LIBER IV REGUM

• 611A

VERS. 2.--(RAB.) And Ochozias fell. The house of Ochozias is the Synagogue, which was hedged about on every side by the precepts of the law as by the lattices of an upper chamber. But as Ochozias, falling through the lattices by which he ought to have been guarded, ran into an exceeding sickness, so also the Jew, going beyond the keeping of the law, fell into a hopeless languor of sins. And there, because he forsook the protection of God, he found no remedy of salvation. For he fled, like an impious king, to false gods, and therefore he is rebuked by the mouth of the prophet, and his death is foretold as near at hand. Ochozias signifies above all the chief men of the Jews, who, given over to vices, persecute the truth; whence: The chief men and the Pharisees sent officers to apprehend Jesus, etc. (Joan. VII).

611BVERS. 9.-- And he sent to him a captain of fifty, and fifty men. (RAB.) The captain of fifty is the confession of penance, by which the remission of sins is declared. The Jews therefore, unwilling that Christ should be God, nor the prince of penance, say to him: Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? and they are burned in the fire to come. The third captain of fifty, because, being converted to the faith of the Trinity, he acknowledged the sacrament of penance, deserved pardon.

VERS. 2.-- It came to pass. (RAB. in lib. Reg., t. III.) A whirlwind, that is, a most violent wind, etc., as far as The Lord was taken up, neither begetting by intercourse nor begotten.

611CVERS. 9.-- Let it be in. Elias was mightily strong in the spirit of prophecy and in the working of miracles, the twofold grace, therefore, which Elisaeus knew to flourish in his master, he asked to be granted to himself. Whence it is plain that he asked not to be a disciple above his master. (RAB.) Having received from the Lord confidence in asking, the Church asks for the Spirit of Christ, and because she has need of the remission of sins, of which Christ had no need, and of the gift of the virtues which Christ out of his fullness bestows through the Holy Spirit, who ascending on high, led captivity captive, gave gifts to men (Ephes. IV), to those, namely, who place their hope in him. Hence it is that he says:

VERS. 10.-- If thou shalt see. That is, if thou shalt open the eyes of faith, and shalt faithfully believe, together with the passion and the resurrection, my ascension also, thou shalt obtain the 611Deffect of thy petition.

VERS. 13.-- The mantle. (RAB.) It is the Incarnation, through which he broke asunder the river of death and prepared for us a passage to life, this Elisaeus retained after the passing of Elias, because the Church kept the faith of the Incarnation after the ascension of Christ, through which she strives to pass over the waves of the present 612Alife; but as Elisaeus did not divide the waters except when the name of Elias had been invoked, so the Church cannot do any works of power except through the invocation of the name of Christ. For it is God who worketh in us both to will and to accomplish.

VERS. 17.-- Send ye. (ISID.) Salt, that is, wisdom set in an earthen vessel, that is, in the human body, heals the waters, that is, makes the peoples fruitful with the sweetness of love and of good works through the incarnation of Christ.

VERS. 23.-- And he went up. (ISID.) Elisaeus, the salvation of God. He it is who is called Saviour, at whom the Jews mock, because in the place of Calvary he was to ascend the cross; but Christ, after he ascended into the heavens, as Elisaeus went up into Bethel, that is, into the house of God, in the forty-second year sent two bears out of the woods 612Bof the Gentiles, namely Vespasian and Titus, who cast them down with a cruel slaughter, and there their blood was poured out where they had hanged the Lord.

(RAB.) The three kings warring against Moab are the rulers of the faithful, who through faith in the Trinity contend with spiritual arms against the prince of the world and his people, that is, against philosophers, heretics, schismatics, and all the wicked. Moab is interpreted "of the father", it suits those to whom the Lord said: You are of your father the devil (Joan. VIII). These set themselves against the Church with threats, with persecutions, and with guile: but through Christ, who is the head of Christians, they are put to flight.

VERS. 16.-- Make ye. (RAB.) The prophet took counsel by a miracle for the people wearied 612Cwith thirst, and the words of prophecy furnish counsel to the faithful, in what manner they may refresh the mind with spiritual doctrine.

(ID.) He makes a ditch in the bed of the torrent who seeks out the deep mysteries in the Scriptures. And these are filled with water without rain and without wind; because often, without human comfort, the divine power confers wisdom upon those who search it out. Whence John says: You have no need that any man teach you, but as his unction teacheth you of all things, etc. (I Joan. II). Whence: Men and beasts shall drink (Joan. III), that is, they shall receive doctrine, the clever and the simple

VERS. 18.-- And this is a small thing. (ID.) For it is not enough for the servants of God to know hidden mysteries: nay rather, they ought also to preach them to others, and to refute the gainsayers, to whom 612Da sure victory over the enemy is promised, that they may strike every city.

VERS. 19.-- The city. (RAB.) The city is worldly prudence, in which philosophers and heretics trust, this is overthrown by the preachers.

The tree. (ID.) Not that which bears fruit, but the death-bearing 613Awhich, cut down at the scrutiny to follow, shall become fodder for the eternal fire. The fountains of waters are stopped up, when the heresiarchs with their followers are condemned by catholics. The goodly fields are covered with stones, when the comeliness of heretical and philosophical speech is buried under the weight of anathema. There remain only walls of clay, that is, false reasonings, which by the slingers, that is, by holy preachers, are brought to nothing.

(RAB.) So the philosophers, esteeming the word to be folly, deride the passion of Christ, and count the martyrdom of the Church madness.

VERS. 1.-- A woman, etc. (RAB.) Holy Church is the mother of two peoples, that is, of the Jewish and of the Gentile, 613Betc., as far as For Abraham and Sara received three men and fed them.

VERS. 18.-- And the child grew. (RAB.) So the people of Israel, after it had grown up in Egypt, and, led out by Moses into the desert, had heard the voice of the Lord, when it ought to have been enlightened by the light of the judgment given, running back at once in mind to idolatry, died.

VERS. 29.-- And he said. (ID.) While the Lord, etc., as far as through the spirit of love the boy returned to life.

VERS. 38.-- The sons of the prophets. That is, of the preachers who walk in the law of the Lord, and search out his testimonies, they live always in the presence of the Saviour.

VERS. 39.-- He cut. (RAB.) He who, intent upon the letter of the law or given to the study of philosophy, taking bitterness from 613Cthe law or what is death-bearing from the philosophers, mingles it with the truth of the Gospel, and cooking such a pottage in the pot of the heart, prepares this teaching for his hearers. For the Apostle says: The letter killeth, but the spirit quickeneth (II Cor. III). And: The prudence of the flesh is death; but the prudence of the spirit, life (Rom. VIII). The faithful, perceiving this, cry out that there is death in the pot; but meal is put into the pot, when spiritual knowledge is brought into such a seasoning, that, the bitterness being shut out, the food may become wholesome.

