PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles
Philip Chapman Barker [d.1904] · 404,925 words · 452 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 121
Smith's 'Dible Dlotionnry ,' vol. iii. pp. are not reconcilea.ble enou"h with either tbe 1284-1240, is of exceptional interest. All Hebrew text or themsel~es to command Israel. No doubt this expression may mean anything like unfeigned acceptance. One oven here the assemblage of the federated thing may be considered …
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known and bethought himself of ibis, But foretold, as the Divine mind foreknew, the all ra~hll- Rehobonm oast.8 the die. The inevitable course of the strenm, Uuit took its sonurl judgment, real knowledge, opportune source in and from Solomon's foithlees heart nnd practical 11dvico of the "old men," l\nd lifo. Solomo…
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HOMILETICS. Vera. 1-19.-.A notable and very mw,rnful instance of lacldng wisdom, through not aslcing of God. The compiler of the Chronicles, in the pursuit of the special objects which he bad in view, feels that he need lose no time in details, or in parts of the whole history, which were to be found elsewhere, but w…
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from that, special wisdom noted in bis father, one fatal defect existed. He asked tho ad,ice of the old. That it might not be said he asked the advice of one class alone, he asked the ad dee of the young also. But he did not ask the advice of God he did not pray for the direction of God. And his foot slipped; he stu…
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eust!lin his widowed mother, obtaining employment es e. workman in connection with one of King Solomon's works, with '' no prospects" in life. II. MEETING MIDW.\Y IN TUEIR OAREER. When they looked one another i □ the face nt Shechcm, what woe it th!lt each saw in the other? Probably the kin"''R son rnw in the son of N…
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h1mt out 11nd bliU!:e forth at the first opportunity. Drilliance is a very fnRcinating thing, whrther it be on the throne or in parliamentary government, or in the courts of lillv, or in business, or in the school. Dut what is its end? 'l'o what issues does it lend? Urnally it conducts to poverty, to serious error, …
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ruinous mistake it was for him to declare that he would go even further than Solomon himself hnd gone in this direction I 'l'o take a course which conflicts with men·s naturnl righte, or which kindles their just indignation, or which wounds their keen ;;uscoptibilities, is to invite dishonour to our door; it is to robe…
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ledged David's sovereignty (2 S11.m. v. 1) they came to Hebron, at that time the capital of Judah. Besides, Rehoboa.m bad already been crowned at Jerusalem and in that act the northern tribes should have taken part, That they stood u.l~of and claimed for themselves a right of either acquiescing in or repudiating the…
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barrier to the progress of a good work. Moses could not return to E;:('ypt to resume his emancipation work until Rameses H. was dead (Exod. ii. 23). Joseph could not return from Egypt with Mary and Jesus until IIerod was dead (Matt. ii. 19). 2. Its occasion. The invitation of the northern tribes (ver. 3). This, address…
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course. "The accumulated wisdom of the Solomonic era recommended concession, The old councillors gave just such advice as might have been found in the Dook of Proverbs" (St.anley). They advised acquiescence in the popular demand. They urged the king to win the people by kindness. 'l'he beautiful antithesis of the Bo…
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voycd through Hadomm. If this we.s the son of David's tribute officer (2 Sam. xx. 24), he must he.ve been at this time e.n old man about eighty. Hence he was probably the Adonimm, son of Abdo., who was over the levy (1 Kings iv. 6). Though not likely that he advanced towards the people with a small force as if to enfor…
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larger armies, whe?688 now Rehoboe.m wa.s of the road to Hebron. Ete.m. A plaoe taken by surprise. nee.r Bethlehem (1 Chron. iv. 3, 4, not 32; Ver. 2.--Shemai.a.h the ma.11 of God. This Septuagint of Josh. xv. 60); possibly the re- is the first historical mention (1 Kings xii. sort of Samson after his revenge on the…
