Commentary and critical notes on the Bible/2 Chronicles

by Adam Clarke

Preface to the Two Books of Chronicles

Anciently these two books were considered but as one: for this we have not only the testimony of St. Jerome, but also that of the Masoretes, who gave the sum of all the sections, chapters, and verses, under one notation at the end of the second book, without mentioning any division; and although the modern Jews divide them, yet they give the Masoretic enumeration of sections, etc., as it was given of old; and all editors of the Masoretic Bibles, whether Jewish or Christian, follow the same plan.
These books have had several names. In Hebrew they are denominated דברי הימים dibrey haiyamim; literally, The Words of the Days, i.e., The Journals, particularly of the kings of Israel and kings of Judah. But this name does not appear to have been given by the inspired writer.
The Syriac has, The Book of the Transactions in the days of the Kings of Judah: which is called, Dibrey Yamim; referring to the Hebrew title.
The Arabic has, The Book of the Annals, which is called in Hebrew, Dibrey Haiyamim.
The Septuagint has, παραλειπομενων, of the things that were left or omitted; supposing that these books were a supplement either to Samuel and to the books of Kings, or to the whole Bible. To this the Greek translators might have been led by finding that these books in their time closed the Sacred Canon, as they still do in the most correct editions of the Hebrew Bible.
The Vulgate uses the same term as the Septuagint, referring, like the Syriac and Arabic, to the Hebrew name.
In our English Bibles these books are termed Chronicles, from the Greek χρονικα, from χρονος, i.e., A History of Times; or, as the matter of the work shows, "A History of Times, Kingdoms, States, Religion, etc., with an Account of the most memorable Persons and Transactions of those Times and Nations." Concerning the author of these books, nothing certain is known. Some think they are the works of different authors; but the uniformity of the style, the connection of the facts, together with the recapitulations and reflections which are often made, prove that they are the work of one and the same person.
The Jews, and Christian interpreters in general, believe they were the work of Ezra, assisted by the prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. That Ezra was the author is, on the whole, the most probable opinion. That he lived at the conclusion of the Babylonish captivity is well known; and the second book of Chronicles terminates at that period, barely reciting the decree of Cyrus to permit the return of the captivated Israelites to their own land; which subject is immediately taken up in the book of Ezra, in which the operation of that decree is distinctly marked.
There are words and terms, both in Chronicles and Ezra, which are similar, and prove that each was written after the captivity, and probably by the same person, as those terms were not in use previously to that time, and some of them are peculiar to Ezra himself: e.g., we have כפורי זהב kipporey zahab, "golden cups;" ^[1]; ^[2]; and in ^[3]; and דרכמון darkemon or drakmon, "a drachma" or; drachm, ^[4]; ^[5]; ^[6]; and רפסדות raphsodoth, "rafts" or floats, ^[7], widely differing from דברות doberoth, ^[8], which we there translate in the same way. Calmet considers these words as strong evidence that these books were the work of Ezra, and penned after the captivity.
We are not to suppose that these books are the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah and Israel so often referred to in the historical books of the Old Testament; these have been long lost, and the books before us can only be abridgments, either of such chronicles, or of works of a similar kind.
That the ancient Jews took great care to register their civil, military, and ecclesiastical transactions, is sufficiently evident from frequent reference to such works in the sacred writings; and that these registers were carefully and correctly formed, we learn from the character of the persons by whom they were compiled: they were in general prophets, and seem to have been employed by the kings under whom they lived to compile the annals of their reigns; or most likely this was considered a part of the prophet's regular office.
Samuel, Nathan, and Gad, wrote under the reign of David; ^[9].
The acts of the reign of Solomon were written by Nathan, Ahijah, and Iddo; ^[10].
Shemaiah and Iddo wrote those of Rehoboam; ^[11].
Iddo wrote also those of Abijah; ^[12].
It is likely that Hanani the seer wrote those of Asa; ^[13].
Jehu the prophet, the son of Hanani, ^[14], ^[15], wrote the acts of Jehoshaphat; ^[16]. Under this same reign we find Jahaziel the prophet, ^[17]; and Eliezer the prophet, ^[18].
Isaiah recorded the transactions of Uzziah, ^[19]; and those of Hezekiah, ^[20]; and of Ahaz, of whose reign we find the principal facts in the fifth, sixth, and ninth chapters of his prophecies. Under this reign we find Oded the prophet, ^[21].
Hosea wrote the history of the reign of Manasseh. See ^[22], in the margin.
And Jeremiah wrote the history of Josiah and his descendants, the last kings of Judah.
This was such a succession of historians as no nation of the world could ever boast. Men, all of whom wrote under the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit; some of whom had minds the most highly cultivated, and of the most extraordinary powers. Whether the prophets who flourished in the reigns of the kings of Israel wrote the annals of those kings, we know not, because it is not positively declared. We know that Ahijah the Shilonite lived under Jeroboam, the son of Nebat; ^[23]; ^[24]; and Jehu, son of Hanani, under Baasha; ^[25].
Elijah and many others flourished under the reign of Ahab. Elisha, Jonah, and many more, succeeded him in the prophetic office.
Besides these prophets and prophetic men, we find other persons, whose office it was to record the transactions of the kings under whom they lived. These were called secretaries or recorders; so, under David and Solomon, Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder. מזכיר mazkir, "remembrancer;" ^[26], and ^[27]. And under Hezekiah we find Joah, the son of Asaph; ^[28]. And under Josiah, Joah the son of Joahaz, who filled the office; ^[29].
The real object of the author of these books is not very easy to be ascertained. But it is evident that he never could have intended them as a supplement to the preceding books, as he relates many of the same circumstances which occur in them, and often in greater detail; and, except by way of amplification, adds very little that can be called new, and omits many things of importance, not only in the ancient history of the Israelites, but even of those mentioned in the preceding books of Samuel and Kings. Nine chapters of his work are occupied with extensive genealogical tables, but even these are far from being perfect. His history, properly speaking, does not begin till the tenth chapter, and then it commences abruptly with the last unsuccessful battle of Saul and his death, but not a word of his history.
Though the writer gives many curious and important particulars in the life of David, yet he passes by his adultery with Bath-sheba, and all its consequences. He says nothing of the incest of Amnon with his sister Tamar, nor a word of the rebellion and abominations of Absalom. He says very little of the kings of Israel, and takes no notice of what concerned that state, from the capture of Amaziah king of Judah by Joash king of Israel; ^[30], etc. And of the last wars of these kings, which terminated in the captivity of the ten tribes, he says not one word!
The principal design of the writer appears to have been this: to point out, from the public registers, which were still preserved, what had been the state of the different families previously to the captivity, that at their return they might enter on and repossess their respective inheritances. He enters particularly into the functions, genealogies, families, and orders of the priests and Levites; and this was peculiarly necessary after the return from the captivity, to the end that the worship of God might be conducted in the same way as before, and by the proper legitimate persons.
He is also very particular relative to what concerns religion, the worship of God, the temple and its utensils, the kings who authorized or tolerated idolatry, and those who maintained the worship of the true God. In his distribution of praise and blame, these are the qualities which principally occupy his attention, and influence his pen.
It may be necessary to say something here concerning the utility of these books. That they are in this respect in low estimation, we may learn from the manner in which they are treated by commentators: they say very little concerning them, and suppose the subject has been anticipated in the books of Samuel and Kings. That the persons who treat them thus have never studied them, is most evident, else their judgment would be widely different. Whatever history these books possess, in common with the books of Samuel and Kings, may, in a commentary, be fairly introduced in the examination of the latter; and this I have endeavored to do, as the reader may have already seen. But there are various details, and curious facts and observations, which must be considered in these books alone: nor will a slight mention of such circumstances do them justice.
St. Jerome had the most exalted opinion of the books of Chronicles. According to him, "they are an epitome of the Old Testament." He asserts, that "they are of such high moment and importance, that he who supposes himself to be acquainted with the sacred writings, and does not know them, only deceives himself; and that innumerable questions relative to the Gospel are here explained." Paralipomenon liber, id est, Instrumenti Veteris επιτομη, tantus ac talis est, ut abeque illo, si quis scientiam Scripturarum sibi voluerit arrogare, seipsum irrideat. Per singula quippe nomina, juncturasque verborum, et praetermissae in Regum libris tanguntur historiae, et innumerabiles explicantur Evangelii Quaetiones. - Epis. Secund. ad Paulinum Presbyterum., Oper. Edit. Benedict. vol. iv., col. 574. And in another place he asserts, that "all Scripture knowledge is contained in these books;" Omnis eruditio Scripturarum in hoc libro continetur. - Praefat. in lib. Paral. justa Septuaginta Interpret Oper. Edit. Bened., vol. i., col. 1418. This may be going too far; but St. Jerome believed that there was a mystery and meaning in every proper name, whether of man, woman, city, or country, in the book. And yet he complains greatly of the corruption of those names, some having been divided, so as to make two or three names out of one, and sometimes names condensed, so as of three names to make but one. To cure this evil he labored hard, and did much; but still the confusion is great, and in many cases past remedy. To assist the reader in this respect I wish to refer him to the marginal readings and parallel texts, which are here carefully represented in the inner margin; these should be constantly consulted, as they serve to remove many difficulties and reconcile several seeming contradictions. In addition to these helps I have carefully examined the different ancient versions, and the various readings in the MSS. of Kennicott and De Rossi, which often help to remove such difficulties.
There is one mode of exposition which I have applied to these books, which has not, as far as I know, been as yet used: I mean the Targum, or Chaldee Paraphrase, of Rabbi Joseph. It is well known to all oriental scholars, that a Chaldee Targum, or Paraphrase, has been found and published in the Polyglots, on every book of the Old Testament, purely Hebrew, the books of Chronicles excepted. Neither in the Complutensian, Antwerp, Parisian, nor London Polyglot, is such a Targum to be found; none having been discovered when these works were published. But shortly after the London Polyglot was finished, a MS. was found in the University of Cambridge, containing the Targum on these books: this, with several other pieces, Arabic, Persian, Syriac, etc., Dr. Samuel Clarke collected, and intended to publish, as a supplementary volume to the Polyglot, but was prevented by premature death. The MS. was afterwards copied by Mr. David Wilkins, and printed, with a Latin translation, at Amsterdam, quarto, 1715. Of this work the reader will find I have made a liberal use, as I have of the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, on the preceding books. Rabbi Joseph, the author, lived about three hundred years after the destruction of the second temple, or about a.d. 400. The MS. in question formerly belonged to the celebrated Erpen, and was purchased by the duke of Buckingham, then Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, and by him presented to the public library of that University.
It is worthy of remark, that the term מימרא meymera, "word," and מימרא דיי meymera dayeya, "the word of Jehovah," is used personally in this Targum; never as a word spoken, but as a Person acting: see the notes on ^[31].
The first book of Chronicles contains a sort of genealogical history from the creation of the world to the death of David, A.M. 2989.

Chapter 1

Introduction

Solomon, and the chiefs of the congregation, go to Gibeon, where was the tabernacle of the Lord, and the brazen altar; and there he offers a thousand sacrifices, ^[32]. The Lord appears to him in a dream, and gives him permission to ask any gift, ^[33]. He asks wisdom, ^[34], which is granted; and riches, wealth, and honor besides, ^[35], ^[36]. His kingdom is established, ^[37]. His chariots, horsemen, and horses, ^[38]. His abundant riches, ^[39]. He brings horses, linen yarn, and chariots, at a fixed price, out of Egypt, ^[40], ^[41].

Verse 1

And Solomon the son of David - The very beginning of this book shows that it is a continuation of the preceding, and should not be thus formally separated from it. See the preface to the first book.
The Lord his God was with him - "The Word of the Lord was his support." - Targum.

Verse 2

Then Solomon spake - This is supposed to have taken place in the second year of his reign.

Verse 4

But the ark - The tabernacle and the brazen altar remained still at Gibeon; but David had brought away the ark out of the tabernacle, and placed it in a tent at Jerusalem; ^[42], ^[43].

Verse 5

Sought unto it - Went to seek the Lord there.

Verse 7

In that night - The night following the sacrifice. On Solomon's choice, see the notes on ^[44] (note).

Verse 9

Let thy promise - דברך debarcha, thy word; פתגמך pithgamach, Targum. It is very remarkable that when either God or man is represented as having spoken a word then the noun פתגם pithgam is used by the Targumist; but when word is used personally, then he employs the noun מימרא meymera, which appears to answer to the Λογος of St. John, ^[45], etc.

Verse 14

He had a thousand and four hundred chariots - For these numbers, see the notes on ^[46].

Verse 15

Made silver and gold - See on ^[47] (note), ^[48] (note).

Verse 16

Linen yarn - See the note on ^[49], where this subject is particularly examined.

Verse 17

A horse for a hundred and fifty - Suppose we take the shekel at the utmost value at which it has been rated, three shillings; then the price of a horse was about twenty-two pounds ten shillings.
On Solomon's multiplying horses, Bishop Warburton has made some judicious remarks: - "Moses had expressly prohibited the multiplying of horses, ^[50], by which the future king was forbidden to establish a body of cavalry, because this could not be effected without sending into Egypt, with which people God had forbidden any communication, as this would be dangerous to religion. When Solomon had violated this law, and multiplied horses to excess, ^[51], it was soon attended with those fatal consequences that the law foretold: for this wisest of kings having likewise, in violation of another law, married Pharaoh's daughter, (the early fruits of this commerce), and then, by a repetition of the same crime, but a transgression of another law, having espoused more strange women, ^[52]; they first, in defiance of a fourth law, persuaded him to build them idol temples for their use, and afterwards, against a fifth law, brought him to erect other temples for his own. Now the original of all this mischief was the forbidden traffic with Egypt for horses; for thither were the agents of Solomon sent to mount his cavalry. Nay, this great king even turned factor for the neighboring monarchs, ^[53], and this opprobrious commerce was kept up by his successors and attended with the same pernicious consequences. Isaiah denounces the mischiefs of this traffic; and foretells that one of the good effects of leaving it would be the forsaking of their idolatries, ^[54], ^[55], ^[56], ^[57]." - See Divine Legation, vol. iii., p. 289 and Dr. Dodd's Notes.

Chapter 2

Introduction

Solomon determines to build a temple, ^[58]. The number of his workmen, ^[59]. Sends to Huram for artificers and materials, ^[60]. Huram sends him a favorable answer, and makes an agreement with him concerning the labor to be done, and the wages to be paid to his men, ^[61]. The number of strangers in the land, and how employed, ^[62], ^[63].

Verse 1

A house for the name of the Lord - A temple for the worship of Jehovah.
A house for his kingdom - A royal palace for his own use as king of Israel.

Verse 3

Solomon sent to Huram - This man's name is written חירם Chiram in Kings; and in Chronicles, חורם Churam: there is properly no difference, only a י yod and a ו vau interchanged. See on ^[64] (note).

Verse 6

Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - "For the lower heavens, the middle heavens, and the upper heavens cannot contain him, seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power. Heaven is the throne of his glory, the earth his footstool; the deep, and the whole world, are sustained by the spirit of his Word, [ברוח מימריה beruach meqmereih]. Who am I, then, that I should build him a house?" - Targum.
Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him, but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him, and offering him sacrifice, that I have erected it.

Verse 7

Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity, who is capable of planning and directing, and who may be over the other artists.

Verse 11

Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was, in these early times, carried on by confidential messengers, yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist, and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations. Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name. About the year of our Lord 700, Withred, king of Kent, thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church: Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi, atque, a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi; "All the above dictated by myself, I have confirmed; and because I cannot write, I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +." - See Wilkins' Concilta.

Verse 13

I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram, or Hiram Abi: see the notes on ^[65], ^[66].

Verse 16

In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on ^[67], and on the parallel places, for other matters contained in this chapter.

Chapter 3

Introduction

Solomon begins to build the temple in the fourth year of his reign on Mount Moriah, ^[68], ^[69]. Its dimensions, ornaments, and pillars, ^[70].

Verse 1

In Mount Moriah - Supposed to be the same place where Abraham was about to offer his son Isaac; so the Targum: "Solomon began to build the house of the sanctuary of the Lord at Jerusalem, in the place where Abraham had prayed and worshipped in the name of the Lord. This is the place of the earth where all generations shall worship the Lord. Here Abraham was about to offer his son Isaac for a burnt-offering; but he was snatched away by the Word of the Lord, and a ram placed in his stead. Here Jacob prayed when he fled from the face of Esau his brother; and here the angel of the Lord appeared to David, at which time David built an altar unto the Lord in the threshing-floor which he bought from Araunah the Jebusite."

Verse 3

The length - after the first measure was threescore cubits - It is supposed that the first measure means the cubit used in the time of Moses, contradistinguished from that used in Babylon, and which the Israelites used after their return from captivity; and, as the books of Chronicles were written after the captivity, it was necessary for the writer to make this remark, lest it should be thought that the measurement was by the Babylonish cubit, which was a palm or one-sixth shorter than the cubit of Moses. See the same distinction observed by Ezekiel, ^[71] (note); ^[72] (note).

Verse 4

The height was a hundred and twenty - Some think this should be twenty only; but if the same building is spoken of as in ^[73], the height was only thirty cubits. Twenty is the reading of the Syriac, the Arabic, and the Septuagint in the Codex Alexandrinus. The MSS. give us no help. There is probably a mistake here, which, from the similarity of the letters, might easily occur. The words, as they now stand in the Hebrew text, are מאה ואשרים meah veesrim, one hundred and twenty. But probably the letters in מאה meah, a hundred, are transposed for אמה ammah, a cubit, if, therefore, the א aleph be placed after the מ mem, then the word will be מאה meah one hundred; if before it the word will be אמה ammah, a cubit; therefore אמה עשרים ammah esrim will be twenty cubits; and thus the Syriac, Arabic, and Septuagint appear to have read. This will bring it within the proportion of the other measures, but a hundred and twenty seems too great a height.

Verse 6

Gold of Parvaim - We know not what this place was; some think it is the same as Sepharvaim, a place in Armenia or Media, conquered by the king of Assyria, ^[74], etc. Others, that it is Taprobane, now the island of Ceylon, which Bochart derives from taph, signifying the border, and Parvan, i.e., the coast of Parvan. The rabbins say that it was gold of a blood-red color, and had its name from פרים parim, heifers, being like to bullocks' blood.
The Vulgate translates the passage thus: Stravit quoque pavimentum templi pretiosissimo marmore, decore multo; porro aurum erat probatissimum; "And he made the pavement of the temple of the most precious marble; and moreover the gold was of the best quality," etc.

Verse 9

The weight of the nails was fifty shekels - Bolts must be here intended, as it should be preposterous to suppose nails of nearly two pounds' weight.
The supper chambers - Probably the ceiling is meant.

Verse 17

He reared up the pillars - "The name of that on the right hand was Jachin, because the kingdom of the house of David was established; and the name of the left was Boaz, from the name of Boaz the patriarch of the family of Judah, from whom all the kings of the house of Judah have descended." - Targum. See on ^[75] (note); and see the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter.

Chapter 4

Introduction

The brazen altar, ^[76]. Molten sea, and its supporters, ^[77]. The ten lavers, ^[78]. Ten golden candlesticks, ^[79]. Ten tables, the hundred golden basons, and the priests' court, ^[80]. The works which Huram performed, ^[81]. Solomon finishes the temple, and its utensils, ^[82].

Verse 3

Under it was the similitude of oxen - In ^[83], instead of oxen, בקרים bekarim, we have knops, פקעים pekaim; and this last is supposed by able critics to be the reading which ought to be received here. What we call knops may signify grapes, mushrooms, apples, or some such ornaments placed round about under the turned over lip or brim of this caldron. It is possible that בקרים bekarim, oxen, may be a corruption of פקעים pekaim, grapes, as the פ pe might be mistaken for a ב beth, to which in ancient MSS. it has often a great resemblance, the dot under the top being often faint and indistinct; and the ע ain, on the same account might be mistaken for a ר resh. Thus grapes might be turned into oxen. Houbigant contends that the words in both places are right; but that בקר bakar does not signify ox here, but al large kind of grape, according to its meaning in Arabic: and thus both places will agree. But I do not find that bakar, or bakarat, has any such meaning in Arabic. He was probably misled by the following, in the Arabic Lexicon, Camus, inserted under bakara, both by Giggeius and Golius, aino albikri, ox-eye, which is interpreted Genus uvae nigrae ac praeprandis, incredibilis dulcedinis. In Palaestina autem pro prunis absolute usurpatur. "A species of black grape, very large, and of incredible sweetness. It is used in Palestine for prune or plum." What is called the Damascene plum is doubtless meant; but בקרים bekarim, in the text, can never have this meaning, unless indeed we found it associated with עין ayin, eye, and then עיני בקרים eyney bekarim might, according to the Arabic, be translated plums, grapes, sloes, or such like, especially those of the largest kind, which in size resemble the eye of an ox. But the criticism of this great man is not solid. The likeliest method of reconciling the two places is supposing a change in the letters, as specified above. The reader will at once see that what are called the oxen, ^[84], said to be round about the brim, are widely different from those ^[85], by which this molten sea was supported.

