3 Kings 15:13
Moreover he also removed his mother Maacha, from being the princess in the sacrifices of Priapus, and in the grove which she had consecrated to him: and he destroyed her den, and broke in pieces the filthy idol, and burnt it by the torrent Cedron:
Open 3 Kings 15:13 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Insuper et Maacham matrem suam amovit, ne esset princeps in sacris Priapi, et in luco ejus quem consecraverat : subvertitque specum ejus, et confregit simulacrum turpissimum, et combussit in torrente Cedron :
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ τὴν Ἀνὰ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ μετέστησεν τοῦ μὴ εἶναι ἡγουμένην, καθὼς ἐποίησεν σύνοδον ἐν τῷ ἄλσει αὐτῆς· καὶ ἐξέκοψεν Ἀσὰ τὰς καταδύσεις αὐτῆς καὶ ἐνέπρησεν πυρὶ ἐν τῷ χειμάρρῳ τῶν κέδρων.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְגַ֣ם אֶת מַעֲכָ֣ה אִמּ֗וֹ וַיְסִרֶ֨הָ֙ מִגְּבִירָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר עָשְׂתָ֥ה מִפְלֶ֖צֶת לָאֲשֵׁרָ֑ה וַיִּכְרֹ֤ת אָסָא֙ אֶת מִפְלַצְתָּ֔הּ וַיִּשְׂרֹ֖ף בְּנַ֥חַל קִדְרֽוֹן
Haydock's commentary
Priapus. He would not spare such abominations in his own family. (Menochius) He took from his mother the direction of the palace, (Vatable) and her guards. (Grotius)
Hebrew, "even her he removed from being queen, because she had made a Miphlatstah." (Haydock)
Septuagint render this term a synod, "meeting," or something shameful; also a cavern, or den; and in Paralipomenon, the "idol" Astarte. St. Jerome also gives different meanings; so that the precise import is not well known. Most people translate, "a scarecrow;" (Calmet) terriculum. In the gardens of Greece and of Rome, the figure of Priapus was set up (Du Hamel) to frighten thieves and birds away.
Inde ego furum aviumque
Maxima formido. (Horace, Sat. 1. 8.)
Others understand that Pan, another frightening idol, is here meant; (Castalion) or the abominations of Phallus and Ithyphallus, derived from the same Hebrew word. (Seldon)
As the goddess Astarte, or Asera, "the grove," here the object of adoration, was the wife of Adonis, it is probable, that the same obscenities were carried in triumph, as Herodotus (ii. 28., and 49.) specifies in the description of the festival of Bacchus, celebrated by the Egyptians.
To him. Protestants, "She had made an idol in the grove." Hebrew also, "to Asera; and Asa destroyed her idol, (miphlatstah) and burnt it." (Haydock)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Aphrahat Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations, Of Monks
3. For it was through Eve that he came in upon Adam, and Adam was enticed because of his inexperience. And again he came in against Joseph through his master’s wife, but Joseph was acquainted with his craftiness and would not afford him a hearing. Through a woman he fought with Samson, until he took away his Nazariteship. Reuben was the first-born of all his brethren, and through his father’s wife, (the adversary) cast a blemish upon him. Aaron was the great high-priest of the house of Israel, and through Miriam his sister he envied Moses. Moses was sent to deliver the people from Egypt, and took with him the woman who advised him to shameful acts, and the Lord met with Moses, and desired to slay him, till he sent back his wife to Midian. David was victorious in all his battles, yet through means of a daughter of Eve there was found a blemish in him. …