As the Septuagint states, Woe to you who builds a house not in righteousness and your upper chambers without justice! You make your neighbor toil for nothing, refusing to pay them. You have constructed for yourself a mere shelter, with upper rooms exposed to the winds, separated by windows, adorned with cedar, and painted with red. Will you reign because you contend against Ahaz your father? You will neither eat nor drink; it would have been preferable for you to execute justice and good faith; you have ignored the cases of the humble and the poor. Does this not indicate that you lack knowledge of Me, says the Lord? Behold, your eyes are untrue, and your heart is not pure, but focused on your self-interest, on the shedding of innocent blood, injustice, and the murder of men. I provide both accounts in full, enabling the truth of the Hebrew text and the obscurity of the Vulgate version to be more clearly observed. This refers to Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, whom Pharaoh Necho of Egypt appointed in place of his brother Jehoahaz, whom he bound and took to Egypt. Yet we read, in both the Books of Kings and Chronicles, that Jehoiakim son of Josiah ruled Jerusalem for eleven years, reigning harshly and wickedly, and then he died; yet there is no mention of his burial. Although Holy Scripture commonly notes both the death and burial of all kings, it intentionally states this king died unburied, a point we will elaborate on later. It laments this king who harbors false hopes, considers his royal status everlasting, erects his lofty rooms, oppresses his allies without remunerating their labor, and perceives the construction of his palace as boundless. Can you, the divine voice asks, claim eternal dominion while attempting to elevate yourself alongside the noble cedar, which symbolizes your father Josiah, the righteous king? Your father both ate and drank, enjoyed the riches of kings, yet did not offend God, for his wealth came from doing justice and righteousness. Thus, just as it was favorable for him in this life, it will also be favorable in the life to come. He advocated for the poor and the destitute, for the comfort of those who sought his aid, and for his own benefit. All these deeds were rewarding to him because he knew Me, says the Lord. But your sight, Jehoiakim, is diverted to self-serving ambitions, to the shedding of innocent blood, to deceit, and to the swift pursuit of wrongdoing.
The meaning of this passage, according to the Seventy, remains elusive to me. While other aspects connect, the expressions you shall not reign because you oppose your father Ahaz, which in the Hebrew text is referred to as "cedar," are evidently devoid of clarity, as are the subsequent phrases about not eating or drinking, rendering the entire passage muddled and difficult to comprehend without the original Hebrew. In a deeper sense, we might interpret this against heretics who construct not a grand and expansive house emblematic of the Church, but rather a modest one. They build without truth or justice, seeking to seize the possessions of others. Therefore, it is said that you have erected for yourself a small dwelling, with upper rooms exposed to the winds, swayed by every doctrine (Eph. 4:14), and divided by windows, as heretics lack a lasting foundation. And though their ceilings may appear beautifully adorned, they soon decay in the storms and trials of persecution. Although they profess to bear the suffering and blood of the Lord, they will not reign eternally due to their disputes that provoke Araz, the cedar, their father. For every heretic emerges from the Church, yet is eventually cast out and becomes adversarial towards their origin. In the expression about not eating or drinking, this signifies the Body and Blood of the Savior, among other sacred matters. All their errors stem from the inability to know God, possessing corrupt vision and a heart fixated on gain, coveting the possessions of others, and shedding the blood of the tempted—a true manifestation of murder. The more serious issues warrant a fuller discussion.
THEOSIS