Verse 5

It - held three thousand baths - In ^[86], it is said to hold only two thousand baths. As this book was written after the Babylonish captivity, it is very possible that reference is here made to the Babylonish bath which might have been less than the Jewish. We have already seen that the cubit of Moses, or of the ancient Hebrews, was longer than the Babylonish by one palm; see on ^[87] (note). It might be the same with the measures of capacity; so that two thousand of the ancient Jewish baths might have been equal to three thousand of those used after the captivity. The Targum cuts the knot by saying, "It received three thousand baths of dry measure, and held two thousand of liquid measure.

Verse 6

He made also ten lavers - The lavers served to wash the different parts of the victims in; and the molten sea was for the use of the priests. In this they bathed, or drew water from it for their personal purification.

Verse 8

A hundred basons of gold - These were doubtless a sort of paterae or sacrificial spoons, with which they made libations.

Verse 9

He made the court of the priests - This was the inner court.
And the great court - This was the outer court, or place for the assembling of the people.

Verse 16

Huram his father - אב ab, father, is often used in Hebrew to signify a master, inventor, chief operator, and is very probably used here in the former sense by the Chaldee: All these Chiram his master made for King Solomon; or Chiram Abi, or rather Hiram, made for the king.

Verse 17

In the clay ground - See on ^[88] (note). Some suppose that he did not actually cast those instruments at those places, but that he brought the clay from that quarter, as being the most proper for making moulds to cast in.

Verse 21

And the flowers, and the lamps - Probably each branch of the chandelier was made like a plant in flower, and the opening of the flower was either the lamp, or served to support it.

Verse 22

The doors - were of gold - That is, were overlaid with golden plates, the thickness of which we do not know.
That every thing in the tabernacle and temple was typical or representative of some excellence of the Gospel dispensation may be readily credited, without going into all the detail produced by the pious author of Solomon's Temple Spiritualized. We can see the general reference and the principles of the great design, though we may not be able to make a particular application of the knops, the flowers, the pomegranates, the tongs, and the snuffers, to some Gospel doctrines: such spiritualizing is in most cases weak, silly, religious trifling; being ill calculated to produce respect for Divine revelation.

Chapter 5

Introduction

Solomon having finished the temple, brings in the things which his father had consecrated, ^[89]. He assembles the elders and chiefs of Israel and the Levites, in order to bring up the ark from the city of David, ^[90], ^[91]. They bring it and its vessels; and having offered innumerable sacrifices, place it in the temple, under the wings of the cherubim, ^[92]. The Levites, singers, and trumpeters praise God; and his glory descends and fills the house, so that the priests cannot stand to minister, ^[93].

Verse 1

Brought in all the things - See the note on ^[94].

Verse 3

The feast - "That is, the feast of tabernacles, which was held in the seventh month." - Targum. See ^[95].

Verse 9

They drew out the staves - As the ark was no longer to be carried about, these were unnecessary.

Verse 10

There was nothing in the ark save - The Chaldee paraphrases thus: "There was nothing put in the ark but the two tables which Moses placed there, after the first had been broken on account of the calf which they made in Horeb, and the two other tables had been confirmed which were written with writing expressed in the Ten Words."

Verse 11

When the priests were come out - After having carried the ark into the holy of holies, before the sacred service had commenced.

Verse 12

A hundred and twenty priests - Cymbals, psalteries, and harps, of any kind, in union with a hundred and twenty trumpets or horns, could not produce much harmony; as to melody, that must have been impossible, as the noise was too great.

Verse 13

For he is good - This was either the whole of the song, or the burden of each verse. The Hebrew is very short: - כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו
Ki tob ki leolam chasdo.
For he is good; for his mercy is endless.

Verse 14

The priests could not stand - What a proof of the being of God, and of the Divine presence! What must those holy men have felt at this time!

Chapter 6

Introduction

Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple, vv. 1-42.

Verse 1

The Lord hath said that he would dwell - Solomon, seeing the cloud descend and fill the house, immediately took for granted that the Lord had accepted the place, and was now present. What occurred now was precisely the same with what took place when Moses reared the tabernacle in the wilderness; see ^[96], ^[97] : A cloud covered the tent - and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent - because the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
The Chaldee paraphrases thus: "Then said Solomon, It has pleased God to place his majesty in the city of Jerusalem, in the house of the sanctuary which I have built to the name of his Word, and he hath placed a dark cloud before him.

Verse 10

For the name of the Lord - "For the name of the Word of the Lord God of Israel." - Targum.

Verse 14

That walk before thee with all their hearts - "With all the will of their souls and with all the affection of their hearts." - Targum.

Verse 18

But will God in very deed dwell with men - "But who could have imagined, who could have thought it credible, that God should place his majesty among men dwelling upon earth? Behold, the highest heavens, the middle heavens, and the lowest heavens, cannot bear the glory of thy majesty, (for thou art the God who sustainest all the heavens, and the earth, and the deep, and all that is in them), nor can this house which I have built contain Thee." - Targum.

Verse 22

If a man sin against his neighbor - For the Seven cases put here by Solomon in his prayer, see the notes on 1 Kings 8:31-46 (note).

Verse 36

For there is no man which sinneth not - See this case largely considered in the note on ^[98] (note).

Verse 37

If they bethink themselves - "If thy fear should return into their hearts." - Targum.
The whole of this prayer is amply considered in the parallel place, 1 Kings 8:22-53 (note), where see the notes.

Verse 41

Let thy saints rejoice in goodness - "In the abundance of the tithes and other goods which shall be given to the Levites, as their reward for keeping the ark, and singing before it." - Jarchi.

Verse 42

Turn not away the face of thine anointed - "At least do me good; and if not for my sake, do it for thy own sake." - Jarchi.
These two last verses are not in the parallel place in 1 Kings 8:22-53. There are other differences between the two places in this prayer, but they are not of much consequence.

Chapter 7

Introduction

Solomon having ended his prayer, the fire of the Lord comes down from heaven and consumes the offerings, ^[99]. The people and the priests see this, and glorify God, and offer sacrifices, ^[100]. Solomon offers twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep; and the priests and Levites attend in their offices, ^[101], ^[102]. He keeps the feast seven days, and the dedication of the altar seven days, and dismisses the people, ^[103]. The Lord appears unto him by night, and assures him that he has heard his prayer, ^[104]; promises him and his posterity a perpetual government, if they be obedient, ^[105], ^[106]; but utter destruction should they disobey, and become idolaters, ^[107].

Verse 1

The fire came down - The cloud had come down before, now the fire consumes the sacrifice, showing that both the house and the sacrifices were accepted by the Lord.

Verse 4

The king and all the people offered sacrifices - They presented the victims to the priests, and they and the Levites slew them, and sprinkled the blood: or perhaps the people themselves slew them; and, having caught the blood, collected the fat, etc., presented them to the priests to be offered as the law required.

Verse 5

Twenty and two thousand oxen, etc. - The amount of all the victims that had been offered during the seven days of the feast of tabernacles, and the seven days of the feast of the dedication.

Verse 8

The entering in of Hamath - "From the entrance of Antioch to the Nile of Egypt." - Targum.

Verse 10

On the three and twentieth day - This was the ninth day of the dedication of the temple; but in ^[108] it is called the eighth day. "The meaning is this," says Jarchi: "he gave them liberty to return on the eighth day, and many of them did then return: and he dismissed the remainder on the ninth, what is called here the twenty-third, reckoning the fourteen days for the duration of the two feasts; in all, twenty-three."
The Targum paraphrases this verse thus: "The people departed with a glad heart, for all the good which God had done to David his servant, on whose account the doors of the sanctuary were open and for Solomon his son, because God had heard his prayer, and the majesty of the Lord had rested on the house of the sanctuary and for Israel, his people, because God had favourably accepted their oblations, and the heavenly fire had descended, and, burning on the altar, had devoured their sacrifices."

Verse 12

The Lord appeared to Solomon - This was a second manifestation; see ^[109] (note), and the notes there. The Targum says, "The Word of the Lord appeared to Solomon."

Verse 13

Or if I send pestilence - "The angel of death." - Targum.

Verse 15

Now mine eyes shall be open - It shall be pleasing to me in the sight of my Word, that I should incline mine ear," etc. - Targum.

Verse 18

There shall not fail thee a man - This promise was not fulfilled, because the condition was not fulfilled; they forsook God, and he cut them off, and the throne also.

Verse 20

Then will I pluck them up by the roots - How completely has this been fulfilled! not only all the branches of the Jewish political tree have been cut off, but the very roots have been plucked up; so that the day of the Lord's anger has left them neither root nor branch.

Verse 21

Shall be an astonishment - The manner in which these disobedient people have been destroyed is truly astonishing: no nation was ever so highly favored, and none ever so severely and signally punished.

Verse 22

Because they forsook the Lord - While they cleaved to God, the most powerful enemy could make no impression on them; but when they forsook him, then the weakest and most inconsiderable of their foes harassed, oppressed, and reduced them to bondage and misery. It was by no personal prowess, genuine heroism, or supereminent military tactics, that the Jews were enabled to resist and overcome their enemies; it was by the Divine power alone; for, destitute of this, they were even worse than other men.

Chapter 8

Introduction

Solomon's buildings, conquests, and officers, ^[110]. He brings Pharaoh's daughter to his new-built palace, ^[111]. His various sacrifices, and arrangement of the priests, Levites, and porters, ^[112]. He sends a fleet to Ophir, ^[113], ^[114].

Verse 1

At the end of twenty years - He employed seven years and a half in building the temple, and twelve and a half, or thirteen, in building his own house. - Compare this with ^[115].

Verse 2

The cities which Huram had restored - See the note on ^[116].

Verse 3

Hamath-zobah - "Emessa, on the river Orontes." - Calmet.

Verse 4

Tadmor - Palmyra. See the note on ^[117], for an account of this superb city.

Verse 6

All the store cities - See the note on ^[118].

Verse 9

But of the children of Israel - See the note on ^[119].

Verse 11

The daughter of Pharaoh - "And Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, Solomon brought up from the city of David to the palace which he had built for her." - T.
Because the places are holy - Is not this a proof that he considered his wife to be a heathen, and not proper to dwell in a place which had been sanctified? Solomon had not yet departed from the true God.

Verse 13

Three times in the year - These were the three great annual feasts.

Verse 15

The commandment of the king - The institutions of David.

Verse 17

Then went Solomon to Ezion-geber - See the notes on ^[120] (note), for conjectures concerning Ezion-geber and Ophir.

Verse 18

Knowledge of the sea - Skilful sailors. Solomon probably bore the expenses and his friend, the Tyrian king, furnished him with expert sailors; for the Jews, at no period of their history, had any skill in maritime affairs, their navigation being confined to the lakes of their own country, from which they could never acquire any nautical skill. The Tyrians, on the contrary, lived on and in the sea.

Chapter 9

Introduction

The queen of Sheba visits Solomon, and is sumptuously entertained by him, ^[121]. His great riches, ^[122], ^[123]. He makes targets and shields of beaten gold, and a magnificent ivory throne, and various utensils of gold, ^[124]. His navigation to Tarshish, and the commodities brought thence, ^[125]. His magnificence and political connections, ^[126]. The writers of his life, ^[127]. He reigns forty years, and is succeeded by his son Rehoboam, ^[128], ^[129].

Verse 1

The queen of Sheba - See all the particulars of this royal visit distinctly marked and explained in the notes on ^[130] (note). The Targum calls her queen of Zemargad.

Verse 12

Beside that which she had brought unto the king - In ^[131] it is stated that Solomon gave her all she asked, besides that which he gave her of his royal bounty. It is not at all likely that he gave her back the presents which she brought to him, and which he had accepted. She had, no doubt, asked for several things which were peculiar to the land of Judea, and would be curiosities in her own kingdom; and besides these, he gave her other valuable presents.

Verse 14

The kings of Arabia - "The kings of Sistevantha." - Targum.

Verse 15

And King Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold - For a more correct valuation of these targets and shields than that in ^[132] (note), see at the end of the chapter.

Verse 17

Made a great throne of ivory - For a very curious description of the throne of Solomon, see at the end of the chapter, ^[133] (note).

Verse 21

The king's ships went to Tarshish - "Went to Africa." - Targum.

Verse 25

Four thousand stalls for horses - See the note on ^[134], where the different numbers in these two books are considered. The Targum, instead of four thousand, has ארבע מאה arba meah, four hundred.

Verse 29

Nathan the prophet - These books are all lost. See the account of Solomon, his character, and a review of his works, at the end of ^[135] (note).
I. By the kindness of a learned friend, who has made this kind of subjects his particular study, I am able to give a more correct view of the value of the talent of gold and the talent of silver than that which I have quoted ^[136], from Mr. Reynold's State of the Greatest King.
1. To find the equivalent in British standard to an ounce troy of pure gold, valued at eighty shillings, and to a talent of the same which weighs one thousand eight hundred ounces troy.
The ounce contains four hundred and eighty grains, and the guinea weighs one hundred and twenty-nine grains, or five pennyweights and nine grains. (1) As 129 grains: 21 shillings:: 480, the number of grains in an ounce: 78.1395348s. or 3l. 18s. 1d. 2.69767q.; the equivalent in our silver coin to one ounce of standard gold. (2) As 78.1395348 shillings, the value of an ounce of standard gold,: 80 shillings, the value of an ounce troy of pure gold,:: 80 shillings: 81.9047619 shillings, the equivalent in British standard to one ounce of pure gold.
Instead of the preceding, the following proportions may be used: - (1) As 21.5 shillings: 21 shillings:: 80 shillings: 78.1395348 shillings. This multiplied by 1800, the number of troy ounces in a Hebrew talent, gives 140651.16264s. or 7032l. 11s. 1d. 3.8q., the equivalent to one talent of standard gold. (2) As 21 standard: 21.5 pure:: 80 pure: 81.9047619 standard. This multiplied by 1800 gives 147428.67142s. or 7371l. 8s. 6d. 3.4q., the equivalent to one talent of pure gold.
2. To find the equivalent in British standard to a talent of pure silver, which is valued at four hundred and fifty pounds sterling, or five shillings the ounce troy.
The pound troy is 240 pennyweights; and our silver coin has 18 pennyweights of alloy in the pound. From 240 pennyweights take 18, and there will remain 222 pennyweights, the pure silver in the pound.
Now as 240 pennyweights: 222 pennyweights:: 20 pennyweights, the weight of a crown piece,: 18 1/2 pennyweights, the weight of the pure silver in the crown.
Then, as 18.5 pennyweights: 6 shillings:: 36000, the number of dwts. in a talent,: 9729.729729729729 shillings, or 486 9s. 8 3/4d., the equivalent in our coin to a talent of pure silver.
Example 1. To find the equivalent in British standard to the one hundred and twenty talents of gold which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon, ^[137].
147428.57142 s. equivalent to one talent of pure gold, 120 number of talents [as found above]. 17691428.5704 = 884,571 8 s. 6 3/4 d., the equivalent to 120 talents. Example 2. To find the equivalent in British standard to Solomon's two hundred targets of beaten gold, each six hundred shekels; and to his three hundred shields, each three hundred shekels, ^[138], ^[139].
A talent is three thousand shekels; therefore six hundred shekels are one-fifth, and three hundred are one-tenth of a talent. - 5)147428.57142s. equivalent to one talent. 29485.71428 equivalent to one target. 200 the number of targets. 2 0)589714 2.856 294,857 2 s. 10 1/4 d. equivalent to 200 targets.
One-tenth of a talent is
14742.857142 = one shield. 300 number of shields. 2 0)442285 7.1426 221,142 17 s. 1 1/2 d. = 300 shields. Example 3. To find the equivalent in British standard to the weight of gold which came to Solomon in one year, independently of what the chapmen and merchants brought him.
147428.57142 s. = one talent. 666 number of talents. 88457142852 88457142852 88457142852 2 0)9818742 8.56572 4,909, 371 8 s. 6 3/4 d. equivalent to 666 talents. Example 4. To find the equivalent in British standard to the hundred thousand talents of gold, and to the million of talents of silver, which were prepared by David for the temple, ^[140].
The Gold 147428.57142 s. = one talent. 100000 number of talents 2 0)1474285714 2 737,142, 857 2 s. the equivalent. Or, seven hundred and thirty-seven millions, one hundred and forty-two thousand, eight hundred and fifty-seven pounds, two shillings sterling, for the gold.
The Silver 9729.729729729 s. = one talent. 1000000 number of talents. 2 0)9729729721 9.729 486,486, 486 9 s. 8 1/2 d. the equivalent. Or, four hundred and eighty-six millions, four hundred and eighty-six thousand, four hundred and eighty-six pounds, nine shillings, and eightpence halfpenny sterling, for the silver.
II. I have referred, in the note on ^[141], to a curious account of Solomon's throne, taken from a Persian MS. entitled beet al mukuddus, the Holy House, or Jerusalem. It has already been remarked, in the account of Solomon at the end of ^[142], article 12, that among the oriental writers Solomon is considered, not only as the wisest of all men, but as having supreme command over demons and genii of all kinds; and that he knew the language of beasts and birds, etc.; and therefore the reader need not be surprised if he find, in the following account, Solomon employing preternatural agency in the construction of this celebrated throne. "This famous throne was the work of the Deev Sukhur; it was called Koukab al Jinna. The beauty of this throne has never been sufficiently described; the following are the particulars: - "The sides of it were pure gold; the feet, of emeralds and pearls, intermixed with other pearls, each of which was as large as the egg of an ostrich. "The throne had Seven steps; on each side were delineated orchards full of trees, the branches of which were composed of precious stones, representing ripe and unripe fruits. "On the tops of the trees were to be seen fowls of the most beautiful plumage; particularly the peacock, the etaub, and the kurgus; all these birds were artificially hollowed within, so as occasionally to utter a thousand melodious notes, such as the ears of mortals had never before heard. "On the First step were delineated vine-branches, having bunches of grapes, composed of various sorts of precious stones; fashioned in such a manner as to represent the different colors of purple, violet, green, and red, so as to exhibit the appearance of real fruit. "On the Second step, on each side of the throne, were two lions, of massive gold, of terrible aspect, and as large as life. "The property of this throne was such, that when the prophet Solomon placed his foot upon the First step, all the birds spread their wings, and made a fluttering noise in the air. "On his touching the Second step, the two lions expanded their claws. "On his reaching the Third step, the whole assembly of deevs, peris, and men, repeated the praises of the Deity. "When he arrived at the Fourth step, voices were heard addressing him in the following manner: Son of David be grateful for the blessings which the Almighty has bestowed upon thee. "The same was repeated on his reaching the Fifth step. "On his touching the Sixth step, all the children sang praises. "On his arrival at the Seventh step, the whole throne, with all the birds and other animals, became in motion, and ceased not till he had placed himself in the royal seat; and then the birds, lions, and other animals, by secret springs, discharged a shower of the most precious musk upon the prophet; after which two of the kurguses, descending placed a golden crown upon his head. "Before the throne was a column of burnished gold; on the top of which was placed a golden dove, which had in its beak a roll bound in silver. In this roll were written the Psalms of the prophet David, and the dove having presented the roll to King Solomon, he read a portion of it to the children of Israel. "It is farther related that, on the approach of wicked persons to this throne for judgment, the lions were wont to set up a terrible roaring, and to lash their tails about with violence; the birds also began to erect their feathers; and the whole assembly of deeves and genii uttered such loud cries, that for fear of them no person would dare to be guilty of falsehood, but instantly confess his crimes. "Such was the throne of Solomon, the son of David." Supposing even this splendid description to be literally true, there is nothing here that could not have been performed by ingenuity and art; nothing that needed the aid of supernatural influence."
In another MS., on which I cannot now lay my hand, the whole value of this throne, and its ornaments, is computed in lacs of rupees! The above description is founded in the main on the account given here, ^[143]. The Six steps, and the footstool of the sacred writer, make the Seven steps, in the above description. The twelve lions are not distinguished by the Mohammedan writer. Other matters are added from tradition.
This profusion of gold and precious stones was not beyond the reach of Solomon, when we consider the many millions left by his father; no less a sum than one thousand two hundred and twenty-three millions, six hundred and twenty-nine thousand, three hundred and forty-three pounds, eleven shillings, and eight pence halfpenny, besides what Solomon himself furnished.

Chapter 10

Introduction

The people apply to Rehoboam to ease them of their burdens, ^[144]. Rejecting the advice of the aged counsellors, and following that of the young men, he gives them an ungracious answer, ^[145]. The people are discouraged, and ten tribes revolt, ^[146]. They stone Hadoram, who went to collect the tribute; and Rehoboam but barely escapes, ^[147], ^[148].

Verse 1

Rehoboam went to Shechem - This chapter is almost word for word the same as 1 Kings 12:1-19, to the notes on which the reader is referred.

Verse 10

My little finger shall be thicker - "My weakness shall be stronger than the might of my father." - Targum.

Verse 15

For the cause was of God - "For there was an occasion Divinely given." - Targum.

Verse 16

To your tents, O Israel - "To your cities, O Israel." - Targum.
Now, David, see to thine own house - "Now, David, rule over the men of thy own house." - Targum.