VERS. 42.-- And a man. (RAB.) The man is the company of the fathers: who is of Baalalisa, because he keeps the number three in the confession of the Trinity. For Baalalisa is interpreted "having a third." This man offers to the man of God loaves of the firstfruits; when, inspired by his grace, he offers 613Dto the Redeemer books composed concerning the origin of creatures. He offers new corn in his scrip; when he brings forth the New Testament in the writings of the Gospel and of the apostles. Our Elisaeus bids his ministers, that is, the preachers, dispense these things to the faithful, and bring forth out of their treasure new things and old, which mystery we read in the Gospel in the breaking of the five and of the seven loaves, where, when the multitudes had been filled, they gathered twelve baskets, or seven hampers, of fragments, because no one grasps the sacraments of Scripture in all their parts, since, when he has been filled, there will be left over to him according to the word of the Lord.

VERS. 1.-- Naaman, etc. (RAB.) He signifies the Gentiles 614Awho bear rule by valour in war and enjoy the beauty of things. Whence Naaman is interpreted "comeliness" or "their commotion": a man valiant and rich, but a leper; because although through the power of his kingdom and the abundance of his goods he seemed to hold dominion: yet through the error of idolatry he appeared foul with leprosy.

VERS. 2.-- And out of Syria. (ID.) Robbers out of Syria, etc., as far as as in the Gospel the prince of the priests did.

(ID.) And the Lord whom he foreknew, them he also called, etc. The Gentile people coming to the house of Elisaeus, etc., as far as because the baptized must be confirmed by the partaking of the Lord's body.

VERS. 17.-- I will take a burden. (ID.) Naaman carried away with him a part of the holy land, that he might set it in the temple of the idols, 614Band standing upon it might adore the Lord, whose the land was, lest he should offend his own lord if he did not adore together with him.

VERS. 20.-- Giezi. (ID.) A precipice, etc., as far as this is the dog returned to its vomit.

VERS. 5.-- And it happened. (RAB.) When the presence of Christ, working through the body, was cutting down the impious Jews like unfruitful trees; whence: Behold the axe is laid to the root of the tree. [Vulg. Matt. 3:10 and Luke 3:9 Jam enim securis ad radicem arborum posita est, "For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees"] From them, the passion intervening, the body itself does service [deservit; read deseruit, "forsook"]: it went down into the deep, in that, laid in the sepulchre, it rose again as to the haft, the spirit returning.

(ID.) Great care must be taken lest the understanding grow numb in idleness, 614Clest in the exercise of work it vanish away through the vice of elation.

(GREG.) The iron in the haft is the understanding in the heart: by this the woods are cut down, when they that act perversely are rebuked. And while this is done loosely, while the fall of vainglory is not shunned; the iron is lost in the water, because out of a dissolute work the understanding is made foolish, which is given for this end, that it may be restored before the eyes of the giver out of good action, whence there follows: This very thing. But the elect, if ever they offend, return swiftly to the heart, and pursue their fault with tears, whence: Alas, alas, etc. They who weep look carefully not only at the evils they have committed, but also at the good things they ought to have rendered out of the gift received, and this is: Alas, alas, alas, and this I had borrowed; as if he should say: That I lost through the looseness 614Dof negligence which I received of the Redeemer's grace, that I might render it again through good works: but God never forsakes the mind which truly acknowledges itself in its sins. Whence Elisaeus sent the wood down, and brought the iron to the surface, because the Redeemer humbles the heart of the sinner, and restores the understanding which he had lost. Whence in another translation it is said: That he broke the wood and cast it in, and so took up the iron. To break the wood is to bruise the heart from elation, to cast it to the depths, to humble it by the thought of its own infirmity. Straightway the iron returned, because the understanding runs back to the use of its former exercise.

VERS. 14.-- And when they were come. (ID.) He who, trusting in the arms of wickedness, prepares ambushes for the servants of Christ, 615Ablinded by the night of perfidy, wages war against the Church.

VERS. 15.-- Alas, alas, etc. (GREG.) Here he marks those who through faint-heartedness fear bodily punishments.

VERS. 16.-- Fear ye not. [Vulg. 4 Kings 6:16 Noli timere, in the singular] Fear ye not them who kill the body, and after that have no more what they may do to you.

There are more. (ID.) I can ask my Father, and he will give me more than twelve legions of angels.

Lord, open. (ID.) It is very needful that our Elisaeus open the eyes of the heart to consider, that all who trust in him shall not be confounded.

VERS. 18.-- Strike. (ID.) It is good that the eye 615Bwhich scandalizes be plucked out, that the gaze of pride and of malice may be stopped up, and the eye of sound faith and of simplicity be opened.

(RAB.). After Elisaeus had led the enemies into Samaria, he did not suffer them to be slain, but preparing refreshment for them, he sent them away in peace. And Saul, long kicking against the goad, the Lord first blinded, and then enriched with spiritual knowledge. And he commanded us thus: Love your enemies, and do good to them that hate you (Luc. VI).

VERS. 24.-- He gathered together. (RAB.) Benadad and his army are the devil and the wicked, namely pagans, Jews, and heretics, whom he stirs up to wage war against the Church. By such is the people of God afflicted, which is set in Samaria, that is, in the keeping of the law: and there comes a famine, 615Cwhen it is not permitted to the teachers to preach the word of God. But when Elisaeus reveals it, that is, when the Redeemer makes it known through the Gospel, the salvation which is far from sinners is known to be near to them that fear God. For the Lord says: To-morrow a bushel, etc. A bushel of fine flour is the perfect measure of the divine wisdom which is in the New Testament. Two bushels of barley are the knowledge of the law and of the prophets, which are bought for one stater, that is, for the catholic faith, in the gate of Samaria, that is, in the apostolic preaching, through which entrance is made into the Church. For when the whirlwind of persecution which is made to-day has ceased, the Lord will give to-morrow, that is, in the time to come, tranquillity, that the preaching may be perfectly accomplished.

VERS. 25.-- And there was a famine, etc. (AUG., serm. 211, de temp.) While the wicked nation departs from the worship of God, 615Dit is straitened with a dreadful famine, and troubled with a just necessity. Why, O most wretched one, dost thou suffer famine? Why art thou torn with so great want? The penalty of famine grows daily, because daily the guilt too grows. The scourges persist, because in the people the offences too persist. Henceforth shun sins, restrain thy offences, turn to God, leave the idol: then thou shalt be able to overcome thine enemies by the divine help. Nor shall any one be able to hurt thee further, if, wickedness being condemned, the divine worship shall have sprouted in thee. Ah, the wickedness! The sinful people feeds on dreadful corpses and on the dung of doves, nor does it seek the worship of God. Famine and necessity demand defiled flesh and dreadful food; and still hardness worships the thing it has fashioned. Natural affection is turned into food, the offspring received is changed 616Ainto fodder. The murder of kin is done before men come to the deadly banquet. Innocent blood is poured out, that the raging hunger of the parents may be fattened.

