Questions on Kings and Chronicles 1 part 10/11

"He himself is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the dividing wall of partition." The narrative, moreover, teaches the number of the Levites — how many thousands were appointed to oversee the building, how many to judge and to teach the law, how many again to be gatekeepers and guard the entrances of the temple, and how many to sing and hymn the Lord of all.

And he tells how he also assigned the descendants of Moses to be numbered among the Levites;

"...of God, and his sons were called after the tribe of Levi." He also taught that Zadok the high priest was a descendant of Eleazar, while Abimelech was of Ithamar; and that, since more were found tracing their lineage from Eleazar, he assigned to them two portions among the courses, but one to those of Ithamar;

For he said that Zacharias was of the course of Abijah;

and the present book has taught that this Abijah obtained the seventh lot.

But I think that they too had a share in the prophetic gift.

For this too the narrative teaches;

"The sons of Asaph, at the side of Asaph the prophet, at the side of the king." And again, concerning Idithun: "The sons of Idithun, at the side of their father Idithun, who with lyres prophesied confession and praise to the Lord." And shortly after:

"All these were the sons of Heman, the king's seer, set by the words of God, to lift up the horn."

And God gave to Heman fourteen sons, and three daughters.

All these, together with their father, sang hymns in the house of the Lord with cymbals, and psalteries, and harps, for the service of the house of God, being subject to the king, and to Asaph, and Idithun, and Heman. And he also declared the descendants of the great Moses to be keepers of the sacred treasuries.

And stored in these were both the firstfruits of the spoils from wars, and the gifts offered to God.

But this man was of the priestly, and not of the royal, tribe.

'For know,' he said, 'the God of your fathers, and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing soul, for the Lord searches all hearts, and knows every thought of the mind.' He means that God does not accept compulsory servitude;

but he praises willing service, and loves complete readiness of heart.

'If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you utterly.' This is a promise of the gospel;

for, it says, 'Seek, and you will find;'

'knock, and it will be opened to you.' —See, then, that it says he chose you before me to build him a house for a sanctuary;

'be strong and do it.' It says he preferred you before me;

I myself wished to build, but he entrusted the work to you.

Therefore, with all readiness of heart, fulfill what has been commanded.

Then, since he was young, and ignorant both of the measurements and the form of the building, he sketched out a plan and gave it to him.

He also taught him how much weight the golden lampstands ought to be, and how much the tables.

Likewise also the fire-pans, and the flesh-hooks, and the vessels for libation, and the bowls.

He calls 'kapphore' certain vessels of gold and silver, in which they mixed the fine flour with the oil.

And having gone through all the other items as well, he added:

but here, 'from the hand of the Lord.'

The all-holy Spirit, then, is Lord, even though those who war against the Spirit do not wish it so.

And with a definite assurance he promised him the divine care.

'For he will not let you go,' it says, 'nor will he forsake you, until you complete all the work of the house of the Lord.' For while he was building he was pious, and enjoyed the divine providence;

but after the building was finished, having turned aside to impiety, he became bereft of the divine care.

And that the temple was also adorned with marbles, the historical narrative teaches.

'For who am I,' he says, 'and who is my people, that we should have been able thus to offer willingly to you? For all things are yours, and of your own we have given you.'

'For we are sojourners before you, and strangers, as all our fathers were, and our days upon the earth are like a shadow.' Thus, having confessed the weakness of human nature, he asked for both the people and the king the possession of piety.

Then, having offered a sacrifice of a thousand victims, and performed other sacrifices as well, with the people present he appointed his son king.

And Solomon, having offered thousand-fold sacrifices as priest at the Mosaic altar, besought God to obtain both wisdom and understanding.

And writing to Hiram, he showed forth his own knowledge of God;

'For who,' he says, 'will be able to build a house for God, seeing that heaven, and the heaven of heaven, cannot contain him? And who am I, that I should build him a house, except to burn incense before him?' I fulfill, he says, my own need.

For not even the highest heaven can contain his nature;

but wishing to offer him the reverence that is possible for me, I build a house made with hands.

How much the friendship of the pious profits, Hiram has shown by his letter of reply.

'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who made heaven and earth;'

Let no one suppose that this book disagrees with the Kingdoms, because we find here the length of the temple to be sixty cubits, but there forty.

for when twenty is added to forty, it becomes sixty.

So again, we find the height to be twenty-five cubits in the Kingdoms, but here a hundred and twenty.

