列王紀與歷代志問答 第 1 章 第 5/11 段

This too the historical narrative teaches:

For indeed, had he been called to account for the numbering, he would have said: 'You yourself commanded that they be numbered.'

But instead he confessed that he had sinned.

For indeed, when he had resolved to build the divine temple, God made it clear to him through the prophet Nathan that he should resolve on no such thing, but should reserve the care of the building for his son.

That this thought arose in him not by God's operation but by His permission, the book of Chronicles teaches more clearly.

...to the promises did such a thought stand opposed (for the God of all said to Abraham, 'I will make your seed as the sand which is upon the shore of the sea, which shall not be numbered for multitude'); therefore it named such a thought 'Satan,' as being contrary to the divine promise;

but it was for the punishment of Israel that such a thought came to be,

since, though able to prevent it, He did not prevent it, wishing thereby to chasten the transgressors of the law.

And first He willed to remind them of the promise made to their fathers, and to demonstrate its truth;

then to teach that from Jacob alone so many tens of thousands had come to be, and that, though they had obtained so great a benefit, they had always displayed a wicked disposition.

For this reason He first permitted them to be numbered;

and then punished them thus, sending the prophet Gad to the one who had numbered them, to set before him three choices:

either a famine measured out over three years, or an invasion of enemies for three months, conquering by force and pursuing, or death by pestilence occurring within three days;

and having said these things, the prophet urged the prophet-king to give his answer quickly;

'And now,' he says, 'know and see what word I shall answer to him who sent me.' But the most wise and most just king, reasoning that he himself, as king, could escape the famine, having much grain stored up,

and that the punishment would fall on the poor alone;

and that in war too he could escape the hands of the enemy, first by making use of the strongest and most impregnable fortresses, and then by surrounding himself with his most valiant men;

did not think it right to take thought for his own safety, but chose to share in the punishments inflicted upon the people;

for such is pestilence, knowing no distinction between rich and poor, nor between coward and brave;

nor between slave and master, nor between commoner and king;

but advances against all alike.

For this reason he preferred this punishment above the others, since it is He Himself who is the dispenser of its chastisement;

'All three are exceedingly distressing to me.'

'Yet let me fall into the hands of the Lord;'

'for His mercies are exceedingly many;'

'but into the hands of men let me not fall.'

For though God had threatened death for three days, He brought the death in only six hours.

And when the nights are reckoned together with the days, it is found that only the twelfth part of the threatened punishment was brought upon the people.

Thus the loving Lord employs greater threats to frighten sinners,

but inflicts punishments far lesser than the threats.

For indeed, though there were found nine hundred thousand of Israel, and four hundred thousand of Judah—that is, of those of age for military service, with those below and above that age, and indeed also women, being excluded, and moreover the Levites and the tribe of Benjamin as well—

for since the king repented, they were not numbered;

only seventy thousand were slain by the angel;

and this though all of them could have been destroyed in an instant.

For the punishing angel had no need of time.

For in an instant he slew both the firstborn of the Egyptians, and the hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians.

Worthy of admiration too are the king's own words:

'Behold,' he says, 'I have sinned, and I the shepherd have done wickedly; but these, the flock, what have they done? Let Your hand be against me, and against my father's house.' Being ignorant of the true cause, he called what had happened his own sin;

and he entreated that a just sentence be brought upon himself and his family, using the words of a true shepherd, and imitating his son and Lord, who laid down His own life for the sheep.

As for the phrase, 'The Lord repented,' it is superfluous to interpret it,

for we have often stated its meaning, namely that it signifies a change in the divine dispensation.

At once, then, the king ran and asked Ornan the Jebusite to sell him the threshing floor.

But when he promised to give the threshing floor, the oxen, and the wood of the plows as a free gift—so that on the former he might build the altar, sacrifice the latter, and bring fire with the wood—the king said it was just not to offer gifts to God from what belonged to another, but from his own.

Having learned this from him, his son Solomon exhorts, saying: 'Honor the Lord from your righteous labors, and give Him the firstfruits from the fruits of your righteousness.' Fulfilling this, the king, after purchasing the site, built the altar, offered the sacrifice, and propitiated God.

It should be known that it was on that very site that the wise Solomon built the temple.

For this too the historical narrative teaches:

For, it says, Solomon added to the altar afterward, because it had been small at first. After this, the historian narrated the affairs concerning Ornan, or Adonijah (for he went by two names)—

how he plotted to seize tyrannical power;

and how he held a splendid banquet, having as the chief guests of the feast the general Joab and Abiathar the priest.

