The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 251

have begun to reign in the fifteenth yea.r of exempt from ordinary ruleB, boldly invnrled Jeroboam, or there mllBt have been an in- the priestly office, took a oeneer, and entered terregnnm of twelve years between the into the temple, nnd prooeeded to burn death of Amaziah and the aooession of incense upon the golden altar that wo.s Az:1ri1th. Ae thie last hypotheeie is pre- before the veil (2 Chron. xxvi. 16-18). It cluded by the ne.rrative of 2 Chron. xxvi. l was then that " the Lord smote the king." and eh. 1:iv. 20, 21, we must correct the As, in defiance of the high priest o.nd hie " twenty-eeventb year" of this verse into attendant train, who sought to prevent the the" fifteenth." If we do this, corresponding lawless act, Aznriah persisted in his en- changes will have to be macie in vers. S, 13, detwours, God struck him with leprosy, his 23, and 27. forehead grew white with the unmistakable Ver. 2.-Sixteen years old was he when scttly scab, and iu a moment his indomitable he began to reign, and he reigned two and pride was quelled. The priests olosed in fifty years in Jernse.lem. These numbers upon him and began to thruet him out, but arc confirmed by Chronicles (2 Chron. xxvi. no violence wae necessary. Aware of what 1--3) and by Josephus(' Ant. Jud.,' ix. 10. had happened, "he himself 11.lso hasted to § 4), who eays that he reigned fifty-two go out, because the Lord had smitten him" years, and died at the age of sixty-eight. (2 Chron. xxvi. 20), It is not very clear And his mother's name was Jeoholie.h of why the writer of Kinge passes over these J'ernll&lem. Josephus (' Ant. Jud.,' ix. 10. facts ; but certainly they a.re not discrodited § 3) calle her "Achia](l." by his eilence. At any rate, those who Ver. 3.-And he did that which was right accept the entire series of conqueets, where- in the sight of the Lord, according to all that of the writer of Kings says nothing, on the his father Ama.ziah had done (comp. eh. sole authority of Chroniclee, are logically xiv. 3 e.nd12 Chron. xxvi. 4). Josephus uses precluded from rejecting the circumstances still stronger expressions. "Azariah was," accompanying the leproey, which is acknow- he says (Z. s. c.),•· a guod king, naturally just ledged by the writer of Kings, and viewed and high-minded, and indefatigable in his as a judgment from God. Bo that he wa~ a administration of affairs." According to leper unto the day of his de:i.th, end dwelt the author of Chronicles (2 Chron. xxvi. 5), in a severe.I houe (comp. 2 Chron. xxvi. he '' sought God in the days of Zechariah." 21). Lepers had to be separated from the Ver. 4.-Save that the high plaoes were congregation-to "dwell alone"-" without not removed: the people sacrificed and the camp" (Lev. xiii. 46). Ahaziah's burnt inoense still on the high places " several house " is regarded by some as an (comp. eh. xiv. 4, and the comment ad loo.). "infirmary," or "hospital for lepers'' Ver. 5.-And the Lord smote the king. (Ewald, Gesenius, Winer); but there ie no This comes in somewliat etrangely, following reason to believe that hospitals of any kind close upon a statement that the king " did existed among the Israelitee. The lepers that which was right in the sight of the mentioned in eh. vii. 3 are houseless. n•::;i Lord." We have to go to Chronicles for an M'?1~!1_n is best translated "house of separO::. explanation. By Chronicles it appears that, tiori,i• and understood of a house standing in the earlier portion of his reign, Azariah by itself in the open country, separate from was a good and pious prince, and that God others. "Probably the house in which the blessed him in all his undertakings. Not leprous king lived was," es Bahr aays, only did he recover Eloth (2 Chron. xxvi. 2), "especially built for him." And Jotham but he carried on a successful war with the the king's son was over the house-not over Philistines-took Gath, Jabneh (Jamnia), the " several house," but over the royal and Ashdod, and diemantled them (2 Chron. palace-judging the people of the land ; i.e. xxri 6), defeated the Arabians of Gur-Baal, executing the royal functions, whereof e.nd the Mehunim or lllaonites (2 Chron. "judging" wae one of the highest. Aza- xxri. 7), forced the Ammonites to pay him riah's infirmity made a regency necessary, a tribute, and caused his power to be known and naturally hie eldest ec;n held the office, e.nd feared far e.nd wide (2 Chron. xxvi. 8). Yer. 6.-And the rest of the acts of TLe standiog army which he maintained Azariah, and all that he did, are they not numbered 307,500 men, under 2600 officers, written in the book of the chronicles of the well armed and equipped with shields, kings of Jndah 1 For Aze.riah's prineipul spears, helmets, brenst-platee, bows, and o.cte, see the commentary on the firHt olauso ~lings (2 Chron. xxvi. 12-14). "Hie name of ver. 5. spkad far abroe.d, for he was wonderfully Yer. 7.-So Azariah slept with his fathers; helpc,d" (2 Chron. xxvi. 15). This marvel- and they buried him with his fathors in the lous prosperity developed in him a pride city of DaviiL Here again the writer of equal to that of his father, but one which Chronicles is more exact. Azarian, he tdls venteu iteelf differently. Azariah, deeming us (2 Chron. xxvi. 23), was not buried in Liroaelf superior to all otilcr men, and the rock-sepulchre wilich contained the dtr, xv, 1-38,] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 2!)7