martyr.
9. AND HIS SERVANT ZAMBRI CONSPIRED AGAINST HIM.—Note here the just judgments of God upon unfaithful and idolatrous kings: for since Ela rebelled against God, the supreme Lord, hence by God’s just vengeance his servant and captain of a thousand, Zambri, rebelled in turn against him: as Ela slew Jehu the prophet of God, so he himself was slain by Zambri at God’s will.
18. AND ZAMBRI SEEING THAT THE CITY WAS GOING TO BE TAKEN, WENT INTO THE PALACE, AND BURNT HIMSELF
WITH THE KING’S HOUSE,—Clearly Zambri the tyrant, aiming at the palace, found an urn, and ascending into the royal house leaped back into a funeral pyre. The same was done by Sardanapalus, the last king of the Assyrians, who, besieged in Nineveh by Arbaces, a prefect of his army, lest he should fall into his hands, built a huge pyre in the palace, on which he heaped all his gold and silver and whatever there was of royal furniture. Then, shutting up his concubines and eunuchs in a small house which he had built in the middle of the pyre, he consumed himself and the palace with them all in the fire. So Diodorus, Justin, Strabo and the rest everywhere. So the wife of Asdrubal, when Carthage was taken by Scipio and set on fire, dragging with her right and left her three sons, who did not refuse death, “cast herself into the fire of her burning country,” says Valerius Maximus, book 3, chapter 2. So the Numantines, besieged for 14 years by the Romans, when they were failing from hunger, preferred to burn themselves and all their goods rather than surrender to Scipio. See Florus, book 2.
22. AND THEBNI DIED, slain by the opposing faction of Amri, according to Josephus. The Septuagint add that Thebni’s brother also, named Joram, was slain.
23. IN THE THIRTY-FIRST YEAR OF ASA KING OF JUDA, AMRI REIGNED
OVER ISRAEL. For although, Zambri being slain, Amri was acclaimed king by the people in the 27th year of Asa, as was said in verses 15 and 16, yet he had in Thebni a rival for the kingdom, with whom he struggled for five years, until, Thebni being dead, he reigned alone, which came to pass in the 31st year of Asa, as is here said. So Abulensis, Richard of St. Victor, Tornielli, Salian and others. Whence, explaining, he adds: HE REIGNED OVER ISRAEL TWELVE YEARS:—for he began to reign on the death of Zambri in the 27th year of Asa, as was said in verses 15 and 16; and he died in the 38th year of Asa, as is said in verse 29; now from the 27th year of Asa to the 38th are 12 years inclusive. See here how God prolongs the reigns of pious kings and shortens those of the impious. Behold: Asa reigned 41 years in Juda, during which years eight kings reigned in succession in Israel, namely Jeroboam, Nadab, Baasa, Ela, Zambri, Thebni, Amri and Achab, of all of whom (except Achab) Asa saw the rise and the fall.
HE REIGNED SIX YEARS IN THERSA.—Before Amri, “Thersa” was the capital and royal seat of the kings of Israel. Hence Amri reigned in it five years, during which he contended with Thebni for the kingdom; but when the latter was dead, in the sixth year of his reign he transferred the royal seat from Thersa to Samaria, which he built, as follows, and there reigned another six years, that is, in all, in Thersa and in Samaria together, 12 years, as was said. The cause of the transfer was that Zambri had burnt the royal house in Thersa with himself, and the city, immediately taken by Amri, had been plundered and laid waste, as was said in verse 18. Again, because Samaria, on account of the hill on which it sat, was better fortified. Whence it afterwards long withstood the assaults of enemies besieging it. So Salian. For these reasons, then, Amri transferred the kingdom and royal seat from Thersa to Samaria.
24. AND HE BOUGHT THE HILL OF SAMARIA OF SOMER (the name of a man who was lord of the hill) FOR TWO TALENTS OF SILVER.—The Hebrew talent contained three thousand shekels, or fifteen hundred ounces (for a shekel is half an ounce), which make 12 thousand drachmas. A drachma of silver is a Roman julius, or Spanish royal; wherefore a talent of silver contained three thousand Brabant florins, or French francs, which make twelve hundred Roman gold pieces: so two talents of silver make 6 thousand Brabant florins, which make twice twelve hundred, that is two thousand four hundred gold pieces. AND CALLED THE NAME OF THE CITY WHICH HE HAD BUILT, FROM THE NAME OF SEMER (or Somer) THE LORD OF THE HILL, SAMARIA.—Some think that Samaria had been built before, for mention of the name Samaria was made in chapter 13, verse 32, but that here the neighbouring hill was added by Amri to the old city, and the city extended so far, and the whole afterwards called Samaria. So Sanchez. Others, however, think that the whole city was first built by Amri and named Samaria; so that in chapter 13 it is called Samaria by anticipation, because afterwards, when the author of the book wrote this, it had been called Samaria. This is that famous capital of the kings of Israel against which Isaias and the other prophets thunder.