Commentaria in II Paralipomenon
Chapter 28
1. Achaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord, as David his father;
2. but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, moreover he cast statues for Baalim.
3. It is he that burnt incense in the valley of Benennom, and purified his sons by fire, according to the manner of the nations, which the Lord slew at the coming of the children of Israel.
4. He sacrificed also, and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every shady tree.
5. And the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria, who defeated him, and took a great booty from his dominion, and carried it to Damascus: he was also delivered into the hands of the king of Israel, and was smitten with a great slaughter.
6. And Phacee the son of Romelia slew of Juda a hundred and twenty thousand in one day, all valiant men: because they had forsaken the Lord the God of their fathers.
7. At the same time Zechri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maasias the king’s son, and Ezricam the master of his house, and Elcana the next to the king.
8. And the children of Israel took of their brethren two hundred thousand women, boys and girls, and an infinite booty: and they carried it to Samaria.
9. At that time there was there a prophet of the Lord, named Oded, who went out to meet the army that came to Samaria, and said to them: Behold the Lord the God of your fathers being angry with Juda, hath delivered them into your hands, and you have slain them cruelly, so that your cruelty reacheth up to heaven.
10. Moreover you intend to bring the children of Juda and Jerusalem into subjection to be your bondmen and bondwomen, which ought by no means to be done: for you have sinned herein against the Lord your God.
11. But hear my counsel, and bring back the captives you have taken of your brethren, because the great wrath of the Lord hangeth over you.
12. And some of the chief men of the children of Ephraim, Azarias the son of Johanan, Barachias the son of Mosollamoth, Ezechias the son of Sellum, and Amasa the son of Adali, stood up against them that came from the battle,
13. and said to them: You shall not bring in the captives hither, lest we sin against the Lord. Why do you desire to add to our sins, and to heap up upon our old offences? for it is a great sin, and the wrath of the fury of the Lord hangeth over Israel.
14. And the men of war left the booty and all that they had taken before the princes and all the multitude.
15. And the men whom we have before mentioned stood up, and took the captives, and all that were naked they clothed of the spoils: and when they had clothed them, and shod them, and refreshed them with meat and drink, and anointed them because of their labour, and taken care of them: whosoever of them could not walk, and were feeble of body, they set upon beasts, and brought them to Jericho the city of palm trees to their brethren, and themselves returned to Samaria.
16. At that time king Achaz sent to the king of the Assyrians, asking help.
17. And the Idumeans came and slew many of Juda, and took a great booty.
18. The Philistines also spread themselves through the cities of the plain, and the south of Juda: and took Bethsames, and Aialon, and Gederoth, and Socho also, and Thamnan, and Gamzo, with their villages, and dwelt in them.
19. For the Lord had humbled Juda because of Achaz king of Juda, for he had stripped it of help, and despised the Lord.
20. And he brought against him Thelgathphalnasar king of the Assyrians, who also afflicted him, and wasted all without any resistance.
21. So Achaz, having stripped the house of the Lord, and the house of the kings and princes, gave presents to the king of the Assyrians, and yet it profited him nothing.
22. Moreover also in the time of his distress he increased his contempt against the Lord, king Achaz himself,
23. sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, his conquerors, and said: The gods of the kings of Syria help them, I will appease them with sacrifices, and they will help me, whereas on the contrary they were his ruin, and of all Israel.
24. So Achaz having taken away all the vessels of the house of God, and broken them, shut up the doors of the temple of God, and made himself altars in all the corners of Jerusalem.
25. And in all the cities of Juda he built altars to burn incense, and provoked to wrath the Lord the God of his fathers.
26. Now the rest of his acts, and of all his works first and last, are written in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel.
27. And Achaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of Jerusalem: for they received him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel. And Ezechias his son reigned in his stead.
Caesar, Augustus, Vespasian, Titus, Aurelian.
Verse 23. He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, his conquerors, and said: The gods of the kings of Syria help them, I will appease them with sacrifices, and they will help me, whereas on the contrary they were his ruin, and of all Israel.—For these gods were demons, who only
I explained this chapter in 4 Kings XV.
Verse 5. Of the king of Syria.—This was Rasin, who was made king by God, to be a scourge of the kingdom of Juda, and to chastise its idols and crimes.
Verse 15. And when they had clothed them, and shod them, and refreshed them with meat—See here the remarkable humanity and mercy of the Israelites toward the captives of the Jews, though their enemies, set before all Christian princes and leaders, that they may imitate it. For so in turn they will obtain the mercy of God; clement men indeed—for “clemency can do more than violence,” as Antigonus king of the Macedonians said in Plutarch in the Apophthegms, so that Darius wished for the clemency of Alexander the Great, and that he, though an enemy, should succeed him in his kingdom. They seek only to harm Israel, that is, the faithful people. Similar was the folly of the Gentile Romans, who invoked the gods of their enemies, that, called forth from the hostile land, they might migrate to Rome, and give the Romans victory over their enemies, as St. Augustine relates, book IV On the City of God.
Verse 24. He shut up the doors of the temple,—that no one could adore God in it, or sacrifice to him; but all were compelled to go to the shrines of idols and of his gods, to invoke them. This was the remarkable malice and wickedness of Achaz, which no one else is read to have practised. So toward their enemies were clement Julius