Verse 18

Stoned him - When he endeavored to collect the tribute which Solomon had imposed on them. - Jarchi.

Verse 19

Israel rebelled - A few soft words, and the removal of a part of the oppressive taxes, (for they said, Ease thou Somewhat the grievous servitude), would have secured this people to the state, and prevented the shedding of a sea of human blood, which was the consequence of the separation of this kingdom. Rehoboam was a fool; and through his folly he lost his kingdom. He is not the only example on record: the Stuarts lost the realm of England much in the same way; and, by a different mode of treatment, the House of Brunswick continues to fill the British throne. May the thread of its fortune, woven by the hand of God, never be undone! and may the current of its power glide on to the latest posterity!
Talia secla, suis dixerunt, currite, fusis
Concordes stabili fatorum numine Parcae.
Virg. Ecl. iv., ver. 46. "God's firm decree, by which this web was spun,
Shall ever bless the clue, and bid it smoothly run."
Labitur, et labetur in omne volubilis Aevum.
Horat. Epist., l. i., c. 2, v. 43. "Still glides the river, and shall ever glide."
Amen! Amen!

Chapter 11

Introduction

Rehoboam raises an array, purposing to reduce the ten tribes; but is prevented by Shemaiah the prophet, ^[149]. He builds several cities of defense, and fortifies others, ^[150]. The priests and Levites being turned out by Jeroboam, come to Rehoboam, ^[151], ^[152]. Jeroboam's gross idolatry, ^[153]. The pious of the land join with Judah, and strengthen the kingdom of Rehoboam, ^[154], ^[155]. His wives, concubines, and numerous issue, ^[156]. He places his own sons for governors in the different provinces, ^[157], ^[158].

Verse 1

Gathered of the house of Judah - See this account ^[159] (note), and the notes there.

Verse 5

And built cities for defense in Judah - He was obliged to strengthen his frontiers against the encroachments of the men of Israel; and Jeroboam did the same thing on his part to prevent the inroads of Judah. See ^[160].

Verse 11

Store of victual - In these places he laid up stores of provisions, not only to enable them to endure a siege; but also that they might be able, from their situation, to supply desolate places.

Verse 14

The Levites left their suburbs - They and the priests were expelled from their offices by Jeroboam, lest they should turn the hearts of the people to the true God, and then they would revolt to Judah, ^[161]; and therefore he established a new worship, and made new gods.

Verse 15

And he ordained him priests - for the devils - שעירים seirim, the hairy ones; probably goats: for as the golden calves, or oxen, were in imitation of the Egyptian ox-god, Apis; so they no doubt paid Divine honors to the goat, which we know was an object of religious veneration in Egypt.

Verse 16

Such as set their hearts to seek the Lord - All the truly pious joined him out of every tribe, and the whole tribe of Levi, being deprived of their functions, joined him also. Thus he had Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, and probably a part of Simeon; for he had Etam, which was in that tribe, and the truly religious out of all the other tribes, for they could not bear Jeroboam's idolatry.

Verse 17

For three years they walked in the way of David - During this time he prospered; but for fourteen years after this he and the people were unfaithful to the Lord, except at such intervals as the hand of God's judgments was upon them.

Verse 18

Took him Mahalath - By marrying thus in the family of David, he strengthened his right to the Jewish throne.

Verse 20

Maachah the daughter of Absalom - See the note on ^[162]. She is called Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel, ^[163]. For this the Targum gives the following reason: "Abijah reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Michaiah, daughter of Uriel of Gibeatha. She is the same as Michah, the daughter of Absalom; but, because she was an upright woman, her name was changed into the more excellent name Michaiah, and her fathers name into that of Uriel of Gibeatha, that the name of Absalom might not be remembered.

Verse 21

Eighteen wives and threescore concubines - Bad enough, but not so abandoned as his father. Of these marriages and concubinage the issue was twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters; eighty-eight children in the whole, to the education of the whole of whom he could pay but little attention. Numerous families are often neglected; and children by different women, must be yet in a worse state.

Verse 22

Made Abijah - the chief - Abijah certainly was not the first-born of Rehoboam; but as he loved Maachah more than any of his wives, so he preferred her son, probably through his mother's influence. In ^[164], this sort of preference is forbidden; but Rehoboam had a sort of precedent in the preference shown by David to Solomon.

Verse 23

He dealt wisely - It was true policy to disperse his own sons through the different provinces who were not likely to form any league with Jeroboam against their father.
He desired many wives - He was much addicted to women; yet we do not find that he formed any heathenish alliances of this nature. And as no particulars are given, we do not know how far he indulged himself in this propensity. He probably strengthened his political connections by these means.

Chapter 12

Introduction

Rehoboam and his subjects, forsaking the Lord, are delivered into the hands of Shishak, king of Egypt, ^[165]. Shemaiah the prophet remonstrates with them, and they humble themselves, and Jerusalem is not destroyed; but Shishak takes away all the treasures, and the golden shields, instead of which Rehoboam makes shields of brass, ^[166]. He reigns badly seventeen years, dies, and is succeeded by his son Abijah, ^[167].

Verse 1

He forsook the law of the Lord - This was after the three years mentioned ^[168].

Verse 2

Shishak king of Egypt - Concerning this man, and the motive which led him to attack the Jews, see the note on ^[169].
Transgressed against the Lord - "Against the Word of the Lord." - Targum.

Verse 3

The Lubims - Supposed to be a people of Libya, adjoining to Egypt; sometimes called Phut in Scripture, as the people are called Lehabim and Ludim.
The Sukkiims - The Troglodytes, a people of Egypt on the coast of the Red Sea. They were called Troglodytes, Τρωγλοδυται, οἱ τας τρωγλας οικουντες, "because they dwelt in caves." - Hesych. This agrees with what Pliny says of them, Troglodytae specus excavant, haec illis domus; "The Troglodytes dig themselves caves; and these serve them for houses." This is not very different from the import of the original name סכיים Sukkiyim, from סכה sachah, to cover or overspread; (hence סוך such, a tabernacle); the people who were covered (emphatically) under the earth. The Septuagint translate by the word Τρωγλοδυται, Troglodytes.
The Ethiopians - כושים Cushim. Various people were called by this name, particularly a people bordering on the northern coast of the Red Sea; but these are supposed to have come from a country of that name on the south of Egypt.

Verse 6

Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves - This is not mentioned in the parallel place, ^[170] : this was the sole reason why Jerusalem was not at this time totally destroyed, and the house of David entirely cut off; for they were totally incapable of defending themselves against this innumerable host.

Verse 8

They shall be his servants - They shall be preserved, and serve their enemies, that they may see the difference between the service of God and that of man. While they were pious, they found the service of the Lord to be perfect freedom; when they forsook the Lord, they found the fruit to be perfect bondage. A sinful life is both expensive and painful.

Verse 9

Took away the treasures - Such a booty as never had before, nor has since, come into the hand of man.
The shields of gold - These shields were the mark of the king's body-guard: it was in imitation of this Eastern magnificence that Alexander constituted his Argyraspides, adorned with the spoils taken from Darius. See Quintus Curtius, lib. viii., c. 5, et alibi.

Verse 13

Was one and forty years old - Houbigant thinks he was but sixteen years old when he began to reign; and brings many and forcible arguments to prove that the number forty-one must be a mistake. That he was young when he came to the throne, is evident from his consulting the young men that were brought up with him, ^[171], ^[172]. They were young men then; and if he was brought up with them, he must have been young then also. Besides, Abijah, in his speech to Jeroboam, ^[173], says that at the time Rehoboam came to the throne he was tender-hearted, and therefore could not withstand the children of Belial raised up against him by Jeroboam: but surely at that time no man could be reputed young and tender-hearted - quite devoid of experience, who was above forty years of age. Besides, if this reading were allowed, it would prove that he was born before his father Solomon began to reign, for Solomon reigned only forty years, and Rehoboam immediately succeeded him.

Verse 15

Concerning genealogies - "In the book of the genealogy of the family of David." - Targum.

Verse 16

Abijah his son - Concerning the many varieties in this king's name, see the note on ^[174].

Chapter 13

Introduction

Abijah begins to reign over Judah, and has war with Jeroboam, ^[175]. His speech from Mount Zemaraim to Jeroboam, before the commencement of hostilities, ^[176]. While thus engaged, Jeroboam despatches some troops which come on the rear of Abijah's army, ^[177]. Perceiving this, they cry unto the Lord, and the Israelites are defeated with the loss of five hundred thousand men, ^[178]. Abijah retakes several cities from Jeroboam, who is smitten by the Lord, and dies, ^[179], ^[180]. Abijah's marriages and issue, ^[181], ^[182].

Verse 2

His mother's name - was Michaiah - See on ^[183] (note).

Verse 3

Abijah set the battle in array - The numbers in this verse and in the seventeenth seem almost incredible. Abijah's army consisted of four hundred thousand effective men; that of Jeroboam consisted of eight hundred thousand; and the slain of Jeroboam's army were five hundred thousand. Now it is very possible that there is a cipher too much in all these numbers, and that they should stand thus: Abijah's army, forty thousand; Jeroboam's eighty thousand; the slain, fifty thousand. Calmet, who defends the common reading, allows that the Venice edition of the Vulgate, in 1478; another, in 1489; that of Nuremberg, in 1521; that of Basil, by Froben, in 1538; that of Robert Stevens, in 1546; and many others, have the smaller numbers. Dr. Kennicott says: "On a particular collation of the Vulgate version, it appears that the number of chosen men here slain, which Pope Clement's edition in 1592 determines to be five hundred thousand, the edition of Pope Sixtus, printed two years before, determined to be only fifty thousand; and the two preceding numbers, in the edition of Sixtus, are forty thousand and eighty thousand. As to different printed editions, out of fifty-two, from the year 1462 to 1592, thirty-one contain the less number. And out of fifty-one MSS. twenty-three in the Bodleian library, four in that of Dean Aldrich, and two in that of Exeter College, contain the less number, or else are corrupted irregularly, varying only one or two numbers."
This examination was made by Dr. Kennicott before he had finished his collation of Hebrew MSS., and before De Rossi had published his Variae Lectiones Veteris Testamenti; but from these works we find little help, as far as the Hebrew MSS. are concerned. One Hebrew MS., instead of ארבע מאות אלף arba meoth eleph, four hundred thousand, reads ארבע עשר אלף arba eser eleph, fourteen thousand.
In all printed copies of the Hebrew, the numbers are as in the common text, four hundred thousand, eight hundred thousand, and five hundred thousand.
The versions are as follow: - The Targum, or Chaldee, the same in each place as the Hebrew.
The Syriac in ^[184] has four hundred thousand young men for the army of Abijah, and eight hundred thousand stout youth for that of Jeroboam. For the slain Israelites, in ^[185], it has five hundred thousand, falsely translated in the Latin text quinque milia, five thousand, both in the Paris and London Polyglots: another proof among many that little dependence is to be placed on the Latin translation of this version in either of the above Polyglots.
The Arabic is the same in all these cases with the Syriac, from which it has been translated.
The Septuagint, both as it is published in all the Polyglots, and as far as I have seen in MSS. is the same with the Hebrew text. So also is Josephus.
The Vulgate or Latin version is that alone that exhibits any important variations; we have had considerable proof of this in the above-mentioned collations of Calmet and Kennicott. I shall beg liberty to add others from my own collection.
In the Editio Princeps of the Latin Bible, though without date or place, yet evidently printed long before that of Fust, in 1462, the places stand thus: ^[186]. Cumque inisset certamen, et haberet bellicosissimos viros, et electorum Quadraginta milia: Iheroboam construxit e contra aciem Octoginta milia virorum; "With him Abia entered into battle; and he had of the most warlike and choice men forty thousand; and Jeroboam raised an army against him of eighty thousand men." And in ^[187] : Et corruerunt vulnerati ex Israel, Quinquaginta milia virorum fortium; "And there fell down wounded fifty thousand stout men of Israel." In the Glossa Ordinaria, by Strabo Fuldensis, we have forty thousand and eighty thousand in the two first instances, and five hundred thousand in the last. - Bib. Sacr. vol. ii., Antv. 1634.
In six ancient MSS. of my own, marked A, B, C, D, E, F. the text stands thus: -
A. - Cumque inisset Abia certamen, et haberet bellicosissimos viros, et electorum XL. MIL. Jeroboam instruxit contra aciem LXXX. MIL.
And in ^[188] : Et corruerunt vulnerati ex Israel L. MIL. virorum fortium. Here we have forty thousand for the army of Abijah, and eighty thousand for that of Jeroboam, and Fifty thousand for the slain of the latter.
B. -
Quadraginita milia Forty thousand Octoginta milia Eighty thousand Quinquiaginta milia Fifty thousand
The numbers being here expressed in words at full length, there can be no suspicion of mistake.
C. -
CCCC milia 400 thousand DCCC milibus 800 thousand D milia 500 thousand
This is the same as the Hebrew text, and very distinctly expressed.
D. - xl. m. 40,000 lxxx. m. 80,000 l. v. m. 50 and 5000
This, in the two first numbers, is the same as the others above; but the last is confused, and appears to stand for fifty thousand and five thousand. A later hand has corrected the two first cccc numbers in this MS., placing over the first four CCCC, thus 40, thus changing forty into four hundred; and over the second thus, dccc lxxx., thus changing eighty into eight hundred. Over the latter number, which is evidently a mistake of the scribe, there is no correction.
E. - xl. m. 40,000 Octoginta m. Eighty thousand l. m. 50,000
F. -
CCCC. m. 400,000 DCCC. m. 800,000 D. m. 600,000
This also is the same as the Hebrew.
The reader has now the whole evidence which I have been able to collect before him, and may choose; the smaller numbers appear to be the most correct. Corruptions in the numbers in these historical books we have often had cause to suspect, and to complain of.

Verse 4

Stood up upon Mount Zemaraim - "Which was a mount of the tribe of the house of Ephraim." - Targum. Jarchi thinks that Abijah went to the confines of the tribe of Ephraim to attack Jeroboam. It could not be Shomeron, the mount on which Samaria was built in the days of Omri king of Israel, ^[189].

Verse 5

By a covenant of salt? - For ever. "For as the waters of the sea never grow sweet, neither shall the dominion depart from the house of David." - Targum. See my note on ^[190] (note).

Verse 7

When Rehoboam was young and tender-hearted - Therefore he could not be forty-one when he came to the throne; see the note on ^[191]. Children of Belial here signifies men of the most abandoned principles and characters; or men without consideration, education, or brains.

Verse 9

A young bullock and seven rams - He who could provide these for his own consecration was received into the order of this spurious and wicked priesthood. Some think he who could give to Jeroboam a young bullock and seven rams, was thereby received into the priesthood; this being the price for which the priesthood was conferred. The former is most likely.

Verse 10

The Lord is our God - We have not abandoned the Lord; and we still serve him according to his own law.

Verse 12

God himself is with us - Ye have golden calves; we have the living and omnipotent Jehovah.
With - trumpets to cry alarm against you - This was appalling: When the priests sound their trumpets, it will be a proof that the vengeance of the Lord shall speedily descend upon you.

Verse 13

But Jeroboam caused an ambushment - While Abijah was thus employed in reproving them, Jeroboam divided his army privately, and sent a part to take Abijah in the rear; and this must have proved fatal to the Jews, had not the Lord interposed.

Verse 17

Slain - five hundred thousand chosen men - Query, fifty thousand? This was a great slaughter: see the note on ^[192], where all these numbers are supposed to be overcharged.

Verse 18

Judah prevailed, because - "They depended on the Word of the God of their fathers." - T.

Verse 19

Beth-el - "Beth-lehem." - Targum.
Jeshanah - We know not where these towns lay.

Verse 20

The Lord struck him, and he died - Who died? Abijah or Jeroboam? Some think it was Jeroboam; some, that it was Abijah. Both rabbins and Christians are divided on this point; nor is it yet settled. The prevailing opinion is that Jeroboam is meant, who was struck then with that disease of which he died about two years after; for he did not die till two years after Abijah: see ^[193]; ^[194]. It seems as if Jeroboam was meant, not Abijah.

Verse 21

Married fourteen wives - Probably he made alliances with the neighboring powers, by taking their daughters to him for wives.

Verse 22

Written in the story - במדרש bemidrash, "in the commentary;" this, as far as I recollect, is the first place where a midrash or commentary is mentioned. The margin is right.
His ways, and his sayings - The commentary of the prophet Iddo is lost. What his sayings were we cannot tell; but from the specimen in this chapter, he appears to have been a very able speaker, and one who knew well how to make the best use of his argument.

Chapter 14

Introduction

Asa succeeds his father Abijah, reigns piously, and has peace for ten years, ^[195]. He makes a great reformation in Judah, and builds cities of defense, ^[196]. His military strength, ^[197]. He is attacked by Zerah the Ethiopian, with an immense army; Asa cries to the Lord, attacks the Ethiopians, and gives them a total overthrow, ^[198]. He takes several of their cities, their cattle, etc., and returns to Jerusalem, laden with spoils, ^[199].

Verse 1

The land was quiet ten years - Calmet thinks these years should be counted from the fifth to the fifteenth of Asa's reign.

Verse 2

Did that which was good - He attended to what the law required relative to the worship of God. He was no idolater, though, morally speaking, he was not exempt from faults, ^[200]. He suppressed idolatry universally, and encouraged the people to worship the true God: see ^[201].

Verse 6

Fenced cities - To preserve his territories from invasion, and strengthen the frontiers of his kingdom, see ^[202].

Verse 8

Targets and spears - Probably targets with the dagger in the center, and javelins for distant fight.
Bare shields and drew bows - They were not only archers, but had shield and sword for close fight.

Verse 9

Zerah the Ethiopian - Probably of that Ethiopia which lay on the south of Egypt, near to Libya, and therefore the Libyans are joined with them, ^[203].
A thousand thousand - If this people had come from any great distance, they could not have had forage for such an immense army.

Verse 11

Whether with many - The same sentiment as that uttered by Jonathan, ^[204], when he attacked the garrison of the Philistines.
O Lord our God - we rest on thee - "Help us, O Lord our God; because we depend on thy Word, and in the name of thy Word we come against this great host." - Targum.

Verse 14

There was - much spoil in them - These cities being on the rear of this vast army, they had laid up much forage in them; and to get this the Jews overthrew the whole.

Verse 15

Tents of cattle - Those which had carried the baggage of the great army, and which they had left in such places as abounded with pasture. Perhaps sheepfolds, enclosures for camels, mules, etc., may also be intended. The discomfiture was great, because God fought for the people; and the spoil was immense, because the multitude was prodigious, indeed almost incredible, a million of men in one place is almost too much for the mind to conceive, but there may be some mistake in the numerals: it is evident from the whole account that the number was vast and the spoil great.

Chapter 15

Introduction

Azariah's prophecy concerning Israel, and his exhortation to Asa, ^[205]. Asa completes the reformation which he had begun, his kingdom is greatly strengthened, and all to people make a solemn covenant with the Lord, ^[206]. His treatment of his mother Maachah, ^[207]. He brings into the house of God the things that has father had dedicated, ^[208], ^[209]. And he has no war till the thirty-fifth year of his reign, ^[210].

Verse 1

Azariah the son of Oded - We know nothing of this prophet but what is related of him here.

Verse 2

The Lord is with you, while ye be with him - This is the settled and eternal purpose of God; to them who seek him he will ever be found propitious, and them alone will he abandon who forsake him. In this verse the unconditional perseverance of the saints has no place: a doctrine which was first the ruin of the human race, Ye shall not die; and ever since the fall, has been the plague and disgrace of the Church of Christ. The Targum is curious: "Hearken to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Word of the Lord shall be your helper, while ye walk in his ways. If ye seek doctrine from his presence he will be found of you in times of trouble; but if you cast away his fear, he will abandon you."

Verse 3

Now for a long season Israel - "Israel hath followed Jeroboam, and they have not worshipped the true God. They have burnt incense to their golden calves; their priestlings [כומריא cumeraiya, their black, sooty sacrificers] have burnt perfumes with a strange worship, and have not exercised themselves in the law." - Targum. These priests could not teach, because they had not learnt; and as they had abandoned the law of the Lord, consequently they had no proper matter for instruction.
There is a great diversity of opinions concerning the meaning of this text. Some consider it a prophecy relative to the future state of this people, and the final destruction of the Jews as to their political existence: others consider it as referring to the state of the people under the reigns of Rehoboam and Abijah, which were happily changed under that of Asa; and this appears to me to be the most natural sense of the words.

Verse 5

But great vexations - Does not our Lord allude to this and the following verse in ^[211], ^[212], ^[213], ^[214]?

Verse 8

Renewed the altar - Dedicated it afresh, or perhaps enlarged it, that more sacrifices might be offered on it than ever before; for it cannot be supposed that this altar had no victims offered on it till the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa, who had previously been so zealous in restoring the Divine worship.

Verse 9

And the strangers - Many out of the different tribes, particularly out of Simeon, Ephraim, and Manasseh, having reflected that the Divine blessing was promised to the house of David, and finding the government of Jeroboam founded in idolatry, would naturally, through a spirit of piety, leave their own country, and go where they might enjoy the worship of the true God.