VERS. 3.-- Four, etc. (RAB. in lib. Reg., tom. III.) They are lepers, etc., as far as that they may preach the truth of faith in the four parts of the world.

VERS. 17.-- Now. The captain holds the type of the Scribes and Pharisees, to whom the Truth says: Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who shut the kingdom of heaven before men: for you yourselves enter not in, nor do you suffer them that are going in to enter (Matth. XXIII). Whom the crowd trod down in the gate, because he hindered the step of those entering unto faith: whence, deservedly trodden down, that is, condemned by the scrutiny of the just judge, he shall be sent 616Binto everlasting darkness.

VERS. 7.-- Benedab, king of Syria, etc. When the king of the Syrians had come into Damascus, and had learned that the Divinity had sent fear and flight upon him and upon his army, and that it had not been brought about by an invasion of enemies, being exceedingly afflicted in that he had God so angered against him, he fell into a sickness.

VERS. 1.-- Go. (RAB. in lib. Reg., tom. III.) It marks out the sovereignty of the Gentiles, which the Lord appointed that it should destroy with vengeance alike the sacrilegious city, which slew the prophets and the Lord of the prophets, and persecuted his apostles, and should overthrow the priesthood which it had emptily held after Christ, 616Cand should cast down the temple, and moreover should hurl the impious Synagogue, which always thirsted for the blood of the saints, from the summit of the kingdom, and should slay its rulers.

VERS. 29.-- And he reigned. (RAB.) It is said of Ochozias, etc., as far as and he reigned one year.

VERS. 15.-- Is thy heart, etc. Hence therefore it is plain that even among the tribes there were certain men endowed with piety, for whose sake the Lord bore care of the others also.

VERS. 1.-- But Athalia. (RAB.) Athalia, who strove to extinguish the seed of David, expresses the impiety of the Synagogue, which against the seed of David, that is, of Christ, 616Dwas a lier in wait. Which once seemed to reign, when it kept the ceremonies of the law after a temporal manner. For Athalia is interpreted "the temporal one of the Lord." But by the vigour of Josabeth, who is interpreted "the fullness of the Lord," that is, of the Church, in which are true delights, Joas is preserved, that is, "the memory of the Lord." Christ, namely, in whom is the memory of the name of the Lord, lest he be slain through the cruelty of the raging enemy in the hearts of the elect. Rather is he nourished in the house of Joiada, which sounds "beloved of the Lord," of whom the Father says: This is my beloved Son (Matth. III), whose house is holy Church, where, abiding in the holy faith of the elect, he daily makes increase of his body, until in the time of judgment he shall lift up the sceptre of the kingdom and his power against those 617Awho thought to press him down, and shall have consigned the murderess of the saints to eternal punishments.

VERS. 4.-- And in the seventh year Joiada the high priest sent, etc. There were four and twenty courses of priests, of levites, and of doorkeepers, and they had as many high priests, who severally succeeded one another in order through as many weeks, each having under him four and twenty priests and as many levites, and doorkeepers of the same number. So when a new high priest entered upon the office on the sabbath with a new band of priests, of levites, and of doorkeepers, that high priest with his own band, who had ministered through the week now past, returned home after the sabbath to his wife, for as long as they ministered they ceased from conjugal work, abiding in the porches about the house of the Lord until the sabbath. 617BBut then the high priest, because of the need of increasing the force, both kept back those who had completed their week, and received those who were about to fulfil theirs. He also gathered other levites out of the cities, and the chiefs of families, whom, being about to bring forth the king's son, he divided upon this plan, that those who had fulfilled the sabbath should stand armed about the king in the inner places of the court. Those who had come for the sabbath should watch the king's house, that is, the palace, and the gate of the shield-bearers, through which the descent was made from the temple to the palace. The rest of the multitude should keep the outer doors of the courts against the fury of the queen, if she should attempt anything: afterwards he brought forth the king out of the house of the Lord where he had been hidden, and they came by the way of the gate of the shield-bearers into the palace, and he sat upon the throne of the kings.

617CVERS. 6.-- At the gate. (RAB.) The gate Sur and the house Messa (which are named together with the gate of the shield-bearers) seem to be in the palace.

Of the shield-bearers, and you shall keep the watches of the house. (ID.) The shield-bearers were the guardians of the king, keeping the vestibule of the palace.

VERS. 12.-- And he put upon him the diadem and the testimony. (ID.) In the book of Days more openly: And they put upon him the diadem, and gave into his hand the law to be held. And it was assuredly of saving prudence that, after the slaying of the tyrannical queen, to the king's son succeeding to the kingdom, together with the very habit of royalty, the discipline of the law of God should be committed to be kept: and that he who saw himself set over the people to rule it should remember that he himself ought to be made subject, to be ruled by the divine laws.

617DVERS. 17.-- Joiada therefore made a covenant between the Lord, etc. In the Paralipomenon, between himself: because he set himself in the place of the king and of God, whose minister he was; whence Joiada: he is interpreted "acknowledging the Lord" or "loving him": because he taught men to know and to love the Lord. He made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that the king and the people should serve the Lord: he made one between the king and the people, that the people should deal faithfully toward the king, and the king should rule the people with justice.

(RAB.) Our king commands that the teachers receive all the money of spiritual knowledge or of good examples which is brought in by the just who pass by into the treasury 618Aof the Lord, or that the offices of the preachers be applied to the repairing of the spiritual temple, that there they may restore whatsoever they find torn through error or through vices, lest perchance through the negligence of the masters the multitude of hearers perish.

VERS. 5.-- The repairs. (ID.) He speaks of the ruins of the house of the Lord, that what had begun to fall might be propped up. For it is read in the Paralipomenon that Athalia and her sons, that is, the priests of the idols, since it is read that she had no son, destroyed the house of the Lord, and of the hallowed things made Baal.

VERS. 6.-- Therefore until. (ID.) Before the coming of Christ, although the doctrine of the law was in the Jewish nation, yet through the negligence of the teachers it was corrupted in many things, until he himself should come who gave the law, and through 618Bfaith in the holy Trinity should teach that the decalogue in the writings of Moses and of the prophets was to be kept spiritually.

VERS. 7.-- Restore it for the repairing of the temple, etc. (ID.) The Lord says to the teachers of the Gospel: Preach the Gospel to every creature, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers; freely have you received, freely give (Marc. XVI).

