Commentaria in III Regum
35. Then a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow in the word of the Lord: Strike me. But he would not strike him. 36. And he said to him: Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold thou shalt depart from me, and a lion shall kill thee. And when he was gone a little from him, a lion found him, and killed him. 37. And finding another man, he said to him: Strike me. And he struck him, and wounded him. 38. So the prophet went and met the king in the way, and changed his face by sprinkling dust upon his mouth and eyes. 39. And when the king passed, he cried to the king, and said: Thy servant went out to fight hand to hand: and when one was fled, a certain man brought him to me, and said: Keep this man: and if he shall slip away, thy life shall be for his life, or thou shalt pay a talent of silver. 40. And as I was troubled, and turned me this way and that way, on a sudden he appeared no more. And the king of Israel said to him: This is thy judgment, which thou thyself hast decreed.
41. But he forthwith wiped the dust from his face, and the king of Israel knew him that he was of the prophets. 42. And he said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man worthy of death, thy life shall be for his life, and thy people for his people. 43. So the king of Israel returned to his house, slighting to hear, and raging he came to Samaria.
1. NOW BENADAD KING OF SYRIA, etc., FOUGHT AGAINST SAMARIA,—“Benadad” is the same as “Ben Adad,” that is son of Adad, says Josephus, book 8, chapter 6, namely of that rebel Idumean who, Idumea having been subdued by David, fled into Egypt, and thence, returning after David’s death and resuming courage and kingdom, rebelled against Solomon, chapter 11, verse 25. And therefore, cherishing his father’s temper and hatred against Israel, he sorely and continually afflicted it. Whence in chapter 11, verse 25, it was said and foretold of him: “This is the evil of Adad, and his hatred against Israel.”
Politically, learn here how dangerous the obstinate rebellion of princes is, and how it is handed down to their sons through many ages. The Spaniards experience this in Holland. Rebellion, therefore, must either be cut off at its beginning or conciliated, according to that: “Resist the beginnings.”
…the people of Israel): THY SILVER AND THY GOLD IS MINE,—not by right, but by power and command; because I wish to have it and demand it, who am more powerful than thou, so that thou canst not resist me. For the affairs of Achab and Israel were afflicted, so that he could not bring into the field more than seven thousand, verse 15. Here, then, God begins to punish Achab and the Israelites for the worship of Baal.
5. AND THE MESSENGERS RETURNING (sent by Benadad, besieging Samaria, to Achab, besieged in it), SAID.
6. OTHERWISE I WILL SEND MY SERVANTS TO THEE TOMORROW AT THIS SAME HOUR, AND THEY SHALL SEARCH THY HOUSE, etc.—This is a new demand of Benadad, in which he asks of Achab that he permit his men to plunder not only the royal house but the whole city of Samaria, says Josephus, that is, that he may despoil the city and carry away from it at pleasure everything most precious.
10. THUS DO THE GODS TO ME, etc., IF THE DUST OF SAMARIA SHALL SUFFICE FOR THE HANDS OF ALL THE PEOPLE THAT FOLLOW ME,—as if to say: I swear that I will destroy the whole city of Samaria, and so overthrow it, that not even a little dust shall remain in it, but whatever is in it shall be carried away in the handfuls of my most numerous army. Whence the Chaldee translates: If the dust of Someron (Samaria) shall suffice to be carried on the soles of the feet of the people that shall be with me. So Abulensis. It is a hyperbole and proverbial expression, in which the boastful Benadad, proud of the 32 kings following him and of his innumerable forces, vaunts and swears that he will overthrow Samaria so that nothing worthy shall remain. Nor were his soldiers so curious or idle as to carry all the dust out of Samaria rather than all the treasures and all the precious things. For they sought gold, not sand.
11. LET NOT THE GIRDED BOAST HIMSELF AS THE UNGIRDED.—It is a proverb, as if to say: Do not sing the triumph before the victory: for the “girded” soldier goes to battle; but when victory is won he ungirds himself, lays down his arms, and lies upon the enemy’s spoils. Whence the Chaldee: Let not one equipped, he says, and going down into battle, praise himself as a man who conquers and comes up (a victor) from it; Vatablus: Let not him who is about to enter battle boast as one who has already conquered.
23. AND THE SERVANTS OF THE KING OF SYRIA (Benadad) SAID TO HIM: THE GODS OF THE MOUNTAINS ARE THEIR GODS, THEREFORE HAVE THEY OVERCOME US; BUT IT IS BETTER THAT WE FIGHT AGAINST THEM IN THE PLAINS, AND WE SHALL OVERCOME THEM,—as if to say: We have been conquered by the mountain Samaritans, because we fought against Samaria, which is situated on a mountain and is therefore under the protection of the gods who preside over mountains and mountaineers; let us go down therefore into the valleys, where the gods of the valleys will be with us, that we may overcome the mountaineers and the gods of the mountains in the valleys. So these fools thought the God of the Hebrews to be only the God of the mountains. But whence this error of theirs and foolish persuasion? I answer, from many things together, namely first, because Moses, the leader of the Hebrews, on Mount Sinai had conversed with God and received the law from Him. Second, because on Mount Sion a temple had been erected by Solomon, in which God dwelt. Third, because the Hebrews worshipped God on the high places, namely the hills. Fourth, finally, and what bears most upon the present defeat, because the Syrians had received this slaughter from the Israelites on the mount of Samaria.
This was the superstition of the Gentiles, to set over mountains the goddesses oreads, that is mountain goddesses, over woods the sylvans, over the sea marine gods, as Neptune, etc., of whom St. Augustine, book 4 of the City of God, chapter 8, where he asserts that they set over the ridges of the mountains the god Jugatinus, over hills the goddess Collatina, over valleys the goddess Valonia. Of the same Ovid sings, book 1 of the Fasti, and brings them in speaking thus:
We are rustic gods, and those who rule on the high mountains; to Jove belongs the empire over his own roofs.
24. DO THEREFORE THIS THING: REMOVE ALL THE KINGS FROM THY ARMY, AND PUT CAPTAINS IN THEIR STEAD,
—who, namely, are skilled in war and experienced in military affairs, not accustomed to quiet and delights, as kings are, and who, in hope of glory and honour to be obtained from thee, will fight more bravely. So Abulensis. For the Hebrew phachoth signifies these, that is Leaders; the Chaldee, Commanders.