[657] The name Amon is unusual. Some identify it with the name of the Egyptian sun-god (Nah. iii. 8). If so, we see yet another element of Manasseh's syncretism, and (as some fancy) an attempt to open relations with Psammetichus of Egypt. But perhaps the name may be Hebrew for "Architect" (1 Kings xxii. 26; Neh. vii. 59).
[658] 2 Kings xxi. 19. The LXX. reads "twelve years," but not so Josephus (_Antt._, X. iv. 1), or 2 Chron. xxxiii. 21.
[659] Zeph. iii. 1-11. Comp. i. 4.
[660] _Chemarim_, 2 Kings xxiii. 5; Hos. x. 5. The root in Syriac means "to be sad," but Kimchi derives it from a root "to be black." The Vulgate renders it _æditui_ and _aruspices_.
[661] We are told in the titles of their books that both these prophets prophesied in the days of Josiah; but such pictures can only apply to the earliest years of his reign.
[662] See Jer. v., vi., vii., _passim_.
[663] Jer. vi. 13-15.
[664] Jer. v. 30, 31.
2 KINGS xii., xxiii
"Τὴν δὲ φύσιν αὐτὸς ἄριστος ὑπῆρχε καὶ πρὸς ἀρετὴν εὗ γεγονώς."--Jos., _Antt._, iv. 1.
"In outline dim and vast Their fearful shadows cast The giant forms of Empires, on their way To ruin: one by one They tower, and they are gone." KEBLE.
If we are to understand the reign of Josiah as a whole, we must preface it by some allusion to the great epoch-marking circumstances of his age, which explain the references of contemporary prophets, and which, in great measure, determined the foreign policy of the pious king.
The three memorable events of this brief epoch were, (I.) the movement of the Scythians, (II.) the rise of Babylon, and (III.) the humiliation of Nineveh, followed by her total destruction.
I. Many of Jeremiah's earlier prophecies belong to this period, and we see that both he and Zephaniah--who was probably a great-great-grandson of King Hezekiah himself,[666] and prophesied in this reign[667]--are greatly occupied with a danger from the North which seems to threaten universal ruin.
So overwhelming is the peril that Zephaniah begins with the tremendously sweeping menace, "_I will utterly consume all things off the earth_, saith the Lord."
Then the curse rushes down specifically upon Judah and Jerusalem; and the state of things which the prophet describes shows that, if Josiah began himself to seek the Lord at eight years old, he did not take--and was, perhaps, unable to take--any active steps towards the extinction of idolatry till he was old enough to hold in his own hand the reins of power.
For Zephaniah denounces the wrath of Jehovah on three classes of idolaters--viz., (1) the remnant of Baal-worshippers with their _chemarim_, or unlawful priests, and the syncretising priests (_kohanim_) of Jehovah, who combine His worship with that of the stars, to whom they burn incense upon the housetops; (2) the waverers, who swear at once by Jehovah and by Malcham, their king; and (3) the open despisers and apostates. For all these the day of Jehovah is near; He has prepared them for sacrifice, and the sacrificers are at hand.[668] Gaza, Ashdod, Askelon, Ekron, the Cherethites, Canaan, Philistia, are all threatened by the same impending ruin, as well as Moab and Ammon, who shall lose their lands. Ethiopia, too, and Assyria shall be smitten, and Nineveh shall become so complete a desolation that "pelicans and hedgehogs shall bivouac upon her chapiters, the owl shall hoot in her windows, and the crow croak upon the threshold, 'Crushed! desolated!' and all that pass by shall hiss and wag their hands."[669]
The pictures of the state of society drawn by Jeremiah do not, as we have seen, differ from those drawn by his contemporary.[670] Jeremiah, too, writing perhaps before Josiah's reformation, complains that God's people have forsaken the fountains of living water, to hew out for themselves broken cisterns. He complains of empty formalism in the place of true righteousness, and even goes so far as to say that backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah (iii. 1-11). He, too, prophesies speedy and terrific chastisement. Let Judah gather herself into fenced cities, and save her goods by flight, for God is bringing evil from the North, and a great destruction.[671]