VERS. 9.-- And he took. (ID.) Our high priest, who offered himself a victim to God, set one treasury, that is, made one catholic Church, in which he opened a hole above, because he prepared thence a passage to the heavens.

And he set it. (ID.) The altar is the body of the Lord, beside which the treasury stands, when the Church is joined to Christ, at the right hand of those entering the house. Because they who enter the Church through faith purpose to attain to 618Cthe eternal blessedness which the right hand signifies. Thither therefore the priests who keep the doors of the temple send all the money which is brought to the temple, when the preachers who guard the entrance of faith offer the vows of the faithful in words and works: and in the Church duly commend them to God with prayers.

VERS. 10.-- The king's scribe, etc. (ID.) They are the highest teachers, who gave out the money collected according to number and measure to those who were set over the workmen and the masons, that is, to the dispensers of the word of God, who gave the measure of the evangelical wheat to their fellow-servants, to those who labour in the house of the Lord and set the works of the virtues in order in the divine building.

(ID.) The apostles, whom the divine election appointed princes in the Church, scattered through their disciples the seeds of the word through 618Dthe whole world, that they might set over their hearers workmen fit for the will of God, of whom some wrought the timbers, when they were zealous to prepare themselves and those obedient to them as fruit-bearing timbers in the house of the Lord. Others made the repairs of the temple, when they rebuilt those things which had been broken through heresy and schisms; others hewed the stones, when they strongly rebuked the hard of heart and the unbelieving, so that the repairing was fulfilled in all those things which needed outlay for the fortifying of the house of the Lord, according to that word: And to every one of you is given grace according to the measure of the giving of Christ (Ephes. IV). [Vulg. Eph. 4:7 Unicuique autem nostrum, "to every one of us"]

VERS. 13.-- But nevertheless they were not made. (ID.) One method there ought to be of forming vessels for the ministry 619Aof the Lord, another of preparing timbers and stones for the building of the house, because one doctrine there ought to be by which the untaught are steeped in faith, and another by which those already perfect are instructed unto the fullness of knowledge. The vessels of the Lord are they who are now fit to receive the divine gifts, and are apt for the ministry of God.

They were not made. In the Paralipomenon. When they had completed all the works, they brought before the king and Joiada the remaining part of the money, whereof the vessels of the temple were made. It is not contrary, because the vessels for the ministry of the temple were not made of the same money which was offered by the people for the repairing of the house of the Lord, but of the remaining part of the money, which had been gathered also in other donations.

And the fleshhooks, etc. (RAB.) The teachers, whose office 619Bit is to distribute the body and blood of the Lord to believers, to deny it to unbelievers, and moreover to deal out to each, as is fitting, the spiritual nourishment of the word: because there are among the words of God things which he has vouchsafed to reveal to our lowliness, and there are others which pass beyond the measure of our capacity.

The censers. (ID.) They are those who offer to God a clean prayer out of a pure conscience and unfeigned faith, and say: Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight (Psal. CXL).

The trumpets, every vessel, etc. (ID.) The teachers, who send forth through the whole world the voice of evangelical preaching, whence: Lift up thy voice like a trumpet (Isa. LVIII).

VERS. 15.-- And there was no reckoning made with all these, etc. [Vulg. 4 Kings 12:15 iis hominibus, "with those men"] (ID.) They were so religious that no man doubted that they 619Chandled the money of God without fraud. Whence it is plain with how great discretion they have need who dispense to their fellow-servants the money of the word of God, of which an account is to be rendered, that these may be found no less faithful in spiritual things than those in bodily.

VERS. 16.-- But the money for a trespass, etc. (ID.) Here it is shown that the confession of sins and penance is to be carried through not by each man's own judgment, but by that of the priests, whose office it is to discern between clean and unclean, and to judge the stain of leprosy.

VERS. 14.-- And Elisaeus. (RAB.) Our Redeemer bids the rulers of the Church clothe themselves with spiritual arms, and fight against the ancient enemy. 619DThe bow is the sacred word, which consists of both Testaments as of horn and string. For by the Old Testament the horn is figured, because of its hardness; but by the New, which was made when the Lord was incarnate, the string is figured: and while the string is drawn, the horn is bent, because when the New Testament is examined, the Old is bent from its own stiffness to spiritual understanding. The arrows are the words which the teachers put forth. We therefore, when we weigh the sayings of Holy Scripture, bend the bow; when we give the words of doctrine, we send forth the arrows.

VERS. 16.-- He put over. (ID.) By his own examples the Lord directs and strengthens the actions of the teachers.

VERS. 17.-- Open the window. (ID.) With the light of knowledge 620Ahe exhorts his own to be first enlightened, and so to send forth the darts of words.

The arrow. (ID.) Holy preaching is the most certain slaying of spiritual enemies, if it is carried on perseveringly, whence the teacher ought not, for covetousness, to neglect the care of souls, but rather through piety to press forward to eternal rest, which Aphec signifies: for it is interpreted: "he will hold" or "he will lay hold," whence the Apostle, having enumerated the vices, added: But thou, man of God, fly these things, and pursue justice and piety, and lay hold on eternal life (I Tim. VI).

VERS. 18.-- Take. And when he had. (ID.) It is enjoined upon the teachers with the dart of preaching the earth, etc., as far as Faith without works is dead.

(RAB.) The resurrection of the corpse, etc., as far as and 620Bto have place there rather than here.

VERS. 1.-- In the second year. And he did. (RAB., in lib. Reg., tom. III.) Amasias did what was good in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart: for he did good works which please God, but not with a perfect heart, because he displayed them under a feigned appearance before men, and so before God they were not accepted.

VERS. 7.-- In the valley. (ID.) It was at the Valley of the Saltpits where they made salt. Either by the mud of the brine being cut away and dried and burned; or by the salt waters of the wells being boiled, and brought by cooking as far as the firmness of salt; or by any other method whatsoever by which salt is wont to be made.

The rock. (ID.) Petra is a noble city of Arabia in the land of Edom, which in the book of Numbers is called Recem, 620Cand is so named by the Syrians. But Josephus says it is not a city, but a great rock set in Arabia.

Jectehel. (RAB.) The name which Amasias the victor imposed is interpreted "the assembly of God" or "the help of God," he acting faithfully that it might seem to be of present memory, in that he had taken it either as the assembly of the people of God, or with God helping.

VERS. 25.-- He restored the borders of Israel, etc. He says of Jeroboam: He restored the borders of Israel, from the entrance of Emath unto the sea of the wilderness. Emath, which is now called Epiphania, was the northern border of Israel. But the sea of the wilderness is the Dead Sea, which stretches in breadth for five hundred and eighty stadia as far as Zoara of Arabia, and in length a hundred and fifty, as far as the neighbourhood of the Sodomites. 620DTherefore Jeroboam, encamping against the Syrians, laid waste all their province (as Jonas had prophesied).