He held the banquet by a certain spring, which welled up before the city, beside which a royal garden flourished.

For thus Josephus said, and Symmachus also rendered 'Ain' as 'spring.'

And the Syrian version also calls it 'Aina.'

Some suppose that Nathan was grieved at not having been invited to the banquet;

and that for this reason he arranged for Bathsheba to report to the king what had taken place.

This is an utterly foolish suspicion to have held.

For the prophet, knowing God's decree—

(for it was through him that God declared to the king, 'You shall not build Me a house for Me to dwell in;

but behold, a son shall be born to you; he shall be a man of rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about;

and I will give peace and quiet upon Israel in his days;

he shall build a house for My name.') Knowing these things, the prophet, and seeing that Ornan had seized the kingship contrary to the divine counsel, reminded the king, through Bathsheba, of the divine prediction;

and then, going in himself, he confirmed her words.

What does he mean by 'Gihon'? The Nile has been called Gihon;

for it is one of the four rivers.

And this God Himself clearly taught through Jeremiah, saying:

'And now, what have you to do with the way of Egypt, to drink the water of Gihon?' But they also gave the name Gihon to Siloam;

either calling it so ironically, as being exceedingly small,

or because it too issues forth from hidden underground channels, just as the Nile does.

Zadok the high priest and Nathan the prophet were commanded to anoint Solomon.

The slingers and archers were also sent along with them;

for these he calls the Cherethites and Pelethites

Why in the world did the officials, in blessing the new king in his father's presence, pray that he might become more glorious and more illustrious than his father? For they said, "May the Lord make the name of your son Solomon better than your name, and magnify his throne above your throne." They knew that no one possessed of paternal affection has ever been jealous of his children;

and that it is characteristic of fathers to wish to see their children even more resplendent than themselves

for Arius and his offspring alone are afflicted with this folly

that, though his old age prevented him from rising, he worshiped God while lying down, God who had brought his promises to their fulfillment;

"Blessed," he says, "is the Lord God of Israel, who has today given one of my offspring to sit upon my throne, and my eyes behold it." To God, then, he offered this hymn, and to the son who was to succeed him in the kingdom he charged that he keep piety undefiled

First he pointed out the end common to all;

"For I," he said, "am going the way of all the earth; and you shall be strong, and shall become a man of valor, and you shall keep the charge of the Lord God of Israel, to walk before him, to keep his way;"

"and his ordinances, his statutes, and his judgments, his commandments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses. Do not dare to transgress even the least of the things that are written."

For this is what is signified by "statutes," and "judgments," and "testimonies," and "commandments," and "ordinances." He also taught the benefit that springs from this;

"that all you do may prosper, and wherever you turn to look there." "For," he says, "if these things are done by you, our good Lord will confirm the promise he made to me, that a man of your line shall never be cut off from the throne of Israel."

For what reason, having himself not punished Joab, did he command his son to do this? First, he felt shame before him, inasmuch as he had been his partner in labors and dangers;

and besides, he also was wary of his recklessness

This he made clear by what he said, that "the sons of Zeruiah are too harsh for me." Besides this, having learned that he was helping Adonijah in his bid for tyranny, he feared lest, resorting to his habitual malice, he should hold Solomon's youth in contempt and do one of two things:

either, wearing a mask of goodwill, secretly do away with him, just as he had killed Abner and Amasa;

or openly set himself in array against him, and divide Israel

He also taught him of Barzillai's goodwill, and commanded that his sons be deemed worthy of every care, acknowledging that this was a debt owed to him

and, providing for his son's safety, he told him what that man had dared to do, so that he might guard against his wickedness

And he knew too, as a prophet, that this man, if he transgressed Solomon's commands, would be destroyed

For the man was defiled, and a ringleader of seditions

Thus also was the upper city called;

but now the whole is named Jerusalem

In this city, Josephus says, he too was deemed worthy of burial, as were the kings after him;

and that the tomb is near Siloam, having a cave-like form, and displaying royal magnificence

He also said that much gold was buried with him by his son Solomon;

for he became king at thirty years of age, and reigned in all for forty years

Some find fault with Solomon, as one who killed his brother

For some pursue the highest philosophy, while others pursue what is called civic virtue;

others govern a kingdom, or command an army

One must, therefore, examine each person according to the manner of life he pursues;

accordingly, one must not demand of Solomon prophetic or apostolic perfection, but that which befits kings

For he himself knew that Adonijah was aspiring to tyranny;

indeed he had already attempted to seize the kingdom

For the former act of daring, then, he forgave him, and promised to grant him safety, provided he would consent to be prudent

