The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 237

■oon ne the leraelit.e army appeared before they came into the t6lt at this point, since the ple.ce. The breach in the wall was no explantttion oould be more than a cou- t.berefore not the result of siege operation,, jecture, In point of fact, they are redun- hut the net of a conqueror, who desired to dant. le1tvc his enemy aa defenceless as possible. Ver. 17.-And Amaziah the son of J'oaeh From the gate of Ephraim ; i.e. the mRin King of J'udah lived after the death of gate in the northern wall of the city-that .Tehoash son of .Tehoe.he.z King of Israel by which travellers ordinarily proceeded fifteen years. This note of time is based on into the territory of the tribe of Ephr11im. ver. 2, which makes Amnziah begin to reign In ]at.er times it seems to have been called in the second year of Joash of Israel, and indifferently '' the gate of Ephraim" (Neh. hold the throne for twenty-nine ycnra. If viii. 16; xii. 39) and " the gate of Ben- he really began to reign in the foorth year jamin" (Jer. xxxvii. 13; Zech. xiv. 10). of Joash, he would have survived him only The great north road, which passed through thirteen years (see the comment on vcr. 2). it, led acro8s the Denjnmite int.otbe Ephraim- Ver. 18.-And the rest of the acts et ite terril<>ry. Unto the comer gate. The Amuiah-especially the circumstances of " comer gate " is generally thought t.o have his war with Edom, as related in 2 Ohron, been that at the north-westena angle of the xxv. 5-13, his idolatry (2 Chron. xxv. H), city wall, where it turned southward, bnt and the rebuke which he received from one this is perhaps doubtful. The exact line of God's prophets (2 Chron. xxv. 15, 16) in of the city wall in the time of Amaziah consequence-are they not written in the is exceedingly uucerta.in. Four hundred book of the chronicles of the kings of .Judah 1 cubits; six hundred feet, or two hundred Ver. 19.-Now they made a conspiracy rnrds. This seems to have been the entire against him in J'ernaalem. The author of <list.a.nee between the two gates. As there Chronicles connects this conspiracy with wt>re at least thirteen gates in the circuit of the idolatry of which Amaziah was guilty the walls (Neh. iii. 1-31; xii. 31-39; (2 Chron. xxv. 27) ; but, though his subjects Zech. xiv. 10), which were probably not may have been offended by his religious more extensive than those of the present changes, and have become alienated from town (3960 yards), the distance of two him in consequence, the actual conspiracy hundred yards between one gate and an- can scarcely have been prompted by an o.ct other would not be improbable, the averQ/}e which wns fifteen, or at any rate. thirteen, di.stance being about three hundred yards. years old. It is more likely t.o have sprung Ver. 14.-.&.nd he took all the gold and outof di;;sntisfaction with Ame.ziah'emilitary Bil.ver, and all the vessels that were found inaction from and after his defeat by Joasb. in the house of the Lord. As J oash of While Jeroboam II. was carrying all before Judah had, fifteen or twenty years pre- him in the north, recovering his border, viously, stript the temple of its treasures pushing it ae far as Hamatb, and even to buy off the hostility ofHe.zael (eh. xii. IS), exercising a. suzerainty over Damascus (vere. there could not have been at this time very 25, 28), Amazia.h remained passive, cowed much for Joe.sh of Israel t.o lay his hands by his one defeat, and took no advantage on. Still, whatever there was passed into of the state of weakness to whicb he he.cl tile possession of the Israelite king. And in reduced Edom, but sat with folded hands, the treasures of the king's ho11Be. Neither doing nothing. The conspirators who re- can this have amonnted to much, unleas the moved Amaziah, an,) placed his son Azariah, booty taken from H87.!Lel after his defeats or Uzziah, upon the throne, may be credited (eh. xiv. 25) was very considerable. And with the wish and intention to bring the hostages. This is a new feature in the period of inaction to an end, and to effect in warfare of the time; but hostages were the south wbe.t Jeroboam was tffecting in given and taken from an early date by the the north. It is true that Azariah wae but Persians (Xen., • Cyrop.,' iv. 2. § 7; Herod., sixteen yeareofage (ver. 21; comp. 2 Chron. vi. 99), the Greeks, and the Romane. xxvi. 1), but he may have given indications Vere. 15, 16.-Now the rest of the aata of his ambition and capacity. Sixteen, of J'ehoash whioh he did, and his might, and moreover, is the time of manhood in the how he fonght with Ama.ziah King of J'uda.h, East, and the ronepirators hod probably are they not written in the book of the waited until Azariah was sixteen in ortler ehronioles of the kings of Israel 1 And that his competency to re:ign shoulcl not be J'Eahoe.sh slept with his fathers, and was disputed. As soon ae he was on the throne buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; Le initiated the warlike policy which they and J'eroboam his son reigned in his stead. desiretl (eee ver. 22). And he fled to Le.chiah. These verses are repeated with very slight Lachish, one of tl1e south-western Judmo.n alterations from eh. xiii 11, 12. Curiously, towns (Josh. xv. 39), was at 1111 times a on both occasions they are out of place. It fortress of importance. lt reeisted Joshua ll! iKlll.rcelf worth while to cow,ider how (x. 3, 31), nnd wa.s taken by storm. It waa Olt. lUV, 1-29,] THE SECOND DOOK IJF THE KINGS. 283