2 Kings — Chapter 3

The king of Israel said: Alas, alas, alas! the Lord hath called us three kings together to deliver us into the hands of Moab. Lapide: King Joram's despairing cry contrasts with Jehoshaphat's faithful inquiry for a prophet of the Lord. The one sinks into despair; the other seeks God. Lapide uses this contrast to teach that the first duty of a Christian king in adversity is to seek counsel from God through His ministers, not to give way to despair or to worldly expedients.

The king of Moab, seeing himself overcome, took his eldest son and offered him for a burnt-offering upon the wall. Lapide: This sacrifice of a son by the king of Moab in extremity was an ancient and execrable rite of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians — burning children alive to Saturn (Moloch) in time of great distress. Lapide cites Curtius on Carthage and Diodorus, condemning this sacrilegio as an abomination. The Israelites themselves later fell into this sin under Manasseh.