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Quaestiones in libros Regnorum et Paralipomenon

OF THE BLESSED THEODORET ON THE QUESTIONS OF KINGS AND CHRONICLES.

PROLOGUE.

Since, having enjoyed divine grace, we have interpreted the book of Moses the lawgiver, and of Joshua the prophet, and of Judges, and of Ruth, come, having supplicated again to receive the splendor of this light, let us unfold the histories of the Kings; passing over what is clear, but making what needs clarification plain to the readers; so that your request, most beloved of children, Hypatius, we may not 80.529 leave unfulfilled. The cause of the lack of clarity is also that the interpreters took pains to make the interpretation word for word; and the same thing is experienced by those who transfer the language of the Italians into the Greek tongue. For those are full of much obscurity. But first I shall state the hypothesis of the history. Very many prophets have existed, whose books we have not found, but whose names we have learned from the history of Chronicles. Each of these was accustomed to write down whatever happened to occur in his own time. For example, the first of Kings, both among the Hebrews and among the Syrians, is called the prophecy of Samuel. But it is easy for one who wishes to know this to read the aforementioned book. Those, therefore, who wrote the book of Kings, having taken their starting points from those books, wrote after a very long time. For how was it possible for one contemporary with Saul, or David, to write the events that happened in the time of Hezekiah and Josiah; and the army of Nebuchadnezzar, and the siege of Jerusalem, and the enslavement of the people, and the transfer to Babylon, and the death of Nebuchadnezzar? It is clear, therefore, that each of the prophets wrote the things done in their own times. And certain others, having collected those things, composed the book of Kings. And again, certain other historiographers have arisen for the things omitted by these; and the book written by them they called Chronicles; as teaching the things omitted by their predecessors.

ON THE FIRST OF KINGS.

QUESTION I. Was Samuel a priest, or a Levite? ANSWER. Levi was

the father of three sons; of Gershon, of Kohath, and of Merari. And of Kohath were born the sons Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, 80.532 and Uzziel; and of Amram, Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. And of Izhar, Korah was a descendant, and Elkanah, the father of Samuel, a later descendant. Samuel, therefore, was the fifteenth from Levi; and was of the family of Kohath, which was preferred to the others, because the high priests had sprung from it; wherefore also it was assigned to them to carry the holy vessels. QUES. II. Why did Elkanah have two wives? The law neither permitted lawful union with two or more women, nor yet did it forbid it; allowing the lesser, in order to prevent the greater. For it measured the laws by the capacity of those who received them. This the divine Apostle also says: "For the law made nothing perfect." QUES. III. What is, "The Lord had shut up her womb?" This saying teaches those who read, not to trust in marriage, but to call upon the Creator for help. For just as it is the farmer's own task to cast the seeds, but God's to bring to completion the

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Quaestiones in libros Regnorum et Paralipomenon

ΤΟΥ ΜΑΚΑΡΙΟΥ ΘΕΟ∆ΩΡΗΤΟΥ ΕΙΣ ΤΑ ΖΗΤΟΥΜΕΝΑ ΤΩΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΤΩΝ ΠΑΡΑΛΕΙΠΟΜΕΝΩΝ.

ΠΡΟΛΟΓΟΣ.