Which is in, etc. Hepher was a tower not far from the temple, of enormous bulk and height: whence it is called Hepher, that is, of darkness, or cloudy: in that it lifts its head as far as the clouds, which in Zacharias is called the cloudy tower.

VERS. 1.-- In the twentieth year Azarias. (RAB., in lib. Reg., tom. III.) He is Ozias, etc., as far as above it is called the gate of Ephraim.

VERS. 35.-- He built. (RAB.) Joatham built the high gate of the house of the Lord, which in 621Athe Acts of the Apostles is called Beautiful, and by the Hebrews is called the Gate of Joatham.

VERS. 3.-- He consecrated. (RAB.) Beenon of the son of Ennon. Thophet, or Thaphet, is in the valley of Beennon beside Acheldemach, a place once most delightful, where they were wont to sacrifice to demons. In Hebrew Gehennon, that is, the valley of Ennon; whence in the Gospel it is called gehenna, because as they perished there in body and in soul who worshipped idols, so the sinners who pass over to hell shall be punished with eternal damnation.

VERS. 18.-- Musach also. (RAB.) It is a building set in the vestibule of the temple, where the kings, when they went to the temple on the sabbath, used to cast in alms; and 621Bso the Musach of the sabbath is the treasury of the kings, as the corban is of the priests. Musach also, etc. (RAB.) He did not for this reason turn it into the temple of the Lord, that it might serve there for the worship of God, but that it might be profaned together with the temple, being eager to please the king of the Assyrians rather than God, so that when he came thither he might, on seeing it, covet it and carry it off, as with many other things, Achaz granting them to him. that he might find favour with him.

VERS. 27.-- You have brought. (RAB.) The Assyrian king, that is, the devil with his army, daily afflicts the people of the Church by besieging and laying it waste, when, plucking them out of their own seats for the sins they have committed, he carries them away into a strange land. Whence: Upon the rivers of Babylon there we sat and wept, when we remembered 621CSion.

VERS. 29.-- And every one. (ID.) In the book of Places it is read that Benoth and Nergel were cities which they built in Judaea who had passed over from Babylonia. Asima also they built as a town who had come to it from Emath. Nebahan and Tharthac are cities which the Hevites founded in Judaea.

(ID.) It seems that, according to the sequence of the discourse, the names of the idols also, which these nations had formerly served, can here be understood, because when it had been said: And every nation made its own god, there is subjoined, as if to complete the sentence: For the men of Babylon made Sochoth Benoth; that is, tabernacles: Benoth, which is the name of an idol. In what follows 621Dit is shown that Adramalech and Anamelech were idols of the city of Sepharvaim, so it seems to follow that Nergel also was of the Cutheans, Asima of the Emathites, and that Nebahath and Tharthach were idols of the Hevites.

VERS. 33.-- And when. (RAB. ex Euch.) Heretics have certain sacraments in common with holy Church, as far as and we understand of the grandsons.

In the third year. Ezechias. (RAB.) "Laying hold of the Lord," or "the strength of the Lord." For our Redeemer, the Lord strong, the Lord mighty in battle, not only crushed the idols of the nations, and scattered the worship of idolatry, that they might have the knowledge of the one God, 622Aand be worthily made over to his worship: nay, he crushed the very letter of the Mosaic law, which that people of the law kept sounding forth by continual reading and held to be a great thing, and taught them to understand in it the spiritual sense.

VERS. 4.-- And he broke. Ezechias broke the serpent, because he hoped in the Lord God, not in the brazen serpent.

He called it Nohestan, etc. Which is interpreted "their brass," that him whom they worshipped for a deity, they might acknowledge, at his words, to be metal, not God.

VERS. 17.-- Rabsaces. (RAB.) Because he speaks in Hebrew: they think him a son of Isaias, who was a traitor along with Sobna; or a Samaritan, and that he therefore knew the Hebrew tongue. Who, as it were a kind of contrary strength, imitated 622Bthe prophets by his arrogance. The prophets say: Thus saith the Lord. This man said: Thus saith the great king, the king of the Assyrians.

VERS. 18.-- Eliacim. (RAB.) Of this Eliacim Isaias said: I will call my servant Eliacim (Isa. XXII), who was high priest after Sobna: whom the Hebrews relate to have betrayed Jerusalem, being terrified by the threats of Rabsaces, and that, the citadel being excepted, as also the temple, the Assyrians took the whole city; and some assert that this same Sobna went out with Eliacim to Rabsaces.

VERS. 21.-- Dost thou trust. No history relates that Ezechias asked the help of Pharao.

VERS. 22.-- In the Lord. (RAB.) It is true that they had confidence in God, but it is false that Ezechias took away the high places of God and the altars: for this he did not 622Cagainst God, but for God, that, the old error being destroyed, he might bid God be adored in the temple of Jerusalem.

VERS. 23.-- I will give you. (ID.) Rabsaces, that he might show the fewness of the besieged, promises two thousand horses, for which Ezechias would have no riders: this came not from the weakness of the people, as though they knew not how to ride, but because God commanded that the king of Israel should not multiply to himself horses and wives.

VERS. 25.-- The Lord said. (ID.) To that which he had said, If you shall say, We trust in God, he craftily answers that he had come not by his own will, but by God's, who says: Come up. And the argument is: since I have taken many cities, and a part of Jerusalem remains untouched, it is manifest that I have come by the will of God.

622DVERS. 26.-- We beseech thee. (ID.) The sense is, etc., as far as which had a likeness to the land of Judaea, as well in situation as in fruits.

VERS. 29.-- Let not Ezechias seduce you, etc. The accusation of Rabsaces is a testimony to Ezechias, namely that, when the cities had been taken, he trusted in the Lord: and he strengthened the people that they might hope in the Lord. Whence Rabsaces wishes to destroy what the other had built up, and says to the people: Let not Ezechias seduce you, and let him not give you confidence in the Lord your God.

(RAB.) He shows that the Samaritans served the gods of these cities or nations, etc., as far as as our translator renders it.

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(RAB., in lib. Reg., tom. III.) Wonderful is the king's humility and prudence, etc., as far as and that the enemy should die in his own land.

VERS. 9.-- And when he had heard. (ID.) God willing it, Rabsaces abandoned the siege of Jerusalem, and found his own lord, Lachis being either taken or forsaken, assaulting Lobna. Sennacherib, going to meet the king of the Ethiopians, sent letters to Ezechias, that those whom he had not taken by force he might terrify by speech. Herodotus relates that Sennacherib fought against the Egyptians and besieged Pelusium, and that, the mounds being now raised and the city about to be taken, Taracha king of the Ethiopians came to their aid.