But when he asked for his father's consort, he did not grant the request, since it was a path to tyranny;

and, contriving to secure the kingdom against sedition, he ordered him to be put to death

Why in the world did he put Joab to death when he had taken refuge with God? The law of God ordained that this should be done;

for it commanded that a murderer who takes refuge there be put to death

But Shimei himself drew the sentence of death upon himself;

for having promised to dwell in the capital city, and having confirmed the promise with an oath, he transgressed the oath, and dared to leave contrary to the agreement

For what reason did he strip Abiathar of the high priesthood? He had shared with Adonijah in his tyranny

For this is also indicated by Solomon's own words;

"Go quickly," he says, "to your field and to your house, for you are a man deserving death this day;"

"and because you were afflicted in all the things in which my father was afflicted." He was liable, then, as I have said, also to the charge of complicity in the tyranny, since he had indeed become a collaborator in Adonijah's audacity

Yet Solomon also became the instrument of the divine prediction

For to Eli, both through the all-renowned Samuel and also through another prophet, God had foretold the disgrace of his line

And this the narrative has also made clear; for it says as follows:

"And Solomon cast out Abiathar, so that he should not be a priest of the Lord, that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled which he spoke in Shiloh concerning the house of Eli." QUESTION

How is one to understand the statement, "Solomon's wisdom abounded beyond the understanding of all the sons of the ancients, and beyond all the wise men of Egypt"? The historian wished to demonstrate his wisdom by comparison

For this reason he made mention, in an unspecified way, also of the wise men who had lived long ago;

and he added the Egyptians, as being reputed to be wise above all others

For indeed, as the Greeks record, both Pherecydes the Syrian, and Pythagoras the Samian, and Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, and Plato the Athenian, journeyed to them, hoping to learn from them a more exact theology and natural philosophy

And the divine Scripture too, in recounting the affairs of Moses the lawgiver, said that he was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians

"All these," he says, Solomon eclipsed, inasmuch as he had received the gift of wisdom from God;

but to the praise of his wisdom he joined an accusation

For he transgressed the law laid down expressly concerning marriage, which forbade union with foreign women

For he himself was the first to take as wife the daughter of Pharaoh

What is meant by, "And Achicam son of Tharach was over the burden-bearers"? He was the chief of those who transported the stones and the timber

These the book of Chronicles called "back-bearers";

but those of the present day call them "shoulder-bearers"

The narrative, moreover, shows that God's promise reached its fulfillment

For he had promised to give to Israel territory from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates

"For," it says, "Solomon was ruler over all the kings from the river, as far as the land of the Philistines, and as far as the borders of Egypt." QUESTION

How is one to understand, "And the people were burning incense and sacrificing on the high places"? Here he is not accusing them of idolatry, but rather saying that, contrary to the law, they were offering sacrifices to God in the high places

For the law commanded that worship be offered in one place only

For this too the narrative has made clear;

"For they were burning incense and sacrificing on the high places, because the house had not yet been built for the name of the Lord until now." From this one must understand what is recorded concerning the other kings, that they removed the sacred groves, and broke in pieces the pillars of Baal;

For indeed Asa, and Jehoshaphat, and certain others, forbade sacrificing to the demons, and destroyed their precincts;

yet they did not stop the people from offering sacrifices on the high places

To Hezekiah, however, and to Josiah, divine Scripture has borne witness of this perfection.

That they offered sacrifices to the God of all at the high places, what follows bears witness:

"Only, he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places" — that is, not before the tabernacle, nor before the ark, as the divine law required.

But that he then offered not to idols but to God the hecatombs and thousand-fold offerings, the narrative teaches us clearly:

"For," it says, "Solomon went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, because it was the highest and greatest high place, able to receive a thousand whole burnt offerings."

"And Solomon offered upon the altar that was in Gibeon, and the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night;"

"and He said to him, Ask a petition for yourself." Now God would not have repaid him with gifts of every kind, had he offered the sacrifices to idols.

For since he chose wisdom before all these things together, whether the goods of this life were real or only seeming, the great Giver granted him the gift of wisdom, as much as human nature could receive;

and wealth and power, and a kingdom at peace, beyond all the kings of that age;

so that his renown ran throughout the whole inhabited world.

Admirable, too, are the words of his prayer.

For after recalling the good things that had come to his father, and praising the one who bestowed them, he then offered his own supplication:

"and I am a little child, and I know not my going out and my coming in."