'For the house,' it says, 'and its upper chambers you shall make.' And the historical narrative of the Kingdoms also teaches that the house had not only two stories, but even three.

and this is Zion. Thus he calls the upper city.

For having fortified it with walls as the stronger part, he built the royal palace in it;

'And every man of Israel was assembled to king Solomon at the feast;'

this is the seventh month. And he calls the feast the Feast of Tabernacles;

Now when Solomon had prayed, and had brought his prayer to an end, fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifices that had been offered.

Josephus has called the timber that was transported 'pine-wood.'

These the book of Kingdoms said had become supports for the house of the Lord, and for the house of the king;

but the present narrative calls them steps for the house of the Lord, and for the house of the king.

Again, however, we learn from this that Nathan the prophet, and Ahijah the Shilonite, and Joel, who pronounced the sentence against Jeroboam, had books that they had written.

'For are not the rest of the acts of Solomon, the first and the last, behold, written among the words of Nathan the prophet, and among the words of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Joel the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?' And we have learned from this also that the man of God, who commanded the altar at Bethel to be split, whom the lion crushed for transgressing the commandment of God, was called Joel.

How is one to understand the statement, 'The king did not listen to the people, because it was a turning away from God, that the Lord might establish his word, which he spoke by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite'? Those who enjoy divine care, being made wise by God, perceive what must be done;

but those deprived of this grace are carried along at random.

for in that place was the divine temple.

Jeroboam and his sons cast them out against their will, so that they should not minister to the Lord;

and he appointed for himself priests of the high places, and for the idols, and for the vain things, and for the calves which Jeroboam had made.

And there followed the priests and the Levites, and also pious men from the other tribes;

'They humbled themselves; I will not destroy them, and I will grant them a little deliverance;' that is to say, 'I will preserve in them the spark of the blessing of the world;'

'and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.' 'I will not now,' he says, 'hand them over to utter destruction, but I will keep the punishment for a later time;'

but for the present I will lay upon them the yoke of servitude.

'For they shall become his servants,' it says, 'and they shall know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the earth.' By comparison, he says, I will teach them how good my yoke is, and how heavy the yoke of men is.

Again, we have also been taught that there existed other prophetic books;

'For are not the acts of Rehoboam, the first and the last, behold, written among the words of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer, in the genealogical records, and his deeds?' It is worth admiring the public speech of Abijah;

for seeing eight hundred thousand of the ten tribes marching against him;

and Jeroboam was leading them;

he, drawing up in battle array with four hundred thousand, said to those who were about to array themselves against him:

since even barbarians, having often eaten together with enemies, keep a firm peace, remembering the salt they shared.

'But my father,' he says, 'because of his youth and timidity, yielded to the tyranny;'

'and you trust in the multitude, and in the golden calves, for the sake of which you drove out the priests of God, and appointed others in their place, doing things similar to what the nations do.'

For they too appoint whatever priests happen to be at hand for gods that do not exist.

'But we trust in the true God, whose priests and Levites we also honor, and we offer sacrifices according to the divine law, and we array ourselves in battle according to his ordinances, signaling the war with the sacred trumpets.'

For you will repent, having done this.

When these things had been said, the ten tribes surrounded Judah;

but these shouted aloud, and called upon the divine favor for their help.

But God, called upon as an ally, turned the enemies' boldness into cowardice, and they all turned and fled, and five hundred thousand were destroyed as they fled.

He also states the cause of their flight:

"And the sons of Judah prevailed, because they hoped in the Lord God of their fathers. They also took the cities subject to them."

As for Jeroboam, the God of all things himself delivered him over to death.

He also praises Asa's earlier piety:

"For Asa," it says, "did what was right before the Lord his God, and removed the foreign altars" — that is, those of the idols —

"and the high places." Now I think that by these he is hinting at the things unlawfully dedicated to God on the hills.

"And he broke the sacred pillars, and cut down the sacred groves." And in what follows he continues the praises.

With this piety, having drawn up for battle, he routed the Ethiopians, and pursuing them he destroyed all of them.

He says that these had become their neighbors.

"For they plundered," it says, "much spoil, and cut down their villages around Gerar, because the terror of the Lord came upon them;"

"and they plundered their cities, because much spoil had come to them."

"Indeed, they also destroyed the tents of livestock, and the Amazoneim, and took many sheep and camels, and returned to Jerusalem." But that Gerar belongs to Palestine, I think no one will dispute.

