Commentaria in IV Regum
3. NEVERTHELESS HE STUCK TO THE SINS OF JEROBOAM, etc.,—by worshipping the golden calves set up by Jeroboam, and driving the people to their worship, lest they should fall away from him to Josaphat king of Juda, if they went to Jerusalem, his capital, to worship the true God in the temple. Great was the perversity of judgment, the blindness and obstinacy of the kings of Israel in upholding these idols of calves, and therefore all perished and were cut off.
5. AND WHEN ACHAB WAS DEAD, HE BROKE THE LEAGUE,—that is, the king of Moab rebelled, as the Chaldee translates, against Joram king of Israel, and refused him the accustomed tribute; because he despised him on account of his youth and on account of his father Achab slain in battle.
8. BY THE DESERT OF IDUMEA.—This answer and counsel was imprudent. For a “desert” is a dry place, where water is lacking for such great forces as were in the three armies, namely of the king of Juda, the king of Israel, and the king of Edom: whence the soldiers soon suffered from thirst and failed, as follows.
God permitted this, that He might punish Joram king of Israel, an idolater, and prepare the way for the miracle of giving an abundance of water by Himself and Eliseus; that from it the king might acknowledge that He is the true God, and renounce the idols of the calves.
11. HERE IS ELISEUS, etc., WHO POURED WATER UPON THE HANDS OF ELIAS,—that is, who served Elias as his minister: for it belongs to servants to pour water upon the hands of their masters, when they wash them in the morning or before dinner.
13. WHAT HAVE I TO DO WITH THEE,—as if he said: What fellowship or communion have I with thee? For thou worshippest the golden calves, but I the true God: “Go therefore to the prophets of thy father,” namely the priests and worshippers of the calves, whom hitherto thou hast taken for counsel: consult them even now, since they will not be able to give thee an oracle and counsel in things naturally hopeless; whence in these thou fleest to me and to the true God, whom hitherto thou hast despised. Admirable was the freedom of speech and of rebuking the king in Eliseus, worthy of so great a prophet, and to be imitated by apostolic men when they are summoned by heretical princes to temporal advantages. See on this subject the examples of Moses, Heli, Paul and others, which St. Gregory recounts, Morals VII, chapter xv.
14. AS THE LORD LIVETH (that is, I swear by the Lord), IN WHOSE SIGHT I STAND (whom as present to me I always keep in mind, revere, worship and love, as does my master Elias, from whom I learned this), IF I DID NOT REVERENCE THE FACE OF JOSAPHAT THE KING OF JUDA (who with me worships the true God), I WOULD NOT HAVE HEARKENED TO THEE, NOR HAVE LOOKED ON THEE,—but I would have despised thee, and not have deemed thee worthy of an answer, much less of an oracle, because thou neglectest and despisest my God. For he who has God present fears or cares for the presence of no one. Wherefore Sextus the Philosopher in his Sentences (which are extant falsely under the name of Pope Sixtus), number 293: “In all that thou doest,” he says, “call God to witness.” And number 278: “I take my beginning in acting from God; but have God first in thy mouth and in thy mind before thou breathest.” And number 277: “The souls of the wise are unchangeable in the love of God.” And number 304: “The wise man is a partaker of God.” And number 430: “The wise mind is a mirror of God.” And number 308: “He honours God best who, as far as he can, makes his mind like to God.”
15. BUT NOW (in honour and aid of the faithful and pious king Josaphat) BRING ME HITHER A MINSTREL,—one who strikes a musical instrument with the hand (for this the Hebrew menaggen signifies); whence the Chaldee translates, bring me a man who knows how to play the harp. Eliseus ordered the minstrel to play, that by the sweet sound and harmony of music he might compose his mind, somewhat moved with indignation against the king of Israel, and calm it, and raise it up to God in prayer, and dispose it to receive prophecy from God. For this minstrel was a Levite, says Theodoret, who used to sing the pious Psalms composed by David. So Rupert, Abulensis and others.
Hear St. Gregory, homily 4 on Ezechiel: “When Josaphat asked him (Eliseus) about the future, and the spirit of prophecy was lacking to him, he had a minstrel brought, that the spirit of prophecy might descend upon him through the praise of psalmody, and fill his mind with what was to come. For the voice of psalmody, when it is performed with intention of heart, prepares thereby a way to the heart for the almighty Lord, to pour into the attentive mind either the mysteries of prophecy or the grace of compunction.” So St. Francis, hearing the harmony of a lyre, was raised up in mind to God. St. Augustine confesses the same of himself in the Confessions, when he heard psalmody.
AND WHEN THE MINSTREL PLAYED, THE HAND (that is, the operation and illumination) OF THE LORD CAME UPON HIM,—as if to say: While the minstrel played and sounded, God enlightened the mind of Eliseus, and revealed the future to him, and promised water and victory. So it is often said of Ezechiel and other prophets, while they prophesy: “The hand of the Lord was upon him,” that is, God gave him prophetic light.
16. MAKE THE CHANNEL OF THIS TORRENT FULL OF DITCHES AND DITCHES,—as if he said: Make many and deep ditches in the channel of this torrent, that in them you may receive the abundance of water which God will presently give you.
20. AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THE MORNING, WHEN THE SACRIFICE IS WONT TO BE OFFERED,—that we may understand, says Cajetan, that the virtue of the morning sacrifice, which Josaphat offered continually every morning to God in the temple according to the law, cooperated in this miracle.
AND BEHOLD WATER (brought by Angels) CAME BY THE WAY OF EDOM,—into the camp of Josaphat and the allied kings, that they might quench their thirst with it.
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,—from the reflection of the rays of the morning sun, which, because of the night vapours through which they passed, appeared red, just as the same rays appear red when they pass through red glass; they also appear red to us when they are reflected to the eye from a cloud or from the earth. For this is the optical reason, as is plain from perspective and from daily experience. Whence the Hebrew is, the sun shone upon the waters and they saw the waters red. And Josephus says, “the waters appeared red, because at that time (morning) water struck by the sun’s rays especially glows red.” The waters therefore were not truly red, but appeared red by reason of the reflection of the rays. So Abulensis and others. Moreover the Moabites, deceived by this redness of the waters, thought that they were reddened by the blood of the enemy fighting among themselves, and therefore, rushing upon them, were cut down by them to the last man.