And Adonibezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered [their meat] under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.
Ver. 7. And Adonibezek said.] Perhaps he repented a little, as did afterwards Antiochus, Licinius, and other tyrants, who yet acknowledged that God's heavy hand was just upon them; but surely a fame of ingenuity he hath gotten him, for confessing God's art of justicing in that most exact way of counter-passion or retaliation, such as did Adamussim aequiparare, et in librili perpendere, as Favorinus speaketh: a the scales were even: his cruelty in the one, his punishment in the other. This if he had thought on, and taken up in time, he might have haply redeemed his present sorrows and sufferings. Sethon king of Egypt
“ Qui Pharios currus regum cervicibus egit, ”
made his tributary kings draw his chariot by turns, till one time he espied one of those kings to look back earnestly on the wheel, and demanding the reason thereof, was answered by him, that with much comfort he beheld the lowest spokes turn uppermost by course. Whereupon, apprehending the moral, he left off that proud and barbarous custom. b
Having their thumbs and their great toes cut off.] That they might be disabled for fighting any more. The Latins call the thumb pollex, ab eo quod pollet, from its power and great usefulness. The Greeks call it αντιχειρ, that is, another hand. Further he might exercise this cruelty, Ut suas victorias ostentaret, et animum exhilararet; For a trophy of his victories, as did Sesostris or Sethon, forementioned; or to make himself sport, as Pope Clement V used Dandalus, the Venetian ambassador, whom he made to wallow under his table with dogs, that he might laugh at him. Man's heart, saith Mr Perkins, c is a palace of satanical pride: it is like unto the table of Adonibezek, at which he sat in a chair of state, and made others, even kings, to eat meat like dogs under his feet, with their thumbs cut off. Such a one is every man by nature: he lifteth up himself, saying, I am the man, and treadeth his brother underfoot, as nobody to him.
Gathered their meat under my table.] Meat they had then, though in a base way. This was better usage yet than our Richard II met with here in his own kingdom. For although his food was served in at Pomfret Castle, and set before him in the wonted princely manner, yet he was not suffered to taste or touch thereof, but was tantalised and starved to death. d So were the cruel Duke of Alva's prisoners, whom he told, that though he gave them quarter for their lives, yet he never promised them food in prison to keep them alive. About the year 1159, Frederick I, Emperor, sent Guafalgus Duke of Milan prisoner into Germany, and for three days together held him under his table as a dog, and caused him to be whipped with a dog whip. e
As I have done, so God hath requited me.] God loveth to retaliate, as were easy to instance. Phalaris was burnt in his own brasen bull:
“ Neque enim lex iustior ulla est,
Quam necis artifices arte perire sua. ” - Ovid.
Constantine the Emperor put out his uncle's eyes, and five years after had his own eyes put out by his own mother Irene. f Phocas, the traitor, had his arms, feet, and genitals cut off in like manner as himself had served his sovereign Mauricius. Archbishop Arundel and Stephen Gardiner were smitten in their tongues and famished, as they had silenced preachers, spoken swelling words against the professors of the truth, and brought a famine of the word. g Charles IX of France, author of the Parisian massacre, h and Felix, earl of Wartenburg, i who threatened to ride up to the spurs in the blood of the Lutherans, were stewed in their own broth, choked in their own blood: they had "blood given them to drink, for they were worthy." What wouldst thou have done with me, said Tamerlane to Bajazet, if it had been my fortune to have fallen into thy hands? I would, said Bajazet, have enclosed thee in a cage of iron, and so in triumph have carried thee up and down my kingdom: even so, said Tamerlane, shalt thou be served. j
And there he died,] viz., Of his wounds, little care being taken of his cure, because he was a proscribed person.
a Gell., lib. xx. cap. 1.
b Isaacson, Chron., p. 61.
c Perk., Of Man's Imagin.
d Speed, p. 766.
e Naucler. Gen. xxix.
f Bucholc.
g Act. and Mon.
h Annal. Gall.
i Flac. Illyr.
j Turk. Hist., p. 220.
Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Ver. 7. Giving themselves over] In scortationem effusae, wearying and wearing themselves out with that beastly sin, εκπορνευσασαι εκ επιτασιν habet; as did Proculus, Messalina, and Lais, who died in the act of uncleanness. (απεθανε βινουμενη, Athen. xiii.) The word here used signifies, saith Aretius, Scortationi immori, et contabescere illius desiderio, To waste and consume with that cursed concupiscence. Such a one was that filthy lecher mentioned by Luther, who desired no other heaven than to live always here, and be carried from one stews to another. He died between a couple of notorious strumpets.
And going after strange flesh] See Trapp on " Gen 19:5 "
Are set forth] Gr. προκεινται, are thrown forth.
For an example] Herodotus saith the like of the destruction of Troy, that the ruins and rubbish thereof are set forth for an example of this rule, των μεγαλων αδικηματων μεγαλαι εισι και αι τιμωριαι παρα του Θεου, that God greatly punisheth great offences.