Verse 10

The third month - At the feast of pentecost which was held on the third month.

Verse 11

The spoil which they had brought - The spoil which they had taken from Zerah and his auxiliaries, ^[215], ^[216].

Verse 12

They entered into a covenant - The covenant consisted of two parts:
1. We will seek the God of our fathers with all our heart, and with all our soul.
2. Whosoever, great or small, man or woman, will not worship the true God, and serve him alone, shall be put to death. Thus no toleration was given to idolatry, so that it must be rooted out: and that this covenant might be properly binding, they confirmed it with an oath; and God accepted them and their services.

Verse 16

Concerning Maachah - See the matter fully explained in the note on ^[217] (note).
The Jews imagine that Maachah repented, and her name became changed into Michaiah, daughter of Uriel of Gibeah; and that this was done that there might be no mention of her former name, lest it should be a reproach to her: but we have already seen another gloss on this name. See on ^[218] (note).

Verse 17

The high places were not taken away - He had totally suppressed or destroyed the idolatry; but some of the places, buildings, or altars, he permitted to remain.

Verse 18

The things that his father had dedicated - As it was a custom to dedicate a part of the spoils taken from an enemy to the service and honor of God, it is natural to suppose that Abijah, having so signally overthrown Jeroboam, (^[219]), had dedicated a part of the spoils to the Lord; but they had not been brought into the temple till this time.
Silver, and gold, and vessels - The word כלים kelim, which we translate vessels, signifies instruments, utensils, ornaments, etc.

Verse 19

The five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa - Archbishop Usher thinks that this should be counted from the separation of the kingdom, and that this fell on the fifteenth year of Asa's reign. To settle in every respect these chronologies is a most difficult undertaking; and the difficulty does not belong to the sacred books alone, all other chronological tables of all the nations in the world, are in the same predicament. With those of our own history I have often been puzzled, even while I had access to all the archives of the nation. Probably we should read here the five and twentieth year. See the note on ^[220].

Chapter 16

Introduction

Baasha, king of Israel, begins to build Ramah, to prevent his subjects from having any intercourse with the Jews, ^[221]. Asa hires Ben-hadad, king of Syria, against him; and obliges him to leave off building Ramah, ^[222]. Asa and his men carry the stones and timbers of Ramah away, and build therewith Geba and Mizpah, ^[223]. Asa is reproved by Hanani, the seer, for his union with the king of Syria: he is offended with the seer, and puts him in prison, ^[224]. Of his acts, ^[225]. He is diseased in his feet, and seeks to physicians and not to God, and dies, ^[226], ^[227]. His sumptuous funeral, ^[228].

Verse 1

The six and thirtieth year - After the division of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah; according to Usher. This opinion is followed in our margin; see the note on ^[229], where this subject is farther considered.
Concerning Baasha's building of Ramah, see the note on ^[230].

Verse 3

There is a league - Let there be a treaty, offensive and defensive, between me and thee: see on ^[231] (note).

Verse 6

Took all Judah - See on ^[232] (note).

Verse 7

Escaped out of thine hand - It is difficult to know what is here intended. Perhaps the Divine providence had intended to give Asa a grand victory over the Syrians, who had always been the inveterate enemies of the Jews; but by this unnecessary and very improper alliance between Asa and Ben-hadad, this purpose of the Divine providence was prevented, and thus the Syrians escaped out of his hands.

Verse 9

Therefore - thou shalt have wars - And so he had with Israel during the rest of his reign, ^[233].

Verse 10

Asa was wroth with the seer - Instead of humbling himself, and deprecating the displeasure of the Lord, he persecuted his messenger: and having thus laid his impious hands upon the prophet, he appears to have got his heart hardened through the deceitfulness of sin; and then he began to oppress the people, either by unjust imprisonments, or excessive taxations.

Verse 12

Diseased in his feet - He had a strong and long fit of the gout; this is most likely.
He sought not to the Lord - "He did not seek discipline from the face of the Lord, but from the physicians." - Targum.
Are we not taught by this to make prayer and supplication to the Lord in our afflictions, with the expectation that he will heal us when he finds us duly humbled, i.e., when the end is answered for which he sends the affliction?

Verse 14

And laid him in the bed - It is very likely that the body of Asa was burnt; that the bed spoken of here was a funeral pyre, on which much spices and odoriferous woods had been placed; and then they set fire to the whole and consumed the body with the aromatics. Some think the body was not burned, but the aromatics only, in honor of the king.
How the ancients treated the bodies of the illustrious dead we learn from Virgil, in the funeral rites paid to Misenus.
Nec minus interea Misenum in littore Teucri
Flebant, et cineri ingrato suprema ferebant.
Principio pinguem taedis et robore secto
Ingentem struxere pyram: cui frondibus atris
Intexunt latera, et ferales ante cupressas
Constituunt, decorantque super fulgentibus armis, etc.
Aen. vi. 214. "Meanwhile the Trojan troops, with weeping eyes,
To dead Misenus pay their obsequies.
First from the ground a lofty pile they rear
Of pitch trees, oaks, and pines, and unctuous fir.
The fabric's front with cypress twigs they strew,
And stick the sides with boughs of baleful yew.
The topmost part his glittering arms adorn:
Warm waters, then, in brazen caldrons borne
Are poured to wash his body joint by joint,
And fragrant oils the stiffen'd limbs anoint.
With groans and cries Misenus they deplore:
Then on a bier, with purple cover'd o'er,
The breathless body thus bewail'd they lay,
And fire the pile (their faces turn'd away).
Such reverend rites their fathers used to pay.
Pure oil and incense on the fire they throw,
And fat of victims which their friends bestow.
These gifts the greedy flames to dust devour,
Then on the living coals red wine they pour.
And last the relics by themselves dispose,
Which in a brazen urn the priests enclose.
Old Corineus compass'd thrice the crew,
And dipp'd an olive branch in holy dew;
Which thrice he sprinkled round, and thrice aloud
Invoked the dead, and then dismiss'd the crowd."
Dryden.
All these rites are of Asiatic extraction. Virgil borrows almost every circumstance from Homer; (see Iliad, xxiii., ver. 164, etc.); and we well know that Homer ever describes Asiatic manners. Sometimes, especially in war, several captives were sacrificed to the manes of the departed hero. So, in the place above, the mean-souled, ferocious demon, Achilles, is represented sacrificing twelve Trojan captives to the ghost of his friend Patroclus. Urns containing the ashes and half-calcined bones of the dead occur frequently in barrows or tumuli in this country; most of them, no doubt, the work of the Romans. But all ancient nations, in funeral matters, have nearly the same rites.

Chapter 17

Introduction

Jehoshaphat succeeds his father Asa, and reigns piously, and is particularly blessed, ^[234]. He establishes an itinerant ministry, for the instruction of the people, through all the cities of Judah, which produces the most beneficial effects, ^[235]. The Philistines and Arabians bring him gifts, ^[236]. His greatness, ^[237], ^[238]. The commanders of his troops, ^[239].

Verse 1

Jehoshaphat - and strengthened himself against Israel - The kingdoms of Israel and Judah were rivals from the beginning; sometimes one, sometimes the other, prevailed. Asa and Baasha were nearly matched; but, after Baasha's death, Israel was greatly weakened by civil contentions, and Jehoshaphat got the ascendancy. See ^[240].

Verse 2

The cities of Ephraim - This conquest from the kingdom of Israel is referred to, ^[241]; but when it was made we do not know.

Verse 3

The Lord was with Jehoshaphat - "The Word of the Lord was Jehoshaphat's Helper." - Targum.

Verse 7

To teach in the cities of Judah - "To teach the fear of the Lord in the cities of Judah." - Targum.
In these verses we find a remarkable account of an itinerant ministry established by Jehoshaphat; and in this work he employed three classes of men:
1. The princes.
2. The Levites.
3. The priests.
We may presume that the princes instructed the people in the nature of the civil law and constitution of the kingdom; the Levites instructed them in every thing that appertained to the temple service, and ritual law; and the priests instructed them in the nature and design of the religion they professed. Thus the nation became thoroughly instructed in their duty to God, to the king, and to each other. They became, therefore, as one man; and against a people thus united, on such principles, no enemy could be successful.

Verse 9

Had the book of the law of the Lord with them - This was their text book: it was the book of God; they taught it as such, and as such the people received it. Its laws were God's laws, and the people felt their obligation, and their consciences were bound. Thus they were obedient to the laws of the land, on the principle of religion. In this they were encouraged and confirmed by the example of all, both in Church and state. The princes were not only pious, but were teachers of piety; the Levites showed them the worth and excellence of their ritual institutions; and the priests showed them the moral use they were to make of the whole: and thus the people became obedient to God as well as to the king, and kept all the civil ordinances, not merely for the sake of a good king, but for the sake of a good and gracious God. By these means the nation enjoyed peace and prosperity; and all insurrections, seditions, and popular commotions, were prevented. The surrounding nations, perceiving this, saw that there was no hope of subduing such a people, so they made no war with Jehoshaphat, ^[242]. And they took care not to provoke such a people to fall on them; therefore, it is said, The fear of the Lord fell on all the kingdoms and lands that were round about Judah. Such an itinerant ministry established in these kingdoms for upwards of fourscore years, teaching the pure, unadulterated doctrines of the Gospel, with the propriety and necessity of obedience to the laws, has been the principal means, in the hand of God, of preserving these lands from those convulsions and revolutions that have ruined and nearly dissolved the European continent. The itinerant ministry, to which this refers, is that which was established in these lands by the late truly reverend, highly learned and cultivated, deeply pious and loyal John Wesley, A.M., formerly a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, whose followers are known by the name of Methodists; a people who are an honor to their country, and a blessing to the government under which they live.

Verse 11

The Philistines brought - presents - They and the Arabians purchased peace with the king of Judah by paying an annual tribute. The Philistines brought silver, and no doubt different kinds of merchandise, The Arabs, whose riches consisted in cattle, brought him flocks in great abundance, principally rams and he-goats.

Verse 13

He had much business in the cities - He kept the people constantly employed; they had wages for their work; and by their labors the empire was both enriched and strengthened.

Verse 14

Adnah, the chief - He was generalissimo of all this host. These are the numbers of the five battalions: under Adnah, three hundred thousand; Jehohanan, two hundred and eighty thousand, Amasiah, two hundred thousand; Eliada, two hundred thousand; Jehozabad, one hundred and eighty thousand; in all, one million one hundred and sixty thousand.

Verse 19

These waited on the king - They were disposable forces, always at the king's command; and were independent of those by which the cities of Judah were garrisoned.
There is not a sovereign in Europe or in the world but might read this chapter with advantage.
1. It shows most forcibly that true religion is the basis of the state, and that, wherever it prospers, there the state prospers.
2. It shows also that it is the wisdom of kings to encourage religion with all their power and influence; for if the hearts of the subjects be not bound and influenced by true religion, vain is the application of laws, fines, imprisonments, or corporal punishment of any kind.
3. A religious nation is ever a great nation; it is loved by its friends, it is dreaded by its enemies.
4. It is ever a peaceable and united nation: the blessings of religion, and a wholesome and paternal government, are so fully felt and prized, that all find it their interest to preserve and defend them. Harmony, peace, piety, and strength, are the stability of such times. May Britain know and value them!

Chapter 18

Introduction

Jehoshaphat joins affinity with Ahab, king of Israel, ^[243], ^[244]; who invites him to assist him in the war against the Syrians, to which Jehoshaphat agrees, ^[245]. They consult the prophets concerning the success of the war; and all, except Micaiah, promise Ahab victory, ^[246]. Micaiah relates his vision concerning the lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab's prophets, ^[247]. Zedekiah, a false prophet, opposes Micaiah; and Micaiah is put in prison, ^[248]. Both the kings go against the Syrians; the confederate armies are defeated, and the king of Israel slain, ^[249].

Verse 1

Jehoshaphat had riches and honor - The preceding chapter gives ample proof of this.
Joined affinity with Ahab - Took his daughter Athalia to be wife to his son Joram.

Verse 3

To Ramoth-gilead - This place belonged to the Israelites, and was now held by the king of Syria.
The whole of this chapter is circumstantially explained in the notes on 1 Kings 22:1-53.

Verse 9

The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat - "Ahab consulted false prophets; but Jehoshaphat sought instruction from the presence of the Lord, and prayed at the entering in of Samaria; and before these all the false prophets prophesied lies." - Targum.

Verse 20

Then there came out a spirit - The Targum gives a strange gloss here: "Then the spirit of Naboth of Jezreel came out from the abode of the righteous, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will deceive him. And the Lord said, By what means? To which he answered, I will be a spirit of false prophecy in the mouth of his prophets. And the Lord said, Thou mayest then. But although the power of deceiving them is given unto thee, nevertheless it will not be lawful for thee to sit among the righteous; for whosoever shall speak falsely cannot have a mansion among the righteous. Therefore go forth from me, and do as thou hast said." - Targum.

Verse 29

I will disguise myself - See the note on ^[250].

Verse 31

But Jehoshaphat cried out - "Jehoshaphat cried, and the Word of the Lord brought him assistance." - Targum.

Verse 33

A certain man drew a bow - The Targum tells us who it was. "Now, Naaman, the captain of the host of the great king of Syria, drew a bow against him, (that the prophecy of Elijah the Tishbite, and of Micaiah the son of Imla, might be fulfilled), and smote the king of Israel between the heart and the caul of the liver, through the place where the coat of mail is joined." See the note on ^[251] for this tradition.

Verse 34

Stayed himself up - against the Syrians - There was a great deal of true personal courage and patriotism in this last act of the king of Israel: he well knew that if his troops found that he was mortally wounded, they would immediately give way, and the battle would not only be lost, but the slaughter would be great in the pursuit; therefore he stayed himself up till the evening, when the termination of the day must necessarily bring the battle to a close: and when this was done, the Israelites found that their king was slain, and so they left the field of battle to their foes. Thus Israel had a great loss, and the Syrians had got a great deliverance. Had it not been for this accident, the Syrians had probably been defeated. See on ^[252] (note).
In the notes referred to above, the quibbling predictions of false prophets and lying oracles are mentioned, and several instances given; and the whole account of the lying spirit going forth from the Lord to deceive Ahab, particularly considered. See especially the notes as above on ^[253] (note), ^[254] (note).
The reader should never forget a truth so very frequently occurring in the Bible, that God is repeatedly represented as doing what, in the course of his providence, he only permits to be done.

Chapter 19

Introduction

Jehoshaphat, on his return from Ramoth-gilead, is met by the prophet Jehu, and reproved, ^[255]. He makes a farther reformation in the land, establishing courts of justice, and giving solemn and pertinent directions to the judges, Levites, etc., to do judgement and justice among the people, in the fear of God, ^[256].

Verse 1

Returned to his house in peace - That is, in safety, notwithstanding he had been exposed to a danger so imminent, from which only the especial mercy of God could have saved him.

Verse 2

Jehu the son of Hanani - We have met with this prophet before; see the note on ^[257].
Therefore is wrath upon thee - That is, Thou deservest to be punished. And who can doubt this, who knows that he did help the ungodly, and did love them that hated Jehovah? And is not the wrath of God upon all those alliances which his people form with the ungodly, whether they be social, matrimonial, commercial, or political?

Verse 4

From Beer-sheba to Mount Ephraim - Before the separation of the ten tribes, in speaking of the extent of the land it was said, From Dan to Beer-sheba; but since that event, the kingdom of Judah was bounded on the south by Beer-sheba, and on the north by the mountains of Ephraim. This shows that Jehoshaphat had gone through all his territories to examine every thing himself, to see that judgment and justice were properly administered among the people.

Verse 6

Take heed what ye do - A very solemn and very necessary caution; judges should feel themselves in the place of God, and judge as those who know they shall be judged for their judgments.

Verse 8

And for controversies, when they returned to Jerusalem - Who were they that returned to Jerusalem? Some suppose that it means Jehoshaphat and his courtiers, who returned to Jerusalem after the expedition mentioned ^[258] : but if this were so, or if the text spoke of any person returning to Jerusalem, would not לירושלם lirushalem, To Jerusalem, and not the simple word ירושלם Yerushalem, without the preposition, be used?
Learned men have supposed, with great plausibility, that the word וישבו vaiyashubu, "and they returned," should be written יושבי yoshebey, "the inhabitants," and that the words should be read, And for the controversies of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. That this was the original reading is very probable from its vestiges in the Vulgate, habitatoribus ejus, "its Inhabitants;" and in the Septuagint it is found totidem verbis, Και κρινειν τους κατοικουντας εν Ἱερουσαλημ, And to judge the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
There is a clause in ^[259] where we have a similar mistake in our version: And they returned to Jerusalem, וישבו ירושלם where the false keri, or marginal note, directs it, in opposition to common sense and All the versions, to be read וישובו and they returned, which our translation has unhappily followed.

Verse 10

Between blood and blood - Cases of man-slaughter or accidental murder, or cases of consanguinity, the settlement of inheritance, family claims, etc.
Between law and commandment - Whatsoever concerns the moral precepts, rites, and ceremonies, of the law, or whatsoever belongs to civil affairs.

Verse 11

Behold, Amariah - Here was a two-fold jurisdiction, ecclesiastical and civil: in the ecclesiastical court, Amariah the high-priest was supreme judge, in the civil court, Zebadiah was supreme. To assist both the Levites were a sort of counsellors.
Without good and wholesome laws, no nation can be prosperous: and vain are the best laws if they be not judiciously and conscientiously administered. The things of God and the things of the King should never be confounded in the administration of justice. Amariah the priest, and Zebadiah the ruler, should ever have their distinct places of jurisdiction.

Chapter 20

Introduction

The Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites, invade Judah, ^[260], ^[261]. Jehoshaphat proclaims a fast, and gathers the people together to seek the Lord, ^[262], ^[263]. His prayer to God, ^[264]. Great and small, male and female, seek the Lord, ^[265]. Jahaziel predicts the downfall of their enemies, ^[266]. The king, the Levites, and the people take courage; praise and magnify God; and go forth to meet their enemies, ^[267]. The enemies are confounded, and destroy each other, ^[268]. The men of Judah take the spoil, praise the Lord, and return with joy to Jerusalem, ^[269]. The fear of the Lord falls upon all their enemies round about; and the land has rest, ^[270], ^[271]. Transactions and character of Jehoshaphat, ^[272]. He joins with Ahaziah, king of Israel, in building a fleet of ships to go to Tarshish, but they are wrecked at Ezion-geber, ^[273].

Verse 1

Children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites - Here there must be a mistake; surely the Ammonites are the same as the children of Ammon. Our translators have falsified the text by inserting the words "other beside," which have nothing properly to represent them in the Hebrew. Literally translated, the words are: "And it happened after this, the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them of the Ammonites:" and thus the Vulgate. The Syriac, which the Arabic follows, has felt the difficulty, and translated, Came together with warlike men to fight, etc. The Septuagint have given it another turn: Και μετ' αυτων εκ των Μιναιων, And with them people of the Minaites; which were a people of Arabia Felix near the Red Sea. The Targum has ועמהון מן אדומאי Ve-immehon min Edomaey, "And with them some of the Edomites." This is very likely to be the true reading, as we find from ^[274], ^[275], ^[276], that they procured men from Mount Seir; and these were the Idumeans or Edomites. We should, in my opinion, read the text thus: The children of Moab, and the children of common, and with them some of the Edomites.

Verse 2

On this side Syria - Instead of מארם mearam, from Syria, I would read with one of Kennicott's MSS. (89) מאדם meedom, from Edom, which alteration brings it to truth and does not require the change of half a letter, as it consists in the almost imperceptible difference between ר resh and ד daleth. We do not read of any Syrians in this invasion, but we know there were Edomites, or inhabitants of Mount Seir.
Hazazon-tamar - "In the wood of palm trees, that is, in Engedi." - Targum. This is the meaning of the word, and it is probable that they lay hid here.

Verse 3

Jehoshaphat feared - He found that he could not possibly stand against such a numerous army, and therefore could not expect to be delivered except by the strong arm of God. To get this assistance, it was necessary to seek it; and to get such extraordinary help, they should seek it in an extraordinary way; hence he proclaimed a universal fast, and all the people came up to Jerusalem to seek the Lord.

Verse 6

Jehoshaphat stood - What an instructive sight was this! The king who proclaimed the fast was foremost to observe it, and was on this occasion the priest of the people; offering in the congregation, without form or any premeditation, one of the most sensible, pious, correct, and as to its composition one of the most elegant prayers ever offered under the Old Testament dispensation.

Verse 7

Art not thou our God - "Hast not thou, by thy Word, driven out." - Targum.

Verse 8

Therein for thy name - "For the name of thy Word." - Targum.

Verse 9

For thy name is in this house - "Thy Majesty is in this house." Several of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., with the Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic, add נקרא nikra, "is invoked;" Thy name is invoked in this house - here thou dwellest, and here thou art worshipped.

Verse 11

They reward us - Six of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. add רעה evil: "Behold, they reward us Evil." This is also the reading of the Targum.

Verse 12

Wilt thou not judge them - That is, Thou wilt inflict deserved punishment upon them.