(RAB.) Before, Ezechias, terrified with the dread of the Lord, 623Bdared not adore in the temple, nor pour out free prayers there, now, Isaias saying: Fear not because of the words which thou hast heard (Isa. XLI), he boldly entreats the Lord.

VERS. 21.-- The virgin daughter. (RAB.) Because, while all the nations adore idols, she alone keeps the chastity of the religion of the one God, and she, lest she should stir him to greater blasphemy, answered him not when he was present: after he had departed she moved her head to entreat God, or at least to deride his arrogance, being sure of vengeance. Nor did he himself blaspheme the Lord by himself, but through his servants, that the arrogance might be the greater.

VERS. 23.-- The high places. (ID.) The height of the mountains and the ridges of Libanus, the lofty cedars and fir trees. Or it is to be taken by metaphor of all the nations and 623Cof their princes. Or of Jerusalem, which is Libanus, the cedars and fir trees, the powerful and the nobles.

VERS. 24.-- And I have dried up. (ID.) Either through the multitude of his army he dried up all the streams, so that he was compelled to dig wells for himself. Or all the people, whom the waters signify, is laid waste by his own army.

VERS. 25.-- Hast thou not heard. (ID.) These things in the person of the Lord, etc., as far as which may tame thy fierceness, and lead thee back among the Assyrians.

VERS. 29.-- This shall be a sign. (ID.) Of those things which I foretell, etc., as far as nay, by the zeal wherewith he was zealous for his people against the impious.

Eat. Isaias thus: Eat this year the things that spring of themselves, and in the second year feed upon fruits. But in the third year sow, plant vineyards and eat 623Dthe fruits of them, and he shall send forth that which shall have been saved in the house of Juda; and what is left over shall take root downward, and shall bear fruit, because out of Jerusalem shall go forth remnants, and salvation from mount Sion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this (Isa. XXXVII). All things having been laid waste by the army, eat what could again sprout, or what could escape from among the hoofs of the horses. In the second year, what springs of itself without labour. Or this was said by way of pretence, because they thought that they would perish of famine.

VERS. 34.-- And for David my servant. (RAB.) For the hope of things to come he shakes off present fear. And he says that they are preserved not by their own merit, but by the mercy of God, nay also by the memory of David their father: in 624Awhich they are admonished both of their own negligence and of his faith and justice, because God so far loves justice that he protects posterity by the virtue of their forefathers.

VERS. 35.-- It came to pass therefore. (RAB.) So many are cut down by one angel in one night, and without wounds cruel death runs through them. Concerning which it is read in the Paralipomenon: And the Lord sent an angel, who struck every strong man and warrior, and the prince of the army of the Assyrians. And he returned with ignominy into his own land. And he was preserved, that he might be made a witness of the majesty of him whom a little before he had despised.

VERS. 37.-- And when he was adoring in the temple. (RAB.) As though he were bringing back a victory over his enemies, the despiser of the true God is slaughtered in the shrine of a false deity: nor does he perish by the angelic 624Bsword, which was the common lot, but by the murder of his sons.

(ID.) Pharao also is preserved through the ten plagues of Egypt, that he may perish last.

Into the land of the Armenians. Ararath is a region in level Armenia, through which the Araxes flows, of incredible fertility, at the roots of Mount Taurus. Therefore Noe's ark also was borne not to the mountains of Armenia generally, but to the loftiest mountains of Taurus which overhang the plains of Ararath.

VERS. 1.-- In those days. (RAB. in lib. Reg., tom. III.) Lest the heart of Ezechias should be lifted up after incredible triumphs, he is visited with an infirmity of the body and hears 624Cthat he is to die, that, being turned to the Lord, he may bend the sentence.

God, foreknowing before the ages all things that were to follow, decreed in what manner they should be disposed through the ages. It is therefore appointed how much is to be lived temporally in this mortal life. For although God added fifteen years to Ezechias, yet when he permitted him to die, then he had foreknown that he was to die. And when the sentence of death had been spoken to him, straightway at his tears life was added. At that time indeed he deserved to die, who, being lifted up, rendered not thanks to the Lord for the unlooked-for victory, namely because he ascribed it to his own justice and merits. Nor was the time of life fixed beforehand in the foreknowledge of God prolonged, but that which he had lost by sinning had been restored out of the bounty of God. He who, when he foretold that he should die, 624Dhad beforehand foreknown his penitence. He turned his face to the wall of the temple, because he could not go to the temple. He calls it the wall of the temple, beside which the palace was, or to the wall simply, lest he should display his tears to the bystanders, that with his whole mind he might beseech God.

VERS. 2.-- Who turned. (RAB.) Happy the conscience, etc., as far as for God weighs the words of each out of their own heart.

VERS. 3.-- And he wept. (ID.) He wept because of the promise of the Lord, etc., as far as and we read of very many raised up after death.

VERS. 7.-- Bring a lump. (RAB.) The word sehim, or schim (as the Hebrews say), sounds an ulcer, not a wound: 625Athis is inflicted, that arises of itself. For Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion rendered it aroc, by which they understand the royal disease, to which whatsoever things are sweet are thought contrary, whether taken in food or applied to the body. The power of God therefore is shown, while through harmful things health is restored. Others suppose schim to be an abscess, when the swelling body is filled with concocted and putrefying matter. And according to the art of physicians, all corrupt matter is drawn out to the surface of the skin by figs the drier and bruised.

(RAB.) A sign is given that the sun should go back ten degrees, etc., as far as and that for those living in the ogdoad the spaces of life may be lengthened out, through the resurrection of Christ, in place of the space of life.

(ID.) Some transfer the ten degrees of the lines to the mystery 625Bof Christ, etc., as far as and he lighted up all that shadow of the law with the rays of truth.

VERS. 12.-- At that time. (ID.) Above it is read, etc., as far as they believed that he was to be adored as more than man.

(RAB.) The Hebrews report, etc., as far as he should be brought to the knowledge of men by the doing of a wicked work.

(ID.) Hypocrites too fall away after great virtues, because they are unwilling to be hidden in those same virtues: who, while at the persuasion of malignant spirits they consent to boasting, open to their enemies, as it were, a door by which they lose what was long gathered, whence: He delivered their strength into captivity. Paul records that his own glory is the testimony of his conscience, because he does not seek the favour of another's mouth. The things therefore which 625Cwe do must be hidden, lest, carrying this incautiously upon the journey of this life, we lose it by the onset of robber spirits.

