The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 246

in Dan and Bet~el, at the extremities of the dominions. Terribly strange it seems to us that the _Alm1~ht,: Author of the human mind should permit it to think of him as some materrnl obJect m nature, or as some production of the human hand. ·what human father, ~ad be th? power, would permit his chi~dr~n to form not only wrong but wicked 1mpress1ons o~ himself? For what reason this 1s permitted I know not. Albeit it shows God's practical respect for that freedom of action with which he has endowed us. 2. That God allows wicked men to obtain despotic dominion over others. All these kings \'Vere wiclrnd-Amaziah, Azariah, Joash, Jeroboam, and Zachariah, and yet they enjoyed an almost autocratic dominion over the rights, possessions, and lives of millions. Here we read of Amaziah slaying ten thousand men, capturing ten thousand prisoners and taking Selah, the capital of the Edomites, and of Joash King of Israel usin; harshly the rights of the conqueror. "He came to Jerusalem, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim unto the corner gate." It is said of Jeroboam, who reigned forty-one years, that he "did evil in the sight of the Lord, and departed not from the sins of his father." Antecedently one might have concladed that, if a wicked man was allowed to live amongst his fellows, he would be doomed to obscurity and to social and political impotence; but it is not so. Why? Who shall answer? II. GOD PUNISHES WICKED MEN BY THEIi!. OWN WICKEDNESS. 1. A wicked man is punished by his own wickedness. A.maziah's conduct is an example. Elated with his triumph over the Edomites, he sought occasion of war with the King of Israel. "Ho sent messengers to Joash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, King of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face," etc. About fifteen years after his defeat he fled from Jerusalem to Lachish to escape assassination, but the assassin pursued him, and struck him dead. It is ever so._ Wickedness is its own punishment. The wicked passions of a corrupt man are his tormenting devils. Sin is suicidal 2. A wicked man is punished by the wickedness of others. 'l'he thousands whom these despotic kings reduced to angui.~h, destitution, and death, were idolaters and rebels against Heaven, and by the hand of wicked men they were punished. Thus it ever is. Devils are their own tormentors. Sin converts a community of men into tormenting fiends ; man becomes the avenging fate of man. CoNOLUBION. Learn : 1. H111TTwnity in this world is obvio'l/,Sly in a morally abnormaZ conditiO'II,, It can never be that he whose power is immeasurable, whose wisdom and goodness are infinite and radiant everywhere above us and below us, could create such 11 state of things as we have here. He originates the good alone, permits the evil, and will ultimately overrule it for good. 2. Fuith in a future that shall rectify the evils of the present seems essential to true religion. Genuine religion is a supreme love for .the Supreme Existence. But who could love a Supreme Existence which could permit for ever such a state of existence as we have here? There must come a day of rectification : " When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him," etc. (Matt. xxv. 31-46).-D. 'I'. Vere. l-1.-.Amaziah doing right. The murder of Joash King of Judah, and the accession of his son Amaziah, took place a little after the accession of Joash the son of Jehonhaz in Israel, therefore just before the turn of the tide in the fortunes of the latter kingdom. I. EARLY RIGHT-DOING. 1. .A promising beginning. Amaziah was not, any more than his father, a man of strong character. He proved to be vain, boastful, and foolish. But he began well, giving heed to the counsels of God's prophets (cf. 2 Chroo. xxv. 7-10), and therefore it is said of him, "He did right in the sight of the Lord." It is not, how- ever, the beginning, but the end, which tests character (Col. i. 23; Heh. iii. 14). 2. Significant shortcoming. To the record of his right-doing it is added, "Yet not like David his father," or, as elsewhere, "not with a perfect heart." His conduct is likened to that of Joash his father, whose history very much resembled his own. Amaziah, like Joash, began well, afterwards lapsed into idolatry and cruelty, and died by conspiracy of his servants under a cloud of ignominy and contempt. Those who are like in sin noed not wonder that they are like in doom. 3. The high places unremoved. This was one of the points in which Amaziah showed a want of thoroughness in right-doiug. The sin was one of shortcoming rather than of positive transgression, like thA keeping np of the worship of the calves in Israel. It is not, therefore, reckoned so hhleous ns the Baal-  292 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. [ou. XlV. 1-29.