For around the city called Eleutheropolis, a district of the Gerarenes, the Saltus, is so named to this day.

It is likely, then, that colonists of the Ethiopians inhabited that region;

and also certain others called Amazoneim, whom, when they marched against them, they utterly destroyed, every one.

After the victory, however, Azariah son of Oded the prophet, filled with the divine Spirit, met the army, both making mention of the divine help and urging them to persevere in piety:

"For if," he says, "you seek him, he will be found by you;"

"and if you forsake him, he will forsake you." He also points out to them the impiety of the ten tribes:

"For many days," he says, "Israel was without the true God, and without a priest to instruct, and without law,"

"and they dwelt in distress;"

"and they will turn in affliction to the Lord God of Israel;"

"and they will seek him, and he will be found by them." "Do not," he says, "emulate the impiety of your brothers,"

for they serve not the true God, but the falsely-named gods;

and they are deprived of priests and teachers who instruct in the law of God;

but they will learn by experience how great an evil impiety is.

For having fallen into calamities of every kind, they will seek divine help;

and they will obtain it, because of God's ineffable goodness.

He also foretells the invasion of the Assyrians:

"For in those times," he says, "there is no peace for him who goes out, because there is great terror of the Lord upon all who dwell in the lands,"

"And nation will make war upon nation, and city upon city, because God has thrown them into confusion with every affliction." Then he counsels them to hold their hope in God unshaken:

"For you also," he says, "be strong;"

"and let not your hands be slackened, for there is a reward for your labor." Having heard this, the king destroyed whatever precincts of the idols still remained, and purified whatever cities of the ten tribes he had taken over.

The historical narrative also teaches this: that a great multitude from the other tribes, having learned by experience the piety of the two tribes and the divine care which they enjoyed, left their own cities and fled to those of Judah, and preferred to sojourn in a foreign land rather than to dwell in their own.

Having gathered these together with the two tribes, Asa celebrated a festival of victory;

and having offered very many sacrifices to God, he made all of them swear that they would not depart from the lawful way of life, but would serve only the God who had saved them.

So fervently did he embrace the divine laws that he even stripped his own mother, who had chosen to worship Astarte, of her royal position;

and having cut the idol to pieces, he burned it in the brook Kidron.

But he was not perfect in all things.

For first, he did not remove all the high places, that is, the altars dedicated to the God of all things in the high places.

For it was forbidden to sacrifice elsewhere;

for the worship according to the law was restricted to a single place.

Then, when Baasha marched against him and fortified Ramah as a stronghold against Jerusalem, though he ought to have called to his aid the very one who had been the provider of so many good things to him, he called instead upon the king of Syria as an ally;

sending him a very great amount of gold from the royal treasuries — indeed, even from the sacred treasuries.

But the loving Lord did not leave him incurable;

having sent the prophet, he reproved his unbelief, saying the following:

"Because you trusted in the king of Syria, and did not trust in the Lord your God, for this reason the army of the king of Israel escaped." Your unbelief, he says, procured salvation for them.

For if you had trusted as before, you would have utterly destroyed them all.

He also reminds him of the Ethiopians, and the Libyans, and the horses, and the chariots, and of his own faith, through which he had destroyed them all;

for "the eyes of the Lord," he says, "look upon all the earth, to give strength to every heart that is perfect toward him." For everyone, he says, who genuinely calls upon him will obtain salvation.

"You have acted foolishly in this." Then he foretells the grim things that are to come:

"For from now on," he says, "you shall have war." From this it is possible to learn that the Amazoneim are a Libyan nation.

For those whom above he called Amazoneim, here he has called Libyans.

But Asa, though he ought to have grieved, and lamented, and called upon the divine loving-kindness, not only became angry, but also delivered the prophet to prison.

The people also shared in the consequences of his transgression.

"For Asa," it says, "oppressed some of the people at that time." He also finds fault with him because, when he fell ill, he did not seek the Lord, but physicians.

But since I have already set forth the clarification of this in the fourth book of Kingdoms, I will proceed to what follows in the interpretation.

"For he sought," it says, "the Lord God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not according to the works of Israel."

"And the Lord established the kingdom in his hand, and there came to him great wealth and glory." Now the phrase "his heart was exalted" he has set down not as an accusation, but as praise.

For he added, "in the ways of the Lord," and "he removed the sacred groves from the land of Judah." He also appointed for all the people teachers of the divine law, and priests, and Levites, and rulers.

