The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 221

Do.mo.ecus (Amos l 8. Bee Posey's in the sight of the Lord ; he departei not • Minor Prophets,' p. 158). from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Ver. 8.-Now the rest of the aots of Bebat, who me.de Israel sin; but he walked Jehou.haz, and all that he did, and his therein. Josephos sRys that Joo.eh was a might; rather, Me pro1Deea, or hie 'Dalour. good king, and quite unlike his father in Though defeated and reduced to subjection disposition(' Ant. Jud.,' l. B. c.); but he is by the Syrians, yet JP.hoahaz had dis- not likely to have had any independent <late. tinguished himself, and shown his own for judging of his character. Our author personal couro.ge, in the course of the war. seems to include both son e.nd father in the Are they not written in the book of the same category (comp. ver. 2). The r,arrati ve chronioles of the kings of Israel 1 (comp. contained in ver. 14 is probably the founda- eh. i. 18). The regular use of the phrase tion of the historian's favourable judgment. is one of the indications that the two Books Ver.12.-And the rast of the acts of Joa.sh. of the Kings are by one author, and form e.nd all that he did, e.nd hiB might wherewith one book. he fought age.inst A.maziah King of Judah Ver. 9.-And J'ehoahu slept with his (see eh. xiv. 11-14), a.re they not written fathers; and they buried him in Samaria. in the book of the chronicles of the kings of (comp. 1 Kings xvi. 28; eh, x. 35; xiiL Iarael l Either this and the next verses 13, etc.). The kings of Israel from the have been displaced from their rightful time of Omri were buried in the capital, position by some accident, or the author Samaria., as those of Judah were in Jeru- e.t one time intended to terminate his salem. It is uncertain whether they he.d account of Joash e.t this point. The formula. one common mausoleum, like the kings of nsed is one which regularly closes the reign Judah (2 Chron. xxviii. 27), but it is most of each king. The proper pla.ce for it would probable that they ho.d. To rest with their have been after ver. 25. fathers in the same royal sepulchre was Ver.13.-Alld Joe.ah slept with his fathers; to be duly honoured at their death; to be e.nd Jeroboam eat upon his throne. That excluded from it was a disgrace. And J'oash Joash should call his eldest son Jeroboam, his son reigned in his stead. after the founder of the kingdom, indicated a. thorough approval of that founder's policy Vera. 10-25.-THE REIGN OP JoAsH. and conduct, and per!Japs e. hope that he The writer pa.sses from the reign of Jeho- would be to the apparently decaying king- ahaz, Jehu's son, to that of Joe.ah, Jehu's dom a sort of second founder. The name grandson, which he seems to have inteDded means, "he whose people is many," e.nd we.a thus anticipative of that great enlarge- at first to despatch in the short space of ment of ilie Israelite kingdom, which took four verses (vers. 10-13). He afterwards, place nnder him (see eh. xiv. 25-28). however, saw reason to add to his narrative, And J'oe.sh we.a buried in Se.me.ria with the first, o.n account of e.n interview between kings of Israel (see the comment on Joo.ah and Elisha., shortly before the death ver. :J). of the latter (ve1·s. H:-19); secondly, an Ver. 14.-Now Elisha we.a fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. Elisha, who account of a miracle wrought soon after- was grown to manhood before the death of wards by means of Elis!Je.'s corpse (vera. A!Je.b (l Kings xix; 19), mnst have been e.t 20, 21); e.nd thirdly, a brief notice of least eighty years old at the accession of J'oe.sh's Syrian war (vers. 22-25). Joo.ah: His illness was therefore probably the result of mere natural decay. And Ver. 10.-In the thirty and seventh year Joe.ah the King of Israel as.me down unto of J'oe.sh King of Judah. Three years before him, The visit of a. king to a pro!,het, in his death, since he reigned forty years the we.y of sympathy e.nd compliment, would (eh. xiL 1). The two Joashes were thus be e. very unusual occurrenoe at any period contemporary monarchs for the space of of the world's history. lu the East, and three years. :Began J'ehoash the son of at the period of which the historian is J'ehoahu to reign over Israel in Se.maria., treating, it we.s probably unp1·ecedented. and reigned sixteen years. The construc- Prophets waitcJ upon kiugs, not kings upon tion is the some e.s that of ver. 1, and is prophets; If a king ea.me to e. prophet's equally ungmmme.tical. Our translators house, it was likely to be on Rn errand of a.go.in a.mend the faulty phrase by introduc- vengeance (oh. vi. 32), not on oue of kind- ing the words "and reigned." The "six- ness 11nd sympathy: The a.et of Joa.eh teen ye,us" of the reign of Joo.eh are certainly implies a degree of tendernesa confirmed by Josephus (' Ant. Juil.,' ix. 8. and consideration on his pa.rt very un- § 6), but still present some difficulty (see common o.t the time, and is a fact to which the comment on oh. xiv. 23). much weight should be attached in e.ny Vor. 11.-And he did the.t which wns ovil estimate that we form of hi.; cL::u-acter. Ha 264 TilE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. [ OII. XIII. 1-2£1,