2 Kings 5:12 [Are] not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.
Ver. 12. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus] Benjamin in his "Itinerary" saith, there is not so fruitful and sweet a city in all the world as Damascus, by reason of these two rivers Abana and Pharpar, called by historiographers Adonis and Orontes, falling from mount Hermon. For which cause also, saith another writer, the impostor Mohammed would never enter in this city, fearing - as himself used to say - lest, being ravished with the ineffable pleasures of the place, he should forget the business whereabout he was sent, and make this town his paradise.
Better than all the waters of Israel?] Why, yes, they may so seem, so long as you look upon them with Syrian eyes. Thus carnal people despise the "foolishness of preaching," the simplicity of sacraments, the seeming inefficacy of censures, &c.