And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.
All Commentaries on 2 Kings 23:18 Go To 2 Kings 23
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Yet from that love of the human heart, because of which “no one ever hated his own flesh,” if people believe that anything would be lacking to their bodies after death that in their own people or country the solemnity of burial demands, they become sad, and before death they fear for their bodies that which has no effect on them after death. Thus we read in the book of Kings that God through a prophet threatens another prophet who transgressed his word, that his body should not be returned to the sepulcher of his ancestors. Scripture records it in these words: “Thus says the Lord: Because you have not been obedient to the Lord and have not kept the commandment that the Lord your God commanded you, and have returned and eaten bread and drunk water in the place wherein he commanded you that you should not eat bread or drink water, your dead shall not be brought in the sepulcher of your ancestors.” If we consider the extent of this punishment according to the Evangelist where we learn that after the body has been slain there is no occasion to fear that the lifeless members will suffer, it should not be called punishment. But, if we consider it in relation to the love of a person for his own flesh, then he might have been frightened and saddened while living at what he was not to feel when dead. This, then, was the nature of the punishment: The soul grieved that something would happen to its body, although, when it did happen, the soul did not grieve. Only to this extent did the Lord wish to punish his servant, for it was not from his own obstinacy that he refused to carry out the command, but, because of the deceit of another person who was deceiving him, he thought he obeyed when he did not obey.
