Commentaria in IV Regum
Chapter 3. Synopsis of the Chapter
Eliseus gives water to the army of the king of Israel suffering from thirst, and victory against Moab. Whence, at verse 20, the king of Moab, besieged on every side, sacrifices his son; wherefore the king of Israel, indignant, departs from him.
1. And Joram the son of Achab reigned over Israel in Samaria, in the eighteenth year of Josaphat king of Juda: and he reigned twelve years. 2. And he did evil before the Lord, but not like his father and mother: for he took away the statues of Baal, which his father had made. 3. Nevertheless he stuck to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin, and he departed not from them. 4. Now Mesa king of Moab had many sheep, and he paid to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred thousand rams with their fleeces. 5. And when Achab was dead, he broke the league which he had with the king of Israel. 6. Then king Joram went out of Samaria at that time, and mustered all Israel. 7. And he sent to Josaphat king of Juda, saying: The king of Moab is revolted from me, come with me against him to battle. And he answered: I will come up: he that is mine is thine: my people thy people; and my horses thy horses. 8. And he said: Which way shall we go up? But he answered: By the desert of Idumea. 9. So the king of Israel, and the king of Juda, and the king of Edom went, and they fetched a compass of seven days’ journey, and there was no water for the army, and for the beasts that followed them. 10. And the king of Israel said: Alas, alas, alas, the Lord hath gathered us three kings together, to deliver us into the hands of Moab. 11. And Josaphat said: Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may beseech the Lord by him? And one of the servants of the king of Israel answered: Here is Eliseus the son of Saphat, who poured water upon the hands of Elias. 12. And Josaphat said: The word of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel, and Josaphat king of Juda, and the king of Edom went down to him. 13. And Eliseus said to the king of Israel: What have I to do with thee? go to the prophets of thy father and thy mother. And the king of Israel said to him: Why hath the Lord gathered together these three kings, to deliver them into the hands of Moab? 14. And Eliseus said to him: As the Lord of hosts liveth, in whose sight I stand, if I did not reverence the face of Josaphat the king of Juda, I would not have hearkened to thee, nor have looked on thee. 15. But now bring me hither a minstrel. And when the minstrel played, the hand of the Lord came upon him, and he said: 16. Thus saith the Lord: Make the channel of this torrent full of ditches. 17. For thus saith the Lord: You shall not see wind, nor rain, and yet this channel shall be filled with water, and you shall drink, you and your families and your beasts. 18. And this is a small thing in the sight of the Lord: moreover he will deliver also Moab into your hands. 19. And you shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall cut down every fruitful tree, and stop up all the springs of waters, and every goodly field you shall cover with stones. 20. And it came to pass in the morning, when the sacrifice is wont to be offered, that behold water came by the way of Edom, and the land was filled with water. 21. And all the Moabites hearing that the kings were come up to fight against them, gathered together all that were girded with a belt upon them, and stood in the borders. 22. And they rose early in the morning, and the sun now shone upon the waters, and the Moabites saw over against them the waters red as blood. 23. And they said: It is the blood of the sword: the kings have fought among themselves, and have killed one another: go now, Moab, to the spoil. 24. And they went into the camp of Israel: but Israel rising up, smote Moab: and they fled before them. And they that had overcome came and smote Moab. 25. And they destroyed the cities, and they filled every good field, every man casting a stone: and they stopped up all the springs of waters, and cut down all the trees that bore fruit, so that only the brick walls remained: and the city was beset by the slingers, and a great part of it destroyed. 26. And when the king of Moab saw this, that the enemies had prevailed, he took with him seven hundred men that drew the sword, to break in upon the king of Edom, and they could not. 27. Then he took his eldest son, that should have reigned in his place, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall: and there was great indignation in Israel, and presently they departed from him, and returned into their own country.
1. AND JORAM THE SON OF ACHAB REIGNED OVER ISRAEL IN SAMARIA, IN THE EIGHTEENTH YEAR OF JOSAPHAT KING OF JUDA.—Thou wilt say: This verse seems to conflict with verse 17 of chapter i, where it is said that Joram king of Israel began to reign in the second year of Joram the son of Josaphat, who reigned after his father Josaphat: how then is it said here that he began to reign in the 18th year of Josaphat? I answer, Joram began to reign in Juda with his father Josaphat in the 17th year of his reign: wherefore the 18th year of Josaphat was the second year of the reign of his son Joram, in which Joram the son of Achab began to reign in Israel. For Josaphat, going to war with Achab against the Syrians, as was said in the last chapter of book III, appointed his son Joram in his place and made him king in Juda, both lest in his absence the kingdom should be without a king, and lest he should be without a successor if he happened to die in the war, as often occurs. So Abulensis, Cajetan, Salianus and others.
Abulensis here discusses, Question XXI, whether it becomes religious, such as Eliseus was, to dwell in the courts of princes, and answers that it does, if they are men of great and solid prudence and virtue, as were Elias and Eliseus, whom God sent to kings, to instruct them in the worship of God, to rebuke vices, and to suggest sound counsels. So Plutarch wrote a little book with this title: “That a philosopher ought especially to converse with princely men.” Whence Pericles made use of Anaxagoras, Dionysius tyrant of Sicily of Plato, the princes of Italy of Pythagoras, Cato of Athenodorus, Scipio of Panaetius. But it is more expedient that religious of approved virtue be sent to camps, to instruct the soldiers, restrain them, and administer the sacraments; whence many soldiers are saved through them who without them would be damned, as is plain from the camp missions in Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, etc. Add that the examples of holiness, the prayers and the sacrifices of religious greatly profit armies, as this Eliseus profited. But religious who seek courts for honour, liberty or vanity ruin both the courts and themselves, and create great trouble for the Superiors of religious orders, so that it would be better for them to be seculars than religious, as experience teaches.
2. FOR HE TOOK AWAY THE STATUES OF BAAL,—that is, he took away and removed from Samaria and the kingdom of Israel the idols and the worship of Baal; because he had seen his father Achab slain in battle on account of his worship of it.