(ID.) He is silent about that whereof he feared offence, namely that he had shown them all the things which he had in his own power, among which the chief was the furniture of the temple.

VERS. 13.-- And Ezechias rejoiced at their coming. (ID.) The words of Days say concerning Ezechias. etc., as far as and he showed them the house of spices, etc.

The house of spices, and the gold and the silver. (ID.) Some think them the sepulchres of the kings, which were full of spices, because of old the bodies of kings were embalmed with ointments. Others rather understand that there was a cell of spices in the temple of the Lord, where the sweet-smelling kinds were stored, out of which was made the incense which was offered in the temple of the Lord.

625DThere was no word which Ezechias did not show them in, etc. (which among the Hebrews is frequently taken for a thing) which he hath not shown them in his own house, and in all his power. Whence the anger of God was most just, since he showed not only his own treasures and those of the palace, but those of the temple also, which certainly was of his own power, from the doors of whose court he had already before taken the plates.

VERS. 14.-- They came from a far country. (RAB.) As if he should say: By how much the further the land whence they came, by so much the more glorious am I, for whose sake they came.

To me from Babylon. He ought to have spoken to the glorifying of God for the greatness of the sign.

VERS. 21.-- And Ezechias slept with his fathers, etc. In the Paralipomenon it is said that Ezechias was buried 626Aabove the sepulchres of the kings, because his sepulchre was built higher for the sake of the piety wherewith he worshipped God.

(RAB.) In whose time Isaias (as the Hebrews report) was sawn asunder through the middle with a wooden saw, because he called them prince of Sodom, they turning it into a crime against him that he had said: I saw the Lord sitting upon a high throne (Isa. VI). God saying: Man shall not see me and live (Exod. XXXIII).

(ID.) Manasses turned himself to idols and to abominations. When God, or the Lord, had spoken to him, he would not attend; therefore, being conquered, he was led into Babylon, being straitened he prayed to the Lord earnestly and did penance greatly, and his prayer was heard, and the Lord brought him back 626Binto his own kingdom, and Manasses knew that the Lord himself is God. Therefore after wickednesses committed let no one despair of the mercy of God, but rather let him have through penance the hope of pardon.

VERS. 24.-- Josias. (RAB.) Josias amended all the filthiness of the idols, and vigorously exercised himself in the worship of God, as had long before been foretold of him through the prophet.

VERS. 14.-- In the Second. (RAB.) In the Paralipomenon it is read of Ezechias that he built all the wall which had been broken down, and on the outside another wall; whence Sophonias: A howling from the Second. The prophetess therefore dwelt in the Second, that is, in the part of the second wall.

• 626C

VERS. 10.-- He defiled. (RAB. in lib. Reg., tom. III.) Josias, scattering there upon Thopheth either the bones of the dead (as he is read to have done in the places following) or any other unclean things whatsoever, so that the place might appear to all who looked upon it fit for abomination rather than for delight.

In the valley. (ID.) The valley of Ennom is beside the wall of Jerusalem toward the east, etc., as far as because Thopheth is called breadth.

VERS. 11.-- He took away. (RAB.) The Jews had made themselves over to the superstitions of the Gentiles, who among other things are wont to paint or to make the image of the sun as a beardless boy, because through the ages no old age befalls it, 626Dborn daily with a new rising. To which they assign a chariot and horses, because Elias was caught up to heaven in a fiery chariot and with fiery horses, which among other things they see painted upon the wall, and they are deceived by the nearness of the name: for in Greek the sun is called Elios.

VERS. 13.-- The high places. (RAB.) Scripture speaks of places set upon leafy hills, in which they sacrificed either to demons; or, to the Lord, being enticed by the pleasantness of the places, against the prohibition, the altar which was in the temple being left, they flocked thither about to offer: whence more often in this book it is said of the less perfect kings: But nevertheless he took not away the high places.

Which he had built. (ID.) Here it is shown that Solomon never 627Aperfectly repented of the crime of idolatry he had committed: for if he had truly repented, he would have laboured before all things that the idols which he had built should be taken out of the city: and that he should not leave, to the scandal of the foolish, as though done wisely, those erroneous things which he himself, though he was most wise, had done.

And Chamos. (RAB.) Elsewhere it is read that Solomon built a shrine of Chamos upon the mountain which is over against Jerusalem. But it is not contrary; because that mountain was in so great nearness to the city that it seemed to belong to it, and to defile it with the filth which was heaped up upon it.

To the offence of Moab. (ID.) The idols are called an offence, because either God is offended by them, or they bring offence and ruin to their own worshippers.

VERS. 16.-- He took the bones, etc. Josias commanded that the bones of the dead 627Bshould be burned upon the altar, because their sacrifices were profane, and through the error of idolatry they not only offered cattle to demons, but delivered even themselves into the power of demons: because by the just judgment of God they were to be scattered together with the altar which they had made for the idols. Mystically, they who, made over to the service of the devil, end a sacrilegious life in time, shall be consumed with eternal torments, God rendering according to merits

VERS. 21.-- Keep the phase. (RAB.) Josias holds the type of the Saviour, etc., as far as: and to you that fear shall arise the sun of justice.

For there was no phase kept like to it, etc. Because, the figures being taken away in the day of judgment, the saints shall pass over from death to life, and so shall rejoice in the sight of their creator, 627Cbecause the God of gods shall be seen in Sion.

(RAB.) That Josias, the idols being cast out of the land, together with the pythons, the soothsayers, and all uncleannesses, is read to have celebrated the phase of the Lord, teaches morally that we should first cleanse the land of the heart from vices, that we may be able to serve God, and so celebrate a pasch pleasing to the Lord: Not indeed with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (I Cor. V).

(ID.) Josias was wounded in the field of Mageddo, whereof also he straightway died. And the people mourned him much, and Jeremias most of all. For then he is said to have lamented thus: How doth the city sit solitary! Of this mourning it is said: And there shall be a mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Adremon, which is the name of a king who then reigned in Charchamis, to whose aid Josias had come 627Dagainst Nechao king of Egypt.

(ID.) The slaying of Josias by Pharao Nechao, done in Mageddo, signifies the persecution of the ancient enemy against the preachers, whom he strives through envy to deliver over to death, and endeavours to take away out of the land of the Church: that so he may the more easily scatter the whole people. Pharao is scattering, Nechao a striking, Mageddo of temptation. For the devil, being permitted to rise up against the saints, here strives with all his strength, that by tempting he may strike and scatter the flock of the Lord, and may first take away those by whose comfort they should have been helped to fight against the enemy.

VERS. 30.-- Joachaz the son of Josias. (ID.) By another name he is called Sellum, but because he was most perverse, 628Ahe reigned a short time, for Nechao bound him, in that the people had made him king against Nechao's will, and led him into Egypt.