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xvii. 1: Neh. xi. 30: Jer. xxxiv. 7). The that it wottld be vain to try it on (eh. site of it is not identified. xiii. 9). Ver. 10.-Zora.h. The people of Zora.h, Ve-r. 15.-The high plaoes ; i.e. Dan and or Zorenh, wero the ZareatMteB of 1 Chron. Bethel (I Kings xii. 28-33). J'or the ii. 53; it W[IS the home of Ma.noab…
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TIOMILETICS. Vers. 1-4, 5-17, and 23.-The discipline that resultecl in obedience, accompaniecl with right and earnest endeavour. The homiletic treatment of this chapter centres round two suggestions. l. THE SIMPLE A1''D PROMPT OBEDIENCE OF REIIOBOAM, IN OERTAIN RESPEOTS, TO THE Drvn.'E MESSAGE OF PROHIBITION. Of w…
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HOMILms BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 1-4.-Fighting against brethren. Rehoboam might have alleged some very strong reasons in defence of the proposed war (ver. 1). He might have pleaded that the tribes had no constitutional or moral right to revolt and secede, and that their secession would seriously and even fatally weak…
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Ver. 4.- Wrought of God. "For this thing is done of me." How much has God to do with the events and issnes of our life? Speaking in the idiom of the ancient Hebrew writers, we should say-Everything. Speaking after our modern fashion, we should say-Much; and so much that we are altogether wrong and foolish if we do …
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Vere. 13-18.-Fidelity to conscience. This migration of priestsand people from the other tribes of Israel to Judah and Jerusalem was a serious event in the history of the people of God, and it presents a striking and suggeative spectacle to all time. It is an early illustration of fidelity to conscience. I. 'l'nE SE…
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Vers. 1-4.-A warlike expedition hindered. I. THE KING'S ARMY. 1. Whence collected. From Judah and Benjamin, or that porlion of the latter which adhered to Judah. 2. Its plar,e of rendezvous. Jerusalem, the metropolis of the southern king- dom. It was intended that the king's forces should proceed from the capital. 3…
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after 1111, their brethren; or calcul11ted that prudence would be the better part of valour, seeing it was not self-evident they would succeed in their enterprise. Li,;ssoNs, 1. The sinfulness of war, especially of civil war. 2. The paramount authority of God in civil e.nd poliUcal, no less than in private and religio…
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II. THE REFORMATION OF RELIGION, (Vers. 13-17.) 1. The pt·iests and Levites out of all lsrael, returned to the temple. The occasion of this falling away from Jeroboam was that he and his sons had practically renounced the religion of Jehovah, had set up "high places" of his own in Dan and Bethel, where Jehovah ,vas …
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Me.he.lath was probably the first wedded of Rehoboam'e epousee. (2) "Maachah, the daughter of Absalom." Called also "Micaiah, the daughter of Urie! of Gibeah" (eh. xiii. 2), or of Abiahahm (1 Kings xv. 2), Maachah was probably the daughter of Tame.r, whose husband wae the above Urie! or Abishalom, and whose father w…
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EXPOSITION. CHAPTER XII. eh. xi. 17, that, roughly speaking, this chapter stretches over the last sad e.nd evil This chapter finishes for us the history twelve of the whole seventeen years of Re- of Rehoboam, hie "acts" and his character; and, with the preceding two chapters, it hoboam's reign. This, however, does …
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theless, wlll quite e.dmit of the Authorized tion of Asa.'s mothm (1 Kings xv. 13), the Version rendering, proposed to be superseded explanation here is tha.t N aame.h "appeara" in the last verse. 'fhis says life she.II be to have bad, a.a queen-motbm, considerable spored, but still severe moral reokoning (the.t influe…
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HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-16.-..4. model in.~tance of Divim goodness and opportunity prolonged to one w'ho anmdled aU, and viti,ated every highest privil,ege vouchsafed to him, by the one fact of his own infidelity of heart. We are strikingly taught, and we vividly recall from the contents of this chapter, the following …
