Commentaria in IV Regum
IF I CONSPIRED AGAINST MY LORD (Joram, king of Israel), AND KILLED HIM, WHO HAS SLAIN ALL THESE?—as if to say: not I, but you, even if it was at my command and through fear of me. As if to say: From this vengeance it is manifestly clear that the vengeance of God is against the impious house of Achab, since God has used both me and you to carry it out. For although I killed Joram, I could not have killed his seventy brothers, had not God put the fear of me into you, so that at my bidding you killed them. Otherwise you might have resisted my order, either by force or by an honourable excuse, or by hiding these sons of Achab whom you killed, or sending them elsewhere. God therefore took the understanding from you, lest you do this, but that you should kill them.
11. SO JEHU SLEW ALL THAT WERE LEFT OF THE HOUSE OF ACHAB.—“All,” that is, almost all, because a few, and those almost all poor, despised and unwarlike, were left. There also remained the brothers of Ochozias, king of Juda, born of Athalia, the daughter of Achab, whom he killed shortly after, v. 14. There remained also Joas, who succeeded Ochozias his father in the kingdom of Juda. In like manner Scripture said that none should be left of the house of Jeroboam, Baasa, Ela, etc., because all the more worthy were taken away, and only a few and those of no account were left.
13. THE BRETHREN OF OCHOZIAS,—that is, the sons of the brothers of Ochozias, as is explained in 2 Paralipomenon 22:9; for the brothers of Ochozias had been killed by the Arabians, 2 Paralipomenon 21:17.
WE GO DOWN TO SALUTE THE SONS OF THE KING,—namely of Ochozias king of Juda, and of his wife and queen.
14. THEY SLEW THEM,—as the descendants of the impious Achab, by the impious mother Athalia. Jehu did this by the instinct of God, whence he says to Jonadab: “Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.” So Abulensis.
AT THE SHEEP-SHEARING HOUSE—“of the shepherds,” as was said at v. 12. In the Chaldee, to the house of the gathering of the shepherds; in the Hebrew, to the house of binding, in which sheep were bound for shearing, as if to say, in the sheep-shearing place. So Pagninus. Perhaps the sheep were then being shorn there, and therefore, as was customary, joyful banquets were prepared, to which these sons of the brothers of Ochozias were invited, and there, among the feasts, were slain, as Amnon was slain by his brother Absalom at a similar feast, 2 Kings 13.
Yet there are many things which excuse Jehu, and show that this lie of his was rather a serviceable lie than a pernicious one. The first is the intention
15. HE FOUND JONADAB THE SON OF RECHAB COMING TO MEET HIM, AND HE BLESSED HIM,—that is, he wished him well and saluted him, saying, in the Hebrew manner: “Peace be to thee.” This “Jonadab” is the one who is praised in Jeremias 35:6, where Jeremias, offering wine to the Rechabites, the descendants and disciples of Jonadab, hears from them: “We drink no wine, because Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying: You shall drink no wine, you and your children for ever, and you shall not build houses, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyards, nor have any, but you shall dwell in tents all your days, that you may live many days upon the face of the land wherein you are sojourners.”
John of Jerusalem, in his book De Institutione Monachorum, ch. 25, asserts that this “Jonadab” was a disciple of Eliseus, and that he followed, with his sons and grandsons, the footsteps of his religious life, except for continence. These Rechabites were Cinites, descendants of Jethro the Madianite, the father-in-law of Moses. See what was said on Jeremias 35:6.
IS THY HEART RIGHT, AS MY HEART IS WITH THY HEART?—as if to say: do you love me sincerely and from the heart, as I love you? Hence it appears that Jehu before his reign was upright, as being a friend and familiar of Jonadab, an upright and religious man. For friendship does not grow between the upright and the wicked, for it seeks those like itself.
AND HE MADE HIM SIT IN HIS CHARIOT, AND BROUGHT HIM TO SAMARIA,—to win for himself authority among the Samaritans and a name for uprightness through Jonadab, his companion, whom all held to be a man of integrity and holiness, so that by this means he might more easily accomplish the slaughter of the Baalites which he was planning, and no one would dare to resist.
