[455] See 2 Kings xxiii. 11, which shows that this was not an innovation of Manasseh's. They were common in Persia. See Q. Curtius, iii. 3.
[456] 2 Kings xvii. 31; Ezek. xvi. 21, xxiii. 37, xxxiii. 6; Deut. xii. 31; Jer. xix. 5. See 2 Chron. xxviii. 3; for "his son," בְּנוֹ, it uses בָּנָיו "his sons," but perhaps generically. Moloch-worship may have been stimulated by accounts of the Assyrian fire-god Adrammelech (Movers, _Phöniz._, ii. 101). On this sacrifice of children to Moloch, which the Phœnicians referred back to the god El or Il, once King of Byblos, who in a crisis of danger sacrificed his eldest son Icond, see Plut., _De Superst._, § 13; Diod. Sic., xx. 12-14; 2 Kings iii. 27, xvi. 3, xxi. 6; Mic. vi. 7; Döllinger, _Judenthum u. Heidenthum_ (E. T.), i. 427-429.
[457] This worship was to be punished by stoning (Lev. xviii. 21, xx. 2-5; Deut. xviii. 10). On the whole subject see Movers, _Phöniz._, 64; Jarchi _on Jer. vii._ 31; Euseb., _Præp. Ev._, iv. 16.
[458] Josephus says that Ahaz made "a whole burnt-offering" of his son; but his authority is very small (καὶ ἴδιον ὡλοκαύτωσεν παῖδα). Comp. Psalm cvi. 37.
[459] Ignorant Romanists have often cherished the same notions about the saints. For centuries in Spain the people bought the old gowns and cowls of the monks, and buried their dead in them, to deceive St. Peter into the notion that they were Dominicans or Franciscans!
[460] See Ovid, _Fasti_, v. 659: "Scripea pro domino Tiberi jactatur imago." They were also called _Argei_, _id._ 621; Varro, _L. L._, vi. 3.
[461] Varro, _L. L._, v. 3.
[462] Herod., ii. 137. Egypt., _Sebek_; Heb., _So_ (2 Kings xvii. 4), or perhaps _Seve_; Arab., _Shab'i_. Rawlinson, _Hist. of Anct. Egypt_, ii. 433-450.
[463] Kir (see Amos ix. 7) is omitted in the LXX. Elam is added in Isa. xxii. 6. Tiglath-Pileser calls the king Rasunnu Sarimirisu--_i.e._, of Aram. See Smith, _Assyr. Discoveries_, p. 274; _Eponym Canon_, 68; Schrader, _K. A. T._, 152 ff.
[464] Isa. xvii. 1-11.
[465] The name seems to be Tuklat-abal-isarra,--according to Oppert worshipper of the son of the Zodiac--_i.e._, of Nin or Hercules. According to Polyhistor, he was a usurper who had been a vine-dresser in the royal gardens. He never mentions his ancestry. But see Schrader, _K. A. T._, 217 ff., 240 ff., and in Riehm.
[466] _Eponym Canon_, p. 121, lines 1-15. On this fall of Damascus and Samaria, see Isa. xvii.
[467] Jahuhazi (Schrader, _Keilinschr._, p. 263). He probably bore both names; but, as in the case of Jeconiah, who is called Coniah, the omission of the element "Jehovah" from his name may have been intended as a mark of reprobation.
[468] The remark may refer to some earlier period in the reign of Ahaz, before the capture of Damascus. It is more probable that the altar was used for some Assyrian deity, and the adoption of it may have flattered Tiglath-Pileser.
[469] 2 Kings xvi. 11, which records the zealous subservience of Urijah, is wanting in some MSS. of the LXX. But that the altar was made, and without his opposition, is clear from the narrative. Asa (2 Chron. xv. 8) had repaired Solomon's great altar; Hezekiah subsequently cleansed it (_id._ xxix. 18); Manasseh rebuilt it (_Q'ri_). The brass of it ultimately went to Babylon (Jer. lii. 17-20).
[470] Bähr says: "It seems that Urijah, like his companion, was only anxious for his revenues. At any rate, his conduct is a sign of the character and standing of the priests of that time. They were 'dumb dogs who could not bark.' They all followed their own ways, every one for his own gain" (Isa. lvi. 10, 11). "We have in this high priest," says the _Würtemberg Summary_, "a specimen of those hypocrites and belly-servants who say, 'Whose bread I eat, his song I sing'; who veer about with the wind, and seek to be pleasant to all men; who wish to hurt no one's feelings, but teach just what any one wants to hear."