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 1.-The peri1 of security. The King of Judah, whose career had been marked by suoh a strange admixture of good and evil, of wisdom and folly (see homily on oh. xi. 18-23), here takes another turn in his varied course, and this time a decisive one; . but we mark first- I. THE GOOD W…
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imd against us, without the aid of an almighty arm; and the end will bo failure and dishonour. (2) To singrieuously; for God is demanding ofue, in terms we cannot fail to understand e.nd with a frequency we oannot fail to mark, that we should put our trust in him, and not in man; in him, and not in ourselves ; in hi…
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they may see that my rule is n?t so oppressive as that o_f foreign kings" (Keil). God would let Rehoboam 1md the prmces of Judah be for e. time subject to Shishak-be in his power, be nt bis mercy, be compelled to go through the miserable humiliation of bu~ing him off-that he might be able to c?ntrast ~he honourable and…
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religion is impossible. He who abandons the service of God cannot stop short of serving the devil. No man can serve two masters (Matt. vi. 24); but every man must tNllTe one. IV. Co~"TAGIOUB IN rrs INFLUENOE. As Achan perished not alone in his iniquity (Josh. xxi1. 20), so Rehoboam sinned not alone in his apostasy,…
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IV. THE PROGRESS. Shishak captured all the fenced cities of Judah in which Rehoboam trusted (eh. xi. 6-9), e.nd encamped his army before the walls of Jerusalem. Vain, after all, h11d been Rehoboam's confidence. His garrisons and soldiers had yielrled to the first assault. The props on which men lean often prove broken …
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Ver. 9.-Tliefirst sacking of Jerusalem. I. ITS msTORI0 CERTAINTY. That Shisbak gradually drew bis lines closer round the capital, and in the end stormed its citadel, has received confirmation from the monuments. 1. In the temple of Ka.rnak, at Thebes, on the walls of which Seti I. and Rameses II. had by means of pic…
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nnd armies-a. sme.ller calamity the.n the former, as the destruction of a nation's wee.Ith is a lesser evil than the extinction or suppre~sion of its religion. a. The golden 1hielda in the house of the forest of Lebanon (eh. ix. 16), which &"lomon had made, the LXX. (1 Kings xiv. 26) adding that he likewise carried off…
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EXPOSITION. xv. 84; 2 Sam. ni. 6). Josephus (' ltelL CHAPTER XIII. Jud.,' v. 2. § 1) states what helps t.o the The career of .A.bijah begins and ends identifying of the pl!Mle as the modern Tuleil- with this chapter, the twenty-one verses of el.-fvl, a.bout thirty stadia from Jerusalem (see which are pare.lleled by …
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Hittites and Amorites (Gen. x. 18: 1 Ohron. true that some of the ancient indications i. 16), descendants of Canaan: there a.re e.~d tleR?riptions of friendship e.nd close some fn.int traces of their having wandered ~nentlsh1p_e tu~e~ on phrases (simile.r ones, from their northern settlements into mid rndeed, st11l ex1…
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the priest& of the Lor4, time- o.nd no.tion• follows, ver. 18, "relied upon the Lord God honoured; (4) for the mere mo.nufe.cture of of their fathers." e new-fimgled priesthood, end that after the Vcr.17.-Blain; Hebrew, c•77~. Even if model of nation■ foreign e.nd heathen: (5) we accept for e. moment the immense num…
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the recently rended and bleeding kingdom, of which a very brief etntement only had been mnde, nt the closo of the history of Rehohoam's reign, whether here or in the pnrnllel. It is olso, and most chiefly, distinguished by the graphic description of the very forcible manifesto, so dramatically delivered as well, in …
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8. It wae a cR.se of t?e usurper relying on a "multitude" (ver. 8)- mer~ majority I Nothing of a moral krnd can safely be decided, on the strength merely of a majority, in this world; or, e.t e.ny rate, up to the present time, in this world. And often the decision of something of a physical kind, on the strength of …
