Replies

From: 1 Kings 11:4-13

The King’s Sins (Continuation)

[4] For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods,
and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of Da-
vid his father. [5] For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians,
and after Milcom the abomination of the Aminonites. [6] So Solomon did what
was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David
his father had done. [7] Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abo-
mination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the
mountain east of Jerusalem. [8] And so he did for all his foreign wives, who
burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

[9] And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away
from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, [10] and had
commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods;
but he did not keep what the LORD commanded.

The Division of the Kingdom Foretold

[11] Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this has been your mind and
you have not kept my covenant and my statutes which I have commanded you,
I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. [12] Yet
for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out
of the hand of your son. [13] However I will not tear away all the kingdom; but I
will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake
of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

11:1-43 The sacred Writer deals briefly with some negative aspects of Solomon,
and in them we can see the cause of the split in the kingdom that occurred after
his death. Applying the teaching of the book of Deuteronomy he allows us to see
that when Solomon was true to the Lord, peace and prosperity reigned; but when
he moved away from God (vv. 1-10) he was visited with divine punishment (vv.
11-13) in the form of Israel’s external enemies (vv. 14-25) and internal division (vv.
26-40). Yet the split will not happen in Solomon’s lifetime: by the mercy of God
he will see out his reign in peace (vv. 41-43).

11:1-10. Conscious of the effects of Solomon’s marriages with foreign women,
the writer retrospectively applies a law (v. 2) which was not in fact made until
later (Deut 7:3-4; 17:17).

The real cause of Solomon’s sin was that “his wives turned away his heart” (v.
3), not just by getting his permission to worship idols but by involving him in that
practice. This meant that Solomon ceased to worship the God of Israel with all
his heart. “Idolatry refers not only to false pagan worship. It remains a constant
temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits
idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this
be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors,
the state, money, etc. Jesus says, ‘You cannot serve God and mammon (Mt 6:
24). Many martyrs died for not adoring ‘The Beast’ (cf. Rev 13-14) refusing even
to simulate such worship. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is there-
fore incompatible with communion with God (cf. Gal 5:20; Eph 5:5)” (”Catechism
of the Catholic Church”, 2113).

11:11-13. These words of the Lord to Solomon provide the key to understanding
what is going to happen after the king dies. Although Solomon’s sin would have
justified the kingdom’s being taken away from the house of David, God is faithful
to his promises to David (cf. 2 Sam 7:12-15) and to Solomon himself (cf. 1 Kings
9:3): he leaves the tribe of Judah with the city of Jerusalem under a king of Solo-
mon’s and, therefore, of David’s line. This shows that if Judah and its capital sur-
vive it is only because of God’s fidelity to his promise.

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Mark 7:24-30

The Curing of the Syrophoenician Woman

[24] And from there he (Jesus) arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Si-
don. And he entered a house, and would not have any one know it; yet he could
not be hid. [25] But immediately a woman, whose little daughter was possessed
by an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell down at his feet. [26] Now
the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast
the demon out of her daughter. [27] And he said to her, “Let the children first be
fed, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” [28]
But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the
children’s crumbs.” [29] And he said to her, “For this saying you may go your
way; the demon has left your daughter.” [30] And she went home, and found the
child lying in bed, and the demon gone.

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

24. The region of Tyre and Sidon is nowadays the southern part of Lebanon —
Phoenicia in ancient times. The distance from the lake of Gennesaret to the fron-
tier of Tyre and Sidon is not more than 50 kms (30 miles). Jesus withdrew from
Palestine to avoid persecution by the Jewish authorities and to give the Apostles
more intensive training.

27. Our Lord actually uses the diminutive—”little dogs” to refer to the Gentiles —
thereby softening a scornful expression which Jews used. On the episode of the
Canaanite woman cf. notes on parallel passages, Mt 15:21-28.

[The notes on Mt 15:21-28 states:

21-22. Tyre and Sidon were Phoenician cities on the Mediterranean coast, in pre-
sent-day Lebanon. They were never part of Galilee but they were near its north-
eastern border. In Jesus’ time they were outside the territory of Herod Antipas.
Jesus withdrew to this area to escape persecution from Herod and from the Je-
wish authorities and to concentrate on training His Apostles.

Most of the inhabitants of the district of Tyre and Sidon were pagans. St. Mat-
thew calls this woman a “Canaanite”; according to Genesis (10:15), this district
was one of the first to be settled by the Canaanites; St. Mark describes the wo-
man as a “Syrophoenician” (Mark 7:26). Both Gospels point out that she is a
pagan, which means that her faith in our Lord is more remarkable; the same
applies in the case of the centurion (Matthew 8:5-13).

The Canaanite woman’s prayer is quite perfect: she recognizes Jesus as the
Messiah (the Son of David)—which contrasts with the unbelief of the Jews; she
expresses her need in clear, simple words; she persists, undismayed by obsta-
cles; and she expresses her request in all humility: “Have mercy on me.” Our
prayer should have the same qualities of faith, trust, perseverance and humility.

24. What Jesus says here does not take from the universal reference of His tea-
ching (cf. Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16). Our Lord came to bring His Gos-
pel to the whole world, but He Himself addressed only the Jews; later on He will
charge His Apostles to preach the Gospel to pagans. St. Paul, in his missionary
journeys, also adopted the policy of preaching in the first instance to the Jews
(Acts 13:46).

25-28. This dialogue between Jesus and the woman is especially beautiful. By
appearing to be harsh He so strengthens the woman’s faith that she deserves
exceptional praise: “Great is your faith!” Our own conversation with Christ should
be like that: “Persevere in prayer. Persevere, even when your efforts seem barren.
Prayer is always fruitful” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 101).]

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.