KIXGS
99
KING'S BOOK
writer, and, if not Jeremiah, must have had independent means of information, tliis coiucidence will have great weight.
It has been argued on the other side —
(1.) That the concluding portion of the book of Kings could hardly have been written by Jeremiah, unless we suppose him to have written it when he was betAvccn eighty and ninety years old. To this it may be replied that the last four verses, relative to Jehoiachin, arc equally a supjilement, whether added by the author or by some later hand. There is nothing impossible in the supposition of Jeremiah having survived till the thirty- seventh year of Jehoiachin's captivitj-, though he would have been between eighty and ninety. There is some- thing touching in the idea of this gleam of joy having reached the prophet in his old age, and of his havmg f;dded these few words to his long-finished history of his nation (see Hiivernick, Ueber Daniel, p. 14).
(2.) That the resemblance of style and diction may be accounted fcjr on the supposition of Jeremiah's famil- iarity with the ancient records to which the writer of Kings had access, while the similarity of 2 Kings xxiv, 1-18, etc., and Jer. xxxix, might arise from the writer of Kings using that portion of Jeremiah's work. The identity of Jer. lii with the same portion of Kings is probably owing to its being an altered extract from Kings, appended as a supplement to Jeremiah by some later hand. Neither of the suppositions, however, se- riously militates against the general authorship of Jer- emiah as to the book of Kings. See Jeeejiiah.
X. Place of these Boohs in the Canon, and References to them in the Neio Testament. — Their canonical author- it}' having never been disputed, it is needless to bring fonvard the testimonies to their authenticity which may be found in Joscphns, Eusebius, Jerome, Augustine, etc., or in Bp.Cosin, or any other modern work on the Canon of Scripture. See Canon. They are reckoned, as has already been noticed, among the Prophets, in the three- fold division of the Holy Scriptures; a position in ac- cordance with the supposition that they were compiled by Jeremiah, and contain the narratives of the different prophets in succession. They are frequently cited by our Lord and by the apostles. Thus the allusions to Solomon's glory (Matt, vi, 29) ; to the queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon to hear his wisdom (xii, 42) ; to the Temple (Acts vii, 47, 48) ; to the great drought in the days of Elijah, and tlie widow of Sarepta (Luke iv, 25, 26) ; to the cleansing of Naaman the Syrian (ver. 27) ; to the charge of Elisha to Gehazi (2 Kings iv, 20, comp. with Luke x,4) ; to the dress of Elijah (Mark i,G, comp. with 2 Kings i,8); to the complaint of Elijah, and God's answer to him (Kom. xi,3, 4) ; to the raising of the Shu- nammite's son from the dead (Heb. xi, 35) ; to the giving and withholding of the rain in answer to Elijah's prayer (James v, 17, 18 ; Rev. xi, 6) ; to Jezebel (Kev. ii, 20) — are all derived from the books of Kings, and, with the statement of Elijah's presence at the Transfiguration, are a striking testimony to their value for the purjiose of religious teaching, and to their authenticity as a portion of the Word of God.
On the M'hole, then, in this portion of the history of the Israelitish people to which the name of the Books of Kiiu/s has been given, we have (if we except those errors in numbers which arc either later additions to the original work, or accidental corruptions of the text) a most important and accurate account of that people during upwards of four hundred j'ears of their national existence, delivered for the most part by contemporaiy writers, and guaranteed by the authority of one of the most eminent of the Jewish prophets. Considering the conciseness of the narrative and the simplicity of the style, the amount of knowledge which these books con- vey of the characters, conduct, and manners of kings and people during so long a period is tridy wonderful. The insij;lit they give us iuto the aspect of Judah and Jeru- salem, both natural and artificial, into the reHgious, mil- itary, and civil institutions of the people, their arts and
manufactures, the state of education and learning among them, their resources, commerce, exploits, alliances, the causes of their decadence, and, finally, of their ruin, is most clear, interesting, and instructive. In a few brief sentences we acquire more accurate knowledge ol' the affairs of Egypt, Tyre, Syria, Assyria, Babylon, and oth- er neighboring nations, than had been preserved to us in all the other remains of antiquity up to the recent discoveries in hieroglyphical and cuneiform monuments. The synchronisms with these, if they create some diffi- culties, yet funiish the only real basis for dates of these contemporaneous powers ; and if we are content to read accurate and truthful history, substantially with an ex- act though intricate net-work of chronology, then we shall assureilly find it will abundantly repay the most laborious study which we can bestow upon it.
But it is for their deep religious teaching, and for the insight vrhich they give us into God's providential and moral government of the world, that these books are above all valuable. Books which describe the wisdom and the glory of Solomon, and yet record his fall; whicli make us acquainted with the painful ministry of Elijah, and his translation into heaven ; and which tell iis how the most magnificent temple ever built for God's glory', and of which he vouchsafed to take possession by a vis- ible symbol of his presence, was consigned to the flames and to desolation for the sins of those who worshipped in it, read us such lessons concerning both God and man as are the best evidence of their divine origin, and make them the richest treasure to every Cliristian man.