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I. THE FOLLY OF AN UNNATURAL SEVERANCE, The first thing we read about the reign of Abijah is that there "was war between him and Jeroboam" (ver. 2). What else was to be expected? How, in those times, or indeed in any time, could it be otherwise? Tribes descended, as they were, from a. common ancestor, speak in"' the s…
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enemies, end their name is legion; their resources ere great; they compose an e.rmy overwhelmingly strong in numbers and material equipments. 2. Before these there come the prophets of the Lord, summoning them to leave the ranks in which they stand, end to surrender themselves to him and his service. 'l'hese speaker…
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battle with Abijah, and, spite of clever generalship (vers. 13, 14), he is signally defeate<l; his troops are utterly routed, and he has to sacrifice three important places. From that time he <leclines in strength and spirit, until, cowed if not crushed by bis defeat, he dies of disappointment and chagrin. "'l'he Lo…
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II. TRE nnrTTLENEss OF EARTHLY FORTUNE, When Abijah ascended the throno of Judah, he had, probably, good reason for expecting a long period of honour and enjoyment. But three short years brought his hopes down to the ground. Some rusease showed itself in his frame, or some accident befell him, or some treacherous b…
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been unknown to their contemporaries; and Abijah's unnamed sons may have been superior persons to Asa. V. Hxs REIGN. 1. Its sphere. Judah, the southern kingdom, Jeroboam still exer- cising sovereignty over the northern. 2. Its seat. Jerusalem, the capital of Israel being Samaria. 3. Its dwration. Three years, beginnin…
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given the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a coveno.nt ,;if salt, i.e. by a perpetual covenant (Numb. xviii, 19). 'l'his promise had been made to David (2 Sam. vii. 12-16), confirmed t,o Solomon (1 Kings ix, 4, 6), and reported t-0 ,Jeroboam (1 Kings xi. 31-38), who must have kno…
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Mosaic cultus (vere. 10, 11). Like multitudes before and since, he and his people con- ceived it might be possible to do homage on equal terms to Jehovah and heathen divinities, which it we.a not (Isa.. xiii, 8); just as many in the present day fancy they cl_'n serve God 11nd mammon, which they cannot (Matt. vi. 24)…
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So "the Lord is nigh unto all that call upon him" (Ps. cxlv. 18); and "whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be delivered" (Joel ii. 32; Acts ii. 21; Rom. x.13), even while they a.re calling (Isa. lxv. 24). Cf. the rescue of Jehoshaphat at Ramotb- Gilead (ob. xviii. 31). 3. The growrul of it. "Because…
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cultt1R in Judah (1 Kinge xii. 28). 6. Rmewed ambition. Not content with this, be aimed at the subjugation of the southern empire. 7. Final oollapse. This point reached, he hastened rapidly towards an ignominious end. Byron says- " One breast laid open were a school. Which would unteach man.kind the lust to shine or …
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were captured, his military power wa.e broken, 2. In his home with bereavement. The 1mdden death of his child Abijah wa.s a sore stroke, to which wa.e added a sorer in the cur~e that none other of the house of Jeroboam should come to hie grave in peace (1 Kinge xiv. 12, 13). 3. In himself with diaease. To this the lang…
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writer In vers. 8 e.nd 6 respectively-the one twelve times; "image" or "images" nine- saying that Aso. "took e.we.y the high places," teen times; and "garrisons" once. It appears without o.ny further limitation; the other simply to have slipped from the signification so.ying within two verses, "Also out of e.ll of pill…
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of Pome suppoeed nspeot of her passion or hath given u■ re■t. In three successive dominion, very likely in the voluptuous or verses the blessings of peace 110d quiet, aud sensual direction (see the nevertheless very no ,toar and r""t, are recorded ( Isa.. xxvi, 1 ; dcmbtful Septuagint and Vulgate, eh. xv. 16; Zech. …
