s i. e From day to day continually. Or, year upon year, 7. e. one year after another, or, for che ſpace of two years, as the Event ſhews, wv. 19. Heb. days upon days.Days are oft pur tor a year, as Exod. I3.'0. Levit. 25. 29. Numb. 9. 22. Judg. 17, 10. 1Sam. 1.3, & 27. 7.
feos 4. 4.
{4 16 Moreover, the LORD ſtirred up againſt Jeho- ram the ſpirit of the Philiſtins:, and of the Arabians, that were near the Ethiopians #.
e A People fully ſubdued and diſpirated : but God now raiſeth their Spirits and Courage to ds his Work. = Heb. near the Euſh:tes,
and though it doth for the moſt parr, yet it dorh nor aiways ſigniſie
26. Beſides, Joram his Father, died 1n his fortieth year, as 1s twics noted, ch 21.5, 20. how then can this be rrue? Aw. 1. In the Hebrew itis, 4 ſon of 42 years, &c which is an ambiguous Para'e,
the Ape of the Perſon, as is manifeſt from 1 Sam. 13. 1. where ſee the Notes. And therefore it is not neceſſary that this ſhould note his Age, (as it is generally preſumed to do, and thar is the only ground of tie difficulty ) bur it may note either « The Age of his M. ther Athaliah; who being ſo great, and infamous, and miſchie« ous a perſoa to the Kingdom and Rvyal Family of Judah, it 15 noy ſtrange if her Age be here deſcrib<d, eſpecially ſeing ſh+ her ſelf did for a ſeaſon tway this Sceprer« Or, rather 2. of the R-ign of that R1yal Race and Fam ly from which by his Mother he was de- ſ{c-nded, ro war, of the houſe of Omryi, who reigned 6 years, 1 Kings 16, 23, Aaab his fon reign=d 2: years, + Kiugs 16. 29, Abaziah bis ſon two years, 1 Kings 22. 51 YJoram his ton 12 years, 2 Kings 2. 1. All whicn pur togerher, mak-s vp exialy theſe 42 years, For Abaziab begen his Reign in Jorams 1:th year, 2 Kings 8 25; And ſvch a kind of Coa:purat on of the years, not of the Kings Perſon, but of his Reign or Kingdom, we had before, ch. 16. x. where ſec the Nores. And ſo we have an account of the Per- ſo:s Age, in 2 Kings 8. 26. and here of tae Kingdom ro which he b-I:-1ged. Anſw. 2. Some acknow'edge an Eriour in the trans
r.e Either che Ethiop:ans, from whom chey were parted only by the Red Sea, each dwelling up»n the oppoſire Shores of ic : Oc, ra-
[cribers \f the preſent Hebrew Copies, in which L-nguag: the rus mera' Letrers tor 22 and 42 are 1o like, thar chcy night eaſily be
24, KC, .
ther a people in Arabia. frequently mentioned in Scripture, and ſo miſt:k:n. For that irwas read 22 here, as it is in the Book of Kings, called, either for their likeneſs in Colour and Complexion tro the in other H-brew Copies, they gather from hence, that it is a+ this day
thiopians properly ſo called ; or becauſe the one of cheſe people ; fo read in Jivers :ncient Greek Copies, as alſo in thoſe rwo ancient were a Colony of the orher. But the Erhiopia'ns above Egype were } Traxfl:tions, rhe Syriack and tne Arabick, and particularly in that
far enough from theſe other Arabians, being ſeparated from them ' by ths Red Sea.
i7 And they came up into Judah, and brake into + Heb. it, and + carried away all the ſubſtance that was found rriedeap= in the kings houſe, and his ſons aiſo and his wives x : giv*82 #9 that there was never a ſon lefc,him fave [[Jehoahaz y
p Oro youngeſt of his ſons.
oh. | Ch. 22.7. X Whom alſo they flew, ch. 22. 1. except Ahaziah and Athaliah;
Or 4zari- who poſſibly were hidden in ſome ſecret and fafe place. y Ciiled aiſo ah.Ch. 22, 4haxiab, which ſignifies the very ſame thing with Jehoahaz; and 6. Azarieh. ch. 22. 6, whoſe fignification 1s near akin to the other, all
ſignifying Gods taking or helping of him.
18 And after all this the LORD ſmote him in his bowels with an incurable diſeaſe.
19 And it came to pals that in proceſs of time, afcer the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reaſon of his ſickneſs: fo he died of ſore diſeaſes : and his * Ch. 16. People made no. burning for him, like the * burning of 14. his fathers.
20 Thirty and two years old was he when he be- gan to reign, and he reigned in Jeruſalem eight years, and departed z | wichout being delired ||: howbeir they buried him in the city of David, but not in the ſe- palchre of the kings.
+ Heb
without
Famous and molt Ancient Copy of the Syriack which was uſed by the C'urch of Auth in the Primitive Times, and to this day is
k:pt in the Church of Ant:0ch from which thar moſt Reverend, Le-rned Pious, and Pub'ick ſpirited Archbiſhop Uſher did at his
own great Cr:arge get a:orher Copy tranſcribed, in which he hath
publithed to al! rhe World that h- found ir h-re written ewenty and two years old, &c, Nor doth this overthrow t'e Authority ot the Sacred Text, a. Infide's wculd have it, partly becauſe it is cnly an Hiſtorical Paſf.ge of no Imp »riance ro th- Subſtantial D-Erines of Faith and a god Life ; a:d partly becauſe rhe Queſtion, here is not whether this Text be true, but which is the true Reading of the Text, wherher rhat of rhe generaliry of preſent Copies, or that
which w:$uſfed in tae Ancient Copies whichthe Anci n- and Ve-
nerable Tranſlators above mentioned did follow : For it ſ-ems un«- reaſonable ar.d uncharitable ro rhink that all of them wou'd have conſpired to have changed the Text, and put in twenty andrw), for
forty, and two, if they had to read it in their Hebrew Copies. Nor
can this op-n any great door to tho't innumerable Ci:anges which
{ome have bL.ily and rafhly made in th- Hebrew Tex witt out ny
fuch pretence of Authority, as there is for this, which as ti.ey ars affirmed without Reaſon, or Authoricy, or Neceſſity, ſo they may as eaſily be reje&:d. If all chis will rot fatisfic our pr:\-nr I:fidzls, Id fire them only to conſider whar hath been hint-d be- fore upon ſuch Occaſion , thatmany difhcu'ties w h ch did icem un- anſwerable, bzing now fu'ly cleared by later Wr ters, it is but rea® ſonable to th: k rhar this may be fo in aft-r times, either by find* 19g of ſome H-brew Copies in which it may be Twenty and twe years, &c or, by ſome orhe-r way. ci. e Of Omri's Family : Or of Ahab, Omri's Son, Grandchildren are oft called Sons and Daughters, as Matth. 1. 1. Luke 3. 26.