"And your servant is in the midst of your people, whom you have chosen, a people so numerous, like the sand of the sea, which for its multitude cannot be numbered nor counted;"

"Seek," He says, "the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all the rest shall be added to you." These, then, were the gifts God gave to Solomon, and He further promised to deem him worthy of every providential care;

and Solomon, understanding that the revelation was divine, returned to the capital city, and before the divine ark offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

QUESTION: For what reason has the writer of this narrative set down the account of the two harlots? He wished to display the king's wisdom.

For it is indeed the mark of a most wise mind to bring to light what is hidden, to disclose what is concealed, to apply the test to nature itself, and to entrust to nature itself the verdict of judgment.

At once, then, the one was shown to be the mother, and the other was proved not to be the mother. QUESTION:

Having deposed Abiathar, how did he again join his name with Zadok's? He took away the headship, but did not strip him of the priesthood.

For they held the dignity of the priesthood not from ordination but from hereditary succession.

Who consumed the provisions supplied to the king's table? Not the household servants only, but also the multitude of bodyguards;

shield-bearers and spearmen, and the officers who dined together with him.

Who were Ethan and Heman and their circle, whom Solomon eclipsed in wisdom? At that time there were certain men renowned for wisdom;

hence they are mentioned by name as well.

Now Ethan and Heman were among the temple singers, praising God with lyres, harps, and cymbals.

How is one to understand the statement, "He spoke concerning the trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows out of the wall," and what follows?

It is said that he had studied the nature and properties both of plants and of trees, and indeed also of irrational animals;

hence I think that the writers of medical books, too, have gleaned a very great deal;

and that he compiled the classes of hot and cold things, and of dry and moist things as well, and by what degree one plant is hotter or colder than another;

and which part of which animal is a remedy against which ailment;

such as the bile of the hyena, or the fat of the lion, or the blood of the bull, or the flesh of vipers.

For concerning these things the wise among the physicians have written, having taken their earliest starting points from what Solomon composed.

What is meant by, "And Pharaoh gave them as a dowry-gift to his daughter, the wife of Solomon"? The cities he had captured he gave to her as a dowry, when he gave her in marriage to Solomon;

not that the foreigner anointed the king of Israel;

but rather, as an ancestral friend, he lent his approval to the kingship.

What does "machir" mean? It is interpreted as "measure";

"For," it says, "Solomon gave to Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat, machir, for his household, and twenty thousand baths of beaten oil." The others rendered "bath" as "batos."

The batos is a Palestinian measure, holding seventy-four choes, as Josephus has stated.

Why in the world did he not begin the building immediately upon becoming king, but only in the fourth year? He first prepared the materials;

and only then did he lay the foundations.

This also the historian has shown;

"And he prepared the stones and the timber for three years, for the building of the house." QUESTION:

If he built the temple with unhewn stones, what need was there of so many quarrymen? He built the temple proper of unhewn stones, since divine Providence willed that such naturally-formed stones be found, so that no iron at all was needed for jointing them, but they were fitted to one another beyond all art of building.

With the hewn stones, however, he built the enclosure of the sanctuary, the royal palace, the wall of the capital, and the other cities which he strengthened with fortifications.

Let me now describe, in summary, the construction of the temple.

Its length was sixty cubits, and its breadth twenty.

But let no one be surprised that, whereas divine Scripture has said the length was forty cubits and the breadth twenty, I have said the length was sixty.

For a little later it also mentions the other twenty cubits, in describing the holy of holies.

Therefore the outer sanctuary was forty cubits, and the Holy of Holies twenty.

Other small chambers, too, had been built on to the temple from outside, so as both to reinforce the structure, and to keep any of the Levites from touching the temple's walls.

For only the priests were permitted to enter the first chamber, called the Holy Place;

but into the innermost shrine, the sanctuary that Scripture calls the Holy of Holies, not even these were permitted to enter.

For only the high priest was appointed to venture into that which was untouchable to the rest;

and not even he at all times, but only in the seventh month, on the Day of Atonement.

In those chambers, built round about the temple, the vessels of the divine liturgy were stored.

The porch, which in the Hebrew tongue is called "Ailam," had a length equal to the breadth of the temple, and a breadth of ten cubits.

The temple also had windows, wide on the inside but very narrow on the outside, covered with pierced stonework.

This is the meaning of, "He made for the house latticed, concealed windows." And by "melathra" [side-chambers] he means the small chambers built around the temple;

let no one be surprised that the ground-floor chambers were five cubits, the second-story ones six cubits, and the third-story ones seven cubits.

For the walls were thicker below, so as to bear the weight of the structure.