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Dr. Jamieson quotes Brnce's 'Tmvels' to conS11lted. A thousand thoneo.nd. Whether support this view, which seoms a most im- this number be correct or not, it may be noted probable, not to say impossible, one never- tbe.t it is the largeet alleged number of e.n theless. 'fhe question e.s to the ~eople army given in t…
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multitude ; and, lastly, of in'l'ocation re• spoken of 11,8 the place or cattle; there are, newed. or still determinedly eusta.i.ned, pressed however_,__f011r pnl!B&gee _looldug the same wo.y home oy t~e clenching challenge of relation- (Gen. :r.m. 5; Judg. v1. 5; 2 Kings vii. 7: ehip and 1tl! rorrelative responsibi…
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pe.ssions and of the sure opere.tion of principles which must be only one degree Iese destructive to the unconscious subjects than to their designed and deliberately marked objects. War shakes not merely to its foundations this or that fabric or human society, but io it_s ~entre the fabric ce.lled human natwre itself, …
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Vera. 9-15.-T.'te human tr'll,St and prayer that herald Divine victory. Though God gives nothini: for-tbat vani8bing point-our merit, yet he constantly of old gave, now constantly gives, in connection with our own right-doings and right-praying, in order that bis freest gifts may establish a healthy reaction on our …
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vars. 1, Ii (latter part), 6, 7.-" Rest on every side." It is significant enough that the Chronicler considered it a noteworthy. fact that "in his days the land was quiet ten yea.re." It indicates very forcibly that the chronic condition of the country in those times was one of unsettlemen…
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they had ~n ~ak~g large profits for their pock?t (Acts XX. 19). Destructive godli- ness eomet.tmes mdioates a devot.edness, and sometimes renders a service which deserves to take high rank amongst the exoellences and even the nobilities of human worth, We look at- I. Tm: DESTRUCTIVE PIETY SHOWN BY THE KING. He remo…
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workers in the kingd9m of God, ell the strengthening, stimulaUng, elevating influence we cnn possibly command. III. CARINO Fon AND CONSULTING THE WELFARE OJI OUR COUNTRY. Asa built those "fenced cities in Judnh" that he might make timely provision against the enemy and thus keep him off, or repel him if he attacked. W…
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living God, and we shall hide in him, our Refuge and our Strengt.h, "In his Name" we shRII "go against this multitude." III. THAT AB THOSE WHO FIGHT FOR GoD WE HAVE A POWERFUL PLEA, As those who are enlist.ed and engaged in the great campaign a:;:ainst moral evil in this world, we have a strong plea to urge when we dr…
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obey Its precepts (John xiii. 34; Rom. xiii. 8; Gal. v.13; Eph. v. 2) and carry out its principles (Matt, vii. 12; Rom. xiii. 10; Jae. ii. 8). The reign of Christianity in nay ne.tion would put e.n end to civil feuds e.nd we.rs of aggression. With the extinction of these, we.re of defence would cease. II. A 0OLDEN …
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expl~in~, b~ s~pposing that bis mother was _an Ethiopian (Rawli~son), or thl\t be bore the title krng s son of Cush" as crown pnnce of Egypt and viceroy of tho south or Ethiopia (Ebers). 2. His army-1,000,000 men-900,000 infantry, with 100 000 cavalr~ (Josephus,' ~nt.,' viii. 12. 1), and 300 chariots. 1'his im~ense …
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(Eph. vi. 18). Compare the English king'e prayer at Agincourt, "0 God of battles,n etc. (' Henry V.,' act iv. sc. 1). (c) The fact that the war was Jehovah's even more than theirs (eh. xx. 15). They were going out against Zerah in his Name, as in his Name David had advanced to meet Goliath (1 Sam. xvii. 45). In this Na…
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EXPOSITION. CHAPTER XV. of the Lord." These passages exhibit in- contestably the function, and the manifold This chapter is something like an oasis in function, of the Spirit I Aze.riah the son of our history, and was perhaps such in the 0ded. The Vulgate and Alexandrian Sep- real life of A.a also. Presumably it c…
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.