(ID.) Joachaz held back signifies evil teachers, whom the people of the land, that is, those given over to earthly cupidity, choose as prelates consenting to their own vices, whom Pharao bound in Rebla, when the devil, enervating them through a multitude of flatterers, deceives the hearts of prelates, and so plunges them, bound with the chains of sins, into the dark abyss of a spiritual Egypt.

VERS. 35.-- But the silver and the gold he gave, etc. (ID.) The malignant one demands of the carnal people the tribute of his own service, that both in understanding and in speech they may be ready in all things for his obedience. Joachim exacts the tribute at the king's command, because the devil, through masters given over to him, exacts of every one 628Bto pay the tribute of sin according to his strength, and so in those wickedly set over others he daily prepares destruction for the subject.

(RAB.) When any one whatsoever has once made himself over to vice, etc., as far as and let him implore help from God.

(RAB.) Josephus relates that he was slain by Nabuchodonosor, and cast out before the walls of Jerusalem and unburied, of whom it had been foretold: He shall be buried with the burial of an ass (Jer. XXII).

And Joachim reigned, etc. (ID.) The name Joachim is written otherwise in the designation of the father, who is also Eliacim: otherwise when the son is signified, who is also Jechonias, for when it marks the father it is written with k and m: but when the son, 628Cit is written with ch and n.

VERS. 8.-- Jerusalem. (BEDA in lib. Reg., quaest. 30, tom. II.) Jerusalem and the land of Israel, etc., as far as that is, spiritual knowledge is turned to the works of sinners.

VERS. 14.-- (ID., ibid.) The craftsman and the goldsmith, and nothing was left, except the poor of the people of the land. (RAB. ex Bed., ibid.) What above the Philistines, reigning over the people of Israel, are related to have done, when it is said: There was no smith to be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines had taken care lest perhaps the Hebrews should make a sword or a spear to fight back withal (I Reg. XIII), so now the Chaldeans busy themselves that there may remain in it no craftsman and goldsmith who might set in order or repair the ruined walls of the city

628D(RAB.) They are evil rulers who abuse the divine gift and bounty, and falsely usurp to themselves the name of justice. For Matthathia or Matthanias is interpreted a gift or a bounty: Sedecias, the just Lord. He reigned eleven years, because he was a transgressor of the law, which is signified by ten, the number. The number nine, which has less than ten, signifies the imperfection of the law, as eleven signifies transgression. Rightly therefore did Nabuchodonosor in the ninth year of the reign of Sedecias besiege the city in the tenth month, and on the tenth day of the month: because, when evil shepherds neglect to fulfil in work and in teaching the commandments of the decalogue, which they hold by knowledge, it must needs be that the ancient enemy with his army surround with a siege the people committed to them, and shut them in with a fortification 629Aof error and of vices built up, walling round the city: and so famine prevails in the city, the famine, that is, of the word of God, when the bread of doctrine is not dealt out to the people of the land.

VERS. 4.-- And it was broken up, etc. (RAB.) The guard of the peoples was indeed broken up by the divers temptations of demons, etc., as far as who is weighed down by depraved habit and by the multitude of his own iniquity.

VERS. 8.-- In the fifth month. (RAB.) The order of the time agrees with the reason of the vengeance. In the fifth month the city was laid waste, which scorned to keep the Pentateuch of the law, and on the seventh day of the month, because it did not keep the rest of the sabbath, and did things contrary to the precepts of God, 629Bflattering itself in vain concerning its security because of its dwelling in holy places.

(ID.) Nabuzardan came, who is interpreted a winnowing-fan, or the prophecy of another's judgment, etc., as far as but rather the thorns and thistles of vices grow up.

VERS. 13.-- But the brazen pillars which, etc. (ID.) And by the bases we understand the teachers, who by the sonority of their preaching and by the firmness of their faith ought to have upheld others. The brazen sea is the laver of baptism, or the compunction of tears. All these things indeed the spiritual Chaldeans strive, through the sloth of the masters, both to carry away from the house of the Lord, and to break in pieces.

VERS. 14.-- The pots also. (ID.) Because, taking away the divers offices in the ecclesiastical orders from the service of God, they turned them to their own most wicked use.

629CVERS. 15.-- The censers and the vials. When by hindering they overthrow the prayer by which the Godhead could be appeased, and the cup of the word by which the weary ought to have been refreshed.

(ID.) Because the wicked enemy strives to carry away out of the house of the Lord both precious understanding and the comeliness of speech, and to lead them with himself into confusion.

VERS. 18.-- He took also. (ID.) The devil busies himself to deceive not only the common people, but also the strong and the princes in the Church, and to lead sinners captive, whence in Job 629Dof him: His food is choice (Job XXXIII).

He took ulit Saraias, who is interpreted bound, the first 630Apriest, when by the love of earthly pleasure he binds fast with the chain of vices the first order of the Church, which is in the bishops. Likewise Sophonias, who is interpreted hidden, the second priest, when he subdues under his own dominion the men of the second order, that is, the presbyters (who, digging in the earth, had hidden the talent of the word). And three empty, [inani; read janitores, "doorkeepers"] who ought to have opened the door of faith, and, holding the key of knowledge, neither entered in themselves, nor suffered others to enter in. The eunuch signifies the foolish virgins, who held in their hands vessels empty of oil, restraining themselves from bodily intercourse, and yet would not have the oil of grace and mercy in their breast. Who are in vain set over warriors, since they guard not against arrogance. Five men of them that had stood before the king 630B(Matth. V), that is, those who, serving pleasure with the five senses of the body, always stood by the king of vices.

Sopher the prince. (ID.) It is interpreted scattering or dividing: signifying those who, scattering by evil examples the untaught in the Church, whom they ought to have nourished for the warfare of Christ, sever them through error from the assembly of the faithful. And sixty men of the common people, that is, foolish workers, who are rightly of the common people, because they had neglected to learn the divine counsels and to fulfil them in deeds.

And sixty men. (ID.) All these Nabuzardan led to the king of Babylon, and they were slain, because the devil goes about to bring the prey which he tears away from the Church to the slaughter of everlasting death: whom the king of confusion strikes in Reblatha, that is, in the multitude 630Cof wickednesses, and in the love of pleasures.

(ID.) When they who seemed to have the confession of the name of God in the Church, being carried away through manifold wickednesses out of the land of the living, are led off into the kingdom of confusion and of error, etc., as far as and to contemplate the face of our Creator through the ages.

VERS. 23.-- And Saraia. The son of Saraias the priest was kept back, and the father slain. Of whom afterwards in the captivity was born Jesus the great priest, who 630Dbrought back the people with Zorobabel.