Ἐπειδὴ τῆς θείας χάριτος ἀπολαύσαντες, Μωσέως τοῦ νομοθέτου βίβλον, καὶ

Ἰησοῦ τοῦ προ φήτου, καὶ τῶν Κριτῶν, καὶ τῆς Ῥοὺθ ἡρμηνεύ σαμεν, φέρε πάλιν τοῦδε τοῦ φωτὸς τὴν αἴγλην λα βεῖν ἱκετεύσαντες, τὰς τῶν Βασιλειῶν ἀναπτύξωμεν ἱστορίας· τὰ μὲν σαφῆ παριόντες, τὰ δὲ σαφηνείας δεόμενα δῆλα τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν ἀποφαίνοντες· ἵνα σου τὴν αἴτησιν, ἐρασμιώτατε παίδων Ὑπάτιε, μὴ 80.529 καταλείπωμεν ἀτελῆ. Αἴτιον δέ γε τῆς ἀσαφείας, καὶ τὸ σπουδάσαι τοὺς ἑρμηνεύσαντας περὶ πόδα τὴν ἑρμηνείαν ποιήσασθαι· ταυτὸ δὲ τοῦτο πάσχουσι καὶ οἱ τὴν Ἰταλῶν φωνὴν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα μεταφέροντες γλῶτταν. Πολλῆς γὰρ ἀσαφείας ἐκεῖνα μεστά. Πρῶτον δὲ τῆς ἱστορίας ἐρῶ τὴν ὑπόθεσιν. Πλεῖστοι προφῆται γεγένηνται, ὧν τὰς μὲν βίβλους οὐχ εὕρομεν, τὰς δὲ προσηγορίας ἐκ τῆς τῶν Παρα λειπομένων μεμαθήκαμεν ἱστορίας. Τούτων ἕκαστος εἰώθει συγγράφειν ὅσα συνέβαινε γίνεσθαι κατὰ τὸν οἰκεῖον καιρόν. Αὐτίκα γοῦν καὶ ἡ πρώτη τῶν Βασιλειῶν, καὶ παρ' Ἑβραίοις, καὶ παρὰ Σύροις, προφητεία Σαμουὴλ ὀνομάζεται. Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο γνῶ ναι ῥᾴδιον τῷ βουλομένῳ τὸ προειρημένον ἀναγνῶ ναι βιβλίον. Οἱ τοίνυν τῶν Βασιλειῶν τὴν βίβλον συγγεγραφότες, ἐξ ἐκείνων τῶν βιβλίων τὰς ἀφορ μὰς εἰληφότες, μετὰ πλεῖστον συνέγραψαν χρόνον. Πῶς γὰρ οἷόν τε ἦν τῷ Σαοὺλ, ἢ τῷ ∆αβὶδ συνηκ μακότι τὰ ἐπὶ Ἐζεκίου καὶ Ἰωσίου γεγονότα συγγράψαι· καὶ τὴν τοῦ Ναβουχοδονόσορ στρατιὰν, καὶ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ τὴν πολιορκίαν, καὶ τοῦ λαοῦ τὸν ἀνδραποδισμὸν, καὶ τὴν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα μετά στασιν, καὶ τοῦ Ναβουχοδονόσορ τὴν τελευτήν; ∆ῆ λον τοίνυν, ὡς τῶν προφητῶν ἕκαστος συνέγραψε τὰ ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις πεπραγμένα καιροῖς. Ἄλλοι δέ τινες ἐκεῖνα συναγαγόντες, τὴν τῶν Βασιλειῶν συντε θείκασι βίβλον. Καὶ αὖ πάλιν, τῶν ὑπὸ τούτων πα ραλειφθέντων ἕτεροί τινες ἱστοριογράφοι γεγένην ται· καὶ τὴν παρὰ σφῶν συγγραφεῖσαν Παραλειπο μένων προσηγόρευσαν βίβλον· ὡς τὰ παρὰ τῶν προτέρων παραλειφθέντα διδάσκουσαν.

ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΠΡΩΤΗΝ ΤΩΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΩΝ.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Αʹ. Ὁ Σαμουὴλ ἱερεὺς ἦν, ἢ Λευΐτης; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Τριῶν ὁ Λευῒ

γεγένηται παίδων πατήρ· τοῦ Γηρ σὼν, τοῦ Καὰθ, καὶ τοῦ Μεραρή. Τοῦ δὲ Καὰθ ἐγένοντο παῖδες Ἀμβρὰμ, καὶ Ἰσαὰρ, καὶ Χεβρὼμ, 80.532 καὶ Ὀζιήλ· τοῦ δὲ Ἀμβρὰμ Ἀαρὼν, Μωσῆς, καὶ Μαριάμ. Τοῦ δὲ Ἰσαὰρ ἔκγονος μὲν ὁ Κορὲ, ἀπόγονος δὲ Ἑλκανὰ τοῦ Σαμουὴλ ὁ πατήρ. Ὁ τοίνυν Σαμουὴλ πέμπτος καὶ δέκατος μὲν ἀπὸ Λευΐ· τῆς δὲ Καὰθ ἦν πατριᾶς· ἣ τῶν ἄλλων προεκέκριτο, τῷ τοὺς ἀρχιερέας ἐξ αὐτῆς ἠνθηκέναι· διὸ δὴ καὶ φέρειν αὐτοῖς ἀπενεμήθη τὰ σκεύη τὰ ἅγια. ΕΡΩΤ. Βʹ. ∆ιατί ὁ Ἑλκανὰ δύο εἶχε γυναῖκας; Οὔτε ἐπέτρεψεν ὁ νόμος δυσὶν ἢ πλείοσι γυ ναιξὶν ἐννόμως συναφθῆναι, οὔτε μὴν ἐκώλυσε· συγχωρῶν τὸ ἔλαττον, ἵνα κωλύσῃ τὸ μεῖζον. Τῇ δυνάμει γὰρ τῶν δεχομένων ἐμέτρει τοὺς νόμους. Τοῦτό φησι καὶ ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος· "Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐτελείωσεν ὁ νόμος." ΕΡΩΤ. Γʹ. Τί ἐστι τὸ, "Ἀπέκλεισε Κύριος τὰ περὶ τὴν μήτραν αὐτῆς;" ∆ιδάσκει τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας οὗτος ὁ λόγος, μὴ τῷ γάμῳ θαῤῥεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὸν ποιητὴν εἰς ἐπικουρίαν κα λεῖν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἴδιον μὲν τοῦ γεωργοῦ τὸ κατα βάλλειν τὰ σπέρματα, τοῦ δὲ Θεοῦ τὸ τελεσιουργεῖν τὰ