"For there came," he says, "terror upon all the kingdoms of the lands round about Judah;"

"and they did not make war against Jehoshaphat." So great was the fear that fell upon all, that even the Philistines and the Arabs brought him tribute.

Having this abundance, he both built cities, and constructed houses, and fortified the unwalled villages.

By "one who offers willingly to the Lord" he means one who offers not on account of sins, but who brings gifts to God.

He also finds fault with him for the marriage alliance which he made with Ahab. For he betrothed Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, to his son.

He has also set down the narrative concerning Micaiah, and the false prophets, which has been interpreted by us in the books of Kingdoms.

But what was omitted by that writer, and is set down here, I think it necessary to state.

For as Jehoshaphat was returning from that battle, Jehu son of Hanani the prophet met him, and said to him:

"King Jehoshaphat, do you help a sinner? Do you befriend one hated by the Lord? For this reason wrath from the Lord has come upon you;"

"but yet good things have been found in you, in that you removed the sacred groves from the land of Judah, and directed your heart to seek the Lord." From this we learn that prior right actions lessen the punishments due for sins.

For the righteous judge, measuring out these things to those men in like measure, thus renders his verdict.

This he has done in the case of this man also.

For he was indeed angry with him on account of his kinship;

but on account of his other virtue, he delivered him from the enemies who assaulted and surrounded him.

It behooves us, then, having learned these things, to flee both kinship and friendship with those who are hateful to God.

For again, it says, Jehoshaphat went out among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim, and turned them back to the Lord the God of their fathers. And he took thought not only for piety, but also for good order in other matters.

For he appointed, it says, judges in all the fortified cities of Judah. And admirable also are his words to the judges:

For see, it says, what you do, since you judge not for man, but for the Lord, and the matters of judgment are with you.

'And now let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed, and act, for with the Lord your God there is no injustice, nor respect of persons, nor taking of bribes.' He showed them the Beholder of all things, and instilled the fear of him in them, so that they might not sell justice for gifts, nor for friendship.

In like manner he also charged the judges of Jerusalem, that they should not only judge for the citizens, but should also justly settle the disputes of those arriving from elsewhere, and give them fitting counsel.

'and wrath shall not come upon you, nor upon your brothers.'

'Thus you shall do, and you shall not sin.' And he set over them Amariah the priest, so that if those who judge should not know how to render the verdict, they might learn it from God through him.

'For behold,' he said, 'Amariah the priest is over you as leader in every matter of the Lord;'

'and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, leader of the house of Judah in every matter of the king;'

'and the scribes and the Levites are before you. If, then, you wish to inquire anything of God, let it be done through the priest;'

'but if concerning the king, through the ruler;'

'but if you wish to learn what the law requires, learn it from the Levites who teach the law.'

For he called the teachers scribes.

'Be courageous, and act, and the Lord will be with the good.' He did not simply say, 'with you,' but 'with the good,' that is, with him who has a good purpose and inclines toward it.

And when very numerous enemies made war against him, he trusted neither in the multitude of his subjects, nor in weapons,

but, it says, he set his face to seek out the Lord;

Then he calls to mind the benefit and the wonder-working that had already taken place.

'For you, it says, are the Lord our God, who destroyed those dwelling in this land before the face of your people Israel, and gave it to the seed of Abraham your friend.' He called to mind the forefather, so that through the promise made to him he might obtain help.

He also told how the temple was built, and how Solomon, when he prayed, asked that if enemies should come upon them, the people might run to the temple and call upon its God, and thereby enjoy help from above.

'You know,' it says, 'how our fathers, passing through the wilderness and arriving at this land, did no harm to the Edomites, nor to the Ammonites, nor to the Moabites, as they passed by, in accordance with your commandments.'

'But these now, having gathered together, are attempting to drive us out of the inheritance you have given us.'

'Will you not judge them?' And he also confesses his own weakness:

that: 'We have no strength to withstand this great multitude that has come against us.'

'And we do not know what we should do, for our eyes are upon you.' While these words were being spoken, the whole multitude stood crying out to God with a great cry.

And the women offered up their supplications with wailing and lamentation.

But the compassionate God, using Jahaziel the Levite as his minister, dissolved their fear by the promise of good things:

For, it says, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him in the assembly, and he said:

'Hear, all Judah, and you who dwell in Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat.' The distinction is one of honor:

for he mentioned the king separately, and separately those who inhabit Jerusalem;

'Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed before this great multitude;'

'for the battle is not yours, but God's.' Then he bids them stand upon a certain height and become spectators of the battle:

'For it is not for you,' it says, 'to fight in this battle.'

