Commentaria in IV Regum
Chapter 7. Synopsis of the Chapter
Eliseus foretells that Samaria will be freed from the siege and famine on the morrow: verse 14. For God, sending terror upon the Syrians by phantoms of enemies, puts them to flight. Whence the Hebrews plunder their camp, and there is plenty of food.
1. And Eliseus said: Hear ye the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord: Tomorrow about this time a bushel of fine flour shall be sold for a stater, and two bushels of barley for a stater, in the gate of Samaria. 2. Then one of the lords, upon whose hand the king leaned, answering the man of God, said: If the Lord should make flood-gates in heaven, could that possibly be which thou sayest? And he said: Thou shalt see it with thy eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. 3. Now there were four lepers at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another: Why stay we here till we die? 4. If we will enter into the city, we shall die with the famine: and if we will stay here, we must also die: come therefore, and let us run over to the camp of the Syrians: if they spare us, we shall live: and if they kill us, we shall but die. 5. So they arose in the evening, to go to the camp of Syria. And when they were come to the first part of the camp of the Syrians, they found no man there. 6. For the Lord had made them hear in the camp of Syria the noise of chariots, and of horses, and of a very great army: and they said one to another: Behold the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hethites and of the Egyptians, and they are come upon us. 7. Wherefore they arose, and fled in the dark, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses in the camp, and fled, desiring to save their lives.
8. So when these lepers were come to the beginning of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drank: and took from thence silver and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it: and they came again, and went into another tent, and carried from thence in like manner, and hid it. 9. Then they said one to another: We do not well: for this is a day of good tidings. If we hold our peace, and do not tell it till the morning, we shall be charged with a crime: come, let us go and tell it in the king’s court. 10. So they came to the gate of the city, and told them, saying: We went to the camp of the Syrians, and we found no man there, but horses and asses tied, and the tents standing. 11. Then the guards of the gate went, and told it within in the king’s palace. 12. And he arose in the night, and said to his servants: I tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we suffer great famine, and therefore they are gone out of the camp, and lie hid in the fields, saying: When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive, and then we may get into the city. 13. And one of his servants answered: Let us take the five horses that are left in the city (because there are no more in the whole multitude of Israel, for the rest are consumed), and let us send and see. 14. They brought therefore two horses, and the king sent into the camp of the Syrians, saying: Go and see.
15. And they went after them as far as the Jordan: and behold all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their fright: and the messengers returned, and told the king. 16. And the people going out pillaged the camp of the Syrians: and a bushel of fine flour was sold for a stater, and two bushels of barley for a stater, according to the word of the Lord. 17. And the king appointed that lord, upon whose hand he leaned, to stand at the gate: and the people trod upon him in the entrance of the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, when the king came down to him. 18. And it came to pass according to the word of the man of God, which he spoke to the king, when he said: Two bushels of barley shall be for a stater, and a bushel of fine flour for a stater, at this very time tomorrow, in the gate of Samaria; 19. When that lord answered the man of God, and said: Although the Lord should make flood-gates in heaven, could this possibly be which thou sayest? And he said to him: Thou shalt see it with thy eyes, and shalt not eat thereof. 20. So it fell out to him as it had been foretold, and the people trod upon him in the gate, and he died.
1. TOMORROW ABOUT THIS TIME (at this hour) A BUSHEL OF FINE FLOUR SHALL BE SOLD FOR A STATER,—that is, it will be sold for one shekel, that is, one French franc, namely four Julii or Reals; as if to say: Tomorrow there will be the greatest abundance of corn, by which all the want and famine of Samaria will be taken away, and all things will be bought at a low price.
Allegorically, “Benadad” is the devil, who besieged Samaria, that is, the old Church, and made a great spiritual famine of the word of God, and of salvation and heavenly things. Eliseus comes, that is, Christ, who, by Himself and the Apostles preaching everywhere, took away this famine, and brought it about that there are everywhere teachers who preach the word of God, and who teach the way of salvation, virtue and perfection. So Eucherius and Angelomus.
2. IF THE LORD SHOULD MAKE FLOOD-GATES IN HEAVEN,—that through them wheat might rain down, as the waters rained down in the flood of Noe, and manna in the desert, Exodus xvi: “Could that possibly be which thou sayest?” as if to say: It is impossible that in so great a want of things so great a plenty should suddenly come, that wheat should be sold at so low a price, and a bushel be bought for one stater.
THOU SHALT SEE IT WITH THY EYES, BUT SHALT NOT EAT THEREOF,—because thou shalt be crushed by the crowd of the people in the gate: and this will be by the just judgment of God on account of thy unbelief, in which thou dost not believe this my oracle from God; because thou seemest to think this impossible even to God, to whom all things are possible. Wherefore thou deniest to God His omnipotence. So Abulensis.
6. FOR THE LORD HAD MADE THEM HEAR IN THE CAMP OF SYRIA THE NOISE OF CHARIOTS AND OF HORSES—of enemies attacking them: and so He terrified the Syrians, that, dismayed, they fled and left Samaria free. So Josephus. See here how the divine power plays with human affairs. For He could have sent Angels against the Syrians, who would at once have slain them all; He could have struck them with lightnings; He could have destroyed them by fire from heaven, and in a thousand other ways. But He would not, and chose to humble their pride by an empty sound, by a false imagination, by a ridiculous fear, in which they feared to be smitten where there was no cause of fear, and fled, casting away all things, that they might only save their lives. A like panic fear of many enemies coming against them God sent into the camp of Madian, when Gedeon with three hundred soldiers, with flaming pitchers broken and trumpets sounding, assailed it, Judges vii, 19.
17. AND THE PEOPLE TROD UPON HIM IN THE ENTRANCE OF THE GATE,—because the gate was narrow and the crowd huge, which, raging with hunger, was as it were frantic for the food that was in the camp of the Syrians; whence the captain of the gate himself, wishing to restrain it, was oppressed and crushed by the same crowd bursting violently through: so the oracle of Eliseus was in all things true and certain.