Commentaria in III Regum
28. BECAUSE THE SYRIANS HAVE SAID: THE LORD (in Hebrew Jehovah, that is the God of the Israelites) IS THE GOD OF THE HILLS, AND (the same Jehovah) IS NOT THE GOD OF THE VALLEYS: I WILL DELIVER ALL THIS GREAT MULTITUDE INTO THY HAND,—to show that I am the God of the valleys as of the mountains, and that thou, O Achab, mayest acknowledge and worship me as the true God, and not Baal.
30. AND BENADAD FLEEING, WENT INTO THE CITY (Aphec, already mentioned), INTO A CHAMBER THAT WAS WITHIN A CHAMBER,—that is, into the innermost and most secret chamber, to hide himself there.
31. LET US PUT SACKCLOTH ON OUR LOINS,—as servile garments, and signs of mourning and penance, that by them we may profess that we repent of the deed, namely that we made war upon Israel, and as vanquished give ourselves into servitude to him as victor.
AND ROPES ON OUR HEADS,—to profess that we are guilty of death, and deserve the cord and the halter, which may close our throats and strangle us. Hear Josephus: “They, clothed in sackcloth and with ropes bound about their heads, which was the ancient custom among the Syrians of supplicating, go to Achab, and signify that Adad asks only the grace of safety, and will be his vassal for ever.”
32. IF HE BE YET ALIVE, HE IS MY BROTHER.—Achab thought that Benadad had fallen in so great a slaughter of the enemy. Whence, hearing that he survived, hidden, exulting at so great a victory, he took pity on him, and inconsiderately and rashly burst out with this saying: “If he be yet alive, he is my brother,” as if to say: He will be dear to me as a brother, I will treat him as a brother. Kings are wont to call one another brothers. This saying of Achab the servants of Benadad at once caught from his mouth, and took as an omen or augury, as though that friendly word which had fallen from him were a sign of mercy and safety to Benadad, whom they therefore at once brought to Achab, and he received him, a suppliant, as a brother, to stand by his word, and lifted him into his chariot: but soon after he paid the penalty of this rashness, when Benadad renewed the war, in which Achab fell, as is said in the last chapter.
Symbolically, Benadad is a type of the devil, who always persecutes the faithful and the holy, now by force, now by fraud and guile. Wherefore he who makes peace or league with him, as Achab did, will most certainly be overthrown by him. So Eucherius.
34. MAKE THEE STREETS IN DAMASCUS,—in which thou mayest set up law and judges, and also a market of things for sale and tolls, as a sign of subjection, as if to say: I will grant thee a part of my royal city, namely Damascus, to show that it is subject to thee as to me, nay that I am subject to thee, and therefore pay this tribute. So Abulensis, Cajetan and Vatablus.
35. THEN A CERTAIN MAN OF THE SONS OF THE PROPHETS.—Josephus thinks this was the prophet Michaeas, who in the last chapter foretold the destruction of Achab. Glycas relates the same, and the Hebrews in Seder-Olam, and it is gathered from the last chapter, verse 26, where for “take” the Hebrew has vahashibuhu, that is make him return. But the matter is uncertain. Whence Serarius and others judge that this was another than Michaeas, and therefore is not named.
SAID TO HIS FELLOW IN THE WORD OF THE LORD (by the oracle and command of God): STRIKE ME,—that by the wound of my own head I may represent to King Achab his own wound, which he received in his soul by sparing Benadad, and the wound of the people, which the whole people received in King Achab as in their head, and third the wound which both Achab and the people shall receive, when he shall be slain by Benadad renewing the war, as will appear in the last chapter and in book 4, chapter 6, verse 8 and following. So Cajetan. Abulensis adds another cause of this wound, namely that by it the Prophet might not be recognised by Achab, but might seem to be a soldier, and so have access to him and set before him this parable of the wound: for if he had been recognised, the idolater Achab would not have wished to hear him. The third and chief cause of this striking and wound was an example, namely that God, in this prophet both striking and struck, might give an example and mirror of perfect obedience. Whence it is to be believed, says Abulensis, that a little after God healed this wound supernaturally, so that not even a scar of it remained, and that to this end, to show how great is the merit of pure and simple obedience, and on the other hand how hateful to God is disobedience, since on account of it He exposed to a lion for slaughter him who had been unwilling to strike the Prophet. Hear St. Chrysostom, oration 4 Against the Jews, near the beginning: “He who struck the Prophet escaped unharmed: he who spared paid the penalty; namely that you might understand that in divine commands one ought not to be curious and examine the nature of the things commanded, but do nothing else than obey. For lest the former truth should be less certain, he added: In the word of the Lord, It is God who commands, do not ask further.
It is the King who prescribes this law: Revere the authority of Him who commands, and obey with the greatest readiness of mind. But he could not bear to do it, and therefore paid a very heavy penalty, exhorting by his own example those who should follow, that whatever God commanded, they should obey in all things, and observe it for the future.”
Finally Rabbi Solomon and Lyranus hold that the blood of this Prophet made satisfaction for the sins of the Israelite people, that it should not perish with Achab in the last chapter, but that people was conquered, and such a blow could not, nor did the Prophet wish to, make satisfaction for it.
42. BECAUSE THOU HAST LET GO OUT OF THY HAND A MAN WORTHY OF DEATH,—Benadad king of Syria, who was guilty of death both for his continual hatred and war against the Israelites, and especially for the blasphemy by which he said that I am the God of the mountains, not of the valleys; for this greatly provoked God, as is plain from verse 28. So the Hebrews, Rupert, Lyranus, Dionysius and others.
THY LIFE SHALL BE FOR HIS LIFE.—Thou shalt be slain for Benadad whom thou oughtest to have slain.
AND THY PEOPLE FOR HIS PEOPLE,—It shall be slain for the Syrians subject to Benadad, whom it ought to have slain. So in fact it happened, as we shall hear in the last chapter.
This is an example of neglected justice and of just vengeance, to be noted and deeply fixed in the minds of kings and judges: “You are a murderer, in that you have let the enemy go,” says St. Chrysostom, in the place cited.
43. SO THE KING OF ISRAEL (Achab) RETURNED TO HIS HOUSE, SLIGHTING TO HEAR.—Josephus adds, book 8 of the Antiquities, chapter 15, that he was so indignant that he imprisoned the Prophet: for he thinks he was Michaeas, whom we shall hear was imprisoned by him in the last chapter. So Hugh, Dionysius and others.