began And thus one and the fame Year may well be, as it fres quentiy 18, attributed to two ſeveral! Perſons.
2 three years breigned he in Jeruſalem : and his mo- thers name was Maachah the daughter of Abilhalom c.
b See the laſt Note, on wer: xr. c Or, of Asſ;zlom, as he is. called 2 Ch'on; 11: 21. And tecauſe he is here mentioned as a known Perſon, without any addition of his Kindred or Quality, fome con= c.ive that this was Abſalems Daughter, called properly Tamar. 2 Sam:
4 27. and from her Royal Grand-mother,' 2 Sam: 3: 3. Maathah ; and that ihe 1s called Michajah( whichdiffers not much from Maachah) be Langhter of Uriel, 2 Chron: 13; 2+ becauſe ſhe was firſt Married to U iel, as Joſephs affirms, Antiq. 8. 3. and afterwards to Rehoboam. Orheis think this was another Perſon,. and thar both ſhe and her Facher had each of them ſeveral Names, which was not unuſual among the Hebrews-
And lic waiked in al! the ſins of his father d; which ne had done before him: and his* heart was not perfe& with the LORD his God, tather, |
d Which his Father lived in, Fither, Firſt, Before his Humiliation. Or rather, Secondly, after his Deliverance from Shak, when, tho he did not openly renounce the Worſhip cf od, he ſeems to have relapted into hi, tormer Sins; which otherwiſe would nor have been \cemcmbredagainſt himz as Davias name and memory'"isnever loaded with the Game of h1s Sins, becauſe he truly -repeated of them:
4 Nevertheleſs, for Davids ſake did the LORD his God give him a ||lamp e in Jeruſaiem, to fer up his ſon airer him, and to eſtabliſh Jerufalem f :
e ive, A Son and Succefſlor to perpetuate his Name and Memory, which otherwiſe had gone 1nto ob{curity. The ſame Phraſe is uſed above, ©: 11336. 2 Kngs8: 19: 2Chr;21;7, fi.e. That he might maintain that Ciry, and Temple, and Worſhip, as a Witneſs for God, inthe World, againſt the 1raelites and Heathen World, who ſhould have enquired afrer ir, and embraced the True Religion there eſtabliſhed and ſer up, asa Beacon upon an high Hill, that all Men might rake notice of it. EFT
5 Becaufe Dayid did :bat which was right in the om
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1aP. XV.
| of the LORD, andturned not afidefrom any thing that he commanded him all the dayspfhis life, * ſave only
in the matter of Uriah the Hittite g.
£ Ne. How is this true, ſeing David ſinned in the matter of Nabal, x Samz2 5: and Achiſb, chap: 29: and Mephiboſbeth, and his Indul- gence to his Children, Admijah, Amnon and Abſalom ; and in the _— of the People ? Arſ. This and the like Phraſes are not to be underſtood as excluſive of every ſinful Aion, but only of a ſinful courſe or ſtate,or of an habitual & continued Apoſtaſie from God, or from his Ways, as the very Phraſe ofturning aſide from God, or from his Commands, doth conſtantly imply, as appears from Exod: 32; 8: Deut: 9: 12,16. 1 Same 8:3: Pſal: 78: 517: 1/m44: 20: 17im:1. 6. and 5.15, &c. And thus it is moſt true. For David's other Sins were either ſudden and tranſient Affs, proceeding from humane Infirmity and extraordinary Temptations,and ſoon repented of and blotted our, asin the caſes of Nabal and Achiſb ; or, miſtakes of his Judgment, which was not fully convinced of the finfulneſs of ſuch Actions, as in the other Caſes alledged ; whereas that which concerned Uriah's Wife was a deſigned and ſtudied Sin, long con- tinued in, defended with a Succetſion of other Sins, preſumprtuous, and ſcandalous to his Governmeat, and to the True Religion, which
he ſo eminently profeiled. | 6 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jero-
boam + all the days of his life.
þ Which was ſaid, chap 14.30. and may be here repeated to ſignifie the Cauſe and Original of the War berween Abijam_ and Jeroboarn, which is implied here, and particularly deſcribed, 2 Chron. 13. Abijam continued the War which Rehoboam had begun, and puſhed it on to 2 deciſive Battel. Bur the place may be thus rendred, Yet there was War, &c. i. e. Although God was pleaſed to ſhew ſo much reſpe& to David, as for his ſake to continue the Succeſſion to the Kingdom in his Poſterity, yet he thought fit tro manifeſt his Dil-
leaſure againſt David's Succeſfors for their Sins, and to mix their ove and Happineſs with Wars and Troubles.
7 Now the reſt of the a&ts of Abjjam, and all that he did, are they not written inthe book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah # ? And there was war berween
Abijam and Jecoboam. | z In their Annals ; whence they were long after this time Tranſla- ted into the Sacred Book of Chronicles. See above on Chap. 14. 19. 8 And Abijam flept with his fathers, and they buried
him in the city of David; and Alfa * his fon reigned in
his ſtead. 9 © Andin the twentieth year of Jeroboam & king of
Iſrae], . reigned Aſa over Judah.
k In or towards the end of the Year. See above, verſe 1.
10 And forty and one years reigned hein Jerufalem : and his || mothers I name: was Maachah, the daughter of
Abiſhaiom.
1 i. e. His Grand-Mothers, as appears from ver. 2. who is called his Mother, as David is called 4b:jam's Father, v. 3. and this 4/s's Father, v. 11. And io the names of Father, and Mother, and Sons, and Daughters, are oft taken both in Sacred and Prophane Authors, for Grand-Parents and Grand-Children. And his Grand-Mothers Name may be here mentioned, rather than his Mothers, becauſe his ' Mother was either an obſcure Perſon, or was long fince dead, or indiſpoſed, or unwilling to take care of the Education of her Son, and io he was Educated by the Grand-Mother, who, though ſhe did poifon his Father 46:5am with her IdolJatrous Principles, wv. 12. yet could not infe& 4/z, nor with-hold him from proſecuting his good purpoſes of Reforming Religion. Which is here remembred to his praiſe. : |
11 And Aſa did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD w, as 44 David his father.
» As to the Government of his Kingdom, and Lite, and the Reformation, and Eftabliſkment of God's Worſhip.
12 And he took away the Sodomitess out of the land,
and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. » Of whom ſee chap. 14. 24. not all efthem, but thoſe whom he could find out ; but ſome eſcaped his obſervation and cenſure, as
appears from Chap. 22. 46+ :