As the wall's thickness diminished by degrees, a cubit was added to the second-story chambers, and two cubits to the third-story chambers.

This too the historian has shown, that he made a ledge in the wall all around the house, so that they might not take hold upon the walls of the house.

Josephus, however, says that the temple itself was also two stories high, and that its total height was one hundred and twenty cubits.

This too the book of Chronicles teaches.

How is one to understand, "Neither hammer nor axe, nor any tool of iron, was heard while it was being built"? I have already said that he built the temple from naturally-formed stones;

but the hewn stones with which he built the temple's enclosure he ordered to be dressed and fitted to one another in the mountain, so that they would need no further work thereafter.

Here too the writer has intimated that the temple had upper chambers.

"For," it says, "the ascent to the middle story was winding, and from the middle to the third stories." For the wall, being very thick, had a spiral stairway;

And with cedar planks he covered it entirely.

And again he covered the boards with gold.

He called the strap-like bands ‘bindings.’

He said these were made of cedar, one for every five cubits of stone;

By these the whole building was bound together.

That the temple was sixty cubits (in length) one may easily learn from this.

For having already said that the length was forty cubits, he afterward added again:

‘in the middle of the house, within, to place there the ark of the covenant of the Lord’

‘Twenty cubits was its length, and twenty cubits its breadth, and twenty cubits its height,’ and he enclosed it, overlaid with gold. Therefore the place called the Holy Place was forty cubits;

and the Holy of Holies was twenty (cubits).

One may see this more clearly also in what follows.

Everything, indeed, was covered over with gold;

both the ceiling, and the floor, and the cherubim, and the walls, and the doors;

so that no other material at all was to be seen within.

Now, just as the outer parts, so too the interior was divided in two;

for of these, some parts were accessible to all the people, while others were accessible to the priests and the Levites.

He also made two pillars of bronze, having both a form and a size worthy to be seen.

For the height, apart from the capitals, was eighteen cubits, and the circumference was fourteen (cubits).

On these he also set capitals of the same material, and very large lilies upon the capitals, and a certain net-like ornament bearing pomegranates hung upon it.

These adorned the porch, bearing an architrave made of the same material.

This the narrative has also made clear, saying:

‘The architrave was a covering upon the thickness of both pillars.’ He also made a bronze laver, which, because of its size, he called ‘the sea.’

For it had the form of a hemisphere, ten cubits in diameter.

And the circumference was thirty-three cubits;

since the thickness measured a span.

For when the two spans—the one on this side, I mean, and the one on that—are measured together with the diameter, eleven cubits are found.

And these, tripled, make thirty-three.

Twelve oxen bore it, three facing toward each direction (of the compass).

The rim of the laver inclined outward, imitating the petals of a lily.

The book of Chronicles named the mechonoth ‘lavers.’

But Josephus said the mechonoth were ‘bases,’ and called the pot-shaped basins set upon the bases ‘lavers.’

In these they washed the sacrificial victims, and their inward parts, and the feet.

For this the book of Chronicles clearly taught, saying:

‘For to wash in them,’ it says, ‘the parts of the whole burnt offerings, and to rinse them in them.’

‘And the sea, for the priests to wash themselves in it.’ As for the bases of the lavers, which it called ‘mechonoth,’ it said they were made square, having wheels set beneath them, resembling chariot wheels.

These had, above, reliefs of hands, bearing a crown-shaped ring on which the laver was set.

He has called ‘thermastreis’ the warmers, in which we are accustomed to heat water.

Just as Joshua the son of Nun put Jericho under the ban, so he dedicated all the gold and silver to God.

He has, then, called ‘holy things’ the things set apart for the God of all.

What does he mean by ‘the House of the Forest of Lebanon’? He built a very great house among the royal buildings, a forecourt for the court of judgment.

Its length was a hundred cubits, and its breadth fifty.

It had a hundred and thirty-five cedar pillars.

I think, then, that it was called ‘the House of the Forest of Lebanon’ because it had a multitude of cedar pillars, resembling the forest of Lebanon.

Again, he named the porch ‘Ailam’;

whose length was equal in measure to the breadth of the house;

for the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth thirty.

That this house was joined to the court of judgment, the narrative teaches.

‘And the Ailam of the thrones, where he shall judge there.’

‘the Ailam of the tribunal, and their house, in which he shall sit there,’ and so forth.

That he used hewn stones for these buildings, what follows teaches.

For the writer, having said that when the building had reached its completion he gathered the people together, so as to celebrate the feast of the dedication, added:

and it is by the hands that we perform (our) works.