Verse 15

For the battle is not yours, but God's - God will not employ you in the discomfiture of this great host; he himself will take the matter in hand, deliver you, and destroy them.

Verse 17

For the Lord will be with you - "The Word of the Lord shall be your Helper." - Targum.

Verse 20

Believe in the Lord your God - "Believe in the Word of the Lord your God, and believe in his law, and believe in his prophets; and ye shall prosper." Here the Word and the revelation are most pointedly distinguished; the Word being used personally.

Verse 22

The Lord set ambushments - "The Word of the Lord placed snares among the children of Ammon and Moab; and the inhabitants of the mountain of Gibla, who came to fight with Judah; and they were broken to pieces:" so the Targum.
Houbigant translates the place thus: "The Lord set against the children of Ammon and Moab ambushments of those who came from Mount Seir against Judah; and the children of Ammon and Moab were smitten: but they afterwards rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, and utterly destroyed them; who being destroyed, they rose up one against another, and mutually destroyed each other." This is probably the meaning of these verses. Calmet's version is not very different.

Verse 25

Both riches with the dead bodies - For פגרים peparim, dead bodies, בגדים begadim, garments, is the reading of eight MSS. in the collections of Kennicott and De Rossi, and in several ancient editions. None of the versions have dead bodies except the Chaldee. The words might be easily mistaken for each other, as the פ pe, if a little faint in the under dot might easily pass for a ב beth; and we know that the ר resh and ד daleth, are frequently interchanged and mistaken for each other, both in Hebrew and Syriac. I believe garments to be the true reading; and as to the clause which they stripped off for themselves, it should be understood thus: Which they seized for themselves, etc.

Verse 26

Assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah - "The valley of Benediction;" and so in the latter clause. - Targum.

Verse 27

Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them - He was their leader in all these spiritual, holy, fatiguing, and self-denying exercises. What a noble and persuasive pattern!

Verse 29

The Lord fought - "The Word of the Lord made war against the enemies of Israel." - Targum.

Verse 33

The high places were not taken away - The idolatry, as we have seen, was universally suppressed; but some of the places where that worship had been performed were not destroyed. Some of them still remained; and these, to such a fickle people, became the means of idolatry in reigns less propitious to truth and religion.

Verse 34

In the book of Jehu - This is totally lost, though it is evident that it was in being when the books of Chronicles were written.

Verse 36

To go to Tarshish - "In the great sea." - Targum. By which expression they always meant the Mediterranean Sea.

Verse 37

The Lord hath broken, etc. - "The Word of the Lord hath broken." - Targum. Concerning Tarshish, Ezion-geber, and Ophir, and the voyage thither, see the notes on ^[277], and at ^[278] (note), and on ^[279] (note). The Tarshish here is called by the Chaldee Torsos in the great sea, some place in the Mediterranean. On this subject the reader has, no doubt, already seen a great variety of opinions.

Chapter 21

Introduction

Jehoram succeeds his father Jehoshaphat; and commences his reign with the murder of his brethren, and of several of the princes of Israel, ^[280]. He walks in the way of Ahab, whose bad daughter, Athaliah, he had married, ^[281]. God remembers his covenant with David, and does not destroy the nation, ^[282]. The Edomites revolt, ^[283]. Jehoram restores the high places in the mountains of Judah, and greatly corrupts the morals of the people, ^[284]. A letter comes to him from Elijah, ^[285]. The Philistines and Arabians come up against him, pillage his house, and take away his wives, with all his sons except Jehoahaz, ^[286], ^[287]. He is smitten with an incurable disease in his bowels; of which, in two years, he dies miserably, after a profligate reign of eight years, ^[288].

Verse 2

And he had brethren - the sons of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel. - Jehoshaphat certainly was not king of Israel, but king of Judah. ישראל Yisrael must be a corruption in the text, for יהודה Yehudah; which is the reading of the Syriac, Arabic, Septuagint, and Vulgate: the Chaldee, only agrees with the Hebrew text. And the reading of the versions is supported by thirty-eight of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. The word Judah should therefore be restored to the text.

Verse 3

The kingdom gave he to Jehoram - He made him co-partner with himself in the kingdom about three years before his death; so that he reigned only five years after the death of his father Jehoshaphat. See the notes on ^[289], etc.; and on the same, ^[290], where an attempt is made to settle this disturbed chronology.

Verse 4

Slew all his brethren - What a truly diabolic thing is the lust of power! it destroys all the charities of life, and renders those who are under its influence the truest resemblants of the arch fiend. That he might sit the more secure upon his throne, this execrable man imbrues his hands in the blood of his own brothers! There are more instances of this species of cruelty among bad Asiatic kings than among any other class of men. The history of every country abounds in proofs; even that of our own is not the least barren.

Verse 6

He had the daughter of Ahab to wife - This was Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, who was famous for her impieties and cruelty, as was her most profligate mother. It is likely that she was the principal cause of Jehoram's cruelty and profaneness.

Verse 7

To give a light to him - To give him a descendant.

Verse 8

In his days the Edomites revolted - See on ^[291] (note).

Verse 11

To commit fornication - That is, to serve idols. The Israelites were considered as joined to Jehovah as a woman is joined to her husband: when she associates with other men, this is adultery; when they served other gods, this was called by the same name, it was adultery against Jehovah. This is frequently the only meaning of the terms adultery and fornication in the Scriptures.

Verse 12

There came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet - From ^[292], it is evident that Elijah had been translated in the reign of Jehoshaphat, the father of Jehoram. How then could he send a letter to the son? Some say he sent it from heaven by an angel; others, that by the spirit of prophecy he foresaw this defection of Jehoram, and left the letter with Elisha, to be sent to him when this defection should take place; others say that Elijah is put here for Elisha; and others, that this Elijah was not the same that was translated, but another prophet of the same name. There are others who think that, as Elijah was still in the body, for he did not die, but was translated, he sent this letter from that secret place in which he was hidden by the Almighty. All the versions have Elijah, and all the MSS. the same reading. Dr. Kennicott contends that Elisha was the writer; for Elijah had been taken up to heaven thirteen years before the time of this writing. Our margin says, the letter was written before his assumption, and refers to ^[293].
These are all conjectures; and I could add another to their number, but still we should be where we were. I should adopt the conjecture relative to Elisha, were not every Hebrew MS., and all the Oriental versions, against it; to which may be added, that the author of this book does not once mention Elisha in any part of his work. It is certainly a possible case that this writing might have been a prediction of Jehoram's impiety and miserable death, delivered in the time of the prophet, and which was now laid before this wicked king for the first time: and by it the prophet, though not among mortals, still continued to speak. I can see no solid reason against this opinion.

Verse 14

Will the Lord smite - "The Word of the Lord will send a great mortality." - Targum.

Verse 15

Until thy bowels fall out - This must have been occasioned by a violent inflammation: by the same death perished Antiochus Epiphanes, and Herod Agrippa.

Verse 16

The Philistines, and - the Arabians - We have no other account of this war. Though it was a predatory war, yet it appears to have been completely ruinous and destructive. What a general curse fell upon this bad king; in his body, soul, substance, family, and government!

Verse 17

Save Jehoahaz the youngest - This person had at least three names, Jehoahaz, Ahaziah, (^[294]), and Azariah, (^[295]).

Verse 18

The Lord smote him - "And after all these things the Word of the Lord smote his bowels," etc. - Targum.

Verse 19

After the end of two years, his bowels fell out - The Targum seems to intimate that he had a constipation and inflammation in his bowels; and that at last his bowels gushed out.
No burning - "His people made no burning of aromatic woods for him, as they had done for his forefathers." - Targum. See on ^[296] (note).

Verse 20

Departed without being desired - He was hated while he lived, and neglected when he died; visibly cursed of God, and necessarily execrated by the people whom he had lived only to corrupt and oppress. No annalist is mentioned as having taken the pains to write any account of his vile life. This summary mention of him consigns him to the execration of posterity, and holds in the view of every prudent governor, the rock on which he split and wrecked the state.

Chapter 22

Introduction

Ahaziah beans to reign; and reigns wickedly under the counsels of his bad mother, ^[297]. He is slain by Jehu, who destroys all the house of Ahab, ^[298]. Athaliah destroys all the seed royal of Judah, except Joash, who is hidden by his nurse in the temple six years, ^[299].

Verse 1

Made Ahaziah his youngest son king - All the others had been slain by the Arabians, etc.; see the preceding chapter, ^[300] (note).

Verse 2

Forty and two years old was Ahaziah - See the note on ^[301]. Ahaziah might have been twenty-two years old, according to ^[302] (note), but he could not have been forty-two, as stated here, without being two years older than his own father! See the note there. The Syriac and Arabic have twenty-two, and the Septuagint, in some copies, twenty. And it is very probable that the Hebrew text read so originally; for when numbers were expressed by single letters, it was easy to mistake מ mem, Forty, for כ caph, Twenty. And if this book was written by a scribe who used the ancient Hebrew letters, now called the Samaritan, the mistake was still more easy and probable, as the difference between caph and mem is very small, and can in many instances be discerned only by an accustomed eye.
The reading in ^[303] is right, and any attempt to reconcile this in Chronicles with that is equally futile and absurd. Both readings cannot be true; is that therefore likely to be genuine that makes the son two years older than the father who begat him? Apage hae nugae!

Verse 3

His mother was his counsellor - Athaliah, the wicked daughter of a wicked parent, and the wicked spouse of an unprincipled king.

Verse 5

Went with Jehoram - See on ^[304] (note).

Verse 9

He sought Ahaziah - See a different account ^[305] (note), and the note there, where the accounts are reconciled.

Verse 10

All the seed royal of the house of Judah - Nothing but the miraculous intervention of the Divine providence could have saved the line of David at this time, and preserved the prophecy relative to the Messiah. The whole truth of that prophecy, and the salvation of the world, appeared to be now suspended on the brittle thread of the life of an infant of a year old, (see ^[306]), to destroy whom was the interest of the reigning power! But God can save by few as well as by many. He had purposed, and vain were the counter-exertions of earth and hell.

Verse 12

Hid in the house of God - "In the house of the sanctuary of God." - Targum. Or, as he says on ^[307], בקודש קודשיא bekudash kudeshaiya "in the holy of holies." To this place Athaliah had no access, therefore Joash lay concealed, he and his affectionate aunt-nurse. - See on ^[308] (note).

Chapter 23

Introduction

Jehoiada the priest, after having taken counsel with the captains, Levites, etc., proclaims Joash, and anoints him king, ^[309]. Athaliah, endeavoring to prevent it, is slain, ^[310]. He makes the people enter into a covenant, that they would serve the Lord, ^[311]. The people break down the temple of Baal, and slay Mattan his priest, ^[312]. Jehoiada makes several alterations, and remodels the kingdom, ^[313].

Verse 1

And in the seventh year - See on ^[314] (note), etc.

Verse 9

Spears and bucklers - See on ^[315] (note).

Verse 11

God save the king - May the king live! See on ^[316] (note).

Verse 14

And whoso followeth her, let him be slain with the sword - He who takes her part, or endeavors to prevent the present revolution, let him be immediately slain.

Verse 15

Of the horse-gate - See on ^[317] (note).

Verse 16

Made a covenant between him - The high priest was, on this occasion, the representative of God; whom both the people and the king must have had in view, through the medium of his priest.

Verse 17

Mattan the priest - The Targum will not prostitute the term priest, but calls him כומרא cumera, priestling.

Verse 21

The city was quiet - There was no attempt at a counter-revolution. Concerning the coronation of Joash, there is a curious circumstance mentioned by the Targumist on ^[318], it is as follows: - "And they brought forth the son of the king, and put on him the royal crown which David took from the head of the king of the children of Ammon. In it was inserted the precious attracting stone, in which was engraven and expressed the great and honorable Name [יהוה] which David had placed there by the Holy Spirit: and it was of the weight of a talent of gold; it was therefore a testimony to the house of David that no king who was not of the seed of David should be able to put it on his head, nor be able to bear its weight. When, therefore, the people saw it placed on the head of Joash, and that he was able to bear this crown, they believed him to be of the seed of David, and immediately constituted him king. Therefore Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, May the king be prosperous in his kingdom!"
The Jews say that this was the crown of the king of the Ammonites; and that it was always worn afterwards by the kings of the house of Judah. See Jarchi on this place.

Chapter 24

Introduction

Joash begins to reign when seven years old, and reigns well all the days of Jehoiada the priest, ^[319]. He purposes to repair the temple of God; and makes a proclamation that the people should bring in the money prescribed by Moses, ^[320]. They all contribute liberally; and the different artificers soon perfect the work, ^[321]. The rest of the money is employed to form utensils for the temple, ^[322]. Jehoiada dies, ^[323], ^[324]. And the people after his death become idolaters, ^[325], ^[326]. Prophets are sent unto them, ^[327]. And among the rest Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, who testifies against them; and they stone him to death, ^[328]. The Syrians come against Jerusalem, and spoil it, ^[329], ^[330]. Joash is murdered by his own servants, ^[331], ^[332]. His acts, ^[333].

Verse 1

Joash was seven years old - As he was hidden six years in the temple, and was but seven when he came to the throne, he could have been but one year old when he was secreted by his aunt; see on ^[334] (note).

Verse 4

To repair the house of the Lord - During the reigns of Joram and Athaliah, the temple of God had been pillaged to enrich that of Baal, and the whole structure permitted to fall into decay; see ^[335].

Verse 5

Gather of all Israel money - As the temple was the property of the whole nation, and the services performed in it were for the salvation of the people at large, it was right that each should come forward on an occasion of this kind, and lend a helping hand. This is the first instance of such a general collection for building or repairing a house of God.
From year to year - It must have been in a state of great dilapidation, when it required such annual exertions to bring it into a thorough state of repair.

Verse 6

The collection - of Moses - This was the poll-tax, fixed by Moses, of half a shekel, which was levied on every man from twenty years old and upward; and which was considered as a ransom for their souls, that there might be no plague among them. See ^[336].

Verse 8

They made a chest - See the notes on the parallel places, ^[337] (note), etc.

Verse 16

They buried him - among the kings - He had, in fact, been king in Judah; for Joash, who appears to have been a weak man, was always under his tutelage. Jehoiada governed the state in the name of the king; and his being buried among the kings is a proof of the high estimation in which he was held among the people.

Verse 17

The princes of Judah - made obeisance to the king - I believe the Targum has given the true sense of this verse: "After the death of Jehoiada, the great men of Judah came and adored King Joash, and seduced him; and then the king received from them their idols."

Verse 20

And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah - "When he saw the transgression of the king and of the people, burning incense to an idol in the house of the sanctuary of the Lord, on the day of expiation; and preventing the priests of the Lord from offering the burnt-offerings, sacrifices, daily oblations, and services, as written in the book of the law of Moses; he stood above the people, and said." - Targum.

Verse 21

Stoned him - at the commandment of the king - What a most wretched and contemptible man was this, who could imbrue his hands in the blood of a prophet of God, and the son of the man who had saved him from being murdered, and raised him to the throne! Alas, alas! Can even kings forget benefits? But when a man falls from God, the devil enters into him; and then he is capable of every species of cruelty.

Verse 22

The Lord look upon it, and require it - And so he did; for, at the end of that year, the Syrians came against Judah, destroyed all the princes of the people, sent their spoils to Damascus; and Joash, the murderer of the prophet, the son of his benefactor, was himself murdered by his own servants. Here was a most signal display of the Divine retribution.
On the subject of the death of this prophet the reader is requested to refer to the note on ^[338], ^[339].

Verse 26

These are they that conspired against him - The two persons here mentioned were certainly not Jews; the mother of one was an Ammonitess, and the mother of the other was a Moabitess. Who their fathers were we know not; they were probably foreigners and aliens. Some suppose that these persons were of the king's chamber, and therefore could have the easiest access to him. It has been, and is still, the folly of kings to have foreigners for their valets and most confidential servants, and they have often been the causes of murders and treacheries of different kinds. Foreigners should be banished from the person of the sovereign by strong and efficient laws: even in this country they have often been the cause of much political wo.

Verse 27

The greatness of the burdens laid upon him - Meaning, probably, the heavy tribute laid upon him by the Syrians; though some think the vast sums amassed for the repairs of the temple are here intended.
Written in the story - מדרש midrash, the commentary, of the book of Kings. We have met with this before; but these works are all lost, except the extracts found in Kings, Chronicles, and Ezra. These abridgments were the cause of the neglect, and finally of the destruction, of the originals. This has been often the case in works of great consequence. Trogus Pompeius wrote a general history of the world, which he brought down to the reign of Augustus, in forty-four volumes. Justin abridged them into one volume, and the original is lost.

Chapter 25

Introduction

Amaziah succeeds his father Joash, and begins his reign well, ^[340], ^[341]. He slays his father's murderers but spares their children, ^[342], ^[343]. He reviews and remodels the army, ^[344]; and hires a hundred thousand soldiers out of Israel, whom, on the expostulation of a prophet, he sends home again, without bringing them into active service; at which they are greatly offended, ^[345]. He attacks the Syrians, kills ten thousand, and takes ten thousand prisoners, whom he precipitates from the top of a rock, so that they are dashed to pieces, ^[346], ^[347]. The Israelitish soldiers, sent back, ravage several of the cities of Judah, ^[348]. Amaziah becomes an idolater, ^[349]. Is reproved by a prophet, whom he threatens, and obliges to desist, ^[350], ^[351]. He challenges Joash, king of Israel, ^[352]; who reproves him by a parable, ^[353], ^[354]. Not desisting, the armies meet, the Jews are overthrown, and Amaziah taken prisoner by Joash, who ravages the temple, and takes away all the treasures of the king, ^[355]. The reign of Amaziah: a conspiracy is formed against him; he flees to Lachish, whither he is pursued and slain; is brought to Jerusalem, and buried with his fathers, ^[356].

Verse 2

He did that which was right - He began his reign well, but soon became an idolater, ^[357], ^[358].

Verse 5

Gathered Judah together - He purposed to avenge himself of the Syrians, but wished to know his military strength before he came to a rupture.

Verse 7

The Lord is not with Israel - "The Word of the Lord is not the helper of the Israelites, nor of the kingdom of the tribe of Ephraim." - Targum.

Verse 9

The Lord is able to give thee much more than this - Better lose the money than keep the men, for they will be a curse unto thee.

Verse 10

They returned home in great anger - They thought they were insulted, and began to meditate revenge. See the notes on 2 Kings 14:1-20 (note), where almost every circumstance in this chapter is examined and explained.

Verse 14

The gods of the children of Seir - "The idols of the children of Gebal." - Targum.

Verse 16

Art thou made of the king's counsel? - How darest thou give advice to, or reprove, a king?

Verse 18

The thistle that was in Lebanon - See the explanation of this ^[359] (note). After reciting this fable, the Targum adds, "Thus hast thou done in the time thou didst send unto me, and didst lead up from the house of Israel a hundred thousand strong warriors for a hundred talents of silver: and after they were sent, thou didst not permit them to go with thee to war, but didst send them back, greatly enraged, so that they spread themselves over the country; and having cut off three thousand, they brought back much spoil."

Verse 24

In the house of God with Obed-edom - From ^[360] we learn that to Obed-edom and his descendants was allotted the keeping of the house of Asuppim or collections for the Divine treasury.
And - the hostages - See on ^[361] (note).

Verse 26

The rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last - Says the Targum; "The first, when he walked in the fear of the Lord, the last, when he departed from the right way before the Lord; are they not written," etc.

Verse 27

Made a conspiracy - He no doubt became very unpopular after having lost the battle with the Israelites; the consequence of which was the dismantling of Jerusalem, and the seizure of the royal treasures, with several other evils. It is likely that the last fifteen years of his reign were greatly embittered: so that, finding the royal city to be no place of safety, he endeavored to secure himself at Lachish; but all in vain, for thither his murderers pursued him; and he who forsook the Lord was forsaken by every friend, perished in his gainsaying, and came to an untimely end.

Chapter 26

Introduction

Uzziah, the son of Amaziah, succeeds; and begins his reign piously and prosperously, which continued during the life of Zechariah the prophet, ^[362]. He fights successfully against the Philistines, and takes and dismantles some of their chief cities, ^[363]; prevails over the Arabians and Mehunims, ^[364]; and brings the Ammonites under tribute, ^[365]. He fortifies Jerusalem, and builds towers in different parts of the country, and delights in husbandry, ^[366], ^[367]. An account of his military strength, warlike instruments, and machines, ^[368]. He is elated with his prosperity, invades the priest's office, and is smitten with the leprosy, ^[369]. He is obliged to abdicate the regal office, and dwell apart from this people, his son Jotham acting as regent, ^[370]. His death and burial, ^[371], ^[372].

Verse 1

The people of Judah took Uzziah - They all agreed to place this son on his father's throne.

Verse 2

He built Eloth - See the notes on ^[373]. This king is called by several different names; see the note on ^[374].

Verse 5

In the days of Zechariah - Who this was we know not, but by the character that is given of him here. He was wise in the visions of God - in giving the true interpretation of Divine prophecies. He was probably the tutor of Uzziah.