'Stand still, and perceive, and see the salvation of the Lord that is with you.'

'Judah and Jerusalem, do not fear, nor be afraid to go out tomorrow to meet them, and the Lord will be with you.' He gave the pledge of courage, and drove out human fear.

When these things had been spoken by Jahaziel, all bowed down in worship;

and the Levites employed hymns of praise.

And as they went out on the following day, the king further encouraged them, saying:

'Hear me, sons of Judah, and you who dwell in Jerusalem: believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; put your trust in his prophets, and you shall prosper.' Then he ordered that the army be led, not by the front-line soldiers bearing arms, but by the Levites singing hymns.

But he who scatters the tribes of the nations, and brings to nothing the reasonings of peoples, and brings to nothing the counsels of rulers, and turns back the prudent, and makes their counsel foolish, stirred up the enemies against one another.

And first the Ammonites and Moabites destroyed the Edomites;

then, turning against one another, they dealt with each other in the same manner.

And the king, together with his subjects, watched the slaughter of the enemies.

And since all had fallen, and not even one escaped to report the disaster to his own people, they fearlessly stripped the dead and carried off all the spoil.

And having done this for three days, on the fourth day they sang hymns to the giver of victory.

And that plain also received its name from the blessing;

for it was called the Valley of Blessing.

And the marvel of the victory struck all the kings of the surrounding nations with terror.

Yet even after this greatest of wonders had come to pass, it says, 'the people did not direct their heart toward the Lord, the God of their fathers.' And the narrative again made mention of the written prophecy of Jehu son of Hanani.

'Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, are they not written in the words of Jehu son of Hanani, which he recorded in the book of the kings of Israel?' And again it finds fault with Jehoshaphat, because he allied himself with Ahaziah the son of Ahab:

'And he himself acted lawlessly in building ships to go to Tarshish;'

'and he made ships in Ezion-geber.' And I have already said that this was a city situated by the Indian Sea, having Ethiopians as its inhabitants.

And they call it, in the Greek tongue, Berenice.

'Because you made friendship,' it says, 'with Ahaziah, and joined yourself with him, the Lord has broken your works, and your ships were wrecked, and were not able to go to Tarshish.' And how many evils that impious kinship occasioned, the sequel of the narrative teaches:

For Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, emulated the impiety of Ahab his father-in-law.

This man also killed all his brothers, and walked through every kind of wickedness.

'For he walked,' it says, 'in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab did, because the daughter of Ahab was his wife;'

For the God who loves mankind bears even with the wicked, remembering the virtue of those who have gone before.

And he also reaped the fruits of piety.

For indeed Edom cast off the yoke of servitude;

and Libnah also revolted, a city belonging to Judea.

But the prophet himself did not come in person; rather, through a letter he made known the divine sentence.

Elijah the prophet saying:

'Thus says the Lord, the God of your father:'

'Because you have not walked in the way of Jehoshaphat your father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah, but have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem go awhoring, as the house of Ahab caused Israel to go awhoring;'

'and you have killed your brothers, the sons of your father, who were better than you;'

'Therefore, behold, the Lord strikes a great blow upon your people, and upon your sons, and upon your wives, and upon all your house.'

'And you shall be afflicted with grievous sicknesses, with a sickness of your bowels, until your intestines come out because of the sickness, day after day.' From this we learn that both Asa and Jehoshaphat were not utterly reprobate;

but even if they committed some faults, in most respects they served God.

For this man too was charged with having abandoned their course.

And the prediction reached its fulfillment.

For not only did the Philistines make war upon Jehoram, but also the Arabs, and the neighbors of the Ethiopians; and attacking with force they prevailed, and destroyed the city, and led the multitude captive, and killed his sons and daughters, and seized the royal wealth for themselves.

Only Ahaziah escaped, the youngest of the sons.

And the disease of the bowels also came upon him, according to the prediction, and not even after death was he deemed worthy of a royal burial.

'For the people,' it says, 'made for him no funeral procession and burning, according to the burning of his fathers, and they buried him, not in the tombs of the kings.' Truly fearful is it to fall into the hands of the living God.

For just as his mercy is ineffable, so also his punishment is irresistible.

From this narrative we learn that the Amazonieim are neighbors of the Ethiopians.

For above, the writer taught that the enemies who attacked Jehoram were neighbors of the Ethiopians.