18. ACHAB WORSHIPPED BAAL A LITTLE, BUT I WILL WORSHIP HIM MORE. Jehu says.—Jehu lies, but in a serviceable way, and for a good end, that all the worshippers of Baal might be gathered into one place, in feigning, namely that he did not say it seriously, for he did not intend to worship Baal, but feigned and pretended, so as to gather all the worshippers of Baal into one place, and, having gathered them, to sacrifice them all like victims of divine justice, as God had commanded him; which he could not otherwise have done. Whence St. Jerome, on chapter 2 of the Epistle to the Galatians, wholly excuses Jehu, and teaches that dissimulation is useful and sometimes to be practised, provided lying is avoided: “We are taught,” says Jerome, “that useful dissimulation is to be assumed at the proper time by the example of King Jehu.” Abulensis, Cajetan and others think the same, and even say that it is lawful to conceal the faith by the profession of a false religion, if there be a just cause; which, however, others everywhere reject and refute, and rightly.
The second is that this simulation and feigning of Jehu did not last long; hence the scandal was slight, for soon all were to see that the mind of the speaker was plainly contrary; Jehu therefore reckoned the delay of a short time as nothing. The third is that he did not command even the Baalites to sacrifice to Baal, but only said: “I will worship him more”; by which words he intended only to give the Baalites an occasion to disclose their mind, and to betray the wickedness of idolatry shut up in the heart, so that he might then cut it off. Thus physicians give medicines which stir up the evil humours, that they may then expel them as they rise to the surface, and so restore health to the man. Thus princes send spies to their enemies, who pretend to be their friends, that they may learn their counsels and report them to the princes; as Chusai did, who, going over to Absalom, there scattered the counsels of Achitophel, 2 Kings 15:14. So masters test the fidelity of manservants and maidservants. Although this lie of Jehu, in its kind, was not pernicious—for it was a simulation, indeed a profession of idolatry, and therefore a public scandal, as St. Thomas teaches, II-II, Q. 111, art. 1, ad 2, Francis Suarez, tract. De fide, disp. 14, sect. 4, n. 9, and Gregory of Valentia, tract. De fide, disp. 1, Q. 3, point 6—indeed St. Augustine, in his book Contra mendacium, ch. 2, calls this lie of Jehu impious, and therefore asserts that he was praised and rewarded by God not for that simulation but for obedience, because by God’s command he killed the descendants of Achab, and adds: “It seemed to some Catholics that they ought to feign themselves Priscillianists, in order to penetrate their hiding-places; which I,” he says, “…” He did not invite them, but gave them only the occasion to sacrifice (as I have already said of masters), which he knew they were eager for, and he permitted it, so that what they did privately every day they would now do publicly, and so reveal themselves, that they might be punished and put to death by him. For it was better to permit one public act of sacrifice, to redeem so many private sacrileges of theirs. It was better to let them worship idols publicly once than privately a thousand and a thousand times, so that by this permission he might utterly root out the idolatry of Baal.
The fourth, because there was then great confusion of affairs and of religion; for some worshipped Baal, others the golden calves, others Melchom, others Chamos, others the true God; wherefore this scandal of Jehu was slight, for each one freely worshipped what he wished. Some add that Jehu spoke ambiguously, and by Baal understood the true God; for he is truly “Baal,” that is, Lord of all; or rather that by Baal he understood the demon, as if to say: Achab worshipped Baal, that is, the demon, with victims of animals; I will worship him more, but only materially, with human victims, for I will slay the Baalites and offer them to him not as to a God, but as to the chief executioner of God, who is delighted merely with the blood and death of impious men, that he may carry off their souls to hell; for the demon held a great feast in the slaughter of the idolaters which Jehu made, and most gladly accepted them as his victims.
The fifth, because Jehu was a military man; with a soldier’s sense and cunning, therefore, he devised this military stratagem to destroy at once and together all the Baalites, enemies alike of God and of himself; wherefore he had not studied cases of conscience, but what zeal for the honour of God and military skill suggested to him for detecting enemies, so as to crush them unexpectedly, this he carried out in good faith, and in the presence, with the help, and as it seems with the approval of Jonadab, an upright, prudent and religious man.
Finally, Jehu was praised and rewarded by the Lord, v. 30.
In like manner the Emperor Constantius, father of Constantine the Great, in order to learn who in his household were true and sincere Christians, and who feigned, timid or inconstant, issued an edict that those who wished to worship the gods should remain in the palace and enjoy their former honours, but that those who refused should leave the palace. Soon he expelled from the palace all who said they wished to worship the gods, and kept the others in it, and gave his reason: “How,” he said, “will they be faithful to me who have been unfaithful to God?” So Eusebius and Sozomen relate, book 1, ch. 6.