Verse 7

And God helped him - "And the Word of the Lord helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians who lived in Gerar, and the plains of Meun." - Targum. These are supposed to be the Arabs which are called the Meuneons, or Munites, or Meonites.

Verse 8

The Ammonites gave gifts - Paid an annual tribute.

Verse 10

Built towers in the desert - For the defense of his flocks, and his shepherds and husbandmen.
And in Carmel - Calmet remarks that there were two Carmels in Judea: one in the tribe of Judah, where Nabal lived, and the other on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, near to Kishon; and both fertile in vines.
He loved husbandry - This is a perfection in a king: on husbandry every state depends. Let their trade or commerce be what they may, there can be no true national prosperity if agriculture do not prosper; for the king himself is served by the field. When, therefore, the king of a country encourages agriculture, an emulation is excited among his subjects; the science is cultivated; and the earth yields its proper increase; then, should trade and commerce fail, the people cannot be reduced to wretchedness, because there is plenty of bread.

Verse 14

Shields, and spears - He prepared a vast number of military weapons, that he might have them in readiness to put into the hands of his subjects on any exigency.

Verse 15

Engines - to shoot arrows and great stones - The Targum says, "He made in Jerusalem ingenious instruments, and little hollow towers, to stand upon the towers and upon the bastions, for the shooting of arrows, and projecting of great stones."
This is the very first intimation on record of any warlike engines for the attack or defense of besieged places; and this account is long prior to any thing of the kind among either the Greeks or Romans. Previously to such inventions, the besieged could only be starved out, and hence sieges were very long and tedious. Shalmaneser consumed three years before such an inconsiderable place as Samaria, ^[375], ^[376]; Sardanapalus maintained himself in Nineveh for seven years, because the besiegers had no engines proper for the attack and destruction of walls, etc., and it is well known that Troy sustained a siege of ten years, the Greeks not possessing any machine of the kind here referred to. The Jews alone were the inventors of such engines; and the invention took place in the reign of Uzziah, about eight hundred years before the Christian era. It is no wonder that, in consequence of this, his name spread far abroad, and struck terror into his enemies.

Verse 16

He transgressed against the Lord - "He sinned against the Word of the Lord his God." - T.
Went into the temple to burn incense - Thus assuming to himself the priest's office. See this whole transaction explained in the notes on ^[377] (note).

Verse 20

Because the Lord had smitten him - "Because the Word of the Lord had brought the plague upon him." - T.

Verse 21

And dwelt in a several house - He was separated, because of the infectious nature of his disorder, from all society, domestic, civil, and religious.
Jotham - was over the king's house - He became regent of the land; his father being no longer able to perform the functions of the regal office.

Verse 22

The rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet - write - This work, however, is totally lost; for we have not any history of this king in the writings of Isaiah. He is barely mentioned, ^[378]; ^[379].

Verse 23

They buried him - in the field of the burial - As he was a leper, he was not permitted to be buried in the common burial-place of the kings; as it was supposed that even a place of sepulture must be defiled by the body of one who had died of this most afflictive and dangerous malady.

Chapter 27

Introduction

Jotham succeeds his father Uzziah, and reigns well, ^[380], ^[381]. His buildings, ^[382], ^[383]. His successful wars, ^[384], ^[385]. General account of his acts, reign, and death, ^[386].

Verse 2

He entered not into the temple - He copied his father's conduct as far as it was constitutional; and avoided his transgression. See the preceding chapter, 2 Chronicles 26 (note).

Verse 3

On the wall of Ophel - The wall, says the Targum, of the interior palace. Ophel was some part of the wall of Jerusalem, that was most pregnable, and therefore Jotham fortified it in a particular manner.

Verse 4

Castles and towers - These he built for the protection of the country people against marauders.

Verse 5

He fought also with - the Ammonites - We find here that he brought them under a heavy tribute for three years; but whether this was the effect of his prevailing against them, is not so evident. Some think that they paid this tribute for three years, and then revolted; that, in consequence, he attacked them, and their utter subjection was the result.

Verse 7

The rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars, and his ways - It was in his days, according to ^[387], that Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah king of Israel, began to cut Judah short. See the notes on ^[388], ^[389].
Written in the book of the kings, etc. - There is not so much found in the books of Kings which we have now, as in this place of the Chronicles. In both places we have abridged accounts only: the larger histories have long been lost. The reign of Jotham was properly the last politically prosperous reign among the Jews. Hezekiah and Josiah did much to preserve the Divine worship; but Judah continued to be cut short, till at last it was wholly ruined.

Chapter 28

Introduction

Ahaz succeeds his father Jotham, and reigns wickedly for sixteen years, ^[390]. He restores idolatry in its grossest forms, ^[391]; and is delivered Into the hands of the kings of Israel and Syria, ^[392]. Pekah slays one hundred and twenty thousand Jews in one day, and carries away captive two hundred thousand of the people, whom, at the instance of Oded the prophet, they restore to liberty, and send home, clothed and fed, ^[393]. Ahaz sends to the king of Assyria for help against the Edomites, Philistines, etc., from whom he receives no effectual succor, ^[394]. He sins yet more, spoils and shuts up the temple of God, and propagates idolatry throughout the land, ^[395]. A reference to has acts, his death, and burial, ^[396], ^[397].

Verse 1

Ahaz was twenty years old - For the difficulties in this chronology, see the notes on ^[398] (note).

Verse 3

Burnt his children in the fire - There is a most remarkable addition here in the Chaldee which I shall give at length: "Ahaz burnt his children in the fire; but the Word of the Lord snatched Hezekiah from among them; for it was manifest before the Lord that the three righteous men, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were to proceed from him; who should deliver up their bodies that they might be cast into a burning fiery furnace, on account of the great and glorious Name, (יהוה) and from which they should escape. First, Abram escaped from the furnace of fire among the Chaldeans, into which he had been cast by Nimrod, because he would not worship their idols. Secondly, Tamar escaped burning in the house of judgment of Judah, who had said, Bring her out, that she may be burnt. Thirdly, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz escaped from the burning, when Ahaz his father cast him into the valley of the son of Hinnom, on the altars of Tophet. Fourthly, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, escaped from the burning fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Fifthly, Joshua, the son of Josedek the high priest, escaped, when the impious Nebuchadnezzar had cast him into a burning fiery furnace, with Achaab the son of Kolia, and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, the false prophet. They were consumed by fire; but Joshua the son of Josedek escaped because of his righteousness."

Verse 5

Delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria - For the better understanding of these passages, the reader is requested to refer to what has been advanced in the notes on the sixteenth chapter of ^[399], etc.

Verse 6

A hundred and twenty thousand - It is very probable that there is a mistake in this number. It is hardly possible that a hundred and twenty thousand men could have been slain in one day; yet all the versions and MSS. agree in this number. The whole people seem to have been given up into the hands of their enemies.

Verse 9

But a prophet of the Lord - whose name was Oded - To this beautiful speech nothing can be added by the best comment; it is simple, humane, pious, and overwhelmingly convincing: no wonder it produced the effect mentioned here. That there was much of humanity in the heads of the children of Ephraim who joined with the prophet on this occasion, the fifteenth verse sufficiently proves. They did not barely dismiss these most unfortunate captives, but they took that very spoil which their victorious army had brought away; and they clothed, fed, shod, and anointed, these distressed people, set the feeblest of them upon asses, and escorted them safely to Jericho. We can scarcely find a parallel to this in the universal history of the wars which savage man has carried on against his fellows, from the foundation of the world.

Verse 16

The kings of Assyria to help him - Instead of מלכי malchey; Kings; the Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic, and Chaldee, one MS., and the parallel place, ^[400], have מלך melek, King, in the singular number. This king was Tiglath-pileser, as we learn from the second book of Kings.

Verse 21

But he helped him not - He did him no ultimate service. See the note on ^[401].
After ^[402], the 23d, 24th, and 25th verses are introduced before the 16th, in the Syriac and Arabic, and the 22d verse is wholly wanting in both, though some of the expressions may be found in the twenty-first verse.

Verse 23

He sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him - "This passage," says Mr. Hallet, "greatly surprised me; for the sacred historian himself is here represented as saying, The gods of Damascus had smitten Ahaz. But it is impossible to suppose that an inspired author could say this; for the Scripture everywhere represents the heathen idols as nothing and vanity, and as incapable of doing either good or hurt. All difficulty is avoided if we follow the old Hebrew copies, from which the Greek translation was made, Και ειπεν ὁ βασιλεις Αχαζ, εκζητησω τους Θεους Δαμασκου τους τυπτοντας με, And King Ahaz said, I Will Seek to the Gods of Damascus Which Have Smitten Me; and then it follows, both in Hebrew and Greek, He said moreover, Because the gods of the king of Syria help them; therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. Both the Syriac and Arabic give it a similar turn; and say that Ahaz sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, and said, Ye are my gods and my lords; you will I worship, and to you will I sacrifice."

Verse 24

Shut up the doors - He caused the Divine worship to be totally suspended; and they continued shut till the beginning of the reign of Hezekiah, one of whose first acts was to reopen them, and thus to restore the Divine worship, ^[403].

Verse 27

The kings of Israel - It is a common thing for the writer of this book to put Israel for Judah. He still considers them as one people, because proceeding from one stock. The versions and MSS. have the same reading with the Hebrew; the matter is of little importance, and with this interpretation none can mistake.

Chapter 29

Introduction

Hezekiah's good reign, ^[404], ^[405]. He opens and repairs the doors of the temple, ^[406]. He assembles and exhorts the priests and Levites, and proposes to renew the covenant with the Lord, ^[407]. They all sanctify themselves and cleanse the temple, ^[408]. They inform the king of their progress, ^[409], ^[410]. He collects the rulers of the people: and they offer abundance of sin-offerings, and burnt-offerings, and worship the Lord, ^[411]. Every part of the Divine service is arranged, and Hezekiah and all the people rejoice, ^[412].

Verse 2

He did that which was right - See the note on ^[413].

Verse 8

He hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment - He probably refers here chiefly to that dreadful defeat by the Israelites in which a hundred and twenty thousand were slain, and two hundred thousand taken prisoners; see the preceding chapter, ^[414] (note).

Verse 10

To make a covenant - To renew the covenant under which the whole people were constantly considered, and of which circumcision was the sign; and the spirit of which was, I will be your God: Ye shall be my people.

Verse 16

And the priests went - The priests and Levites cleansed first the courts both of the priests and of the people. On this labor they spent eight days. Then they cleansed the interior of the temple; but as the Levites had no right to enter the temple, the priests carried all the dirt and rubbish to the porch, whence they were collected by the Levites, carried away, and cast into the brook Kidron; in this work eight days more were occupied, and thus the temple was purified in sixteen days.

Verse 17

On the first day - "They began on the first day of the first month Nisan." - Targum.

Verse 19

All the vessels, which King Ahaz - The Targum says, "All the vessels which King Ahaz had polluted and rendered abominable by strange idols, when he reigned in his transgression against the Word of the Lord, we have collected and hidden; and others have we prepared to replace them; and they are now before the Lord."

Verse 21

They brought seven bullocks, etc. - This was more than the law required; see ^[415], etc. It ordered one calf or ox for the sins of the people, and one he-goat for the sins of the prince; but Hezekiah here offers many more. And the reason appears sufficiently evident: the law speaks only of sins of ignorance; but here were sins of every kind and every die - idolatry, apostasy from the Divine worship, profanation of the temple, etc., etc. The sin-offerings, we are informed, were offered, first for the Kingdom - for the transgressions of the king and his family; secondly, for the Sanctuary, which had been defiled and polluted, and for the priests who had been profane, negligent, and unholy; and, finally, for Judah - for the whole mass of the people, who had been led away into every kind of abomination by the above examples.

Verse 23

They laid their hands upon them - That is, they confessed their sin; and as they had by their transgression forfeited their lives, they now offer these animals to die as vicarious offerings, their life being taken for the life of their owners.

Verse 25

With cymbals, with psalteries - Moses had not appointed any musical instruments to be used in the divine worship; there was nothing of the kind under the first tabernacle. The trumpets or horns then used were not for song nor for praise, but as we use bells, i.e., to give notice to the congregation of what they were called to perform, etc. But David did certainly introduce many instruments of music into God's worship, for which we have already seen he was solemnly reproved by the prophet Amos, ^[416]. Here, however, the author of this book states he had the commandment of the prophet Nathan, and Gad the king's seer; and this is stated to have been the commandment of the Lord by his prophets: but the Syriac and Arabic give this a different turn - "Hezekiah appointed the Levites in the house of the Lord, with instruments of music, and the sound of harps, and with the Hymns of David, and the Hymns of Gad, the king's prophet, and of Nathan, the king's prophet: for David sang the praises of the Lord his God, as from the mouth of the prophets." It was by the hand or commandment of the Lord and his prophets that the Levites should praise the Lord; for so the Hebrew text may be understood: and it was by the order of David that so many instruments of music should be introduced into the Divine service. But were it even evident, which it is not, either from this or any other place in the sacred writings, that instruments of music were prescribed by Divine authority under the law, could this be adduced with any semblance of reason, that they ought to be used in Christian worship? No: the whole spirit, soul, and genius of the Christian religion are against this: and those who know the Church of God best, and what constitutes its genuine spiritual state, know that these things have been introduced as a substitute for the life and power of religion; and that where they prevail most, there is least of the power of Christianity. Away with such portentous baubles from the worship of that infinite Spirit who requires his followers to worship him in spirit and in truth, for to no such worship are those instruments friendly. See the use of the trumpets in the sanctuary, ^[417] (note), etc., and the notes there.

Verse 34

They could not flay all the burnt-offerings - Peace-offerings, and such like, the Levites might flay and dress; but the whole burnt-offerings, that is, those which were entirely consumed on the altar, could be touched only by the priests, unless in a case of necessity, such as is mentioned here.
The Levites were more upright in heart - The priests seem to have been very backward in this good work; the Levites were more ready to help forward this glorious reformation. Why the former should have been so backward is not easy to tell; but it appears to have been the fact. Indeed, it often happens that the higher orders of the priesthood are less concerned for the prosperity of true religion than the lower. Why is this? They are generally too busy about worldly things, or too much satisfied with secular emoluments. A rich priesthood is not favorable either to the spread or depth of religion. Earthly gratifications are often put in the place of Divine influences: it is almost a miracle to see a very rich man deeply interested in behalf either of his own soul, or the souls of others.

Verse 36

And Hezekiah rejoiced - Both he and the people rejoiced that God had prepared their hearts to bring about so great a reformation in so short a time; for, it is added, the thing was done suddenly. The king's example and influence were here, under God, the grand spring of all those mighty and effectual movements. What amazing power and influence has God lodged with kings! They can sway a whole empire nearly as they please; and when they declare themselves in behalf of religion, they have the people uniformly on their side. Kings, on this very ground, are no indifferent beings; they must be either a great curse or a great blessing to the people whom they govern.

Chapter 30

Introduction

Hezekiah invites all Israel and Judah, and writes letters to Ephraim and Manasseh to come up to Jerusalem, and hold a passover to the Lord, ^[418]. The posts go out with the king's proclamation from Dan to Beer-sheba, and pass from city to city through the coasts of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Zebulun, but are generally mocked in Israel, ^[419]. Yet several of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun, humble themselves, and come to Jerusalem, ^[420]. But in Judah they are all of one heart, ^[421], ^[422]. They take away the idolatrous altars, kill the passover, sprinkle the blood, and, as circumstances will permit, sanctify the people, ^[423], ^[424]. Many having eaten of the passover, who were not purified according to the law, Hezekiah prays for them; and the Lord accepts his prayer, and heals them, ^[425]. Hezekiah exhorts them; and they hold the feast seven additional days, fourteen in all, and the people greatly rejoice, ^[426]. The priests and the Levites bless the people, and God accepts their prayers and thanksgivings, ^[427].

Verse 1

Hezekiah sent to all Israel - It is not easy to find out how this was permitted by the king of Israel; but it is generally allowed that Hoshea, who then reigned over Israel, was one of their best kings. And as the Jews allow that at this time both the golden calves had been carried away by the Assyrians, - that at Dan by Tiglath-pileser, and that at Bethel by Shalmaneser, - the people who chose to worship Jehovah at Jerusalem were freely permitted to do it, and Hezekiah had encouragement to make the proclamation in question.

Verse 2

In the second month - In Ijar, as they could not celebrate it in Nisan, the fourteenth of which month was the proper time. But as they could not complete the purgation of the temple, till the sixteenth of that month, therefore they were obliged to hold it now, or else adjourn it till the next year, which would have been fatal to that spirit of reformation which had now taken place. The law itself had given permission to those who were at a distance, and could not attend to the fourteenth of the first month, and to those who were accidentally defiled, and ought not to attend, to celebrate the passover on the fourteenth of the second month; see ^[428], ^[429]. Hezekiah therefore, and his counsellors, thought that they might extend that to the people at large, because of the delay necessarily occasioned by the cleansing of the temple, which was granted to individuals in such cases as the above, and the result showed that they had not mistaken the mind of the Lord upon the subject.

Verse 6

So the posts went - רצים ratsim, the runners or couriers; persons who were usually employed to carry messages; men who were light of foot, and confidential.

Verse 9

And will not turn away his face from you - Well expressed by the Targum: "For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not cause his majesty to ascend up from among you, if ye will return to his fear." The shechinah, of which the Targumist speaks, is the dwelling of the Divine Presence among men, and the visible symbol of that presence.

Verse 18

A multitude of the people - had not cleansed themselves - As there were men from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, they were excusable, because they came from countries that had been wholly devoted to idolatry.
The good Lord pardon every one - "The Lord, who is good, have mercy on this people who err." - T.

Verse 22

Spake comfortably unto all the Levites - On such occasions the priests and Levites had great fatigue, and suffered many privations; and therefore had need of that encouragement which this prudent and pious king gave. It is a fine and expressive character given of these men, "They taught the good knowledge of God to the people." This is the great work, or should be so, of every Christian minister. They should convey that knowledge of God to the people by which they may be saved; that is, the good knowledge of the Lord.

Verse 25

The strangers that come out of the land of Israel - That is, the proselytes of the covenant who had embraced Judaism, and had submitted to the rite of circumcision, for none others could be permitted to eat of the passover.

Verse 26

Since the time of Solomon - there was not the like in Jerusalem - For from that time the ten tribes had been separated from the true worship of God, and now many of them for the first time, especially from Asher, Issachar, Ephraim, Manasseh, and Zebulun, joined to celebrate the passover.

Verse 27

And their voice was heard - God accepted the fruits of that pious disposition which himself had infused.
And their prayer came up - As the smoke of their sacrifices ascended to the clouds, so did their prayers, supplications, and thanksgivings, ascend to the heavens. The Targum says: "Their prayer came up to the dwelling-place of his holy shechinah, which is in heaven." Israel now appeared to be in a fair way of regaining what they had lost; but alas, how soon were all these bright prospects beclouded for ever!
It is not for the want of holy resolutions and heavenly influences that men are not saved but through their own unsteadiness; they do not persevere, they forget the necessity of continuing in prayer, and thus the Holy Spirit is grieved, departs from them, and leaves them to their own darkness and hardness of heart. When we consider the heavenly influences which many receive who draw back to perdition, and the good fruits which for a time they bore, it is blasphemy to say they had no genuine or saving grace; they had it, they showed it, they trifled with it, sinned against it, continued in their rebellions, and therefore are lost.

Chapter 31

Introduction

The people destroy all traces of idolatry throughout Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh, ^[430]. Hezekiah reforms the state of religion in general; and the tithes are brought in from all quarters, and proper officers set over them, ^[431]. They bring to also the freewill-offerings, and regulate the priests and Levites and their families, according to their genealogies, ^[432]. Hezekiah does every thing in sincerity and truth, and is prosperous, ^[433], ^[434].

Verse 1

Brake the images in pieces - This species of reformation was not only carried on through Judah, but they carried it into Israel; whether through a transport of religious zeal, or whether with the consent of Hoshea the Israelitish king, we cannot tell.

Verse 2

In the gates of the tents of the Lord - That is, in the temple; for this was the house, tabernacle, tent, and camp, of the Most High.

Verse 3

The king's portion of his substance for the burnt-offerings - It is conjectured that the Jewish kings, at least from the time of David, furnished the morning and evening sacrifice daily at their own expense, and several others also.

Verse 5

Brought - the first-fruits - These were principally for the maintenance of the priests and Levites; they brought tithes of all the produce of the field, whether commanded or not, as we see in the instance of honey, which was not to be offered to the Lord, ^[435], yet it appears it might be offered to the priests as first-fruits, or in the way of tithes.

Verse 7

In the third month - "The month Sivan; the seventh, Tisri." - Targum.
The heaps - The vast collections of grain which they had from the tithes over and above their own consumption; see ^[436].

Verse 11

To prepare chambers - To make granaries to lay up this superabundance.

Verse 12

Shimei - was the next - He was assistant to Cononiah.

Verse 15

And Miniamin - Instead of מנימן, Miniamin, בנימן, Benjamin, is the reading of three of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS.; and this is the reading of the Vulgate, Syriac, Septuagint, and Arabic.

