Naboth as Christ, and Prompt Obedience to God

…it a muddy drink that overthrows (Habakkuk 2:15). Then what did Jezebel, hateful to God, do, that is, the synagogue of the Jews, joining in the grief of its leaders? By deceit she pursues the righteous Naboth, that is, the One who is to come. For Emmanuel was put to death on false charges.

“The God of Israel is a God of mountains” (1 Kings 20:23). For they supposed that the Israelites had won because God could save only on the mountains, or perhaps on the hills as well. “So we were defeated,” it says, “because the God of Israel is a God of mountains; but if we should meet in battle on bare plains, we shall surely prevail, since the God of Israel is powerless in the valleys.” These are the faults of pagan madness, the dreadful unbridled tongue of those who do not know the true God, who is God by nature. So God, who is mighty in all things, was angry with the foreigners, and with very good reason, because when they defeated Israel, as I said, they credited their thank offerings to their own gods, and in their folly supposed that they had prevailed over God himself.

“And he found another man and said, ‘Strike me’” (1 Kings 20:37). Do you hear how the man who refused to strike the prophet was miserably killed when he fell in with a fierce beast? And yet how could it not be true to say that it was the fruit of reverence not to dare to strike down a holy man and a prophet? But since it was at the word of the Lord, disobedience became a charge hard to escape (1 Kings 20:35-36). So hard to escape is the charge of doing anything against what seems good to God, or of not doing without delay what he commands. It is necessary, then, that whatever pleases God be carried out by us without hesitation or delay. To do anything other than this, or even to choose to think otherwise, brings the charge of arrogance; for such people have all but resolved to rebuke God, as though he had sometimes not counseled rightly.

Book Four.

“And now you have taken the silver,” and so on (2 Kings 5:26). Christ too says this in the holy Gospels: “Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road” (Luke 10:4). For one must go to the work with a straight course, and not even return a blessing to one who blesses. For turning aside to others is a loss to zeal, and so is spending idly, on things that are not necessary, the time that belongs to preaching; nor should one grant friendships the favor of useless delay.

“And they took possession of Samaria” (2 Kings 17:24). These, then, who took the land of the Samaritans as their lot and settled there, in time, it seems, became fathers of children; and they inclined toward the customs of the Jews, terrified by the attacks of the lions (2 Kings 17:25-26). From them came Sarasar and Arbeseser, who was also called king because at that time he led those who had been resettled in Samaria from the land of the Persians.

“Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign” (2 Kings 18:1). He had advanced so far in glory and in strength alike as to subdue the nations living around Judea, and indeed to impose heavy tribute on them. And a little further on: Then he suffered something human. For through excessive luxury, and overcome by the eminence of his fame, he became in a way proud; and, gripped by the disease of arrogance, he rose up against the divine law itself. For he thought…