The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 234

deo.th (vcrs. 17-20). Between vers.14 and opposed themselves to prophets, and treated 16 there is interposed u. summnry of the their rebukes with scorn. Both rouser! con- reign of King Jonah of Judah, which is little spiracy against them by their misconduct, and were murdered by the malcontents. more than e. repetition of eh. xiii. 12, 13, Further, both were unsuccessful in war, had and is thought by many to be o.n interpola- to withstand e. siege of their capital, and tion, bought off their enemy by the surrender of the greater part of its wealth, including the Ver. 1.-In the seoond year of J'oash son treasures of the temple (comp. eh. xii. 18 of J'ehoahu.z Kmg of Israel reigned Amaziah with eh. xiv. 14). the son of J'oash Kmg of J'ndah. Again the Ver. 4.-Howbeit the high places were chronology is defective. If J oaeh of Ieru.el not taken away. No king ventured to touch ascended the throne in the thirty-seventh the" high places" until the time of Heze- yeu.r of Joash of Judah (eh. xiii. 10), and kiah, by whom they were pnt down (eh. the latter reigned forty years (eh. xii. 1), xviii. 4). Even Asa did not remove them Ame.zie.h cannot have become king till the (1 Kings xv. 14), They were remnants of fourth or fifth year of the Israelitish Joe.eh, an old ancestral worship which went back instead of the second. The ordinary expla- to the time of the judges, and which had nation of commentntors is o. double acces- been connived at by judges and kings and sion; but this is uflse.tisfactory. It is best prophets. Local feeling was everywhere in to allow that the chronology of the later their favour, since they provided for local half of the Israelite kingdom is in confusion. needs, and enabled men to dispense with Ver. 2.-He was twenty and five years old the long) and tedious journey to the distant when he began to reign, and reigned twenty Jerusalem. As yet the people did sacrifice end nine years in Jerusalem. Josephus and burnt inoense on the high places; lite- (' Ant. Jud.,' ix. 9. § 3) and the author of rally, weTe sacrificing and burning incense; Chronicles (2 Chron. xxv. 1) confirm these i.e. continued the practice, which bo.d come numbers. And his mother's name w11s J'e- down to them from their ancestors. (On tho hoaddan of Jerusalem. Josephus(!. s. c.) calls morality and legality of the practice, see the her Jodade, but the LXX. have, more cor- comment on 1 Kings iii. 2.) rectly, Joaclim. Ver. 5.-And it came to pass, as soon as Ver. 3.-And he did that which was right the kingdom was con.firmed in his he.nd. in the sight of the Lord, yet not like David 'Joash bad been murdered in Jerusalem by his father. Only one King of Judah hitherto, conspirators (eh. xii. 20). A time of trouble viz. Asa, had obtained the praise that he "did had, no doubt, supervened. The conspirators thut which was right in the eyes of the Lord, would not wish to see Amazfah placed upon as did David his fatheT" (l Kings xv. 11). the throne, and may have opposed 11nd de- All the others had fallen short more or less; layed his appointment. But their e1forts and Amaziah fell short in many respects. proved fruitless. After a time, the young king He was wanting in "a perfect heart" (2 was confirmed (literally, "streugtheneJ "), Chron. xxv. 2), i.e. e. fixed intention to do i.e. settled and esta.bllihed in his king,lom, all God's will; he was proud and ho11stful (ver. opposition being overcome or dying 11way. 10); he gave way to idolatry in his later This seems to be what the writer meuns. years (2 Chron. uv. 14), and he despised He cannot intend a confirmation by ll foreign the reproof of the prophet who was sent to suzerain, which the phrase used might im- rebuke his sin (2 Chron. uv. 16). Though port (eh. xv. 19), when he has given no hint placed among the "good kings " by the of any subjection of the kingdom to any authors of both Kings and Chronicles, it is, foreign power, or indeed. of any serious at- as it were, under protest, with e. distinct tack on its iudepenJeuce. That he slew his intim11tion that, although better than most servants. Jozachar and Jehozabad were of his predecessors, be did not reach a high "servants" of Joo.ah, apparently domestic standard. He did aocording to all things e.e servants employed in his palace, an,! cue J'oash his father did. There is eomethingof therefore reckoned "servants" also of his Oriental hyperbole in thie statement, which successor. Which had slain the king his muet be understood in the spirit, not in the fother. Iu the "house of MiUo," where he letter. The two kings were differently cir- lay siok. They "slew him on his bed" cumstanced, and history did not "repeat (see 2 Chron. niv. 25). itself" in their reigns. The position of Ver. 6.-But the ohildren of the murderers Joo.eh with I'Cllpect to Jehoiad11 finds no he slew not. It wus tho ordinary usage in parallel in the circumstances of the life of the Enst for thu sons of trnitors to share the Amaziah. Still, the lives nre parallel to fate of their fathers. A Grnek poet went so eome eztent. Both kings bcg11n better th11n tar as to say the1t a me1n was a fool who put they ended. Both wero ze11lous for Jehovoh to de11th the father, and allowed. the sou to a, first_ but turned to idolatry at last. Both live. The practice hlld o. double ground..  280 THE SEOOND BOOK. OF 'l'H.F.l KINd:S. [on. uv.1-29.