Verse 17

From twenty years old - Moses had ordered that the Levites should not begin their labor till they were thirty years of age; but David changed this order, and obliged them to begin at twenty.

Verse 20

Wrought - good and right and truth - Here is the proper character of a worthy king: he is Good, and he does good; he is Upright, and he acts justly and maintains justice; he is truly Religious, and he lives according to that truth which he receives as a revelation from God.

Verse 21

He did it with all his heart - In every respect he was a thoroughly excellent man, saw his duty to God and to his people, and performed it with becoming zeal and diligence. May God ever send such kings to the nations of the world; and may the people who are blessed with such be duly obedient to them, and thankful to the God who sends them!

Chapter 32

Introduction

Sennacherib invades Judea, ^[437]. Hezekiah takes proper measures for the defense of his kingdom, ^[438]. His exhortation, ^[439], ^[440]. Sennacherib sends a blasphemous message to Hezekiah, and to the people, ^[441]. His servants rail against God; and he and they blaspheme most grievously, ^[442]. Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah cry to God; he answers, and the Assyrians are destroyed, and Sennacherib is slain by his own sons, ^[443], ^[444]. The Lord is magnified, ^[445], ^[446]. Hezekiah's sickness and recovery, ^[447]. His ingratitude, ^[448]. His humiliation, ^[449]. His riches, ^[450]. His error relative to the Babylonish ambassadors, ^[451]. His acts and death, ^[452], ^[453].

Verse 1

After these things - God did not permit this pious prince to be disturbed till he had completed the reformation which he had begun.

Verse 2

When Hezekiah saw - This was in the fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah; and at first the Jewish king bought him off at the great price of three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold; and even emptied his own treasures, and spoiled the house of the Lord, to gratify the oppressive avarice of the Assyrian king. See the whole account, ^[454], etc.

Verse 4

Stopped all the fountains - This was prudently done, for without water how could an immense army subsist in an arid country? No doubt the Assyrian army suffered much through this, as a Christian army did eighteen hundred years after this. When the crusaders came, in a.d. 1099, to besiege Jerusalem, the people of the city stopped up the wells, so that the Christian army was reduced to the greatest necessities and distress.

Verse 5

Raised it up to the towers - He built the wall up to the height of the towers, or, having built the wall, he raised towers on it.

Verse 6

Set captains of war over the people - in the street of the gate of the city - That is, the open places at the gate of the city, whither the people came for judgment, etc.

Verse 7

There be more with us than with him - We have more power than they have. (These words he quotes from the prophet Elisha, ^[455]). This was soon proved to be true by the slaughter made by the angel of the Lord in the Assyrian camp.

Verse 9

After this did Sennacherib - Having received the silver and gold mentioned above, he withdrew his army, but shortly after he sent Rab-shakeh with a blasphemous message. This is the fact mentioned here.

Verse 10

Thus saith Sennacherib - See all these circumstances largely explained 2 Kings 18:17-36 (note).

Verse 17

Wrote also letters - See ^[456], ^[457].

Verse 21

The Lord sent an angel - See ^[458] (note), and the note there.
House of his god - Nisroch.
They that came forth of his own bowels - His sons Adrammelech and Sharezer.

Verse 23

Many brought gifts unto the Lord - They plainly saw that Jehovah was the protector of the land.
And presents to Hezekiah - They saw that God was his friend, and would undertake for him; and they did not wish to have such a man for their enemy.

Verse 24

Hezekiah was sick - See ^[459] (note), etc., and the notes there.

Verse 25

Hezekiah rendered not again - He got into a vain confidence, took pleasure in his riches, and vainly showed them to the messengers of the king of Babylon. See on ^[460] (note), etc.

Verse 26

Humbled himself - Awoke from his sleep, was sorry for his sin, deprecated the wrath of God, and the Divine displeasure was turned away from him.

Verse 27

Pleasant jewels - כלי חמדה keley chemdah, desirable vessels or utensils.

Verse 30

The upper watercourse - He made canals to bring the waters of Gihon from the west side of Jerusalem to the west side of the city of David.

Verse 31

Of the ambassadors - See ^[461] (note), and the observations at the end of that chapter.

Verse 32

The vision of Isaiah - See this prophet, 2 Chronicles 36-39.

Verse 33

Chiefest of the sepulchres - This respect they paid to him who, since David, had been the best of all their kings.
I shall subjoin a few things from the Targum on this chapter. ^[462]. "After these things which Hezekiah did, and their establishment, the Lord appointed by his Word to bring Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and his army, into the land of Israel, that he might destroy the Assyrians in the land of the house of Judah, and smite their troops on the mountains of Jerusalem, and deliver all their spoils into the hands of Hezekiah and his people: wherefore Sennacherib came with immense armies, which could not be numbered; and having pitched his camps in the land of the tribe of Judah, besieged their fortified cities with his armies, hoping to overthrow them." ^[463]. Hezekiah said-"His help is the strength of the flesh; but our auxiliary is the Word of the Lord." ^[464]. "His (Sennacherib's) servants spoke blasphemy against the Word of the Lord God." ^[465]. In the Jews' speech - "In the language of the holy house." ^[466]. "And the Word of the Lord sent Michael, and the angel Gabriel, and destroyed them on the night of the passover with a destructive fire; and burnt up their breath within their bodies, and consumed every soldier, captain, and prince, in the army of the king of Assyria; and he returned with shame of face into his own land."
The destruction of God's enemies, and the support and salvation of the faithful, is in every instance in this Targum attributed to the Word of the Lord, personally understood. See the note on ^[467]. ^[468]. "In those days was Hezekiah sick near to death; but he prayed before the Lord who spoke to him by his Word to preserve him and to add to his life fifteen years." ^[469]. "The king of Babylon sent, that they might inquire concerning the miracle that had been done in the land; that they might see the two tables of stone which were in the ark of the covenant of the Lord which Moses had placed there with the two tables which he had broken on account of the sin of the calf which they made in Horeb. The Word of the Lord permitted him to show them these; neither did he suffer for it; that he might try him, and see what was in his heart."
Thus God speaks after the manner of men: he either brings, or permits them to be brought, into such circumstances as shall cause them to show their prevailing propensities; and then warns them against the evils to which they are inclined, after having shown them that they are capable of those evils. To know ourselves, and our own character, is of the utmost importance to our religious growth and perfection. He who does not know where his weakness lies, is not likely to know where his strength lies. Many, by not being fully acquainted with their own character, have been unwatchful and unguarded, and so become an easy prey to their enemies. Know thyself is a lesson which no man can learn but from the Spirit of God.

Chapter 33

Introduction

Manasseh reigns fifty-five years, and restores idolatry, pollutes the temple, and practises all kinds of abominations, ^[470]. He and the people are warned in vain, ^[471]. He is delivered into the hands of the Assyrians, bound with fetters, and carried to Babylon, ^[472]. He humbles himself, and is restored, ^[473], ^[474]. He destroys idolatry, and restores the worship of God, ^[475]. The people keep the high places, but sacrifice to the Lord on them, ^[476]. His acts, prayer, and death, ^[477]. His son Amon succeeds him; and after a wicked idolatrous reign of two years, is slain by his own servants in his own house, ^[478]. The people rise up, and slay his murderers, and make Josiah his son king in his stead, ^[479].

Verse 1

Manasseh was twelve years old - We do not find that he had any godly director; his youth was therefore the more easily seduced. But surely he had a pious education; how then could the principles of it be so soon eradicated?

Verse 3

Altars for Baalim - The Sun and Moon. And made groves, אשרות Asheroth, Astarte, Venus; the host of heaven, all the Planets and Stars. These were the general objects of his devotion.

Verse 5

He built altars - See the principal facts in this chapter explained in the notes on 2 Kings 21:1-17 (note).

Verse 7

A carved image - "He set up an image, the likeness of himself, in the house of the sanctuary." The Targumist supposes he wished to procure himself Divine honors.

Verse 12

And when he was in affliction - Here is a very large addition in the Chaldee: "For the Chaldeans made a brazen mule, pierced full of small holes, and put him within it, and kindled fires all around it; and when he was in this misery, he sought help of all the idols which he had made, but obtained none, for their were of no use. He therefore repented, and prayed before the Lord his God, and was greatly humbled in the sight of the Lord God of his fathers."

Verse 13

And prayed unto him - "While he was thus praying, all the presiding angels went away to the gates of prayer in heaven; and shut all the gates of prayer, and all the windows and apertures in heaven, lest that his prayer should be heard. Immediately the compassions of the Creator of the world were moved, whose right hand is stretched out to receive sinners, who are converted to his fear, and break their hearts' concupiscence by repentance. He made therefore a window and opening in heaven, under the throne of his glory; and having heard his prayer, he favourably received his supplication. And when his Word had shaken the earth, the mule was burst and he escaped. Then the Spirit went out from between the wings of the cherubim; by which, being inspired through the decree of the Word of the Lord, he returned to his kingdom in Jerusalem. And then Manasseh knew that it was the Lord God who had done these miracles and signs; and he turned to the Lord with his whole heart, left all his idols, and never served them more." This long addition gives the Jewish account of those particulars which the sacred writer has passed by: it is curious, though in some sort trifling. The gates of prayer may be considered childish; but in most of those things the ancient rabbins purposely hid deep and important meanings.

Verse 14

He built a wall - This was probably a weak place that he fortified; or a part of the wall which the Assyrians had broken down, which he now rebuilt.

Verse 15

He took away the strange gods - He appears to have done every thing in his power to destroy the idolatry which he had set up, and to restore the pure worship of the true God. His repentance brought forth fruits meet for repentance. How long he was in captivity, and when or by whom he was delivered, we know not. The fact of his restoration is asserted; and we believe it on Divine testimony.

Verse 17

The people did sacrifice - "Nevertheless the people did sacrifice on the high places, but only to the name of the Word of the Lord their God." - Targum.

Verse 18

The words of the seers that spake to him - "Which were spoken to him in the name of the Word of the Lord God of Israel." - Targum.

Verse 19

His prayer also - What is called the Prayer of Manasseh, king of Judah, when he was holden captive in Babylon, being found among our apocryphal books, I have inserted it at the end of the chapter, without either asserting or thinking that it is the identical prayer which this penitent king used when a captive in Babylon. But, as I have observed in another place, there are many good sentiments in it; and some sinners may find it a proper echo of the distresses of their hearts; I therefore insert it.
Written among the sayings of the seers - "They are written in the words of Chozai." - Targum. So says the Vulgate. The Syriac has Hunan the prophet; and the Arabic has Saphan the prophet.

Verse 21

Amon - reigned two years - See on ^[480] (note).

Verse 22

Sacrificed unto all the carved images - How astonishing is this! with his father's example before his eyes, he copies his father's vices, but not his repentance.

Verse 23

Trespassed more and more - He appears to have exceeded his father, and would take no warning.

Verse 24

His servants conspired against him - On what account we cannot tell.

Verse 25

The people of the land slew all them - His murder was not a popular act, for the people slew the regicides. They were as prone to idolatry as their king was. We may rest satisfied that idolatry was accompanied with great licentiousness and sensual gratifications else it never, as a mere religious system, could have had any sway in the world.
For an explanation of the term groves, ^[481], see the observations at the end of ^[482] (note).
I have referred to the prayer attributed to Manasseh, and found in what is called the Apocrypha, just before the first book of Maccabees. It was anciently used as a form of confession in the Christian Church, and is still as such received by the Greek Church. It is as follows: - "O Lord, Almighty God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of their righteous seed, who hast made heaven and earth, with all the ornament thereof; who hast bound the sea by the word of thy commandment; who hast shut up the deep, and sealed it by thy terrible and glorious name; whom all men fear, and tremble before thy power; for the majesty of thy glory cannot be borne, and thine angry threatening towards sinners is insupportable; but thy merciful promise is unmeasurable and unsearchable; for thou art the most high Lord, of great compassion, long-suffering, very merciful, and repentest of the evils of men. Thou, O Lord, according to thy great goodness, hast promised repentance and forgiveness to them that have sinned against thee, and of thine infinite mercies hast appointed repentance unto sinners, that they may be saved. Thou, therefore, O Lord, that art the God of the just, has not appointed repentance to the just, as to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, which have not sinned against thee; but thou hast appointed repentance unto me that am a sinner: for I have sinned above the number of the sands of the sea. My transgressions, O Lord, are multiplied; my transgressions are multiplied; and I am not worthy to behold and see the height of heaven for the multitude of mine iniquities. I am bowed down with many iron bands, that I cannot lift up mine head, neither have any release; for I have provoked thy wrath, and done evil before thee. I did not thy will, neither kept I thy commandments. I have set up abominations, and have multiplied offenses. Now therefore I bow the knee of mine heart, beseeching thee of grace. I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I acknowledge mine iniquities: wherefore I humbly beseech thee, forgive me, O Lord, forgive me, and destroy me not in mine iniquities. Be not angry with me for ever, by reserving evil for me; neither condemn me into the lower parts of the earth. For thou art the God, the God of them that repent; and in me thou wilt show all thy goodness: for thou wilt save me, that am unworthy, according to thy great mercy. Therefore I will praise thee for ever all the days of my life: for all the powers of the heavens do praise thee, and thine is the glory for ever and ever. - Amen."
The above translation, which is that in our common Bibles, might be mended; but the piece is scarcely worth the pains.

Chapter 34

Introduction

Josiah reigns thirty-one years; destroys idolatry in Judah, as also in Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and even to Naphtali, ^[483]. He begins to repair the temple, and collects money for the purpose, and employs workmen, ^[484]. Hilkiah the priest finds the book of the law in the temple, which is read by Shaphan before the king, ^[485]. He is greatly troubled, and consults Huldah the prophetess, ^[486]. Her exhortation, and message to the king, ^[487]. He causes it to be read to the elders of Judah, and they make a covenant with God, ^[488], ^[489]. Josiah reforms every abomination, and the people serve God all his days, ^[490].

Verse 2

He declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left - He never swerved from God and truth; he never omitted what he knew to be his duty to God and his kingdom; he carried on his reformation with a steady hand; timidity did not prevent him from going far enough; and zeal did not lead him beyond due bounds. He walked in the golden mean, and his moderation was known unto all men. He went neither to the right nor to the left, he looked inward, looked forward, and looked upward. Reader, let the conduct of this pious youth be thy exemplar through life.

Verse 4

The altars of Baalim - How often have these been broken down, and how soon set up again! We see that the religion of a land is as the religion of its king. If the king were idolatrous, up went the altars, on them were placed the statues, and the smoke of incense ascended in ceaseless clouds to the honor of that which is vanity, and nothing to the world; on the other hand, when the king was truly religious, down went the idolatrous altars, broken in pieces were the images, and the sacrificial smoke ascended only to the true God: in all these cases the people were as one man with the king.

Verse 5

He burnt the bones of the priests - כומריא kumeraiya, the kemarim, says the Targum. See this word explained, ^[491] (note).

Verse 6

The cities of Manasseh - Even those who were under the government of the Israelitish king permitted their idols and places of idolatry to be hewn down and destroyed: after the truth was declared and acknowledged, the spade and the axe were employed to complete the reformation.

Verse 9

And they returned to Jerusalem - Instead of וישבו vaiyashubu, "they returned," we should read יושבי yoshebey, "the inhabitants;" a reading which is supported by many MSS., printed editions, and all the versions, as well as by necessity and common sense. See the note on ^[492], where a similar mistake is rectified.

Verse 12

All that could skill of instruments of music - Did the musicians play on their several instruments to encourage and enliven the workmen? Is not this a probable case from their mention here? If this were really the case, instrumental music was never better applied in any thing that refers to the worship of God. It is fabled of Orpheus, a most celebrated musician, that such was the enchanting harmony of his lyre, that he built the city of Thebes by it: the stones and timbers danced to his melody; and by the power of his harmony rose up, and took their respective places in the different parts of the wall that was to defend the city! This is fable; but as all fable is a representation of truth, where is the truth and fact to which this refers? How long has this question lain unanswered! But have we not the answer now? It is known in general, that the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii were overwhelmed by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, about the seventy-ninth year of the Christian era. It is also known that, in sinking for wells, the workmen of the king of Naples lighted on houses, etc., of those overwhelmed cities; that excavations have been carried on, and are now in the act of being carried on, which are bringing daily to view various utensils, pictures, and books, which have escaped the influence of the burning lava; and that some of those parchment volumes have been unrolled, and facsimiles of them engraved and published; and that our late Prince Regent, afterwards George IV., king of Great Britain, expended considerable sums of money annually in searching for, unrolling, and deciphering those rolls. This I record to his great credit as the lover of science and literature. Now, among the books that have been unrolled and published, is a Greek Treatise on Music, by Philodemus; and here we have the truth represented which lay hidden under the fables of Orpheus and Amphion. This latter was a skillful harper, who was frequently employed by the Theban workmen to play to them while engaged in their labor, and for which they rewarded him out of the proceeds of that labor. So powerful and pleasing was his music, that they went lightly and comfortably through their work; and time and labor passed on without tedium or fatigue; and the walls and towers were speedily raised. This, by a metaphor, was attributed to the dulcet sounds of his harp; and poetry seized on and embellished it, and mythology incorporated it with her fabulous system. Orpheus is the same. By his skill in music he drew stones and trees after him, i.e., he presided over and encouraged the workmen by his skill in music. Yet how simple and natural is the representation given by this ancient Greek writer of such matters! See Philodemus, Col. viii. and ix. Orpheus, and Amphion, by their music, moved the workmen to diligence and activity, and lessened and alleviated their toil. May we not suppose, then, that skillful musicians among the Levites did exercise their art among the workmen who were employed in the repairs of the house of the Lord? May I be allowed a gentle transition? Is it not the power and harmony of the grace of Jesus Christ in the Gospel, that convert, change, and purify the souls of men, and prepare them for and place them in that part of the house of God, the New Jerusalem? A most beautiful and chaste allusion to this fact and fable is made by an eminent poet, while praying for his own success as a Christian minister, who uses all his skill as a poet and musician for the glory of God: -
Thy own musician, Lord, inspire,
And may my consecrated lyre
Repeat the psalmist's part!
His Son and thine reveal in me,
And fill with sacred melody
The fibres of my heart.
So shall I charm the listening throng,
And draw the Living Stones along
By Jesus' tuneful name.
The living stones shall dance, shall rise,
And Form a City in the skies,
The New Jerusalem.
Charles Wesley.

Verse 14

Found a book of the law - See on ^[493] (note).

Verse 22

Huldah the prophetess - See on ^[494] (note).

Verse 27

Because thine heart was tender - "Because thy heart was melted, and thou hast humbled thyself in the sight of the Word of the Lord, מימרא דיי meymera daya, when thou didst hear his words, ית פתגמוי yath pithgamoi, against this place," etc. Here the Targum most evidently distinguishes between מימרא meymera, the Personal Word, and פתגם pithgam, a word spoken or expressed.

Verse 28

Gathered to thy grave in peace - See particularly the note on ^[495] (note).

Verse 30

The king went - See on ^[496] (note).

Verse 31

Made a covenant - See on ^[497] (note). And see the notes on that and the preceding chapter, 2 Chronicles 33 (note), for the circumstances detailed here.

Verse 32

To stand to it - It is likely that he caused them all to arise when he read the terms of the covenant, and thus testify their approbation of the covenant itself, and their resolution to observe it faithfully and perseveringly.

Chapter 35

Introduction

Josiah celebrates a passover, ^[498]; regulates the courses of the priests; assigns them, the Levites, and the people, their portions; and completes the greatest passover ever celebrated since the days of Solomon, vv. 2-19. Pharaoh Necho passes with his army through Judea, ^[499]. Josiah meets and fights with him at Megiddo, and is mortally wounded, ^[500]. He is carried to Jerusalem, where he dies, ^[501]. Jeremiah laments for him, ^[502]. Of his acts and deeds, and where recorded, ^[503], ^[504].

Verse 3

Put the holy ark in the house - It is likely that the priests had secured this when they found that the idolatrous kings were determined to destroy every thing that might lead the people to the worship of the true God. And now, as all appears to be well established, the ark is ordered to be put into its own place.
For an ample account of this passover and the reformation that was then made, see on ^[505] (note), etc., and the places marked in the margin.

Verse 11

They killed the passover - The people themselves might slay their own paschal lambs, and then present the blood to the priests, that they might sprinkle it before the altar; and the Levites flayed them, and made them ready for dressing.

Verse 18

There was no passover like to that - "That which distinguished this passover from all the former was," says Calmet, "the great liberality of Josiah, who distributed to his people a greater number of victims than either David or Solomon had done."

Verse 20

Necho king of Egypt - Pharaoh the lame, says the Targum.

Verse 21

God commanded me to make haste - The Targum gives a curious turn to this and the following verse: "My idol commanded me to make haste; refrain therefore from me and my idol which is with me, that he betray thee not. When he heard him mention his idol, he would not go back; and he hearkened not unto the words of Necho, which he spake concerning his idol." Here is the rabbinical excuse for the conduct of Josiah.

