b How is this credible ? For then 4haz, who lived bur Six and Thirty Years, chap 19:2, muſc beget Hezekiah art the Eleventh Year of his Age. An]: 1. There are ſome like Inſtances mentioned by credible Authors ; which theſe very Men will nor deny,who are ſo ready to quarrel with the holy Scriptures for ſuch matters. 2+ This being the confelled Cuſtom of Sacred, and other Writers, in the numbring of Years,fometimes to omit,and ſometimes to add thoſe which are imperfect, or unfiniſhed : And ſo Abaz might, be near One & Twenty Years old when he began to Reign,and near Seven- teen Years older when he died : And on the other fide, Hezekiah, when he began to Reign, might be only Four and Twenty years old compleat,and but entred into his Five & twenty Year. =—— And thus 4haz might be between Thirteen & Fourteen Years o!d,when he got Hezekiah ; which is not at all ſtrange,eſpecially in rhat Na- tion to which God had promiſed a ſingular degree of Fruitfulneſs, and in that Houſe of David to which God had made fo many, and ſuch great promiſes. 3. It is not certain that 4haz lived only Thirty ſix Years,for thoſe Sixteen years which he Reigned, Chap.16.2. may be compured, not from the firſt beginning of his Reign, when he Reigned with his Father ; ( of which,ſee the Notes on Chap. 15.30.) which was at the Twentieth Year of his Age, but from the begin- ning of his Reign alone. 4+ Some affirm, That H:zck:ah was not the Narural, bur only the Legal Son and Succeſſor of 4hax : for the name of Sox is given in Scripture to ſuch Perſons : as 1 Chron, 3.16. comp. with 2 K:mgs 24.17. Matth.1.12. compare with Jer-22.30:.and to Adopted Sons, AF. 7. 21. H:b.u.24. And to Sons in Law, 1 Sam.24. 16. and 26. 17. Luk. 3.23. Any of theſe Solutions are far more cre- dible to anyMan of common Prudence,than that theſeSacredBooks, whoſe Divine Original hath been ſo fully evidenced both by God and Men,are but the Fictions and Contrivances of a baſe Impoſtor. And if none of theſe Solutions were ſufficient.it is abſurd to con clude, That a true Reſolution cannot be found, becauſe it is not yet found ; becauſe it is manifeſt, That many difficulties both in Scripture, and in the Arts,which were formerly judged Inſolu- ble,have been cleared in later Times ; and therefore we may juſtly expect the Reſolution of other Difficulties, which may be though not yet fully explained. c Or, A4biah, 2 Chron. 29. 1.
3 And he did that which was right in the ſight of the LORD, according to all that which David his father did.
4 T * He removed the high places d, and brake the + f images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces 11. «
choſe days the children of Krael did burn incenſe to it f, and he called it Nehuſhran g.
d i. e. The moſt of them,or ſuch as the People moſt frequented : for all were not taken away, Chap-23.13,14+ And this he attempted to do,notwithſtanding the Peoples great and conſtant Affection to them; partly, becauſe he had more Zeal and Courage than his Prede- _ccflors: and Partly,becauſe the dreadful Judgments of God upon the Kingdom of 1ſrael for their Superſtition and Hdolatry,had made the People of 7ud42 more pliable to the Commands of God,and of their good King. e By Gods Command to be an Ordinance or Mean for the conveyance of Gods Bleſſing to the People: which therefore had been hitherto kepr as a Memorial of Gods Mercy ; but being now commonly abuted ro Superſtition, was deſtroyed. f Nor doubt- leſs as to a God, but only as to an Inſtrument and Token of Gods Mercy, by and through which, their Adoration was directed ro God, and given to that only for Gods ſake. g 7.s. He ſaid, This Serpent, howſoever formerly honoured,and uſed by God as a ſign of his Grace, yet now it is nothing but a piece of Braſs, which can do you neither Good nor Hurt ; and therefore is no fit object for your Worſhip,
5 He truſted in the LORD God of Ifrael þ, ſo that afcer him was none like him among all the kings of Ju- dah, nor any that were before him :.
bh Without calling in Foreign & Heatheniſh Succours to ſrabliſh or help him-; which his Father 4haz did ; Chap.i6.7 and 14.7. and before him 4ſa, 1 Kings 15-18, 19. with reflection up n whom this ſeems to be noted. ; To wit, of the Kings of 744225 only; for Da- vid and Solomon were Kings of all 1'rael. Objet#. The like 15 laid of Foſtah, Chap. 23. 25. Anſw, Each of them excel'ed the other in
21: 9
3 2
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this
Chap. XvIT, |
ſon of Elah king of Iſrael,chbar * Hezekiah the ſon *: Chron: | 1 . 28: 27: & \fiſf He 1584 |
2 Twenty and five years old was he when he be- Ne at. I-Q,
2 Chron,
the * brazen ſerpent that Moſes had made e : for unto + Heb. S; atues. . * Numb.
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XVIII, T1.
this Work with great, Expedition, even in the beginning of his] Reign, which Jofa- did not, c:4p-23. and with no leſs Reſolution, undertaking to do that which none of his Predeceſſors durſt do, even to remove the High Places, wherein Joſiah did only follow his Example 3 Chap. 22. 1, 3+
6 For he clave to the LORD, and departed not 7 from following him &, but kept his commandments
which the LORD commanded Moſes.
k In the general Courſe of his Life,and eſpecially in the matters of Gods Worthip. : 3 9
7 And the LORD was with him, and he proſpered whitherſoever he went forth : and he rebelled againſt
the king of Aſſyria J, and ſerved im not. b=-