Verse 24

The second chariot - Perhaps this means no more than that they took Josiah out of his own chariot and put him into another, either for secrecy, or because his own had been disabled. The chariot into which he was put might have been that of the officer or aid-de-camp who attended his master to the war. See the note on ^[506].

Verse 25

Behold, they are written in the lamentations - The Hebrews had poetical compositions for all great and important events, military songs, songs of triumph, epithalamia or marriage odes, funeral elegies, etc. Several of these are preserved in different parts of the historical books of Scripture, and these were generally made by prophets or inspired men. That composed on the tragical end of this good king by Jeremiah is now lost. The Targum says, "Jeremiah bewailed Josiah with a great lamentation; and all the chiefs and matrons sing these lamentations concerning Josiah to the present day, and it was a statute in Israel annually to bewail Josiah. Behold, these are written in the book of Lamentations, which Baruch wrote down from the mouth of Jeremiah.

Verse 27

And his deeds, first and last - "The former things which he did in his childhood, and the latter things which he did in his youth; and all the judgments which he pronounced from his eighth year, when he came to the kingdom, to his eighteenth, when he was grown up, and began to repair the sanctuary of the Lord; and all that he brought of his substance to the hand of judgment, purging both the house of Israel and Judah from all uncleanness; behold, they are written in the book of the Kings of the house of Israel, and of the house of Judah." - Targum. These general histories are lost; but in the books of Kings and Chronicles we have the leading facts.

Chapter 36

Introduction

Jehoahaz made king on the death of his father Josiah, and reigns only three months, ^[507], ^[508]. He is dethroned by the king of Egypt, and Jehoiakim his brother made king in his stead, who reigns wickedly eleven years, and is dethroned and led captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, ^[509]. Jehoiachin is made king in his stead, and reigns wickedly three months and ten days, and is also led captive to Babylon, ^[510], ^[511]. Zedekiah begins to reign, and reigns wickedly eleven years, ^[512], ^[513]. He rebels against Nebuchadnezzar, and he and his people cast all the fear of God behind their backs; the wrath of God comes upon them to the uttermost; their temple us destroyed; and the whole nation is subjugated, and led into captivity, ^[514]. Cyrus, king of Persia, makes a proclamation to rebuild the temple of the Lord, ^[515], ^[516].

Verse 1

Took Jehoahaz - It seems that after Necho had discomfited Josiah, he proceeded immediately against Charchemish, and in the interim, Josiah dying of his wounds, the people made his son king.

Verse 3

The king of Egypt put him down - He now considered Judah to be conquered, and tributary to him and because the people had set up Jehoahaz without his consent, he dethroned him, and put his brother in his place, perhaps for no other reason but to show his supremacy. For other particulars, see the notes on ^[517] (note).

Verse 6

Came up Nebuchadnezzar - See the notes on ^[518].
Archbishop Usher believes that Jehoiakim remained three years after this tributary to the Chaldeans, and that it is from this period that the seventy years' captivity, predicted by Jeremiah, is to be reckoned.

Verse 9

Jehoiachin was eight - See on ^[519] (note).

Verse 10

Made Zedekiah - king - His name was at first Mattaniah, but the king of Babylon changed it to Zedekiah. See ^[520] (note), and the notes there.

Verse 12

Did that which was evil - Was there ever such a set of weak, infatuated men as the Jewish kings in general? They had the fullest evidence that they were only deputies to God Almighty, and that they could not expect to retain the throne any longer than they were faithful to their Lord; and yet with all this conviction they lived wickedly, and endeavored to establish idolatry in the place of the worship of their Maker! After bearing with them long, the Divine mercy gave them up, as their case was utterly hopeless. They sinned till there was no remedy.

Verse 19

They burnt the house of God - Here was an end to the temple; the most superb and costly edifice ever erected by man.
Brake down the wall of Jerusalem - So it ceased to be a fortified city.
Burnt all the palaces - So it was no longer a dwelling-place for kings or great men.
Destroyed all the goodly vessels - Beat up all the silver and gold into masses, keeping only a few of the finest in their own shape. See ^[521].

Verse 21

To fulfill the word of the Lord - See ^[522], ^[523]; ^[524], ^[525]; ^[526]. For the miserable death of Zedekiah, see ^[527], etc.

Verse 22

Now in the first year of Cyrus - This and the following verse are supposed to have been written by mistake from the book of Ezra, which begins in the same way. The book of the Chronicles, properly speaking, does close with the twenty-first verse, as then the Babylonish captivity commences, and these two verses speak of the transactions of a period seventy years after. This was in the first year of the reign of Cyrus over the empire of the East which is reckoned to be A.M. 3468. But he was king of Persia from the year 3444 or 3445. See Calmet and Usher.

Verse 23

The Lord his God be with him - "Let the Word of the Lord be his helper, and let him go up." - Targum. See the notes on the beginning of Ezra.
Thus ends the history of a people the most fickle, the most ungrateful, and perhaps on the whole the most sinful, that ever existed on the face of the earth. But what a display does all this give of the power, justice, mercy, and long-suffering of the Lord! There was no people like this people, and no God like their God. Next: Ezra Introduction

1. Ezr 1:10
2. Ezr 8:27
3. 1Chr 28:17
4. 1Chr 29:7
5. Ezr 2:69
6. Neh 7:70
7. 2Chr 2:16
8. 1Kgs 5:9
9. 1Chr 29:29
10. 2Chr 9:29
11. 2Chr 12:15
12. 2Chr 13:22
13. 2Chr 16:7
14. 1Kgs 16:1
15. 1Kgs 16:7
16. 2Chr 20:34
17. 2Chr 20:14
18. 2Chr 20:37
19. 2Chr 26:22
20. 2Chr 32:32
21. 2Chr 28:9
22. 2Chr 33:19
23. 1Kgs 11:29
24. 1Kgs 14:2
25. 1Kgs 16:7
26. 2Sam 8:16
27. 1Chr 18:15
28. 2Kgs 18:18
29. 2Chr 34:8
30. 2Chr 25:17
31. Joh 1:1
32. 2Chr 1:1-6
33. 2Chr 1:7
34. 2Chr 1:8-10
35. 2Chr 1:11
36. 2Chr 1:12
37. 2Chr 1:13
38. 2Chr 1:14
39. 2Chr 1:15
40. 2Chr 1:16
41. 2Chr 1:17
42. 2Sam 6:2
43. 2Sam 6:17
44. 1Kgs 3:5-15
45. Joh 1:1
46. 1Kgs 4:26
47. 1Kgs 10:27
48. 1Kgs 10:28
49. 1Kgs 10:28
50. Deu 17:16
51. 1Kgs 4:26
52. 1Kgs 11:1
53. 2Chr 1:17
54. Isa 31:1
55. Isa 31:4
56. Isa 31:6
57. Isa 31:7
58. 2Chr 2:1
59. 2Chr 2:2
60. 2Chr 2:3-10
61. 2Chr 2:11-16
62. 2Chr 2:17
63. 2Chr 2:18
64. 1Kgs 5:2
65. 1Kgs 7:13
66. 1Kgs 7:14
67. 1Kgs 5:9
68. 2Chr 3:1
69. 2Chr 3:2
70. 2Chr 3:3-17
71. Eze 40:5
72. Eze 43:13
73. 1Kgs 6:2
74. 2Kgs 17:24
75. 1Kgs 7:21
76. 2Chr 4:1
77. 2Chr 4:2-5
78. 2Chr 4:6
79. 2Chr 4:7
80. 2Chr 4:8-10
81. 2Chr 4:11-17
82. 2Chr 4:18-22
83. 1Kgs 7:24
84. 2Chr 4:3
85. 2Chr 4:4
86. 1Kgs 7:26
87. 2Chr 3:3
88. 1Kgs 7:46
89. 2Chr 5:1
90. 2Chr 5:2
91. 2Chr 5:3
92. 2Chr 5:4-10
93. 2Chr 5:11-14
94. 1Kgs 7:51
95. 1Kgs 8:2
96. Exo 40:34
97. Exo 40:35
98. 1Kgs 8:46
99. 2Chr 7:1
100. 2Chr 7:2-4
101. 2Chr 7:5
102. 2Chr 7:6
103. 2Chr 7:7-11
104. 2Chr 7:12-16
105. 2Chr 7:17
106. 2Chr 7:18
107. 2Chr 7:19-22
108. 1Kgs 8:66
109. 1Kgs 9:2-9
110. 2Chr 8:1-10
111. 2Chr 8:11
112. 2Chr 8:12-16
113. 2Chr 8:17
114. 2Chr 8:18
115. 1Kgs 7:1
116. 1Kgs 9:11
117. 1Kgs 9:18
118. 1Kgs 9:19
119. 1Kgs 9:21
120. 1Kgs 9:26-28
121. 2Chr 9:1-12
122. 2Chr 9:13
123. 2Chr 9:14
124. 2Chr 9:15-20
125. 2Chr 9:21
126. 2Chr 9:22-28
127. 2Chr 9:29
128. 2Chr 9:30
129. 2Chr 9:31
130. 1Kgs 10:1-10
131. 1Kgs 10:13
132. 1Kgs 10:17
133. 2Chr 9:29
134. 1Kgs 4:26
135. 1Kgs 11:43
136. 1Kgs 10:17
137. 2Chr 9:9
138. 2Chr 9:15
139. 2Chr 9:16
140. 1Chr 22:14
141. 2Chr 9:17
142. 1Kgs 11:43
143. 2Chr 9:17-19
144. 2Chr 10:1-4
145. 2Chr 10:5-14
146. 2Chr 10:15-17
147. 2Chr 10:18
148. 2Chr 10:19
149. 2Chr 11:1-4
150. 2Chr 11:5-12
151. 2Chr 11:13
152. 2Chr 11:14
153. 2Chr 11:15
154. 2Chr 11:16
155. 2Chr 11:17
156. 2Chr 11:18-21
157. 2Chr 11:22
158. 2Chr 11:23
159. 1Kgs 12:21-24
160. 1Kgs 12:25
161. 1Kgs 12:26
162. 1Kgs 15:10
163. 2Chr 13:2
164. Deu 21:16
165. 2Chr 12:1-4
166. 2Chr 12:5-12
167. 2Chr 12:13-16
168. 2Chr 11:17
169. 1Kgs 14:31
170. 1Kgs 14:25-29
171. 2Chr 10:8
172. 2Chr 10:10
173. 2Chr 13:7
174. 1Kgs 14:31
175. 2Chr 13:1-3
176. 2Chr 13:4-12
177. 2Chr 13:13
178. 2Chr 13:14-18
179. 2Chr 13:19
180. 2Chr 13:20
181. 2Chr 13:21
182. 2Chr 13:22
183. 2Chr 11:20
184. 2Chr 13:3
185. 2Chr 13:17
186. 2Chr 13:3
187. 2Chr 13:17
188. 2Chr 13:17
189. 1Kgs 16:24
190. Num 18:19
191. 2Chr 13:3
192. 2Chr 13:3
193. 1Kgs 14:20
194. 1Kgs 15:9
195. 2Chr 14:1
196. 2Chr 14:2-7
197. 2Chr 14:8
198. 2Chr 14:9-12
199. 2Chr 14:13-15
200. 1Kgs 15:14
201. 2Chr 14:3-5
202. 2Chr 14:7
203. 2Chr 16:8
204. 1Sam 14:6
205. 2Chr 15:1-7
206. 2Chr 15:8-15
207. 2Chr 15:16
208. 2Chr 15:17
209. 2Chr 15:18
210. 2Chr 15:19
211. Mat 24:6
212. Mat 24:7
213. Mat 24:9
214. Mat 24:13
215. 2Chr 14:14
216. 2Chr 14:15
217. 1Kgs 15:13
218. 2Chr 11:20
219. 2Chr 13:15-19
220. 1Kgs 15:16
221. 2Chr 16:1
222. 2Chr 16:2-5
223. 2Chr 16:6
224. 2Chr 16:7-10
225. 2Chr 16:11
226. 2Chr 16:12
227. 2Chr 16:13
228. 2Chr 16:14
229. 1Kgs 15:16
230. 1Kgs 15:17
231. 1Kgs 15:22
232. 1Kgs 15:22
233. 1Kgs 15:32
234. 2Chr 17:1-6
235. 2Chr 17:7-10
236. 2Chr 17:11
237. 2Chr 17:12
238. 2Chr 17:13
239. 2Chr 17:14-19
240. 1Kgs 16:16-23
241. 2Chr 15:8
242. 2Chr 17:10
243. 2Chr 18:1
244. 2Chr 18:2
245. 2Chr 18:3
246. 2Chr 18:4-17
247. 2Chr 18:18-22
248. 2Chr 18:23-27
249. 2Chr 18:28-31
250. 1Kgs 22:30
251. 2Kgs 5:1
252. 1Kgs 22:36
253. 2Chr 18:19
254. 2Chr 18:23-24
255. 2Chr 19:1-3
256. 2Chr 19:4-11
257. 1Kgs 16:7
258. 2Chr 19:4
259. 2Chr 34:9
260. 2Chr 20:1
261. 2Chr 20:2
262. 2Chr 20:3
263. 2Chr 20:4
264. 2Chr 20:5-12
265. 2Chr 20:13
266. 2Chr 20:14-17
267. 2Chr 20:18-21
268. 2Chr 20:22-24
269. 2Chr 20:25-28
270. 2Chr 20:29
271. 2Chr 20:30
272. 2Chr 20:31-34
273. 2Chr 20:35-37
274. 2Chr 20:10
275. 2Chr 20:22
276. 2Chr 20:23
277. 1Kgs 10:22
278. 1Kgs 10:29
279. 2Chr 9:26-28
280. 2Chr 21:1-5
281. 2Chr 21:6
282. 2Chr 21:7
283. 2Chr 21:8-10
284. 2Chr 21:11
285. 2Chr 21:12-15
286. 2Chr 21:16
287. 2Chr 21:17
288. 2Chr 21:18-20
289. 2Kgs 8:16
290. 2Chr 1:17
291. 2Kgs 8:21
292. 2Kgs 2:11
293. 2Kgs 2:1
294. 2Chr 22:1
295. 2Chr 22:6
296. 2Chr 16:14
297. 2Chr 22:1-4
298. 2Chr 22:5-9
299. 2Chr 22:10-12
300. 2Chr 21:17
301. 2Kgs 8:26
302. 2Kgs 8:26
303. 2Kgs 8:26
304. 2Kgs 8:28
305. 2Kgs 9:27
306. 2Chr 24:1
307. 2Chr 22:11
308. 2Kgs 11:1
309. 2Chr 23:1-11
310. 2Chr 23:12-15
311. 2Chr 23:16
312. 2Chr 23:17
313. 2Chr 23:18-21
314. 2Kgs 11:4
315. 2Kgs 11:10
316. 2Kgs 11:12
317. 2Kgs 11:16
318. 2Chr 23:11
319. 2Chr 24:1-3
320. 2Chr 24:4-9
321. 2Chr 24:10-13
322. 2Chr 24:14
323. 2Chr 24:15
324. 2Chr 24:16
325. 2Chr 24:17
326. 2Chr 24:18
327. 2Chr 24:19
328. 2Chr 24:20-22
329. 2Chr 24:23
330. 2Chr 24:24
331. 2Chr 24:25
332. 2Chr 24:26
333. 2Chr 24:27
334. 2Chr 22:10
335. 2Chr 24:7
336. Exo 30:12-14
337. 2Kgs 12:4
338. Mat 23:34
339. Mat 23:35
340. 2Chr 25:1
341. 2Chr 25:2
342. 2Chr 25:3
343. 2Chr 25:4
344. 2Chr 25:5
345. 2Chr 25:6-10
346. 2Chr 25:11
347. 2Chr 25:12
348. 2Chr 25:13
349. 2Chr 25:14
350. 2Chr 25:15
351. 2Chr 25:16
352. 2Chr 25:17
353. 2Chr 25:18
354. 2Chr 25:19
355. 2Chr 25:20-24
356. 2Chr 25:25-28
357. 2Chr 25:14
358. 2Chr 25:15
359. 2Kgs 14:9
360. 1Chr 26:15
361. 2Kgs 14:14
362. 2Chr 26:1-5
363. 2Chr 26:6
364. 2Chr 26:7
365. 2Chr 26:8
366. 2Chr 26:9
367. 2Chr 26:10
368. 2Chr 26:11-15
369. 2Chr 26:16-20
370. 2Chr 26:21
371. 2Chr 26:22
372. 2Chr 26:23
373. 2Kgs 14:21
374. 2Kgs 15:1
375. 2Kgs 17:5
376. 2Kgs 17:6
377. 2Kgs 15:5
378. Isa 1:1
379. Isa 6:1
380. 2Chr 27:1
381. 2Chr 27:2
382. 2Chr 27:3
383. 2Chr 27:4
384. 2Chr 27:5
385. 2Chr 27:6
386. 2Chr 27:7-9
387. 2Kgs 15:37
388. 2Kgs 15:36
389. 2Kgs 15:37
390. 2Chr 28:1
391. 2Chr 28:2-4
392. 2Chr 28:5
393. 2Chr 28:6-15
394. 2Chr 28:16-21
395. 2Chr 28:22-25
396. 2Chr 28:26
397. 2Chr 28:27
398. 2Kgs 16:2
399. 2Kgs 16:5
400. 2Kgs 16:7
401. 2Kgs 16:9
402. 2Kgs 16:15
403. 2Chr 29:3
404. 2Chr 29:1
405. 2Chr 29:2
406. 2Chr 29:3
407. 2Chr 29:4-11
408. 2Chr 29:12-17
409. 2Chr 29:18
410. 2Chr 29:19
411. 2Chr 29:20-30
412. 2Chr 29:31-36
413. 2Kgs 18:3
414. 2Chr 28:6-8
415. Lev 4:13
416. Amo 6:1-6
417. Num 10:2
418. 2Chr 30:1-4
419. 2Chr 30:5-10
420. 2Chr 30:11
421. 2Chr 30:12
422. 2Chr 30:13
423. 2Chr 30:14
424. 2Chr 30:15
425. 2Chr 30:16-20
426. 2Chr 30:21-26
427. 2Chr 30:27
428. Num 9:10
429. Num 9:11
430. 2Chr 31:1
431. 2Chr 31:2-13
432. 2Chr 31:14-19
433. 2Chr 31:20
434. 2Chr 31:21
435. Lev 2:11
436. 2Chr 31:10
437. 2Chr 32:1
438. 2Chr 32:2-6
439. 2Chr 32:7
440. 2Chr 32:8
441. 2Chr 32:9-15
442. 2Chr 32:16-19
443. 2Chr 32:20
444. 2Chr 32:21
445. 2Chr 32:22
446. 2Chr 32:23
447. 2Chr 32:24
448. 2Chr 32:25
449. 2Chr 32:26
450. 2Chr 32:27-30
451. 2Chr 32:31
452. 2Chr 32:32
453. 2Chr 32:33
454. 2Kgs 18:13
455. 2Kgs 6:16
456. 2Kgs 19:9
457. 2Kgs 19:14
458. 2Kgs 19:36
459. 2Kgs 20:1
460. 2Kgs 20:12
461. 2Kgs 20:13
462. 2Chr 32:1
463. 2Chr 32:8
464. 2Chr 32:16
465. 2Chr 32:18
466. 2Chr 32:21
467. 2Chr 34:27
468. 2Chr 32:24
469. 2Chr 32:31
470. 2Chr 33:1-9
471. 2Chr 33:10
472. 2Chr 33:11
473. 2Chr 33:12
474. 2Chr 33:13
475. 2Chr 33:14-16
476. 2Chr 33:17
477. 2Chr 33:18-20
478. 2Chr 33:21-24
479. 2Chr 33:25
480. 2Kgs 21:19
481. 2Chr 23:3
482. 2Kgs 21:26
483. 2Chr 34:1-7
484. 2Chr 34:8-13
485. 2Chr 34:14-19
486. 2Chr 34:20-22
487. 2Chr 34:23-28
488. 2Chr 34:29
489. 2Chr 34:32
490. 2Chr 34:33
491. 2Kgs 23:5
492. 2Chr 19:8
493. 2Kgs 22:8
494. 2Kgs 22:14
495. 2Kgs 22:20
496. 2Kgs 23:1
497. 2Kgs 23:3
498. 2Chr 35:1
499. 2Chr 35:20
500. 2Chr 35:21-23
501. 2Chr 35:24
502. 2Chr 35:25
503. 2Chr 35:26
504. 2Chr 35:27
505. 2Kgs 23:1
506. 2Kgs 22:20
507. 2Chr 36:1
508. 2Chr 36:2
509. 2Chr 36:3-8
510. 2Chr 36:9
511. 2Chr 36:10
512. 2Chr 36:11
513. 2Chr 36:12
514. 2Chr 36:13-21
515. 2Chr 36:22
516. 2Chr 36:23
517. 2Kgs 23:31-35
518. 2Kgs 24:1
519. 2Kgs 24:6-15
520. 2Kgs 24:17
521. 2Chr 36:18
522. Jer 25:9
523. Jer 25:12
524. Jer 26:6
525. Jer 26:7
526. Jer 29:12
527. 2Kgs 25:4